posted 07-29-2025 03:22 PM               

On July 30, a stamp dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the joint flight of the Soyuz and Apollo spacecraft will be put into circulation.

On May 24, 1972, in Moscow, the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR A.N. Kosygin and the President of the United States of America R. Nixon signed the "Agreement between the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the United States of America on Cooperation in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space for Peaceful Purposes." The main objectives of the program were to create a promising universal rescue vehicle, test technical systems and methods for joint flight control, and conduct joint scientific research and experiments. A universal docking unit was developed especially for the flight - a petal or "androgynous" one.

On July 15, 1975, at 15:20 Moscow time, the Soyuz-19 spacecraft was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome with cosmonauts Alexei Leonov and Valery Kubasov on board. Seven and a half hours later, the Apollo spacecraft with astronauts Thomas Stafford, Vance Brand and Donald Slayton was launched from Cape Canaveral (USA). During the approach section of the spacecraft, during the preparation for each maneuver, the Apollo's jet system and digital autopilot provided control. On July 17, 1975, at 18:14 Moscow time, the final phase of the spacecraft's approach began. The docking of the Soyuz-19 and Apollo spacecraft was recorded at 19:09 Moscow time, and the compression of the docking point was recorded at 19:12. The spacecraft docked, becoming the prototype of the future international space station. After checking the tightness of the Soyuz-19 spacecraft, the hatch between the descent module and the habitation module was opened and a precise tightness check was started. Then the tunnel between the Apollo docking module and the Soyuz habitation module was inflated to 250 mm Hg. The cosmonauts opened the hatch of the Soyuz habitation module. A few minutes later, the hatch of the Apollo docking module was opened. The symbolic handshake of the ship commanders took place at 22:19 Moscow time. The second transfer of the cosmonauts took place the following day.

The flight of the spacecraft in the docked state lasted 43 hours 54 minutes 11 seconds. The ships undocked on July 19 at 15:03 Moscow time. Upon completion of the flight programs, the Soyuz-19 crew successfully landed on July 21, 1975, near the city of Arkalyk in Kazakhstan, and on July 25, the command module of the Apollo ship splashed down in the Pacific Ocean.

The postage stamp depicts the docking of the Soyuz-19 and Apollo spacecraft in space on July 15, 1975, against the backdrop of the Earth.

In addition to the release of the postage stamp, first day covers will be issued, and special cancellation stamps will be made for Moscow, St. Petersburg, Arkhangelsk, Barnaul, Baikonur, Vladimir, Yevpatoriya in the Republic of Crimea, Yekaterinburg, Yenakiyevo in the Donetsk People's Republic, Kazan, Kaluga, Kemerovo, Kirov, Murmansk, Omsk, Orenburg, Penza, Samara, Sochi in Krasnodar Krai, Tomsk, Chelyabinsk and Yaroslavl, as well as a maximum card.

• Artist-designer: H. Betredinova.
  
• Denomination: 33 rubles.
  
• Stamp size (diameter): 30 mm, sheet size: 141×141 mm.
  
• Issue format: sheet with decorated fields of 9 (3×3) stamps.
  
• Circulation: 216 thousand stamps (24 thousand sheets).