Vladimir Syromyatnikov
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Vladimir Syromyatnikov (b. Moscow 1933, d. September 19, 2006) was a Soviet and Russian space scientist best-known for designing docking mechanisms for manned spacecraft; it was his system which, in the 1970s, linked the Soviet Soyuz and the American Project Apollo space capsules.
Syromyatnikov also helped design and develop Vostok, the world's first manned spacecraft, which launched Yuri Gagarin into space in 1961.
In the 1990s, he updated the design of his docking mechanism for the meeting of the Mir space station Atlantis space shuttle. Syromyatnikov's designs are still used by spacecraft visiting the International Space Station.
