‘APOLLO-SOYUZ’ CIGARETTES GIFT BOX SIGNED BY COSMONAUT ALEXEY LEONOV An autographed gift box comprising 10 cigarette packs signed ‘Alexei Leonov’ and dated «21 07 75»

Design of box and cigarette packs: Cosmonaut, Alexei Leonov 32 x 20 x 3 cm The label design for Soyuz Apollo cigarettes features a painting by cosmonaut Alexei Leonov. Rare, signed gift box (of only fifteen signed by A. Leonov), one of the sets was presented to Leonid Brezhnev. In 1975 the two leading space powers of the 20th century participated in a joint programme that was a major event for US- Soviet relations. Spacecraft with Soviet and American crews Soyuz-19 (Alexei Leonov, Valery Kubasov) and Apollo-18 (Apollo, Thomas Strafford, Donald Slayton, Vance Brand) made a joint docking on July 15, 1975. During 1975-1976, a series of postage stamps, postcards, photo albums and cigarettes called Soyuz Apollo were issued in the Soviet Union to commemorate the flight. The Soyuz Apollo cigarette brand included the famous Virginia tobacco of the American company Philip Morris and was developed by Philip Morris and the Soviet tobacco industry. It was decided to produce the cigarettes at the USSR’s leading Moscow-based ‘Yava’ factory. All the cigarettes were packaged in attractive blocks of ten packs each. For top executives, cigarettes were packed in flat gift boxes of the same capacity. The label design for Soyuz Apollo cigarettes was developed by a member of the expedition himself, cosmonaut Alexei Leonov. The chief engineer of the Yava factory personally visited Alexei Leonov, and the pilot cosmonaut signed fifteen gift boxes. Our box is one of them. One of the gift boxes was given to Leonid Brezhnev. Leonid Brezhnev also said in his memoirs that he used to present Soyuz-Apollo cigarettes with his signature as a souvenir of the era. Leonov recalled: ‘Even in the Cold War conditions, there were people who proposed to implement a programme to dock two spaceships. The act of these people shows global thinking, a great concern for all humankind, not for one’s benefit. US President Richard Nixon took the initiative. He phoned Alexei Kosygin, Chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers, and proposed a programme to dock two spaceships in orbit so cosmonauts and astronauts could work together. For Soviet officials, the project proved to be very prestigious. For the first time, consumer products of international quality appeared on the country’s market and were highly appreciated by the people. Ten per cent of the cigarettes produced were exported to the United States, a rare event for Soviet-made consumer products.