Ulf Merbold Signed ESA Portrait — First ESA Astronaut in Space, EUROMIR 94 Mir Mission

In November 1983, Ulf Merbold became the first citizen of a non-Soviet, non-American nation to fly in space — a physicist from Stuttgart strapped aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia, riding Spacelab-1 into orbit and opening a door that an entire continent had been waiting eleven years for ESA to walk through. He went back up in 1992 for IML-1. Then, in October 1994, he boarded a Soyuz and docked with the Russian space station Mir — spending 31 days aboard conducting life and material sciences research as the centerpiece of EUROMIR 94, the most ambitious European human spaceflight of the decade. Three missions. Three different programs. One of the most quietly consequential careers in the history of human spaceflight.

This is the official ESA publicity portrait from that third mission, showing Merbold in his white Russian Sokol pressure suit — his name stenciled in both Cyrillic (У. МЕРБОЛЬД) and Latin lettering across the chest, the Mir mission patch at his sternum, ESA member-state flags arrayed along the lower border. He has signed it twice: a bold signature in blue across the lower chest, and a second in dark ink at the upper right. The verso carries the full ESA-issued biography, mission dates, and the original photo credit: "photo ZPK for ESA." Mesilla Valley Estate Sales will issue a Certificate of Authenticity with this lot.

When Merbold flew STS-9 in 1983, he did so as a payload specialist — a scientist, not a NASA career astronaut — which made his selection a deliberate symbolic act: ESA putting a European in space on European terms, aboard the European-built Spacelab module. The moment mattered beyond the mission. It established that spaceflight was no longer a two-nation story. A decade later, EUROMIR 94 deepened that relationship with Russia, flying Merbold to Mir at a moment when post-Cold War scientific cooperation was still finding its shape. His three flights span Shuttle, Spacelab, and Mir — a capsule biography of the international human spaceflight era from 1983 to 1994.

Merbold signed material exists but does not flood the market — he was a working scientist, not a celebrity astronaut, and his significance is better understood in Europe than it is in the American autograph market, which means pricing here often lags his actual historical weight. For collectors focused on ESA history, the Shuttle-Spacelab program, or the Mir cooperation era, this is a first-ballot name. The dual-language Cyrillic nameplate on the suit and the Mir patch connect the document directly to EUROMIR 94, not just to the man — which gives it context beyond a generic portrait signing.

CONDITION

Very Good. The card is clean and bright with strong color and sharp printing; both signatures are clear and unfaded. Minor handling wear at the edges consistent with age.

DIMENSIONS / SPECIFICATIONS

• Size: 6 5/8" × 4 3/4"
• Medium: Official ESA color publicity photograph on card stock
• Signatures: Two — blue ink (lower chest), dark ink (upper right)
• Verso: Printed ESA biography, mission dates, reproduction terms; credit "photo ZPK for ESA"
• Certificate of Authenticity: Issued by Mesilla Valley Estate Sales