Soyuz MS-09 – FLOWN ISS cover – A. Gerst

From the celebrated astrophilatelic collection of Jacques Bracke

An exceptional International Space Station–flown Soyuz MS-09 cover, hand-signed by both the prime crew and the official backup crew of this important 2018 ISS expedition. Carried aboard the station and postmarked three times in space, this is an outstanding six-signature artifact linking two consecutive Soyuz missions and two successive ISS crew rotations.

The cover is signed by the complete Soyuz MS-09 prime crew:

Sergey Prokopyev — Roscosmos cosmonaut and Soyuz MS-09 commander
Alexander Gerst — ESA astronaut from Germany and later Expedition 57 commander
Serena Auñón-Chancellor — NASA astronaut and Expedition 56/57 flight engineer

It is also signed by their officially designated backup crew:

Oleg Kononenko — Roscosmos cosmonaut and later Soyuz MS-11 commander
Anne C. McClain — NASA astronaut and later Soyuz MS-11 flight engineer
David Saint-Jacques — Canadian Space Agency astronaut and later Soyuz MS-11 flight engineer

Soyuz MS-09 launched from Baikonur on 6 June 2018 and carried Prokopyev, Gerst, and Auñón-Chancellor to the International Space Station for Expeditions 56 and 57. Their approximately six-and-a-half-month mission spanned a notable period of ISS operations, research, maintenance, and international cooperation among Roscosmos, NASA, and the European Space Agency.

Alexander Gerst assumed command of Expedition 57, becoming the second German astronaut to command the ISS and one of Europe’s most prominent modern spacefarers. Serena Auñón-Chancellor completed her first long-duration spaceflight aboard the station, while Sergey Prokopyev served as Soyuz commander on his first mission to orbit.

The backup crew adds unusual historical depth. Rather than remaining only reserve personnel, Oleg Kononenko, Anne McClain, and David Saint-Jacques later flew together aboard Soyuz MS-11 in December 2018, arriving at the ISS shortly before the MS-09 crew returned to Earth. This creates a particularly attractive continuity: one cover records both the flown mission crew and the backup trio who soon became their direct successors aboard the station.

The three authentic onboard ISS postmarks provide tangible evidence of the cover’s orbital journey, while the complete prime-and-backup crew autograph set makes it far more than a conventional flown souvenir. It is a compact historical record of how Soyuz crew assignments, international training, and ISS expedition handovers were intertwined during this late pre-commercial-crew era.

With its documented ISS flight, triple in-space cancellations, six astronaut and cosmonaut signatures, complete prime-and-backup crew association, and distinguished Jacques Bracke provenance, this is a superb addition to an advanced collection of Soyuz, ISS, ESA, Canadian spaceflight, or astronaut-signed astrophilately.