'Using our minds and our hearts': fostering international understanding - in space.

"This occasion symbolizes what Major-General Alexei and our crew members strove for 16 years ago. We strove for global co-operation, partnership and international understanding", said Lieutentant-General Thomas P. Stafford (USAF, Ret.).

He recalled his partnership with Major-General Alexei A. Leonov, a Soviet cosmonaut on the 1975 Apollo Soyuz Space Test Project, the first joint US-Soviet space project, which Lt.-Gen. Stafford commanded.

The occasion was a luncheon on 7 February at UN headquarters in New York sponsored by American Greetings, a greeting card company, in cooperation with the UN Department of Public Information, to promote an international pen-pal network.

There was a visible camaraderie between the American astronaut and the Soviet cosmonaut, who were guest speakers and have maintained a personal friendship over the years.

Lt.-Gen Stafford told the audience that the pen-pal project was a way of developing better intercultural understanding, just as "Alexei and I learned to communicate so well on our Apollo mission".

While the 1975 crew members did not all speak the same language, Maj.-Gen. Leonov noted: "To communicate with each other during our journey into space, we not only used our minds, but we also used our hearts."

Lt.-Gen. Stafford is currently heading an independent group to investigate available options and possible new technology for space projects.