Vladimir Syromyatnikov

Vladimir Sergeevich Syromyatnikov (January 7, 1933 - September 19, 2006) was a Russian engineer and designer in the former Soviet space program. His notable designs including the docking mechanisms for crewed spacecraft; it was his Androgynous Peripheral Attach System which, in the 1970s, linked the Soviet and American space capsules in the Apollo-Soyuz test flight.

Syromyatnikov also helped design and develop Vostok, the world's first crewed 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 and the Atlantis Space Shuttle. Syromyatnikov's designs are still used by spacecraft visiting the International Space Station.