Cosmonauts invited to participate in Apollo

After the Cuban missile crisis, Kennedy and Khrushchev warmed the Cold War somewhat, resulting in the nuclear test ban treaty and other cooperative efforts. Kennedy also set the tone of the space race (at least publicly) not as a “them vs us”, but as an endeavor of mankind. So what if Kennedy initiated a plan to include cosmonauts in the moon landing program, specifically in the Apollo series, and have a cosmonaut be the second man on the moon instead of Aldrin?

Would the Soviets accept? Would Johnson follow through? Would Soviet participation help the program (e.g. identify and prevent the Apollo 1 fire)? How would this effect Soviet/US relations throughout the 60s and after?

Ric350
 
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There is no conceivable way the US Congress would fund that massively expensive crash program, unless it's a Beat The Commies project showcasing American (specifically) and Capitalist (generally) superiority over the Communist USSR.
If it's a joint project, funding dries up fast, and the Moon Landing might be much later, or more probably it's cancelled completely when *Nixon is elected.

Could a Soviet fly on an Apollo mission? Sure, but only as a guest, probably as a scientist / astronaut, and thus on one of the later missions which were the only ones that had actual scientists.

For one to fly second seat on Apollo 11 would be far more difficult. Especially considering the length of training all Apollo astronauts underwent. You push back the selection of a cosmonaut a couple of years, say to '67, and it's going to be tougher to get the funding to launch on time.
Imo.
 
Admin - thanks for moving this!

Dathi, I see your point regarding the significance of Apollo 11, but after that I could see us being magnanimous about it. The Soviets might be thumbing a ride by then, especially after the failure of the N1. Maybe they’d even assist with funding in some manner. An astronaut and cosmonaut shaking hands on the moon would be a intriguing symbol.

However imagine if a cosmonaut was on Apollo 13! The conspiracy theories would be off the scale!

Ric350
 
I see no possible way for it to happen that early, but something along these lines seems entirely capable of replacing the ASTP if there's so much as a limited second order of Saturn V's. It could take quite a few forms, but the simplest would be a seat trade, Cosmonaut to the Moon and Astronauit to Salyut; this would appeal to a lot of people if the Apollo plans never change and we end up considering what to do post Apollo 20 with Skylab not really having hardware allocated. I can also easily picture an orbital only version with Soyuz and Apollo docking in Lunar orbit - landing is tough, but pushinga Soyuz out to Lunar orbit is doable without a whole lot of trouble with some incentive to do it; Apollo was always supposed to include another orbital only mapping mission shortly after Apollo 19/20 and a lunar docking sounds like a better match for everyone's sensibilities especially given that I suspect Skylab would fly on Apollo 20's Saturn V pretty much no matter what happens with a second batch of Saturn's.
 
I don't think NASA would be willing to allow a cosmonaut to go to the Moon, unless the program went all of the way through to Apollo 21, and the idea was thrown in. I would have liked to have seen a cosmonaut visit Skylab.
 
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