When looking at German ASTP material, I decided to create a separate chapter and there are a couple of reasons. As you remember – I collect only the stuff originally from the countries that directly or indirectly participated in the project, for instance – tracking and satellite stations and other facilities holders. Germany, not only owned several space-related facilities but was directly involved in the scientific part of project.

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First of all there are two very important institutions - Raisting satellite station and Ramstein Air Force Base, responsible for launch and recovery support coordination over the Eastern Hemisphere. Bochum observatory is an independent institution that served as data relay and gathered objective flight info. From the 28 joint experiments, 2 were German - МА-014 Electrophoresis and MA-107 Biostack III. Needless to mention, that the docking itself occurred over Germany, on the line Alsfeld – Erfurt that were by then in different countries (FRG and DDR), 140 kilometers apart. At last, but possibly the most important are the German dealers that excelled in bringing to philatelic light so much valuable and fascinating ASTP material. The most adventurous is of cause Eberhard Coelle double cancellations story that I save for a dessert.