Orbit issue 96 (January 2013) by kiwi36

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Editorial

ISSN 0953 1599 THE JOURNAL OF THE ASTRO SPACE STAMP SOCIETY

Let’s Celebrate our Achievements !

Issue No 96 January 2013 Patron:

Our Society was born 25 years ago this year : in January 1988, in fact. You can see the first edition on our website and download a copy if you wish. Beside it you will find copies of many other past editions as previously explained, as part of our plans to create a legacy of astrophilatelic writing, some 3000 articles by the time the project to put all editions on line is completed later this year.

Cosmonaut Georgi Grechko, Hero of the Soviet Union

COMMITTEE Chairman Ian Ridpath, 48 Otho Court, Brentford, Middlesex, TW8 8PY (E-mail : ian@ianridpath.com) Chairman Emeritus :

On the subject of writing articles I invite members to offer short pieces about the most important astrophilatelic event in any one of the past 25 years along the lines of the first of these articles which appears on page 20. Hopefully together we can cover all of the years in the course of the next four editions, before our 100th which is due in January 2014. I hope members will also offer articles on our theme to whatever journals they can.

Margaret Morris, 55 Canniesburn Drive, Bearsden, Glasgow, Scotland G61 1RX (E-mail: mmorris671@aol.com)

Hon. Secretary: Brian J.Lockyer, 21, Exford Close,Weston-Super-Mare, Somerset BS23 4RE (E-mail : b.lockyer365@btinternet.com)

Hon .Treasurer: Eve Archer, Glebe Cottage, Speymouth, Mosstodloch, Moray. Scotland IV32 7LE (E-mail: orbitmag@aol.com)

Other ways of celebrating our milestone birthday would be to offer displays of material at local clubs this calendar year and to participate in local competitions on the theme in order to heighten awareness. I recently did the former at Inverness P.S. where one of the members said he much enjoyed the display which was a “whole new area to him”. Perhaps some people have forgotten the glories of the space race.

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

Webmaster Derek Clarke, 36 Cherryfield Road, Walkinstown, Dublin 12 (E-mail: dclarke36@gmail.com)

Postal Auction Organiser: David Saunders, 42 Burnet Road, Bradwell, Great Yarmouth. NR31 8SL. (E-mail davidsaunders1@hotmail.co.uk)

Overseas Representatives: Australia: Charles Bromser, 37 Bridport Street, Melbourne 3205. Belgium : Jűrgen P. Esders, Rue Paul Devigne 21-27, Boite 6, 1030 Bruxelles Eire:Derek Clarke, 36 Cherryfield Rd, Walkinstown. Dublin 12. France: Jean-Louis Lafon, 23 Rue de Mercantour, 78310 Maurepas Russia: Mikhail Vorobyov, 31-12 Krupskaya Str, Kostroma United States: Dr Ben Ramkissoon, Linda Valley Villa #236 11075 Benton Street Loma Linda CA 92354-3182

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

This edition certainly aims to celebrate some of those glories, containing super articles by Umberto Cavallaro on Neil Armstrong and on Spacehab, an account of the early stages of the ISS by John Macco, whilst Don Hillger and Gary Toth remind us of how the Soviet Union used misinformation techniques regarding their own early glories. Further aspects of our hobby away from spaceflight are covered in excellent articles on the Royal Mail’s latest tribute to British space science, Japan Post’s celebration of an annular eclipse and further travelogue articles by Bert van Eijck on space related sites around the world. The edition is completed with my own feature on tradition and superstition in spaceflight and a review of new issues recorded in the past year. Happy New Year !

www.astrospacestampsociety.com/ Copy Deadline for the March 2013 issue is Feb 14th by which time all material intended for publication should be with the Editor.

ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION RATES Members in UK—£15 in Europe (EU and non-EU) - €30

Elsewhere - $45 equivalent Juniors (under 18) £6.50

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Royal Mail’s 2012 Space Science Set The second first-class stamp carries an ultraviolet image of the swirling clouds of Venus from ESA’s Venus Express probe in July 2007. Venus Express was proposed by UK scientists and the UK participates in five out of the seven instruments on board.

FROM THE CHAIRMAN For the past few years, Royal Mail has been issuing astrothemed stamps almost annually. You’ll find all of them described and discussed on my website. The 2012 contribution, called Space Science, is a must-have item for every member of the ASSS. Issued on October 16, the set of six marks the 50th anniversary of the launch of the first British satellite, Ariel 1. Unfortunately, Royal Mail missed the actual anniversary by six months – Ariel 1 was launched in April 1962, not October. But better late than never, since the stamps were worth waiting for.

Moving outwards from the Sun to Mars, and upwards in face value to 77p, the next member of the set presents a famous image from 2005 of ice inside a crater near the north pole of the red planet taken by ESA’s Mars Express. The UK is involved in three of the six instruments on board Mars Express, including its camera.

Ariel 1 was the first of a series of six satellites that included the pioneering X-ray observatory Ariel 5. The first two Ariel satellites were actually built in the US, with only the experiment packages being British. The rest of the series were entirely British built. All the satellites were launched by the US as part of a cooperative agreement.

Following this is another 77p stamp with a close-up of the asteroid Lutetia, taken by ESA’s Rosetta mission in 2010 while on its way to its main target, Comet ChuryumovGerasimenko. The UK has had a major involvement in Rosetta’s construction and its experiments.

Nowadays, of course, the UK is part of the European Space Agency, founded in 1975, and no longer has an independent space programme. Hence the illustrations for this set are images from ESA missions in which UK scientists play leading roles. Previous astronomy issues depicted deep-space subjects, so this time the designers decided to concentrate on the Solar System. They have come up with a stunning selection of images, each with an explanatory annotation on the stamp.

The final two stamps in the sextet sport face values of £1.28. On one, we see the fascinating rings of Saturn backlit by the Sun, viewed from the NASA–ESA Cassini spacecraft in orbit around the planet in September 2006.

The set starts with two first -class stamps of different designs. One shows the Sun ejecting a massive prominence, as seen in extreme ultraviolet light from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), a joint ESA–NASA satellite that has been operating since the end of 1995, way beyond its planned lifetime. UK scientists have played a major role in the design, construction and operation of SOHO. The image used appears to be one taken in April 2004, rotated and flipped by the stamp designer.

Completing the set is a false-colour view of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, in both infrared and visible light. The infrared views cut through the enveloping clouds to reveal subtle surface markings. UK scientists are deeply involved in various instruments on Cassini and also the 3

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Huygens sub-probe ejected from Cassini that landed on Titan’s icy surface in 2005.

Well done to Royal Mail for producing such a visually striking set which reminds us that the UK remains prominent in planetary exploration. All the stamps can be seen in high resolution on this page:

A presentation pack—part of which is shown below— is available containing all six stamps with additional information on the missions depicted and an illustrated tour of the Solar System, written by my colleague Stuart Clark, a British science writer.

http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/pickoftheweek/old/02nov2012/

What astro topic should Royal Mail tackle next? If you have any suggestions, please send them to the editor of Orbit. Ian Ridpath

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Neil Armstrong: reluctant, modest Hero who inspired two generations with “one small step” Editor of AdAstra, Umberto Cavallaro pays tribute …… Neil Armstrong has passed away on August 25. Another piece of history has been filed for ever. “Reluctant hero” was one of the most recurring titles we saw on newspapers and journals referring to the sad news. And this properly describes Neil Armstrong. Probably the 20th Century will be remembered in the future centuries as the one when the Man for the first time left his native Earth and started to travel around in the Universe, and the history books will mention Neil Armstrong as the Man who – at the end of a fierce competition – for the first time has set footprint on another celestial body and they will report the perhaps most famous statement ever, in the entire space programme: “That’s one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind”: the step which fulfilled the challenge President John F. Kennedy issued at the beginning of the 1960s – to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade. The memorable statement engendered heated debate on whether Armstrong did or did not utter the “a” which he at first claimed he did, but later acknowledged might not have, upon scrutinizing his recorded voice from the moon. His biographer James R. Hansey called Armstrong “one of the most known and less understood people on the planet” Undoubtedly “known”. The grainy black and white TV broadcast of him stepping on the moon was watched live by an estimated 600 million people worldwide, a fifth of the global world population:the largest population ever for any single event in history.

Undoubtedly “little understood”. Described as usually taciturn, self-controlled and self-effacing, he was never comfortable with celebrity and consistently avoided cameras. Michael Collins, who shared with Armstrong the Apollo 11 adventure, wrote that Armstrong "never transmits anything but the surface layer, and that only sparingly ... I like him, but I don't know what to make of him, or how to get to know him better”. Walt Cunningham (Apollo 7), who was his colleague and friend for many years during the NASA golden age, in his book “The All- American Boys” annotates “He flew the X- 15 rocket plane early in its development, yet I never heard him mention it. He never seemed to get involved emotionally in an issue and, when he spoke, his tone and delivery gave the impression that his words had been rehearsed. His face has a softness, a pinkness, that will keep him looking younger than he is. To those who knew him, Neil wasn't the type to become involved in the super spectacular. Whatever he did, he seldom made mistakes. He was the right man for mission commander”. Modesty and appreciation of the team are recurring in Armstrong’s statements: "I was certainly aware that this was the culmination of the work of 300,000 to 400,000 people over a decade" In a rare television interview in 2005, Armstrong stated he did not deserve the attention he received for being the first man on the moon, just steps ahead of fellow Apollo 11 astronaut Edwin ‘Buzz’ Aldrin. "I wasn't chosen to be first. I was just chosen to command that flight. Circumstance put me in that particular role". Moonwalking marked the culmination of a series of accomplishments that included

A commemorative cover was immediately issued by Fleetwood to celebrate the moonlanding: the cover on the left refers to the historical statement of Armstrong “…One Small step for a Man…”. After scrutinising the recording of Armstrong’s words, it was definitively decided that the correct version was “…One Small step for Man…” and a new version of the cover was produced, as shown on the right.

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piloting many pioneering high-speed aircraft and making the first space docking during the Gemini 8 mission His career demonstrates he had what Tom Wolfe later called "The Right Stuff". Armstrong had an early fascination with aircraft and received his pilot's licence on his 16th birthday. A U.S. Navy aviator, he flew 78 missions in the Korean War. As a research pilot at NASA, he flew on over 200 different models of helicopters, gliders, jets and rockets, including the X-15 rocket plane. He reached astronaut status in 1962, and was assigned as command pilot for the Gemini 8 mission, during which he performed the first successful docking of two vehicles in space followed by a successful emergency splashdown. After retiring from NASA in 1971, Armstrong taught aerospace engineering at the University of Cincinnati for a decade and served on the boards of several companies, including United Airlines. After a life of aeronautical achievement Armstrong had one desire: “Pilots like to be remembered for their flying and landing, not for their walking”. And this was in line with his disappointment for the poor ambitions of the space programme in the last years. Deliberately away from the limelight for years and with scrupulous attention to avoiding any controversy that might reflect upon the space programme, Armstrong went public in 2010 with his concerns and "substantial reservations" about President Barack Obama's space policy that shifted attention away from a return to the moon and emphasized private companies developing spaceships and called this a “devastating” plan that destined the United States – the leading space faring nation for nearly half a century -- to become one of second or even third rate stature. Along with more than two dozen Apollo-era veterans, he signed then a letter referring to the plan as a "misguided proposal that forces NASA out of human space operations for the foreseeable future". And after that, once again, he withdrew from public life.

Top: Gemini 8 cover signed by CAPCOM and friend Walter Cunningham Above: cover designed by the American artists and stamp designers Paul and Chris Calle Below: Commemorative cover serviced for the first X-15 flight of Neil Armstrong, with a bad imitation of his signature. Forgeries of Armstrong autographs are common and are becoming more and more sophisticated: see real thing below

“No one could ever have handled the fame and attention as well as Neil did. That is truly Neil’s best contribution to the history of NASA and America” commented Walt Cunningham, after returning from the sad occasion of Neil Armstrong’s Memorial Service in Cincinnati on August 31., adding “I feel fortunate to have lived when I did and to have played a small role in Neil’s historic accomplishment”. Probably some inflated declaration, though sounding official, does not do him justice. It seems more appropriate the simple request of his family for anyone who wanted to remember him: “Honor his example of service, accomplishment and modesty, and the next time you walk outside on a clear night and see the moon smiling down at you, think of Neil Armstrong and give him a wink".

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Travelling In A Time Machine AMAZING!

It is hard to believe but the story of the Space Needle starts……on a napkin.

Travelling around the world, is traveling in a time machine, suggests our world-visitorreporter Bert van Eijck. In a ten-hour non stop flight from Amsterdam (The Netherlands) to Seattle in the state of Washington (USA), you are flying 8150 kilometres and find yourself back on Earth nine hours earlier. In the evening you have dinner in your hotel at 7.00, but your body says you it’s 4.00 in the morning.

In 1959, an unlikely artist inspired by the Stuttgart Tower in Germany was sketching his vision of a dominant central structure for the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair on a placemat in a coffee house. The artist was Edward E. Carlson, then president of Western International Hotels. Carlson penciled the shape that would become the internationally known symbol for Seattle. However, Carlson and his supporters soon found moving the symbol from the placemat to the drawing board to the construction phase was not an easy process. The first obstacle was the structure’s design. Carlson’s initial sketch underwent many transformations. One drawing resembled a tethered balloon and another was balloon-shaped top house on a central column anchored by cables. Architect John Graham, fresh from his success in designing the world’s first shopping mall – Seattle’s Northgate – turned the balloon design into a flying saucer. A dozen architects worked on sketches and ideas before a final compromise was reached, just a year and a half before the fair was to open.

In the meantime with the extra hours you can do what you at home were dreaming of: “climbing” the city’s sky-high landmark and world-famous Space Needle, as I did on June 28, 2012. In that year the Needle celebrated its 50th anniversary. Seattle’s number one tourist attraction has a big shopping area on the ground floor, an observation deck viewing the whole city and surroundings at 520 feet and a revolving restaurant at 500 feet. There are 848 steps to the viewing deck, but there are three elevators too, each carrying 25 people.

The next hurdles were location and financing. Since the Space Needle was to be privately financed, it had to be situated on land which could be acquired for public use, but built within the grounds allocated to the Fair. Early investigations indicated such a plot of land did not exist. However, just before the search was abandoned, a suitable 120-ft² piece of land was found and sold to investors for $75,000 in 1961, just 13 months before the opening of World’s Fair also known as the Century 21 Exposition.

The Space Needle was erected in 1962 for the World’s Fair. The US Postal Service even issued a 4c stamp on 25th April 1962 for this occasion, proudly showing the Space Needle in its full glory.

Construction progressed quickly. An underground foundation was poured into a hole 30 feet deep and 120 feet across. It took 467 cement trucks an entire day to fill the hole. Once completed, the foundation weighed as much as the Space Needle itself, establishing the centre of gravity just above ground. Our photo shows the needle nearing completion in 1961. The five level top house dome was completed with special attention paid to the revolving restaurant level and observation deck. The top house was balanced so perfectly 7

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that the restaurant rotated with just a one horsepower electric motor. The 605-feet tall Space Needle was completed in December 1961 and officially opened a mere four months later on the first day of the World’s Fair, April 21, 1962. The elevators were the last pieces to arrive before the opening, the last one just one day before the fair opened. New, computerized elevators were installed in 1993. Storms occasionally force closure of the Space Needle, as they did in 1993 when winds reached 90 miles per hour. The Needle has withstood several tremors too, including a 2001 earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale. The Space Needle was built for just $4,5 million and has had its share of milestones, including numerous weddings and a jump by six parachutists. During the World’s Fair nearly 20,000 people a day travelled to the top. The Space Needle hosted over 2’3 million visitors during the fair and is still, 50 years later with many, many people from abroad, Seattle’s number one tourist destination.

Bert’s view from the Observation Deck of the “Flying Saucer”

This was the story of the Space Needle. But about Seattle, with three million inhabitants a major city in West-USA, there is a lot to tell and to see. Starbucks began its coffeetriumph in the world in this city, as did airplane builder Boeing with its huge factories. Here too are the headquarters of Holland America Line, with its fifteen cruise ships, of which several from here take a 10- or 14-days cruise to Alaska.

Bert with ticket in hand inside the Needle

In town itself you can visit Pike Place Market, the oldest and biggest farmer’s market in the country, or Pioneer Square, with saloons and brothels lined the street many years ago, nowadays filled with arts galleries, small shops, restaurants, bars and clubs, many featuring live music. Or you can visit the Waterfront with all kinds of boats and ships. There are also a dozen museums you can visit too. And you don’t have to go to Cairo, to see the golden mask of pharaoh Tutankhamun. “King Tut”, as they say here, can be seen in the Pacific Science Center till January 2013. Coming home again, I still had Seattle in my mind. And what did I see on my television first night back? The movie ’88 minutes’ with Al Pacino, a thriller taking place in downtown Seattle……..!

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Soyuz Flights to the ISS—John Macco and Jim Roth The second Soyuz flight to the ISS was the Taxi-1/Mission2S/Soyuz TM-32 spacecraft that launched on April 28, 2001 with a crew consisting of Talgat Musabayev, Yuri Baturin and Space Flight Participant, Dennis Tito (who paid about 20 million dollars for the privilege of being the first “space tourist”). The Soyuz TM-32 docked with the ISS on April 30, 2001. The mission was to conduct the scheduled replacement of the Soyuz TM- 31 spacecraft, functioning as a rescue vehicle, with the Soyuz TM-32. Since a Soyuz-TM spacecraft has an orbital lifetime of six months, the swap out of vehicles is performed during each visiting mission. The Soyuz TM-31 spacecraft with the Soyuz TM-32 crew landed safely a week after launch on May 6, 2001, about 90 kilometres north of Arkalyk, a city in northern Kazakhstan.

Part One (Oct 2000—Oct 2007) The International Space Station has been in space since the first element was launched on November 20, 1988. With the launch of Soyuz TM-31 and the Expedition-1 crew on October 31, 2000, the ISS has been continuously manned. The EO-1 crew’s main work was to activate the critical life support systems and conduct the first scientific work onboard the space station. This crew consisted of Yuri Gidzenko, Sergei Krikalev and Bill Shepherd. After four and a half months, they returned to Earth with the STS-102 crew and landed at the Kennedy Space Center on March 21, 2001. The Soyuz TM-31 spacecraft remained docked to the ISS to act as a rescue vehicle. There are four distinct postmarks on this Soyuz TM-31 launch cover (above), all dated on October 31, 2000 with the imprimatur of “Mail of Russia” at the top and “Kazakhstan, Baikonur” spelled two ways in each hub. One cancel depicts the Soyuz rocket while another has the spacecraft in orbit above the planet. A rubber stamp Registered Mail imprint appears in the top left corner, with Baikonur’s postcode

The above cover bears two Russian postage stamps – one (s. 6426) features the Ostankino Television Tower in Moscow, the other (s. 6584) has the International Space Station. There are five postmarks, three which look similar but one has a Soyuz imprint, another has an ISS (MKC) imprint, while the third has *C*, which might mean the Cosmodrome, but that’s just a guess. The Soyuz rocket and orbiting spacecraft pictorial cancels also appear. The cachet features a Soyuz FG rocket. The “3” character (a Cyrillic ‘Z’) in the corner hand-stamp is the first letter of the Russian word Zakaznoe (Registered) and is used for Registered Mail going to an address inside Russia.

“468320” and text, “Cosmodrome / Baikonur” plus artwork of the Soyuz rocket – this cover has been numbered 307, out of an unknown quantity. The multi-coloured cachet notes the mission’s goal of the ISS, but fails to mention that it is the first Expedition to go up, but the red rubber stamp depicts the Soyuz docking with the fledgling ISS with the text “First expedition on ISS / Russia - 2000 - USA”. The space-themed Kazakhstan stamp (s.261) of 30 tenge, depicts a communication satellite above a receiver dish.

Six months later, the next flight was Taxi-2/Mission-3S/ Soyuz TM-33 spacecraft, launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on October 21, 2001 with a crew consisting of Victor Afanasyev, Konstantin Kozeyev and ESA astronaut Claudie Haignere (the first European woman to visit the ISS) docking with the ISS two days later on October 23. During this fourteenth manned mission to the ISS, spationaute Haignere carried out a scientific and technical research programme called Andromede, organized by CNES, the French space agency, performed in the Russian module as a

This article in its original format was first published in The Astrophile Nov/Dec 2008 and is reproduced with permissions

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preliminary scientific operation aboard the ISS, comprising of Earth observations, biological, and materials sciences. Ten days later the Soyuz TM-32 “life boat” spacecraft departed with the TM-33 crew and landed safely on October 31, 2001 near Arkalyk.

The cachet shows, from left to right, Vittori and Gidzenko with their flight manuals next to Shuttleworth during a pause in their training session.

Familiar pictorial and Baikonur postmarks appear on the launch cover all with the October 21, 2001 date, along with a double-ringed postmark with the top text translating as Rosaviakosmos, the Russian Aviation and Space Agency; followed by ЭП-2 на МСК (EP-2 to MCK): the EP-2 refers to Expedition 2 and MCK is the Russian acronym for the International Space Station. EKA is Russian for ESA, the European Space Agency, and KHEC is the Russian translation of CNES, the French space agency, Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales. The three names in the centre are Afanasyev, Haignere, and Kozeyev. Again, the rubber stamp Registered Mail in the top left corner has not been numbered. The cachet features the Soyuz spacecraft and, from left to right, Kozeyev, Afanasyev, and Haignere. The last Soyuz TM flight was the Taxi-3/Mission-4S/Soyuz TM -34 spacecraft launched on April 25, 2002 with Yuri Gidzenko, ESA astronaut Roberto Vittori (Italy) and Space Flight Participant, Mark Shuttleworth, a South African entrepreneur who had developed Internet security protocols. As the second “space tourist”, Shuttleworth carried out a small research programme studying ocean life along with biological experiments to combat AIDS and other diseases. After eight days onboard the ISS, the lifeboat Soyuz TM-33 spacecraft undocked wit the Soyuz TM-34 crew and touched down safely on May 5, 2002 twenty-six kilometres southeast of Arkalyk. The related launch cover (next column, top) bears two pictorial postmarks from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, plus a variation of the textual postmark, with an italic б prefix below the date, possibly indicating the Baikonur postal district. Note that the date stamps use the full year 2002 instead of a truncated 02 and that the postage cost an extra rouble, as indicated with the Russian flag stamp (s. 6428). Once again, the Registered Mail rubber stamp is blank, and may appear simply for prestige. 10

On October 30, 2002, the Taxi-4/ Mission-5S/Soyuz TMA-1 spacecraft launched with crew consisting of Sergei Zalyotin, Frank DeWinne, the first Belgian astronaut to the ISS, and Yuri Lonchakov. American musician Lance Bass was originally scheduled as part of the crew but by September 2002 his training was discontinued due to his inability to meet the terms of the space tourist contract. The primary goal of this flight was validating the Soyuz TMA-1 spacecraft, which performed as expected. While visiting the ISS, Frank DeWinne worked on a Belgian sponsored experiment regime using a Microgravity Science Glovebox. Eleven days after launch, the Soyuz TMA-1 crew landed safely on November 9, 2002 aboard the Soyuz TM-34 spacecraft 80 kilometres northeast of Arkalyk, Kazakhstan. Along with the change of Soyuz variant, the cover (below) sports a radical change of postmarks and hand stamps. The left top corner Registered Mail rubber stamp has been updated to read “THE FIELD POST OFFICE” and has a sans serif font. The oval hand stamp to the right flanked by a Russian flag and European Union banner, references only

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two of the cosmonauts, Zalyotin and DeWinne, reflecting Lonchakov’s late entry onboard, as Lance Bass’ empty seat was originally slated for cargo. The Russian Post cancel is struck twice over a Gagarin 40th Anniversary stamp (s. 6634b) and an electric railway stamp (s. 6430), bears the “Field Post” legend at the bottom instead of Baikonur, Kazakhstan, and has a prefix below the date, which has reverted back to a two digit year format. The blue pictorial postmark is headlined “Gagarin Start” with a stylized cosmonaut, presumably Yuri Gagarin, above. The date is flanked by a Vostok rocket and a Sputnik satellite, with the text “Cosmodrome Baikonur Field Post” below. This cover is marked as the fifty-third of sixty produced in the lower right corner and is signed by Zalyotin above the cachet and (possibly Lonchakov) and DeWinne below. The cachet features the “Odissea” mission emblem with the red text below indicating this was the fourth expedition visiting the ISS, with “RUSSIA * BELGIUM” below. While the Soyuz TMA-1 was attached to the ISS, the February 2003 Columbia shuttle accident occurred, causing a major change in the ISS crew swap out process – the expedition crews were reduced to two participants and the Soyuz system would be the only method of launching a crew to and from the ISS for the next two years. The second TMA flight to the ISS was the Mission-6S/Soyuz TMA-2 spacecraft launched on April 26, 2003, from Baikonur with the Expedition-7 crew of Yuri Malenchenko and Ed Lu. Eight days after the TMA-2 launch, the Soyuz TMA-1 spacecraft with Expedition-6 crew of Ken Bowersox, Don Pettit and Nikolai Budarin left the ISS on May 4, 2003, marking the first atmospheric entry and descent for this Soyuz class. A technical malfunction caused the Soyuz to fall into a bone-rattling ballistic re-entry instead of the planned gentler descent, resulting in an off target landing three hundred miles short of the planned location. During the steep re-entry the antenna was ripped off and the two backup ones failed to deploy. The crew was able to re-establish communications using an emergency transmitter after landing. Some two hours later, at 08:21 Moscow Time on May 4, pilots of the search and rescue team finally found the capsule with its crew outside the craft and waving to the plane, but it would take another three hours before the rescue team finally arrived because their helicopters had to be refuelled. This cover has a cachet showing the Soyuz R7 rocket at the Baikonur launch site. The cover is franked with a 2.50 rouble definitive of the Kremlin buildings( s. 6431) and a three rouble stamp depicting Yuri Gagarin shaking the hand of rocket designer Sergei Korolev (s. 6634). There are three black cancels for the April 26, 2003 launch date, including the Soyuz pictorial, the Soyuz/Baikonur hub, and the dual language Baikonur version with an “a” prefix below the date. The purple cancel is dated on May 2, 2003, which does not correspond with a significant event as the TMA-1 undocked on May 3, 2003. The Baikonur control rubber stamp next to the Gagarin stamp is of the type used for previous missions

and bears a serial number of “5420”. In the lower left corner a Russian Post bar coded sticker has been affixed – it’s not for registered mail, but its purpose is unknown. The next flight saw the Mission-7S/ Soyuz TMA-3 spacecraft launched on October 18, 2003 with the Expedition-8 crew of cosmonaut Alexander Kaleri and U.S. astronaut Mike Foale, with ESA astronaut Pedro Duque from Spain accompanying them on the ride. Duque performed ESA sponsored science experiments under the mission name Cervantes. The Soyuz TMA-2 spacecraft undocked from the ISS on October 27 with Expedition-7 crew Yuri Malenchenko and Ed Lu, along with Pedro Duque, and landed safely on October 28, 2003 near Arkalyk, Kazakhstan.

This launch cover sports two new postmarks in addition to the familiar Soyuz pictorial over the Valentina Tereshkova 40th anniversary stamp (s. 6777) and the Soyuz/Baikonur cancel. The Soyuz rocket with an orbital flight above Earth pictorial notes the “International Flight to Space” with “Russia-USA-Europe” participants. The Russian Post cancel over two definitive with a satellite and the Ostankino Television Tower (s. 6432, 6426), has Baikonur’s postcode “468320” above the date and an “x” prefix below, with “Baikonur” in two variations. The “Cosmodrome Baikonur Soyuz TMA-3” cachet shows, from left to right, Kaleri, Foale, and Duque. 11

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The Expedition-9 crew consisting of Gennady Padalka and Mike Fincke, along with ESA astronaut Andre Kuipers from the Netherlands launched on April 19, 2004, aboard the Mission-8S/Soyuz TMA-4 spacecraft. Kuipers performed a series of experiments as part of the DELTA mission with a wide range of subjects: physiology, biology, microbiology, medicine, technological development, physics and Earth observation. The Soyuz TMA-3 spacecraft with Expedition-8 crew Alexander Kaleri and Mike Foale, along with Andre Kuipers, landed safely on April 30, 2004 near the perennial landing spot of Arkalyk, Kazakhstan, despite a minor helium leak that did not affect their mission. This cover’s cachet (above) features the DELTA mission with a globe decked out in Netherlands’s flag red white and blue colours, coincidentally those also of Russia and the USA. The top quarter of a sheet of 8 for Gagarin’s 70th anniversary of his birthdate (s. 6817) is used along with the Ostankino Television Tower definitive (s. 6426) for postage and are cancelled with familiar postmarks for the April 19, 2004 launch. A new hand stamp for “Russia, USA, Europe Cosmodrome Baikonur” featuring a Soyuz spacecraft circling the Earth, appears below a different Baikonur Registered Mail hand stamp.

Four different stamps are used to frank this launch cover including a Crane definitive (s. 6425), and are tied with a Russia Post Field Post cancel that utilizes the four digit year format and has a “B” prefix below the date. The purple postmark (right of the mission patch) is from the Gagarin Start launch pad. Note that the postage rate has been steadily increasing and is now 7.25 roubles to ensure delivery. The cachet is for the 10th Expedition with participants Chiao and Sharipov names flanked by the ISS and the Soyuz spacecraft next to the US and Russian flags arranged to make the Roman numeral X (10). Five autographs appear on this cover, with Leroy’s at the far left in black, Bill McArthur’s beneath the addresse’s name, and Tokarev bottom right but the other two are indecipherable because they’re in Russian. The Expedition-11 crew of Sergei Krikalev and John Phillips launched on April 15, 2005 with ESA astronaut Roberto Vittori aboard the Mission-10S/Soyuz TMA-6 spacecraft and docked at the ISS on April 17. The Soyuz TMA-5 spacecraft undocking was done manually as a cautionary measure to save power on a faulty battery. Expedition-10 crew Sharipov and Chiao, with Vittori landed safely on April 25, 2005 at their designated landing spot ninety kilometres

The next flight to the ISS was the Mission-9S/Soyuz TMA-5 spacecraft, launched on October 14, 2004, with the Expedition-10 crew consisting of Salizhan Sharipov and Leroy Chiao, along with flight engineer Yuri Shargin. The launch was delayed beyond its scheduled October 9, 2004 launch date because an explosive bolt was accidentally activated during preflight testing of the Soyuz TMA-5 spacecraft, the damage Being repaired prior to launch. Furthermore, the docking to the space station had to be done manually, as the approach using the automatic system was too fast. The Soyuz TMA-5 was docked at the Russian Pirs module and on November 29 was moved to the Zarya module to make room for a Progress resupply ship. The Soyuz TMA-4 spacecraft with Expedition-9 crew Padalka and Mike Fincke, plus Yuri Shargin landed safely on October 24,2004, ninety kilometres north of Arkalyk, north of Arkalyk, on the northern steppes of Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan. 12

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The Cosmodrome BaikonurSoyuz TMA-6 cachet (above) depicts the Soyuz booster at the Gagarin Start launch pad, which is why the purple pictorial cancel appears on this cover. Once again the Russian Post Field Post postmarks are used on the four stamps, still using the four digit year format. The extra-bold “08814” that appears on the bottom is a mystery as Russian postcodes are rendered in six-digit format. The Registered Mail rubber stamp is from the Field Post. The next Soyuz flight to the ISS was the Mission-11S/Soyuz TMA-7 spacecraft launched on October 1, 2005 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome with the Expedition-12 crew Valeri Tokarev and Bill McArthur, accompanied by Space Flight Participant, Greg Olsen. By this time, STS-114, the Space Shuttle’s “Return to Flight” had been launched on July 26, 2005 and had docked with the ISS on July 28. Since this was a checkout flight, no crew transfer to the ISS took place. Greg Olsen conducted several experiments in remote sensing and astronomy while aboard the ISS for eight days. The Soyuz TMA-6 spacecraft with Expedition-11 crew of Sergei Krikalev and John Phillips, along with Greg Olsen departed from the ISS on October 10 and during the descent, flight instruments of the Soyuz spacecraft indicated a cabin pressure leak, but the crew and craft landed safely on October 11, 2005.

The cachet features the flight participants, from left to right, Greg Olsen, Valeri Tokarev, and Bill McArthur and the cost of postage has risen .25 roubles. A four rouble ‘Fiftieth Anniversary of the Baikonur Cosmodrome’ stamp with a Soyuz rocket (s.6874c) is accompanied by two definitives (s. 6429 and 6630). The Field Post cancel now has a prefix below the date. Mirroring the cachet, Valeri Tokarev’s signature is on the left, Greg Olsen appears in the centre, then Bill McArthur has signed on the right above the address.

experiments selected by the Brazilian Space Agency. The Soyuz TMA-7 spacecraft with the Expedition-12 crew Tokarev and McArthur, plus Marcos Pontes landed safely on April 19, 2006.

The triangular “Soyuz 8 TMA” mission emblem with the three national flags of the flight participants – USA, Brazil and Russia, serves as the cachet for this launch cover dated March 30, 2006 with the Field Post ( with an “a” prefix) and Gagarin Start cancels. Five of the flight participants, going up and returning, have signed this cover that bears 8.6 roubles of postage, including two from the ‘Fiftieth Anniversary of Baikonur Cosmodrome’ series featuring a Proton launch and the Soyuz on the pad (6874b, 6874c). The next Soyuz flight was the Mission-13S/Soyuz TMA-9 spacecraft launched from the Gagarin Start at Baikonur Cosmodrome on September 18, 2006 with two members of the Expedition-14 crew, Michael Lopez Alegria and Mikhail Tyurin, along with Iranian-American spaceflight participant Anousheh Ansari, who conducted several experiments including research of anaemia and lower back muscular pain in microgravity, plus space radiation effects on ISS crew and microbes. For three days, from September 18 to 21, it was the first time since the Columbia accident that twelve humans were in space simultaneously. The Soyuz TMA-8 spacecraft with the Expedition-13 crew and Anousheh Ansari landed safely on September 29, 2006. The cachet features the Soyuz crew photo with, from left to

Nine months later the next Soyuz flight, Mission-12S/Soyuz TMA-8, was launched from Gagarin’s Start at Baikonur on March 30, 2006 with the Expedition- 13 crew Pavel Vinogradov and Jeff Williams, with Brazilian Marcos Pontes along for the ride. Pontes’ flight was part of the celebrations for the 100th anniversary of Brazilian pioneer Alberto SantosDumont’s successful flight in a fixed-wing airplane in Paris in 1906. During his visit to the ISS, Pontes carried out eight 13

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right, Anousheh Ansari – the first and (currently) only female spaceflight participant, Soyuz Commander Mikhail Tyurin, and Spanish-American Michael Lopez Alegria who was the Commander of Expedition 14. With nine roubles worth of postage, the two space-themed stamps with a Baikonur 50th Anniversary series showing a Zenit rocket (s. 6874d) and a Gagarin “First Man in Space” (s. 6817) are cancelled with a single Field Post postmark sorting a “B” prefix, a rarity in that most Russian covers tend to have multiple strikes of the same postmark. A purple Gagarin Start postmark also makes an appearance. The Mission-14S/Soyuz TMA-10 spacecraft was launched on April 7, 2007 with the Expedition-15 crew of Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov, along with Spaceflight Participant Charles Simonyi from Hungary in the third seat. After a one day delay due to boggy conditions at the landing site, the Soyuz TMA-9 spacecraft departed from the station on April 21, 2007, with the Expedition-14 crew and Charles Simonyi, landing safely on the Kazakhstan steppes north of Arkalyk. When the capsule landed after 215 days in space, exceeding the 210-day warranty for a Soyuz TMA spacecraft, it concluded the longest flight by a Soyuz spacecraft.

Once again the postage continues to rise as this cover required ten roubles. Several older postmarks make a return appearance with the Soyuz pictorial striking the two top stamps (s. 6428 and 6817), the Russian Post dual language Soyuz/Baikonur cancel on the right, and the Baikonur Postcode version canceling the Zenit stamp (s. 8674d). The Baikonur version of the Registered Mail rubber stamp in the upper left corner also makes a return appearance. The three autographs are in the same order as the cachet, showing from left to right, Charles Simonyi, Oleg Kotov, and Fyodor Yurchikhin. The text (in green) above the cachet reads “15th Expedition to ISS”.

launched on October 10, 2007 with the two members of the Expedition-16 crew, Yuri Malenchenko and Commander Peggy Whitson, along with Spaceflight Participant Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor from Malaysia who flew as a guest of the Russian government in exchange for Malayasia’s purchase of Russian fighter jets. Sheikh Shukor trained at Star City and despite the Spaceflight participant designation, fellow cosmonauts considered him to be a fully-fledged cosmonaut. The Soyuz TMA-10 spacecraft with two of the Expedition- 15 crew members Yurchikhin and Kotov, plus Sheikh Shukor undocked from the ISS on October 21, 2007 and during atmospheric reentry, a damaged control panel cable caused the spacecraft to go into a ballistic re-entry mode, landing 340 kilometres west of the intended landing site near Arkalyk. The crew survived the wild ride and was subjected a g-load of as much as 8.6 times normal Earth gravity for a short time. This cover (above) has a multiple subject cachet, with the Soyuz - FG launch, the crew patch with a Soyuz TMA in orbit, and the three member flight crew posing for the standard preflight photo. Sheikh Shukor is on the left next to Malenchenko, with Whitson, the first female commander of the ISS on the right. The postage has levelled out at 10 rubles and two of the Baikonur 50th Anniversary stamps fill the bill and are cancelled with another single Field Post postmark with a “б” prefix, and the Gagarin Start postmark in purple also notes the October 10th launch. The sans serif version of the Field Post Registered Mail hand stamp is used on this cover.

Another cover (right) for Soyuz TMA-10 shows the Expedition 15 mission emblem next to the three crew members Simonyi, Kotov, and Yurchikhin in the traditional pre-flight photosuited up, over a photo of the ISS in orbit. A single Field Post postmark with a “б” prefix ties three space related stamps (s. 6432 and 6874c) and the familiar Gagarin Start postmark in purple makes another appearance for the April 7, 2007 launch. The next flight was the Mission-15S/ Soyuz TMA-11 spacecraft

14 To be continued…..

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Our New “Chairman Emeritus” Thank You Margaret !! Margaret Morris (shown right with some philatelic friends) has relinquished her post as our Chairman which she has held since the Summer of 2001 and she has told your committee that she is both honoured and “tickled pink” to be our Chairman Emeritus which says sounds “so grand”. Margaret attained the age of 80 last year but that milestone meant little to her in terms of slowing down in her crowded philatelic life. However following many demands made of her during our past difficult months she felt the time was right to allow a younger member to take over as our figurehead and leader and she was delighted when Ian Ridpath agreed to do just that. Margaret is a founding member of the Society with the esteemed membership number of 88002 as the second person to join when we formed in 1988. However, astrophilately is by far not her only collecting interest and as many of you will know she is not only the doyenne of Scottish philatelists but a thematic exhibitor and competitor of international repute and a Fellow of the Royal Philatelic Society (London). Margaret’s prize winning exhibits have covered such topics as Astronomy, Man and the Whale and Pre-Columbian Art. She has also formed a traditional collection of Greenland. Margaret was the first person outside North America to be nominated Distinguished Topical Philatelist by the American Topical Association and received this honour at PACIFIC 97 held in San Francisco in June 1997. She started collecting whilst at school, taking up the hobby whilst recuperating from periods of ill-health, only just surviving peritonitis. At the beginning of the reign of Queen Elizabeth she decided to collect stamps portraying the new Queen. She became and still is very much involved in local societies in the West of Scotland, but has also belonged to the NPS, ATA, BTA, the Captain Cook Study Unit, the Paisley Rocketeers and she was a member of the now disbanded Philatelic Music Circle. She has exhibited very successfully at National and International levels, has been a National Accredited Judge, has written about the various stages of forming a stamp collection, on astronomy and philately and a book entitled Thematic Stamp Collecting, for Stanley Gibbons, given the accolade as “arguably the best of thematic collecting” by the late Scottish philatelist and polymath James Mackay.

her career and she also began to collect stamps about astronomy. At university she took a degree in Astronomy and was employed as a Research Assistant at Glasgow University Observatory, a post from which she retired in 2000. She joined a series of philatelic societies in the 1950’s including her home ones—the Ayrshire P.S. and the Caledonian P.S. of Glasgow both of which she has served as President. She began an interest in the stamps of Greenland and promoted several local groups of “Vikings” - collectors of Scandinavian philately—but her catholic taste in stamp led her to join some 16 specialist societies. In 1959 her display of Astronomy won her first prize in the thematic class at STAMPEX and in the years that followed she won prizes literally all over the world. She has remained active in a number of the societies she belongs to having contributed regular articles to Orbit, to Topical Time (The ATA journal) and she was the founding editor of Themescene, the journal of the British Thematic Association. It has been a privilege for our Society to have such a distinguished philatelist amongst our number and not just a name at the top of a panel on page 2, as Margaret has very actively promoted the Society and has met many of our worldwide membership. We look forward to her continued membership and words of wisdom in the coming years.

However it was her grandfather’s interest in astronomy that kindled her own in an area which was eventually to become 15

This page omitted from issue no 95 by printer’s error, though it does appear in the online version

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Stamp Story in Singapore from Bert van Eijck The best thing to do in a big city you have travelled to, is to visit one or more museums. If you are a stamp lover you sure are going to the philatelic museum. So I did Spring 2012 in Singapore. It was Saturday March 17, I took a taxi from my hotel to Coleman Street, two blocks from City Hall and Raffles Shopping Centre.

These stamps illustrate that Singapore was under the East India Company and under British Indian rule. The cover documents significant postal milestones in Singapore. That is, the use of stamps on the cover, after stamps were first introduced in 1854, and mails were sent from Southeast Asia to Europe via sea routes to India, followed by overland route to Europe. In the same room there also is to see the “Bisect Stamp Cover.” From 1855 tot 1860 stamps of various denominations in Singapore were not available. To alleviate the shortage, the Postmaster cut existing stamps diagonally to double the quantity. These are the first and last stamps in Singapore to be bisected. Hence these stamps on cover are very rare and much sought after (below left).

In the Green Room ‘Window to the World’ you can explore what makes stamp collecting the king of hobbies and hobby There Singapore Philatelic Museum is housed in a century- of kings. In this room your portrait can ‘Be a Stamp,’ as I old, double-storey, colonial building, formerly part of the did... Anglo Chinese School, established in 1906. The Philatelic Museum officially opened August 1995 and was the first one in Southeast Asia. It is now part of the National Heritage Board. The museum collections range from stamps and archival philatelic material of Singapore from the 1830s to present, and stamps from member countries of the Universal Postal Union. The permanent galleries introduce the world of philately, the world’s first stamp (Penny Black), and how stamps are a window to the world: to explore different topics such as science, technology, history and culture. Throughout the year the museums holds special exhibitions on current topics. In 2012 it was for instance “The Adventures of Tintin” and “Imagine Dragons” for children and schools. Singapore was a British colony from 1819 to 1965 and was part of the Straits Settlement from 1826 to 1946, an alliance from Singapore, Penang and Malacca. In the Room of Rarities you can admire the only known Straits Settlement cover used in Singapore, bearing all four 1854 values of Indian stamps used at that time., below right.

Talking about photographing yourself (and your wife) the Philatelic Museum Singapore does it for you outside a letterbox, and makes of it a nice sheet of triptych stamps. You can use one for sending a post card, as I did to Jeff Dugdale, our Orbit editor. The stamp even got a special cancellation of the Singapore Philatelic Museum: see over.

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The Naming of Saturn’s Moons Since it is one of our solar system’s gas giants, it is entirely appropriate that Saturn is attended by a large number of regular satellites many named after the Titans and Giants of Ancient Greek mythology and characters in legends about them. “Saturn moons are numerous and diverse, ranging from tiny moonlets less than 1km across, to the enormous Titan. Saturn has 62 moons with confirmed orbits, 53 with names, and only 13 with diameters larger than 50 kilometres. Particularly notable among Saturn's moons are Titan—larger than the planet Mercury—the second largest moon in the Solar System, with a nitrogen-rich Earth-like atmosphere and a landscape including hydrocarbon lakes and dry river networks, and Enceladus, which emits jets of gas and dust and may harbour liquid water under its south pole region. “Twenty-four of Saturn's moons are regular satellites with prograde orbits not greatly inclined to Saturn's equatorial plane. They include the seven major satellites, four small moons which exist in a trojan orbit with larger moons, two mutually co-orbital moons and two moons which act as shepherds of Saturn's F Ring. Two other known regular satellites orbit within gaps in Saturn's rings. The relatively large Hyperion is locked in a resonance with Titan. The remaining regular moons orbit near the outer edge of the A Ring, within G Ring and between the major moons Mimas and Enceladus.

Clockwise from top left Titan, Mimas, Enceladus (N. pole) , Rhea

“Most of the remaining 38 are irregular satellites, whose orbits are much farther from Saturn, have high inclinations, and are mixed between prograde and retrograde — probably captured minor planets, or debris from the breakup of such bodies. The irregular satellites have been classified by their orbital characteristics into the Inuit, Norse, and Gallic groups, and their names are chosen from the corresponding mythologies. The largest of the irregular moons is Phoebe, the ninth moon of Saturn, and was discovered at the end of the 19th century”. (edited from Wikipedia)

Illustration ex Wikipedia / Table ex Philip’s Atlas of the Universe (1999)

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Giant Saturn in all his glory on GB 1999 and 2012, and Ciskei 1991

The god Saturn is often identified with the Greek Cronus, son of Uranus (the Heavens) and Gaia (the Earth). Cronus usurped and castrated Uranus, but because it was foretold that one of Cronus’ own sons would in turn overthrow him he devoured all his children at birth. His wife Rhea (Ops to the Romans) hid her sixth child Zeus (Jupiter) on the island of Crete substituting a large stone wrapped in swaddling clothes which Cronus gobbled up unthinkingly. Cronus eating his children has fascinated painters with two remarkable paintings by Rubens and Goya being good examples of their graphic treatment, the former on a 1976 Paraguay stamp. Once an adult Zeus took on the Giants and Titans and rid Mt Olympus of the old order, as portrayed on Greece 1972 and Albania 1974, which uses part of a painting by the French painter Gericault.

Just a few of the legendary figures whose names have been used for Saturnian moons appear on stamps and not necessarily for the biggest ones. Titan (or Saturn VI) is the largest moon of Saturn. It is the only natural satellite known to have a dense atmosphere, and the only object other than Earth for which clear evidence of stable bodies of surface liquid has been found. There is no legendary character called Titan, which in the plural was an alternative name for the old Giants, referred to in the stamps above. Mimas (Saturn I) was discovered in 1789 by William Herschel and named after Mimas, a son of Gaia.

“Saturn devouring his son” by Rubens and (right) Goya

Enceladus is the sixth-largest moon also discovered in 1789 by William Herschel and named after the Giant Enceladus one of the titans, whose leader was Saturn. Tethys (Saturn III) is a mid-sized moon about 1,060 km (660 mi) across, discovered by G. D. Cassini in 1684 and named after the titan Tethys. Dione (Saturn IV) was discovered by Cassini in 1684 and named after the titan Dione . Rhea (Saturn V) is the second-largest moon and the ninth largest moon in the Solar System: discovered in 1672 by Cassini. Rhea is named after the titan Rhea wife of Saturn and "mother of the gods". Iapetus the third-largest moon is the eleventh-largest in the Solar System—discovered by Cassini, in October 1671 and named after another titan. However there are stamps relating to the names of some of the smallest regular moons. Prometheus was the son of Iapetus who famously stole fire from the Zeus in attempts to return his father’s homeland: Greece 1997. The satyr Pan was the Greek god of shepherds and flocks and fertility: Greece 1958. Atlas was another son of Iapetus and father of the Hesperides, the Hyades and the Pleiades and a character in the Heracles legend as shown on Argentina 1948 tricked into holding the Earth of his shoulders for ever. 19

Next time: Uranus’ moons named after Shakespearean characters.

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Let’s Celebrate 25 years of the Japan Eclipse Sheet Already Rare A.S.S.S.— born in 1988 Our Japan based member Haruki Ikuro has sent the image The first in a series of short pieces identifying a year in the past 25 in which occurred a particularly important space / astrophilatelic event

1991—Sharman’s Juno flight Without doubt the most significant event in British spaceflight history to date with the first British citizen launched into space, on May 18th as part of the Soyuz TM 12 flight, on Project Juno. On Cosmonautics Day (April 12th) of that year the “Juno” office in London announced a delay in the launch of British astronaut Helen Sharman because of problems docking a routine Progress ferry to Mir space station, a disappointing delay to an event much anticipated by the British media—if by few others. The search for a British astronaut had initially produced 13,000+ applications but by mid 1989 had been reduced to four candidates, Lt Cmdr Gordon Banks, Major Timothy Mace, Helen Sharman and Clive Smith with Sharman and Mace named as the pair to take final training. Sharman was selected as the prime crew member in the following February. The week long flight was of course ignored by Royal Mail but celebrated with a Soviet issue and British cinderellas in 1991 (Sheffield Scouts) and 1997 (Localpost) the latter on the initiative of ASSS member Andy Swanston.

opposite with the following comments for your interest…. “Japan Post issued frame-format stamp sheets bearing 10 kinds of 50 yen stamps on April 27th 2012 to commemorate the annular eclipse of May 21st in Japan. These sheets were issued in very limited quantities—only 5,100 pieces being made available and those only at Tokyo post offices. “The annular eclipse event took place in Japan for the first time in 25 years, causing a tremendous sensation among Japanese people. “Non-collectors rushed to post offices to buy the sheet, resulting in the immediate sell-out. I heard that many collectors failed to get the sheet and I missed out also but fortunately I managed to purchase one sheet at a stamp shop on November 23rd at a cost of 5,000 yen. The selling price of this sheet at post office had been 1700 yen. “The presentation pack included an observation glass, an observation note and post cards. I think that only a few overseas collectors will know about the existence of this sheet.” (Editor’s note: no Japanese stamp was issued for the 1987 eclipse).

French Stonehenge stamp

John Berry Passes We learned with great sadness late last year of the death of our former features editor who resided in Hatfield. John was a stalwart of the Society writing many features including several special supplements all adorned with his beautiful drawings of space personalities and scenes. John had been an editor in his own right and for many years was one of the mainstays of the Society. We extend our condolences to his family.

Past Editions now on the Website Website—past editions now available: nos 1 –40 and 72– 96. 20

Netherlands member Bert van Eijck reports that France issued two stamps celebrating UNESCO on November 21st. The higher value (89c) depicted an African elephant with its baby but the 77c denomination is of more interest to certain of us as it depicted Stonehenge. Below the stamp and right an image of the presentation sheet and cancel. 600,000 of each stamp were printed.

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Spacehab: the Italian bridge towards ISS by Umberto Cavallaro astronautic conferences”.

Built mainly in Turin, Italy, by Aeritalia (now Thales Alenia Space) – which designed and produced its global structure and thermal system, allowing astronauts to work in orbit “in shirt sleeves” – SPACEHAB for many aspects represented, for the Italian industrial experience, the bridge between Spacelab and the MLPM Modules (Leonardo, Raffaello and Donatello) built for the ISS. Cover commemorating SPACEHAB’s first flight on STS-57. Post-

The late Bob Citron, a former scientist with the Smithsonian Institution, at that time president of Space Development Co. in Seattle, contacted Aeritalia to try out its interest in the design of a module to be used to bring tourists into space, via a Shuttle. Round-trip airfare would be in the order of magnitude of $ 1 million each.

marked in Turin, where the pressurized module was built The idea for what would become SPACEHAB, Inc. originated in 1981 while Aeritalia – still involved in the intense Within a few days he received back a preliminary campaign of Spacelab acceptance test – was investigating evaluation of the technical aspects of the deal, identifying new applications exploiting the experience gained with a few problems to be further deeply investigated: bringing Spacelab. “In our preliminary studies” – recalls Ernesto into space twenty tourists required in fact a module Vallerani, author of L’Italia e lo Spazio – “we had involved Tom equipped with a proper number of portholes, of sleeping Taylor, a young American consultant just returned from accommodations, of toilets, of systems for food Alaska where he had designed human settlements in severe preparation and distribution. The document also environment and extreme isolation. He also was passionately contained a cost estimate for developing such a module (in the order of magnitude of $ 200 millions). interested in space.

“Among other ideas, we had worked in a pressurized environment with flat bulkheads instead of truncated cones, which drastically reduced the overall size of the payload and its occupation of space in the cargo bay – the cost of transport aboard of the shuttle is in fact based on the meters of occupation of the hold. Such a solution caused substantial problems since, to cope with the pressure while minimizing the weight, the shape of a container should approximate a sphere as closely as possible. Certainly flat walls should be avoided since they require instead to be substantially reinforced to resist pressure”.

At the end, the global cost, including the modification of the Orbiter, turned out to be prohibitive and NASA put aside this proposal, but voiced interest in a similar module for manned experiments. Bob Citron set up in Seattle Spacehab Inc. – whose name was created as a contraction of “Space Habitat” – offered Tom Taylor the position of Technical Director, and started to raise private funds to set up what had to become the first privately funded space commercial company. He was supported by the great enthusiasm for the long awaited explosion of space activities to come with the new shuttle era.

Several options were investigated, including a cylindrical telescopic module which, once in space, could be unthreaded axially up to its complete extension. This innovative solution was then patented. “All those investigations” – recalls Vallerani – “were run in a very confidential way both to avoid on one hand to whet the appetite of our industrial Spacelab Partners and to entice them to enter the arena, and – on the other side – to avoid irritating our own technicians who didn’t appreciate such an appointment to an outsider perceived, moreover, as a visionary”.

Even Aeritalia, consulted by Bob Citron, decided to invest in the deal, and prepared the working plan. “Thanks to our experience, gained with Spacelab, Aeritalia could develop on its own the entire programme” – recalls Vallerani – “but it was clear that, in order to raise credibility within NASA, the industrial team needed a strong American Company able to powerfully lead the programme and to authoritatively interface NASA”.

“Returned to the States, Taylor ran into Bob Citron, another old acquaintance of our, who attended the same international

Complex negotiations were opened with American industrial giants like Martin Marietta and Rockwell. “Once the initial scepticisms were defeated, we had to avoid the situation where potential partners could take hold

This article first appeared in the June 2012 edition (#13) of Ad Astra the online journal of AS.IT.AF and is produced with Umberto’s permission

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of the programme and neglect Spacehab Inc. and, mainly, Aeritalia, perceived as an awkward overseas player, which could alter balanced industrial positions”. After many hesitations that could have easily wrecked the initiative, an agreement was reached with McDonnel Douglas which had previously participated in the Spacelab programme. In parallel Bob Citron, with great ability, was collecting the requirements of the experimenters, requesting a more rapid and less expensive access to Shuttle, and was offering SPACEHAB as the extension of the pressurised cabin, able to redouble its volume. SPACEHAB filled only one quarter of the hold and allowed housing for other payloads, the “primary” payloads which largely justified, and paid the mission costs. The decisive turning point came in December 1985, when NASA agreed to sign a memorandum of understanding, after dealing with the limitation of its Spacelab agreement with the European Space Agency which prevented NASA from producing and using competitive systems. At that time NASA was still in shock from the Challenger tragedy and anxiety for safety of future missions hit the ceiling. New projects were not only closely scrutinized by technical commissions, but were also submitted for the evaluation of the astronauts who expressed the desire to have a permanent visibility over the cargo bay also with the SPACEHAB aboard, in order to maintain control over the main payloads stowed behind the cylinder. This led to the idea of truncating the cylinder and flattening the top - hence the typical but unusal “D-shape” section of the SPACEHAB which raised many serious structural problems in addition to the poser of the flat bulkheads.

responsible for NASA strategic planning as Assistant Associate Administrator) and the former NASA Administrator James Beggs. In 1990 it was finally possible to sign a contract with Alenia Spazio (formerly Aeritalia) and to fix the first flight for 1993. This required that both the implementation of the first two flight units and the acceptance tests had to be completed by the end of 1991. “As usual, after a long gestation period, which had lasted approximately ten years, we had only 18 months left to implement the project”. recalls Vallerani. Dino Brondolo was appointed Programme Manager and had to face the challenge of keeping the project within its time and cost limits. The value of the contract ($ 38M) did not leave much room for manoeuvre. The first Flight Unit was officially delivered on January 13, 1992, during a ceremony held in Turin. The new experience of working in a commercial programme turned out to be very interesting. For the first time the

“Engineers in Turin, after some complaint, had to face a new challenge and started to re-design and re-calculate the cylinder with a flat top,” – recalls Dino Brondolo, who was SPACEHAB Programme Manager – “It really took some cheek to implement a structure with flat heads and flat top, flouting all the known rules of effectiveness! At the end we implemented a solution which still is on the cutting edge”. Meanwhile Bob Citron had reinforced the team with many NASA experts, including Chester Lee (former Programme Manager during the development of Saturn and then 23

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customer was not a structured government entity, with complex procedures, often slowing down the operation. The decision-making process was greatly simplified, thanks to the high level of independence of the programme management. Four flight units were built altogether, and – after 1996 – they were often used in the “double module” configuration, obtained by putting together two flight units, joined through an intermediate frame adapter.

Above: Dino Brondolo commemorates the SPACEHAB adventure during the “historical reenactment” held at the Thales Alenia Space premises in Turin (Italy) on July 8th, 2011 for the launch of the last Shuttle mission, STS-135. Below : cover commemorating the maiden flight of the first SPACEHAB during the STS-57 mission in June 1993.

The maiden flight of SPACEHAB took place in summer 1993 with mission STS-57: see cover above right. Eighteen Space Shuttle missions were completed in total as shown in the table on the next page. With the first missions being mainly devoted to scientific experiments the Research Single Module was used. After 1996, SPACEHAB demonstrated its operational flexibility and space capabilities in providing logistics support and ferrying cargoes during the seven missions to Mir followed by eight resupply missions to the ISS. Interestingly the emblem of STS-84, 6th Shuttle/MIR docking mission in 1997, as shown right, reproduces the typical “D-shaped” profile of SPACEHAB which in that mission carried to Mir 3.5 tons of experiments, station hardware, food and clothing.

Crew signed cover commemorating the STS-84 mission. The mission emblem references SPACEHAB’s profile.

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Mission Launch Date Configuration STS-57 Jun 21, 1993 RSM STS-60 Feb 3, 1994 RSM STS-63 Feb 3, 1995 RSM STS-76 Mar 22, 1996 RSM STS-77 May 19, 1996 LSM STS-79 Sep 16, 1996 LDM STS-81 Jan 12, 1997 LDM STS-84 May 15, 1997 LDM STS-86 Sep 25, 1997 LDM STS-89 Jan 22, 1998 LDM STS-91 Jun 2, 1998 LSM STS-95 Oct 29, 1998 RSM STS-96 May 27, 1999 LDM STS-101 May 19, 2000 LDM STS-106 Sep 8, 2000 LDM STS-107 Jan 16, 2003 RDM STS-116 Dec 9, 2006 LSM STS-118 Aug 8, 2007 LSM

In 1998 SPACEHAB was used again as the Research Single Module, during the STS-95 mission, which marked the return to space of the Mercury pioneer Senator John Glenn, who at age 77, became the oldest person, to date, to go into space. Main goals of this mission were investigating lifesciences experiments, using the SPACEHAB to perform these experiments on Senator Glenn. NASA has defined 52 changes that occur in the human body during extended space flight. Some of these changes are remarkably similar to what happens in the process of ageing here on earth. In the eight resupply missions to the International Space Station, carrying every time tons of cargo, SPACEHAB substantially contributed to its construction. The SPACEHAB Double Research Module was carried on its inaugural and only flight, aboard STS-107 and destroyed during its tragic re -entry SPACEHAB was used for the last time in August 2007, aboard Mission STS-118.

LSM Logistics Single Module RSM Research Single Module LDM Logistics Double Module RDM Research Double Module

Bibliography Ernesto Vallerani, L’Italia e lo Spazio, McGraw Hill, Milano 1995. Dino Brondolo, Spacehab - A commercial approach to space, Space Congress, 28th, Cocoa Beach, FL, Apr. 23-26, 1991 Marc M. Cohen, Space Habitat Design Integration Issues, 28th International Conference on Environmental Systems Danvers, Massachusetts July 13-16, 1998, SAE Technical Paper Series, Warrendale, PA, USA

ASSS Canadian Member Delivers Lecture to British Interplanetary Society at October Symposium:

Edinburgh Member Addresses Glasgow P.S. on “Space” Bob Catto, President of Edinburgh Philatelic Society, who welcomed your editor to give a display in September, himself gave a presentation to members of Glasgow P.S. on 5th November with our Chairman Emeritus Margaret Morris in the audience. Margaret commented very favourably on Bob’s 180 or so sheets. His speciality is Skylab having worked on the project in the States in the 1970’s and that will be his Presidential swansong display topic in the Spring of 2013 and hopefully an Orbit article there after. 25

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Early Soviet Propaganda-Design Satellites By Don Hillger and Garry Toth This article examines a propaganda-design satellite that was widely used in the past as a substitute for the actual designs of some satellites launched by the USSR. This Soviet propaganda-design satellite is commonly shown in early space-age postal items. On many of the stamps that include it, the text mentions various satellite names such as Kosmos, Luna, Vostok (East), or Voskhod (Ascent). These satellites are known to never have had the design shown; the propaganda design was used in lieu of realistic satellite images for both un-manned and manned missions. The propaganda design may have been a compromise between the stamp and cachet designers, who wanted to depict the new spacecraft, and the Soviet censors, whose goal was to keep secret as many aspects as possible of their early space programme The propaganda design was used to generically represent various satellites, for lack of better images. It was used repeatedly for a number of years until actual satellite designs on postal items were permitted. It should be mentioned that the primary propaganda design featured in this article is a particular style incorporating features that are detailed below. Other non-realistic designs, or design variants, were used as well, but they were not as widely used as the propaganda design discussed in this article.

Distinguishing features of the propaganda design Most images of the propaganda design have at least two of the following three distinguishing features: 1) Three or more paper-clip-like antennas on the bottom of the spacecraft, similar to those that were carried on both the base and sides of the Soviet Sputnik-3 satellite (e.g. Mongolia Scott 554, Michel 570, 1969; and Cambodia Scott 1101, Michel 1179, 1990; both of which include reasonably accurate drawings of Sputnik-3). Unlike Sputnik-3 however, there are no similar paper-clip-like antennas on the sides of the propaganda design.

2) One or two shark-like fins attached to the main body of the spacecraft. Sometimes only one of these fins is seen, with the other hidden on the opposite side of the spacecraft; 3) One or more sets of three radial antennas, with the three antennas in each set attached to the spacecraft body at a single point. Generally, one antenna in each set is perpendicular to the spacecraft body and the two others are at about a 60 degree angle from the spacecraft body. Most propaganda designs have all three design elements; some are missing one of them.

Early history of the propaganda design The first appearance of the propaganda design (actually, a design variant) is on a stamp issued by Bulgaria (Scott C85, Michel 1280) in late 1961 to represent â&#x20AC;&#x153;Vostok-2â&#x20AC;?, as indicated in the text. The image on that stamp, part of a set designed by P. Rusinov and G. Popov, has only two of the three distinguishing features described in the previous section, lacking only the shark-like fins. It was followed by a Russian postage stamp (Scott 2586, Michel 2595) from early 1962, the first to contain all three of the principal propaganda design features. The designer of that stamp was I. L. Levin (reference "Catalog of Postage Stamps of Russia, 18571995", Pevzner, A. Ya. (et al) editors, Tsentrpoligraf (publisher), 1995, page 168). In the Cyrillic text at the right of the Russian stamp , the word "Soyuz" ("Union") is part of a quote from Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev: "Socialism - this is that reliable launching pad which the Soviet Union uses to launch its space ships." Therefore, the stamp was not intended to show the Soyuz spacecraft. Rather, the satellite on this item is often mis-interpreted as being Kosmos-3, since the stamp was issued on the launch date for Kosmos-3 (196204-24). Although the propaganda design has some features similar to those seen on Sputnik-3, it has a more cylindrical body

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and a more rounded nose than the conical Sputnik-3. At the base of the cylindrical body of the propaganda design is a larger diameter ring or collar. Orbit editor Jeff Dugdale noted in a September 1995 article published in Spaceflight that this fanciful design reminded him of a “thimble and collar”. The propaganda-design satellite subsequently appeared on many other postage stamps, mostly from Eastern Block countries in the 1960s, but appears to have outlived its usefulness thereafter.

Other Russian examples Russia used the propaganda design in 1963 on a pair of nearly identical issues (Scott 2733 and 2733a, Michel 2748-2749, only the first of which is shown). The design lacked the shark-like fins, but had the other features. The spacecraft is noted as “Vostok” in the small text on the body of the satellite. In 1964 the propaganda design was used for a Cosmonautics Day (12 April) issue (Scott 2889, Michel 2900), along with a picture of Yuri Gagarin, and supposedly also his Vostok spacecraft. When the design re-appeared on Soviet stamps in 1965 (Scott 3015, Michel 3032 and Scott 3016, Michel BL38) it was again missing the fins. In this case the satellite is noted in the text as “Voskhod-2”. The set was issued for the historic first spacewalk of Alexei Leonov.

More examples from other countries Another propaganda representation of “Voskhod-2”, as indicated in the text, is seen on a stamp from Albania (Scott 817, Michel 942) from 1965. Czechoslovakia issued a stamp (Scott 1233, Michel 1463) in 1964 with a propaganda design for Yuri Gagarin’s “Vostok1” that is quite similar to the propaganda design found in Bulgaria Scott C85 (already mentioned). In 1965 Bulgaria used a propaganda design variant (in Scott 1394, Michel 1521) to show a “Voskhod” spacecraft, in which the fins differed from those seen previously. Burundi, however, stuck with the primary propaganda design in 1965 (Scott 131, Michel 172). The same stamp also appeared in a souvenir sheet of two stamps (not shown here, for an image see the authors’ online information). Cuba used the primary propaganda design in 1964 (Scott 878, Michel 942) and again in 1967 (Scott 1285, Michel 1354). The latter item indicates “Cosmos” (possibly as a reference to the Kosmos series of Soviet satellites) in the text. Both designs from Cuba have just one set of three radial antennas.

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Hungary likewise used the primary propaganda design in 1962 (Scott C219, Michel 1864) for “Vostok-3” and “Vostok-4”, as noted in the text. Furthermore, in 1964 the design was re-used (Scott B242, Michel 2056) for a 37th Stamp Day issue. That latter stamp was part of a souvenir sheet of four stamps (not shown here).

One of the more unusual uses of the propaganda design was adopted by Ras Al Khaima in 1966 to supposedly represent the American Gemini spacecraft (Michel 54), because the stamp shows Astronaut Thomas Stafford. A realistic image of Gemini would have been available, as the design of Gemini was widely published. Successive overprints of this item, as well as an accompanying souvenir sheet, can also be found. Romania issued two stamps (Scott C135-C136, Michel 21342135) in 1963 with smaller renditions of the propaganda design. Both indicate that they are for “Luna-4” in the text.

Jordan used the propaganda design in 1965 on an imperforate souvenir sheet of one stamp (Scott 496a, Michel BL18), which also later appeared overprinted (not shown here). The latter item was specifically for “Voskhod-1”, as noted in the overprinted text. Both of these items were yet again overprinted in 1966, but with a realistic Voskhod design (again, not shown here).

Poland issued two stamps in 1963 with the primary propaganda design, one representing “Vostok-1” (Scott 1183, Michel 1442) and the other representing “Vostok-3 and 4” (Scott 1185, Michel 1444). The fins on these spacecraft are seen from the top and are not obvious at first.

Although nearly all of the propaganda designs on postal items were issued in the 1960s, the design still persisted into the early 1970s with an item from Fujeira (Michel 963) issued in 1972. The item again shows the spacewalk of Alexei Leonov, supposedly alongside Voskhod-2. By this time some postal items were already showing realistic images of Voskhod, so this use of the propaganda design would not have been necessary.

Many other propaganda designs, or designs with some of the three primary features, can be found on postal items. However, most of those images are quite small, making it hard to discern the details. Interested readers are invited to check the authors’ website for additional items; there are too many to include in this short article. However, the authors have attempted to include in this article all the stamps with the primary propaganda design. In the following section are discussed the propaganda designs as found on satellite launch covers.

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The most-widely-used Tartu Club “AA” cachet, which was used on numerous Kosmos launch covers (this one is for Kosmos-35) Other types of Tartu Club cachets with propaganda satellite designs are less commonly found, some with the TKK acronym and the AA designation and/or AA numbers. See the authors’ online information for examples of these other Tartu Club cachets, as well as many other different cachets with propaganda-design satellites.

The Propaganda Design on Launch Covers The propaganda satellite design also appeared on many launch covers for early Kosmos-series satellites, starting with Kosmos-3 in 1962. The Kosmos-3 cover shown has a cachet with the same spacecraft design as on the affixed postage stamp (Scott 2586), which has already been mentioned as not showing Kosmos-3. Nevertheless the cachet has “Kosmos-3” in the Cyrillic text above the spacecraft, as well as “Kosmos-3” in the text of the cancel.

The last known use of the propaganda design on a launch cover is found on a Kosmos-272 cover from 1969. This cover is one of many known fake Baikonur-canceled covers, which were backdated to the dates of significant space-related events. Many other examples of the propaganda design on launch covers are found in the online information provided by the authors.

(As an aside, the Kosmos name itself was used to mask the details of the early Soviet space programme. Many satellites carried the “Kosmos” name in order to keep their missions and technical details secret until after their launch. If the launch was successful, they were then given other names more closely related to their missions.)

Additional online information More than 20 different cachet designs with propaganda images, and even more colour variations, can be found on Russian launch covers, nearly all of which were for Kosmosseries launches. There are also a few cases of the propaganda design in launch covers for Vostok-3 and 4 and Elektron-1 and 2 (not shown here). The most widely used propaganda design to appear as a cachet on numerous Kosmos launch covers started with Kosmos-30 and ended with Kosmos-228. That cachet was placed on covers by the Tartuski Klub Kollektsionerov (TKK - Tartu Collectors Club). Each cover was assigned an "Astronautika Annaalid" (AA) number, which is often provided in small print over the cachet, along with the Kosmos number and the launch date. AA numbers reached values above 200 before the system was discontinued. For more detailed information on these covers, see Jim Reichman's Philatelic Study Report on Tartu Space Club Covers, 19621978, published in 2011. (See Orbit index)

A checklist of postal items showing Soviet propaganda-design satellites (http://rammb.cira.colostate.edu/dev/hillger/ propaganda.htm) is available as part of the authors’ website for Un-Manned Satellite Philately (http:// rammb.cira.colostate.edu/dev/hillger/satellites.htm). Users of the website are asked to provide missing or additional information or images that they may have. The online information will be updated whenever new details are provided to the authors. E-mail correspondence is welcomed.

Biographical notes The authors have researched and written extensively on the subjects of weather, climate, and un-manned satellites on stamps and covers. Don Hillger, PhD, is a research meteorologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and holds a cooperative position at Colorado State University. Send correspondence to hillger@cira.colostate.edu Garry Toth, MSc, is a retired Canadian meteorologist. correspondence to garry_toth@hotmail.com

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60c val shows space flight control room at Guyana Space Centre

New Issue Guide

French Southern & Antarctic Territories (TAAF) (1.1.11) The Southern Cross seen from Concordia base 56c val. Shows panorama of base with deployed scientific equipment and the constellation.

Noted in STAMP Magazine (Feb 12—Jan 13) so no SG nos given*

Germany (11.8.11) For Youth—Astronomy 45+20c : horsehead nebula, 55+20c x 2 montage of photos showing all planets in solar system, 145+20c The Pleiades.

Armenia (18.4.11) Andranik Iosifan (1905-93) Portrait of constructor of meteorological monitoring satellite. Armenia (18.4.11) 50th anniv of Gagarin 350d val shows painting of Gagarin in Vostok : see Orbit 91 p 21 for image Austria (5.5.12) Centenary of Discovery of Cosmic Rays by V.F. Hess (1883-1964) 145c val shows Prof Hess with electroscopic equipment, diagram of dissolution of rays on reaching our atmosphere and cluster of gold “particles”.

Great Britain (13.10.11 + 10.4.12) A-Z of Britain 1 46p val shows Jodrell Bank Observatory Hungary (8.5.09) IYA 100f x 2 devoted to Galileo and his Jovian moons Isle of Man (5.11.11) BBC TV Top Gear challenges £1.10 val shows Reliant Robin “space shuttle. (The presenters of this shows for “petrol-heads” are notorious for their manic / fun challenges—here trying to put a small three wheeled British car “into orbit” !!

Bosnia and Herzegovina (26.5.11) 50th Anniv of Gagarin 2mk val shows cosmonaut in spacesuit, with rocket in border Bulgaria (28.10.11) Dogs in Space 2 x 65l showing Laika, and Belka & Strelka; 2 x 1l val shows Chernuska and Zvedochka

Italy (12.4.11) 50th anniv of Gagarin 60c val depicts Gagarin and Vostok

British Antarctic Territory (17.11.11) Antarctic Science 1 of 8 x 27p and 1 of 4 x 70p val shows Piggott Space Science Building, Halley Research Station

Latvia (6.5.11) The Struve Geodetic Arc 35s val shows map of Latvia and Struve’s trigonometrical points; 55s val depicts Struve with theodolite and arc from Finland to Ukraine.

Equatorial Guinea (?.?.2004) Space Launch vehicles 3 vals + MS relating to Space Shuttle (stamps are dated 2003 but did not appear on philatelic market till 2004/2005)

Mauritius (8.9.11) Commemorative Events 11r val marks 250th anniv of observation of transit of Venus from Rodrigues

Estonia (6.5.11) The Struve Geodetic Arc 58c vals x 2 shows F.G.W. Struve, Germany astronomer and map of station points on the arc; second stamp depicts Tartu Observatory (one of extant station points).

Moldova (9.4.11) 50th anniv of Gagarin 4 vals from 1.20l—8.50l show Gagarin, Titov, Grissom and Shepard.

Finland (6.5.11) The Struve Geodetic Arc 2 x 2lk shows map of Finland showing six measurement points within its borders and panorama of lake France (12.10.11) 50th anniv C.N.E.S.

Monaco (28.9.11) George Méliès (1861-1938) 1.45€ val depicts film maker and scene from Voyage dans la Lune (1902) Monaco (28.9.11) 50th anniv Gagarin 2.87€ val shows man stars and Earth

*Last new issues listing on page 17ff of Orbit 92 (Jan 2012). Many thanks to Peter Hoffman for checking etc.

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New Caledonia (6.8.09) IYA 110f val. shows Galileo’s telescope, sketch of Moon, Southern cross and astronaut on Moon with further related illustrations in margins. New Zealand (10.8.11) Counting in Kiwi 60c val shows Southern Cross Pakistan (18.8.11) 60th anniv of the Frequency Allocation Board R8 val shows emblem, telecomsat and related receiving equipment. South Africa (3.10.11) 62nd International Astronautical Congress 2.40r val shows Congress symbol and Earth seen from space.

Pakistan (16.9.11) 50th anniv of Pakistan Space & Upper Atmosphere Research Commission R8 val shows SUPARCO logo and research sat in orbit Poland (29.8.11) Poles in the Wider World: Scientists 3zl val shows astronomer J.J.Baranowski (1805-88) with measuring equipment

South Africa (5.6.12) South Africa’s Role in Astronomy Sheetlet of 11 2.65r vals referencing a huge variety of S.A. related astronomical items including telescopes, satellites and observatories. South Africa (5.6.12) The Transit of Venus 2012 27.60r val shows the paths of Venus across the face of the Sun as seen in 2012 and in 2004 with further detail in the border.

Poland (29.8.11) First Polish Scientific Satellite 4.15zl val shows satellite in orbit Russia (17.11.11) M.K. Lomonosov (1711-65) 100r val shows portrait of Russian writer and astronomer in St Petersburg.

Sweden (6.5.11) The Struve Geodetic Arc 2 x 12kr show portrait of Struve and theodolite used in triangulation by Swedish astronomer Mortimer Agardh (far right)

Russia (30.11.11) Regions of Russia: Kaluga 11.80r val depicts Tsiolkovsky Cosmonaut Museum, Vostok rocket

Ukraine (4.10.07) 50th anniv of Sputnik 3.33g val shows Sputnik in orbit with portraits of Korolev and Glushko in border

Russia (9.8.12) Friedrich Tsander (1887-1933) 13r val. depicts space flight theorist and rocket scientist with diagram after his 1919 patent for a winged rocket .

Ukraine (17.4.09) IYA 3.75g val shows meridian circle, telescope and celestial chart; 5.25g val shows Galileo, his telescope and diagram of concentric orbits of planets.

Pitcairn Islands (26.10.11) Prominent Pitcairners $1.50 val shows Charles R.P. Christian with compass rose and southern constellations

Vatican City (1.3.12) Father Christopher Clavius (15371612) 1.60€ val shows portrait of this Jesuit priest and astronomer surrounded by his equipment.

St Kitts (30.12.09) Apollo XI 40th anniv. 42.50 x 4 shows Saturn 5, lunar footprint, bald eagle landing, Eagle on lunar surface. San Marino (5.4.11) 50th anniv Gagarin 50c depicts first cosmonaut; 2.40€ depicts Alan Shepard

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Superstition, Ritual and Tradition in a High Tech Context You’ll know I’m sure, writes your editor, that sportsmen and women and many other kinds of public entertainer like stage and movie actors and singers often invest in lucky routines and talismanic objects in order to enhance their chances of doing well in performance. Some footballers, for example, are known to favour always putting on say the left sock before the right or vice versa, to wear “lucky” underpants or to touch the same part of a door as they leave a dressing room before kick off. Famous entertainers write in their autobiographies of what seem like amazingly silly routines before heading for the stage and of course people in all walks of life often carry lucky charms by which they swear. Such practices have been indulged in for centuries and of course should have no place in a modern science driven environment like spaceflight, where nothing can be left to chance. Of course nothing could be further from the truth: spacefarers of all nations are as guilty of these spurious practices as pre-space age performers, as just a few examples will serve to demonstrate…..

The Crew of Apollo 10 with Charlie Brown and Snoopy : Yemen Arab Republic 1969 American Astro-beagle Snoopy had many flying fantasies : USA 2001 and Cayman Islands 2002

American Practices In NASA one of the earliest examples of this is the eating of peanuts during the Ranger 7 probe which transmitted high resolution images of the moon’s surface before it impacted in late July 1964. The mission was a great success and contributed significantly to the planning of the Apollo landings five years later. It was noticed that an engineer in the control room at JPL was eating peanuts and since the mission was so successful the connection was asserted and so became a tradition. Thereafter before each mission was “blessed “ with the ceremonial opening of a can of peanuts ! (Romania 1964 and Bophuthatswana 1988).

similarity in appearance and enthusiasm and it went on to become his flight call sign. The pair of cartoon characters became mission mascots or talismans* for future Apollo flights and the communication caps astronauts wore (white with black or brown ear flaps) came to be known as “Snoopy” caps for obvious reasons. Drawings of Snoopy appeared in mission checklists as a humorous addition and Apollo 17’s crew, commanded by Cernan, named a crater on the Moon after Snoopy. (Ras Al Khaima 1970 shows the “lucky” (?) crew of Apollo 13 wearing their Snoopy caps).

In a tradition that goes back to Alan Shepard (USA 2011) first ballistic flight in Freedom 7 in May 1961, NASA crews traditionally eat a launch-day breakfast of scrambled eggs and steak, which is both high protein and low residue (so reducing the need to urinate quickly). Whilst astronauts are prepared for flight in the The Command Module and Lunar Module of Apollo 10 were, suiting room they still sit in the Apollo-era E-Z recliners. as you know, called Charlie Brown and Snoopy, apparently Writing in his memoirs, Canadian astronaut Steve MacLean because Eugene Cernan and Tom Stafford gave CM pilot John explains that he was told by his suit tech that he was sitting Young the nickname “Charlie Brown” because of a perceived 32 Three years later NASA had begun another peanut based tradition, based on the Charles Schulz cartoon character whose appearance as an astronaut was specially commissioned of Schulz by NASA and was reincarnated in the Silver Snoopy lapel pin award presented by astronaut crew members to individuals in the ground team who had contributed outstandingly to the success of their mission.

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Steve MacLean of Canada, veteran of STS 52 and STS-115 on Canada 2003

in the same chair as used by lunar flight legend John Young which was considered particularly lucky. Before finally being helped to clamber into the capsule (Ajman 1972) the mission commander must play and lose a game of cards with members of the tech crew, in a tradition that seems to go back to Gus Grissom of Gemini 3. The legendary Apollo-era mission controller Gene Kranz (b.1933) was known to sport a new waistcoat for each mission. (Guyana 2006 depicts a typical mission control scene). Below left a waist-coated Kranz at his mission control

desk and right, now a museum exhibit, the white vest he wore during the Apollo 13 mission. And speaking of Apollo 13, how lucky was the flight with the unpropitious number, launched at 13.13 EDT and suffering * During football season 2011/12 a former Scottish international player turned Sky Sports commentator famously said, “Yes that player is a lucky one for his team, not having played in a losing side this year so far. He is their taleban”. Was his name Jim Malaprop ?

catastrophe on April 13th when an oxygen tank in the power module exploded, as on Ras al Khaima 1970.

Soviet Superstitions There are even more examples of tradition and superstition in the history of the Soviet/Russian space programme, many related to Yuri Gagarin himself. These are well illustrated with stamps, largely because of the extended and colourful series for the Intercosmos flights, designed by the legendary German Komlev. Cosmonauts and international astronauts flying on Soyuz train at Zvezdny Gorodok aka Star City in the suburbs of Moscow at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre, whose 25th anniversary is marked in an 1985 issue. Before each crew leaves to fly to the Baikonur launch facility at Tyuratam in Kazakhstan they will pay their respects at the memorials to fallen cosmonauts laying red carnations at the statue to Gagarin, as shown on the 1987 issue for the joint flight with a Syrian cosmonaut. They will also visit Gagarin’s office to sign his guest book and allegedly ask his ghost for its blessing for their safety in the mission ahead of them. Further respects are paid to past cosmonauts in a glade near

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Each Soyuz commander is permitted to select a small toy pendant to hang inside the crew capsule, both as talisman and as an indication of when the crew achieve weightlessness and the craft is in orbit.

the famous Cosmonaut Hotel at Baikonur which is planted with trees by returning crews. A couple of days before flight the Soyuz carrier rocket is rolled out into the cold air from its enormous hanger and transported by rail to the launch pad. Technicians ask for good fortune by placing coins on the rails to be flattened by the weight of the carrier train, shown on USSR 1978 for the joint flight with Poland and Russia 2004. However for cosmonauts to witness the roll out is considered very unlucky. On the night before launch the crew traditionally watch the exciting Russian “Eastern” movie about the Civil War—White Sun of the Desert (Белое солнце пустыни; Beloye solntse pustyni) directed by Vladimir Motyl in 1970. Next morning like NASA astronauts they will have an appropriate breakfast accompanied by a few sips of champagne. Although they should not need to pass water at this point, when the shuttle bus taking them from their holding facility to the launch pad arrives, all male cosmonauts will urinate on its rear right wheel as Gagarin did on April 12th 1961 as referenced on the 1980 issue for the joint flight with Vietnam. In order to do this, according to the flight diary Malaysian guest cosmonaut Muszaphar Shukor (Malyasia 2008 below) who flew to the ISS in 2007 the unzipping and zipping takes almost ten minutes ! Female cosmonauts who wish to participate in this tradition bring along a phial of their urine to pour on the wheel of the bus, but are not required to do this and Iranian guest cosmonaut Anouseh Ansari, (Mali 2011 below) blogged that she “participated mentally” before her flight in 2006.

When the crew has docked with their target space station and all checks regarding air pressure are made the hatch is opened and the guests are welcomed by the resident crew with the time honoured Slavic gifts of bread and salt - in Russian ,Хлеб-соль. As can be seen from the detail of the 1980 issue for the flight with Hungary the loaf of bread is placed on a rushnik or embroidered towel with a salt holder on top of the bread. On the safe return to Earth a further tradition is for crew members to sign the outside of the capsule in chalk and to write their names on the inside of the rescue helicopter that takes them back to Baikonur : see East Germany 1988 and USSR 1980 for the flight with Cuba. On return to Star City further respects are paid to the memory of Yuri Gagarin. Some of these traditions like carrying lucky charms and presenting guests with bread and salt have a very long history—as does the sailor’s tradition that having women on board ship brings back luck. This may partly explain why in over fifty years only three Russian women have been launched into space from Baikonur: Tereshkova (1963), Savitskaya (USSR 1983 for the first of her two flights in 1982 and 1984) and Kondakova (1994). That said, Soyuz craft have carried several international female cosmonauts and two NASA women have commanded Soyuz missions. So there may be other reasons than ancient superstition for this gender preference regarding their own women. Refrences : Internet articles : “The Losing Hand” by Alan Murphy and “How JPL’s Peanut Tradition Started” By Amy Shira Teitel

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Armstrong Memorial Issue Design Error The first memorial issue, following Armstrong’s death on August 25, 2012 was hurried out by Spain on 13th August 2012 without any attention to detail whatsoever. The stamp design suggests that it shows Armstrong on the Moon but in fact it uses a photograph taken of James Irwin on the Apollo 15 mission. We know this because no still photographs of Armstrong on the Moon exist, since he had the camera strapped to his chest and also because this photograph has already been used as the basis of a stamp design marking the Apollo 15 mission: cf. Chad issue right The hills in the background of this photo definitively mean that this could not have been taken at Tranquility Base where Apollo 11 landed, but show a feature of the Hadley-Appenine region, where Apollo 15 landed A similar error was made by San Marino in an issue, marking the 25th anniversary of Apollo 11—see next page, as exposed by Bert van Eijck in Linn’s Sytamp News in September 1993. In that stamp the designer had simply flipped the image horizontally. Rather a pity given the importance of the occasion.

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From Amsterdam to Astrolabium by Bert van Eijck Recently I embarked a modern cruise ship and discovered on board an old instrument from many centuries ago. On the MS Amsterdam – Flagship of the Fleet of the Holland-America Line - I encountered amidships an Astrolabium, designed by Italian artists in the year 2000, shown in opposite beautiful postcard photographs. For nearly a thousand years, between the seventh and sixteenth centuries, astrolabes were the most important instruments that astronomers had and were often very beautifully made and decorated. In many stamp collections we see famous astronomers with an astrolabe, like the Greek Hipparchus (190125 B.C.), on a stamp issued in 1965. It is said he was the inventor. Astrolabium comes from the Greek words ‘astron’ (star) and ‘labancin’ (take), meaning ‘star-taker.’ The positions and movements of heavenly bodies like sun, moon and stars were measured by this instrument for graduaton. The original astrolabe consists of a brass circular plate with a diameter of 7 to 30 centimetres, On the plate are the names of the stars, always carved in Arabic, Indian, Persian or Latin, because scientists were internationally oriented people and so were their instruments. On the front of the plate there is an indicator, which points at the different planets. Later examples show a combination of wooden plate with a calendar. In the middle of the plate we distinguish the sun. Around the sun are the planets, attached by arm. The length of the arm depends on the distance from the planet to the sun. Radars appoint the velocity with which the planets turn around the sun. Models created after 1781 show Saturn, because the planet was discovered in that year. In 1846 Neptune was discovered, but there are only a few models that show this planet, because of its enormous distance. Later astrolabes had mechanical clocks. The first one was created in the fourteenth century and many of them demonstrated astronomical phenomena. Being able to ring bells was an important feature of these clocks. One of the most famous was the ‘astrarium’, completed in Pavia, Italy in 1364, which was considered a marvel of its time.

and the moon’s progress through its 29-and-a-half day cycle of phases. It is connected to the ship’s time system and a carillon of bells, which plays music every hour. The world famous carillon builder Eijsbouts from The Netherlands created the carillon. Moving to the right, the second face is a ‘planetarium’ with concentric rings representing the orbits around the sun of the planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. The three outer planets Uranus, Neptune and Pluto (now no longer a planet) are not included. The symbols on these rings and on the outer dial of the main clock, are the traditional glyphs for the planets and the signs of the zodiacs. In astrological tradition, each planet has a special relationship with certain zodiac signs, and these are shown on the planetarium. Sky watchers of old times who used astrolabes not only noted the positions of the planets but were concerned with the relationship between human life and the changing heavens, so were astrologers as well as astronomers. The other two faces reflect more modern astronomy and time keeping. The world clock takes 24 hours to turn, the time it takes planet Earth to spin once. Divided into 24 segments, it shows the time in many of the world’s principal cities.

The fourth side of the astrolabium is in the form of a ‘planisphere’, popular with many star spotters. The overlay with an oval window rotates to reveal a chart of the constellations over the city of Amsterdam at the current time and date, with in the centre the pole star as reference.. With four hands and dials, the main clock face of the On top of the astrolabium is a ‘tellurium’, a model in which astrolabium on the MS Amsterdam is like a traditional earth takes a year to orbit the sun and the moon takes a astronomical clock. As well as hours and minutes, it shows month to go around the earth. Over this is a dome showing the date with the sun’s position in the astrological zodiac, as a golden circle the path of the sun – known as the ecliptic 36

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– against traditional figures of the constellations. Twelve of these constellations along the ecliptic give their names to the astrological signs of the zodiac.

“Saint Jerome in his study”, 1435 by Jan van Eijck

You can find astrolabes across the arts in numerous museums around the world. Paintings by some of the great masters show all kind of astrolabes. Some examples by Jan van Eijck (maybe related to author), by Paolo Veronese, and by Jan Vermeer are shown opposite. Engraving, sculpture and tapestry from the 16th century is showing an astrolabium. And of course many, many stamps from countries spread over all the continents. It is worth a special astrolabe collection ! The Nicaragua 1984 Astronomers minisheet references the Vermeer painting. See also on page 38.

Allegory of navigation with astrolabe”, 1565 by Paolo Veronese

P.S. The Ocean liner Queen Mary 2 has a Planetarium on board, the one and only at sea. In Orbit No .78, June 2008, Bert van Eijck tells the story, titled “Space Show on High Seas.”

“The astronomer”, 1668 by Jan Vermeer

Foundlings in Newfoundland On November 26, 1981 Wayne Mushrow discovered a very rare and working Portuguese mariner’s astrolabe on a shipwreck just of the coast of Isle aux Morts. The year ‘1628’ and ‘Y.Dyas’ are stamped on the astrolabe, indicating that it was likely made by known astrolabe maker Joas Dyas. This astrolabe, which was more than 350 years old when found, was a discovery of great historical importance. It was the only one of its kind ever found in Canada, and one of only four of its kind found in the world. It is called the ‘Mushrow Astrolabe’ in Wayne Mushrow’s honour. In 1983, at the same site, Mushrow found a French mariner’s astrolabe stamped with the year ‘1617’ and the name “Adrian Holland.” It is unknown whether he was the maker or owner of the astrolabe. The Mushrow Astrolabes are the centerpieces of the Gulf Museum in Port Aux Basques, Newfoundland. This rare and significant find is on display during the summer months. 37

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A small selection of stamps showing astrolabes

Syria 2001 showing Sibt al Mardini

Austria 1984

Australia 1985

Chile 1992

Guinea 2000 and Poland 1982

Congo 1992

Spain 1986 Portugal 1992 and 2002

Syria 1980 and 1976 with mispelling

Portugal 1992

Uzbekistan 1994

Maxim cards from France 1992 and Portugal 1983

Tonga 1992 Maxim card Portugal 2002

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Satellites recovered by the Space Shuttle The first satellites to be recovered and brought back to Earth by the Space Shuttle were Palapa-B2 and Westar-6 in 1984. Both had been launched by STS-41B earlier that year, but both suffered failures of the launch mechanisms or payload assist modules. Both were recovered by STS-51A and returned to Earth where they were refurbished and later re-launched using conventional rockets. Palapa-B2 was re-launched 6 years later at Cape Kennedy, while Westar-6 ended up as AsiaSat-1, launched by China in 1990. Images of the recovery of Palapa-B2 are found on a stamp issued by Central Africa Republic (Scott 761) in 1985, as well as a souvenir sheet (of one stamp) issued by Guinea Republic (Scott 931) also in 1985. No images of both Westar-6 and the Space Shuttle have been found on postal items.

stamps along with the Space Shuttle: a 1982 issue from Surinam (Scott 589) and a 1991 issue from Marshall Islands (Scott 392). They depict the LDEF launch and recovery, respectively. In addition, several much smaller payloads have been recovered by the Space Shuttle, many of which were also launched from the Shuttle. EURECA (EUropean REtrievable CArrier) was carried aloft by STS-46 in 1992 and recovered by STS-57 in 1993. The Space Flyer Unit (SFU), an infrared telescope, launched by a Japanese rocket in 1985, was recovered by STS-72 in 1986. The SFU recovery is shown in a stamp from the Maldive Islands (Scott 1580) issued in 1991. Three Wake Shield Facility (WSF) missions were also planned, but only the third one was successful. During the STS-60 mission (in 1994) the WSF could not be deployed; the STS-69 mission (in 1995) had to be cut short; but the STS -80 mission (in 1996) was finally successful. All three were attempts to create a nearly perfect vacuum behind the 4 m WSF disk, for the growth of ever-slimmer thin-film semiconductors. No postal items are known to show the WSF, either with or without the Shuttle.

The Space Shuttle and Non-related or Unknown Satellites There exist some postal items that contain both the Space Shuttle and an un-manned satellite, with an implied relationship between the two, but in which the satellite is in reality not related to the Shuttle. There are also postal items, in addition to the pre-Shuttle items discussed in the beginning of this article, that show Shuttle payloads that have not been identified or may not be real.

The Shuttle both launched and recovered the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF). LDEF was launched from STS-41C in 1984 and was to be recovered in 1985, but its stay in space was extended because of the tragic loss of Challenger, which delayed all Shuttle missions for over two years. LDEF was not returned to Earth until 1990, by STS-32R. LDEF is shown on two

For example, a stamp issued by Chad (Scott 437) in 1983 shows the Shuttle Columbia and what looks like the French Symphonie communications satellite on the end of the Canadarm. The problem is that Symphonie was not launched by the Space Shuttle. However, since the solar panels on the satellite are not identical to those on Symphonie, this satellite is really an unknown. Drawings such as this probably include a certain amount of “artistic license”, as is not uncommon on postage stamps. Many other much smaller satellites were launched from the Space Shuttle. They are too numerous to mention here. Please see the authors’ website, noted below, for a list of these satellites and the postal items showing them. In 39

This page omitted from issue no 95 as p38 by printer’s error, though it does appear in the online version

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Neil Armstrong (1930-2012) - on 500+ stamps !!!! Ironically this modest man appeared on more philatelic media than any other historical figure, excepting Christ. Now wait for the memorial issues !!!!

Belgium 1969 and C.A.R. 1984

Congo 2006 Ras Al Kaima 1969

Bulgaria 2009 Comoros 1978 and 2008 right

Cambodia 2001 and Congo 2001 Poland 2009

Marshall Islands, Tanzania and Zambia 2000

Romania 1986 Spain 2012â&#x20AC;&#x201D;memorial

Qatar and Yemen K. 1969

Guinea 2009

But not this one: Arguably the most famous astrophilatelic stamp, USA C76 by Paul Calle, does not show Armstrong, as it was against USPS rules to depict a living person on a stamp. Rather it is a representation of An American Astronaut on the Moon. Even if rules had allowed it the stamp could not have shown Armstrong like this based on a photograph for none were taken : though it could have been Aldrin. Furthermore, the Earth could not have been seen low in the sky at landing time at this lunar latitude but is added for palpable dramatic effect. Imagine the composition without it !