Vladimír Remek at the Czech Mint

Following the successful Solar System series, the Milky Way collector's series showcases the beauty of our galaxy and the brave conquerors of space. The fifth of twelve coins was dedicated to the first Czechoslovak in space.

On 2 March 1978, military pilot Vladimír Remek, aboard Soyuz 28, made his way to the orbital station Salyut 6. He became not only the first Czechoslovak and the first European cosmonaut, but also the first space traveller from a country other than the Soviet Union and the United States of America. Together with Russian Alexei Gubarev, he formed the first international crew in the history of spaceflight. He was the 87th person to go into space – his predecessors included 43 Soviet cosmonauts and 43 American astronauts. The crew of the space station welcomed him according to an old Slavic custom – with bread and salt. In addition to helping with the day-to-day running of the habitat, a number of scientific tasks prepared by Czechoslovak scientists awaited him, as well as a live broadcast on Czechoslovak television. Vladimír Remek returned from space after 7 days, 22 hours and 18 minutes. To this day, he remains our only countryman to have left his home planet...

He has described his experiences countless times since – he still speaks of them with great passion and as much detail as if it were yesterday that he returned from his triumphant journey. The participants of the autograph session, which took place on 13 June 2023 in the Prague shop of the Czech Mint in Havelská Street, were there to witness it.

The interest was enormous – the shop was bursting at the seams, but the cosmonaut showed tremendous stamina. He tirelessly signed autographs, recollected memories, posed for photographers and gave interviews to journalists. Admirers had Vladimír Remek sign a lot of things – certificates or boxes of commemorative coins, which instantly increased in value, collector's albums, but also photographs, bottles of wine and replicas of uniforms.

This was not the first space event of the Czech Mint. In 2008, Vladimír Remek appeared on commemorative medals and in 2019 he became the patron of the Solar System series. Although the cosmonaut does not have a coin collection, he is close to collecting. This is due to a souvenir he brought back from space. "As part of our gear, we got a watch to keep. It was a mechanical chronometer, originally an aviation watch. I still have it in my bank vault and in a way it was the beginning of me collecting watches," Vladimír Remek confided.

Shortly after its release, collectors bought up more than half of the limited mintage of the coin. Other issues in the Milky Way series enjoy the same popularity.

It is not without interest that older coins with solar system motifs, which are now completely sold out, can be found on the secondary market for twice the original price.