Vintage Vostok 1 Space Race Yuri Gagarin Exploration SCSP Rocket Earth Pin Badge

Made to celebrate the successful launch of Vostok 1, it was issued by the Svaz Československo Sovětského Přátelství or the Czech and Soviet, Union of Friendship and features a rocket with Yuri Gagarin in the front section clutching a steering wheel and orbiting the Earth

The badge face is 1.5cm wide and has a long, stick pin style fastener on the rear side.

The SČSP was established in 1948 to popularise Soviet science, literature and culture in Czechoslovakia. The SČSP organized book discussions by Soviet writers, tours to the Soviet Union, and Russian language courses. Membership was largely collective, whereupon work places joined on behalf of the workforce.

Membership numbers are recorded as 1,535,600 in 1949, remaining around this level throughout the 1950's and then dropping to 293,673 in 1969 in response to the Soviet armed invasion (Prague Spring - Wikipedia) in 1968.

The SČSP disbanded in 1990 with the collapse of the Soviet Union.