posted 02-05-2017 07:16 AM               

Space Cover #403: STS-60

This installment of Space Cover of the Week commemorates the launch of STS-60 on February 3, 1994 aboard Shuttle Discovery. The crew included the first Russian cosmonaut to fly on the shuttle.

Discovery flew 130 orbits in 8 days 7 hours. The cover was autographed by the crew except Jan Davis, but also includes Sergei Krikalev's backup Vladimir Titov.

posted 02-05-2017 05:19 PM               

STS-60 was the first operational mission of Shuttle-Mir program that included a cosmonaut in the space shuttle crew and live communications with Mir space station. Sergei Krikalev became the first Russian cosmonaut to fly on the U.S. space shuttle when he launched with his five NASA crewmates onboard Discovery.

Krikalev and his backup, Vladimir Titov, joined the STS-60 mission after the U.S. crew had already been assigned; however, Krikalev was able to take full part in the mission. His roles included manipulating the shuttle's payload bay "arm" and operating the Space Acceleration Measurement System experiment, as well as participating in the joint science experiments.

Krikalev's backup Titov would go on to fly on the STS-63 "near Mir" mission. Besides gaining practical experience on an American space shuttle, Krikalev helped further diplomatic and public relations in ways that hearkened back to the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project of 1975 and pointed forward to the Shuttle-Mir flights.

As this comes to my point of interest I would like to add some covers, they are not too fancy or rare but show the right place in the right time — the first one is the beginning of training for Krikalev and Titov in JSC.

Here is the very nice Colorano Silk cachet and I plan to get Sergey Krikalev autograph for it.

This one has launch and landing KSC cancellations that I call – "mission summary" cover, note the 1992 joint space issue stamps.

A special STS-60 postmark was issued and here is a couple of covers bearing it with different colors and dates.