Soyuz TMA-11M Prime + backup crew cover – Reid Wiseman Artemis 2

SOYUZ TMA-11M PRIME AND BACKUP CREW-SIGNED LAUNCH COVER

Six Astronaut and Cosmonaut Signatures • Expedition 38/39 • Reid Wiseman and Artemis II Connection

An outstanding Soyuz TMA-11M launch cover, hand-signed by the mission’s complete three-member prime crew and three-member backup crew. The cover commemorates the launch of Soyuz TMA-11M from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on 7 November 2013, carrying an international Russian, American and Japanese crew to the International Space Station.

Soyuz TMA-11M Prime Crew

Mikhail Tyurin — Roscosmos
Soyuz Commander and veteran Russian cosmonaut

Richard “Rick” Mastracchio — NASA
Flight Engineer

Koichi Wakata — Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, JAXA
Flight Engineer

Soyuz TMA-11M Backup Crew

Maksim “Max” Suraev — Roscosmos
Backup Soyuz Commander

Reid Wiseman — NASA
Backup Flight Engineer

Alexander Gerst — European Space Agency, ESA
Backup Flight Engineer

The backup crew trained alongside the prime crew and stood ready to replace them if required. NASA photographs and contemporary mission records confirm Suraev, Wiseman and Gerst as the official Soyuz TMA-11M backup team.

Historical Background

Soyuz TMA-11M lifted off aboard a Soyuz-FG rocket from Baikonur’s historic Site 1/5, commonly known as “Gagarin’s Start.” Following an accelerated six-hour rendezvous, the spacecraft docked with the International Space Station on the same day.

The arrival of Tyurin, Mastracchio and Wakata temporarily increased the station’s population to nine people, an unusually large ISS complement during the post-Space Shuttle era. They joined Expedition 37 crew members Oleg Kotov, Sergey Ryazansky and Michael Hopkins, as well as the Soyuz TMA-09M crew of Fyodor Yurchikhin, Karen Nyberg and Luca Parmitano.

Soyuz TMA-11M was also closely associated with the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi. The spacecraft transported an Olympic torch to the ISS, where it became the first Olympic torch to be carried outside a spacecraft during a spacewalk. The torch was later returned to Earth aboard Soyuz TMA-09M and used during the Olympic opening ceremony.

During the expedition, Koichi Wakata became the first Japanese commander of the International Space Station, assuming command of Expedition 39. The Soyuz TMA-11M crew returned safely to Earth on 14 May 2014, after approximately 188 days in space.

The Reid Wiseman Connection

The inclusion of Reid Wiseman’s signature gives this cover particular historical interest. At the time of Soyuz TMA-11M, Wiseman was serving as the mission’s NASA backup flight engineer.

He subsequently flew to the ISS aboard Soyuz TMA-13M in May 2014 with Maksim Suraev and Alexander Gerst—the same three astronauts who had formed the TMA-11M backup crew. Wiseman served as a flight engineer during Expeditions 40 and 41, spent more than 165 days in orbit and completed two spacewalks.

Wiseman later served as Chief of NASA’s Astronaut Office and went on to command Artemis II, NASA’s first crewed Orion mission around the Moon. Artemis II launched on 1 April 2026 and returned safely on 10 April 2026, making Wiseman one of the relatively small number of humans to have traveled beyond low Earth orbit.

This cover therefore links two important eras of exploration: the international Soyuz and ISS program and humanity’s return to crewed lunar voyages through Artemis.

Collecting Significance

A launch cover signed by both the complete prime and backup crews offers a much broader historical connection than a standard crew-signed example. Its six signatures represent four major space agencies:

Roscosmos — Mikhail Tyurin and Maksim Suraev
NASA — Rick Mastracchio and Reid Wiseman
JAXA — Koichi Wakata
ESA — Alexander Gerst

All three backup crew members later flew together aboard Soyuz TMA-13M, while Wakata and Gerst each became prominent representatives of their national and international space programs. Wiseman’s later command of Artemis II adds an especially important connection to modern lunar exploration.

A highly desirable signed space-philatelic collectible associated with an international ISS expedition, the Olympic torch’s historic journey into orbit and the future commander of humanity’s return to the vicinity of the Moon.