Robert Thirsk and Michael Barratt

From the personal collection of Gene Cernan

cosmonauts and spaceflight participants associated with its later ISS visit

and visiting Shuttle crews entered the station to carry out maintenance

The resident crew added further historical importance

STS-71 - Soyuz TM-21 first docking - Space Shuttle FLOWN cover Challenger Robert Thirsk and Michael BarrattSTS 71 First ShuttleMir Docking Flown Cover, Signed by Solovyev and Budarin A very rare official cover carried aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis to the Mir space station during STS 71, one of the defining missions of post Cold War space exploration. The cover was flown from Earth aboard Atlantis and postmarked aboard Mir on June 29, 1995the exact date of the first docking between an American Space Shuttle and the Russian orbital station. It is hand signed