LT. GENERAL GEORGY T. BEREGOVOY - COMMEMORATIVE ENVELOPE SIGNED CO-SIGNED BY: MAJOR GENERAL ANDRIAN NIKOLAYEV, VITALY I. SEVASTYANOV - HFSID 264889

EARLY COSMONAUTS: GEORGY T. BEREGOVOY, VITALY SEVASTYANOV and ANDRIAN NIKOLAYEV
1971 Russian commemorative envelope signed by the three early cosmonauts. Extremely rare!
Commemorative Envelope signed: "Beregovoi", "Sevastyanov" and "Nikolayev" all in Russian, 6½x4½. Pictorially postmarked in Russian circa 1971. GEORGY BEREGOVOY (1921-1995) was the pilot of Soyuz 3, launched on Oct. 26, 1968. He orbited the Earth 64 times and came within 650 feet of the unmanned Soyuz 2. ANDRIAN NIKOLAYEV (1929-2004) took part in the U.S.S.R.'s first dual launch, which took place on August 11-12, 1962.Vostok 3, with Nikolayev aboard, and Vostok 4, manned byPavel Popovich, came within three miles of each other during the first orbit of Vostok 4. Vostok 3 completed 64 orbits in 94 hours, 24 minutes, while Vostok 4 made 48 orbits in 70 hours, 57 minutes. Nikolayev later flew aboard the 17 day, 16 hour and 59 minute flight of Soyuz 9, launched on June 19, 1970. VITALY SEVASTYANOV (1935-2010), who flew aboard Souyuz 9 with Nikolayev, was the Flight Engineer on Soyuz 18, which was launched on May 24, 1975 and returned to Earth on July 26, 1975. He later led the Soviet fundraising effort to save the Russian space station Mir. Autographs of the early Soviet cosmonauts are quite scarce, and highly sought-after. Beregovoi's signature written over stamp. Cancellation touches Nikolayev's signature. Envelope is somewhat soiled. Lightly rippled at upper right margin near stamps. Rubber stamped address of Romanian collector at lower right margin. Otherwise, fine condition.