Orbit issue 83 (October 2009) by kiwi36

ORBIT

Editorial

ISSN 0953 1599 THE JOURNAL OF THE ASTRO SPACE STAMP SOCIETY Issue No 83 October 2009

Heavens Above !

Patron:

Cosmonaut Georgi Grechko, Hero of the Soviet Union

What a good year it has been for our hobby ! We have enjoyed not only the International Year of Astronomy related to an important Galileo anniversary but also the 40th anniversary of Apollo XI and Apollo XII.

COMMITTEE Chair :

Margaret Morris, 55 Canniesburn Drive, Bearsden, Glasgow GS1 1RX (E-mail: MMorris671@aol.com)

IYA has meant a plethora of stamps to test your pockets if you collect astronomy and cosmological science, some of which are featured in this issue after a refreshed article on Galileo by John Beenen, which begins on page 3. In forthcoming issues we hope to review all the IYA stamps.

Hon. Secretary: Brian J.Lockyer, 21, Exford Close,Weston-Super-Mare, Somerset BS23 4RE (E-mail : brian.lockyer@tesco.net)

Compiler of Checklist / Hon Treasurer / Postal Packet Organiser Harvey Duncan,16, Begg Avenue, Falkirk, Scotland FK1 5DL (E-mail: duncan1975@btinternet.com)

Orbit : Editor

Jeff Dugdale, Glebe Cottage, Speymouth, Mosstodloch, Moray. Scotland IV32 7LE (E-mail: jefforbited@aol.com)

Apollo XI naturally has attracted a lot of philatelic attention and a few of the issues so far are shown on the back page, but so far we are just scraping the surface of an expensive sub-theme and others will be illustrated in next year’s editions. I have tried to lead the way in promoting our hobby with articles on the Apollo flights in STAMP and in Gibbons Stamp Monthly and there are to be further articles on Galileo, and on Copernicus in these British glossies before the end of the year, which I have tailored for the general philatelist.

Webmaster

Derek Clarke, 36 Cherryfield Road, Walkington, Dublin 12 (E-mail: dclarke@utvinternet.com)

Postal Auction Organiser:

David Saunders, 42 Burnet Road, Bradwell, Great Yarmouth. NR31 8SL.

Overseas Representatives:

Australia: Charles Bromser, 37 Bridport Street, Melbourne 3205. Germany:Jurgen P. Esders, An der Apostelkirche 10, 10783 Berlin Eire:Derek Clarke, 36 Cherryfield Rd, Walkinstown. Dublin 12. France: Jean-Louis Lafon, 23 Rue de Mercantour, 78310 Maurepas Netherlands: Bart Beimers, NJ Haismasrt 7, 9061 BV Gierkerk Russia: Mikhail Vorobyov, 31-12 Krupskaya Str, Kostroma United States: Dr Ben Ramkissoon, 3011 White Oak Lane, Oak Brook, Il 60521 USA

Life Members: UK - Harvey Duncan, George Spiteri, Ian Ridpath, Margaret Morris, Michael Packham, Dr W.R. Withey, Paul Uppington, Jillian Wood. Derek Clarke (Eire,) Charles Bromser (Australia.) Tom Baughn (U.S.A.,) Ross Smith (Australia,) Vincent Leung Wing Sing (Hong Kong.) Mohammed K.Safdar (Saudi Arabia)

One final anniversary which seems to have passed without much attention, the 50th birthday of NASA in October 2008, is also featured in this edition. ASSS website at URL:

www.asss.utvinternet.com/ ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION RATES Members in UK—£15 in Europe (EU and non-EU) - €30 Elsewhere - $45 equivalent Juniors (under 18) £6.50 ADVERTISING RATES We invite advertisers to use ORBIT to reach Astro -Philatelic enthusiasts worldwide. If readers have a commercial source they think they would like others to benefit from please let the firm know of us:. Rates are: Full page Display - £24 Half Page - £12 Quarter Page £6 One eighth of a page - £4. Camera ready copy required with remittance by the above stated copy deadline for inclusion in our next edition.

Copy Deadline for the January 2010 issue is December 14th by which time all material intended for publication should be with the Editor.

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IYA Europa stamps referencing Galileo

For all 2009 Europa stamps see http://europa-stamps.blogspot.com/

17.4.09 Issue date 3.4.09

15.4.09

4.5.09

25.4.09

7.5.09

5.5.09

6.5.09

9.5.09

Azerbaijan below right 13.4.09 12.5.09 Hungary below 8.5.09 7.5.09

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1.6.09

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Collecting U.S. Space Covers Monitoring, tracking, communications

mission

control

and

Satellite and manned vehicle tracking stations have had a complex history. The number of tracking sites grew from a few down range sites for the Eastern and Western Ranges in the 1950's to many dozens worldwide for the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo Programs. All manned missions and many satellite missions require constant uninterrupted communications world, as the satellite orbits the earth or travels through space. Many tracking stations used existing facilities or were located on existing sites. Many of these sites were located at NASA facilities, Army, Navy, and Air Force facilities (including planes and ships). Where possible, tracking stations were located on foreign soil in partnership with the host government. Some collect covers cancelled at all the tracking stations/sites worldwide for each manned launch. The number of tracking stations began to decline as the manned flight program moved into the Apollo Program, due primarily to cost reductions from improved satellite communication technology. Satellites now orbiting the earth do a better job of tracking, and communicating with other satellites and manned vehicles than earth-bound stations. The U.S. Department of Defense has tracking and communication stations for their satellites, but for security reasons, do not advertise the site=s existence. Commercial & government communication satellites systems are the exception, and are increasing the number of Earth based communications sites/ stations. Most countries worldwide have satellite communications capability within their own country. With the advent of communication satellites, including television and internet communications, nearly every home in the U.S. has the potential to receive signals from satellites. Activities include cancellations at monitoring, tracking, control, and communications sites when contact is first made with the satellite/spacecraft. Interest in this area declined after the Apollo program.

Activities in space

Once the satellite/spacecraft reaches space, many activities are of interest to collectors. For unmanned missions, they include i) orbital changes, ii) insertion into a trajectory which may take the spacecraft to another planet, moon, asteroid, or an observation point in space (e.g., Lagrange 2, GEO), iii) reaching a specific program milestone (e.g., flyby of a celestial object, in service for a communications satellite), iv) arriving at or departing from a celestial object (e.g., arriving at Mars), v) impacting or landing, and vi) end of mission. For manned missions, they may include dockings, spacewalks, accomplishing a specific mission milestone, undocking. The USPS has produced very few covers for sale to the public that have been flown into space. The USPS produced officially flown space covers on 1983/08/30. They were flown on the Challenger, STS 008. It is the current policy for both NASA and the USPS that mail will not be delivered to or received from the

by Bruce Cranford Part Two

U.S. astronauts on the International Space Station. A few space covers were flown into space, some illegally during the early manned program (Mercury, Gemini, Apollo). The Smithsonian=s Postal Museum in Washington, D.C., has examples these covers.

Recovery

Spacecraft recovery is typically limited to manned space vehicles and early spy satellites. From Mercury through the Apollo missions, the recovery sites were the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The U.S. Navy deployed ships at the recovery site to retrieve the astronauts and their capsule. This changed when the Space Transportation System (STS) was developed. The STS Space Shuttles were designed for conventional aircraft landing. The two major sites are Edwards Air Force Base, California, and Kennedy Space Center, Florida. Early spy satellites required the recovery photographic film in the air over the ocean to prevent damaged to land based structures and humans, and to prevent the film from falling into the wrong hands if the Air Force missed the recovery capsule. Newer communications technology has eliminated the need to recover spy satellite film capsules. NASA has several new programs that will return material from space and will require recovering of the returning payload. Nearly all earth orbiting satellites, and those less fortunate that never made it into orbit, will eventually renter the atmosphere. Depending on the size and materials, some will burn up, and some may make it to the ground (e.g., SKYLAB).

Cachets A variety of cachet types have been and are being used in the U.S., from no markings to high quality graphics. For a general description of space cover cachets available in the U.S., see Appendix, Space Covers. The most popular are multi color printed cachets, using archival inks (Figure 103).

Envelopes and postcards Two types of envelopes are popular with U.S. collectors, with the size designated as letter (#6) and business (#10 ). Post cards are occasionally used in the U.S., but the most popular is the #6 envelope. Postal Stationery and Official Mail covers are also used. See Appendix Space Covers, Stamps or Postage.

Philatelic Organizations. For the collector of space covers, which are philatelic material, there are three major organizations that offer information about space covers: (See section 14 for addresses) I) The Space Unit (http://stargate.1usa.com/ stamps/ ), formed in 1958, provides the majority of information for collectors of U.S. space covers. It publishes a bymonthly publication called the AAstrophile, Journal of Astrophilately@ ii) American Philatelic Society (APS), (http:// www.stamps.org/), the largest, nonprofit society in the world for stamp collectors that provides a number of services for stamp collectors and postal historians.

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The APS existed before the first satellite was launched in 1957. The APS library is a great source of philatelic historical information. The collector can borrow material contacting the American Philatelic Research Library (APRL). iii) The American Topical Association (ATA).

- Manufactured cachets, applied to covers, sold covers through a reseller. (e.g., Havekotte) - Manufactured cachets, sold or given cachets to others. (e.g., Swanson, Dubeau) - Given or purchased cachets, applied to covers, covers sold as own. (e.g., Dubeau) - Given or purchased cachets, applied to covers, covers sold through a reseller. (e.g., Whitney) - Given or purchased covers, sold covers as own. - Given or purchased covers with cachets, added information to cover, sold covers as own. (e.g., Titusville Moonport Stamp Club, Dubeau) Given or purchased covers with cachets, added information to cover, sold covers through a reseller.

Organizations that have since ceased to exist, include the Explorer, and Inner and Outer Space. Past issues are available from the American Philatelic Research Library, and the Space Unit. See 14. Sources of Information.

How covers are made. Space covers are typically made from envelopes (letter #6 or business size #10) with at least 25% rag content, and archival quality. The acid left in paper from the manufacturing process, turns the paper yellow with age, and eventually destroys the paper. Archival quality envelopes are acid free, have 25% rag content, and will survive storage for long periods of time. They cost more, but result in a better space cover. Envelopes purchased from the USPS, or those used by organizations are typically not archival.

Sources for space covers

Some collectors choose to make envelops from space related documents (maps, figures, photographs). This makes for an interesting envelope, but be concerned about the archival quality of the paper and adhesives. If you plan to make envelopes with different dimensions than the standard envelopes used by the USPS, check with the USPS to ensure the envelope is acceptable. Some collectors use post cards, or make post cards, for space covers. The thickness of the paper/cardboard must be greater than that of the envelops in order to give the card the necessary stiffness and strength to survive the postal handling system. The same caution about dimensions and archival ability applies to post cards. For more information see Space Covers Definition and Description.

Short history of space covers and types. U.S. space covers started in 1958 with the launch or attempted launch of the first U.S. satellites (VANGUARD and EXPLORER). Space covers have been produced for every U.S. satellite launch or attempted launch since 1958. Many space events have also been commemorated by space covers. Space covers have been produced for foreign satellites launched by the U.S., and U.S. satellites launched by other countries. U.S. Space Cover manufactures have also produced space covers for non U.S. satellites launched by other countries, and various space events both U.S. and foreign. Space covers from past events can be purchased or traded from a number of different sources in the U.S. and around the world. See section 12 Sources of Space Covers. It is unfortunate, by some space cover manufactures have produced covers of suspect authenticity or outright forgeries. Excellent sources of information are Bulver, and the Astrophile, see section 14 Sources of Information. Different methods are use to create and deliver space covers to the collector. The more popular are: - Manufactured cachets, applied to covers, sold covers as own. (e.g., Space Voyage, Orbit, Goldcraft, Space Craft, Beck)

The collector has two options for obtaining space covers: 1) purchase them or 2) make one=s own. But, the buyerbeware should always be practiced. Many great references are listed in section 14 Sources of Information, and the Bibliography, and should be read before purchasing space covers. Many attempts have been made to identify/catalog all the space covers produce in the U.S./by U.S. Manufacturers/for U.S. space Events. None are complete. Some catalogs may focus on a specific topic, e.g., APOLLO Program. Be that as it may, something is better than nothing. The following is a list of some of the more comprehensive list/catalogs, listed in alphabetical order, and found in the bibliography; {Courtney}, {Davis}, {Dubeau 2}, {Lollini}, {Ramkissoon2}, {Vukotich}, and {Wilhelm}. The following is a partial list of space cover providers/manufacturers/producers/sellers for U.S. events (as of 2005):{Astrophile 2002/1} - Goddard Space Flight Stamp Club, Box 261, Greenbelt, MD 20768 ‑‑0261 - JPL Stamp Club, P.O. Box 771, La Canada, CA 91012‑0771, http://www.jplrecclubs.caltech.edu/ stamp/index.shtml - Resellers; A good source is the Astrophile. - Space Coast Philately, PO box 446, Cape Canaveral, FL 32920 - Space equipment manufacturer, individuals, companies, organizations, clubs. - SpaceCoast Cover services, 1190 Montego Bay Dr., Merritt Island, FL 32953 - Stamp shows; A good source of information about local stamp shows is Linn=s Stamp News, Astrophile, and the APS. - Titusville Moonport Stamp Club, PO Box 6071, Titusville FL 32782. - Web sites; http://stargate.1usa.com/ stamps/resource.htm Auctions Space Unit, Tom Steiner, PO Box 550, Northville, MI 48167 Web sites (e.g., E-Bay) Most U.S. space events are documented by space cover manufacturers. Whether it is a major manned launch or a rocket motor test, someone usually produces a space cover

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commemorating the event. This was more evident during - Orbit, Newsletter of the British based ASSS Orbit, which had a special section on space stamps and postmarks. http:// manned programs. See Space Covers Definition and www.asss.utvinternet.com/, Brian Lockyer, The Description.

Making your own space cover Place the necessary postage on the envelope/card. At this point, you have several options. Put a return address on the envelopes/card. Include a Self Address Stamped Envelope (SASE) for the return of your covers. The types of addressing will depend if you want the address to be a permanent part of the space cover or removable after the cover is returned to you. Use a live gummed label that is removable if you do not want the address to be part of the cover. Contact the post office where you want the envelope to be cancelled to determine if - a) they will hold the covers until the day of the event, b) cancel them on that day, and c) place the cancelled covers in the mail to you. Follow the instruction of the post office. After receiving the envelopes/cards from the post office (which are now Space Covers), many collectors apply a cachet to the Space Cover and place additional information inside the cover. It is recommended that you identify who made the space cover and cachet, in or on the Space Cover. For more information see Space Covers Definition and Description. The following are the more popular post offices that service space covers (as of 2005);{Astrophile 2002/1} - Postmaster, Kennedy Space Center, Fl 32815 (about 1 week before the event) - Window Services Unit, Houston GPO, 401 Franklin St., Houston, TX 77201-9999 Postmaster, Edwards AFB, CA 93523

Sources of Information -

Ad Astra, Magazine of the National Space Society, 922 Pennsylvania Ave, SE Washington, D.C. 20003, http:// www.nss.org/ American Philatelic Research Library, (APRL), 100 Match Factory Place, Bellefonte, PA 16823, www.stamplibrary.org. American Philatelic Society, American Philatelist, Journal of the American Philatelic Society, APS, 100 Oakwood Ave., P.O. Box 8000, State College, PA 16803, Phone: 8 14‑237 ‑38 03 , Fax: 814 ‑23 7‑6 128 , h tt p:// www.stamps.org Aviation Week and Space Technology, 1221 Avenue of the Americas, New York, N.Y. http://www.aviationweek.com Bulver, Ramkissoon, Winick, A Study of Suspect Space Covers@, 2001, Space Unit, see Astrophile in the Bibliography. Cranford, Bruce, “Space Covers: Dictionary & Identifier, 2006 Edition”, Bruce Cranford, 1 Cliffe Hill Ct., Potomac, MD 20854, USA, ISBN 978-0-9711657-1-7 Explorer, International Association of Space Philatelists, B.O. Box 302, Yonkers, NY 10710. Editor Bill York, 780 West End Ave., Apt. 11F, New York, NY, 10025. No longer in business. F.I.P. Section for Astrophilately, José Bergamin, 16, 6C, 28030 Madrid, Spain, www.astrophilately.com {Astrophile 2002/01} Final Frontier, Magazine, P.O. Box 20089, Minneapolis, MN 55420. Linn=s Stamp News, PO Box 29, Sidney, OH 45365-0029, www.Linns.com, 800-837-0194 National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA, 300 E Street SW Washington DC 20024‑3210, U.S.A., http:// www.hq.nasa.gov/

Secretary, ASSS, 21 Exford Close, Weston‑Super‑Mare, Somerset, BS23 4RE, Great Britain. - Quest, The history of Spaceflight Magazine, CSPACE, 123 32nd St. SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49509-0331, Glen Swanson, http://www.space.edu/quest - Smithsonian Air & Space Magazine, monthly, 900 Jefferson Dr., Washington, D.C. 20560, http://www.si.edu/ - Smithsonian National Postal Museum, 2 Massachusetts Ave., N.E., Washington, DC 20002 (202) 33‑5555http:// www.postalmuseum.si.edu/ - Space Unit, President Tom Steiner, PO Box 550, Northville MI, 48167-0550 (As of 2005) publishes The Astrophile. Member of the American Philatelic Association, American Topical Association. http://stargate.1usa.com/ stamps/ - Space Week, weekly publication of Army Times Publishing Co., 6883 Commercial Drive, Springfield, VA 22159-0500 - Spaceflight, The international Magazine of Space and Astronautics, published by the British Interplanetary Society (BIS), 27/29 South Lambeth Road, London, SW8 1SZ, England. http://freespace.virgin.net/bis.bis/ Bis.htm - U.S. Library of Congress, The Library of Congress, 101 Independence Ave, SE, Washington, DC 20540, (202) 707‑5000 http://www.loc.gov/ - U.S. Postal Service (USPS), Washington, D.C. 20260-2435, (http://www.usps.gov/ ) - USPS Stamp Fulfillment Service, PO Box 219424, Kansas City, MO 64121-9424, 1-800-782-6724, fax 816-545-1212, www.stampsonline.com - Web Sites - Friends and Partners in Space, 1999, http:// solar.rtd.utk.edu/%7Ejgreen/ fpspace.html - Mark Wade 's Encyclopedia Astronautica, 1998, http://solar.rtd.utk.edu/ ~mwade/spaceflt.htm - International Spacecraft and Launch Vehicle Names Glossary, 2003, http:// www.spacecraftnames.info - NASA, http://www‑pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/ schedule/schedule.htm - Spaceflight Now, http:// www.spaceflightnow.com/tracking/index.html - Gunther=s Space Page, http:// www.skyrocket.de/space/space.html - Contractors (many have merged or gone out of business since 1958). Lockheed Martin, http:// lmms.external.lmco.com/remospasci/eos.html Boeing, http://www.boeing.com/flash.html Orbital Science, http://www.orbital.com/

Editor’s Note Bruce has asked me to point out that he is not the owner of the flown Apollo XI cover which I attributed to his collection on page 40 of the last edition. He just wishes he was !! 11

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50th anniversary of NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration was established by the National Aeronautics and Space Act on July 29, 1958, replacing its predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). The agency became operational on October 1, 1958.

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Specially translated for Orbit by Eleanor Coker, this feature by Henk Nieuwenhuis first appeared in issue 2/4 2009 of Nieuwsbrief, the journal of Ruimtevaart Filatelie Club Nederland and is produced (with different illustrations) by permission of the author, and Editor Arie Olckers.

So, Who Did Invent the Telescope ?? A memorable fact from a different viewpoint Did you know that in 2009 it is four hundred years since the first great discoveries in space took place? Then it so happened that for the first time in the history of mankind craters on the moon, some details on the planets and amongst other things the four great moons around Jupiter were seen. Very soon the observation instruments became better and larger and gradually many more details on the moon and planets were seen. Rings were discovered around Saturn, bands of clouds and areas of storms on Jupiter and polar caps and surface structures on Mars. Now you may think where is the writer going with this? That is quite simple: it so happened that in 2008 precisely 400 years ago the telescope was invented and that happened in our own little Holland. For a long time it was not determined who had made the first Dutch viewer as these were called (see the New Zealand stamp issued 12-2-1997). Zacharias Jansen and Hans Lipperhey, both resident in Middelburg, were seen as inventors of the telescope, but there were other people who claimed this discovery. It was said that Robert Bacon (1214-1294) already knew how the instrument could be made. Jacob Metius of Alkmaar could also be the inventor; he knew Jansen and Lipperhey and had also visited them. Then there is also the Italian Raffael Gualterotti (15431639) of whom it is known with some certainty that in 1598 he had already made a viewer. However this man evidently did not recognise the significance of his discovery and did not act upon it. After very lengthy investigation it was finally decided that Hans Lipperhey (1570-1619, right) could lay claim to this invention. As often happens with new inventions the telescope was first seen as a military instrument to outsmart the enemy. With the telescope the movements of the enemy could now be seen and followed over a much greater distance so that timely countermeasures could be taken. It was the famous scholar Galileo Galileï (1564-1642) who heard about this discovery from others and immediately saw what further possibilities this instrument had to offer. Based on the data he could get hold of Galileï himself made a telescope that magnified nine times. Soon after he made another that magnified to almost thirty times. These instruments consisted of two lenses in a tube, a lightly curved convex lens in front and at the rear a powerful concave lens as an eyepiece. We must not expect too much from these first telescopes because the

optics at that time were far from the quality that we now know. At that time it was very difficult to make pure glass and the lenses were really rather small in proportion to the focal length, so as a result the luminosity was mediocre. To get a good lens a piece of clear rock crystal was sometimes used. We can suppose that the first telescopes were of a lesser optical quality than simple binoculars in our time. Nevertheless in 1609 Galileï was able to see craters on the moon and Venus as a sickle for the first time. He was the discoverer of the first four moons of Jupiter and he concluded from sunspots that the rotation of the sun around its axis was about 25 days.

The discovery of the telescope heralded a new era in space research in the widest sense of the word. In my opinion we could call this the start of space exploration, such as we in space travel now readily do. Meanwhile all the nearby planets in our solar system have been explored with a space probe one or more times, except Pluto……but yes, we cannot call that a planet any longer. We have even been to the Moon and new discoveries are reported daily, also in our own solar system : moons of minor planets, new rings around Uranus and small moons around the giant planets Jupiter and Saturn. Although in the very beginning there were no space probes doing investigation, it is my opinion that we may take the opportunity during this commemoration year to recognise the fact that the telescope was invented four hundred years ago. After all this was the beginning of a great voyage of discovery in space. Therefore the year 2009 has been declared the International Year of Astronomy 2009 - IYA 2009 by the UN (on the recommendation of the International Astronomical Union). The UN has designated UNESCO as the body chiefly responsible for IYA 2009 and the IAU as a support organisation for practical interpretation.

H.N. Frankener, March 2009

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Our Astonishing Nicolaus Copernicus By Stan Wekka, Bydgoszcz, Poland

with Jeff Dugdale

IYA could not go past without our journal marking once again this great thinker, so here is a specially commissioned and edited article from an Orbit enthusiast in Poland. Nicolaus Copernicus was born 19 February 1473 in the wonderful City of Toruń on the River Vistula and died 24 May 1543 in Frombork. Consider this famous astronomer—mathematician,- doctor of medicine and monetary system expert (economist ) physician—classical scholar - jurist - artist—translator—military leader—diplomat and …Catholic cleric, - Treasure of our Earth NICOLAUS COPERNICUS (in Polish Mikolaj Kopernik). He has been honoured in international philately on hundreds of postage-stamps, items of postal –stationery, commemorative cancellations,… His name is on Navy’s ships, planes, streets, places, schools, universities, factories, on Moon, satellites, planetoids,… There have been, are currently and will be in the future many different celebrations of that Great Man of Genius… as for inst. World Philatelic Exhibition “Poland 1973” organized from the occasion of 500th Anniversary of His Birth. US carnet issued 1973 presents three proofs of stamps from Poland and the US dedicated to Copernicus. A selection of Polish postagestamps presents Him as most important citizen of Poland and World: see a page from my stock book opposite, filled with Polish stamps for the great man ! In this short memorial to His Life and Work we must mention a few events of his rich life. His family had its roots in the Polish Region of Lower Silesia ( today in SW Poland ). On a few covers and post-cards are shown different cancels of the KOPERNIKI Post Office initiated from the occasion of 500th Anniversary of the Great Astronomer’s Birth. After the death of Nicolaus’ father, his uncle Bishop Watzenrode of Warmia looked after the family and saw young Copernicus into university at Cracov. As an 18 year old youth he presented himself at the Jagiellonian University in 1491 and studied geometry, trigonometry, mathematics and astronomy there for the next four years.

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His teachers were famous in those times, astronomers and mathematicians such as John of Glogów (1445-1507) who had written a commentary on Ptolemy’s Cosmography and Wojciech Brudzewski (1445-1497) who was hostile to the geocentric system expounded by Ptolemy . It was he who infected Copernicus with his theories based on the writings of Aristarchus of Samos three centuries before Christ. Their teachings bore fruit in due course in Copernicus’s De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium published at Nuremberg at the printing house of John Petreius in 1543. This stamp issued in March 1942 and cancelled on September 11th 1943 depicts a monument to Nicolaus Copernicus within the quadrangle of the library of the

Jagiellionian University. In due course Copernicus proved that the Geocentric System by Ptolemy was not true and his Heliocentric or Solar System was accurate ! This is shown on block Michel Cat. # Bl.52 and 2 interesting philatelic items showing His most famous work De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium, his autograph and the Solar System on the postmark. In 1510 Copernicus settled at Frombork and having bought the Castle’s Tower he established his Observatory and Library there as seen on rare pair of especially overprinted (middle vertical black overprints ) post-cards and stamps Michel Cat. # 805,# 1194.

officers initiated Camp’s Post there and issued many interesting philatelic values. One of them is a complete of souvenir sheet or block and set of 3 stamps dedicated to 400th Anniversary of Copernicus Death !!!

(shown right)

Warsaw’s Scientific Society initiated the investigation of Copernicus’ tomb and remnants in 1802 but found little of interest/ In 2004 Prof. George Gąsowski of The Institute of Anthropology and Archaeology in Pułtusk initiated new wave of investigation and in 2005-2008 he found human remains in the crypt of The Cathedral at Frombork. After the war with Sweden war in the 17th century the Swedish robbed many Polish national treasures and among them were books formerly belonging to Copernicus. One of books was “BOOK by STOFFLER” found in the Museum of Uppsala. In that book were found two of Copernicus’ hairs which were examined forensically. In due course genetic comparison of the alleged Copernicus remnants found in Frombork Cathedral crypt and those two hairs in the “BOOK by STOFFLER” at Uppsala confirmed that the Frombork remains were those of Copernicus, proving once and for all where his tomb lies. Polish anthropologists have since tried to do a reconstruction of Copernicus’ face and published their results in the Polish press : see below.

Many people assign a single nationality to Copernicus. Nazi Germany claimed Copernicus to have been purely German as on stamps Michel Cat. # 100, #104. However Germans destroyed the monument to Copernicus in the quadrangle of the library (shown on stamps Michel Cat.# 396, #446) at the University of Cracov in 1944 !!!

After World War II Poles rebuilt that Monument and it is now displayed at Cracov’s Botanical Gardens. During World War II Polish Prisoners of War of The Woldenberg Camp II C organized by Germans for Polish

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Un-manned Satellites on Postage Stamps : 31 By Guest Contributors Don Hillger and Garry Toth Elektron-A

The Elektron Series

From Mark Wadeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s site http://www.astronautix.com/

This is the thirty-first in a series of articles about unmanned satellites on postage stamps. This article features the Russian Elektron-series satellites. Four Elektron satellites were successfully launched, with Elektron-1 and 2 paired up on 30 January 1964, and Elektron-3 and 4 similarly paired on 10 July 1964. Elektron was one of the earliest Soviet scientific satellite missions to be authorized following the initial Sputnik series. The spacecraft had the mission of mapping the van Allen radiation belts at higher inclinations than previous U.S. satellites had followed. In these missions, two different types of spacecraft were paired and launched together, as mentioned above. Elektron-1 and 3 were put into a lower orbit to map the inner van Allen belt, while Elekton-2 and 4 were boosted to a higher orbit to study the outer belt.

Elektron-B

For identification purposes, Elektron-1 and 3 had cylindrical bodies 0.75 m in diameter and 1.3 m long, with six solar panels extending outward, almost like paddles. Elektron-2 and 4 were shaped like the cupola of a public building, in the basic form of a cylinder with a flattened and broadened end, with a diameter of 1.8 m and a height of 2.4 m. Both Elektron types are easily distinguished and are represented on many postal items, mostly from eastern bloc nations. Some of the items show both Elektron-1 and 2, (or Elektron-3 and 4) since they were launched together. A checklist of postal items identified as showing the Elektron-series satellites (http:// www.cira.colostate.edu/ramm/hillger/Elektron.htm) is available on the Website developed by the authors for the un-manned satellites featured in this series of articles (http://www.cira.colostate.edu/ramm/hillger/ satellites.htm). E-mail correspondence with the authors is welcome. Don Hillger can be reached at hillger@cira.colostate.edu and Garry Toth at garry_toth@hotmail.com. A version of this article first appeared in The Astrophile for July-August 2008

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Shuttle Story : 2003 STS –107 The Columbia Disaster Columbia disintegrates on re-entry

killing all seven astronauts on board “contingency declared” STS-107 was a multi-disciplinary microgravity and Earth science research mission with a multitude of international scientific investigations conducted continuously during 16 days in orbit. The seven-member crew died on February 1, 2003 when the shuttle disintegrated during re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere. The cause of the accident was determined to be a piece of foam that broke off during launch and damaged the thermal protection system components (reinforced carbon-carbon panels and thermal protection tiles) on the leading edge of the left wing of the Shuttle orbiter, causing an extensive heat build-up. During re -entry the damaged wing slowly overheated and came apart, eventually leading to loss of control and total disintegration of the vehicle. STS-107 carried the SPACEHAB Double Research Module on its inaugural flight, the Freestar experiment (mounted on a Hitchhiker Program rack), and the Extended Duration Orbiter pallet. One of the experiments, a video taken to study atmospheric dust, may have detected a new atmospheric phenomenon,

Flight

STS-107

Commander Pilot

Rick Husband William McCool

MS MS MS MS MS

Michael Anderson David Brown Laurel Clark Ilan Ramon Kalpana Chawla

KSC Launch Date : 16.1.2003 Proposed KSC Landing : 1.2.03 Purpose / Main Payload

SPACEHAB Double Module

dubbed a "TIGER" (Transient Ionospheric Glow Emission in Red). On board the Columbia was a copy of a drawing by Petr Ginz, the editor-in-chief of the magazine Vedem, who depicted what he imagined the Earth looked like from the Moon when he was a 14-year-old prisoner in the Terezín concentration camp. The copy was in the possession of Ilan Ramon and was lost in the crash.

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Historical Document Downloaded by your Editor on the day of the tragedy, this page from a NASA website presents starkly the dreadful truth of what has just happened. The opening phrasing “A contingency has been declared” is very much in the laconic and measured tradition of Apollo 13’s “Houston, we have a problem” and the “Obviously a major malfunction” used by Mission Control of the Challenger tragedy in January 1986

Below and at bottom of opposite page Launch and Conclusion covers for the flight. The brightly coloured mission patch is appropriately printed in black.

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Faux commemorative dollar bills with a value of “107” were issued to mark the occasion

The Israeli issue of 24.2.2004 commemorated their first astronaut was a revised version of the stamps issued in advance of Ilan Ramon’s flight : see page 22 At least one territory under Islamic influence which has traditionally cashed in on shuttle flight issues did not print a reference to Israel on their commemoratives for political reasons: see page 23

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Above complete souvenir sheet of SG 1690 of 24.2.2004 marking the first death anniversary of Ilan Ramon. Below the 2001 Philately Day issue (SG 1567) in anticipation of STS 107, which was much delayed.

Left an unofficial JNF-KKL (Jewish National Fund) souvenir sheet commemorating Ramon and the crew of STS 107 Stamps supplied to your Editor by Ron Berger, Jerusalem 22

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International Commemorations A complete listing of all philatelic items issued to honour the Columbia STS-107 crew is available from Dr. Ross Smith's website: http://

members.optusnet.com.au/~rjsmith3/sts107.htm . Note that the Columbia omnibus issues included a sheet of seven stamps from the Maldive Islands showing the seven astronauts and the flags of the U.S., India and Israel. The wording on the seven sheets e.g. Gambia and Liberia below left is as follows: â&#x20AC;&#x153;The people and the government of____________ join the United States, Israel and India in mourning the tragic loss of the crew of the Space Shuttle Columbia. Our hearts go out to the families of the astronauts. The sheet from the Maldive Islands omits the words "Israel and India". The Maldives is a Sunni Muslim country, the same as parts of Iraq. Ref: www.spacestamps.com & www.espacelollini.com

Right, The Gambia was one of several small countries to capitalise via an omnibus issue of six or more minisheets each which used stock NASA photographs and mission patches of previous missions flown by the deceased astronaut featured in the design or missions famous for other reasons. Although a completist by nature your Editor bought these issues very sparingly.

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A garish and somewhat hypocritical issue given this Islamic territory’s strong dislike for the USA and Israel—if indeed any such stamps ever saw the light of day in “Somalia” And by contrast an elegant and tasteful Hungarian issue which was just right for the occasion.

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Measuring and Surveying on Stamps by guest contributor Fritz Kessler Dr Fritz D. Kessler of Leverkusen in Germany, concludes his final great piece of research, the second part of which appeared in our June 09 issue…. 2.

The Metric Conversion

With the stamps issued on the occasion of World Standardisation Day the collector will definitely be confronted with a divided world in the world of science, of the world of economy, the world of technology. On the one hand he will meet the one world measuring in yards, pounds and gallons, on the other he will realise that the participation of many countries on World Standardisation Day shows clearly the change to the metric system. The aim of this new collecting aspect is to show how the different Commonwealth countries joined the international market, e.g. a set issued by Ghana 1975. The introduction is propagated with pictures and conversion-techniques. Characteristic marks are the shieldlike images with M, G and "Ghana goes metric", also texts like a (1) litre of water is about a pint and ¾; on a scale 2¼ lbs of jam is a little more than a kilogram. Best of all is the length measure with image and text: "a metre (m) of material will be a little more than 3 foot 3". The Dominions of the British Commonwealth decided almost at the same time to accept the metric system.

Australia encouraged the change into the new world in

1973 by using comics. A little man of 180 cm measures with a tape-measure 5ft 11in; a person enjoys a 7fl oz drink instead of 300ml, in addition are 15stone10lbs are exactly 100kg.

Pakistan is satisfied with one single three-divisional stamp: gram, litre and meter with the images of weights, tumbler, tape-measure, so without the conversion "weight, capacity, length". In a similar way Singapore and New Zealand are using abstract images. In Japan the conversion to the metric system had already taken place in 1959 and depicted this with one single stamp issue: a pair of scales and a measuring cup entwined with a tape-measure.

Bangladesh decided to take this step only in 1983 issuing one stamp with the image of a pyramid with

five steps, a can and tape-measure, a second value depicts a pair of scales. An exception is India. The already mentioned block of 2004 (pg.4) praises the great survey of India. The pre -history is shown by the stamp of 1967, the "Bicentenary", i.e. 200 years "Survey of India". And with the stamp of 1972 is referred to the twenty-five years approval of the MKSA system (m, kg, s, A) indicating with the symbolic triple chains consisting of triangle, circle, square, and the perpendicular the metric system "m, kg, s". On other continents the British (Imperial) measurement were also replaced by the metric ones. The Bermuda Islands decided in 1975 to introduce the decimal system with a set "Decade of Progress". So did Tonga making this step quite clear with the big printed "M".

The meridian survey in the highland of Quito/Ecuador as mentioned before took place in 1736 (S.3),. According to the stamp of Uruguay, issued in 1831, the "Dirección de Topografia" was founded. The 150th jubilee reminded with a stamp depicting a Tachymeter (Theodolit) above a map of this event. This was 31 years before Brazil founded the Metric Institute in 1862. This and the company founded in 1976 for "technological units/ standardisation" were reasons for issuing stamps.. Very special is Guyana’s Block of stamps on the introduction of the metric system. Guayana-Metrics are shown in six images: a tapmeasure with m- and cm-division; a "metric-man" with "m-shirt" juggling with balls on which the shorts l, ml, kg, ha, °0 written, a "metric baby" on a scale, postage for a 10g letter and a tap with the hint: "conserve water resources, it's cheaper by the litre. The question remains: Where are the big nations with their yard standards?

The World of Inches and Pounds The United States of America participated at the Congress of 18 May 1875 in Paris and along with seventeen other nations signed the "International Convention on Weights and Measures". In the 25

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Dictionary for weights and measures (Orbis publication 1960) is written the promising sentence: "Other nations allowed the introduction of the new system like Great Britain, Ireland (1864), USA (1866), Canada (1871) and Egypt(1873)". One hundred years later, in December 1975 the US President Gerald Ford signed the "Metric Conversion Act" and introduced at the same time the 'United States Metric Board' (USMB) consisting of seventeen members, who were only nominated by President Carter in October 1977 and confirmed by the Senate in March 1978. Only in 1979 submitted the to Congress a report, "Providing a metric option", concluding that it was not necessary to establish a new legal procedure for metrication of laws and regulations, and the change to the metric system was voluntary. The issue of USA Today of 4 October 1999 writes in retrospect: "The metric board was soon disbanded to save money". In 1982 President R, Regan dissolved the USMB and the responsibility for metric coordination was transferred to the Office of Metric Programs in the Department of Commerce. A new attempt was made with the "Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988", designating the metric system as the preferred measurement system, and requiring to be metric by the end of fiscal year 1992. But in on 03.08.1993 one can read in Die Presse “The USA as the only industrial nation beside Burma (Myanmar) and Liberia holds on to the old system"..."Even Great Britain and Canada have made the change, at least officially." "(SR 31.08.1993; GB 1993) President Bill Clinton expressed himself to the topic that the change was to be done by 14.04.1994. Meeting with stiff opposition by the population the postal administration of the USA and also that of Great Britain have been very hesitant in issuing metric stamps barring one: the daily temperature, for the population a very important observation.

at 0° C and boils at 100° C. The thermometer liquid has to be mercury. The degrees between the fixed points on both thermometers are in a ratio of 180 : 100 or 9 : 5. Depending on the C° or F° temperature the conversion is as follows: from °C to °F : °C x 9 : 5 + 32 = °F and vice versa from °F to °C : °F - 32 x 5 = 9 ‫׃‬°C in practice then 37 x 9 = 333 98,6 = 32 + 66,6 = 5 ‫׃‬

as seen on the image of the stamp. 1992 the Turkish postal service on Cyprus issued a set of stamps on the occasion of 18 years weather service and also the jubilee of 14 years cartographic registration of the country. The set show the whole range of this work: Triangulation (compass) rainbow with anemometer, a thermometer with a double scale as already described above on the British stamp.

Mars Flight Lost Through Measuring Error "Foot against foot - pound against Newton". "Go Metric" meets with deaf ears in America. "Why the Mars climate orbiter got lost?" ("Warum die Marssonde abstürzte") so run the headlines in the FAZ on 13.11.1999. In the paper USA Today one could read: "Nasa lost its $125 Mars Climate Orbiter last week because one set of engineers was working with metric measurements while another worked with English measurements officials reported on Thursday." On board of the orbiter metric values were calculated according to the metric unit Newton per second (1Newton = 1mkg/2), on the ground, however, Anglo Saxon pounds per second were used. Also in "USA Today" Paul Hoversten wrote: "Bad math added up to doomed Mars craft". All Presidents of the USA from Ford to Clinton achieved little more than the metric system being used in Defence - and the Computer Industry. Most of all a complete conversion to metrication had taken place in the Automobile Industry, and that for economic reasons. 1976 the first car completely produced according to metric measurements could leave the assembly line. ( Die Welt 01.09.1991). The US Weather Service now transmitted in degrees Fahrenheit and Celsius, but precipitation, rainfall or wind force is given according to the British system.

So the stamp concerning this topic appeared in a set of the "Year of Industry" on 14.01.1996. The image shows a pharmaceutical laboratory and on the edge of the right hand side a thermometer-detail with two scales. The liquid column is marked red. The calibration on the left hand side shows distinctly the metric information at From Great Britain it was reported: "Britain is 37° degree Celsius and on the opposite side at 98.6°F, undergoing the processof 'metrication' by weights." It which is temperature according to Fahrenheit. The two happened slowly, similar to the decimal currencyfriends, the Swede A. Celsius (1701-1744) and the East- change over. On 15.02.1971 the decimal system for Prussian G. Fahrenheit (1686-1736) complemented one currency came into force. Britain got rid of its another: Fahrenheit defined a temperature scale shillings, the pound was now worth one hundred according to which at sea-level water freezes at 32° F pence instead of the old two hundred and forty and boils at 212° F. Celsius proposed long before the pence. The same happened with the weights. The French revolutionary idea the 100° division and defined kilogram replaced pound and ounce, but "a pint a temperature scale at which at sea-level water freezes remains a pint and a mile is a mile". These are 26

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concessions 11.09.1995)

from

Brussels

(Baltimore

Press

To draw the reader's interest once more on this topic, you might like to know about a little leaflet of the US Keller measurement Publication, which came out 1974/75 in Wisconsin with the subtitle "Living with the Metric System and liking it", a little taste of the discussed matter: A meter is a yard - plus a little extra. A kilogram is two pounds - plus a little extra. A litre is a quart - plus a little extra. Now that wasn't bad, was it? The metric measures are close enough To what you are using now, so you won't have a big problem in adjusting your measure stick."

because of your evolution theory, your extensive collection and research work. I perhaps might once be apportioned a ship." Something similar could be said of surveyors or cartographers, whose laborious and unnoticed work remains hidden behind all the map-work. And then, after the long often tedious way and final realisation of the metric system in so many countries, the working with and thinking in 'weights and measures' might also mutate towards the weight of more unity and thus a fair measure of peace. 28. December 2007

It remains an open question whether British Postal Service will publish a special issue on day X and which kind of design for the final introduction of the metric system.

Some Cartography Belonging to the discussed topic is also the area of cartography, but because of limited space, only a special event can be treated here. It is the commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the circumnavigation of the HMS Beagle (1831-1836) under the command of Captain Robert Fitzroy (s.pg 5) on which the edition "Year of the Beagle 1982" beautiful stamps have been issued: The Palau Islands (nautical instruments) St Helena and Ascension Islands (nautical maps) Kokos Islands with portraits of famous captains, also the one of captain R. Fitzroy. Afterwards only one more time does the captain's portrait appear in a set issued by St Helena in 1986 "Famous Discoverers", among them also James Ross and James Cook. In all other jubilee editions of the 'Beagle' voyage circumnavigating the globe the image of the only passenger on board is favoured, Charles Darwin (1809-1836), whose arrival at St Helena was celebrated by all people. Captain Fitzroy, a significant hydrographer, had conducted by orders of his Admiral F. Beaufort (17741857) a two years' survey along the south coast of the "Feuerland Isles". During this time he discovered a new passage to the Pacific, an even nearer passage to the feared Cape Horn, today the much frequented Beagle passage Fitzroy also laid the foundation of the weather-forecasting service, so valuable to seafarers today.

Closing Words In a radio play consisting of several parts about the above mentioned expedition Darwin is the focus of interest. At the end of the play the two bid each other farewell in more or less these words: " You, my friend Darwin, can expect fame as well contradiction 27

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ASTEROIDS Some Bits and Pieces

Members Appear in British Glossies Your editor had articles fully illustrated in colour on the Apollo XI 40th anniversary in the August issue of both STAMP Magazine and Gibbons Stamp Monthly. There was a feature on Andrew Swanston in the September issue of STAMP Magazine as one of its oldest readers as the magazine celebrates its 75 years in existence and the magazine also picked up the story in the last issue of Orbit about Amza the son of Romanian member Alec Bartos being our youngest member and this will feature in a forthcoming issue as a news story.

Facebook Page

The society now has a Facebook page where members can sign on to become a fan and get the latest space and space stamp news, administered by our website manager Derek Clarke. You can find this at…… http://www.facebook.com/p ages/The -As tro -Space -Stamp Society/125401870287?ref=ts

Your editor’s recent ApolloXI articles appear on his own Facebook page at…… http://www.facebook.com/album.php? aid=30010&id=1062354811&l=48b1a4bf69 http://www.facebook.com/album.php? aid=30026&id=1062354811&l=6d19726469

should you want to peruse them.

Masonic Astronauts The Masonic Philatelic Club has published a short article pointing out that some early US astronauts were Masons: John Glenn was made a “Mason at Sight” by the Grand Master of Ohio in 1978 and joined Concord lodge (New Concord, Ohio) no 688. Virgil Grissom was initiated and raised in Mitchell Lodge 228 in May 1949. Edgar Mitchell is a member and Past Master of Artesia Lodge No 28, New Mexico.

Canadian Philatelist has no space for space ! Thanks to Alan Tunnicliffe (New Zealand) who advises that the front cover of May/June 2009 issue of "The Canadian Philatelist" (journal of the Royal Philatelic Society of Canada) features space stamps against a backdrop of the night sky. However there is no related article within the magazine.

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Harvey D on Venus

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Venera 1

Venera 3

Venera 7

Venera 4

Venera 8

Venera 9 / 10

Venera 11 / 12

Venera 13 / 14

Vega 30

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Reproduced from the March/April issue of The Gannet. Alan Tunnicliffe is Editor of New Zealand Air Mail News and a regular reader of Orbit

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Apollo 12

In an article first published in Orbit for October 1999, and now refreshed, our New York based member Peter Hoffman who was an engineer on the Apollo programme continues his series of recollections of these momentous flights.

This sheetlet from Hungary (SG 2516 / Weebau 192) was the only format in which the stamps were issued. It shows Conrad and Bean on the surface, one at the automatic Surveyor IIIâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s landing site. 33

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Charles "Pete: Conrad, Jr.: Bachelor of science in aeronautical engineering from Princeton University, 1953; recipient of two Honoris Causa Doctorates; Captain, USN, Ret.; test pilot; unsuccessful application for NASA astronaut group 1; he was the third man to walk on the lunar surface; he left NASA on 01.02.1974 to accept a position as Vice President for ATC, Denver, Colorado; 1976 he became Vice President of McDonnell Douglas Corp.; he left this position on 31.03.1996 to serve as Chief of Universal Space Lines; hobbies: Golf, water skiing, automobile racing; he died on 08.07.1999 from complications of internal bleeding received in a motorcycle accident. In addition to Apollo 12, he was on the Gemini 5, Gemini 11 and Skylab 2 flights. Alan La Vern Bean: Bachelor of science in aeronautical engineering from the University of Texas, 1955; two honorary doctorates; Captain, USN, Ret; test pilot; he was the fourth man to walk on the lunar surface; he retired from Navy in 1975, but continued as head of the Astronaut Candidate Operations and Training Group within the astronaut office in a civilian capacity; from 1978 1981 he was acting chief astronaut; he resigned from NASA on

26.02.1981 to devote his full time to painting. He also on the Skylab 3 flight. Richard Francis "Dick" Gordon, Jr.: Bachelor of science in chemistry from the University of Washington, 1951; Captain, USN, Ret.: flight test pilot; later he was Executive Vice President of the NFL New Orleans Saints Pro Football Club; in August 1977 he became General Manager of Energy Developers Ltd.; from May 1978 until August 1981 he served as President for Resolution Engineering and Development Co.; from September 1981 until February 1983 he worked as Director Los Angeles Division of Scott Science and Technology Inc., a firm of the former Apollo 15 Commander David R. Scott in March 1982 he became President of Astro Science Corporation in Los Angeles, California; later he served as President of Space Age America, Inc.; currently he lives in Sedona, Arizona; hobbies: Water Skiing, golf. Before Apollo 12, he was on the Gemini 11 flight. Adapted from the Spacefacts website

http://www.spacefacts.de/english/bio_ast.htm

Sweden 1988 and Togo 1970 both show Conrad on the surface whilst Ras Al Khaima 1970 shows both working near the seismographic equipment

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A remarkable story about an Apollo stamp By Bert van Eijck There were interesting stories on the Apollo Project in June’s Orbit. It reminds me of a philatelic Apollo story, probably most ASSS members do not know about. Although it happened sixteen years ago, it’s still remarkable and here it is. It all began with a Press Release in 1993 from the Philatelic Department of the smallest country in the world: San Marino. The release announced the issue of a Souvenir Sheet with three stamps on March 16, 1993 for the inauguration of San Marino’s State Television.* It was the first hologrammatic stamp produced by the country. The three stamps in the sheet depicted television images of the Olympics Games in Tokyo, Monte Titano, the highest point of San Marino, and the first man on the moon. In fact the third stamp has nothing to do with the Apollo XI. We do not see Neil Armstrong saluting the US flag, but James Irwin from Apollo XV, two years and four months a f t e r July 1969. And that was not the only mistake! As you can see on the stamp the astronaut is saluting the flag with his left hand and not correctly with his right hand. The photograph used for the stamp had been reversed

am with the publication “San Marino Space design error” on September 27, 1993 in Linn’s Stamp News, the world’s largest weekly stamp news magazine. The image of the San Marino stamp of James Irwin, but then the right one, we see on a painting by astronaut/explorer/ artist/moonwalker Alan Bean in his book “Apollo an eyewitness account” - see extract below. Bean was lunar module pilot on Apollo 12 and the fourth man to walk on the moon; “and the first to eat spaghetti there!” he says.

*San Marino is situated in the Appenine Mountains in NorthEast Italy. Its size is about 60 square kilometers with almost 30.000 inhabitants. It is the oldest state and constitutional This blunder was discovered by the Dutchman Klaas Wijchman, republic in the world, having founded in the year 301. living in Furth, Germany, who contacted the editor of the Dutch monthly stamp magazine Philatelie, who contacted me as a specialist on space philately. It was easy to see Klaas Wijchman was right. How could this have happened? Therefore I wrote a letter to Dr. Marino Zanotti, Director General of the Philatelic Department in San Marino. His response on August 24, 1993: “I must admit that you possess an exceptional capacity of analysis, as, in fact you are the only person who indicated the two presumed errors of the Souvenir Sheet issued for the Inauguration of our State Television and you should know that our Press Releases are sent to 2,400 journalists and we have 50,000 collectors, not to mention our Above the San Marino issue various experts who prepared the sheet.” with two design errors : below the issue “flipped The compliment of Dr. Zanotti of course goes entirely to Klaas horizontally” by computer Wijchman, the first one who identified the mistake. The imagery and bottom the Director General continues his letter: “I do not doubt the fact 1972 issue from Chad which that the Astronaut featured on the third stamp of our Souvenir gets it right Sheet is J. Irwin and not the first man on the moon, as you claim, even though the Agency which furnished us with the photograph had attached an explanation which dealt with the landing of the first man of the moon. Regarding the entire image on the third stamp it was in fact turned upside-down.” In my letter to Dr. Zanotti I had asked him if this ‘wrong’ Souvenir Sheet should be withdrawn by San Marino. He answered as follows: “The only comment I have to make at the moment is that you are in possession of a “little scoop.” There is no way that these Souvenir Sheets can be withdrawn from the market as our complete stock is almost entirely sold out.” Of course this answer was for me, as a philatelic journalist at that time, a real scoop! My own newspaper, Nieuwsblad van het Noorden, based in Groningen, – with a daily circulation of 140.000 the biggest in Northern Netherlands – printed the full story on its front page on August 31, 1993. About twenty other newspapers working together in a syndicate, followed. Proud I

Above Alan Bean’s interpretation of the event in one of his paintings. We can distinguish this saluting issue from others e.g. for Apollo XI because of the Hadley-Appenine mountains shown in the background

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UFO

The Limits of Space Travel Concluding part by John Beenen

Part 6: Spacecraft, space entities and far away planets

and H.G.Wells were issued on stamps of e.g. Israel (9900 ISR 1/3), St.Vincent-Grenadines (9600 SVG 57B) and Great-Britain, 1995 as illustrated below. A very special issue is a sheet with 16 stamps from San Marino entitled: ‘Un secolo di fantascienza’ (a century of science fiction) , on which 16 writers of

In a strict sense this subject does not belong to UFO’s as everyone agrees that it is completely originating from our fantasy. Writers, cartoonists, movie makers, in short artists of all different area have occupied themselves intensively with this subject which broadly outlined is satisfied by the word ‘science fiction’. Designers of stamps of many countries have contributed themselves to this area and a large amount of stamps, sheets and blocks have been issued, showing the most fantastic extraterrestrial space crafts. I mention some: Guinea Equatorial WB 51/5, Hungary 338/44 (one from set shown left) Sharjah 381/5, Aiman 357/62 and USA 89/93. Others have found inspiration in extraterrestrial landscapes on far away planets such as: Cuba 114/9 and 123/8 and Soviet Union 217/221. Also some created fantastic space entities such as: Guinea Republic 91/6 and the Dutch Antilles (see cover below)

science fiction novels have been honoured with an appropriate stamp (San Marino 9900 SMA 5/20C). Films about ‘other worlds’ became great successes. Images from ‘Starwars’, ‘Startrek’, and ‘Lost in space’ have been issued more on stamps than you probably think, such as the often very expensive series of Australia, St.Vincent-Grenadines, Guyana en Guinea Equatorial. I will sum them up here without striving to completeness. Review of countries issuing stamps about science fiction. For the stamps themselves see e.g. http://.scifistamps.com/ and http://store.coolstamps.com/ which sell hundreds of stamps, blocks and sheets for unfortunately often rather high prices.

Startrek: Australia, Angola, Touva, Guyana, Grenada, St.Vincent, Amurskaya, Bashkiria

Lord of the Rings: New Zealand, Isle of Man, G.B. Spiderman: St.Vincent, Equat.Guinea, Madagascar The Incredible Hulk: St.Vincent, USA, Madagascar X-man United: St.Vincent In 1936 the radio broadcast of the book H.G.Wells’ ‘ War of the Worlds’ by Orson Welles created much commotion in the United States and many years before (and still read today) the books of Jules Verne became bestsellers. Hence also science fiction writers such as Arthur C.Clarke – also known from the Telstar satellite – Isaac Asimov 37

2001,

Tajikistan

Space

Odyssey:

Antigua,

Kyrgyzstan,

Starwars: St.Vincent, Guyana, Togo (9700 TOG 22B, (shown top of next page)

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The contents of this report were, and are still, violently opposed by the ‘believers’, who would not accept any negative conclusion about UFO’s. This lead to the final conclusion that UFO’s did not constitute a thread to the United States, but the believe in it does. If this is the case than it is interesting to trace where such a belief is coming from. In the literature many explanations can be found in general based upon feelings of uncertainty for the future, also called social pessimism. From these feelings it is good to know that there are extraterrestrials caring about us and cleaning the mess we made of the Earth. Moreover, there are experts giving many explanations based upon mass hysteria and a principally lack of trust in all communications of the authorities, also called a complot or conspiracy theory. As I am not an expert in those kinds of psychological theories I leave them for what they are and will not go further into it, but if you are interested, many theories can be found on the Internet.

Xena Warrior Princess: nearly all Russsan Republics Superman: USA The Lost World: Liberia Lost in Space: Equat.Guinea, Togo And even the figures from the cartoon movies: Flintstones in space: St.Vincent Jetsons in Space: Mongolia Mickey Mouse in Space: St.Lucia, Maldives

Finally As a result of the first UFO wave in 1947 the American Air Force decided to carry out an investigation with re s pe ct to t he se unknown flying objects. They thought that they could be secret military missions related to the Cold War. Though fairly quickly, this hypothesis appeared not to be tenable, still further investigation followed, first under the name ‘’Project Grudge’ and later changed into the project ‘Blue Book’, lead by Capt.Edward J.Ruppelt. Over the next 17 years his group investigated 12.618 observations from which at the end of the project 701 (5,5%) remained unsolved. Finally the project was closed by the physician Edward U.Condon who drafted a crushing report of 1465 pages about the Blue Book Project. 38

Finishing this piece of work I gradually became even less convinced about the existence of UFO’s. To me they are just ordinary earthly phenomena, which can be explained in one way or another by logical arguments and scientific research, but for some of them the solutions are not known yet. Finally, the ‘Canals at Mars’ and the ‘Head at Mars’ were nonsense after all too. From a scientific point of view, however, it would be worthwhile to investigate those phenomena which are still inexplicable, as we may learn from it aspects of our atmosphere and weather which still are unknown to us. But for the time being there is no reason to suppose the existence of extraterrestrials, also because any conclusive and convincing argument still is lacking in spite of the over 10 million hits on the Internet. After all, ‘unidentified’ does not mean ‘extraterrestrial’ and a ‘testimony’ is no ‘proof’. Investigated thoroughly ‘witnesses’ are often nontraceable or have vanished completely and important documents could not be found back or are ‘lost’. Also hardly ever is even the tiniest part of a space craft shown or, if it can be presented, after analysis is of ordinary earthy composition. That statements of witnesses often are contradictory is not that strange, as it is a well-known fact, also by accidents, that witnesses mostly are not very reliable, and in the case of UFO’s, certainly not when belonging to the group of ‘believers’.

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Still there exists a problem with respect to the attitude of military authorities. It is obvious that in some cases information is and has been kept back. This will not refer to extraterrestrial encounters, but will serve screening of secret, sometimes not in all aspects too ethical, projects. Hence, it is not by accident that a great deal of mysterious observations concentrate around the New Mexico desert, an area where the American Army is very active (Area 51).

http://store.coolstamp.com/ (supplier of nearly all nice sheets and stamps)

But as an object for a collector all those images of mysterious men and women are very attractive. And speaking for myself, don’t you think that it would be very thrilling if some of it were true? Hoorn, November 2007

Paperback Spaceport Publishing tim@spaceport.co.uk www.spaceport.co.uk +44 01237 477883

Literature: Where the Gods Astronauts?, Erich von Däniken, ISBN 90-202-8077-5, 1969

http://bedlam.rutgers.edu/ufo.html (gigantic data-base for further study) http://www.csicop.org/bibliography/search.cgi Etc.

One Small Steppe by Tim Furniss

Bideford, Devon-based spaceflight journalist and author Tim Furniss has published the first of two autobiographies, “One Small Steppe”, a personal story of the Space Age from 1948 to 1989.

“One Small Steppe” is an inspiring story of a 12-year The Soviet dossier, Col.Dr.Marina Popovitsj, ISBN 90-5121-348-4, 1991 old British space enthusiast, whose interest in space was fired by Yuri Gagarin’s flight in 1961 and whose (writer is positive about UFO’s) ambition was to become a spaceflight journalist. Alien Logbook, Jim Marrs, ISBN 90 5121 750 1, 1997(writer is convinced of the existence of UFO’s)

Tim purchased his first copy of Flight International in 1962, when the magazine featured a Space Special UFO’s above Belgium (Dutch) John van Waterschoot, ISBN 90 209 issue and he continued to read the magazine every 3102 4, 1997 (writer is rather positive about the phenomenon UFO) week. His ambition was to meet astronauts, visit spaceports, to see launches and to get a job in space. Are we alone? UFO’s in The Netherlands and Belgium (Dutch), Marieke He witnessed Apollo, Shuttle and other launches from Groen, ISBN 90 351 2012 4, 1999 (nice neutral article) Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Centre and also met and interviewed many astronauts and UFO’s, Wonders and Mysteries, Orbis Publishing Ltd, 1995, cosmonauts. Dutch.Translation: Zuid Tim became Flight International’s spaceflight correspondent in 1984 after being one of the first journalists to visit the Soviet Union’s Star City training The extraterrestrial Enigma (Dutch). Marcel van Beurden, 2004, ISBN 90 6728 124 7. (The writer does not believe in UFO’s and refutes all centre. Boekproducties Lisse, 1997, ISBN 90 6248 9141 (somewhat popular)

stories about it)

In1988, Tim was the first British journalist to witness a manned launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in the remote steppes of Kazakhstan. When he stood on the launch pad from where Gagarin was launched - while also meeting with veteran cosmonauts Gherman Titov http://www.crystallinks.com/ufohistory.html, UFO’s in Earth’s history and Alexei Leonov -Tim had come full circle, (somewhat vague site with many references to historical ‘data’) remembering that day in 1961 with gratitude to God. The new UFO Wave (Dutch), Julien Weverbergh. Jean-Claude Bourret, Manteau ISBN 90 223 0488 4, 2e druk, 1976 (opinion of the writer is not clear, but is certainly not completely negative)

http:// www.astrosurf.cm/lombry/, Le défi des OVNI (French) (Hundreds of pages in which the phenomenon ‘UFO’ is discussed on a very neutral base. Basis for this series of articles)

Tim left Flight International in 2006.

Tim is also an author, broadcaster, lecturer and theatrical presenter of his personal space story. “One http://www.ufocasebook.com/bestufopictures.html (many pictures of Small Steppe” is a personal, inspiring, amusing, UFO’s) moving and feel-good read, accompanied by a popular http://www.weeklyworldnews.com/features/aliens/10524, The 10 history of the international space age to 1989, most spine-tingling space alien abductions ever documented including Tim’s reporting and travelling for Flight International. www.cufos.org/ : Dr.Allen J.Hynek Center for UFO studies www.mufon.com/: Mutual UFO Network www.fufor.com/: Fund for UFO Research Inc. www.ufoevidence.org/ (much information)

Log onto www.spaceport.co.uk to purchase the book - and also read a short biography on the menu

ORBIT

Some Apollo XI Anniversary issues

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