Commemorative stamp series - Germany / German Democratic Republic 1978

Joint space flight USSR GDR 2nd edition For the first joint space flight USSR - GDR, the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications of the German Democratic Republic issues a further four multicolored special postage stamps and one special postage stamp block. Special cancellation from September 21 to November 20, 1978 Common Space Flight USSR - GDR 1, - Mark Block: Soyuz / Salut / Soyuz orbital complex and portraits of the two cosmonauts Waleri Bykowski and Sigmund Jähn On August 26, the spacecraft Soyuz 31 with commander Colonel Dr. Valeri Bykowski (USSR) and research cosmonaut Lieutenant Colonel Sigmund Jähn (GDR). A day later, Soyuz 31 landed at the rear of Orbital Station Salut 6, where the crew, Vladimir Kovaljonok and Alexander Ivanchchenkov had been working for more than two months. The orbital complex consisting of a salute station and two Soyuz ships has a mass of 32.5 tonnes, a length of about 30 meters, a maximum diameter of 4.15 meters, a "wing span" with solar cell boom of 17 meters and a total volume of around 110 cubic meters. This corresponds approximately to the dimensions of an airliner of the type 11-18, which can carry up to 100 passengers.