After the Apollo moon landings were finished, a few circumstances came together: 1) There were still some Apollo flight-ready spacecraft available; 2) There were still a few capabilities to test, like the ability to mount a rescue in space; 3) Deke Slayton, one of the original Mercury 7 astronauts, was medically cleared to fly from the Afib that grounded him way back in 1962 before he ever got to space; and 4) The Soviets were willing to do a little showboating/show of cooperation dance, and so were we. CSM-111 was a "surplus" from the original Apollo program, and following the July 24, 1975 return from orbit — six years to the day after Apollo 11 did the same — the Apollo program truly ended.
The American ASTP command module capsule is owned by the Smithsonian, on "official" display with KSC, but currently on indefinite display at the California Science Center, also the home of the Space Shuttle Endeavour, the Gemini 11 capsule, and the Mercury-Redstone capsule that flew spacechimp Ham into space.
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