10 Leva Cosmonauts

Issued to mark the 1979 joint Soviet-Bulgarian space mission, this coin commemorates Georgi Ivanov, the first Bulgarian in space — though his mission aboard Soyuz 33 ended abruptly when the main engine failed during docking with Salyut 6, forcing an emergency re-entry. The six-year gap between the mission and this coin's release reflects the slower commemorative production cycles common to Bulgarian state minting of the period.