Scarce embroidered Apollo-Soyuz program patch carried on the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, measuring 4˝ in diameter, signed and flight-certified on the reverse in blue felt tip, "Flown on ASTP, Tom Stafford." In fine condition. Accompanied by a provenance letter on the letterhead of Stafford's consulting firm, in part: "Attached to this letter is an Apollo Soyuz Program emblem flown on the Apollo Soyuz Test Project (ASTP) flight during July 15 to 24, 1975. I was commander of the United States Apollo spacecraft which performed the first docking and joint operations with a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. This emblem was carried in the Apollo Command Module while I, along with fellow Apollo crew members Deke Slayton and Vance Brand performed flight operations and experiments with the Soyuz cosmonauts—Commander Alexei Leonov and flight engineer Valeri Kubasov. Our two space vehicles were docked together for almost 48 hours with nearly 20 hours of that time being actual crew interactive activities. This emblem was part of the historic policy of détente between the United States and the Soviet Union, with initial steps starting in late 1970. I was proud to be the U.S. Commander and very pleased to have Deke Slayton as a fellow crew member. He was grounded for medical reasons since the Mercury Program, but in 1972 was certified to fly. He finally made it into space some 16 years after his selection in 1959 as one of the 'Original Seven' Mercury astronauts."
