Donald K. "Deke" Slayton

Apollo-Soyuz Pamphlet No. 2: X-Rays, Gamma-Rays.

Transcripts of the radio communication between the command module and the Apollo-Soyuz teams.

Baseline food list for the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project.

Menu for the American astronauts during the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project Mission.

The Spirit of Apollo-Soyuz, a 15th anniversary pamphlet of the joint USA-USSR Space Mission.

Commemorative Apollo-Soyuz Test Project poster.

Artist's conception of the Soviet and American spacecraft guiding in to rendezvous in the first international manned space mission.

One of the first seven American astronauts, Donald Kent "Deke" Slayton was born on March 1, 1924, in Sparta, Wisconsin. He was a senior at Sparta High School when the Japanese government attacked Pearl Harbor, which caused him to join the U. S. Army Air Forces. During World War II, he flew for the 340th Bombardment Group in Europe and the Pacific. Slayton earned a B.S. in aeronautical engineering from the University of Minnesota in 1949. He then worked for Boeing before joining the United States Air Force, serving with the 36th Fighter Day Wing and as a test pilot.

In 1959, Slayton was selected for the Mercury program, NASA's first class of astronauts but was disqualified upon discovery of a heart condition. He continued to work in several positions for NASA. After a reevaluation of his medical status, he was certified for space flight, and in July 1975, Slayton was the docking module pilot for the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, resulting in a joint docking and experiments with Soviet cosmonauts. Slayton retired from NASA in 1982. He later founded Space Services Inc., of Houston, to develop rockets for commercial endeavors.

See finding aid for the Donald K. "Deke" Slayton Collection to find more materials available for research.