Launch from Cape Canaveral; landing in the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii; first U.S.-U.S.S.R joint manned mission Apollo-Soyuz.

Jack Swigert had originally been assigned as the command module pilot for the ASTP prime crew, but prior to the official announcement he was removed as punishment for his involvement in the Apollo 15 postage stamp scandal.

This mission was the first joint U.S.–Soviet space flight, and the last flight of an Apollo spacecraft. Its primary purpose was as a symbol of the policy of détente that the two superpowers were pursuing at the time, and marked the end of the Space Race between them that began in 1957.

The Apollo spacecraft docked with Soyuz 19. The docking adapter had been carried through Apollo. It was the first docking in space history between two spacecraft launched from different countries. 44 hours of docked joint activities which included 4 crew transfers between the Apollo and the Soyuz followed. The mission included both joint and separate scientific experiments (including an engineered eclipse of the Sun by Apollo to allow Soyuz to take photographs of the solar corona), and provided useful engineering experience for future joint US–Russian space flights.

After seperation of the spacecrafts a second docking with Soyuz 19 as the active spacecraft was done, but no more crew transfers. After the final separating the Apollo crew accomplished 23 different scientific experiments, as earth observation, experiments in the multipurpose furnace (MA-010), extreme ultraviolet surveying (MA-083), crystal growth (MA-085), a helium glow experiment (MA-088), a doppler tracking experiment (MA-089) and geodynamics experiment (MA-128).

The only serious problem was during reentry and splashdown of the Apollo craft, during which the crew were accidentally exposed to toxic nitrogen tetroxide fumes, caused by the reaction control system (RCS) oxidizer) venting from the spacecraft and reentering a cabin air intake. The RCS was inadvertently left on during descent, and highly toxic nitrogen tetroxide was sucked into the spacecraft as it drew in outside air. Vance Brand briefly lost consciousness, while Thomas Stafford retrieved emergency oxygen masks, put one on Vance Brand, and gave one to Donald Slayton. The three astronauts were hospitalized for two weeks in Honolulu.

The recovery ship was the USS New Orleans. This was the last NASA mission for several years. The Apollo program ended.