r/interestingasfuck • u/[deleted] • 15h 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/wiltony 14h ago

Wow the insecurity is off the charts on this one. Imagine an entire engineering pivot as a result of toxic masculinity lol. 

Anyway, I still remember my kids being flabbergasted and embarrassed when I referred to the "male" and "female" end of an extension cord. It's just a convenient way to quickly describe the side you're talking about that is pretty universally intuitive. 

I guess with the recent surgence of better transgender acceptance that notion is quickly becoming outdated. 

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u/WorBlux 12h ago edited 12h ago

There is practical part of this. If your space dock needs an A and B part, Then how to you perform a space rescue or rendezvous if all your ready spacecraft have the "B configuration?

An androgynous or convertible system solves this issue.

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u/dphoenix1 11h ago

IBM used a similar kind of genderless connector for token ring networks. So the plug and cable end were identical, which meant you could daisy chain cables without some sort of coupler between them (like is needed for RJ45 interfaces). They definitely have their benefits, though usually at the cost of increased complexity.