Rendezvous in Space: Tech Diplomacy and the Commercial Space Era—A Study of Rendezvous and Docking Technologies and Space Exploration Co‐Operation Since the Cold War

ABSTRACT On‐orbit rendezvous and docking constitute one of the most technically challenging activities in the history of space activities. As space endeavours mature to crewed missions, space rendezous and docking technologies (RDT) emerge as an area of technological innovation critical to advances in future crewed space exploration. Anchored around technical and diplomatic exchanges in relation to RDT standards in crewed space exploration, this article seeks to understand the evolution of tech diplomacy through comparing and contrasting developments in establishing the International Docking System (IDS) (2010s to Present) with those of the Apollo‐Soyuz Test Project (ASTP) (1970s)—widely considered to be the first major international collbaoration in the history of crewed space exploration.