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Early Zvezda


(1973-1978)
Following the Soyuz-11 disaster in June 1971, Soyuz-cosmonauts started wearing so called "Sokol" pressure suits. Standard item on the
flightsuits was a blue, square piece of woven canvas, showing the logo of the manufacturer: Zvezda. Sometimes, it also included the
yellow lettering 'Salyut'. It was attached to the right upper chest. The first crew to wear the suits were Vasili Lazarev and Oleg Makarov,
who were launched aboard Soyuz-12 on September 9, 1973.
The woven Zvezda-logo was worn on every flight-Sokol since Soyuz-12 (except Soyuz-19, the high-profile Apollo-Soyuz mission which had
its own patch layout) until Soyuz-27 (January 1978), after which the Interkosmos flights (also with their own patch layouts) began.
Interesting note: the final cosmonaut to have the logo on his flight-Sokol was Oleg Makarov again. His Soyuz-27 crewmate Vladimir
Dzjanibekov (probably wearing a newer suit) already had a blank spot on his Sokol.
The logo was not always present on the training Sokols, even though these suits were from Zvezda as well. Although the logo
disappeared from the flight Sokols beginning with Soyuz-27, the crews of Soyuz-30, 31 and 32 still had it on their training suits in 1978.
The patch was also worn on some intravehicular clothing during the early Soyuz / Salyut program. It was also worn on the left shoulder of
the blue Penguin suits. The Penguin was first flown on Soyuz-10, but first worn by the Soyuz-11 (Salyut-1, June 1971) crew. We do not
know if these Penguins already had the blue Zvezda logo. Most pictures show the Soyuz-11 crew in their TNK 'Athlete' suits, which they
were permitted to wear round the clock. Since the Zvezda 'Rocket' was still in use on the intravehiculr suits, this might be an indication
that the blue early Zvezda was not in use yet. The Soyuz-12 crew did not carry Penguins; the Soyuz-13 Penguins did have the early Zvezda
patch, as photographes confirm. The Soyuz-29 Penguins (Summer 1978) were the last.
An embroidered version of the Zvezda patch (which later evolved into numerous follow-on Salyut, Mir and ISS versions) became available
for intravehicular suits as early as 1975 (the high profile Soyuz-22 Earth Observation mission) and was also present on the first Salyut-6
Orlan (spacewalk) suits in 1977.
The embroidered patch became standard issue on the blue Penguin suits halfway the Soyuz-29 stay aboard Salyut-6. Cosmonauts
Vladimir Kovalenok and Alexander Ivanchenko were still wearing their old Penguins when the Soyuz-30 crew visited in June/July 1978,
but had new Penguin suits with embroidered patches when Soyuz-31 arrived in August 1978. Their new suits were probably brought up
by the Progress-2 (which docked July 9, 1978) or Progress-3 supply ship (which docked August 9, 1978). Thus, with Soyuz-32 (February
1979), all use of the early Zvezda patch in space had been discontinued.


The woven Zvezda-logo can be seen on the right chest of the Sokol suits worn by the Soyuz-12 crew (left). Thier suits also had a Soviet
standard on the left sleeve. A color picture of the Zvezda-patch attached to a Sokol suit is shown at right.
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The Zvezda patch attached to an intravehicular suit of Soyuz-18A cosmonaut Vasili Lasarev (March 1975; left) and to the Penguin-suit of
Soyuz-26 / Salyut-6 cosmonaut Yuri Romanenko, who is seen here unloading Progress-1 in January/February 1978.

Collecting the Early Zvezda
The patch was made by the Zvezda factory and is not commercially available. We do not have it in our collection and no souvenir versions
have been produced. The picture of the patch from Lasarev's jumpsuit was taken from an internet auction.



Vimpel 'Diamond'


(1971-1991)


The circular logo with with a yellow sun, a globe with the outline of the Soviet
union, a horizontal rocket and the letters CCCP first appeared during the Soyuz-9
mission (1970) on the left shoulder of the new Trenirovochnyi-Nagruzochnogo
Kostuma-1 (Training Load Costume; TNK-1) exercise suit. The short-sleeved
singlet, with elastic bands at the upper part of the body and docking straps for
the KTF-exercise treadmill in the living compartment of the Soyuz-ship, was
especially designed for use aboard long-duration missions. It was part of an
excercise package called 'Diamond', produced by the company Vimpel. We
believe the circular CCCP-logo was originally refering to the entire 'Diamond'
package (note the diamond shape outline around the earth) and later became
the standard logo sewn to all cosmonaut-related equipment produced by the
Vimpel company, like the Zvezda 'Rocket' was sewn to Zvezda-made equipment.
We will further refer to this patch as the Vimpel 'Diamond'.

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Left: The TNK-1 suit (this one was flown on Soyuz-23). Center: The elastic bands and the Vimpel 'Diamond' patch. Right: Soyuz-29
commander Vladimir Kovaljonok wearing the TNK-1 suit aboard Salyut-6 in 1978.

The crew of Soyuz-9 was the first to take part of the 'Diamond'-package, including the TNK-1 suits, into space. The next mission, Soyuz-
10, also carried the long-sleeved 'Athlete' TNK-suit, designed to be worn not only for short 45 minute exercise periods, but during the
entire workday, just like the Zvezda 'Penguin'-suit in modern days. The 'Athlete' suit proably came in three colors (orange, green and
blue). Since the crew of Soyuz-10 did not manage to board Salyut-1, the TNK-1 and TNK 'Athlete' suits were not used on that flight.
Vimpel's TNK-1, and TNK-'Athlete' were used by the ill-fated Soyuz-11 crew aboard Salyut-1 in 1971. The crew also carried the TNK
'Penguin' suit, manufactured by Zvezda, for the first time, but did not wear it as often as they should.


The crew of Soyuz-11 aboard Salyut-1. They are wearing the long-sleeved TNK 'Athlete' suit.

The TNK-1 and TNK 'Athlete' were used on all subsequent Soyuz missions that docked to a Salyut station (Soyuz-13, Soyuz-14, Soyuz-17,
Soyuz-18B). Onboard pictures sometimes show one of the cosmonauts wearing the 'Athlete' suit, while the other is wearing the 'Penguin'
suit. Maybe, the Soviets wanted to test which of the suits was more effective. Following Soyuz-18B, the full TNK 'Athlete' suit was
probably discontinued. Zvezda's TNK 'Penguin' had taken over the role of main exercise suit, worn for long periods each day. For the KTF
treadmill, use of the TNK-1 short sleeved singlet with straps was continued, though, so the Vimpel 'Diamond' patch was still used aboard,
but only during exercise and thus less visible.

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Left: The crew of Soyuz-13 in their Soyuz-ship in 1973. Left, Pjotr Klimuk is wearing an 'Athlete'
suit. Lebedev (right) is wearing a 'Pinguin'. Note the Early Zvezda-logo, barely visible on the upper left sleeve of Lebedev's 'Pinguin' suit.
Center: Soyuz-14 commander Popovich in an 'Athlete' suit aboard Salyut-3 in 1974. Right: Pjotr Klimuk of Soyuz-18B aboard Salyut-6,
wearing the 'Athlete' suit.

During the Mir-program, a new blue circular 'Vimpel' patch was seen on the KTF treadmill equipment. This was preceded by a period of
time in which no patch was on the treadmill equipment at all. So somewhere in between the Vimpel 'Diamond' had been discontinued
for that use as well. This probably happened in the early ninetees, when the Soviet Union had collapsed. At that time, the letters 'CCCP'
did not make sense anymore and in commercialized Russian society, it became normal for a company name like 'Vimpel' to appear on
equipment and suits. In 1990, for instance, the name 'Zvezda' was also worn for the first time on the Soyuz TM-11 Sokol suits.


Left, center: The Vimpel 'Diamond' was attached to the right shoulder of the TK-2 training suits,
which - like the TNK 'Athlete', came in three colors. On the TNK-1 and TNK 'Athlete' suits worn in space, the patch was on the left shoulder.
Right: The new 1990's Vimpel patch.

Most visible use of the Vimpel 'Diamond' patch during the late seventies, eighties and early ninetees was that on the colorful
'Trenirovochnyi Kostum' or TK-2 training suits, also produced by Vimpel and seen first in training for the 1975 Apollo Soyuz Test Project
(ASTP). The Vimpel 'Diamond' was worn on the right shoulder of these earth-bound training suits. It was still in use on these suits in the
1980's and early 1990's, during the Mir program. The newer 'Vimpel' logo showing the company's name also replaced the Vimpel
'Diamond' on the TK-suits around 1991.

Collecting the Vimpel 'Diamond'


This patch is not commercially available. Stewart Aviation in England did make a
replica in the late 1980's, as part of a generic Soviet patch set. These patches were
made from pictures sent by Dutch patch collector Luc van den Abeelen. In 2003,
Randy Hunt made a replica from the replica. Since detailed pictures of the patch were
scarce, both souvenir versions do not accurately depict the diamond shaped outline
and the tail of the rocket.







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Zvezda 'Rocket'


(1965-1975)


The arrowhead shaped CCCP logo was the first Soviet space patch that was publicly
seen. It was worn on the protective layer of the Berkut spacesuit on March 18, 1965,
by Alexei Leonov during his famous spacewalk outside Voskhod-2. (His crewmate Pavel
Beljayev was also wearing it on his Berkut). We assume the Soviets knew that pictures
of Leonov outside his spaceship would be published all over the world. American
astronauts were wearing fancy NASA-meatball patches on their suits; the CCCP-patch
was probably meant as a Soviet counterpart. Since personalized designs were not
encouraged by the Soviet system, the patch probably represented the Zvezda factory
who had built the Berkut-suit. We will therefore refer to it as the Zvezda 'Rocket'

Left, center: The Zvezda 'Rocket' seen on the Berkut-suit of Alexei Leonov in March 1965. Right: The patch photographed in the Zevzda
museum by Novosti Kosmonavtiki's Igor Marinin.
The patch seemed to be connected to Zvezda-built suits at first: the next time the patch showed up, was during the Soyuz-4/Soyuz-5 EVA
on January 16, 1969, during which Alexei Eliseev and Yuri Khrunov 'walked' from Soyuz-5 to Soyuz-4. The cosmonauts were wearing the
patch on the outer layer of their Yastreb-suit, again built by Zvezda.

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Left: The Zvezda 'Rocket' seen on the Yastreb-suit of Alexei Eliseev in January 1969. Center: Alexei Leonov wearing the patch on a pre-
Sokol flightsuit during Soyuz training. Right: A picture of the Soyuz-11 back-up crew (became prime crew) training for their mission.
After Soyuz-5, the patch was seen on the training and flightsuits of the Soyuz-11/Salyut-1 crew in 1971. No other crew had worn the
patch before on such clothing. A possible explaination is that Alexei Leonov - together with Valeri Kubasov and Pjotr Kolodin - was one of
the three original crewmembers for the Soyuz-11 mission. Had doctors not discovered a spot on Kubasov's lungs, which they feared was
tuberculosis but which turned out to be an alergic reaction, he and Leonov would have flown the mission. Most probably, Leonov had
adopted the patch as the personal logo for himself and the rest of the Soyuz-11 crew, including the back-up team of Viktor Patsayev,
Georgi Dobrovolsky and Vladislav Volkov that ultimaltely flew. The patch was present on the suits that were worn during launch and
entry. The Soyuz-11 mission ended in disaster, when the cabin lost pressure during the landing phase. The crew actually died with the
patch on their shoulders.


Left: The patch was worn on the launch/landing suits by the Soyuz-11 crew. Center: One of the Soyuz-11 crewmen wearing his
launch/entry suit with the patch aboard Salyut-1. Right: One of the (dead) Soyuz-11 cosmonauts is receiving medical aid. The three men
died with the Zvezda 'Rocket' on their arms.

Following Soyuz-11, the patch was not worn again on actual flight suits. No spacewalks were made by Soviet cosmonauts for a long time,
so no Zvezda-built suits (apart from the 'Sokol' and 'Penguin' suits, who had their own Zvezda-logo - the 'Early Zvezda') were used. The
patch was visible again during Apollo Soyuz Test project (ASTP)-training in 1974 / 1975, again an Alexei Leonov-mission. It was present
next to the standard Vimpel 'Diamond' on the TK-2 training suits of the prime-, back-up- and support cosmonauts (Alexei Leonov, Valery
Kubasov, Anatoli Filipchenko, Nikolai Rukavishnikov, Yuri Romanenko, Alexander Ivanchenkov, Vladimir Dzhanibekov and Boris Andreyev)
but the crew (Leonov, Kubasov) did not wear the Zvezda 'Rocket' on their actual in-flight suits. Probably, the Soviets wanted to keep up
with the amount of patches the Americans would wear during training, which got a lot of media attention. During training for their later
Salyut missions, Dzhanibekov and Romanenko were still wearing their ASTP TK-2 training suits, including the Zvezda 'Rocket'.
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Left: Leonov wearing the patch on his TK-2 during ASTP training. Center: Yuri Romanenko (one of the ASTP support crewmembers)
wearing the patch on his TK-2 during training for his Salyut-6 mission. Right: Dzhanibekov, also involved in the ASTP-mission, could also
been seen wearing the patch on his TK-2 during Interkosmos-training.

Forel Survival Suit

Left: orange label attached to an early Forel suit. Center: the later Zvezda 'Rocket' Forel-label. Right: the Interkosmos version did not show
'CCCP'. Note that the hood of the Forel suit (in this case that of DDR-cosmonaut Sigmund Jaehn) also shows national letters.

The Zvezda 'Rocket' patch disappeared in the mid-seventies, but an orange/white version (printed plastic/rubber on fabric) had shown up
on the rubber Forel water survival suits (manufactured by Zvezda) by that time. A Superior auction lists such a suit, with orange Zvezda
'Rocket' label, as early as Soyuz-10 (1971). We do not know if the suit and patch were flown earlier. For later missions, the orange version
was replaced by a white label with blue border, red letters and yellow stars. The earliest use of this version we have confirmed, is Soyuz-
24 in 1977. A variant without letters was used for international Interkosmos participants. The white 'Zvezda'-Rocket label was still used
on Forel suits during the early Mir-program.

Sleeping Bags

Left: orange Zvezda 'Rocket' label attached to a 1973 Soyuz-12 sleeping bag. Center: the orange label. Right: the newer label attached to
Sigmund Jaehns 1978 sleeping bag. Note that the CCCP lettering is present in this case.

The same Zvezda 'Rocket' labels were attached to the Soyuz and Salyut sleeping bags'- produced by Zvezda. We can confirm its use for
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Soyuz-12 (1973), as described in a Superior auction. Like the label on the Forel-suits, the orange/white version was replaced by the
white/blue/red/yellow label somewhere in the seventies. The only date we have confirmed for the new label, is that of the 1978 Soyuz-
31 mission. It was probably replaced by the square blue Zvezda 'Salyut' logo on later missions. During the early Mir-program, the square
shaped Zvezda 'Mir' patch was used.

Collecting the Zvezda 'Rocket'
A small supply of patches was available from Alex Panchenko, who owned 3 patches
flown and signed by Leonov and 7 unflown and unsigned copies. These were supplied to
him by Leonov, Rukavishnikov and Nikolayev. One of these is in our collection. Since
Panchenko did not keep the patches seperate, it is unknown to which of the three
cosmonauts our patch belonged.

Stewart Aviation in England produced a replica of the patch in he late 1980's. Apart from
the materials used, this replica, shown at left, is easy to distinguish from the original: the
Earth is white and the rocket has a different shape. The version at right, which is Soviet-
made, is plastic on cloth. We have not seen this patch attached to any flight equipment.