Orbit issue 98 (June 2013)

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Editorial

ISSN 0953 1599 THE JOURNAL OF THE ASTRO SPACE STAMP SOCIETY Issue No 98 June 2013

Job Done !

Patron:

Orbits 1-98 now available on our website

Cosmonaut Georgi Grechko, Hero of the Soviet Union

COMMITTEE

Thanks to the joint efforts of your editor and webmaster all copies of Orbit including (shortly) this one will be available to you to read or download from our website.

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

This has been a true labour of love but it does now provide a legacy to anyone in the future who wishes to read what our members and guest writers have contributed to our magazine—across some 3,500 pages since 1988—many in full colour not available in the print versions.

Chairman Emeritus : 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)

Also in terms of legacy in the midst of doing the above task I also scanned the pages of Harvey Duncan’s award winning checklists issued with Orbit between 1999 and 2001 and was so impressed once again by the amount of work he had put into it. Because many of the new issues since then have been very largely philatelic his checklists covering classic issues still have tremendous relevance and usefulness and all members with email should recently have received copies.

Hon .Treasurer: Eve Archer, Glebe Cottage, Speymouth, Fochabers, Moray.

Scotland IV32 7LE (E-mail: orbitmag@aol.com)

Orbit : Editor Jeff Dugdale, Glebe Cottage, Speymouth, Fochabers, 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

Our Society would not be what it is without Harvey’s work, in creating the checklists over many months, in building the foundations and most floors of the index to Orbit which makes the above scanning so worthwhile because now someone with it and the access can find any article relevant to their enquiry. There must be very few aspects of astrophilately that we have not at least touched on in our 25 years of existence. Harvey’s third major legacy to the Society was to leave us a healthy bank balance which is so important to our feeling of security with falling numbers as we age and do not replenish with new members as many as we lose.

If all the above sounds a bit navel gazing – apologies—but I did want to remind you that as we say farewell to another great Orbit reader in Dutchman Arie Olckers we ourselves had a such a giant.

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

www.astrospacestampsociety.com/ Copy Deadline for the October 2013 issue is Sept 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

© Copyright 2013 The Astro Space Stamp Society. No article contained herein may be reproduced without prior permission of the Author and the Society.

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

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AstroPhil 2013 Berlin On 12 to 14 April, the AstroPhil 2013 - Joint German-Russian Exhibition on space philately took place at Berlin. With the attendance of high ranking astrophilatelists from 10 countries, more than 500 visitors, almost 50 exhibits from eight countries and the presence of two cosmonauts, it was highly successful, writes Jűrgen Esders. Below Igor Rodin’s report on the event...

Round table talk about the future of manned space exploration: from left; Torsten Gemsa, Vladimir Kovalyonok, Ulrich Unger, Sigmund Jähn.

The “Astrophil 2013“ joint German-Russian space philately exhibition was held in the Russian House for Science and Culture in Berlin from April 12th to April 14th. The event was devoted to the 50th Anniversary of the first spaceflight of a woman cosmonaut and the 35th Anniversary of the first flight of a German national into space.

The exhibition was jointly organized by: The Chairman of the FIP Section for Astrophilately—Igor Rodin (Moscow, Russia); the Federal Working Group on Space Philately (Bundesarbeitsgemeinschaft “Weltraum Philatelie“ e. V.) from the Federation of German Philatelists (BDPh); the Russian House for Science and Culture at Berlin; the Association of Russia/UdSSR Stamp Collectors Berlin (Verein der Briefmarkenfreunde Rußland/UdSSR Berlin) and the Federation of Berlin Stamp Clubs (Verband Berliner Philatelisten-Vereine).

Igor Rodin at Deutsch Post stand with souvenir envelope, below with dedicated Weltraum Philatelie private post stamp and pictorial cachet

Igor Rodin and Jűrgen Esders take questions

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During the preparation, the exhibition developed from a bilateral one into an international event, attracting exhibitors from Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Monaco, Romania, Russia and Switzerland with 48 non-competitive exhibits about the conquest of space in the following classes: the Honorary Class, Astrophilately, Thematic, Open Class and one frame exhibits.

Soviet cosmonaut Vladimir Kovalyonok (now aged 71) and German cosmonaut Sigmund Jähn, (76) two of the four participants of the first German space mission, were the honorary guests of the exhibition. The great support in solving a number of organization questions was provided by German philatelists: Frank Walter (President of Verband Berliner Philatelisten-Vereine), Jürgen Peter Esders (German delegate to the FIP Section for Astrophilately), Florian Noller, Erhard Engelmann, Bernhard Tiedt, Ulrich Unger.

Opening ceremony. L-r Frank Walter, Jürgen Peter Esders, Florian Noller, Ulrich Unger, Vladimir Kovalenok, Sigmund Jähn, Igor Rodin.

Below Press conference with same personnel and Julius Cacka

Before the opening ceremony, the press-conference with the cosmonauts and the organizers took place in the Russian House . The opening ceremony at which the organizers and Honorary guests welcomed everyone to the exhibition took place on April 12th, Cosmonautics Day. The founder of the FIP Section for Astrophilately, Mrs. Beatrice Bachmann (Switzerland) took part in the opening ceremony and was welcomed

by Igor Rodin.

At the end of the ceremony the exhibitors and guests watched with great interest a video by Sergey Rodin about space mail. The 40-page colour exhibition catalogue (of which 500 copies were printed) edited by Jürgen Peter Esders was issued by the German Space Philately Society. Greetings to the exhibition published in the Catalogue were sent by all the organizers mentioned above as well as by Russian Federal Space Agency and the Federation of Cosmonautics of Russia.

On April 13, German Postal Service attended the show with a mobile post office and issued a special cover and pictorial cancel (special official post mark) devoted to the exhibition. An individual postage stamp (1000 copies) issued by German Post and devoted to the first woman-cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova was sold out

At Igor’s exhibit Sigmund Jähn with Igor and below with Vladimir Kovalyonok

by 12 o’clock of April 13. Some other philatelic material were also issued for this event by Infopost (a special service of German Post) and by Biberpost.

On April 13th, cosmonauts Kovalyonok and Jähn conducted a presentation-lecture about their joint “Intercosmos” space flight on Salyut 6, followed by round table talk about the future of manned space exploration. After that many people queued for cosmonauts’ autographs.

On April 14th, Igor Rodin gave a lecture on Astrophilately entitled “From the History of Soviet/Russian Space Mail”. The 4

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translation of the lecture from English into German was made

by Jürgen Esders.

Walter Hopferwieser (Austria) presented his working material for his catalogue on Space Mail.

An informal meeting and discussion of the FIP Section for Astrophilately was conducted by Igor Rodin. The Section’s delegates from Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Romania, Spain, Russia and Switzerland took part in the meeting. The former Leader of the Section (in post for 16 years) Mrs. Beatrice Bachmann announced her intention to retire after her 28 years as the Section’s delegate from Switzerland. The delegates thanked Mrs. Bachmann for her outstanding achievements in Astrophilately and her great work for founding the Section and promoting Astrophilately.

Beatrice Bachmann with her husband

Right :Signed cover presented by Sigmund Jähn to Sergey Rodin

Read Jűrgen Esder’s Report on page 20 AstroPhil 2013 FIP Astrophilately Section members, from left Jűrgen Esders*, Beatrice Bachmann, Igor Rodin*, Julius Cacka*, Walter Hopferwieser, Stefan Bruylants* and Umberto Cavallaro*. Kneeling in front Alec Bartos* and Antoni Rigo*. * = current ASSS members.

Society Merits Mention in the British Philatelic Bulletin

From page 237 Vol 50, no 8 April 2013 5

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Tereshkova and Ride Anniversary Exhibitions at IWASM*

By Ohio based member Marcy M. Frumker, space advisor & trustee for the International Women’s Air & Space Museum The International Women’s Air & Space Museum (IWASM) located in Cleveland, Ohio in the United States currently has an exhibit celebrating the 50th anniversary of Valentina Tereshkova’s flight on June 16, 1963 as the first woman in space, and Sally Ride’s 30 th anniversary as the first American woman in space on June 18, 1983. Items used are from IWASM’s collection, recent items donated to IWASM by Lillian Kozloski, who worked as an educator at the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum, items donated to the museum by collector Jacob Terwij of Holland and items loaned to IWASM by Marcy Frumker.

Tereshkova was selected as a cosmonaut in the 1962 Soviet Female Group Detachment. However, she was the only woman who would fly in space from this group. She flew on Vostok 6 that was a joint flight with the Vostok 5 flight of Valery Bykovsky. The two capsules only got as close as 3.1 miles, and there was no rendezvous or docking . Tereshkova’s flight time lasted 2.95 days. Tereshkova’s mother never knew she was in training for a space mission since it was top secret. Her mother learned that her daughter was the first woman in space along with the rest of the country when she was on the radio and according to Tereshkova “it was a big surprise.”

Tereshkova was an accomplished parachutist and that was key in her becoming a cosmonaut. The Soviet cosmonauts who rode in the Vostok capsules ejected from their capsules and parachuted back to Earth. Tereshkova was also very active in the Communist Party and that was just as important to her selection. Tereshkova’s flight gave Soviet leader Nikita Krushchev the chance to gloat about the equality of men and women in the Soviet Union, but once this propaganda experiment was completed, the women’s cosmonaut squad was quietly disbanded.

From top down: a poster in Russian that the museum has used near the exhibit. It is from 1983 and commemorates the 20th anniversary of Tereshkova's flight. The museum received it as a donation from someone whose brother in Russia bought it. It has her name, Vostok 6, date of mission, 20th anniversary and first in the world on it.

Some Russian space pins up close Some Vostok patches and a diagram of the Vostok space ship.

The Valentina Tereshkova 50th (on left) and Sally Ride 30th anniversaries' exhibit displays.

Only six months after her mission, Tereshkova married fellow cosmonaut Andrian Nikolayev who was the only bachelor of the cosmonauts. Many feel this was an arranged marriage by Krushchev who presided at the wedding that was the first official public wedding ever held in the Soviet Union. Postflight Tereshkova held several official titles and appointments for many years. Even today at age 76, Tereshkova is still seen at various Soyuz launches.

It would be another 19 years until the Soviets launched another woman—Svetlana Savitskaya—who flew about one year before the first American woman, Sally Ride. Ride was selected as a NASA astronaut in 1978. This astronaut class was the first group to include women and African-Americans.

Ride flew on two Space Shuttle missions: STS-7 in 1983 and STS-41G in 1984, both missions on Space Shuttle Challenger and her second mission included astronaut Kathryn Sullivan for the first flight with two women. Ride logged 147 hours on her first flight and 197 hours on her second. In June 1985, Ride was assigned to the crew of STS-61M but training was halted after the Challenger accident in January 1986. However Ride, who had a PhD in physics, never flew in space again. Ride would later be the only person to serve on both panels investigating the failures of the 1986 Challenger and 2003 Columbia tragedies.

In an oral history with NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC), Ride explained that when she met with the JSC Director Christopher Kraft preflight, he talked with her about the implications of being the first (US) woman and reminded her that she would get a lot of press attention. Ride said, “There was a lot more attention on us than there was on previous crews, probably even more than the STS-1 crew. Everyone wanted a piece of me after the flight.”

The initial flights by the first group of American women astronauts helped to set the stage for those who followed. Former NASA astronaut Sandra Magnus, the last woman to fly on a Space Shuttle mission, STS-135, said she was grateful to the pioneering women who made it possible for her to become an astronaut. “I remember going into high school in 1978 and I already latched onto the idea of being an astronaut, and I read in the paper about the first group of women who were selected into the astronaut program and I thought, wow, I don’t have to break any doors down, these women have already done this for me.”

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* www.iwasm.org.

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A PHOTOGRAPHER IDENTIFIED... AND A NEW AURORA SHEET From the chairman

Although primarily a science teacher, in 1970 and 1973 he was officer-in-charge at Casey Station, an Australian base in Antarctica, where he seems to have been a keen and talented photographer. I suspect that the photograph on the AAT stamp was taken at Casey Station in 1973, i.e. 18 years before it finally appeared on the stamp. That makes it a particularly early example of a colour photograph of an aurora, and even more historic as a result. It is nice to be able to give Gordon the credit for this photograph that he deserves, and I am only sorry that I was unable to congratulate him while he was still alive.

I wrote about aurorae on stamps in the last issue of Orbit, and I make no apologies for returning the subject here, for a couple of reasons. As I pointed out last time, the Sun is predicted to reach one of its periodic peaks of activity this year, and with it the number and intensity of aurorae is rising too, so the subject is highly topical.

In my list of favourite aurora stamps last time, I made reference to a 1991 issue from Australian Antarctic Territory (SG 88) which appeared to show the first genuine photograph of an aurora on a stamp, as distinct from artwork. I wrote: “Unfortunately the photographer is not credited. Does anyone know more about this stamp?”

Meanwhile, Iceland has produced a major addition to the gallery of aurora stamps with a delightful sheet issued on May 2. It is a souvenir of this year’s Nordic philatelic exhibition held in Iceland, hence the NORDIA 2013 emblem at the right. Central to the sheet is a block of four selfadhesive stamps depicting aurorae over Iceland. In this case, the photographer is properly credited - an Icelandic aurora specialist, Olgeir Andrésson, who has an extensive website on which the original images used on the stamps can be found.

Dr Ross Smith, an Australian life member of the ASSS, responded with some helpful additional information, as follows: “It was issued on 20 June 1991 in sheets of 100 (2 panes, each 10 rows of 5) and is Perf. 14.40 x 14.62. It was designed by L. Brown from a photograph

by G. McInnis and printed using photolithography by Leigh-Mardon P/L. Information source is the Comprehensive Colour Catalogue of Australian Stamps 4th Edition edited by Michael Eastick.” He added that McInnis had apparently been a member of the Australian government’s Antarctic research division when the photo was taken.

All four stamps are priced for postage of letters weighing up to 50g to Europe. The image on the stamp at top left captures a beautiful double auroral loop seen at Sandvík on the Reykjanes peninsula, near the photographer’s home, in April 2010. In the scene at top right, taken in February 2012, green bands compete with the light of the Moon over a frozen landscape at Hoffells glacier in southern Iceland. At lower left, auroral swirls are reflected in a stream near Borgarnes in west Iceland in January 2012, while on the fourth and final stamp wisps of auroral light mix with patchy cloud in a twilight sky over Breiðafjörð, a large, shallow bay in west Iceland, in August 2012.

With the benefit of that info from Ross, I set off to track down the photographer. I contacted the Australian Antarctic Division in Tasmania, where assistant librarian Graeme Watt kindly sent me a scan from the June-July 1991 edition of the Australian Stamp Bulletin describing the stamp. This article named the photographer as Gordon McInnis of Perth.

As well as the sheet, Iceland Post issued a first-day cover graced with a swirling postmark representing an auroral band. The sheet and cover can be purchased at face value from the World Online Philatelic Agency: http://www.wopa-stamps.com/index.php? controller=country&action=stampProduct&id=8110

Further research revealed that there is a mis-spelling of the surname in both the Stamp Bulletin and the Colour Catalogue, both of which presumably relied on the same source material. The man was in fact Gordon Elliott McInnes. Unfortunately I was unable to achieve my goal of contacting him in person to ask about the photograph as he died in August 2011, aged 84. From what I could find online, Gordon sounds to have been an interesting and dedicated man. An obituary describes him as “A teacher, adventurer and gentleman.”

You can see the sheet and description along with other examples of aurora stamps on my web page at http://www.ianridpath.com/ stamps/aurorae.htm.

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John Beenen celebrates the flight of Valentina Tereshkova in June 1963 With her flight in Vostok 6 Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space, for the Americans a stunning but unnecessary defeat.

That is not to say that everything went all right, as her flight raise many uncertainties. It is said that she could hardly manage her emotions, certainly less that the unemotional Bykovsky, and that her heart beat raised to 140 at launch.

Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova was born on March 6th 1937 in Maslennikovo in the Yaroslavl Oblast in Central Russia. At launch she was 26 years of age.

girl-next-door Russian looks and her proletarian background and as such she became a protégé of the Party leader Nikita Khrushchev. He required an exemplary Soviet citizen and called her ´Gagarin in a skirt´.

Originally her parents came from Belarus. Her father had been a tractor driver and her mother worked as a textile worker. She had one younger brother, Vladimir and one older sister, Ludmilla. Her father was a Hero of War but had died in action in the war against Finland in 1939­1940.

Of the flight management cosmonaut Ponomaryova was the absolute winner, but she was quite feminine (pictured right) and did not always give the “right answers” with respect to the Communist doctrine.

Valentina appeared more modest and was correct with doctrinal responses. She also passed the physical tests—and so she was chosen for the flight.

From 1945­53 she attended school but her subsequent education was via distance learning. At the local air club she learned how to jump with a parachute. Her first jump made in 1959 was made when she worked in the local textile factory.

However, another explanation is possible: Korolev needed two women for a subsequent flight with Voskhod. He already assumed that heavier physical and mental requirements for this flight were needed and for that Ponomaryova and Solovyova were more skilled. Hence, Tereshkova was slated for Vostok

As the Soviet authorities wanted female cosmonauts and as the landing from the Vostok cabin was planned to be by parachute, they required experienced parachutists so Tereshkova was noticed and educated as a cosmonaut.

Her family were ignorant of all this trainin, believing she was “following a course” At the beginning of the sixties she joined the Communist Party.

After Gagarin’s flight the authorities got the idea that sending a woman in space would be a good PR activity. That idea came possibly after a trip by the head of education, Kamanin, to the US where John Glenn told him about the Mercury 13 i.e. 13 possible candidates for an American flight in space.

So that’s possibly why a number of females were selected.

After a strong series of tests five remained: Tatjana Kuznetsova, Irina Solovyova, Valentina Ponomaryova, Zhanna Yorkina (aka Yerkina) and, as the least qualified, Valentina Tereshkova. Valentina was specially chosen for her 8

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but most were given to women. ´Today I prefer women´ she said. ´Men must not complain´. Thus, the report of the reporter in Troed.

After her landing some people tried to diminish her performance but she was defended by the cosmonaut office and finally those opponents became the victims. But there were others who instead praised her achievement.

Hence, in the magazine Sovietskaia Rossia appeared a poem about her written by Ludmilla Popova: A sister belongs to my brothers in space, She flew in the ocean of stars, A daughter of my earthly face, Which made possible dreams that far.

Her eyes so brave and ah so smart, Right from the screen into my heart.

So three days after Bykovsky she was launched on June 16th in Vostok 6 (call sign : Chaika= seagull).

Whatever, many in officialdom were not happy with her performance.

But for Valentina the flight was no great joy. She suffered considerably from space sickness, overslept several times and was emotionally very unstable. Just how much, has never been clarified, but some of the official on the ground believe that she was really at the end of her tether. It became known later that she did not do well mentally, being very tired and that she failing to do all the tasks she should carry out.

From the present information it is difficult to say what exactly happened during her flight, but it had such an impact that no women were allowed for many more flights.

But from all information it can be extracted that Tereshkova was not the modest girl she played. She had large ambition and knew exactly how to get what she wanted within the rules of the game. She did not hesitate to reach it over the back of others. In any case, she made good use of her position as the first woman in space.

Tereshkova herself initially declared that her “excitement” could be explained by the fact the cabin originally did not have the right orientation for re-entry but that ground control did not react first. Had this been true she would have been heading for outer space !!!! This explanation is not completely untrue as later on she was allowed to fly the cabin manually for 15 minutes.

Finally after almost 20 years a second woman reached for the sky, Svetlana Savitskaya, and that possibly only because she was a daughter of a high placed Soviet Marshall. The original female cosmonaut group had already been dismantled years before.

Her space sickness she explained as a result of the bread which had been too dry. Furthermore she developed a nearly unbearable cramp in her leg and a painful spot at her shoulder where the edge of her helmet was pressing.

After her flight she took up her study and finished it in 1977.

Initially what started as a joke by her fellow cosmonauts became reality when, under heavy pressure of Khrushchev, on November 3rd 1963 she married the only

After 48 orbits she landed at June 19th in Karaganda, Kazakhstan, three hours before Bykovsky. She only just missed landing in a lake and made a rough arrival via her parachute by which she hurt herself once again.

In one of the newspapers of that time a transcription (?) of the landing is given: ´At that time a reporter repeated what Valentina had said to the workers: ´I am hungry, I should like a Siberian potato with green onions´. She ate at the meadow and the people gave her potatoes, green onions and radishes. ´You try our space food´ she said and gave the bystanders tubes and food concentrates. In this way she showed, like Titov, that freshly prepared food could not replace the food of the cosmonauts.

The comment of Titov on the food in tubes was, when he returned from space: ´They say, it is good´ and he draws a fastidious face. Valentina presented pictures from herself,

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flights to Mars. She was keen to be one of the crew on the first flight, eventually just the outward one.

Valentina was a true supporter of the Communist doctrine and, with a number of intermediate steps, she worked herself up to become a member of the Supreme Soviet in 1974.

She is still loved by many Russians. Until now she became the only woman General in the Soviet and Russian Army. She is Hero of the Soviet Union and keeper of the order of Lenin and the October Revolution and several foreign distinctions. A crater on the far side of the Moon is named after her. bachelor among the cosmonauts, Andryian Nikolayev. They had one daughter Elena Andrianovna, now a medical physician.

The arranged marriage did not last and the couple separated in 1979. But only after the intervention of the next President Brezhnev they could divorce—in 1982.

But over the years one thing appears clear, the great heroism which she was supposed to have displayed needs some reconsideration.

Later Valentina married Yuli Shaposhnikov, who died in 1999.

Tereshkova is now 76.

Probably she might have been chosen for a further flight but all these were cancelled. But still she stayed a member of the cosmonaut Body and as such she occupied herself with

Left, is a photo taken of her in 2002.

The story we ran from JĹąrgen Esders on page 36 of the March Orbit appeared in bpost Philanews (issue 2-2013E) as below

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Bruce Cranford asks if you are feeling giddy !

the diagram right, faster than the Concord, SR-71, or the Apollo flights!

Many of you have read, in the pages of this publication*, about philatelic covers that flew on various vehicles, balloons, airplanes, Zeppelins, rockets, and/or spaceships.

Some of you may even own some of these covers. Have you ever wondered how fast they travelled? Most people would estimate the speed at either few miles per hour (mph) [or kilometres per hour (km/h)] or up to 25,000 mph (42,500 km/h).

The Sun’s solar system is also traveling around the Milky Way Galaxy at a speed of about 500,000 mph (850,000 km/h) relative to the centre of the Milky Way, as illustrated Wow!!!!!

What is it like traveling at 25,000 mph (42,500 km/h)? The common description is a distorted face with the mouth pushed back into a grotesque grin, see photo left.

Actually that view of speed is a misconception. The human body cannot sense or “feel” speed. What the human body does sense or “feel” is acceleration. It is acceleration that one feels when taking off in an airplane as the airplane accelerates down the runway. It is acceleration that people see in those rocket sled tests that distorts the face with the mouth pushed back into a grotesque grin. It is acceleration the astronauts feel as they take off from the launch pad into space. It is acceleration that distorts a face in a centrifuge, not speed. This was explained by Sir Isaac Newton several hundred years ago.

Are you ready for this?

The Milky Way is travelling through space at a speed of about 1,340,000 mph (2,278,000 km/h) relative to the centre of the universe, see diagram right. Yikes!!

Speed

As Einstein would have proposed, you can use the following example as a thought experiment. Your speed may be slightly different depending where you are reading this article. If you are reading this article in a modern passenger jet, you are traveling about 500 mph (850 km/h) relative to the surface of the earth.

If you are sitting in your house reading this article, you appear to be standing still. However, you are traveling at about 900 mph (1,530 km/h) relative to the centre of the earth in the Washington, D.C. area. The reason is that the Earth turns on its axis once every 24 hours, giving us a day. We are traveling in circles! You would be traveling a little faster at the equator (1,000 mph, 1,700 km/h), see diagram left, and would be traveling at 0 mph (0 km/h) at the poles.

Your body does not “feel” that speed. At the equator you are traveling faster than Mach 1, which is about (760 mph) (1300 km/h). Now lets continue this thought experiment to its logical absurdity.

The Earth also orbits the Sun, giving us the year. The Earth, you, and I are traveling around the Sun at an orbital speed of about 70,000 mph (120,000 km/h) relative to the Sun, as in

Now to get our maximum possible speed we add these up, and today, you and I are traveling at a maximum possible speed of about 1,915,000 mph (3,250,000 km/h)! Holy.....!

One caveat. Since we are traveling in circles, actually ellipses according to Johannes Kepler, the speed can vary from a maximum of 1,915,000 mph (3,250,000 km/h) to a minimum of 765,100 mph (1,300,000 km/h) give or take a few mph or km/hr. The variation in speed will change over many tens of thousands of years. Another way of expressing this is your speed Figure 1 Feeling Acceleration Figure 2 Earths Rotational speed Figure 3 Earths orbital speed around the Sun Figure 4 Solar System speed around the Milky Way Galaxy 500,000 mph (850,000 km/h) is 1,340,000 +/- 575,000 mph (2,600,000 +/- 650,000 km/h) or one million three hundred forty thousand plus or minus five hundred seventy five thousand miles per hour, see illustration right.

For those of you concerned about approaching the speed of light and about the effects of your speed on time dilation, or an increase in your mass (weight) per Einstein’s predictions, do not worry. We are traveling much slower than the speed of light which is670,000,000 mph (1,080,000,000 km/h).

In the length of time it took you to read this article, you may have travelled about 127,840 miles (217,328 km).

Hope you enjoyed the trip.

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Anticipating Spaceflight With the Royal Mail just having issued a very full set for space and time traveller Dr Who, John Beenen reminds us of the man who well over a hundred and fifty years ago both created sci-fi writing as a new genre and inspired many who would make spaceflight a reality.

If we limit our consideration of collecting spacecraft on stamps not only to real events but also to include fiction, as happens in the Weebau catalogue, with his description of ‘From Earth to the Moon’ Jules Verne (1828—1905) certainly has to be in a your wants lists.

Above Grenada, below Grenadines, both 1979 and Nicaragua 1978

In fact his title consists of two novellas. In 1865 the first part ’From Earth to the Moon’ was issued and, five years later, came Part Two ‘Around the Moon’. Today, both editions mostly are issued as one book. It is striking that Verne did not describe a landing on the moon, which, later, in a film made of it, was the case. The film was made by fellow Frenchman George Mélies in 1902 as ‘The Voyage to the Moon’. Some years ago the film celebrated its hundred birthday. Stamps from Monaco pointed to this event together with a French stamp issued some time earlier.

Less known is another book of Verne in connection to space.

In the book ‘Hector Servadac’ (1877) known in English as Off on a Comet the eponymous hero has adventures on the surface of a comet, which we will deal with further on.

Jules Gabriel Verne was born on 8 February 1828 in Nantes, France, as the eldest son of five children including his three sisters. His father was a lawyer and his mother came from a family of ship-builders and ship-captains. Even as a child he showed interest in fantasy when only twelve years of age, tried to swap roles with a cabin-boy to take his place to sail to the West-Indies. His father was only just in time to prevent this.

Aged twenty Verne left for Paris where his family thought he would study law, but he was more interested in writing

books and plays.

When his father found this out he stopped his son’s allowance but young Jules continued writing anyhow. In the public library he found warmth and all the books on physics and technical issues he needed.

At the wedding party of a friend he met his wife, Honorine Morel and they soon married. His father got him a job as stock-broker. And in 1881 Verne’s son, Michel, was born.

However, his writing, at this point was meeting with little success.

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Through a friend, Felix Nadar, who was very interested in ballooning, Verne came to the idea of writing a book about the discovery of Africa by balloon. That became his first book ‘Five weeks in a balloon’. As it was far too scientific it was rejected by editors but one writer of youth books, Peter Hetzel, acknowledged his talent and showed him how to rewrite it in a readable form. That led to success: Verne got a contract for $4000 with the obligation to deliver two books a year. He fulfilled this contract until his death, even in his later very successful period and often surpassing it.

documents how to travel to the centre of the Earth.

Accompanied by his nephew, Henry and an Icelandic guide, Hans, he descends into a volcanic crater in Iceland. After a trip of some weeks he arrives at a large lake and, by an eruption of a subterraneous volcano is blown to his starting point over a distance of thousand of miles.

In ’20,000 leagues under the seal’ Verne describes a submarine long before its reality and before the invention of electricity In ‘Around the world in 80 days’ the transSiberian railway which not existed at that time, is described.

In fact Verne was becoming the first writer of science-fiction books.

Besides some relatively very precise predictions of future moon travel the cannon is located in Florida (Tampa Town).

Furthermore, one carries out a successful experimental launch of a hollow projectile with a cat and a squirrel in it.

With regard to spacecraft his most interesting books are those which talk about a journey to the Moon. Also this subject is shown in most of the stamps.

In ‘From the Earth to the Moon’ (1885) the chairman of the Baltimore Gun Club, In the book ‘Five weeks in a Barbicane, develops the plan to shoot balloon’ Dr Samuel Ferguson and himself and two companions, Michel his two partners Dick Kennedy Ardan and Nicholl to the Moon with a and Joe went with their balloon gigantic cannon, the ‘Columbiad’ The ‘Victoria’ on a trip to Zanzibar to remainder of the book is a description of discover things where previous the building of the cannon and the investigators failed. Naturally, calculations around it. Its length becomes they just survive a flight over the 900 desert, but finally reach Zanzibar. From foot (270 m), its interior there the trip went to the source of the 9 foot in diameter (2,7 River Nile and crossed over Africa to m) and a wall in a Niger and Senegal. Finally the gentlemen thickness of 6 foot (1,8 arrived safe and sound back in London. m), the whole weighing 68,000 tons.

Notwithstanding that the books of Verne with the guidance of Hetzel In this respect this 1970 became very readable, the scientific stamp of Mali is very information in it up to that time was interesting because it not very meticulous. In fact, Verne says somewhere, the only shows the launching discoveries were actual made in truth and he only showed of the Columbiad but also its consequences. Yet his fantasies were far ahead of their the chimneys of the time. foundry according the original drawings in Verne’s book.

So, he wrote, together with his son Michel, ‘The diary of an American journalist in 2890’ where he describes New York Because of its weight it is made of aluminium, but in a in that time. The town has mighty skyscrapers, running diameter of 2.7 metres and a height of 3,6 metres it still pavements, TV-telephones, air taxies and air trains. There weighs around 10.000 kg. It is calculated that for an initial exist a kind of calculators similar to computers and there are speed of 12.000 yards (abound 11 km/sec) 200.000 kg of gun advertisements on clouds.

-cotton will be necessary.

The necessary oxygen and the absorption of the released carbon dioxide was generated by a mix of chlorate and After his first books he wrote over a hundred more some of potassium nitrate which was also tested before. The lift-off which remain and relevant readable today of the projectile is depicted nicely on a stamp of Czechoslovakia and also on both stamps of the Cook Islands In his ‘Journey to the again according a original drawing of Verne. See top of next centre of the page.

Earth’ (1864) the eccentric old scientist In the continuation from 1869 ‘Around the Moon’ Barbicane Professor Hardwick, finds and his companions start their travel to the moon after a an indication in old heavy start which is well taken. On the way they are 13

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accompanied by two dogs, Diana and Waiter.

Unfortunately Waiter dies and was left outside. They discover then that Waiter became a fixed companion.

At the Moon they circle around at no more than 50 km distance (compare with Apollo 8). They admire the craters, amongst it Tycho, but do not land. By the ignition of rockets they succeed in achieving just as much power and speed to fall back to Earth.

They land just in front of a ship ‘Susquehanna’, appeared to have dived to large depths, but reappear and are safely salvaged.

Later in 1869, Jules Verne moved to Amiens, where his house is still a visitor attraction.

The following year he delivered one of his most famous books ’20.000 thousand leagues under the sea’. Around the world ships are disappearing and it is believed that they were swallowed by a sea creature.

Dr.Pierre Monnax, his friend Conseil and the Canadian harpooner Ned Land were sent out by the American administration to solve this phenomenon. They discover after enduring extreme conditions, that this ‘monster’ is nothing else but a submarine, the ‘Nautilus’ manned by captain Nemo. Nemo shows them the enigmas of the deep -sea. Finally, Nemo turns out not to be as brutal as he is described, but rather a deranged pacifist as he only torpedoes ships which have something to do with war.

Together with the book ‘The mysterious Island’ (1874) and ‘The Children of Captain Grant’ (1868) the book is part of a

kind of trilogy in which Ayrton and captain Nemo are the connecting characters.

As at the beginning this was probably not his intention, the time lines of the three books do not fit. The mysterious Island is set in 1865 at the end of the American Civil War and some years after, follow the 20.000 leagues under the sea in 1866 and the Children of Captain Grant.

Probably the most famous book of Verne is the ‘Around the World in 80 Days’, which is the story of Phileas Fogg and his companion Passepartout, who accept a challenge to travel around the world in 80 days to find out at the end that he just did not made it until he realizes that by travelling continuously to the East he gained one day.

The money he earned with it, $20.000, completely is consumed by the costs made on the way, but fortunately he kept from it his lovely wife, Aouda, which made him the happiest man in the world.

As it lies somewhat closer to our hobby let’s conclude with something about ‘Hector Servadac’ which was edited in two parts in 1877: Part 1: ‘The volcano inhabitants’ On the coast of Algeria the French captain Hector Servadac and his servant Ben were drawn from the earth by a passing comet. After surviving this phenomenon, they soon discover that their environment has drastically changed. As such, the length of their days were halved and the Moon was gone.

They investigate their new environment and after some far wanderings they settle in a small colony formed from the crew of a Russian yacht together with a Russian Count, a group of Spaniards, an Italian girl and a Jewish tradesman.

They also save a French professor, Palmyrin Rosette, who, at the beginning of the second part, explains to them their situation.

Other inhabitants are a group of English soldiers who lived in a small part of what remains of Gibraltar. They did not believe in their situation and were convinced that they would be kept by England soon. Because of this they did not mix with the others. (With this touch Verne shows a nice caricature of the English people in those days).

To survive a considerable decrease in 14

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temperature in the meantime the colony left for the inside caves of a volcano.

Part 2: ‘The Return to Earth’ Over many pages Rosette – his name was used for the comet probe, Rosetta – gives an interesting explanation of the comet knowledge at that time.

Jules Verne Checklist

by Harvey Duncan as issued with Orbit in January 2001 NB not all are astrophilatelic

In the meantime the comet reaches its aphelion behind the planet Jupiter and as a result an extensive description of the large planets follows.

On basis of the calculations of the professor it is discussed what to do to return to Earth again. It was agreed that they would not survive a landing and therefore they ascended one hour before in a balloon. In the meantime the comet was split in half with the English on the other half. At January 1st at 2 o’clock, 47 minutes and 35.6 seconds the comet grazed the Earth and the balloon disappeared in a large haze.

Finally the crew appeared to have landed on earth unhurt, close to the place from where it all started and everything went smoothly along. Everyone did what he or she had to do and the book ends ‘contrary to all rules by which a book has to end not with the marriage of the hero’’. As far as known to me this book is not depicted in stamps, something which may yet be remedied ??

At the end of his life Verne was shot down by a mentally disturbed nephew. He never fully recovered from his wounds. Moreover, he became slowly blind.

His work was honoured by the French Academy and he became the last person to receive the Legion of Honour from Napoleon III. Verne produced 65 novels, some 20 short stories and essays, 30 plays and opera libretti and two geographical works. He died at Amiens at March 24th 1905 in the age of 77.

Literature http://jv.gilhead.org.il/stamps/ Jules Verne stamps http://literarystamps.blogspots.com Verne stamps http://en.wikipedia.org Jules Verne http://www.jules-verne.co.uk/ The Works of Jules Verne http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/ From the earth to the moon

Left—some more recent astrophilatelic Verne issues

Israel 2000, Tchad and France 2005 15

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Symbolic Remote Sensing of the Earth from Space the bottom of the spacecraft down to the Earth, but also the edges of the swath on the Earth traced out as the satellite moves in orbit. Similarly, the scanning of the Earth from instruments on a TIROS-N/ NOAA satellite is seen on this stamp from Taiwan issued in 1981.

By Don Hillger and Garry Toth Satellite images of the Earth, of its clouds and land features, are common on postal items. However, the techniques used for remote sensing of the Earth are less commonly shown.

This article focuses on postal items showing symbolic remote sensing of the Earth, including scanning or imaging techniques used by artificial satellites.

Satellite remote sensing of the Earth The first artificial Earth satellites were launched by the USSR and the USA in the late 1950s during the period of the International Geophysical Year (IGY). Cameras mounted on satellites soon followed, and the first dedicated weather satellite, TIROS-1, was launched in 1960. Ever since that time the Earth has been photographed by numerous un-manned satellites as well as by manned spacecraft.

Satellites in a low orbit typically take images as instruments scan across, or perpendicular to, the orbital track, with the satellite motion providing the other dimension of the image.

Satellites in higher orbit take images of much larger portions of the Earth; the standard images from those in geostationary orbit (36,000 km altitude) are of the entire full disk of the Earth.

The emphasis in this article is how remote sensing is symbolically displayed on postal items. Satellite scanning or imaging is most often represented by various types of lines drawn between the satellite and the Earth. The lines symbolize the remote sensing. More than 40 postal items (mostly stamps, but also some postal derivatives such as FDCs and other covers) with symbolic remote sensing have been found. Most show scanning by un-manned satellites; several show Earth imaging from manned missions.

Scanning of Cuba by instruments on a Soyuz manned satellite is shown on a stamp from Cuba issued in 1980. On a stamp from Czechoslovakia also from 1980, the dashed lines outlining the image are subtle, but the scanned area is emphasized by the colour change inside the lines. The instrument in the lower-left of the stamp is the multi-spectral camera MKF-6 (Mehr-Kanal Fotografie) that was carried aboard various spacecraft from the Soviet bloc as part of the Interkosmos Programme (in this case by a Soyuz-Salyut combination). The MKF-6 took images in 6 spectral bands in the visible and nearinfrared.

Cuba (Scott 2326, Michel 2475) 1980; Czechoslovakia (Scott 2306, Michel 2561) 1980

In this article, only the postal items with the best renditions of remote sensing are shown. All other items, including those with small or more difficult-to-see examples, can be found in the authors’ website as noted at the end of this article.

The following sections include examples of symbolic remote sensing as found on different types of postal items, starting with stamps and souvenir sheets, continuing with other postal items, and concluding with satellite launch covers showing symbolic scanning or imaging in their cachets.

British Antarctic Territory (Scott 84, Michel 86) 1981; Taiwan (Scott 2221, Michel 1373) 1981

More scanning is found on a Czechoslovakian stamp (Scott 2506, Michel 2761) with attached label issued in 1984.

This time the spacecraft is a Salyut space station, again part of the multi-nation Interkosmos Programme as proudly depicted on the label.

Czechoslovakia (Scott 2506, Michel 2761, and label) 1984

On a French Southern and Antarctic Territories stamp issued

Symbolic remote sensing on stamps and souvenir in 1986, the scanning is shown emanating from numerous smaller renditions of the SPOT (early-type SPOT-1, 2, or 3) sheets Scanning of the Earth by Landsat is shown on a stamp top right from British Antarctic Territory issued in 1981. The stamp shows not only the view lines from the instruments on

spacecraft shown on the stamp rather than from the large SPOT satellite in the foreground. In one or more cases the scanning appears to be viewing the same location on the Earth as the satellite moves in orbit across that location, by 16

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scanning both forward and backward from the changing satellite position.

Images were undoubtedly made of the same terrain at various viewing angles, but not necessarily from the same orbit, by early SPOT instrumentation.

French Southern and Antarctic Territories (Scott C96, Michel 219) 1986

A depiction of scanning from a Soyuz-Salyut-Soyuz orbital complex is found on an East German stamp issued in 1986, and on another from 1988. Not shown is a third stamp from 1988 similar the second one, but with a different face value.

On the first stamp the MKF-6 camera is again shown; on the second one a multi-channel spectrometer MKS-M (MehrKanal Spektrometer) is featured. On that second stamp, a graphic shows the signal trace as a function of the underlying surface being scanned. Changes in the signal can be related to the surface features: a varying signal over a forest, a more constant signal over bare land, and a lower constant signal over open water.

East Germany (Scott 2531, Michel 3008) 1986; and (Scott 2676, Michel 3171) 1988.

The British crown dependency of Jersey issued two stamps in 1991 that show scanning from satellites. The first stamp shows Landsat-5 scanning the main island of Jersey with changed colours on the ground to designate the path scanned across the island. As the satellite moves in its orbit, each new scan provides an image of a slightly different rectangular area; those rectangular areas together form the image swath beneath the satellite. The second stamp shows a Meteosat weather satellite scanning the Earth. Meteosat, unlike all the satellites covered so far, is in the much higher geostationary orbit and therefore easily “sees� the full disk of the Earth.

Part of a full-disk image is shown in the stamp. Such images are constructed from thousands of scans (one or more per rotation of the satellite on its axis). The full image is then assembled from all the scans.

Great Britain-Jersey (Scott 561 -562, Michel 540-541) 1991

More symbolic scanning from Meteosat is found on a stamp issued by Liechtenstein in 1991.

This time, however, only a portion of the Earth over Europe and 17

Liechtenstein (Scott 956, Michel 1012) 1991; Mongolia (Scott 1170, Michel 1371) 1981

the Mediterranean area is shown. A Mongolian stamp issued in 1981 again shows a Soyuz capsule scanning the Earth with a rainbow colour pattern on the Earth below, symbolizing multi-spectral imaging, such as from the MKF6 camera previously mentioned.

The Interkosmos Programme logo is also on the stamp.

A stamp from New Caledonia ) issued in 1972 shows the TOPEX-Poseidon satellite in a drawing that greatly exaggerates the height of the satellite above the Earth.

Images are shown streaming out of the satellite and into a New Caledonia (Scott C268, Michel 1022) 1972 computer, representing the electronic nature of remote sensing. The microscope at the left that appears to be examining the Earth is not totally unlike the way satellites view the Earth and symbolizes the telescopic, high resolution view provided by remote sensing satellites.

Another representation of imaging is found on a stamp issued by Hungary in 1973. The scanning appears in the shape of a pyramid that indicates the relationship of the imaging area to the point source of the sensor or camera in the satellite. In 1973 and 1974 Skylab carried an Earth Resources Experiment Package (EREP) to do a comprehensive and systematic image survey of the Earth from space. Imaging was done by several cameras, the main one with six spectral bands. Some 36,000 photos were captured by EREP. Hungary (Scott C346, Michel BL101) 1973

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The next item is the most elaborate and detailed representation of remote sensing found on a postage stamp.

This stamp, issued in 1972 by Ras Al Khaima (Michel 852), again shows EREP imaging from Skylab. The depiction of symbolic remote sensing is very similar to that of the Hungarian stamp discussed above. In addition, there are printed details giving the dimensions of the EREP images in nautical miles. Furthermore, the S-numbers at the lower right are component instruments of the EREP system: the multi-spectral cameras, infrared spectrometer, multi-spectral scanner, and microwave instrument, respectively.

Another rendition of Skylab’s imaging is found on a Romanian stamp issued in 1974. This stamp again shows the pyramidshaped symbolic imaging from Skylab’s EREP camera system, but without the details provided by the previous item.

Romania

images were transmitted line-by-line to receiving stations where they were reconstructed as pictures on facsimile paper that looked like they came directly from a camera on board the satellite. Vidicon cameras were common into the early 1980s, but were later replaced by better technology.

Symbolic remote sensing on other postal items Symbolic remote sensing is also found on postal items other than stamps. A Netherlands postal meter from 1992 shows the ERS-1 satellite scanning the Earth. Again, the satellite appears to be too high (it is another low Earth orbit satellite), but that perspective is sometimes used to better display what the satellite is doing in orbit, from the viewpoint of one close to the satellite looking at the Earth in the distance.

Skylab’s EREP system is once again shown on a cover from the United States canceled in 1973. The depiction is very much like those on stamps already presented that also showed imaging from Skylab.

(Scott 2528, Michel 3241) 1974

A stamp from Russia (Scott 3854, Michel 3885) issued in 1971 shows a spacecraft that has not been identified. Of interest is the scanning of the Earth; however, the distance between the satellite and Earth is exaggerated, unless the satellite is meant to be in geostationary orbit. The same can be said for the next stamp from Russia (Scott 5298, Michel 5440) issued in 1984. The Meteor weather satellite is shown at a much higher altitude than is characteristic for that series of satellites (they were polar orbiters in a low Earth orbit). An overlay of one of the Meteor images from the southern hemisphere is shown as well.

Symbolic remote sensing on satellite launch covers

Finally for this section, a stamp Next to be discussed are images of scanning as found on issued by Togo (Scott 786a, Michel launch covers for various spacecraft. These covers are 1184) in 1991 shows an early- cancelled on the launch dates for the satellites shown. version TIROS with cameras on its The first one is a SpaceCraft/Swanson cachet on a TIROSbottom. TIROS used a “vidicon” (a 10 launch cover from 1965. The scanning “pyramid” storage-type camera tube) system represents the vidicon imaging used by TIROS, but this to take images of the Earth. Those 18

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The arrangement of scanning lines does not represent the remote imaging very well, but at least gives the idea that the satellite is scanning the surface for data.

time the camera was on the side of later-version TIROS (and similar ESSA) spacecraft from the years around 1965.

The next launch cover (below) has an Orbit cachet for a Nimbus-4 launch from 1970. Again the perspective shows the satellite at a much higher altitude than was true for Nimbus, but the scanning is nicely depicted from the instruments on the bottom of the spacecraft, as well as the rectangular imaging pixels on the Earth and the orbital track of this polar-orbiting satellite.

Next is a Space Voyage cachet on an ITOS-E launch cover from 1973. This launch failed, but other ITOS launches were successful and managed to capture images and data from more than one instrument on board. Scanning from three instruments is shown in the cachet of this particular launch cover

The following Space Voyage cachet on a Landsat-2 launch cover from 1975 shows the instruments looking at the US. 19

Finally, a cachet on a 30th anniversary TIROS-1 launch cover from Romania, from 1990, shows the spacecraft imaging the Earth below it. Details of the spacecraft and the Earth are not well represented on this cachet, but the idea of remote sensing, though symbolic, is clear.

Additional online information A number of examples of postal items showing remote sensing of the Earth have been presented. In each case various arrangements of lines were used to represent the scanning or imaging. Some of the depictions are quite detailed, and others are much more basic, but all clearly refer to satellite-based scanning or imaging. Interested readers can consult the authors’ online information at the URL given below for more examples.

A checklist of postal items showing the symbolic remote sensing of the Earth is available at http:// rammb.cira.colostate.edu/dev/hillger/satelliteimages.htm, with the symbolic remote sensing items in a separate section from the rest of the satellite images. The authors would like to hear from anyone who knows of additional postal items that may have been missed. The online information will be updated whenever new details are provided. E-mail correspondence with the authors is welcomed.

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Russia/UdSSR Stamp Collectors Berlin were removing the frames, collectors were still gathering in front of the few remaining collections. The average age of the visitors was also considerably lower than the age bracket usually observed on stamp exhibitions. “Astrophilately is a young hobby”, Weltraum Philatelie President Florian Noller observed.

AstroPhil 2013 Berlin Joint German-Russian exhibition attracts crowds Astrophilatelists meet for European summit

By Jürgen Peter Esders, International Director (Europe) More than 500 visitors were attracted by the Joint GermanRussian Exhibition on space philately on 13 and 14 April 2013 in the German capital of Berlin. But not only in terms of quantity, also in terms of quality the event hosted by the Russian House of Science and Culture surpassed expectations. Thanks to the presence of high-ranking astrophilatelists from ten European countries, the exhibition also became a European Summit of space cover collectors. Highly awarded exhibits with dozens of space flown covers from space stations Salyut 6, 7, MIR and the ISS or envelopes carried to the Moon by Apollo 11, 13, 14 and 15 were shown alongside the first attempt to exhibiting by a 11 year old girl from Brandenburg.

Those in the know were, however, not surprised by the keen interest in the exhibits shown. The President of a space stamp society from Western Europe confessed he was impressed by the large scope of the collections shown. It reached from Open Class through thematic exhibits up to collections in the documentary Astro class, he noted. Both in scale and scope, this was the largest space stamp exhibition of all times, a club president from another European Union country concluded.

Thus, an exhibit just awarded the “best exhibit in its class” at the Milan 2013 exhibition subsequently travelled to Berlin, along with its creator, Alec Bartos from Romania. Many of the German exhibits had been shown for the first time, or after a long period of inactivity.

Such enthusiasm calls for an encore: Participants at the informal meeting of the FIP The presence of two real-life Kovalyonok (with Savinkh) from a later mission and Jähn with Section on Astrophilately cosmonauts was obviously a Bykovsky from his Soyuz 31 flight suggested a similar main attraction for the crowds.

The first German in space, Sigmund Jähn, now 75 years old, exhibition should take place every five years, at a different presented an overview about his historic spaceflight to space place and in a different country each time. It also should not station Salyut 6 in 1978. His station commander at the time, only be a promotional exhibition like AstroPhil 2013, but a Vladimir Kovalyonok, contributed particularly entertaining competitive one, judged by both national as international anecdotes, which were not quite up to the level of political jurors. To see such a transnational exhibition recognized for correctness expected at the beginning of the 21st century ! Both future FIP Exhibitions, diplomatic talks with the appropriate the 50th Anniversary of the first woman in space, Valentina European body FEPA were still required, some Tereshkova, and the 35th anniversary of the first German in representatives cautioned. space were the anniversaries celebrated with the event.

Participants widely criticized the difficult career path to Asked by the moderator, space journalist Torsten Gemsa from become a juror on the international level. One delegate the Fliegerrevue aerospace monthly, why after the pioneering reported he had been a national juror for Astro since 1998, flight of Tereshkova only two more Russian women had flown but was still waiting for his promotion to FIP level. Another into space, 71-year-old Kovalyonok gave the old-fashioned delegate recalled that when at his association they once macho. Spaceflight was men’s business, Russian spacecraft had discussed who should aim at becoming a juror on the too few seats compared to the American space shuttle to host international level, he had been warned that he was probably women, and in any case, it was Russian man’s prerogative to already too old for the challenge: at “already” 40 years of age, protect their woman from danger and evil. Consequently, the list he might never reach the aim during his lifetime. “Let’s meet of females having spent record times in space has nine women at the crematorium then”, one delegate quipped wryly. from the US, and just one from Russia. The talk did not hurt the interest in the signing session thereafter: Kovalyonok was visibly The Federal Working Group on Space Philately moved that his name still attracted the interest of over 250 (Bundesarbeitsgemeinschaft “Weltraum Philatelie“ e. V.) in autograph hunters of all ages (and sexes). The two flyers signed the Federation of German Philatelists (BDPh) hosted the their names until the last autograph hunter was happy, and for exhibition jointly with the President of the FIP Section on Astrophilately, Igor Rodin from Moscow. The Federation of over 90 minutes of their time.

Berlin Stamp Clubs (Verband Berliner Philatelisten-Vereine), Where standard stamp exhibitions encounter empty corridors the Association of Russia/UdSSR Stamp Collectors Berlin between the rows of frames showing the collections, AstroPhil (Verein der Briefmarkenfreunde Rußland/UdSSR Berlin) and 2013 was altogether different. At all times, two, three or four the Russian House of Science and Culture were also partners collectors were assembling in front of a particularly interesting of this ambitious endeavour taking place on “ Cosmonautics exhibit, to discuss the covers shown, to listen to explanations of Day“, the annual celebration of the first manned space flight the exhibitors or to ask for tips. Even while the exhibition had in history in 1961. officially ended and the strong men from the Association of

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Royal Mail Celebrates 50 Years of Time Travelling Dr Who The legendary BBC TV sci-fi series Dr Who which began in November 1963 and with a gap of 15 years between 1989 and 2005 continues today was marked on 26th March with an issue of eleven stamps, one for each of the

metamorphosing eponymous hero’s forms. Dr Who has entertained generations was also marked with stamps for some of his most feared opponents, as shown below…...

Right and below (cropped) pages from Royal Mail’s First flyer for the issue.

Bottom : part of the article on the issue in The Philatelic Bulletin for March 2013, produced by Royal Mail.

At the centre of the mini-sheet left is a stamp for the Doctor’s ship—TARDIS

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The Museum That Rose From Its Ashes

The San Diego Air & Space Museum is situated in the Balboa Park (see end note). It was established in 1961 in the vacant Food and Beverage Building in the park and opened its doors for the first time in 1963. Although small in number, the items on display were impressive: e.g. the Navy’s first seaplane, a 1929 fleet model, and the original rocket engine from the Bell X-1.

ORBIT goes to America.

December 21, 2012 I visited the San Diego Air & Space Museum carrying the then current ASSS magazine, issue 95, October 2012. In front of the round entrance of the building there is erected a Lockheed A-12 Blackbird.

This spy plane greets you on arrival.

Inside, my taxi driver Mehdi (a former emigrant from Iran) and I were the first visitors that day. Most of the museum pieces are of course dedicated to air history, like the Leonardo da Vinci Ornithopter and the Wright Glider.

There is a World War I and a World War II gallery, but also a modern Jet & Space Age Gallery, including a flying replica of Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis.

by Bert van Eijck

The museum was an immediate success with almost half a million visitors entering the museum in the first sixteen months of operation. Because the collection grew and grew, the museum moved in 1965 to the larger Electric Building nearby but even that was too small after a few years so the City Council agreed that the museum to move into the historic Ford Building after a renovation.

Then disaster struck!

Before the move took place the museum and most of its contents were destroyed by a devastating fire in February 1978. “More than fifty aircraft and the museum’s extensive artifacts and archival collections were consumed in a matter of minutes”, we learn from a display board about the history of the museum.

But—the museum raised from its ashes like the mythological Phoenix. The citizens of San Diego were touched by the loss and a Recovery Fund was formed to raise money for the rebuilding. With strong support of the community the new museum was opened in 1980 with twenty-five aircraft and several mock ups of spacecraft.

Of course I was specially interested in space objects as there were mock ups of the Gemini spacecraft and the Apollo 9 Command Module. Driver Mehdi took pictures of me at several space vehicles. We were pictured together by the female museum photographer with old planes.

Nowadays the museum houses a collection of historic aircraft and spacecraft from all over the world. The museum also offers a 3D/4D theatre, interactive exhibits and a Space Shuttle simulator plus dynamic hands-on and ever-changing travelling exhibitions. There is also a wide variety of special activities: educational and outreach programmes, lectures and family days.

The museum’s library houses tens of thousands of books, aircraft and

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Let’s Celebrate 25 years of the A.S.S.S. - born in 1988 2000—Russia Celebrates 25 years of International Cooperation in Space Russia issued—on Cosmonautics Day— three stamps marking their increasing and increasingly successful cooperation with other nations in space since the watershed event of ASTP in 1975, which is illustrated in the 2r issue.

The 3r vale displays flags of all countries involved in the then planned space station, including those of the ESA countries, Japan and Canada. Since at the time of issue the ISS was comprised only of Zarya and Unity modules clearly the illustration in the design is of its planned future development. The craft shown prominently just above the “P” of the country name is Zarya , as shown in this photo taken from STS-88.

equipment manuals, personal papers and more than twomillion images and videos of importance to aviation and space history. And last but not least: the San Diego Air & Space Museum is an affiliate of the famous Smithsonian Institution.

Balboa Park Balboa Park is the main park in San Diego (1.5 million inhabitants) and houses 15 museums, 10 gardens and a famous Zoo. It is named after Vasco Nunez de Balboa from Spain who organized an expedition to inland Panama in 1513. He was the first European to see in that year the waters of the Pacific Ocean from the American continent.

To celebrate the opening of the Panama Canal in 1914 and draw economic attention to the first US port of call on the West Coast, Balboa Park was transformed into a brilliant attraction. Spanishcolonial buildings became park landmarks. A new Balboa Park exposition was launched to help alleviate effects of the Great Depression.

This was the California-Pacific Exposition 193536. The architect Richard Requa designed buildings inspired by Aztec, Mayan and Pueblo Indian themes. Most of it is still to admire in the park.

The third design carries the flags of from left the US, Russia, Norway and Ukraine over the legend “Morskoi Start” - “Sea Launch” and the main design shows a maritime platform with a missile taking off from it with the command ship Sea Launch Commander in the background.

The sea-based launch system Ocean Odyssey shown in the photo above means the rockets can be fired from the optimum position on Earth's surface, considerably increasing payload capacity and reducing launch costs compared to land -based systems. Sea Launch was established in 1995 as a consortium of four companies from Norway, Russia, Ukraine and the United States, managed by Boeing. The first rocket was launched in March 1999.

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The Hunt For A Space Monument by Bert van Eijck This story begins – remarkably – at the end. The hunt was over now, the goal reached. It was January 2013. The place: Bayfront Park, Miami, Florida, USA. The weather: sunny with a full blue sky.

Finally I stood in front of my target destination which I had journeyed about 8000 km for and sought for more than half a day : the Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster Memorial.

It was not what you would expect for the sculpture is a white, metal pipe tower that rises 105 feet into the air resembling a twisted radio tower. The Japanese designer Isamu Noguchi alludes with this monument to the double helix DNA molecule and the twisting contrails of NASA’s doomed spacecraft. At the bottom of the tower is a solid granite triangle engraved with the names of the seven Challenger astronauts. There also is a poem, reading “O ivory cinder open petals soar the space path, flesh spirits, heroes”.

We do all remember that day, January 28, 1986, when Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds into its flight leading to the death of its seven crew members, whose names will not be forgotten: Greg Jarvis, Christa McAuliffe, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Judith Resnik, Michael J. Smith, Dick Scobee.

The spacecraft disintegrated over the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of central Florida at 11.39 a.m. Exactly at that time three years later there were 73 seconds of silence in Bayfront Park when the memorial was officially unveiled in a ceremony. “This monument represents the past, but it also represents the future”, said Florida Congressman Bill Nelson, who had returned on the Columbia shuttle mission just ten days before the Challenger flight. “We all know the past, but can only dream of the future”, Nelson said. “So I offer this dream: that space be the fertile ground for peace where adversaries can join together to reach out for the heavens.”

died in 1988 without seeing the work completed. It is Noguchi’s last public monument. The memorial cost the city of Miami $250,000 of which schoolchildren raised $65,000 as a tribute to Christa McAuliffe, the teacher who died on Challenger. Another $105,000 came from private gifts.

Now finally to the beginning of this story. Reading at home (the Netherlands) in a travel guide about countries and places for my coming cruise from San Diego to Florida via the Mexican Riviera, Guatemala and Panama Canal, I came to the chapter on Miami. One sentence struck me: “Challenger memorial in Bayfront Park”.

It was also mentioned on a Miami map. This I had to see, because in 1989 I visited the Challenger astronauts monument at the national cemetery Arlington in Washington D.C.* I had to be patient for the cruise started in December and ended in January. The disembarkation port was Fort Lauderdale where my wife and I stayed for a few days in the Westin hotel. After sightseeing in the town itself – doing the famous River Walk – we planned to go to Miami the next day. Neither train nor bus nor car-hire was recommended. So we took a taxi ride to Miami, 38 kilometres up north with our driver Jean, original from Haiti. We arrived at Bayfront Park and asked for the memorial.

Nobody knew, but something else was worse: the park was closed for

The memorial also serves as a tribute to its creator, sculptor Isamu Noguchi, (left) who 24

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several days for a private event. Sneaking into the park was not possible, there were guards at every entrance. I tried to persuade them, ‘coming from Europe especially for the memorial in the park’. It was in vain.

Let’s Celebrate 25 years of the A.S.S.S. - born in 1988

Because Bayfront Park is big we drove around as far as possible. There was a hop-on hop off bus facility available, with a guide outside. He was the one who knew about the Challenger memorial. And what a relief: he explained the monument was NOT in the park, but NEAR the park, in front of the huge Intercontinental Hotel, the skyscraper we could see half a mile away. It took some time to go there because of the traffic and the complicated One-Way system. There was no memorial to see, so I went to the doorman of the hotel, who pointed out to a metal pipe tower left of the hotel. “That’s it,” he said.

Meanwhile our driver Jean had a big quarrel with a bunch of taxi drivers of Yellow Cab Miami in front of the hotel. There even the possibility of fisticuffs (!!), because our taxi had come from Fort Lauderdale and was not permitted in Miami. So, very quickly some photos (not the best!) of the memorial were taken and then we rushed off with our taxi.

A narrow escape, Jean said.

After visiting downtown Miami we conclude the day with an air boat ride through the Everglades, an amazing trip through swamps with colorful never seen birds and even alligators. *Related articles From the same author in ORBIT available on our website: No. 33, March 1997: Space Museums of the World: 2,(Bert van Eijck in the States), Smithsonian Air &S pace Museum+ Cemetery Arlington No.87, October 2010: Old Photo Makes New(s) Story (Scandal with graves on Arlington Cemetery)

The Columbia tragedy - 2003 The most memorable astrophilatelic incident of 2003, though for all the wrong reasons was the loss of the first ever launched shuttle with all seven STS 107 crew returning from a rare mission—not to the ISS—on 16th January.

The Columbia Accident Investigation Board determined the failure was caused by a piece of foam that broke off during launch and damaged the thermal protection system components (reinforced carbon-carbon panels and thermal protection tiles) on the leading edge of the left wing of the orbiter. During re-entry the damaged wing slowly overheated and came apart, eventually leading to loss of control and disintegration of the vehicle.

The result of this catastrophe was that the US launched no more flights until 26th July 2005. Below the front page of The Scottish Mail on Sunday for February 2nd.

Picture from November 1989: Author and the Challenger astronauts monument at Arlington; seven figures in bronze (left). At right a plaque honoring US-soldiers killed in action saving hostages in Iran.

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The Naming of the Neptune’s Moons

Neptune has thirteen known moons, by far the largest of which is Triton, discovered by William Lassell on October 10, 1846, just 17 days after the discovery of Neptune itself.

Over a century passed before the discovery of the second natural satellite, called Nereid. Neptune's moons are named for minor water deities in Greek mythology.

In order of distance from Neptune, the regular moons are Naiad, Thalassa, Despina, Galatea, Larissa and Proteus. In order of their distance from the planet, the irregular moons are Triton, Nereid, Halimede, Sao, Laomedeia, Neso and Psamathe, a group that includes both prograde and retrograde objects.

Triton is the only large moon in the Solar System with a

retrograde orbit, i.e. it orbits the opposite direction to its planet's rotation. At 2,700 km in diameter, it is the seventh-largest moon in the Solar System. Because of its retrograde orbit and composition similar to Pluto's, Triton is thought to have been captured from the Kuiper belt. Triton has a surface of mostly Voyager 2 photomosaic of frozen nitrogen, a mostly water ice Triton's sub-Neptunian hemisphere crust, an icy mantle and a substantial core of rock and metal.

Triton is named after the Greek sea god Triton (Τρίτων), the son of Poseidon (the Greek god comparable to the Roman

Table and diagram at top ex Philip’s Atlas of the Universe (1999) ed Patrick Moore. Extract above from DK Universe (2005). Text about the moons edited from various Wiki entries.

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Neptune) and Amphitrite. The name was first proposed by Camille Flammarion in his 1880 book Astronomie Populaire.

According to myth Triton lives with parents in a golden palace in the depths of the sea. He rides the waves on horses and sea monsters and carries a twisted conch shell upon which he blows violently or gently to stir or calm the waves. Triton is half-man, half-fish, having a human torso.

In Greece 2009 Triton (the shape-shifting Old Man of the Sea) is depicted struggling with Heracles (Hercules) who demanded information about the location of the Hesperides in order to complete his Eleventh Labour—stealing the Golden Apples that grew there.

that story. A statue of “beautiful Galatea” is depicted on the 1995 Austrian stamp commemorating composter Franz von Suppé (1819-95) who wrote an operetta on the topic— Die schöne Galathée, first produced in 1863.

Naiad also known as Neptune III, is the innermost satellite of Neptune, named again not after one character but after the Naiads of Greek legend who were a type of nymph (female spirit) who presided over fountains, wells, springs, streams, brooks and other bodies of fresh water. (The Oceanids were their sea water equivalent).

Shown on Monaco 1948 is a statue of Salmacis, a naiad associated with the town of Halikarnossos.

Proteus also known as Neptune VIII, is the second largest Neptunian moon, and Neptune's largest inner satellite.

Discovered by Voyager 2 spacecraft in 1989, it is named after Proteus, the shape-changing sea god of Greek mythology. Proteus circles Neptune in a nearly equatorial orbit at the distance of about 4.75 equatorial radii of the planet.

Proteus, shown on the left of this 1992 issue from Greece was a prophetic sea-divinity, also (confusingly) sometimes known as The Old Man of the Sea.

More about Finbar Kenny* Gene Fricks Editor of The Collector’s Club Philatelist of New York which has now asked for Library copies of Orbit writes in March…..I have gotten to the Jan 2007 issue of Orbit and found your piece on Finbar Kenny. Kenny has been dead at least a decade so you can say what you want about him. As long as you told the truth, in the U.S., no libel action would have succeeded in any event. I doubt that what your correspondent had to say about him would have been any stranger that what is known.

Nereid, also known as Neptune II, is the third-largest moon of Neptune. It has a highly eccentric orbit. Nereid was discovered by Gerard Kuiper in 1949 and was the second moon of Neptune to be discovered. He proposed the name in the report of his discovery. It is named not after one mythological character but after the Nereids, sea-nymphs of Greek mythology and attendants of the god Neptune

Kenny's last escapade was in, I believe, Christmas Island in the Pacific, where he got himself involved in a coup to overthrow the local govt and was sentenced to death by firing squad. At the behest of the Americans, Kenny's sentence was commuted and he was shipped off.

Kenny, termed the 'philatelic impresario' by one writer, seems to have first gotten involved in philatelic chicanery in the late 1940s with the Netherlands East Indies/Indonesia cinderellas. He was part of a philatelic cabal in New York that involved some wellknown dealers who wanted to be Nicholas Seebecks.

Doris, shown on Cyprus 1989 was mother of many of the Nereids.

Galatea also known as Neptune VI, is the fourth closest inner satellite of Neptune. It is named after Galatea, one of the Nereids of Greek legend. Galatea was discovered in late July 1989 from the images taken by the Voyager 2 probe. It was given the temporary designation S/1989 N 4.

* Kenny was behind many of the excessive issues from the Trucial States in the late 1960’s and your editor wrote about him in the issue mentioned.

Galatea ("she who is milk-white") is a name popularly applied to the statue carved of ivory by Pygmalion of Cyprus, which then came to life, in Greek mythology; in modern English the name usually alludes to 27

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Classical Constellations It is over ten years since Orbit published Ian Ridpath’s well –received series on Constellations— A Starring Role, beginning with “Magnificent Orion” in issue 48 for January 2001. All these articles are now available through the stock of back numbers on our website and interested readers should also see Star Tales and Lectures within Ian’s own website— www.ianridpath.com—for other material on astronomy and stamps, e.g. http://www.ianridpath.com/startales

Now further exploiting his interest in stamps about space and depicting classical mythology your editor presents a new series referencing all the stamps we believe to exist in relation to the best known constellations and the classical legends related to them—using extracts and illustrations from the DK publication Universe (2005).

Liebig card

A big thank you to Margaret Morris for help with obtaining some of the stamp images 28

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Ex Harvey Duncan’s checklist as issued with Orbit in June 2000 Yr

SG no

Showing Plough and Pole Star – not UMi

Gabon Scout stamp does not show UMi correctly—spot the error !

Left : Poster stamp Below: Faroes Christmas seal

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More UMi Philatelic Media

Arie Olckers (1926—2013) Bert van Eijck pays Tribute to “Astro Arie”

The Paris meter mark is an example of Ursa Minor and Crux Australis being used together to symbolise a link between northern and southern hemispheres. It is from a Paris Bank which does/did business in South America.

The man who brought astrophilately to the Netherlands died on Friday, May 3rd, 2013. Arie Olckers, founding father of our Dutch sister space society RFC Nederland, passed away aged 86. Two sentences on the funeral card marked his personality: “I have had a good life” (ik heb een goed leven gehad) and “It is done with the soprano” (Het is gedaan met de sopraan).

Arie worked as a facility manager at ESTEC* in Noordwijk.

There he became a member of the internal astrophilately society, strictly for ESTEC personnel for safety reasons.

With other ESTEC people Arie founded an astrophilatelic society open to all and so Ruimtevaart Filatelie Club (RFC) Nederland was born.

From the beginning Arie was the driving force, organizing meetings and exhibitions. He even managed events inside the ESTEC buildings. As a typical citizen of Amsterdam Arie was always friendly, co-operative and of humorous disposition. His personal life was shadowed by his disabled wife, who only could go outside only in a wheelchair and Arie wheeled her about as much as possible. After her death some years ago Arie married again, and became more than ever involved with astrophilately. Day after day he was engaged with it, at stands to promote RFC all over the country, to participate in astro exhibitions all over Europe, even to Moscow and Bucharest. For many years Arie was RFC president and therefore participant in national philatelic boards. He linked with sister societies in Belgium, French and Germany and made this way many friends. He often showed his awarded collections of the Space Shuttle and Rockets of World War II. For many years Arie also edited Nieuwsbrief our sister journal in Dutch and was a regular reader of Orbit.

Six years ago, on the occasion of his 80th birthday, many astro-friends came together to congratulate their “Astro Arie”. On Friday May 10th most of these same friends congregated again at the cremation ceremony to pay their respects to a Great Astrophilatelist. * ESTEC: See Orbit Nr. 31, November 1996 “Space Behind the Dunes.”

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What Harvey Duncan’s astrophilatelic collection raised at auction* * 14th March 2013

Who Bought much of Harvey’s Collection ?

Thanks to our London member Jon Brown, we can reveal that David Griffiths, the major UK thematic specialist who trades as Thames Themes, purchased a very large proportion of the material.

Your Editor spoke with David at Scottish Congress held at Perth in mid-April and he provided more details of his purchases so if you are looking to purchase good quality material do have a look at his website. www.thamesthemes.com/

thamesthemes@aol.com

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SKYLAB : 40 years on The forgotten space mission from a philatelic viewpoint

By R.W.Catto, Secretary, Edinburgh Philatelic Society During the summer of 1970, not long after I joined the design drawing office at Honeywell Radiation Center in Lexington Massachusetts a major new contract was received to design and build a multispectral scanner for the Skylab missions.

I spent almost two years working on this project (S192) which was to be fitted into the United States of America’s first space lab.

Apollo missions were still ongoing but it had been decided to stop after Apollo 17.

This meant there were still some Apollo capsules available for other missions.

Three were used in the Skylab Project and a fourth for the joint USA & USSR Apollo – Soyuz mission.

NASA did not continue with the numbering system after Apollo 17 mission to the moon. Despite this fact, there are stamps/miniature sheets referring to Apollo 18 on the Apollo – Soyuz mission.

For the Skylab missions, Skylab 1 was the Lab itself and Skylab 2 was the launch of crew 1. The second and third crew missions were numbered Skylab 3 and 4. However many Philatelic cover makers issued Skylab 1, 2 & 3 covers for the manned missions only. This has caused some confusion with the public and philatelists when they have a cover for say Skylab (crew) 2 but a recovery cover for that mission being Recovery Skylab 3. One has to go by the mission dates to ensure you have a matching set.

Skylab was designed for long duration missions.

Its objectives were to prove that humans could live and work in space for extended periods of time and to expand one’s knowledge of our solar system and astronomy from outside of the Earth’s atmosphere. Despite some early mechanical problems, three visits each with a three-man crew took place, with the lab being occupied for over 171 days. During the three manned missions close to 300 scientific and technical experiments, including human adaptability to zero gravity, solar observations and detailed Earth resources experiments took place.

It should be noted that while the USA landed a man on the moon before the USSR, the Soviet Union was first in deploying a space station with the launch of Salyut 1 in April, 1971. The first three man crew in Soyuz 10 to go to Salyut 1 were unable to dock with the station so the mission was aborted. The second attempt, again by three men in Soyuz 11 managed to dock and the cosmonauts spent 23 days in 32

the Space lab, breaking the record of the longest manned space flight. However, tragically, this mission ended disaster with all three crew killed during re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere Salyut 1 was deliberately destroyed and in total lasted less than 6 months. It re-entered the atmosphere in October of the same year.

But Skylab remained in orbit for 2,249 days. I noted on a web site that when Skylab finally returned to earth some parts which did not burn up in the atmosphere and crash landed in Western Australia. The local town apparently sent a clean-up bill to the USA Government but at the time it was still unpaid. During 2012 I met an Australian stamp collector who lives in Western Australia and has seen the Skylab parts mounted on a plinth at a petrol station in the out back The launch of Skylab (unmanned) took place on 14th May 1973 aboard a two stage Saturn V launch vehicle, as for the moon rocket on the Apollo programme.

During the launch several problems arose which threatened the entire mission. A little after lift off the meteoroid shield which also serves as a heat shield for the space station too regulate the inside temperature was ripped off by atmospheric drag. At this time it also damaged one of Skylab’s two solar panels. As a result a lot of work would have to be carried out by ground crew and the first crew to make the lab safe and habitable. Some of this damage is seen in the USA 10c stamp (SG 1527) issued one year after Skylab’s launch.

Missing solar panel heat shield

For over a week engineers worked to devise repairs required to overcome the damage caused after launch.

The lab was manoeuvred to have the Apollo Telescope Mount solar panels face the sun to provide as much electricity as possible.

On 25th May the first crew were launched to Skylab. Led by Charles C. Conrad jr., they made substantial repairs including the installation of an umbrella to provide a heat shield. By early June the workshop was in operation. With the other two crew members, Paul j.

Weitz, Pilot and Joseph P. Kerwin, Scientist Pilot they conducted solar astronomy and Earth resources

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experiments, medical studies and five student experiments.

This mission lasted 28 days breaking the Salyut mission in 1971 It has been difficult to find, but enjoyable searching for Skylab stamps. I spent some time browsing the internet and found a list of relevant material but it took many searches of dealers stock at a number of fairs, including Stampex, York and Scotex to name a few. Other than the USA (above) they have not appeared in our philatelic society exchange packet.

One or two were found in our local stamp dealers in Edinburgh and Glasgow. Most dealers were very helpful, with one at York Stamp & Coin fair offering to check stock back at base. An email told me he would have some covers for me and would bring them to Scotex. All bar one are in my display. The odd one was a duplicate. There are still some to find such as Congo SG 390/391 from 1973. I have only acquired a little over two dozen stamps with Skylab and some of these stamps are only available in miniature sheets or larger sheets of 10 – 20 stamps.

Hence the title of this article, “The forgotten space mission from a philatelic viewpoint” : in comparison to the next US Manned mission, Apollo-Soyuz Joint Project where stamps are quite plentiful.

It is the earth resource experiment which I am going to highlight, as this experiment was designed and built by Honeywell Radiation Center in Lexington, Massachusetts.

The following pictures are taken at HRC prior to delivery to NASA.

Romania SG 4419 showing Skylab in Earth Resource Mapping Mode And Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus with a thermal map from Skylab

Picture 1 right shows both the External and internal Scanners while picture 2 below is the internal scanner mounted on heavy duty shock absorbers without its cover and control panel prior to shipping to NASA. A colour picture of these is shown below.

As one of the team of draughtsman in the design drawing office I was involved in many of the parts in the scanner.

The main areas were the interface plate (shown in reddish /brown in B below) to which both internal and external scanners are mounted. Both, the internal and external covers and the explosive bolt mechanism, for opening the door of the external cover were other areas of work. I was also involved in the assembly drawing of the main optical system shown in picture A. Another area I

S192 Multispectral Scanner

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was involved with was the design of test equipment to use while the scanners were in a vacuum chamber to simulate outer space. This was really interesting and a new area to work in.

S-192 (Multispectral Scanner), Objectives: to assess the feasibility of multispectral techniques, developed in the aircraft programme, for remote sensing of Earth Resources from space. Specifically, attempts were made at spectral signature identification and mapping of ground truth targets in agriculture, forestry, geology, hydrology, and oceanography. The scanner utilized a 30 cm reflecting telescope with a rotating mirror in the image plane.

The telescope and mirror were mounted outside the Multiple Docking Adapter (MDA) Spectral range: 0.4-12.5 µm; number of spectral bands = 13. Detectors were silicon in the lower bands and Photoconductive HgCdTe in the higher bands.

Since the original thermal detector (Y-3) had less than the specified sensitivity, a more sensitive detector (X-5) was installed in January 1974 during the Skylab 4 mission. The checkout of this instrument was accomplished during January 15 to 17, 1974. To enable the new detectors to be fitted by crew three. Gerald Carr - commander, Ed Gibson – Science Pilot & Bill Pogue - Pilot, visited HRC for instruction and demonstrations on making the necessary change.

Following our work which was well ahead of the launch date of 14 May 1973; NASA invited a member of staff to the launch of Apollo 15. This was for staff who had worked over a certain number of hours on S192. Unfortunately not I, but my friend Joe Corsini, also from the Design Drawing Office, was the lucky winner. But possibly it was for the best as the launch was within days of my birthday and we had family on holiday from the UK. I would not have been popular going away.

Liberia From set of 6 SG 1176/82 USA From Block of 8 SG1886/93 Ascension SG185/6 Thermal Photo taken by 2nd crew from 240 miles up

as a galley and a shower, the water being sucked out by vacuum system.

CREW TWO

CREW ONE The first crew were launched 25th May 1973. The flight duration was 28 days and 50 minutes, breaking the endurance record set by Salyut 1. It covered 404 orbits and 392 experiment hours were completed; three EVAs totalled six hours, 20 minutes. Skylab had some home comforts, such 34

Second crew, launched 28th July 1973 and orbited the earth 858 times in their record breaking space endurance of a 59 day mission during which time they carried out 1.081 hours of Solar and Earth experiments. They had three EVA’s covering 13 hours 43 minutes. The astronauts had to leave the spacecraft to retrieve film from the ATM (Apollo Telescope Mount), this task carried out oin the final EVA of the mission. Crew II was Alan Bean – Commander, Jack Lousma – Pilot and Owen Garriot – Scientist Pilot. Recovery was on 25th September 1973

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Launch of Skylab II above and right recovery here Skylab II, & Below Skylab III, though the dates are the same.

Antigua/Barbuda SG 1400 from sheet of 20 StVincent/G SG ?? From sheet of 9

CREW 3 The third manned crew was launched 16th November 1973 and covered 1,214 orbits of Earth in 84 days. One of their major observations was monitoring Comet Kohoutek and making many other observations and experiments. Their first EVA was to reload the ATM Film. The Christmas EVA set a new space walk record. February 3rd 1974 Carr & Gibson took the last Skylab space walk of 5 hours 19 minutes to retrieve all the film footage from the ATM. Crew III was Gerald Carr commander, Ed Gibson – Science Pilot & Bill Pogue – Pilot.

Recovery of the then longest manned space flight was 8 th February 1974.

I think my favourite cover is one of crew Three, below It has a metal plate as a cachet and a Skylab postmark dated on launch day at KSC and on an Airmail envelope.

My favourite Stamp is the 1983 Hungary Miniature sheet SG MS2835, shown below right, which shows Skylab in Earth Resource Mapping Mode

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A coloured strip, as in the yellow stripe in the Hungary MS on the previous page, covered the North East to South West of USA, including Lexington Massachusetts.

This was presented to Honeywell and mounted on the Atrium wall in Building one.

We were frequently given time and direction when Skylab was visible in our area and on several occasions we Astronaut on EVA Hungary SG 3127 were able to track it moving across the sky. On one occasion, with friends at a drive-in movie, we went to the concession stand at about the time Skylab was flying overhead. On returning to the car we saw it and pointed up, someone asked what we could see, and as word spread and curiosity took hold dozens of people were leaving their cars and the film to watch live space action overhead. It was good fun.

Grenada / Gren :150th Anniversary of Jules Verne 1828 – 1905 SG MS331 Gibraltar : Space mapping from Skylab over Straits of Gibraltar SG MS399 The stamp in the MS also comes as a12p in sheets of 10 with Skylab in the margins

Four Space Achievements on a SG MS330 with Skylab SG 3329 on the far right and in the correct configuration. A number of stamps issued have either both solar panels deployed as it should have been or one deployed on the wrong side. It can be confusing.

The Lab solar panel is on the opposite side from that shown on the USA stamp SG1527 and the Dominican Sheet above, on this unidentified Congo Miniature Sheet.

Maldives MS 2504 Skylab top right Ras-al-Khaima unidentified artist’s impression of Skylab

From Guyana MS 4187—a sheet of nine with Skylab in the centre bottom row SG4176

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Skylab centre right in this St Vincent and the Grenadines History of Space Exploration MS Not in SOW 2009 MS 1302 (1of3) Sierra Leone with Skylab centre left

Skylab top left on Rep ‘l Madagasikara Not in SOW 2009 Skylab bottom left on Rep ‘l Madagasikara Not in SOW 2009

Uganda with Skylab SG 1831 bottom row 2nd from Left 1997 issue SG1818/33 also in 2 MS’s This one contains 1826/33

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Maldives Copernicus & Skylab SG491 Marshall Islands a Decade of Detente & discovery SG 1239/53 Skylab 2nd row left Below an issue from Gabon with Skylab centre bottom Below right Gibraltar with 10 x SG 398, a

See also article on Skylab by your Editor in this past issue, now available on our website along with scores of other past issues.

Overleaf Harvey Duncan’s Skylab checklist issued in 2001

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Harvey Duncan’s checklist as issued with Orbit in January 2001

Spanish Private Post Issues

Spanish member Antoni Rigo sends us news and images of recently issued Space stamps from Spain, similar in type to US Zazzle issues and those shown in a recent Orbit article by Jurgen Esders about German private issues.

Antoni, who is the Spanish Astrophilately Chairman comments, “In my opinion I think it is important to inform to other astrocollectors about customized or personalized Spanish stamps (equal that Personalisierte Marke in Germany, Austria, Iceland and other countries as USA) and how this postal stationary is absolutely private and not official.

For more info about these Tusello issues contact Antoni at arigo@viajesurbis.com See more overleaf 39

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Spanish Private Post Stamps

MASAT 1, Hungary`s First Satellite

Further advice from Antoni Rigo….

“Please, note that Spanish stamp pictured in Orbit Jan’13 page 35 depicting another astronaut than Neil Armstrong is a customized or personalized stamp, i.e, a private stamp equal as Personalisierte Marke in Germany, Austria or the Zazzle stamps in USA. “All customized or personalized Spanish stamps (known as TU SELLO) are easily distinguishable because they are always the same format: No postal face value but A (that pays for domestic rate, 0,37 Euros currently), A is always out of the image and the words TU SELLO appears always. The stamps can be ordered in horizontal or vertical format and there are not any catalogue neither not any postal announcement. So, first day of issue can’t be known. Spanish stamps TU SELLO are private and not official, are valid for mail use, but are rarely seen in the correspondence and in the exhibit pages.

Masat 1, the very first Hungarian satellite, was launched on February 12, 2012, as a secondary payload of the maiden flight of the Vega launch vehicle, reports Nik Steggall.

To commemorate Masat being successfully placed into orbit, the Hungarian post office issued a stamp, a first day cover and a special frank, on the 12th April 2012.

The stamp issuing ceremony was held at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics. At the same time as the stamp ceremony, the Hungarian Central Bank issued a unique commemorative coin.

“Some TU SELLO involved space areas are shown here as sample.

The stamp shows the Masat satellite against the Earth and the Hungarian national flag.

“Furthermore the postal stationary published in same page is too private. It is a pre-stamped envelope (blank cover) available in any post office on which an image has been added lately using a domestic printer”.

Masat is a cubesat of 10cm, built by the students of the Budapest University.

It was designed to survive launch and to be able to orbit the Earth between a height of 308 to 1,451 kilometres for at least three months.

How to Download Orbit to an iPad…..

Following a member’s query I am happy to publicise the advice on how to do this from our Webmaster Derek Clarke: “The best way to download for the iPad is open your email on the iPad with the links or “codes” provided from me or through Jeff and then click the issue you want.

“This will open the web page the link is on the that issue of Orbit. Next click the link for the Orbit download (don't click the links for the different parts) and the download should start straight away.

It will take a minute or two to download and when finished it will open. Then hold your finger on the issue of Orbit until you see “open with” and then select iBooks and it will be saved there. This works because I have done this on my own iPad”.

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A light-weight camera was installed on the satellite to take pictures of the Earth. Masat also contains a radio which operates in the 70 centimeter amateur band so that any radio amateur can receive telemetric data.

FDC below to Nik, signed by members of the MASAT development team.