The letter is not simply a later commemorative tribute to Expedition 1

Prokopyev and Petelin were already suited for the EVA

The cover is associated with two important Soyuz spacecraft

A personal Christmas message from Earth to orbit

Rare cover flown aboard the International Space Station during the historic Cygnus NG-20 resupply mission—an important milestone in the evolution of NASA’s commercial cargo program

Soyuz TM-32 FLOWN ISS cover Dennis Tito first space tourist Gene Cernan The letter is not simplySoyuz TM 32 Extremely Rare ISS Flown Dennis Tito Cover, One of Only Four Produced An exceptional artifact from a defining moment in commercial spaceflight: an International Space Station flown cover carried aboard Soyuz TM 32, hand signed by the mission crew and postmarked in orbit on May 6, 2001. The reverse bears a handwritten certification by Yuri Usachev, commander of the resident ISS Expedition 2 crew, confirming that the cover was flown aboard