Group lot of 10 press releases from the “Embassy of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics,” dated between August 1960 and April 1961, 19 total pages, each 8.5 x 14. The stapled releases are issued by the USSR Embassy based in Washington D.C., and cover various updates, innovations, and accomplishments of the fast-moving Soviet space program. The releases, which bear annotations in graphite or red pencil, concern the following reports:
The successful launch and return of space dogs Belka and Strelka aboard Korabl-Sputnik 2 (No. 427); the implementation of a television camera on Korabl-Sputnik 2, which took images of the dogs (429); a 7-page release covering in detail the impact of the Korabl-Sputnik 2, with sections related to “Cosmic Rays,” “Light and Heavy Nuclei,” and “Solar Radiation” (454); a brief with a lead article entitled “Soviet Space Travelers Get Ready,” which features Vladimir Timakov’s (Vice President of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR) thoughts on “what is being done to prepare man for flight in spaceships” (511); a brief entitled “Seven-Ton Soviet Satellite Launched Into Orbit,” which concerns “plans for developing and improving heavyweight space-ships” (36); and one packet contains five releases dating to April 12 and 14, 1961, all of which concern the historic flight of Yuri Gagarin, with issue 90 stating: “A great event has occurred: Man has made a space flight for the first time history…” (87-90, 92). In overall very good to fine condition, with irregular toning, and wear to edges.
