posted 06-20-2021 09:39 AM               

Space Cover #613: Soyuz 11 at 50

Fifty years ago today, the Soyuz 11 crew had overcome the docking problems that plagued Soyuz 10, a smoky atmosphere in their Salyut 1 space station on first entry, an actual fire a couple days prior, and they were now on their way to setting a new record for human spaceflight duration. Things seemed to be looking up...

The cover above was hand cancelled in Moscow on June 6, 1971 when the Soyuz 11 crew of Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov, and Viktor Patsayev was launched. It carries a Carl Swanson designed cachet, designated R1 in Chuck Vukotich's "Spacecraft Covers, A Monograph and Catalog." Chuck lists 500 made. These are not as easy-to-find as other Swanson Cachets issued in numbers of 500 – the USSR did not publicize this flight with stamps and covers after the tragic ending of this flight, making the supply of Soyuz 11 covers less than the demand.

Four days before launch, the Soyuz 11 prime crew of Alexei Leonov, Valeri Kubasov, and Pyotr Kolodin was replaced by the backup crew when an x-ray indicated that Kubasov might have contracted tuberculosis. As shown above, the backup crew of Dobrovolsky, Volkov, and Patsayev launched on June 6, 1971, successfully docked with, and entered the Salyut 1 space station the next day, making Salyut 1 the first manned space station (the earlier Soyuz 10 crew had docked with Salyut 1, but were unable to enter it). The crew spent 22 days on Salyut 1, setting a (then) new record for human spaceflight duration. And, uncharacteristically of the time, the USSR sent out updates through the duration of the mission.

I remember going to Boy Scout camp in southeast Kansas in mid-June of that year. Having been a space geek for the prior eight years, I was already adept at spotting satellites. One night at camp, I looked up to see the brightest satellite I had ever seen transiting from true northwest to true southeast. It had to be Salyut 1 with its crew onboard. I was thrilled!

On June 29, the crew undocked from Salyut 1 and fired the Soyuz 11 retrorockets to come home. Contact with the crew was lost as the orbit module separated for re-entry. The descent module re-entered automatically and landed safely. When the recovery crew opened the hatch, Dobrovolsky, Volkov, and Patsayev were still strapped into their seats, dead. When the orbit module separated before re-entry, the separation jarred open a valve which caused the descent module to depressurize. In order to fit three crewmembers into the Soyuz (at the time) there was not room for them to be in their space suits, so they died of asphyxiation in the vacuum of the depressurized descent module.

In SCOTW 442 we already discussed the fact that Soyuz 11 crew autographs tend to be suspect due to the crewmembers not becoming prime until four days before the launch (limiting the covers that they could have signed preflight) and their not surviving re-entry (i.e. no covers signed postflight).

So, aside from debating the legitimacy of crew autographs which we've done earlier, do any of the rest of you have other Soyuz 11 covers to show? Let's post them here! (And as always, if you can't host the cover image, please email it to me and I'll be glad to do that for you.) Let's give a tribute to three brave men who made the ultimate sacrifice.

posted 06-22-2021 06:17 PM               

At top is Vukotich #R2 postmarked in Moscow on June 7, 1971 for the docking of Soyuz 11 with Salyut 1. And the lower cover is Vukotich #R4 postmarked in Moscow on June 30, 1971 for the return of the Soyuz 11 capsule and ill-fated crew.

So, that leads to the question of "What’s R3?" Vukotich lists it as a Soyuz 11 undocking cover postmarked in Moscow on June 21, 1971 (undocking was on June 29). I've never seen one of these. Has anyone else?

posted 06-23-2021 07:33 PM               

Note that the printed cachet is the docking cover cachet.

The wording on the rubber stamp added to the cover roughly translates to:

Salyut - Soyuz 11
14th day at the Station
21-VI-71

posted 06-24-2021 08:55 AM               

Actually though, the same docking pictorial cachet could still be used, possibly cutting back on another cachet cover artwork and cost, for undocking since the Soyuz is seen approaching (or in this case "leaving" the station).

posted 06-24-2021 09:26 AM               

or

already printed docking covers received a wrong cancel (6/21 date), error was found and corrected as docking covers exist with correct date, to "salvage" covers with wrong date the RS wording was added.