The period just before the Rendlesham incident saw new missions into space. The spirit of "Cooperation" between the USSR and US in space exploration officially began in 1975 with the famous Soyuz-Apollo mission. Russians and Americans watched on their TVs as veteran astronaut Thomas Stafford and veteran cosmonaut Aleksei Leonov, shook hands through the connection hatch of their Apollo 18 and Soyuz 19 spacecrafts (July 17, 1975). As the space programme developed, interest also continued to grow in both science fact and fiction. By the 1970's UFO sighting had become common across the globe.
Picture courtesy of NASA