1957 SPUTNIK ASHTRAY FROM ALEX PACHENKO COLLECTION, FLOWN IN SPACE

1957 SPUTNIK ASHTRAY FROM ALEX PACHENKO COLLECTION, FLOWN IN SPACE

Original piece was presented to launch team officier Vladimir Ivanovich Katayev.General V.I.Katayev-ballistic, participant over 1500 rocket launches of satellites and spacecraft from 1957 and up to Energia-Buran launch in 1988.

When I was into my Russian Space phaze, I received this in the mail in about 2012. I barely wrote to the gentleman a month or so before so I was not known to him nor was he known to me. I remember that I had seen a Russian Space Model he had owned and barely got over not owning it. So he sent me this model in the mail, not writing me first. So I had this in my home for a short while. It had the credentials of being in space, flown in a trip with a Russian cosmonaut so it was rather valuable. Being flown in space was the sure way to have provenance with heavy clout in the space collecting world !! It did not really fit the way I wanted my collection to go so in about 2 weeks I returned it to him, although thinking back I should.....

Alex Pachenko is the person you think of when you collect space memorabilia handling many pieces which are awarded to the astronauts of Nasa and Russia and have passed through his hands. He has met and worked with many astronauts of the world space programs and dealing with him was a pleasure and honour !~