posted 03-18-2026 10:27 AM               

The few covers shown below were selected because of their early ASTP events that are known. Two of the covers commemorate when U.S. President Richard Nixon on visit to Moscow on May 24, 1972, signed a space treaty with Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin. The history-making agreement was to dock an American three-man spacecraft with a Russian two-man Soyuz small space laboratory while orbiting the earth 200 miles high. Two covers depicted on the top row are Russian and American space treaty signings.

The Moscow/Kennedy Space Center covers were considered by many space cover collectors to be the first ASTP issues of this new joint space venture. But there had been an earlier ASTP cover produced on June 21, 1971, almost a year earlier, in which the Johnson Space Center held an initial-plans meeting by top U.S. and Russian space officials. Others shown are from the earliest years of the program from 1971 to 1973. Of course, there any many others from the final years before the dual missions actually flew in July 1975.

Most of the covers represented here were produced by the Space City Cover Society, owned and operated by Harry Anderson, of Houston, Texas. Several were astronaut signed by the U.S. ASTP crew, early Apollo-Soyuz program leaders, and some autographed by those Soviet cosmonauts and officials of which a few even depict their pictures as part of the cachet photo designs.

posted 03-19-2026 06:45 PM               

On October 21, 1969, cosmonauts Beregovoy and Feoktistov were the first cosmonauts to visit and tour the NASA Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston, as commemorated by this MSC Cover Society cover. This cosmonaut visit could possibly be considered as having early relevance to ASTP.

This cover dated November 19, 1973, gives little information other than the ASTP astronauts were training in Russia on that date. The very small and faint rubber stamp is addressed to George Goldey.

The ATS-6 satellite was used for ASTP communications and provided about 50% of the communication. It was a forerunner to the later TDRS satellites used throughout the shuttle program (The cover cost $1 in 1974 and came from Crystal First Day Covers. Crystal FDC's provided me with a number of early event covers).

posted 03-20-2026 04:20 PM               

Unfortunately, I have not such great covers like you (they are not signed either) but I would like to complete it somehow with the these three covers.

Soviet cosmonauts Nikolayev and Sevastyanov visited Houston from 21 to 23 October as you can read in the cover shown by Bob postmarked Houston Oct 21, 1970.

Below, two covers postmarked with other dates Houston Oct 22, 1970 and Houston Oct 23, 1970.

And finally, if astronauts train in Russia is commemorated with a cover produced by Goldey and postmarked Houston Nov 19, 1973 its companion is the below cover, for cosmonauts train in Houston and postmarked Houston May 2, 1974.