Lt. Gen. Thomas P. Stafford, Apollo‑Soyuz Commander and Long‑Serving ISS Advisory Chair, Dies at 93

**TL;DR:** Lt. Gen. Thomas P. Stafford, commander of the 1975 Apollo‑Soyuz Test Project and chairman of the ISS Advisory Committee since its 1994 inception, died March 18, 2024 at age 93.

Stafford was born on September 17, 1930 and entered the U.S. Air Force before becoming a NASA astronaut.

NASA's astronaut biography archive lists his birth as September 17, 1930 and his death as March 18, 2024. Subtracting the dates shows he lived 93 years, five months, and one day.

In July 1975 Stafford commanded the Apollo‑Soyuz Test Project, which docked an American Apollo capsule with a Soviet Soyuz capsule.

He chaired the ISS Advisory Committee from its establishment in 1994 as the NASA Advisory Council Task Force on Shuttle‑Mir Rendezvous and Docking through its evolution into today’s NASA ISS Advisory Committee, a span of about thirty years.

His leadership helped bridge U.S.-Russian cooperation during Shuttle‑Mir operations and guided the initial design, assembly, and safety reviews of the International Space Station.

Watch how the ISS Advisory Committee continues to influence upcoming lunar gateway negotiations and commercial crew safety standards.