Gherman Alexeyvich Komlev (Russian, 1933 - 2000) "Astronauts" Signed and titled verso. Original Watercolor painting on Illustration Board.Provenance: Collection of James A. Helzer (1946-2008), Founder of Unicover Corporation.This painting was is the original painting which was published on the Fleetwood First Day Cover for the U.S.S.R. 6K Launch of Soyuz 28 stamp issued March 10, 1978.On March 2, 1978, at the Baikonur cosmodrome, two cosmonauts walked toward the launching pad. One of them, Colonel Alexei Alexandrovich Gubarev, wore the flag of the U.S.S.R. on the sleeve of his spacesuit. The other cosmonaut, Captain Vladimir Remek, wore the flag of Czechoslovakia. Soon, they would be the first international crew in the history of space launched in the same space, and Czechosolovakia would be the third nation to send a man into space. Gubarev, a pilot-cosmonaut of the U.S.S.R. and hero of the Soviet Union, had made the thirty-day space flight aboard Soyuz 17 and Salyut 4 in 1975. Noting the importance of the flight on which he was about to embark, Gbubarev said, "This flight marks a new stage of cooperation among socialist countries in the exploration and use of outer space under the Intercosmos programs." Captain Vladimir Remek, a citizen of the C.S.S.R., was seventeen years younger than his co-cosmonaut, Gubarev, and admittedly had a profound respect for him, as a son for his father. Says Remek about his early ambitions to fly: "I will remember April 12, 1961 forever. When I heard our director, over the school radio, tell about the first manned flight, I could not even imagine that I also would make a space flight. But that day did cause me to make up my mind to be a pilot like Gagarin." Soyuz 28 was Remek's first space flight. At 6:28 PM Moscow time, Soyuz 28 blasted off, marking another milestone in man's peaceful quest of the cosmos.Image Size: 7.75 x 9.25 in.Overall Size: 10 x 13.25 in.Unframed.(B05910)