connections. The use of transport and cargo ships provided great opportunities for long and efficient use of the space complex. The first docking devices were created for the Soyuz (USSR) and Gemini (USA) spacecraft. They did not provide for the formation of a hermetic transition tunnel between spacecraft. Even in these first developments different types of mechanisms were used: simply electromechanical mechanisms using electromechanical damping in the shock absorbers was used for Soyuz, and combined electrohydraulic mechanisms were used for the Gemini. Another significant difference is that the Soyuz was capable of completely automatic control of approach and docking, as well as manual control by cosmonauts, while Gemini required the crew's participation in the control. Thus began two different approaches to the development of docking equipment in the USSR and USA. The Soyuz-Salyut program and the Apollo lunar program were great steps forward in the development of docking equipment. A number of fundamental technical problems were solved, and structures were created which formed a rigid hermetic joint with a transition tunnel. Docking in the first projects was done using “rod and cone” type devices. One of the assemblies, which had a docking mechanism with a rod, executed the active role, and the second, with a receiving cone, was passive. Tn the next stage, the USSR and USA joined forces to create compatible docking devices. It was decided to develop a principally new design, an androgynous peripheral type which could be used in the future in national and international projects and to render aid in orbit if necessary. As the project was executed, all stages of work were conducted which were necessary to create a complex comprehensive system of space technology, which the docking device is. Specialists from both countries drafted and formulated a design for a compatible docking device. In accordance with this design both countries developed a docking assembly design. Despite common basic ideas and a matching configuration, the designs of the main mechanisms of the androgynous peripheral docking assemblies (APDA) of the Soyuz and Apollo were substantially different. Both groups of specialists maintained their approach to the design. This was possible due to the method of providing for the compatibility of assemblies differing in design: compatibility was achieved by unifying the minimum number of
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