STS-71 - Soyuz TM-21 flown MIR cover - first docking in space

STS-71 / Soyuz TM-21 — Mir-Flown Cover Signed by All Ten Astronauts and Cosmonauts of the Historic First Shuttle–Mir Docking

Offered by us for the first time, this exceptional space-flown cover comes from the personal collection of renowned astrophilatelist Jacques Bracke.

The cover was flown aboard the Mir space station and cancelled with the official Mir onboard postmarker on June 29, 1995 + July 4th 1995, the exact date on which Space Shuttle Atlantis completed the first docking between an American Space Shuttle and the Russian orbital station.

STS-71 was a landmark mission in the history of human spaceflight. It marked the first Space Shuttle–Mir docking, the first exchange of a Mir resident crew by a Shuttle, the 100th U.S. human space launch, and an important early milestone in post-Cold War cooperation that helped prepare the way for the International Space Station. Once docked, Atlantis and Mir formed what was then the largest spacecraft complex ever assembled in orbit.

Most remarkably, the cover is hand-signed by all ten astronauts and cosmonauts associated with the historic joint mission:

STS-71 Space Shuttle crew

• Robert L. “Hoot” Gibson — Commander
• Charles J. Precourt — Pilot
• Ellen S. Baker — Mission Specialist
• Gregory J. Harbaugh — Mission Specialist
• Bonnie J. Dunbar — Mission Specialist

Mir-19 relief crew delivered by Atlantis

• Anatoly Y. Solovyev — Mir-19 Commander
• Nikolai M. Budarin — Mir-19 Flight Engineer

Soyuz TM-21 / Mir-18 crew returned to Earth aboard Atlantis

• Vladimir N. Dezhurov — Mir-18 Commander
• Gennady M. Strekalov — Flight Engineer
• Norman E. Thagard — Research Cosmonaut and the first American to launch aboard a Soyuz spacecraft and live aboard Mir

Following the docking, Solovyev and Budarin remained aboard Mir as the new Mir-19 resident crew, while Dezhurov, Strekalov and Thagard returned to Earth aboard Atlantis, completing the first Shuttle-based exchange of a space-station crew.

A museum-quality artifact combining:

• Documented Mir-flight history
• A date-of-docking onboard cancellation
• Signatures of all ten mission participants
• Provenance from the Jacques Bracke astrophilatelic collection

An extraordinary opportunity to acquire a unique witness to one of the defining moments of international space cooperation.