Mail by Missile
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Mail by Missile Nancy A. Pope, Curator of Postal Operations Smithsonian National Postal Museum
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Transcript of Mail by Missile
Mail by MissileNancy A. Pope, Curator of Postal Operations
Smithsonian National Postal Museum
National Postal MuseumThe National Postal Museum is located in the old Post Office building next to Union Station in Washington, D.C.
The museum is open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., except December 25.
Admission is free.
America in 1959
America in 1959
America in 1959[The Soviets will be]
dropping bombs on us from space like kids dropping rocks onto cars from freeway
overpasses.Lyndon B. Johnson,
US Senate Majority Leader, 1957
The Idea
Arthur E. Summerfield, U.S. Postmaster General
The Idea
The Idea
GroundworkSeptember 16, 1958
Regulus II fired from the U.S.S. Grayback (SSG-547)
May 1, 1959
Regulus I land launch, California
The Regulus I
Photograph courtesy of Ronald Phillipi
Loading Regulus missile aboard USS Barbero at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, 1960.
The Regulus I
Loading Regulus missile aboard USS Barbero at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, 1960.
Photograph courtesy of Ronald Phillipi
USS Barbero
Regulus I missile onboard the USS Barbero
How it Worked
Lt. Cdr. Carlos Dew, Captain of the USS Barbero and Postmaster General Summerfield watch as the Regulus I missile mail is loaded aboard the submarine.
How it Worked
One of the two Regulus I missile
containers used on the June 8, 1959 flight.
How it Workedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLrA8_5K_Dc
Or
http://tinyurl.com/n2rl4l
Guidance
Red Bird Lands
Postmaster General Summerfield, flanked by Navy Capt. Arnold Schade, Lt. Cdr. Carlos Drew, and Deputy Postmaster General Edson Sessions.
Success!
Postmaster General Summerfield and Deputy Postmaster General Sessions
Success!
Front and back of one of the missile mail envelopes.
Delivery
Collectors Get AngryI have been collecting First Day Covers for the past 10 years . . . Being a taxpayer and financing in part, at least, this historic firing, I feel that I should be given the opportunity to obtain one of the First Day Covers along with the other 2,999 people.
John Gagliardi, Lyndhurst, NJ
Collectors Get Angry
My good friend Arthur Godfrey tells me he is quite sure if I write you personally, I would get one.Wm. C. Notmeyer, San Francisco, CA
I have enclosed 20 cents to purchase one of these covers. If that is too much money, please keep the rest as my donation to the efforts.David Skerry, Medford, MA
Substitutes
I believe we will see Missile Mail developed to a significant degree before man has reached the moon.
Guided missiles may ultimately provide a solution to problems of swifter mail delivery for international mails, as well as a supplementary high-priority service to big population areas.
Arthur E. Summerfield, Postmaster GeneralJune 6, 1959
Big Dreams
Harsh Reality
Mail by Missile
www.postalmuseum.si.edu
