Interkosmos

Interkosmos (Russian: Интеркосмос) was an international Soviet space program designed to promote cooperation among socialist countries in space exploration and research. Formed in April 1967 in Moscow, it was led by the Soviet Union and primarily involved allied or friendly countries from the Eastern Bloc and Non-Aligned Movement, which were provided training and technical support with crewed and uncrewed space missions. Interkosmos was established at the height of the Cold War "Space Race" between the Soviet Union and the United States, which competed to achieve superior spaceflight capability. The respective successes were exploited by both sides for propaganda purposes, with Interkosmos aimed at demonstrating solidarity and unity between the Soviets and aligned or sympathetic countries. All members of Interkosmos from the USSR were awarded Hero of the Soviet Union or the Order of Lenin. The program included members of the Warsaw Pact and CoMEcon, as well as other socialist states like Afghanistan, Cuba, Mongolia, and Vietnam. Non-aligned nations such as India and Syria participated, as did capitalist states such as the United Kingdom, France and Austria. Most crewed missions consisted of non-Soviet cosmonauts being placed on routine flights with experienced Soviet cosmonauts. Interkosmos was responsible for many inaugural achievements in the history of spaceflight, including the first citizen of a country other than the U.S. or USSR (Vladimír Remek of Czechoslovakia), the first black and Hispanic person (Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez of Cuba), and the first Asian person (Phạm Tuân of Vietnam).