Vladimir Beilin (Russian, 20th C.) "USSR/US Cosmonauts/Astronauts Exploring" Original Watercolor painting. Provenance: Collection of James A. Helzer (1946-2008), Founder of Unicover Corporation. This painting was originally published on the Fleetwood First Day of Issue Maximum Card for the Russia Space Exploration stamp issued May 29, 1992. Even when vast political differences separated the United States and Soviet Union, scientists from both nations' space programs were working together on a cooperative basis. Their first great success was the unprecedented Soyuz-Apollo joint mission in 1975, which saw three astronauts and two cosmonauts exchange handshakes and gifts -- and even share a meal of borscht -- in their docked spaceships. But during the next 16 years, marked by events in Afghanistan and the Middle East, that first small tear in the iron curtain seemed to have been sewn closed forever. Today, however, as a result of momentous changes in the former USSR, hopes for mutual exploration of space have been reborn in a planned joint mission to Mars. The design of this First Day of Issue Postcard depicts that hoped-for 21st century mission of exploration, showing an American and Russian exploring in friendship the ruddy planet named for the ancient Roman god of war. Image Size: 8.5 x 12 in. Overall Size: 10.25 x 15 in. Unframed. (B13801) See More