Deke Slayton’s personal copy of a bilingual report prepared in 1975 after the Apollo-Soyuz mission, bound in red leatherette from a total edition of 12 and signed several times inside by those involved. Cover bears a gilt title in English and Cyrillic: File on Absolute World and World Records of the World’s First Joint flight of the Soyuz (USSR) and Apollo (USA) Spacecraft on the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. American and Russian agencies prepared the report to be submitted to the Federation Aeronautique Internationale, the governing body for all aeronautical and astronautical world records. Inside are a number of signed reports as well as 36 photos of the astronauts from before and after the flight, schematics, and the signing of the ‘Space Magna Carta.’ Each report was produced in English and Russian, and both versions were signed. Each member of the crew has signed both versions of their respective reports: Alexei Leonov, Valeri Kubasov, Tom Stafford, Vance Brand, and Deke Slayton, with the Americans all signing together on the same two reports. Other reports are signed by various officials and engineers associated with the project. With the book are Slayton’s certificates from the FAI, 13 x 10, each signed by three of the agency’s executives and recognizing one of five different world records set by the mission: the absolute world duration record for the two spacecraft formation flight of 53 hours, 9 minutes, and 17 seconds; the absolute world record for a grouped docked mass of 20,997 kg; the absolute world endurance record for a group docked of 46 hours, 46 minutes, and 44 seconds; the absolute world maximum altitude record by a group in docked mode of 237 km; and the first joint spaceflight based on distance by a group of 1,488,320 km. Each certificate is framed to an overall size of 14 x 11. In overall fine condition, with trivial rippling to some pages of the book. Accompanied by a letter of provenance from the executor of Slayton’s estate. An incredibly rare collection once owned by an original member of the ‘Mercury Seven’ and the first time the signed official report and accompanying certificates have ever been offered at auction. RRAuction COA.
