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“This cooperation in space has been going in genuine success ever since Gen. Tom Stafford and Gen. Alexei Leonov came across that threshold docked in space in 1975,” he said.

His Russian counterpart, Alexei Leonov, responded in English: “Well done, Tom, it was a good show. I vote for you.”

The two crews became so close that years later Leonov arranged for Stafford to be able to adopt two Russian boys when Stafford was in his 70s.

One of his superiors, Nikolai Leonov, considered him a "mediocre agent".

His Soviet counterpart, Alexey Leonov, became a lifelong friend.