Portal:Space exploration/Biography/Week 29 2007
Vladimir Sergeevich Syromyatnikov (no image available) (1933–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.
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.