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Flown Series 2003A two-dollar bill, serial number L46253036A, carried to the International Space Station by Space Shuttle Atlantis on STS-135, signed and flight-certified in black ballpoint by cosmonaut Aleksandr Samokutyaev, "Delivered on board the ISS, STS-135, Atlantis, 10.07.11, Samokutyaev." In very fine condition.
This is an especially noteworthy flown $2 bill, as American astronauts were prohibited from flying U.S. currency aboard the Space Shuttle—a rule stemming from policies implemented after the Apollo 15 commercialization scandal. One notable exception occurred in 1999, when gold Sacagawea dollars were carried aboard Columbia. In 2025, the U.S. Mint auctioned these flown coins through Stack’s Bowers, where they realized more than $350,000 each.
While American astronauts were barred from carrying U.S. currency, Russian cosmonauts operated under different rules. They were permitted to receive mail aboard the International Space Station, and that mail could include currency enclosed in the envelope—providing the means by which three $2 bills were carried to the ISS on STS-135.
This example was sent to Samokutyaev in a 2011 letter from noted German space philatelist Walter Hopferwieser, which flew to the ISS aboard Atlantis during the final mission of the Space Shuttle program. At the time, Samokutyaev was aboard the ISS on his first spaceflight as part of Expeditions 27/28. While on board, he signed and flight-certified the bill. Hopferwieser later documented the flight of this bill, along with two others sent in separate envelopes, on pages 381–382 of his book 'Pionierraketenpost und kosmische Post: Handbuch und Spezialkatalog' (2016).
Accompanied by photographs of the original envelope and letter, as well as a copy of email correspondence from Hopferwieser offering the bill for sale.
The Richard Jurek Collection.
This item is Pre-Certified by STEVE ZARELLI
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