Collecting Cosmonaut Autographs

Автографы советских космонавтов

Updated October 20, 2002

NEW URL: http://fly.to/salyut

The first four cosmonauts
Left to right: Yuri Gagarin, Andrian Nikolayev, Pavel Popovich, Gherman Titov

Many autograph collectors enjoy collecting astronaut autographs in the mail. However, for various reasons, most "western" collectors have largely ignored the autographs of Russian/Soviet cosmonauts. This is very surprising, considering the achievements of the cosmonauts. Among other things, the Cosmonauts had these firsts:

First man in space - Yuri Gagarin, 1961
First day-long flight, Gherman Titov, 1961
First overlapping flights, Vostok 3/4, 1962
First woman in space - Valentina Tereshkova, 1963
First multi-man crew, Voskhod 1, 1964
First "space walk" - Alexei Leonov, 1965
First docking of 2 spacecraft, Soyuz 4/5, 1969
First transfer from one spacecraft to another - Soyuz 4/5,1969
First space station, Salyut 1, 1971

There is good news and bad news regarding obtaining cosmonaut autographs by mail. First the good news. Any response you receive is almost guaranteed to be authentic; Cosmonauts rarely use secretaries or autopens to respond to autograph requests. (But, see exceptions and known fakes.) You can write in English and still receive a response. About 1/2 of the cosmonauts who have flown in space will sign something sent to them (usually space-related covers) or will send you a signed photo at no charge. This includes most of the early pioneers too! If you decide to collect cosmonauts "seriously", there are very few expensive cosmonaut autographs; most cosmonaut autographs are available for under $20.

Now the bad news. Response times are long; a wait of a year is not at all unusual and some cosmonauts are known to take several years. A few key names like Yuri Gagarin are deceased and must be purchased from reliable dealers. (More bad news: there are very few dealers of cosmonaut autographs!) Two cosmonauts, Patsayev and Dobrovolsky, are virtually unobtainable. (See signing habits page for details.) Letters and notes from cosmonauts are unusual. Photos are usually postcard sized and may not be in color. Russian uses a different alphabet and a different handwritten script; it may be difficult to know who responded to you! However, these are very small drawbacks considering the potential rewards!

Intrigued? Choose one or more of the following:

Cosmonaut autograph images 1961-1975

Cosmonaut autograph images 1976-1981

How to write for cosmonaut autographs including signing habits

Some group-signed items (Warning - several large images!)

Deceased cosmonauts - with autograph samples

Some known fakes including pre-printed, autopen, secretarial, etc.

Some related links of interest

More autograph samples, photos, etc. to be added over time!

(By the way, the Russian title at the top of the page translates as "Autographs of Soviet Cosmonauts")

This site was chosen Space Site of the Week for January 26, 1998!

Additions, corrections, comments, etc. most welcome!

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