Signed Soviet Authorised Personnel Armband

Signed Soviet Authorised Personnel Armband

Soviet armband, worn by a member of the ground team at the Baikonur Cosmodrome prior to the launch of Valentina Tereshkova’s Vostok 6 flight in 1963. It has been signed by many important individuals from the early Soviet Space programme, including Tereshkova herself.

Armbands like these were worn by authorised personnel on the launchpad before the launch of Vostok 6, the mission upon which Valentina Tereshkova became the first women in space. The largely faded gold Cyrillic inscription in the centre of the armband reads ‘ДЕЖУРНЫЙ’ and translates to ‘Person on Duty’, indicating that the wearer was a member of authorised personnel in a restricted zone. Following Tereshkova’s safe return, the original owner of the armband got many of the most notable people from the early Soviet Space programme (including Tereshkova) to sign the armband to commemorate their involvement in this notable space first.

Following on from the successful flight of Yuri Gagarin, who became the first man in space in 1961, Sergei Korolev began pushing the idea of putting the first women into space. In early 1962 Tereshkova was selected to join the female cosmonaut corps, which also included Irina Solovyova, Tatyana Kuznetsova, Valentina Ponomaryova and Zhanna Yorkina. These five women had been chosen from over 400 applicants, and Tereshkova and Ponomaryova were subsequently picked to fly on-board Vostok 5 and 6 respectively – a joint mission with two Vostok capsules launching a day apart. The decision to appoint two women was later changed, with cosmonaut Valery Bykovsky chosen to fly Vostok 5. Tereshkova remained attached to the mission and launched aboard Vostok 6 on 16 June 1963, becoming the first women in space.

Signatures include those of cosmonauts Tereshkova, Yuri Gagarin, Gherman Titov, Andriyan Nikolayev, Alexei Leonov and Pavel Popovich, as well as members of the Federal Commission and notable academics, such as Sergei Korolev, Mstislav Keldysh and Kerim Kerimov.