This official color NASA lithograph montage consists of photographs taken in space to record the key objectives and achievements of the mission. The top half is the photo of the FIRST HANDSHAKE IN SPACE between a U.S. Astronaut, General Thomas P Stafford and a Soviet Cosmonaut, Aleksei Leonov on July 17, 1975. The lower left photo is of Cosmonaut Valerii Kubasov signing the document for the International Aeronautical Federation authenticating the mission and the lower right photo is of 2 plaques which were assembled in space by the crews commemorating cooperation in space. The plaques and the documents are in Star City Space Museum and the Smithsonian Museum. The lithograph provides a bilingual (English Russian) description of the activities in the 3 photos. The mission patch was designed by Galina Andreevna Balashova. It was the first and only patch designed for an Apollo mission outside of the U.S.A. The Soviet 50k Space Stamp not only depicts the 2 prime crews but also shows the Moscow Space Flight Center which was off limits to most foreigners up to that point. The second decal is a 1974 copyrighted UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE item of “Snoopy” and “Mishka” communicating in their native languages. “Mishka” gives a command in Russian (let’s go or let‘er ride” and receives a response, “Right on!” A bit of historical clarification is in order at this point. During the joint operations segment of the mission, the Americans spoke Russian to the Soviet crew and the Soviet crew responded in English. While negotiating the mission details, the use of each other’s language was agreed upon for the joint operations segments. This requirement was based on “expert opinion” that when using a foreign language the speakers tend to be more careful and/or cautious. As a language instructor/interpreter, I agree with this conclusion. Furthermore, as one of the interpreters during the mission, I can vouch that there were no communication problems.

So in fact, in the decal cartoon, Snoopy should be speaking in Russian and “Mishka” in English!

This July 15, 2024 will be the 49th anniversary of the Apollo Soyuz mission. These items provide valuable confirmation of facts that characterize this historic mission and will only grow in demand.