Soviet cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov. His first space flight was aboard Voskhod in 1964. He died in 1967 returning from his second space mission, Soyuz-1.
This blog is about old postcards, book illustration and all kinds of paper whimsy from the Soviet Union. I'm a long time collector, and this blog is 7 years old. I have an etsy shop for cards, books, pins and vintage finds from Russia.
Illustrations by Yury Bazhanov for Konstantin Tsiolkovsky’s book “The Path To The Stars” (1960)
Space Pavillion at VDNKh. Photos by Lyudmila Gor (1986) ()
You may have noticed that many of the Soviet space-themed pins are pentagon shaped. Why is that? The pentagon shape is a reference to the Moon pennant that was sent to the Moon on spacecraft in 1959.
I bought this collection of 400+ space-themed pins yesterday (it’s not from the flea market but from a local man) - and I’m in awe! What a treasure.
Sputnik was launched on October 4, 1957
Listen to its radio signal, beep… beep…
Booklet from the Museum of Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Zvyozdny Gorodok (Star Town) near Moscow - published in 1987 ()
Valentina Tereshkova flew into space on this day, June 16, 1963
She was the first woman cosmonaut ever.
Vintage Soviet children’s books about space
Sputnik postcard by V. Viktorov, 1971 (full set is in my shop)
211 Days Aboard Salyut-7 - book from 1983. Salyut-7 was a space station in low Earth orbit from April 1982 to February 1991. Its first crew, Anatoly Berezovoy and Valentin Lebedev, spent 211 days on board in 1982. This book covers their story.
(available )
“Soviet space exploration” - boxed set of 6 space pins from 1970s ()
Valentina Tereshkova print (1973)
In my shop:
Lunokhod (Moon Rover) enamel pin
Buy: