Obituary: Vladimir Syromyatnikov

Vladimir Syromyatnikov, who has died aged 73, was a Soviet and Russian space scientist best known for designing docking mechanisms for manned spacecraft.

It was his system which, in the 1970s, linked the Soviet Soyuz and the American Apollo space capsules. Syromyatnikov also helped design and develop Vostok, the world's first manned spacecraft, which took Yuri Gagarin into space in 1961. Docking systems not only seal two spacecraft together tightly enough to stop air leaking away, they also allow them to separate in an instant if necessary.

Syromyatnikov's designs are still used by spacecraft visiting the International Space Station and have proved highly reliable: his Androgynous Peripheral Assembly System, as his electro-mechanical docking device is properly called, is one of the triumphs of the entire Russian space programme.