STS-71 - first docking MIR-Shuttle - flown cover + letter Poleshuk

Mir–STS-71 Flown Space Mail with Two-Page Cosmonaut Letter

An exceptional and highly personal example of genuine Mir-era space mail, comprising an addressed cover and its complete original two-page handwritten letter.

The correspondence was written by veteran Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Poleshchuk to fellow cosmonaut Gennady Strekalov while Strekalov was serving aboard the Mir space station. The cover was officially postmarked aboard Mir, creating a tangible postal record of its presence in orbit.

Strekalov launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on 14 March 1995 aboard Soyuz TM-21 with Mir-18 commander Vladimir Dezhurov and NASA astronaut Norman Thagard. The mission was historically important: Thagard became the first American to launch aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft and the first American to complete a long-duration residency aboard Mir.

During their approximately 115-day expedition, Strekalov and Dezhurov helped prepare Mir for the arrival of the Spektr research module and the first docking by an American Space Shuttle. Strekalov, already a veteran of several missions, served as Mir-18 flight engineer; Soyuz TM-21 was his fifth and final spaceflight.

Space Shuttle Atlantis launched on STS-71 on 27 June 1995 and docked with Mir two days later. The mission marked the first docking between a Space Shuttle and the Russian station, the first Shuttle exchange of a Mir crew and, at the time, the creation of the largest spacecraft complex ever assembled in orbit.

According to the accompanying provenance, both the envelope and the enclosed letter remained with Strekalov and returned to Earth aboard Atlantis on 7 July 1995. Strekalov personally certified the cover, providing an important first-hand confirmation of its flight history.

The combination is especially desirable because it preserves the entire correspondence rather than only an empty flown envelope:

• Original cover addressed by cosmonaut Aleksandr Poleshchuk
• Complete two-page handwritten letter
• Postmarked aboard the Mir space station
• Returned from orbit aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis
• Personally certified by recipient Gennady Strekalov

This remarkable piece travelled through one of the defining moments of the Shuttle–Mir program, linking two veteran Russian cosmonauts with the historic first docking of Mir and an American Space Shuttle. It is both a genuine flown artifact and a rare piece of private correspondence connected directly to life aboard the legendary orbital station.

Originally sold for $1,900—a striking and unusually complete example of authentic cosmonaut space mail.