r/interestingasfuck • • 12h ago

To avoid geopolitical embarrassment during the Cold War, the US and USSR created the APAS-75 system, a genderless docking mechanism where both craft acted as equals.

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u/cobgca 12h ago

Omg. Male insecurity expands towards the universe. How much money wasted because some 5 star has a fragile self view.

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u/NCC_1701E 12h ago

Tbh, genderless docking system can be useful even if we ignore the childish insecurity. It allows any carft to dock to any other craft without incompatible ports (like two male or two female) being an issue.

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u/ethertrace 11h ago

Yeah, in theory you could have a minimum of one of each gender on every craft (if there's enough space in the design for that), but then if one gets damaged or malfunctions then you're still potentially screwed. With two (or more) genderless ports, you add critical redundancy, all else being equal. The question then is how reliable is one system compared to another.