Soyuz-30


June 27, 1978


Crew & Mission

Left: Pjotr Klimuk and Miroslaw Hermaszewski in their training Sokols - no longer with the 'early Zvezda' and 'early CCCP' silk flag patches. The patch configuration is almost as during the real flight: only the state seals were not present on the flight Sokols. Right: Intravehicular training for the mission. During the real mission, the Interkosmos patch was placed lower and the crew were wearing bi-lingual nametags.

Soyuz-30 was the second Interkosmos mission. Soyuz-30 was launched on June 27, 1978 and docked to the Salyut-6 station a little less than 26 hours later. Commander Pjotr I. Klimuk and Polish Interkosmos cosmonaut Miroslav Hermaszewski joined Salyut-6 Expedition crew Aleksandr Ivanchenko and Vladimir Kovalyonok for a week. They returned to Earth on July 5, 1978.


The red/white-type Interkosmos council patch (l), the Polish Seal (c) and the Polish Flag (r).


Patch History
The Council for International Cooperation in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space (Interkosmos) was founded in 1976. Naturally, new emblems for uniforms and pressure suits were needed to reflect the cooperative nature of the missions. On December 14-15, 1977, a conference was held in Moscow by representatives of Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany and the USSR, discussing the public relations aspect, the creation of the emblems and logos, and candidates for the flights. On December 23, 1977, Chairman B.I. Petrov of the Interkosmos council informed Zvezda General Director/Designer G. I. Severin announcing that Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, and East Germany had agreed to participate in joint missions. Probably, it was in this letter that Zvezda was instructed to produce the Bulgarian, Czechoslowakian and East German joint mission Sokol-K suits and mission patches. When Poland joined in, is unknown to us.

A number of prototypes was considered before choosing the white version for the mission.


The Real Thing

Left: Klimuk and Hermaszewski in their flight Sokols before launch. Right: Klimuk and Hermaszewski in their flight Sokols shortly after the mission.

The joint mission patch was worn on the right sleeve of the intra-vehicular suits. The Interkosmos council logo (white/red version) was worn on the right lower torso, with the Soviet and Polish seals at the upper left chest. On the Sokol suits, the Interkosmos was worn on the right sleeve. On both suits, the flags were worn on the left sleeve. The Soviet flag was a felt, square lettered type on both the Sokol and the intravehicular suit.


Klimuk and Hermaszewski with Salyut-6 Expedition Crew Ivanchenko and Kovalyonok.


Left, right: Klimuk and Hermaszewski in IVA-suits, with Ivanchenko.


Collecting Soyuz-30

The Space Commerce Corporation reproduction (l) and the Stewart Aviation reproduction (c). The patches at right are souvenir versions made by Eagle One Aerospace.

The patch was designed and produced by the Zvezda corporation. Two souvenir versions were made in the West by Stewart Aviation in England and Space Commerce Corporation in the United States. Two related commemorative patches were produced by Eagle One Aerospace in Virginia.

The Stewart Aviation version is no longer available from their catalogue, but Rundy Hunt might still have it. The SCC version is offered every now and then on eBay. The EOA-versions are no longer available. The original Soviet-made patch was made available to officials as part of a Presentation Set, which is scarcely seen in auctions.

The original patches shown on this page are scans from the book "40 Let Kosmicheskogo Polviga" ("40 Years of Spaceflight"; Moscow December 2000), except for the Interkosmos 78 mission patch, which is photographed from the collection of Bert Vis. The picture of the artwork and the SCC version were taken from eBay auctions.


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