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Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-71) / Mir 18 Flown Crews-Signed Joint Mission Banner, 1995. ...
Description
Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-71) / Mir 18 Flown Crews-Signed Joint Mission Banner, 1995. A heavyweight cloth banner of 5.75" x 8.25" (plus hanger and tassel) featuring the mission insignia for the joint U.S.& Russian Mir program in 1995, commemorating the Mir 18 crew rotation and STS-71 Atlantis docking on June 29, 1995. The printed design depicts the Mir space station with the approaching Shuttle, against a backdrop of stars, with entwined American and Russian flags symbolizing international partnership and the thaw of Cold War tensions through space collaboration. The year 1995 marked a pivotal period in Shuttle & Mir cooperation. STS-71 was the first shuttle docking with Mir, carrying a joint crew, and exchanging astronauts.The border bears crew surnames in Cyrillic: Gibson, Harbaugh, Precourt, Baker, & Dunbar (launching STS-71 crew); Solovyev & Budarin (launching Mir 19 crew), and Thagard, Dezhurov & Strekalov (returning Mir-18 crew). Each of these crewmembers have signed near their name around the border. The front bears Mir on-board octagonal and pentagonal handstamps with a pentagonal handstamp on the verso, attesting to its authenticity. Quite rare and desirable. Excellent.
Such banners were produced in limited numbers, often carried into orbit aboard Soyuz or Shuttle missions, and later distributed among crew members, dignitaries, and training staff. This signed example, with strong association to the historic Atlantis-Mir docking mission, is an outstanding relic of U.S.-Russian spaceflight cooperation during the Shuttle-Mir program. From the Family Collection of Jacques Bracke
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