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 Joint Soviet/German Spaceflight - Potsdam, Germany
N 52° 22.823 E 013° 03.928
33U E 368328 N 5805107
Stamp commemorating the space flight of Soyuz 31.
Waymark Code: WMT78C
Location: Brandenburg, Germany
Date Posted: 10/07/2016
Views: 2
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In 1978, Soviet cosmonaut Valery Bykovsky and East German cosmonaut Sigmund Jähn performed the first joint Russian/German space flight on board of Soviet space craft Soyuz 31. A monument in Potsdam's science park commemorates the event. It shows bronze busts of the astronauts with metal rings around the necks symbolizing the collars of their space suits.
The flight was part of the Intercosmos program. It was a big sensation at the time, making East Germany only the fifth country (after the USSR, the USA, Czechoslovakia and Poland) to have performed a manned space flight.
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At the day of launch, the East German postal service issued a whole set of stamps and a first day cover. The 1 M (One East German Mark) stamp shows portraits of both cosmonauts similar to the busts on the monument.
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There is a rather ironic side note to the story: The launch date and the names of the cosmonauts were a heavily guarded secret until the launch. However, the East German Government wanted to have a celebration as soon as the launch occurred. Thus, managers of certain production lines (posters, souvenirs etc.) were sworn to secrecy and were ordered to produce memorabilia ahead of time.
There was a primary crew and a backup crew preparing for the flight and up until the launch it was not certain, if the first East German space man would indeed be Sigmund Jähn or his backup, Eberhard Köllner.
Thus everything had to be prepared for both cases and all memorabilia regarding the backup crew (including a similar set of stamps) were destroyed after the successful launch of the primary crew.
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Stamp Issuing Country: DDDR (Deutsche Demokratische Republik - German Democratic Republic)
Date of Issue: 08/26/1978
Denomination: 1 M
Color: Multicolored
Stamp Type: FDC - Stamp Image
Relevant Web Site: [Web Link]
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