Orbit issue 84 (January 2010)

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Editorial

ISSN 0953 1599 THE JOURNAL OF THE ASTRO SPACE STAMP SOCIETY Issue No 84 January 2010

End of an Era ?

Patron:

Does 2010 signal the end of the shuttle or will there be a full or partial reprieve as the year develops ? It seems unthinkable that the Americans may soon have no means of launching men into space themselves and will have to rely on the Russians for most of the coming decade.

Cosmonaut Georgi Grechko, Hero of the Soviet Union

COMMITTEE Chair :

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

Hon. Secretary:

Am I also alone in being bewildered at the return to Apollo-like technology for the projected return to the Moon which may/not happen in this new decade ? If this is the case what was the shuttle experiment all about and is it to be regarded as a failure when so much learned about reusable hardware is being set to one side to return to improved versions of what was done forty years ago

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)

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)

Sad to relate, quite possibly none of this will happen and the whole Ares/Orion programme will be abandoned as unsustainable financially. A recent BBC programme about the return to the Moon envisaged four NASA astronauts landing at the same time and then gradually a whole series of other manned and unmanned flights bringing hardware to create a small home and then a small lunar town complete with fantastic leisure facilities which would permit wealthy Earthlings to fly on wings by jumping from a 50 metre board within a tall dome. Alas, even the most modest of these aspirations may well now be just almost literally pie in the sky !

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In his new multi part series John Beenen examines the star at the centre of our solar system.

The Sun is a star and actually a so-called ‘white dwarf’ of the class G2.

That means that it is much hotter and heavier than a mean star, but much smaller than the blue giant stars. It is estimated that today the sun is about 4.5 milliard years of age and that it will live for another 5.5 milliard years as long as the nuclear reactions in its core allow.

sun. Point A is the start of the fusion reaction, i.e. the start of phase two.

At point B about half of the hydrogen has been consumed and that is about today’s situation.

At point C the third phase starts when all hydrogen has been consumed.

Point D is 1,5 milliard years later when the size of the (USA 2000) sun is 3,3 times larger and its temperature is about 4300°.

At point E the core temperature has been raised to such THE LIFECYCLE OF THE SUN a point that the helium fuses to carbon and about one The life of the sun can be divided roughly into five third of the sun will be blown off into space. phases: The creation, by which the sun is formed by the contraction of a large, cold gaseous primeval nebula. By such a contraction gravitational energy is released which heated the core of the nebula to levels of millions of degrees which started the nuclear reactions

THE SUN IN THE UNIVERSE

(Mexico, spiral galaxy, 1942, YvAir119, WB1); (Australia, spiral galaxy NGC 2997, 1922, Yv1257)

The sun is located at about 27,000 light years from the centre of our Milky Way galaxy which has a thickness of about 3000 light years. The distance between the Sun and the Earth is about 150 million km (149,6) which we call the ‘Astronomic Unit’ (AU). The Sun moves through space in a speed of about 220 km per second and moves around the

The second phase, as it is today, the sun receives its energy from a nuclear fusion reaction, hydrogen is converted into helium and that will continue until the hydrogen is consumed.

When the hydrogen is consumed the star will become a ‘red giant’, swelling temporarily to a size in which Mercury and Venus and probably even Earth will be swallowed.

When the Earth is so threatened the temperature will rise over 1500°C and everything will become liquid. At such a process helium combustion starts by which three helium atoms will melt into one carbon core. Such a reaction lasts for not more than another 100 million years, then the sun swells again and releases its outer layers into a planetary nebula.

In this last phase the core remains as a ‘ white dwarf’, cooling down very slowly in a billion (10-12) years and even then the temperature will be a 1000°C. When finally the white dwarf emits no more radiation, that means that its temperature has dropped to that of the interstellar space and the sun becomes a ‘ black dwarf’.

The illustration opposite (cf. www.michielb.nl.od95/ leven.htm) shows a good image of the lifecycle of the 3

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centre of our Milky Way galaxy in about 226 million years. Within this system the sun is a more or less an insignificant, mean star.

The sun has a mean diameter of about 1.4 million km (1,392) and contains 99,86% of the total mass of our solar system. The mass of the sun is 2*10 30 kg which is about 330,000 times the weight of Earth.

The sun is nearly a perfect sphere, is not solid but is in a constant plasma state. At is equator it rotates in about 25 days but at in poles in 33 days. By the ever changing position against Earth the observed speed at the equator is about 28 days. The sun releases heat and light from its surface. The temperature at the surface is about 5800°K, and at the centre is calculated to be about 15,5 million degrees.

The pressure in the centre is also immense and is about 2x1016 Pascal (1 Pascal = 1 N/m2). Today air pressure often is expressed as hectopascal (hPa) equal to the former millibar. As the mean air pressure is about 1000 millibar, the pressure in the core of the sun is 2x1011 times as high.

helium gas blown into the interstellar space by the solar wind and which exceeds far beyond the orbit of Pluto, over one milliard kilometres from us.

Further, the sun shows some phenomena each of which is interesting enough to describe and from which their influence on our Earth and solar system has been investigated in great detail by a series of spacecraft and probes such as: solar flares, prominences, coronal mass ejections (CME’s), solar spots, solar cycles, magnetism and radiation (light, UV, radio, gamma, neutrons etc.)

THE PHOTOSPHERE The photosphere is the deepest layer of the atmosphere of the sun. As said, it has a thickness of 300-500 km and nearly all the light we receive from the sun originates from this layer. The name comes from ‘fotoos’, ancient-Greek for ‘light’.

The downside of this layer applies to the ‘’surface’ of the sun. Actually, it is not a real surface as the sun is a gaseous sphere. In the photosphere the temperature from about 6500°K at the surface drops to about 4500° K at the upper limit. The density of the photosphere is already very low compared to our earth atmosphere THE COMPOSITION OF THE SUN and it about 4000 times lower, at the upper limit even The sun mainly consists of hydrogen, in the outer layers 200,000 times. about 91 mol percent or 70 mass percent. Further the element helium, the second element of the periodic The photosphere we see as a granulated, wriggling, system of elements is present in a quantity of 9 mol constant changing pattern of magnetic cells of hot gas. percent or 28 mass percent. At the centre of the sun, The sun’s photosphere is composed of convection cells where hydrogen is converted into helium by the fusion called granules – cells of gas 50-1000 km in diameter reaction the content of hydrogen probably is much with hot rising gas in the centre and cooler gas falling in lower (35 mass percent). the narrow spaces between them. Each granule has a lifespan of about eight minutes, resulting in a In combination with the immense high pressure and continually shifting ‘boiling’ pattern but much longer temperatures in the centre of the sun the hydrogen lifetimes have been observed. Grouping the typical fuses into helium. Every second 700 million tons of granules are super granules up to 30,000 kilometres in hydrogen is turned into 695 million tons of helium. The diameter with lifespans of up to 24 hours. difference, 5 million tons, is irradiated in the form of electromagnetic energy. That seems rather a lot but it is THE CHROMOSPHERE still not more than one trillion (10-18) part of sun’s total (Dutch Antilles, solar eclipse, 1998, mass.

NVPH1202) The chromosphere lies next to the photosphere and has a thickness of about 2000 km. It is even thinner than the photosphere and shows a reddish colour which can be seen at The process which takes place at the core can be solar eclipse. Strangely enough the compared with a giant hydrogen bomb, with four chromosphere shows much higher hydrogen cores melting together into one helium core. temperatures, even going up to 20,000°K. At its outside the sun is surrounded by: the photosphere, a layer in a thickness of 300-500 Even today the cause of this phenomenon is still not km explained completely. Sonic turbulence is one of the the chromosphere, a very thin layer in a thickness explanations but newer theories prefer a magnetic of about 2000 km cause. The most common phenomenon in the the corona, the atmosphere of the sun, extending chromosphere is the occurrence of so-called ‘spicula’, millions of kilometres into Space eruptions of long thin fingers of luminous gas which and outside prevails the heliosphere, hydrogen and 4

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appear like the blades of a huge field of fiery grass growing upwards from the photosphere below. Spicules rise to the top of the chromosphere and then sink back down again over he course of about 10 minutes.

Another feature found in the chromosphere are ‘ fibrils’, horizontal wisps of gas similar in extent to spicules but with about twice the duration.

Finally, ‘ solar prominences’ rise up through the chromosphere from the photosphere, sometimes reaching altitudes of 150,000 km. These gigantic plumes of gas are the most spectacular of solar phenomena, aside from the less frequent solar flares.

(Niger, year of the quiet sun, 1964, Yv144, WB 7)

(Bulgaria, 1965, year of the quiet sun, Yv1384, WB 50)

The precise cause of the strangely high temperature is still not very well known.

Many coronal heating theories have been proposed, but two theories have remained as the most likely candidates, wave heating and magnetic reconnection (or nanoflares), but neither theory has been able to account for the extreme coronal temperatures. Most solar physicists now believe that some combination of the two theories can probably explain coronal heating, although the details are not yet complete.

In 1997 the space craft SOHO observed a prominence in a length of The phenomenon will be investigated in greater detail 350.000 km, but even longer ones up by the Solar Probe Plus probe, possibly to be launched in 2015. This satellite will approach the sun closer than to one million km were observed. ever before. The ‘wave heating’ theory was proposed Generally, they are formed in one day in 1949 by the French astrophysicist Evry Schwarzman (1920), who assumed that waves transport energy but stay visible over months. from the inner of the sun to the chromosphere and the Starting from solar flares or corona. . prominences sometimes ‘coronal mass (Bulgaria, 1965, year of the quiet ejections’ (CME’s) are formed, tremendous loops of sun, Yv1383, WB49) material from the corona blown by the sun with speeds over one million km per hour.

The sun is made of plasma rather than ordinary gas, so Such eruptions contain over ten times as much energy it supports several types of as the solar flares of prominences from where they waves analogous to sound originate and may carry hundred of millions of tons of waves in air. The most mass into space. It is assumed that such eruptions are important types are the the consequence of instabilities in the magnetic field. magneto-acoustic and the Alfvén-waves, called after the Swedish plasmaphysicist Hannes Alfvén (1908-1995).

THE CORONA Magneto-acoustic waves are sound waves that have (Mali , year of the quiet sun, 1964, Yv67, been modified by the presence of a magnetic field, and WB 3) Alfvén-waves are similar to ULF radio waves that have The corona is a kind of plasma been modified by the interaction with matter in the atmosphere surrounding the sun plasma. or another celestial body.

The Latin root of the word ‘corona’ means ‘crown’. The temperature of the corona is strangely high, about one million times thinner than the photosphere it shows a temperature up to one to three million degrees.

The corona is divided into three areas: the K-corona (K for continuum) interfaces directly with the chromosphere and is created by sunlight scattered off electrons the E-corona (E for emission) contains abundant calcium and iron the F-corona (F for Fraunhofer) is created by sunlight bouncing off dust particles.

Still, we know little about it, but both types of waves may escape from the sun by the turbulence of granulation and super granulation at the solar photosphere, and both types of waves can carry energy for some distance through the solar atmosphere before turning into shock waves that dissipate their energy as heat. Yet the effects of both wave types are actually unsuitable to give a full explanation of the complete effect.

Also the ‘magnetic reconnection’ theory knows its limits, relying on the solar magnetic field to induce electric currents in the solar corona. The currents then collapse suddenly, releasing energy as heat and wave energy in the corona. This process is called ‘reconnection’ because of the peculiar way that magnetic fields behave in a plasma. In a plasma, magnetic field lines are normally tied to individual places of matter, so that the topology 5

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of the magnetic field remains the same: if a particular north and south magnetic pole are connected by a single field line, then even the plasma is stirred or if the magnets are moved around, that field line will continue to connect those particular poles. The connection is maintained by electric currents that are induced in the plasma. Under certain conditions, the electric currents can collapse, allowing the magnetic field to ‘reconnect’ to other magnetic poles and release heat and wave energy in the process.

heating plasma to ten of millions of kelvins and accelerating electrons, protons and heavier ions to near the speed of light. Originating from the corona such tremendous explosions are called CME’s (Coronal Mass Ejections).

SOLAR FLARES

The most powerful explosion ever was recorded by GOES on the 4th of November 2002 with a power between 4-4,5 MW/m2.

They produce electromagnetic radiation across the electromagnetic spectrum at all wavelengths from longwave radio to the shortest wavelength gamma rays.

Most flares occur in active regions around sunspots, where intense magnetic field emerge from the Sun’s Magnetic reconnection is hypothesized to be the surface into the corona. Flares are powered by the mechanism behind ‘solar flares’, the largest explosions sudden (timescales of minutes to tens of minutes) in our solar system. The idea that micro flares might release of magnetic energy stored in the corona. heat the corona was put forward by the American astrophysicist Eugene Parker, but is still controversial.

X-rays and UV radiation emitted by solar flares can affect Earth’s ionosphere and disrupt long-range radio Ultraviolet telescopes such as TRACE and SOHO/EIT can communications. Direct radio emission at decimetric observe individual micro flares as small brightenings in wavelengths may disturb operation of radars and other extreme ultraviolet light, but there seem to be too few devices operating at these frequencies. of these small vents to account for the energy released into the corona, whose outer layer is continuously Solar flares were first observed by the British blown into Space by a magnetic flux in the form of astronomer Richard Christopher Carrington (1826-1875) ‘solar wind’. and independently by Richard Hodgson Esq. of Highgate in 1859. In September of that year probably the largest The corona is not always evenly distributed across the solar flare of the last 500 years was registered which surface of the sun. During periods of quiet, the corona could be derived from measurements on nitrates and is more or less confined to equatorial regions, with the element beryllium-10 in the ice mantle of coronal holes covering the polar regions. However, Greenland. during the Sun’s active periods, the corona is evenly distributed over the equatorial and polar regions, The frequency of the occurrence of solar flares varies, though it is most prominent in areas with sunspot from several per day when the Sun is particularly activity. ‘active’ to less than one each week when the Sun is ‘quiet’. Large flares are less frequent than smaller ones.

Coronal loops are the basic structures of the magnetic Solar activity varies with an 11-year cycle (the solar solar corona. Loops of magnetic flux well up from the cycle). At the peak of the cycle there are typically more solar body and fill with hot solar plasma. Due to the sunspots on the Sun, and hence more solar flares. heightened magnetic activity in these coronal loops regions, coronal loops can often be the precursor to Solar flares are classified as A, B, C, M or X according to solar flares and Coronal Mass Ejections (CME’s). the peak flux (in watts per square meter, W/m 2) of 1200 to 800 picometer X-rays near Earth, as measured A photo made by TRACE (Transition Region and on the GOES (Geostationary Satellite) spacecraft. The Coronal Explorer, also: Explorer 73) launched at 1 April first one of this type was launches 16 October 11975.

1998 shows such a ‘loop’. The corona is most easily The last one, at this time GOES-13, dates 24 May 2006. seen during a total solar eclipse as a nimbus around the sun.

(Cayman Islands, 1991, M642, WB4)

(Czechoslovakia, 1965, year of the quiet sun, Yv1381, WB 47; USA, 1958, int.geophysical year, Yv 643, WB 2)

A solar flare is a violent explosion in a star’s atmosphere releasing as much energy as6x10 25 Joules. Solar flares take place in the solar corona and the chomosphere,

Solar flares and associated CME’s strongly influence our local ‘space weather’. They produce streams of highly energetic particles in the solar wind and the Earth’s magnetosphere that can present radiation hazards to spacecraft and astronauts. The soft X-ray flux of X class flares increases the ionisation of the upper atmosphere, which can interfere with short-wave radio 6

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communication, and can increase the drag on low Such a phenomenon first was detected by Alexander orbiting satellites, leading to orbital decay. Energetic Kosovichev of the University of Stanford and Valentina particles in the magnetosphere contribute to the aurora Zharkova of the University of Glasgow. borealis and aurora australis.

Hungary, 1965, year of the quiet sun, Yv1718, WB 99-103 Australia Antarctica, 1966-68, Yv 8 Mongolia, 1965, year of the quiet sun, Yv 334, WB 20-22

Solar flares release a cascade of high energy particles known as a ‘proton storm’. Protons can pass through the human body, doing biochemical damage.

Most proton storms take two or more hours from the time of visual detection to reach Earth. A solar flare on January 20, 1005 released the highest concentration of protons ever directly measured, taking only 15 minutes after observation to reach Earth, indicating a velocity of approximately one-third light speed. The radiation risk posed by solar flares and CME’s is one of the major concerns in discussions of manned missions to Mars or to the Moon. Some kind of physical or magnetic shielding would be required to protect the astronauts.

SOLAR WIND AND HELIOSPHERE

The heliosphere is an area in Space taken by the effects of the sun such as gases blown by the solar wind into Space. The first 10 milliard of kilometres the solar wind are blown in a speed over one million kilometre per hour (350-700 km/sec). In fact there are two speeds, the wind originating from the poles being blown in a somewhat higher speed than that from the equator.

At the borders of our solar system the wind bounces into the interstellar medium and reduce in speed. Solar wind is a stream of charged particles. It consist mostly of high-energy electrons and protons (about 1 KeV) that are able to escape the Sun’s gravity in part because of the high temperature of the corona and the high kinetic energy particles gain through a process that is not well understood at this time.

Solar flares have been observed by a great many of spacecrafts such as the Japanese Yohkoh (Solar A) launched 13-08-1991, the previously mentioned GOES, the RHESSI (Reuven Ramati High Energy Solar Spectroscope Imager), launched 02-20-2002 and the other Japanese Hinode (Solar B) launched 23-092006.

The solar wind is emitted when the Sun’s magnetic field loops out into space instead of looping back into the Sun. These magnetic anomalies in the Sun’s corona are called ‘coronal holes’. Such holes are very stable and may stand for months even years. Sometimes gigantic explosions are observed by which much more particles are created in the form of solar wind. Such explosions are called ‘Coronal Mass Ejections’ (CME’s) and belong Some other solar experiments were carried out by the to the largest explosions in our solar system.

Sovjets and Russia with the Vertikal 1-11, launched within the framework of the Interkosmos project. The In 1997 such an explosion was observed for the first first Vertikal was launched on November 28, 1970. time from its creation until its arrival and its Also Coronas-1 (2 March 1994) and Coronas-F (3107-2001) investigated the sun. These Coronas-series of experiments are not to be confused with the American observation satellites for military purposes, ‘ Corona’, launched since the sixties.

Most probes investigated all kinds of radiation emitted by the Sun. The Hinode probe particularly measured the solar flares. The Rhessi program was a cooperation of many countries. The Yohkoh discovered that ‘ magnetic reconnection’ was the basic phenomenon responsible for solar flares.

consequences on Earth four days later. These bursts release up to 100 milliard kg (1011 kg) of plasma with a speed in the neighbourhood of that of light. Their force can be compared with that of one milliard hydrogen bombs.

With a mean speed of 400 km/sec the solar wind covers the distance to Earth in 4,5 days. However, we have not to think in terms of earth wind. Solar wind is very thin.

It contains not more than 3-6 ions per cm3, hence space is very empty.

As the particles are released from a rotating sun they move in the shape of an arithmetic spiral. The American In the meantime it was discovered that solar flares astrophysicist Eugene Parker (1927) investigated this could cause very heavy solar quakes.

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effect into great detail and discovere d tha t the spinning particles show the shape of a twirled ballerina skirt, a ‘Parker spiral’’ Solar wind is noticeable throughout the whole solar system. Comets can be affected by its influence, therefore their tails are always directed away from the sun as detected for the first time in the fifties by the German physicist Ludwig Biermann (1907-1986).

As said, the solar wind creates the ‘ heliosphere’, an interstellar region surrounding the Sun. Even before the space age solar wind was presumed already by Birkeland (1916), Lindemann (1919) but could be measured only after the first spacecraft reached their orbits, the Soviet satellites Luna 1, 2 and 3 and the Venera 1. Also the American Mariner 2 presented results in this respect. The Mariner 2 also detected that the speed of the solar wind, even measured in days, was varying very much and that this was connected to the rotation of the sun in about 27 days.

Despite further observation e.g. of the SOHO-probe (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) it still is not clear which mechanism or mechanisms are exactly responsible for the acceleration of the solar wind.

How many particles escape the gravity of the sun, has been measured : a great many, 6,7 milliard tons per hour, a mass as large as the earth every 150.000 year, but still not more than 0,01% of the sun. Solar wind consists of plasma, 95% of hydrogen in ionized form, 4% double ionized helium and less than 0,5% other ions of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, neon, magnesium, iron, and silica such as measured by thew spacecrafts Ulysses (370 kg, 6 October 1990 from the STS-41 Discovery) and ACE (Advanced Composition Explorer, 785 kg, 25 August 1997).

Fortunately, Earth is protected by its magnetic shield which deviates most of these particles. However, a small amount of these particles are captured in both the van Allen belts surrounding the earth at resp. 0,11,5 (2000-5000 km) and 4-5:14.500-19.000 km) earth diameters around the earth. But, as the Moon has no atmosphere and no magnetic field its surface is completely exposed to the radiation of the solar wind.

The point where the solar wind slows down to subsonic speed (100 km/sec) is called the ‘termination shock’.

The exact point is not known but it is believed that it is between 75 and 90 AU from the sun far surpassing the planet Pluto (39,4 AU).

On August 30, 2007 Voyager 2 crossed this border.

Before this, at 23-24 May 2005 – another source mentions December 2004 – this border was reached by

Voyager 1 at a distance of 94 AU. It is certain that this limit varies somewhat influenced by bursts and explosions at the sun. It is expected that better information will be collected by the probe IBEX (Interstellar Boundery Explorer) launched in October 20, 2008. Pioneer 10 and 11 also delivered data with respect to the solar wind.

After passage of the termination shock the region is called ‘heliosheath’ which continues until the moment where the speed of the solar wind is in balance with that of the interstellar medium. This limit is called ‘heliopause’ and is considered as the end of our solar system.

Its distance is thought to be found at 100-200 AU, in any case much further than the planet Pluto (39,5 AU).

At present the heliosheath is investigated by both the Voyagers. It is supposed that the heliosheath has a thickness of 10-100 AU, but its precise thickness and form is still very uncertain.

SOLAR CYCLE, SUN SPOTS The first record of sunspots dates to around 800 BC in China and the oldest surviving drawing of a sunspot dates to 1128. A large sunspot also was seen at the time of Charlemagne’s death in AD 813. Sunspot activity in 1129 was described by John of Worcester. In 1608 the telescope was invented by the Dutchman Hans Lippershey which meant an enormous increase in the amount of observations with respect to celestial bodies.

Sunspot are regions on the Sun’s surface marked by an intense magnetic activity which inhibit convection.

Forming areas of reduced surface temperature. They are visible from the earth as dark spots at the surface.

It has been detected that sunspots appear in periods of 11 years.

This ‘solar cycle’ was discovered in 1843 by the German physicist Samuel Heinrich Schwabe (17891875) and perfected by the Swiss astronomer Rudolf Wolf (1816-1893). The amount and activity of sun spots is expressed in a parameter ‘the ‘Wolf 8

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number’

(or Around 190 the influence of the sun on the conditions ‘ Z ü r i c h of Earth was looked into specially by Charles Greely number’) Abbot (1872-1973) of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) who carried out much investigations The solar after the periodically appearing phenomena of the sun. cycle ( o f After the work of the American dendrobiologist Waldo m a g n e t i c S.Glock such phenomena of the sun could be connected activity) is a to variations in the growth of trees. cycle of 11 years (actually 22 years) and is powered by a At the beginning of the 19th century the famous British hydromagnetic dynamo process driven by the inductive astronomer William Herschel (1738-1822) was thought action of internal solar flows.. The process is visible by a to have found a connection between the occurrence of more or less regular increase and decrease of sunspots sunspots and the prices of grain. But he also thought and magnetic activity. that there could live creatures at the sun with enormous heads to stand against the high temperatures.

The 11-year cycle is also called the ‘Schwabe cycle’, the 22-year cycle is known as the ‘Hale cycle’ . Even other Half a century later the American father and son Harold cycles are found such as the ‘Gleisberg cycle’ of 87 (1882-1968) and Horace Babcock (1912-2003) showed years, the ‘Suess cycle’ of 210 years and the ‘Hallstadt that the magnetism of the sun spread over the whole cycle’ of 2300 years. Even more supposed cycles are surface and that the solar cycle is a process taking place known. all over the sun.

However, the 11 year cycle is not completely constant and deviations up to 9-14 years have been observed.

Between 1645 and 1715 , a period known as the ‘ little ice age’, very few sunspots were observed. This period also is known as the ‘Maunder Minimum’ after the British astronomer Edward Walter Maunder (1851-1928) who investigated this period intensively. Together with his wife, Annie Maunder, he constructed his well -known butterfly diagram of the activity of the sun and its cycles.

The new solar cycle, number 24, is considered to start at the moment where the amount of new sunspots exceed the amount of sunspots from the last cycle.

Based upon the reversion of the polarity January 4 th, 2008 was chosen as the start point of the new cycle, but based upon the sunspots the beginning of 2009 is more likely. Anyhow, even today where the solar cycle shows a minimum, the sun is relatively in a very active state not seen the last 8000 years. The level over the last 70 years is rather exceptional.

The next list may explain this: Period

Remarks

Start yea

In the second half of the 19th century the British astronomer Richard Carrington (1826-1875) and the German Gustav Spörer (1822-1895) discovered that as the cycle continued the spots moved from the equator to the poles where they arrived at minimum activity.

Oort minimum

Warm period in the Middle ages

1040

In 1908 the American astrophysicist George Ellery Hale (1868-1938) and his co-operators showed that sun spots were largely magnetic and in 1919 they also demonstrated that the magnetic polarity of the spots appeared in pairs. In fact the solar cycle lasts for 22 years, after 11 years the same configuration starts again but in a reversed polarity. Hale is better known as the founder of the Mt.Wilson observatory at Pasadena, South California in 1904.

Dalton minimum

1700

Modern maximum

1950

Medieval maximum

1100

Wolf minimum

1280

Spörer minimum

1450

Maunder minimum

Little ice age

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_variation

It is therefore not surprising that there are some scientists who make the appearance of sunspots and the increased activity of the sun more responsible for the present climate problem. And there are even more influences of the sun from which it is supposed that they have an influence on our living circumstances such as: changes in the total amount of light (USA 2000, from bloc: ‘Probing changes in the amount of UV-radiation the vastness of space’). changes in solar wind and magnetic flux 9

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effects on cloud formation (formation condensation nuclei) geomagnetic storms exceptional proton emissions variations in galactic cosmic radiation formation of C-14 (carbon-14)

of

ASTEROIDS Some Bits and Pieces

On all these subjects scientists discuss about their influence on our climate. But the fact is that over the last 70 years the sun is very active and this must have its influence on our living conditions. But one has to remember that data from long ago certainly could be less reliable and extrapolation therefore may be tricky.

That does not mean that carbon dioxide and methane gas have no influence, but only that we have to be careful not to take our conclusions too quick and too definite.

Sunspots can live for some days but also for months.

Finally, they disappear emitting a large amount of magnetic flux to the photosphere. Also the strengths of light radiation varies with the amount of sunspots and is the largest in periods with the maximum of activity.

Furthermore variations are found in the emission of extreme UV-radiation (EUV) and roentgen-radiation.

Such effects have been measured by the Japanese probe Yohkoh and the American SOHO and TRACE. The effect of such kind of radiation on the magnetosphere of the earth is large. It is the most important booster of the chemistry of the stratosphere and increases the ionising radiation, influences the temperature and the electric conductivity in the ionosphere.

Observations on sunspots also have been carried out by the crew of Skylab 2 and 3. During the flight of Skylab 2 (25-03-73 to] 22-7-73) the sun was very active. The crew of Skylab 3 (28-07-73 to 25-09-73) for a couple of days observed however a complete quiet sun. The Skylabs carried out much more sun observations and brought back a wealth of scientific information with regard to the magnetism of the sun, solar flares, sunspots and radiation. Much of these and other data collected by different spacecrafts and probes are available at the Internet in the ‘ Solar Data Analysis Center’ (SDAC). (http://nasascience.nasa.gov/ heliophysics/)

In the next part of this series, John details probes sent to the Sun and other solar experimentation.

Correction

Thanks to Peter Hoffman for pointing out that the above mini-sheet which I placed on the back page of our last edition along with Apollo XI commemoratives has nothing at all to do with that flight, but in fact marks both the world record breaking flight of Apollo X flight and the pioneering earth orbiting experience of the cosmonauts of Soyuz TM 18 in 1994. Apologies for this error.

Italia 2009

The Rome International Festival of Philately which ran from 21-25 October was able to put on display (at the Vaccari stand) the diary kept by Anatoli Berezovoi during his 211 days in space from mid May—mid December 1982.

Finbar Kenny

Khalid Omaira of the Arabian Gulf Postal History Quarterly Journal as been in touch with the Society to ask for any info members might have about the part played by the American philatelic entrepreneur Finbar Kenny in producing space (and other) stamps for the Trucial States at the end of the 1960s. If you would like to contribute to Khalid’s research please contact him at a6zsn@hotmail.com.

Ad Astra

Our Italian sister journal continues to thrive and grow thanks to the excellent work of former ASSS member Umberto Cavallaro in producing this bi-lingual production now in edition no 4, and if you would like to read it in electronic form for a modest fee please contact Umberto….at ucavallaro@alice.it

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Part 3 of 3 From Bert van Eijck In the final part of this short series we deal with private cancellations on official cancels and stamps from postal authorities. These fraudulent cancels were mainly used on American launch covers for satellites or probes in the 1980’s.

The maker of these cancels was a German dealer who, of course, wanted to sell more covers. Nowadays you often find these covers in auctions. Beware though, for they are prohibited in exhibitions and can give you fewer points or even mean your disqualification.

To give you an idea what we are talking about here are some examples of such cancels on cover. First (above) we see a US aerogramme for Halley’s Comet with the official US cancel for Houston integrated in a fraudulent cancel with the text “International Halley Watch US-German Cooperation—German First Day of Issue” Both cancels are now ONE cancel even in the shape of a comet. Next to the US pre-stamp there is a ….German stamp.

A second example: FDC for the Halley’s Comet 80Pf stamp from Germany with the same integrated cancel as above, so you see a German stamp with a US cancel.

The cancel of the Houston Satellite Station is another story, however. This cancel was made by the German dealer and offered for use at the Houston Post Office on June 20, 1986.

First this was granted, but later on denied. Nevertheless the dealer and his personnel used it to cancel the covers with.

Both fraudulent cancels are enlarged in an official warning press release of the USPS, dated April 1987.

The German dealer defended himself in his monthly news magazine Weltraum Philatelie Report of May 1987 saying that the USPS itself does not always match the proper philatelic standards. For example, the STS-8 cover with five different cancels like “Orbited via STS-8” was prepared before launching. Nevertheless the dealer was willing to take back the suspect covers and return buyers their money.

Opposite - enlarged examples of the cancels from the USPS warning release

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Jules Verne — Sci-Fi Writer and Much More !

Harvey Duncan explains how the great The Mysterious Island the American Civil War, five French sci-fi writer had many more During men escape the siege of Richmond, strings to his bow…..

Virginia by balloon, during a great Jules Verne (1828 – 1905), the great writer wrote over eighty stories and novels some of which are depicted on stamps. This number was greatly added to in 2005 with his 100th Death Anniversary, a number of sheets being issued (often 1-6 stamps per sheet) with various more scenes from his tales.

Below is a list of his tales, scenes from which feature on stamps I have seen.

Why not read some you haven’t tried before ??

From Earth to the Moon

Travel via a huge cannon (Columbiad) placed Vernes’ men on the Moon, a hundred years before the Americans managed it.

20,000 thousand leagues under the sea

Featuring the “Nautilus” and Captain Nemo. Printed in 1872 before modern submarines appeared on the scene

Journey to the centre of the Earth

The writings of Arne Saknussemm are translated by Professor Lidenbrock and with them he ascertains they will show him the way to the centre of the Earth

Five weeks in a balloon

Dr Samuel Ferguson and his two associates (Dick Kennedy and Joe) venture to Zanzibar to explore an unknown part of Africa in a balloon called “Victoria”

Around the world in eighty days This well known and much filmed and imitated story was first published in 1873

storm which blows them on a 6000 mile journey. They manage to reach an island in the South Pacific Ocean where many mysteries and adventures befall them

Robur Conqueror

the

Two people are kidnapped and taken on a round the world trip in Robur’s heavier than air “Clipper of the Clouds”. Published 1886 before aeroplanes

The Children of Captain Grant

The contents of a sha rk’ s stoma ch contain a bottle that holds notes in three different languages.

Together they may reveal the location of Captain Grant whose ship the Britannia was lost over two years before. Lord Glenarvan his wife and captain Grant’s children set off to find him.

Michael Strogoff

The Czar must get a message from Moscow to his brother the Arch Duke who is the city of Irkutsk on the other side of Russia. His best courier Captain Michel Strogoff has to secretly take the message across the Siberian frontier which is being invaded by the Tartars

The Lighthouse at the end of the World

Three keepers (Vasquez, Felipe and Moriz) are left to te nd t he new lighthouse on Staten Island located 200 km NE of Cape Horn.

Pirates murder Felipe and Moriz leaving Vasquez to remain alive until the relief boat comes in three months (The

above story was modified or completely rewritten by Verne’s son Michel and published after his death) 12

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The hunt of the Meteor

Two men both discover a meteor and lay claim to it, after it is discovered to contain gold but others also know and plan to bring it safely to Earth (The above story was modified or completely rewritten

by his son Michel and published after his death)

Claudius Bombarnac

Claudius Bombarnac is a reporter assigned to cover the travels of the Grand Trans-Asiatic Railway which runs between Uzun Ada, Turkistan and Peking, China Accompanying him is an interesting collection of characters including one who is trying to beat the round the world record and one who is a stowaway

The Archipelago on Fire

A love story involving pirates and set around Greece and Crete with the Greeks and Turks at war

construct a boat out of the remains and continue the quest.

Keraban the Inflexible

Keraban decides to take two visitors from Holland, home for dinner. His home is on the other side of the Bosphorus Straits, and rather than pay a tax on the ferry crossing he takes then around the perimeter of the Black Sea. However he must be back in six weeks to arrange his nephew’s wedding to a young woman who must be married before she is seventeen or she won’t inherit 100,00 Turkish pounds. Villains are at work to upset his plans

The Steam House

An adventure round the Northern parts of India via a unique conveyance, whose engine resembles an elephant only this one is powered by steam !

The Mighty Orinoco

Three geographers journey upriver to find the location of the mighty Orinoco River. Along the way they are joined by two other parties who have different objectives.

The 500 Millions of the Begum The Adventures of Three Englishmen and Three Russians in Southern Africa

They set off to measure the arc of a meridian in the Kalahari Desert. Everything is going well until war breaks out between England and Russia.

A Floating City

While on a trip aboard The Great Eastern, bound for New York, a woman goes mad when she learns the man she loves is on board as well as her husband whom she detests.

Dr Franquis Sarrasin a Frenchman and a German named Professor Schultz, inherit a fortune of 525 million francs left by the deceased Begum of India. Dr Sarrasin uses his half to build an ideal community called Frankville in the northwest section of America. Professor Schultz uses his half to build Steeltown whose main output is weapons of mass destruction. Schultz real intention is to see the destruction of Frankville

Master Zacharius or the Clockmaker who lost his Soul

As a clockmaker in Switzerland begins dying, all his timepieces begin failing as though part of A ship called The Forward sets out his soul has with a British crew hoping to be the became part of each one. Soon only one if left working first to reach the North Pole. The and in order to gain possession of it the clockmaker crew mutiny and destroy the ship, so must give his daughter’s hand in marriage to a man the captain and remaining loyal crew who works for the devil himself !

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Voyages and Adventures of C a p t a i n Hatteras

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Jules Verne also wrote plays and comic sketches for the theatre. He certainly was a prolific and prescient writer, was he not ?

Master of the World

References The Web “Jules Verne”

Further issues commemorating Jules Verne stories, some of which are not summarized above…..

The Tribulations of a Chinaman The Vanished Diamond Mistress Branican

The Carpathian Castle The Danube Pilot

(Completed by his son)

A Floating City France and Romania 2005

Romania 2005 with mysterious robot-like figure—which novel is this ?

Israel 2000, relating From Earth to the Moon to the Apollo flights and Hebrew Biblical legend

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STS 107 Postscript Our feature in the October 2009 issue on the Columbia disaster prompted Umberto Cavallaro, editor our Italian sister journal Ad Astra to inform us of this following moving story, which is adapted from a Czech Philatelic Bureau press release on this website: http://kosmos-news.kosmo.cz/ginz-znamka.htm

.

On 20 January 2005, the Czech Ministry of Informatics issued a special miniature sheet featuring an image of the Petr Ginz moonscape drawing, with a nominal value of CZK 31.

Born into a Jewish family in Prague, Petr Ginz (19281944) was a multi-talented boy from an early age who wrote for his school magazine. On 24 October 1942, he was deported to the Terezín ghetto, where he continued to write articles and draw pictures; these have been preserved thanks to a friend who survived the Holocaust. Ginz’s drawings are kept at the Yad Vashem Art Museum, Jerusalem.

Featured on the stamp is an image of Petr Ginz’s famous pencil drawing entitled ”Moon Landscape” – a view of the Earth as seen from the Moon. The cruel fate of Petr Ginz, who perished in Auschwitz in the autumn of 1944, was tragically repeated in the Columbia shuttle disaster. Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon took a copy of Ginz’s drawing with him into space in an attempt to fulfill the dream of Petr Ginz 58 years on. On 1 February 2003, however, the space shuttle Columbia exploded, killing all seven astronauts as the ship re-entered Earth’s atmosphere following a 16-day mission. The stamp also contains a portrait of Petr Ginz and the text ”Moon landscape – Terezín – 1942-1944, Petr Ginz (1928-1944).”

The stamp was designed by Pavel Hrach and engraved

by Václav Fajt.

The miniature sheet depicts the Columbia shuttle in flight and contains the text ”The Petr Ginz drawing is owned by the Yad Vashem Art Museum, Jerusalem.”

A first day cover and a special postmark were issued in conjunction with the stamp. The drawing on the cover depicts the lift-off of the space shuttle Columbia. The cover engraving is greyish-blue and was made using a recess print from flat plates.

Petr GINZ (1928 - 1944)

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Un-manned Satellites on Postage Stamps : 32

By Guest Contributors Don Hillger and Garry Toth

The Proton Series This is the thirty-second in a series of articles about un-manned satellites on postage stamps.

This article features the Russian Proton series satellites. Four Proton satellites were successfully launched, starting with Proton-1 on 16 July 1965, and ending with Proton-4 on 16 November 1968.

The Proton name was later used as well for a series of Russian launch vehicles. Postal items featuring Proton satellites only are covered in this article and checklist.

Illustration ex Encyclopaedia Astronautica http://www.astronautix.com/project/proton.htm

Proton-1 through Proton-3 were magnetospheric research satellites that carried instruments to study ultra-high-energy cosmic particles, including galactic electrons, as well as cosmic gamma rays.

Proton-4, an improved and heavier version of the earlier Protons, had a mass of nearly 17 metric tons, making it the heaviest scientific satellite of that era.

The Proton spacecraft had cylindrical bodies with small radial antennas and four extended triangular solar panels that made the spacecraft look a bit like electric motors with attached fan blades. Proton-4 is distinguished from the earlier Protons by its more massive body.

Both small and large Proton types are represented on many postal items, mostly from Russia and other eastern bloc nations. Proton-1 and 4 are featured most often, with a few items showing an earlier-type smaller Proton without an assigned number.

A checklist of postal items identified as showing the P ro t o n - s e r i e s s a t e l l it e s ( ht t p: / / www.cira.colostate.edu/ramm/hillger/Proton.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 Sept-Oct 2008 (issued Sept 2009) 16

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Shuttle Story : 2005/6 STS–114, -121, -115, -116 Return to Flight Two and Half Years Later STS-114 was the first "Return to Flight" mission following the Columbia disaster. Discovery launched at 10:39 a.m. EDT (14:39 UTC), July 26, 2005. The launch, 907 days (approx. 29 months) after the loss of Columbia, was approved despite unresolved fuel sensor anomalies in the external tank; those anomalies had prevented the shuttle from launching on July 13, its originally scheduled date.

The problem that resulted in the destruction of Columbia — debris separating from the external tank during ascent — unexpectedly recurred during the launch of Discovery.

Around 2.5 seconds after lift-off, a large bird struck near the top of the external fuel tank, and appeared in subsequent video frames to slide down the tank. NASA did not expect this to hurt the mission because it did not hit the orbiter, and because the vehicle was travelling relatively slowly at the time.

A small fragment of thermal tile, estimated to be around 1.5 inches (38 mm) in size, was ejected from an edge tile of the front landing gear door at some point before SRB separation. A small white area appeared on the tile as the piece detached, and the loose shard could be seen in a single frame of the video. It is unknown what object (if any) struck the tile to cause the damage. The damaged tile was inspected further when the images from the umbilical camera were downloaded on day three.

Engineers requested that this area be inspected by the OBSS, and flight managers scheduled the operation for July 29. This represented the only known possible damage to Discovery that could have posed a risk during re-entry.

Flight

STS-114

Commander Pilot

Eileen Collins Jim Kelly

MS MS MS MS MS

Soichi Noguchi Stephen Robinson Andrew Thomas Wendy Lawrence Charles Camarda

KSC Launch Date : 26.7.05 AFB Landing : 9.8.05 Purpose / Main Payload

ISS re-supply Testing new systems E.g. OBSS

conducted on the morning of August 3. Robinson easily removed the two fillers with his fingers. Later on the same day, NASA officials said that they were looking closely at a thermal blanket located next to the commander's window on the port side of the orbiter.

Published reports on August 4 said wind tunnel testing demonstrated that the orbiter was safe to re-enter with the billowed blanket.

On July 30, NASA announced that STS-114 would be extended for one day, so that Discovery's crew could The mission was initially to be flown aboard the orbiter Atlantis, but NASA help the ISS crew maintain the station while the replaced it with Discovery after improperly installed gear was found in shuttle fleet was grounded. The extra day was also Atlantis' braking system. Seventeen years prior, Discovery had flown NASA's used to move more items from the shuttle to the ISS, as uncertainty mounted during the mission as to when previous Return to Flight mission, STS-26. a shuttle would next visit the station. The orbiter's The STS-114 mission delivered supplies to the International Space Station. arrival also gave the nearly 200-ton space station a However, the major focus of the mission was testing and evaluating new free altitude boost of about 4,000 feet (1,220 meters).

Space Shuttle flight safety techniques, which included new inspection and The station loses about 100 feet (30 meters) of repair techniques. The crewmembers used the new Orbiter Boom Sensor altitude a day.

System (OBSS) — a set of instruments on a 50-foot (15 m) extension attached to the Canadarm. The OBSS instrument package consists of visual The shuttle hatch was closed the night before it imaging equipment and a Laser Dynamic Range Imager (LDRI) to detect undocked from the ISS. After undocking, the shuttle problems with the shuttle's Thermal Protection System (TPS). The crew flew around the station to take photos. scanned the leading edges of the wings, the nose cap, and the crew compartment for damage, as well as other potential problem areas Atmospheric reentry and landing was originally engineers wished to inspect based on video taken during lift-off. planned for August 8, 2005, at Cape Canaveral, but STS-114 was classified as Logistics Flight 1. Besides delivering supplies, the Shuttle replaced one of the ISS's Control Moment Gyroscopes. STS-114 also carried the Raffaello Multi-Purpose Logistics Module, built by the Italian Space Agency, the External Stowage Platform-2 and deployed the MISSE 5 to the station's exterior.

The crew conducted three spacewalks while at the station. The first demonstrated repair techniques on the Shuttle's Thermal Protection System.

During the second, the spacewalkers replaced the failed gyroscope. On the third, they installed the External Stowage Platform and repaired the shuttle, the first time repairs had been carried out during a spacewalk on the exterior of a spacecraft in flight. On August 1, it was announced protruding gap fillers on the front underside of the shuttle would be inspected and dealt with during the third spacewalk of the mission. The spacewalk was

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unsuitable weather postponed the landing until the next day, then moved it to Edwards Air Force Base in California, where Discovery touched down at 8:11 AM EDT (5:11 AM PDT, 1211 UTC).

As a result of the events immediately after launch NASA decided on July 27 to postpone future shuttle flights pending additional modifications to the flight hardware. On July 4, 2006, NASA resumed shuttle flight with STS -121.

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Launch cover bearing mission patch with the constellation Columbia referenced by the stars on the shuttle at top of patch, so commemorating the crew of the previous mission who perished.

The orbit (in blue) around the Earth represents the ISS and the red sun in the “O” of Noguchi signifies the participation of the Japanese Space Agency.

The names of the EVA astronauts are placed within this band

Cover cancelled at Baikonur on launch day show the STS 114 crew and the words “Return to Flights” (sic) tying the 1999 Russian souvenir sheet for several historical space missions including Mir and the ISS and a quotation from Tsiolkovsky, top left about space flight. Note pictorial cancel over the stamp within the sheet.

Above 2005 set from American controlled Marshall Islands showing all five orbiters, Discovery being second from left.

Left, cover cancelled with one of the dates of the flight referencing the Italian contributions to the ISS. STS-114 brought up to the station the third MPLM module Raffaello.

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Return to Flight II STS-121 was flown to the ISS flown by Discovery. The main purposes of the mission were to test new safety and repair techniques introduced following the Columbia disaster of February 2003 as well as to deliver supplies, equipment and ESA astronaut Thomas Reiter from Germany to the ISS. After two weather-related delays, the shuttle successfully launched on Tuesday, July 4, 2006 at 2:37:55 p.m. EDT. It was the first shuttle launch on the United States' Independence Day. The mission lasted for 13 days before landing at the Kennedy Space Center on July 17, 2006 at 9:14:43 a.m. EDT. STS-121 was also designated the ISS Assembly Mission ULF 1.1. As the mission followed on from STS-114 in carrying out the recommendations made in response to the Columbia Accident Investigation Board report, it was considered a Return to Flight test mission. Its successful launch and landing led NASA to fully resume regular Space Shuttle launches in the construction of the ISS. During the STS-121 mission to the ISS, the crew continued to test new equipment and procedures for the inspection and repair of the thermal protection system that is designed to increase the safety of the Space Shuttles. It also delivered more supplies and cargo for future ISS expansion.

Flight

STS-121

Commander Pilot

Stephen Lindsey Mark Kelly

MS MS MS MS MS

Michael Fossum Piers Sellars Lisa Nowak Stephanie Wilson Thomas Reiter

KSC Launch Date : 4.7.06 AFB Landing : 17.4.06 Purpose / Main Payload

ISS assembly Testing new systems

another designation on the manifest before the disaster and the designation of STS-121 once again became available. Since STS-115 through STS-120 were already delegated to existing missions, NASA selected the lowest available mission designation for the second test flight. Hence, the mission following STS-114 was “STS-121�.

After the Columbia accident, NASA decided that two test flights would be required and that activities that were originally assigned to STS-114 would need to be divided into two missions because of the addition of post-Columbia safety tests. Before the accident, Columbia had been assigned to missions STS-118 and STS-121. The STS-118 mission, also an International Space Station flight, was, at first, re-assigned to Discovery, but was assigned to Space Shuttle Endeavour.

The STS-121 test flight mission was originally to be flown aboard Atlantis in September 2005, after Space Shuttle Discovery flew STS-114, but a problem with the landing gear of Atlantis moved Discovery ahead to fly STS-121. After the return of Discovery to California following the completion of STS-114, scheduling again changed. Atlantis was moved up to The STS-121 mission was originally to have sent Columbia to service fly the STS-115 mission (whose launch was planned the Hubble Space Telescope. However, that servicing mission was given for August 2006) and Discovery was to fly the STS121 mission as originally planned.

The octagonal design of the mission patch on this launch cover shows Discovery docked to the ISS over the astronaut symbol. The background shows the

Earth at night with dawn breaking. Pilot Mark Kelly (named top right) is the identical twin of Jim Kelly who piloted the previous mission.

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STS-115 was flown by Atlantis to the ISS. It was the first assembly mission after the Columbia disaster, following the two successful Return to Flight missions. STS-115 launched from Pad 39-B at the Kennedy Space Center on 9 September 2006 at 11:14:55 EDT (15:14:55 UTC).

The mission also referred to as ISS-12A by the ISS program mission delivered the second port-side truss segment (ITS P3/P4), a pair of solar arrays (2A and 4A), and batteries. A total of three spacewalks were performed, during which the crew connected the systems on the installed trusses, prepared them for deployment, and did other maintenance work on the station.

STS-115 was originally scheduled to launch in April 2003. However, the Columbia accident in February 2003 pushed the date back to 27 August 2006, which was again moved back for various reasons, including a threat from Tropical Storm Ernesto and the strongest lightning strike to ever hit an occupied shuttle launchpad.

Flight

STS-115

Commander Pilot

Brent Jett Chris Ferguson

MS MS MS MS

Daniel Burbank Stephen MacLean Joe Tanner Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper

KSC Launch Date : 9.9.06 AFB Landing : 17.4.06

ISS assembly On 9 September, all of the engine cut-off sensors were working properly, Purpose / and following a flawless countdown, at 15:15 UTC (11:15 EDT), Atlantis Main Payload lifted off the launch pad. As Atlantis launched, the ISS was 350 km (220 miles) above the northern Atlantic Ocean, between Greenland and operate Canadarm2 and its Mobile Base in space Iceland. as he was handed a new set of solar arrays from Tanner controlling the original Canadian robotic During the climb to orbit, Mission Control asked the crew to reconfigure arm, the Canadarm. MacLean performed a a cooling system that apparently had ice build up. The reconfiguration spacewalk, becoming only the second Canadian, cleared the system, called the Flash Evaporator System, and it operated after Chris Hadfield to do so. normally. Temporary ice in that cooling unit is not uncommon and has occurred on previous missions.

The mission patch worn on the clothing used by Moments after main engine cutoff, 8.5 minutes after liftoff, Tanner and MacLean used handheld video and digital still cameras to document the external tank after it separated from the shuttle. That imagery, as well as imagery gathered by cameras in the shuttle’s umbilical well where the tank was connected, was transmitted to the ground for review.

the astronauts of STS-115 was designed by Graham Huber, Peter Hui, and Gigi Lui, three students at York University in Toronto, Ontario, the same university that Steve MacLean attended.

The students also designed Steve MacLean's personal patch for this mission

Canadian Space Agency astronaut MacLean became the first Canadian to

The design of the mission patch on this launch cover shows a solar array panel as the main element. The mission number and the ISS construction number is

shown either side of the astronaut symbol which also serves as a launch plume. Unusually, the name of commander and pilot are not shown the top.

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STS-116 was flown by Discovery to the ISS. Liftoff was originally scheduled for December 7, 2006, but that attempt was cancelled due to a low cloud ceiling. Discovery successfully lifted off during the second launch attempt on Saturday, December 9, 2006 at 8:47:35 p.m. EST. It was the first night launch of a Space Shuttle orbiter since STS-113, which launched on November 23, 2002.

The mission is also referred to as ISS-12A.1 by the ISS program. The main goals of the mission were delivery and attachment of the International Space Station's third port truss segment (the P5 truss), major rewiring of the station's power system, and exchange of ISS Expedition 14 personnel. The shuttle landed at 5:32 p.m. EST on Friday, December 22, 2006 at Kennedy Space Center, a delay of 98 minutes from schedule due to unfavorable weather conditions. This mission was particularly notable to Sweden since it was the first time a Scandinavian astronaut (Christer Fuglesang) visited space.

STS-116 was the final scheduled Space Shuttle flight planned for launch from Pad 39B as NASA reconfigures the pad for Ares I launches. The only remaining use of Pad 39B by Shuttles was as a reserve for a potential STS-400 rescue mission in May 2009 for STS-125, the final Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission. STS-116 was the last flight of Discovery before maintenance; the next Discovery mission was STS-120, which launched on October 23, 2007.

Flight

STS-116

Commander Pilot

Mark Polansky William Oefelin

MS MS MS MS MS

Robert Curbeam Joan Higginbotham Nicholas Patrick Christer Fuglesang Sunita Williams

KSC Launch Date : 9.12.06 KSC Landing : 22.12.06 Purpose / Payload

ISS assembly and crew exchange

One half of the original P6 solar array installed by STS-97 was folded to make room for the new P4 array deployed by STS-115 to rotate and track the sun.

The STS-116 mission delivered and attached the International Space Station's third port truss segment, brought to the Station Expedition 14 crew member Sunita Williams (who subsequently established a record for most time in space for a female astronaut) and took home Expedition 14 crew member Thomas Reiter from European Space Agency (launched by STS-121).

The crew of STS-116 consisted of five rookie astronauts. Only Mission Commander Mark Polansky (2) and Mission specialist Robert Curbeam (3) had previously flown in space.

Robert Curbeam became the first astronaut to make four EVAs during the same mission.

Christer Fuglesang became Sweden's first astronaut. His flight was a rare occurrence of two ESA astronauts flying in space together.

This was the first mission with two AfricanAmerican crewmembers.

Left, part of a Swedish stamp booklet (issued 24.09.09) containing four triangular and one diamond shape stamps proudly marking the flight of Sweden’s first astronaut. One design aspect is fascinating: the words “My, my, at Waterloo Napoleon did surrender” are microprinted down the left (arrowed) side of Fuglesang’s spacesuit in the diamond shape stamp, these being the opening words of the ABBA song his family sung

22

to him when first radio contact was made between them and the ISS. The design of the mission patch on the launch cover shows a shuttle rising above the earth, with US and Swedish flags trailing the orbiter.

The constellation of Ursa Major (The Big Dipper) is depicted on the left of the patch with the related North Star shining over the P5 truss on the right.

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Bulgaria (9.4.09) 30th anniv of first Bulgarian cosmonaut: 0.60L val shows Georgi Ivanov in spacesuit

New Issue Guide

Noted in STAMP Magazine (July 08—Jan 10) so no SG nos given

Cayman Islands (20.7.09) 40th anniv of Apollo XI 5 vals showing various spacecraft : Mars Rover, STS 71, HST in orbit, Apollo XI launch, with MS devoted to Apollo XV

Åland (8.5.09) Europa : IYA. 0.80€ val shows The Big Dipper Andorra (French P.O.) (2.5.09) Europa : IYA. Depiction of star field or galaxy Andorra (Spanish P.O.) (23.4.09) Europa : IYA. Silhouette of man and boy star gazing

Cocos (Keeling) Isles (21.4.09) 400th anniv of discovery by Europeans $1.65 val shows stars of Southern Cross.

Ascension (23.5.08) 50th anniv of NASA 2 @ 35p showing Bell X-1E, and lunar astronaut; 40p—lunar rover; 50p Columbia shuttle; 65p Hubble ST deployed and 90p ISS and astronauts on EVA.

Croatia (27.3.09) Preserve Polar Regions and Glaciers 2 MS @ 5K on of which shows solar eclipse

Austria (5.6.09) Europa : IYA. 65c val shows TUGSAT-1 of the BRITE Austria programme with stars and dust clouds

Croatia (9.5.09) Europa : IYA. Se-tenant pair @ 8K showing HST photographs of deep space phenomena

Bahamas (1.10.08) 50th anniv of NASA. Set of six shows Discovery launch, Apollo 16, Skylab 3, HST, Swan Nebula and Great Nebula in Carina both photographed by HST.

Cyprus (1.5.09) Europa : IYA. Constellations : 0.51€ shows Cassiopeia and 0.69€ Andromeda

Belgium (19.5.07) Herge’s Tintin: one of 25 issues @ 0.46€ illustrates Destination Moon episode in Tintin’s adventures.

Bermuda (22.1.09) 400th anniv of settlement. $1.25 issue shows Bermuda from space.

Bermuda (16.4.09) Space Exploration and Research 5 vals + M/S showing NASA tracking station, Apollo 11, Endeavour at launch, ISS

Czech Republic (16.4.08) Centenary of Technical Museum. 10kc stamp shows astronomical theodolite Denmark (25.3.09) Europa : IYA. 5.50kr The Round Tower, Copenhagen with observatory and 8.00 kr the Tycho Brahe Planetarium, Copenhagen Estonia (5.5.09) Europa : IYA. Sheetlet 2 x 5 se-tenant pairs with tabs including photos of galaxies Faroes (25.5.09) Europa : IYA. 10kr and 12kr values show scenic cliffs with Saturn and Jupiter.

Bolivia (26.1.02) 0.58 B and 3.00B stamps show Lake Titicaca and national highway from space respectively.

Finland (6.5.09) Europa : IYA. 2 @ 80c (se-tenant) fantasy scenario showing Moon, stars and planets above a lake.

Bolivia (4.12.06) 50th anniv of Manco Capac Province. 5.00B issue shows stones from ancient astronomical observatory.

Finland (9.7.09) Aurora Borealis 3 @ 80c showing different colours in Aurora

British Virgin Islands (21.7.09) 40th anniv of Apollo XI Six sheetlet of 6 stamps (at 50c, 75c. $1, $1.25, $2.30, $3, showing various events in the history of spaceflight) Bulgaria (9.6.08) 20th anniv of Space Flight of Alexander Alexandrov, Intercosmos cosmonaut.

France (4.10.07) 50th anniv of Sputnik shows various spacecraft from Sputnik to Apollo craft France (8-11. 2.08) The Coronelli Globes - 0.85€ stamps shows celestial glob depicting mythological creatures and constellation.

France (19.6.08) Grande Projets Européens : one of 4 0.55€ stamps

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Showing ESA Galileo project, and Earth.

Gibraltar (15.9.08) 50th anniv of NASA. 4 stamps show launch of Saturn rocket, Earth-rise over Moon, lunar descent module and US flag on Moon.

Gibraltar (1.6.09) Europa : IYA. 4 vals show Aristotle, Galileo, Copernicus and Newton with related instruments etc.

Great Britain (8.10.09) Eminent Britons set includes portrait of Sir Martin Ryle, radio astronomer and radio telescopes.

Greenland (20.10.09) Scientific Annivs. 6.50kr stamp shows satellite over Greenland.

Greenland (19.1.09) Europa : IYA. Both 6.50kr and 8.00kr vals show The Great Bear constellation.

Guernsey (28.5.09) 400th anniv of Astronomical use of Telescope 6 vals showing quasar, asteroid, sunrays, Jupiter, lunar eclipse and solar eruption.

Great Britain (21.7.09) 40th anniv of Apollo XI Commemorative self adhesive sheet of 10 Ist NVIs and NASA photos of the mission Greece (11.5.09) Europa : IYA. 70c shows pulsar, and 3.20€ Aristarchos telescope and Mt Helmos observatory Iceland (18.9.08) International Day of Planet Earth 215kr M/S shows polar orbiting satellite Terra and image of Iceland.

Iran (27.2.08) Development of Iranian Info. and Techno. Infrastructure 650r shows comsat over Earth Iran (7.3.09) Launch of Safir Omid (Envoy of Hope) - first Iranian satellite on 17.8.08. 2 vals @ 13000r showing launch rocket, and satellite in orbit.

Isle of Man (12.5.09) 40th anniv of first moon landing 6 vals showing lunar footprint, Cernan (Apollo 17), Earth seen from Moon, lunar rover parked, lunar module and flag planting ceremony, Irwin (Apollo 15) digging a trench. Each item has two motifs: a NASA photo and a detail from an Alan Bean painting.

Isle of Man (20.7.09) 40th anniv of first moon landing £2.50 minisheet showing astronauts working on Moon Ireland (30.4.09) Cent of Irish T.G.W.Union : design of 55c val includes The Plough constellation.

Ireland (15.5.09) Europa : IYA. 2 55c values show The Crab Nebula, and a Brown Dwarf.

Israel (14.5.08) Children paint Israel’s 60th : 2.25sh issue shows girl on balcony using telescope to spot “60” in stars.

Israel (22.4.09) Europa : IYA. 2.30 sh val shows Jacob’s staff a simple navigational instrument and the subject of the 3.80sh val is gravitational lensing related to HST imagery.

Japan (21.3.08) Cent of Japan Astronomical Society: 1o @ 80y showing Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, asteroid, galaxy, various space probes, radio telescope etc.

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Jersey (10.2.09) Europa : IYA. 4 issues show Jupiter & Galilean Moons and constellations beside portrait of Galileo.

Kazakhstan (12.4.03) Cosmonautics Day. 40t val shows Pioneer 10 near Jupiter and the 70t value MIR space station.

Kazakhstan (12.4.04) Cosmonautics Day. 40t val shows Mariner 10 and 50 t Luna 3.

Malta (9.5.09) Europa : IYA. 37c : Galileo and sketches of Moon. €1.19 Lassell’s reflector telescope erected in Malta 1861-5 and M42 nebula Monaco (3.1.08) 250th anniv of Halley’s comet. Comet in sky over Monaco.

Monaco (10.3.08) 50th anniv of NASA. 2.30€ issue shows Apollo, Shuttle and Mercury rocket launches.

Kazakhstan (30.5.08) 84t and 100t definitives show satellite and Earth station.

Kazakhstan (30.5.08) 3t and 9t definitives show satellite and Earth station.

Kazakhstan (29.1.09) Definitive surcharge 200t on 15t shows stylised rocket launch Latvia (2.4.09) Europa : IYA. 50s val shows Schmidt telescope, portrait of Janis Ikaunieks ; 55s val shows asteroid No 2867 Stein and asteroids and portraits of Latvian astronomers.

Liechtenstein (2.3.09) Europa : IYA. 1.30f val shows white dwarf forming at centre of supernova Liechtenstein (8.6.09) Centenary of Alpine Assoc. One val shows background view of Moon.

Lithuania (25.4.09) Europa : IYA. 2 @ 2.45Lt showing Galileo, and Dallmeyer’s photoheliograph Luxembourg (3.9.07) One of 4 0.50€ stamps showing Roman mosaic depicts Uranie, muse of astronomy.

Luxembourg (17.3.09) Centenary of Aero-Club and New Airport Terminal 1 of 5 50c stamps show a comsat.

Luxembourg (12.5.09) Europa : IYA. 50c shows observation of a meteor and 70c Galileo with manuscript and telescope, planet and moon.

Macedonia (?.?.07) Kokino historical observatory Macedonia (4.10.

07) 50th anniv Sputnik Macedonia (31.1.08) 50th anniv of Explorer 1—1st US orbiting satellite.

Macedonia (4.2.09) Gagarin 50d val shows Gagarin in spacesuit.

Montserrat (31.1.08) 50 years of US space exploration 4 stamp @ $3.55 shows Explorer launch and scientists involved.

New Caledonia (31.7.08) History of Telecoms: 1 of 4 @ 75f shows comsat and ground station New Zealand (6.8.08) A-Z of N.Z., one 50c stamps shows Southern Cross constellation.

New Zealand (5.6.08) Maori Matariki Festival—one 50c stamps the Matariki (aka The Pleiades) Norway (12.6.09) Europa : IYA. 10kr shows the Sun and 12kr the Moon Pitcairn Islands (27.2.08) 4 issues showing four different islands within archipelago from space.

Poland (5.5.09) Europa : IYA. Two sheetslets : 8 @ 3zl—stars with rays composed of digits and constellation diagrams Russia (17.3.08) 8r stamp commemorates Chief Designer V.P.Glushko, and rocket launch.

Russia (17.9.08) Regions of Russia. 8r stamp shows Pulkhovo Observatory within design

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Russia (6.3.09) Gagarin. 10r val shows G as a young man with labels showing his daughters and Vostok in margins.

USA (6.3.08) One of 4 41c stamps showing Edwin Hubble, and Mt. Wilson observatory

Russia (5.5.09) Europa : IYA. Nine 9r stamps show, for example, a comet, The Plough constellation, Astronomical Observatory etc.

USA (18.4.08) Definitives @ 42c—one shows flag and half-moon.

Russia (15.5.09) 175th anniv of Hydrometeorogical Service 9r stamp shows metsat and computerised weather map of Russia.

San Marino (18.11.08) Italians Writers; Book Illustrations 2.20€ val illustrates The Moon & The Bonfires (1950)

USA (14.6.08) Flags of Our Nation. 42c—flag of Alaska shows Big Dipper or Plough constellation.

Note : images of all these stamps can be found at www.freestampcatalogue.com/app www.tonybray.co.uk/index.php www.europa-stamps.blogspot.com (IYA 2009 only) Several of the Europa issues are featured in the last and in this issue of Orbit.

San Marino (8.5.09) Europa : IYA. 60c shows Saturn, Earth and telescopes 65c solar system within European Union star motif

ASTEROIDS

Seychelles (20.7.09) 40th anniv Apollo XI Six stamps + MS show Bell X-1, astronauts in training, Saturn V launch, STS-86, Soyuz TMA13 and astronaut on lunar surface.

Some Bits and Pieces

South Georgia / South Sandwich Isles (2.4.09) Preserve the Polar Regions £1 val shows map of area from space in 1979; £1.20 val shows same scene in 2009

Ex STAMP Mag Dec 2009

St Pierre et Miquelon (9.7.08) Music Festival : 55c val shows stars superimposed on sheet music.

Sweden (29.1.09) Europa IYA : 2 12k vals showing the heavens and astronomical symbols.

Spain (8.11.06) 50th anniv of Spanish TV shows comsat etc.

Tristan da Cunha (20.7.09) 40th anniv of Apollo XI. 5 sheetlets of six at 25p, 35p, 60p, 90p and £1, and MS showing various rockets and spacecraft.

Tunisia (23.3.08) World Meteorological Day : 250m issue shows Africa seen from space and planetary diagram.

Ex STAMP Mag Jan 2010

Turkey (20.10 08) 85th anniv of Turkish Republic. One of two 80k vals shows globe, dish aerial and ISS United Nations Organisation (4-10. 10.07) World Space Week—large number of space themes on over a dozen issues including several Minisheets.

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The Unknown Birdman

by Bert van Eijck

All ASSS members will have heard of Daedalus and his son Icarus who tried to fly as a bird from Crete to the Greek mainland with wings of wax. But he failed and disappeared in what now is called the Icarian Sea. This Greek legend has been told many times across the centuries. After the introduction of stamps in 1840, it did not take long time Daedalus and Icarus appeared on a stamp. Greece (1935, shown below) is the best example. In later years when rockets were sent to the moon and beyond, both early flying humans were present on beautiful stamp series depicting space voyages, e.g. Aitutaki 1975 (below) . So they became forerunners in many space stamp collections.

But Few ASSS members will have heard of another flying human with artificial wings. This unknown birdman is Hezarfen Ahmet Celebi, who lived in the Seventeenth century in Istanbul in the Ottoman Empire. He is one of the first aviators to have succeeded in flying with artificial wings. He is supposed to have been inspired by and used the studies of Leonardo da Vinci on the flight of birds. When Hezarfen felt confident enough he arranged a public demonstration. He climbed the 62 meter Galata Tower and launched himself with his wings into the wind. He passed over the broad waters of the Bosporus and landed in the slopes of Uskadar on the Anatolian side nearly six kilometers away.

The Turkish Post honoured Hezarfen and his birdflight with a stamp issued on 17 October 1950. It was the first stamp of a series of three for the International Civil Aviation Congress ICAO, held in Istanbul. The other two stamps depicts ‘plane flying over mountains’ and ‘the harbour of Istanbul.’

Hezarfen’s flight created a great sensation. The reigning Sultan Murat IV (1612-1640) was delighted and wanted to reward Hezarfen but religious leaders persuaded him otherwise. Birdman Hezarfen was exiled to Algeria where he died soon after at the age of only 31.

This tragedy and the story behind it I learned from a visit to Istanbul in October 2009 when I climbed the Galata Tower. “Climbed” is not quite right, because nowadays there is an elevator to the seventh floor. There you see a large bronze relief of Galata and its tower with in front birdman Hezarfen spreading his wings. I could not resist to spread my arms in front of him, pretending to fly with Hezarfen.

Now you do have to climb a couple of stairs to go right under

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the top. This observation deck has fourteen windows to look over the metropolis of Istanbul with its beautiful mosques and palaces and twelve million people. The upper ninth floor has a restaurant and a nightclub where belly dancers every evening give performances. That’s a sensational event of quite a different kind from four centuries ago…

The Galata Tower, one of the oldest towers of the world, was originally built of wood by the Byzantine emperor Anastasius Oilozus in 528 as a lighthouse. In 1348 it was reconstructed by the Genoese as Christea Turris (i.e. Christ Tower), using stack stone. Galata Tower was owned by the Ottoman Empire during the conquest of Istanbul in 1453 by Sultan Mehmet II (“The Conqueror”) and witnesses the most brilliant and the most troublesome era of the empire.

The tower was repaired in 1510 and under restoration many times during the following centuries. The tower housed the elite corps of the Turkish Army in the Ottoman period, was a prison later and used as an observatory by the a s t r o n o m e r Takiuddin. A great fire destroyed much of Galata in 1794 and the tower’s conical cap was blown off during a storm in 1875. The tower was used as a fire-control station until 1964, when it was closed for restoration before being opened in 1967 as a tourist attraction.

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How Bulgaria celebrated Soviet and other Spaceflight Achievement Brief Historical Context

Bulgaria is a country in the Balkans in south-eastern Europe, which borders five other countries: Romania to the north (mostly along the River Danube), Serbia and the Republic of Macedonia to the west, and Greece and Turkey to the south.

In the Middle Ages, Bulgarian kingdoms came under Ottoman rule for nearly five centuries. The Russo-Turkish War of 18771878 led to the re-establishment of a Bulgarian state as a constitutional monarchy in 1878, with the Treaty of San Stefano marking the birth of the Third Bulgarian State. In 1908, with social strife brewing at the core of the Ottoman Empire, the Alexander Malinov government and Prince Ferdinand of Bulgaria formally proclaimed the full sovereignty of the Bulgarian state at the ancient capital of Veliko Turnovo.

After World War II, in 1945 Bulgaria became a communist state and part of the Eastern Bloc. Todor Zhivkov dominated Bulgaria politically for 33 years (from 1956 to 1989). In 1990, after the Revolutions of 1989, the Communist Party gave up its monopoly on power and Bulgaria transitioned to democracy and free-market capitalism.

Ex Wikipedia

Curiously Bulgaria did not immediately commemorate the launch of Sputnik in 1957, its very first space issue (SG 1117 perf. and imperf. of 18.11.58) showing Sputnik 3 and issued for The International Year of Geophysics.

However, the Soviet Union’s first misaligned and unsuccessful shot at the Moon in January of the following year was marked a few months later with a stamp for Solnik/Luna 1 (SG 1129 on 28.2.59) which give little idea of the rocket looked like far less the probe.

Earlier in January 1961 the August 1960 flight of Sputnik 5 carrying the dogs Belka and S t r e l k a w a s commemorated with a stamp (SG 1219 of 28.1.61) showing a generic rocket with images of the dogs inset top right.

Then much more quickly than after any previous spaceflight the launch of Gagarin in Vostok on 12th April was given an issue (SG 1243) within a fortnight of his flight, on 26th April, again as we came to be accustomed to showing a generic rocket which bore no resemblance to the actual spaceship.

Further space issues followed in that year: on 26.6.61 for the Venus probe (SG 1257) and a day later celebrating four space dogs, (SG 1258) two of which had been launched in Sputnik 5 and the others in Sputniks 9, and 10 in the successful launches a few weeks before the flight of the first human.

T h e names of the dogs are given along the top of the stamp, from left, Strelka, Chernushka, Zvezdochka and Belka.

Gherman Titov’s August 1961 flight in Vostok 2 merits two stamps (SG 1272/3 on 20.11.61) including one of the first stamps to show the mythical collar and thimble shape of Vostok in an attempt to confuse interested parties—and this rounds off a very busy year of space issues.

A little over a year later the more successful Luna 3 which took the first pictures of the Far Side in October 1959 is marked with SG 1185 of 28.3.60 which shows the trajectory of the circumnavigation and oddly this was followed on 23.6.60 with an issue (SG 1196) for Luna 2 which had impacted on the Moon a month before the flight of Luna 3.

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The first of two issues in 1962 marks the 13th International Congress of Astronautics held at Varna Bulgaria’s Black Sea Coast. SG 1345-6 of 24.9.62

shows rockets and rocket theoretician Tsiolkovsky.

That 1963 issue was accompanied by the first Bulgarian companion souvenir sheet in the same style (MS 1369a) showing the Spassky Tower in Moscow and a symbolic globe.

The second issue SG 1353-5 of 9.12.62 celebrates the first team launch of Vostok 3 and 4 four months before, with portraits of pilots Nikolayev and Popovich and twin generic rockets in flight, represented symbolically.

Two of those issues were most attractively overprinted in red and green respectively for the Riccione International Space exhibition in Italy in August of the following year: SG 1463-4 on 22.8.64.

The number of issues begins to pick up now and 1963 sees three sets totalling nine stamps. On 5.3.63 two stamps (SG 1362-3) are given to the Mars 1 probe:

The 1964 First National Stamp Exhibition in Sofia later in the year merits one stamp which shows a Saturn V rocket and the planet Saturn—the first allusion This is followed on 20.7.63 by stamps (SG 1383-5) for the to US space achievement on a flight of Luna 4 with reference to previous Soviet Sputniks and Bulgarian issue (SG 1474 of Moonshots.

3.10.64) This stamp was also issued in a large souvenir sheet of 12 with accompanying labels showing the exhibition logo, 1000 of which were printed imperf—without the postage value (of 20 stotinki)- for sale at the event and presumably these are quite rare now, as 360,000 of the perf version were printed.

The following month the second twin Vostok flight which had taken place in June of that year is given four stamps, in a pleasing range of colours depicting Bykovsky, Tereskhova and their symbolic paths in orbit. (SG 1366-9 of 26.8.63)

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The first issue of 1965 was a spectacular departure from tradition with the five stamps celebrating the flight of Voskhod 1 being diamond shaped, a simple matter of a few degrees in design orientation. Note how the juxtaposed stamps make up one design. The flight of Voskhod 1 in October 1964 had seen the Soviets cram three men into a Vostok capsule (without spacesuits, as there was no room) in order to put a crew of three up before the Americans could manage even two and so was a real case of “one-upmanship” ! Accordingly, SG 1503-7 of 15.2.65 (also issued imperf with slightly different colours) was an issue that really impressed collectors at the time. Note how the thimble and collar shape of Voskhod shown on the 20 st value again is at odds with reality.

The second flight of Voskhod which carried two cosmonauts in space suits because of the planned first ever EVA

by Alexei Leonov was celebrated with SG 1528-9 of 20.5.65. The secret method of egress from the capsule is not shown in the high value which simply shows a figure floating in space.

Two further 1965 issues (not illustrated here) related to Balkanphila philatelic exhibition at Varna show a rocket launch, the Sun and the planet Saturn (SG 1548 on 23rd July) and a rocket with portraits of Voskhod 2 crew Belayev and Leonov (SG 1549 7th August, perf and imperf).

The first issue of 1966 marks the first succe s sfu l sof t landing of a craft (Luna 9, on 31.1.66) on the Moon in a symbolic way, showing the goddess Luna reaching out towards it.

This is followed by an issue summarising Soviet manned flight to date (SG 1637-43 + MS 1644 of 29.7.66) in which the highest value stamp of the seven in the set is not devoted to any one mission but instead marks three Soviet “firsts” Gagarin, Tereshkova and Leonov.

One issue on 25.8.67 (not shown) for the 50th anniversary in the coming October of the Russian Revolution marks the then ongoing journey of Venus 4 launched on June 12th and this is followed by another summary issue this time marking some American space achievement .

This is SG 1750-5 including three Gemini flights and showing images of John Glenn and Ed White, as examples of two American “firsts” in addition to further recognition of the three Soviet firsts in the 1966 set, Molniya 1 and Luna 13.

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A Cosmomautics Day issue on 12.4.71 celebrates ten years of manned spaceflight with a minisheet for Yuri Gagarin (SG MS 2080):

There is a further 1967 issue on the second last day of the year, marking the Soyuz rehearsal flights of Cosmos 186 and 188 and Venus 4 (SG 1770-1).

The Olympic Games issue minisheet (SG MS 1809) of 24.6.68 shows a comsat transmitting above Mexico and the first space issue of 1969 including in those for the international stamp exhibition at Sofia (SG 1879 of 31.3.69) shows a series of Soviet craft and the planet Saturn.

And this was followed at the end of the year with an appropriately sombre memorial marking the Soyuz 11 visit to Salyut and the subsequent demise of the crew: SG 2134-6 + MS 2137.

On Christmas day of this year four stamps (SG 1963-6) were issued for the joint flights of Soyuz 6, & and 8 which had taken place in October of the previous year putting a then seven men into space simultaneously, a record which held for many years.

There was then an absence of space issues for almost a year before minisheets were issued for Luna 16 (SG MS 2050) on 14.11.70 and Luna 17/Lunakhod 1 (SG MS 2053) 18.12.70., flights which had taken place in September and November respectively.

There are small images of satellites within the designs for the 4.5.73 minisheet commemorating the IBRA philatelic exhibition at Munich (SG MS 2230) and the August issue for the Olympics Congress at Varna of 29.8.73 (SG MS 2260, perf and imperf).

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than four occasions, the first coming on 11.4.79 and 14.5.79 (showing cosmonaut portraits) with SG 2732-6 + MS 2737, with the imperf version of the minisheet having a slightly different design from the perf.

The only space issue of 1975 mark the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project: SG 2406-8 + MS 2409 was issued on 15th July, the day of launch in fact which was most unusual. The rather predictable designs feature the craft and the two crew commanders, Leonov and Stafford.

One issue in 1976— marking 50 years of the F.I.P. on 5.6.76 / 12th Bulgarian Philatelic Federation Congress —is of possible interest as a stamp on stamp Minisheet featuring a symbolic rocket and planet on one of the previous issues quoted. (SG MS 2477, not shown).

The following month on 8.5.79 one stamp showing the Soviet Statsionar 2 telecom satellite was issued as part of a set for the Centenary of Bulgarian Post and Telegraph Services—SG 2742 and there is a related Minisheet SG MS 2737.

A stylised rocket appears on the lowest value in a set of three issued on 4.9.79 to mark the 35th anniversary of the Fatherland Front Government: SG 2788 and there are images of comsats in the margin of the 20.10.79 minisheet for the Winter Olympics at Lake Placid : SG MS 2799.

But the single issue of the following year, marking 20 years of space exploration shows actual missions: SG 2620-2 of 14.10.77, illustrating space walking, and Mars and Venus probes.

On April 10th 1979 Soyuz 33 carried Soviet and Bulgarian cosmonauts to Salyut 6 but was unable to dock and regarded as a failure.

Nevertheless Bulgaria has celebrated the achievement of its first cosmonaut Georgi Ivanov on no fewer

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The first of two space issues in the new decade is a (sort of) Cosmonautics Day celebration of the Intercosmos programme which saw a Bulgarian in space the previous year: SG MS 2841 of 22.4.80, in a design similar to that produced by several countries in the guest cosmonaut programme, featuring symbolic aspects of space travel and cooperation:

Then over a year later a minisheet marks the 25th anniversary of the fist Soviet attempts to landing explorer craft on the Moon, with images of Luna 1,2,3 and Lunakhod shown : SG MS 3182 of 24.10.84.

A computer image of a cosmonaut’s face features on the ?.?.85 issue for the World Exhibition for Young Inventors at Plovdiv: SG3270.

Two issues in March 1986 commemorate Halley’s comet and the 25th anniv of Gagarin’s flight: SG MS 3331 of 7.3.86 showing various space probes like Giotto and Vega in the margin and SG MS 3337 of 28.3.86 depicting Gagarin and Vostok on separate stamps within a larger design which also shows an Apollo craft:

Ballistic missiles on carrier lorries appear on the 2st and 3st values of the 22.9.80 issue for Bulgarian Armed Forces : SG 2881-2 (not shown).

There is a true Cosmonautics Day issue on 12.4.82 featuring a Salyut space station over a postulated rocket design by Russian space theoretician Tsiolkovsky, born 125 years before whose image appears on the accompanying label : SG 3025.

In November, to mark 65 years of the October revolution one stamp shows a Vostok craft over a tracking ship, the cruiser Aurora : SG 3051 of 4.11.82.

The space issue of the following year celebrates 20 years of the maiden flight of Valentina Tereshkova: SG MS of 28.6.83 showing images of her and of the second Soviet woman in space Svetlana Savitskaya who flew in Soyuz T-7 in August 82.

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Two issues in October 1987 mark 30 years of space exploration by the Soviet Union and the 70th anniv of the October revolution: SG MS 3472 of 16.10.87 showing the Vega space craft which explored Venus and Halley’s comet and a Soyuz craft docking with MIR. SG 3474 of 22.10.87 combines an image of Lenin with that of a symbolic cosmonaut.

A Cosmonautics Day issue in 1989 celebrates the 10th anniversary of the first Bulgarian cosmonaut: SG MS 3598 of 10.4.89, depicting Ivanov and Rukavishnikov of Soyuz 33 and a few months later the second anniversary of the second Bulgarian cosmonaut is marked with the issue of a stamp showing Alexandrov with Soviet colleagues Solovyov and Savinkh of TM-5 which had flown in June 1988: SG 3611 of 7.6.89.

In April of the following year a 42st stamp issued for the 4th Banners for Peace Children’s Meeting in Sofia features a child’s drawing of a spacewalking cosmonaut: SG 3510 of 28.4.88 and in June the flight of a second Bulgarian cosmonaut Alexander Alexandrov in Soyuz TM–5 is marked with two symbolic stamps : SG 3525-6 of 7.6.88.

A few days later the 25th anniversary of Tereschkova’s flight merits a minisheet : SG MS 3537 of 16.6.88 with mythical symbolism in the margins of the design.

A year of several space issues concludes with a minisheet devoted to the Soviet Buran shuttle: SG MS 3578 of 28.12.88 which made one promising but unmanned flight into space on 15th November 1988 and was later abandoned as a viable project.

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1990 opens with the first of two sets devoted to a retrospect of space achievement so far including references to American achievement in ASTP, the shuttle and of course the Moon landings : SG 3717-22 + MS 3722.

The Bulgarian contribution to the Europa theme o f s p a c e exploration in 1991 was a set of two depicting Meteosat and Ariane: SG 3761-2 and later in the year is a second retrospective set which apart from one stamp devoted t o B u r a n concentrates entirely on the American space shuttle fleet : SG 3771-6 + MS 3777.

And these are followed by further commemoratives for the two Bulgarian cosmonauts : Alexandrov in 2008 and Ivanov in 2009.

There is then a gap of seven years before a further space issue from Bulgaria, on this occasion SG 4203 (June 1998) for 10th anniversary of cosmonaut Alexander Alexandrov’s flight in June 1988.

A further five years on in 2003 a futuristic minisheet (SG MS 4432) depicts spacecraft as they might be in many centuries’ time.

50 years of Sputnik merit a minisheet in 2007 (SG MS 4621)

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A shortened version of this article by your Editor with far fewer illustrations first appeared in Topical Time the ATA Journal (for Nov-Dec 2004) under the heading �Triumphs and Tragedies� (When Technology Takes Time-out) 40