Soyuz MS-11/12 /Exp. 59 FLOWN Energyia ISS cover - Christina Koch

From the celebrated astrophilatelic collection of Jacques Bracke

An important official RKK Energia International Space Station–flown cover from the historic Expedition 59 period, hand-signed by the complete crews of Soyuz MS-11 and Soyuz MS-12. This exceptional six-signature artifact brings together two consecutive international Soyuz crews during a pivotal period of ISS operations—and includes Christina Hammock Koch, the first woman to travel around the Moon.

The cover is signed by:

Soyuz MS-11
Oleg Kononenko — Roscosmos cosmonaut, Soyuz commander, and Expedition 59 commander
Anne C. McClain — NASA astronaut and Expedition 58/59 flight engineer
David Saint-Jacques — Canadian Space Agency astronaut and Expedition 58/59 flight engineer

Soyuz MS-12
Aleksey Ovchinin — Roscosmos cosmonaut, Soyuz commander, and Expedition 59 flight engineer
Nick Hague — NASA astronaut and Expedition 59 flight engineer
Christina Hammock Koch — NASA astronaut, Expedition 59 flight engineer, record-setting long-duration ISS resident, and Artemis II mission specialist

Soyuz MS-11 launched in December 2018, carrying Kononenko, McClain, and Saint-Jacques to the International Space Station. In March 2019, Soyuz MS-12 arrived with Ovchinin, Hague, and Koch, creating the six-person Expedition 59 crew represented on this cover. Their overlapping mission continued the ISS’s long tradition of uninterrupted international cooperation among NASA, Roscosmos, and the Canadian Space Agency.

The cover’s most compelling contemporary association is Christina Koch. During her first spaceflight, she served aboard the ISS for 328 days—the longest single spaceflight completed by a woman at that time—and participated in the first all-woman spacewalk. She later made history as the first woman to journey around the Moon as a member of the Artemis II crew, linking this ISS-flown artifact directly to the return of human exploration beyond low Earth orbit.

For collectors, Koch’s signature gives this cover remarkable added significance: it connects the routine, sustained international work of Expedition 59 with one of the defining milestones of the modern lunar era. The signatures of Kononenko, McClain, Saint-Jacques, Ovchinin, and Hague complete a superb six-person record of the station’s multinational crew during this important crew transition.

With official RKK Energia issue, documented ISS flight, complete Soyuz MS-11 and Soyuz MS-12 crew signatures, historic Artemis association, and the distinguished provenance of Jacques Bracke, this is a major addition to an advanced collection of Soyuz, ISS, Canadian spaceflight, women in space, or Artemis-era astronaut memorabilia.