Apollo-Soyuz Test Project--Middle East lecture tour.

21 pages of autograph notes in ink by Slayton on the countries visited, heads of state and officials, 30 photographs (average 175 x 230mm., or the reverse), and 25 pages of typed documents (including photocopies), preserved in a plastic ring-binder folder

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Fascinating personal observations by Apollo-Soyuz astronaut Deke Slayton, during the 1976 Middle East lecture tour that he undertook with two other US astronauts and Farouk El-Baz, the Egyptian-born NASA scientist. Slayton's notes on the heads of state and other officials met in Egypt (Cairo), Kuwait, Saudi Arabia (Jeddah and Riyadh), Abu-Dhabi, Qatar (Doha), Israel, and Algeria, often resemble diplomatic cables and were very likely included in reports of the tour for US intelligence officials who would have been keen for first-hand information. The Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, a symbol of the new US-Russian détente had flown in June 1975 and was the first joint US-Soviet space flight, the last Apollo mission and the last manned US space mission until the first Space Shuttle flight in 1981. This tour was designed to enhance relations between the US and the countries visited. The documents also include schedules, copies of correspondence between NASA and USIA, briefing documents, memo on customs in the Arabian peninsula, post-tour report and photographs of meetings with Anwar Sadat, Sheikh Khalid and others.