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Editorial

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publication should be with the Editor.

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ASSS website at URL:

www.asss.utvinternet.com/

ISSN 0953 1599 THE JOURNAL OF THE ASTRO SPACE

STAMP SOCIETY Issue No 82 June 2009

Patron:

Cosmonaut Georgi Grechko, Hero of the Soviet Union

COMMITTEE

Chair : Margaret Morris, 55 Canniesburn Drive, Bearsden, Glasgow

GS1 1RX (E-mail: MMorris671@aol.com)

Hon. Secretary: Brian J.Lockyer, 21, Exford Close,Weston-Super-Mare,

Somerset BS23 4RE

(E-mail : brian.lockyer@tesco.net)

Compiler of Checklist / Hon Treasurer / Postal Packet Organiser

Harvey Duncan,16, Begg Avenue, Falkirk, Scotland FK1 5DL

(E-mail: duncan1975@btinternet.com)

Orbit : Editor Jeff Dugdale, Glebe Cottage, Speymouth, Mosstodloch, Moray.

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

Webmaster Derek Clarke, 36 Cherryfield Road, Walkington,

Dublin 12 (E-mail: dclarke@utvinternet.com)

Postal Auction Organiser: David Saunders, 42 Burnet Road, Bradwell,

Great Yarmouth. NR31 8SL.

Overseas Representatives:

Australia: Charles Bromser, 37 Bridport Street, Melbourne 3205. Germany:Jurgen P. Esders, An der Apostelkirche 10, 10783 Berlin

Eire:Derek Clarke, 36 Cherryfield Rd, Walkinstown. Dublin 12. France: Jean-Louis Lafon, 23 Rue de Mercantour, 78310 Maurepas

Netherlands: Bart Beimers, NJ Haismasrt 7, 9061 BV Gierkerk Russia: Mikhail Vorobyov, 31-12 Krupskaya Str, Kostroma

United States: Dr Ben Ramkissoon, 3011 White Oak Lane, Oak Brook, Il 60521 USA

Life Members: UK - Harvey Duncan, George Spiteri, Ian Ridpath, Margaret Morris, Michael Packham, Dr W.R. Withey, Paul Uppington,

Jillian Wood. Derek Clarke (Eire,) Charles Bromser (Australia.) Tom Baughn (U.S.A.,) Ross Smith (Australia,)

Vincent Leung Wing Sing (Hong Kong.) Mohammed K.Safdar (Saudi Arabia)

Returning to the Moon ? As we go to print, the future of the American space programme is once again in the news with discussions

between President Obama and NASA’s likely new administrator, former astronaut General Charles Bolden

regarding finances and direction. Perhaps the Shuttle

will not be retired, after all.

We also note with pleasure and just a soupçon of irony

last month of the appointment of the first British ESA astronaut, Timothy Peak. Let us hope the U.K. can find

the money in these difficult times to make his dream come true sometime in the next few years.

Whatever, we must certainly applaud the amazing job

done by the crew of the last shuttle (STS-125) in

servicing and repairing the Hubble Space Telescope so giving it an extended lifespan of a further ten years or

so. By any accounts the work of Scott Altman and his crew has been utterly astonishing and a credit to human

endeavour.

We celebrate in this issue in as an original way as possible the achievements of three men and a huge

back-up crew in 1969, something which now seems to

be just a footnote in history. How old do you have to be for this event to have any real meaning to you rather

than just being a source of answers to quiz questions ? This will probably be the case until someone else gets to

the Moon and the chances are they will not be speaking English as their first language For all these space

missions—we must just wait and see.

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FROM ATOM TO NUCLEAR POWERED SPACECRAFT PART 4: NUCLEAR ENERGY Conclusion by John Beenen

Nuclear reactors after 1960 The third nuclear reactor in the United States and the

first large scale commercial PWR of 250 MW was

constructed in 1960 by Westinghouse in Yankee Rowe, New England and stayed in service until 1992 when it

was detected that the pressure vessel was severely corroded reducing the safety margins to undesirable

levels and that also steam generators showed severe

stress corrosion cracking and needed replacement. Complete dismantlement was only completed in 2005.

The site, however, will continue as a high level storage facility as all fuel remains will stay on the site.

In the meantime a BWR was built in Argonne National

Laboratory and this one, the ‘Dresden-1’ also of MW

level and designed by General Electric also went into service in 1960. The Canadians went in another

direction with their Candu-design which was constructed in 1962.

All these developments lead to a total of 103 reactors in the United States today supplying about 20% of the

energy demand. By 1984 nuclear energy achieved second place in

energy producing systems, after coal but before hydro-

electric power and natural gas.

France started with a gas-graphite design based upon the Magnox process operational in 1956. Based upon

the PWR design during the following decades they constructed a series of very successful power plants. At

this moment in France 59 nuclear reactors are in

operation supplying 75% of France’s energy demand. Relatively speaking with this amount France is still not

the largest user of nuclear energy : that is Lithuania with 80% of its demand.

The use of nuclear energy is not always accepted positively by the general public; In the area of Tricastin

south of Lyon for instance four nuclear reactors have been constructed within a relatively small area. The

wine originating from this area ‘Côte du Tricastin’ today bears the name ‘Côte Nucleaire’ as it is popularly called.

In 1956 also in England the first nuclear reactor was at Calder Hall, a 50 MW Magnox-type. This reactor

supplied energy until 2003. Calder Hall has the same location as the Windscale (later aka Sellafield) reactors.

At this moment in Britain some 19 reactors are active

supplying 20% of the energy demand. It is expected that most of these reactors will be outdated in 2023.

(428. Nuclear Power Plant,

Atommasch, USSR 1981, M5041)

In 1964 two Soviet power

plants came into service, one

of 100 MW RBMK in Beloyarsk in the Urals and one in

Novovoronezh in the southwest of Russia close to the Ukrainian border. A larger RBMK was built in 1973 in

the neighbourhood of Petersburg.

At the moment 31 reactors are in operation and three

under construction. There are plans for some replacements and many more to be built.

In summary, at the present there are 435 reactors in

31 countries (a figure which can vary somewhat due

to the sources you consutl) in service supplying altogether about 17% of the energy demand. All these

reactors together need 66.529 tons of uranium. 28 reactors are already under construction and plans have

been made for another 64. Proposals have been introduced for a further 158.

(429. Nuclear Power Plant Qinshan, China 1990,

Y3003)

But most of the 31

countries possess only one or two power plants. Apart

from France (59), the United States (103) and Japan (55), which are top of the bill, some other countries are

also pointed to nuclear power. So, India possesses 16,

and Canada 24 of which recently 6 have been suspended. South Korea has 20 power plants, Germany

426. Nuclear Power Plant Rio

III, Cordoba, Argentina 1982, Y1310

427. Nuclear Power Plant Trombay, India 1965

428. Nuclear Power Plant

Douglas Point, Canada 1966, Y373

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17, Ukraine 15, Sweden 10, Spain 8 and Belgium 7.

At the moment especially the Peoples Republic of

China follows an ambitious plan for the construction of 30 nuclear power plants to supply their expected need

of energy above their 10 active reactors, giving a

fivefold increase in nuclear capacity.

Some countries also possess power plants explicitly constructed for research and development. However in

some countries even for this application the amount is considerable such as: UK: 23, USA: 53, Japan:16, and

Canada:18.

Literature (References for all parts of this series)

De Volkskrant, 25 February 2006, Michael Persson, The eternal reverse side of the nucleus (Dutch) http://en.wikipedia.org/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_reactor Nuclear Reactor http://hep.uchicago.edu/cpl.html The First Pile http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/ Fermi I, breeder reactor a.o. http://nova.nur.umr.edu/ The History of Nuclear Energy www.aboutnuclear.org/ A brief History of Space Nuclear Power … www.anlw.anl.gov/anlw_history/general_history/gen_hist.html Nuclear History www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/ NERVA www.fusie-energie.nl/nieuws/ ITER www.iter.org/ Short history ITER www.lenr-canr.org/acrobat/ Cold Fusion for Dummies, E.Storms www.nrg-nl.com/public/hfr/22,html Radiation Normes www.pppl.gov/projects/ Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor www.thebulletin.org/ Atoms for Peace www.thinkquest.org/3471/nuclear_energy.htm Nuclear energy www.uic.com.au/ Uranium information center www.uic.com.au/nip50.htm Outline History of Nuclear Energy www-fusion.ciemat.es/fusion/ Cold Fusion, a Review (Dutch), N.J.Lopes Cardozo, B.P.van Milligen, Intermediair 26(1990);4:47 www-personal.umich.edu/~jmoilane/nuclear/Accidents.html Nuclear Power Plant Accidents

New Logo for ASSS Our Romanian member Alec Bartos who has been responsible for the design of several recent sets of stamps for t h e Rom an i an po s t a l authorities has very kindly designed a new black and red logo for our Society, with wh i ch the Commi t t ee members are delighted. Red “SSS” flames power the black “A” rocket and in the full name of the Society around

the initial letters are in red. Thanks very much to Alec for this beautiful design. Alec, of course, has also designed our current Apollo XI air mail etiquette. Incidentally Alec has just become a father for the first time and he is so proud of his son that he has made him a member of the Society, by far our youngest yet !! Amza-Stefan was born on 24th March : see below left

Recovery and Tracking Ship Cover Site Australian member Dr Ross J. Smith writes to inform

us of a change of location of his popular website…… My Recovery and Tracking Ship Cover site ran out of room so I've moved it to a larger and hopefully permanent site. It is now at http://recovery_ships.rossjsmith.com/ . This site will allow me to eventually add much more content to the site. Presently, I've added the main cachets and some covers from the Mercury program and I've also added Tracking Ship Covers to all the missions. The old site will still forward viewers to my new site, at least for a while.

ASTEROIDS Some Bits and Pieces

Society’s Youngest Member Ever !!

Amza-Stefan Bartos (b 24.3.09) with his first collection.

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IYA 2009 — International Year of Astronomy

In a feature originally aimed* at Scottish postcard collectors to encourage them to think about Astronomy as a theme, our Chair Margaret Morris traces the history and scope of one aspect of our hobby.

2009 has been designated by UNESCO as International Year of Astronomy. Perhaps you have never thought of

Astronomy as a postcard collecting theme, but it has a lot to commend it. I never cease to be amazed at the

number of cards that exist for this subject – and from nearly all categories such as street scenes, glamour,

photographic, humour, Cynicus, etc., etc.

As with any large subject, it really needs to be

subdivided to get it into some kind of manageable order. Over some sixty-five years of collecting this

theme I have worked out three main sections which

seem to be logical and I title these: 1. The Observables (the various sky objects which have always

existed for mankind to see), 2. The Observers (the people who, from all epochs, have searched the skies

and tried to make sense of what they saw) and 3. The Observations (the instruments and equipment used by

the observers).

1. The Observables This section includes a great

variety of objects and phenomena. The closest sky object is our beautiful Moon and there are many types

of cards which can be included. Starting with humorous

ones of courting couples with all sorts of captions, you

can work your way right up to telescopic views of the

Moon in various phases with particularly fine detail being shown at, for example, first quarter. A very

interesting class of postcards showing the Moon consists of hold-to-light cards and I have a number of

street scenes in various cities with Moons in the sky.

One of these days, when I have a little more time, I would like to sit down with a town plan of the various

places and just work out whether it would have been physically possible to see the Moon in the particular

position shown. For your own amusement, you can try this out with the Glasgow card showing George

Square!

Before leaving the vicinity of our home planet, we

should take a look at some phenomena visible from Earth. One class might be termed atmospheric and

here I would include the beautiful Aurorae (borealis and australis). Also within the atmosphere are the

tracks of Meteors (or shooting stars) which have

burned up in the atmosphere. The other class can be termed phenomena of motion and these would include

Eclipses and Transits. Quite a few cards depict a total solar eclipse which is one of nature’s grand

spectaculars.

Going a little further out, it is possible to find postcards

of all the Planets of the Solar System. Some of these

have been produced from the gorgeous images sent back by various spacecraft and provide a record of our

increasing knowledge of our near neighbours in space. There is even a set of cartoon cards produced by an

American company – Visual Vacations, Ink (yes, “Ink”). The example shown here includes the whole Solar

* Reprinted from the Newsletter of the Strathclyde Postcard Club by kind permission of the Commissioning Editor, Kenneth E. Norris.

Left: Joseph Asher card of courting couple and smiling moon. Postally used 1914 August 3. Right: Photographic card published by the Astronomical Society of Belgium. This shows the Mare Nectaris as the flat-looking circular feature at top, measuring some 300 km in diameter. Just below and to the right is a prominent crater named Theophilus which is about 100 km in diameter. There is no date of posting, but the card is an undivided back type.

W. Hagelberg card, undivided back. Postally

used 1902 August 27.

Unused card. © 1993 Visual

Vacations, Ink. “made on Mars”.

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System while other cards in the set home in on

individual Planets.

Still within the Solar System one attractive part of this section consists of Comets – and of course especially

Halley’s Comet. Most of you will remember its last

predicted visit in 1986 and everyone was well prepared for it and knew what was involved. However during the

1910 visit there was consternation when it was discovered that Earth would pass through the tail and

enterprising people were selling Comet Pills which would supposedly ward off any ill effects. Comic postcards exist

and a typical French example is shown with people

trying to escape into space.

Much further out, there are a number of cards

with beautiful images of Constellations and Galaxies. Many of them are photographic. Indeed, some recent

sets issued by or available from large observatories or similar establishments, show images produced in various

wavelengths which demonstrate striking differences to

the photographic images.

2. The Observers If you wish to go back to earliest times, then it is

possible to include some of the many postcards of such sites as Stonehenge, Callanish and so on. Even individual

standing stones may have acted as markers for various

astronomical events which had been noted over centuries of patient observation. Egyptian cards showing

the temple at Abu Simbel where the Sun penetrates on only one day of the year demonstrate that early

civilisations tracked its apparent motion in the sky. The

same applies for cards showing New Grange in Ireland and other sites.

Unfortunately there are not many individual

astronomers depicted on cards. This is in marked contrast to the philatelic side of my collecting activities

where numerous astronomers have appeared on stamp designs.

I would like to show you one “worthy” – Henry Andrews

(1743-1820). He was born of poor parents but at the age

of ten he had the opportunity of using a telescope and

quickly developed a natural

gift for astronomical calculation. Employed in very

humble jobs of various kinds, he managed to calculate

when to see the total solar

eclipse of 1764 April 1 and was able to demonstrate this

to a distinguished company which gained him much

favour. He later became for over 40 years one of the

calculators for the Nautical

Almanac and was also consulted on entries in Moore’s Almanac. He made it to the Dictionary of National

Biography.

The second astronomer is

represented by his monument and this might

come as a surprise. The austere granite monolith

was unveiled 1934

September 10 by Princess Arthur of Connaught and

dedicated by Sir James Jeans in Inverey near

Braemar to commemorate John Lamont (1805-1879)

who later achieved fame as

Johann von Lamont, Astronomer Royal of

Bavaria. Born in Corriemulzie, his

extraordinary story is that

when he was only 12 his father (a forester) died and he was sent to be

educated at the Scottish Benedictine monastery in Regensburg in Germany. He took his doctorate in

mathematics and physics in 1830, was appointed director of an observatory near Munich in 1835 and

professor of astronomy in 1852. He devised new

instruments for astronomy, meteorology and terrestrial magnetism and it was in this last field that

he perhaps became most famous. He was made a Knight of the Order of Merit of the Bavarian Court and

was thereafter known as Johann von Lamont. He

received many other honours from the various foreign

Publisher unknown. Perhaps the name or logo has been covered by the stamp. Divided back with message which translates as “Last greetings

before death”.

Valentine & Sons Real Photograph card ref. 218644. Unused.

card. Postally used 1905 October 16 London

Stereoscopic Company

Unused card, divided back. Inscribed “J. J. Bisset,

Photographers, Ballater”.

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Academies of Science. There is a statue in Munich and a

crater on the Moon is named in his honour.

3. The Observations Astronomy may be said to be the oldest of all the

sciences and yet uses instruments and techniques that

are at the cutting edge of technology. For this reason, the range of instruments is extremely broad – from just

a simple stick in the ground for measuring the Sun’s shadow and gaining an appreciation of the passage of

time, right up to the giant telescopes of today which study radiation from the sky in all wavelengths with the

aid of powerful computing equipment.

Some of the

e a r l y i n s t r umen t s

are objects of

g r e a t craftsmanship

as may be seen from the

card showing an Astrolabe.

These were

produced in what one

might call the Islamic period of Astronomy. Following the flowering of Greek philosophy (science), it was the

Islamic astronomers who kept the lamp of learning alive

during the Dark Ages. Astrolabes in various forms continued in use and were augmented by other tools –

also used by navigators and surveyors – such as the back-staff and Jacob’s staff. Examples of all these can

be found on postcards as well as beautiful Armillary

Spheres (skeleton models of the universe).

Telescopes of various kinds appear on postcards and of course it should not be forgotten that 2009 is the 400th

anniversary of the first telescopic observations. Invention of the telescope is obscure but it is known

that a Dutch spectacle-maker, Hans Lippershey,

produced a spy-glass c. 1609 and shortly afterwards James Harriot in England and Galileo Galilei in Italy

began looking at sky objects.

Some of the cards are photographic and from around

1910-1930 include such scenes as cutely-posed small dogs perched on a stool supposedly looking through a

telescope and proud amateur astronomers standing beside their treasured instruments in the back garden.

The card I have chosen to illustrate Telescopes is a “Gruss Aus” card from Leipzig (opposite) demonstrating

what one might call a commercial enterprise. Here we

see two handsome brass refractors set up at a street corner and advertising a day-time peep at Venus for 10

pfennig. Similar London scenes can be found on cards.

At a certain stage a telescope is no longer really

portable or easily moved from one site to another. More

stable, therefore permanent, mounting is required as

well as a proper shelter which can still permit the telescope to be turned easily to various sectors of the

sky. It is now that the choice of site becomes important.

At first astronomers used towers or the roofs of buildings and this tradition developed (especially

through the 19th century) into the present fashion for mountain-top astronomy. It is desirable that expensive

instruments should be sited as far above the adverse effects of Earth’s atmosphere as possible. The great

difficulties of construction and subsequent supply are

compensated by the quality of what is called “seeing”.

Some of the earliest observatories on mountain-tops were the Pic du Midi in the Pyrenees,

the Lick Observatory in California and of course the

famous Palomar Mountain Observatory also in California. A large number of cards exist for Mount

Palomar Observatory and the famous 200-inch Hale Telescope.

More recently there have been two other

favoured locations. One of these is in Chile and several

major facilities have located here including the European Southern Observatory (or ESO in the fashion

for initials). The other is on Hawaii where the most expensive collection of facilities is clustered round the

rim of what they hope is an extinct volcano on Mauna

Kea. This includes such elements as The United Kingdom Infra-Red Telescope (UKIRT) and the James

Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT). Many of these exciting structures have appeared on postcards.

It becomes a bit difficult to divide the cards between Observatories as such and the Telescopes

which they house – especially when a dome has been custom-built for a particular telescope. I would like to

cite one example – the Yerkes Observatory and its 40-inch Refracting Telescope. The earliest telescopes

were refractors (using two lenses) and the first

reflector (using a mirror to gather the light) was invented and made by Isaac Newton. Over several

centuries it was found that there was a limit to the size of the refracting type (mainly due to problems of

grinding a large glass lens and engineering problems

with a long metal tube) and the largest telescopes are

Unused card published by the Adler Planetarium and Astronomical Museum, Chicago. Front and back of a “Moorish” Astrolabe of the 16th century

Undivided back.

Postally used Leipzig 18

99 March 19.

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nowadays of the reflecting type (but with amazing

innovations such as segmented mirrors, adaptive optics and so forth).

When funds were sought for the building of a very large

refractor, the sponsor was Charles Tyson Yerkes

(pronounced “Yur-kees”) who had made his money in streetcars. This handsome instrument installed in 1897

with objective measuring 40 inches in diameter is still the largest refractor in the world and still in use. The

statistics speak for themselves. The tube is 63 feet long and weighs six tons. The card (see opposite) showing

the telescope cannot fully take it in but I chose this card

specially to show the rows of people sitting round the edge as this gives a good impression of scale. The

revolving dome is 90 feet in diameter. The floor may be elevated through 23 feet up to the balcony. It is seen

here in fully raised position which conceals the massive

pier supporting the telescope.

The final card shows the buildings of Yerkes Observatory and the surprisingly graceful large dome for the 40-inch

telescope is contrasted with the more modest housings of the other instruments on this site.

Another specialised type of telescope is the Radio Telescope which does not require the shelter of an

observatory dome. From the early pre-war beginnings of this branch of Astronomy, construction of the great 250-

foot diameter dish aerial at Jodrell Bank was completed

just in time for it to pick up the signals from Sputnik I. Since then, individual larger radio telescopes have been

constructed as well as huge arrays of dishes. This type of telescope also can be found on cards.

This has been the merest overview of a vast subject but I hope you found it interesting and at least you now

know you are in International Year of Astronomy.

V. O. Hammon Publishing Co., Minneapolis & Chicago. Postally used 1910 September 4.

C. R. Childs Co., Chicago. Postally used 1950 August 15.

(Incidentally for anyone who has been racking their

brains for a Cynicus card related to Astronomy, I was thinking of the drawing of a large, drunk female being

stretchered off by two policemen and captioned “ The Transit of Venus” !!

ASTEROIDS Some Bits and Pieces

Typos

US Member John Macco enjoyed our last edition but points out some typos in the Shuttle series. On page 22

of #81 the launch date of STS 105 should have been given as 10.8.2001 with the landing on 22nd of August.

On page 23 the launch date for STS 108 should have

been given as 5.12.2001 with the landing on 17th December. These errors occurred because your Ed was

using the shell of the previous edition to create the new one and did not change the dates properly. Apologies—

must try harder.

A fainter “Echo” than expected

Auction Price Disappoints

No one knows for sure if the world financial crisis was the cause, but the fact is that the scarce US lot "Essays of the first US stamp issued in 1960 for Echo 1", offered in the December Auction In Beverley Hills, California, did not realize a high price.

In Orbit No. 80 of last January this item was announced under the title "Scare US Item on the Market" in Asteroids page 34.The famous lot had a estimated price of $7500 -$10.000

'The lot sold for $6000 plus 17% buyer's premium of $7020.00", wrote Alan Lipkin, Senior Vice President of Recency-Superior, Ltd. to Dutch ASSS member

Bert van Eijck

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Collecting U.S. Space Covers by Bruce Cranford Part One

Introduction Collecting space covers in the United States (U.S.)

involves knowledge in many different areas. This document identifies 13 areas and provides the introductory information you need for collecting space covers. The 13 areas are keyed to the following sections:

2) Definition of space covers. 3) Postal organizations. 4) Stamps and postage. 5) Cancellations. 6) Major event sites and organizations. 7) Cachets. 8) Envelopes and postcards. 9) Philatelic organizations. 10) How covers are made. 11) Short history of space cover types. 12) Sources for space covers and major suppliers. 13) Making your own space cover. 14) Sources for information. Space cover production started with the launch of

U.S. satellites in 1958 and continues today. The production may have reached its peak in the late 60's are early 70's with the APOLLO program. Today, space cover collection has decreased in popularity, now that spaceflight has become common place. The current focus is on manned STS and unmanned launches, anniversaries, and autograph covers (especially astronaut autographs). With the decline in popularity, there has also been a decline in the number of space covers manufactured.

The number of U.S. launches peaked in 1966 at 73

and decreased to about 20 in 2001 with manned launches accounting for less than one quarter of the launches. The number of manned launches has fluctuated considerably in the last 50 years. Today the total number of launches is about what it was in 1958 (17 in 2007 vs. 17 then). Today, many more people have traveled into space annually on the STS in 2002, (at total of 34) than in GEMINI in 1966 (10). The causes are numerous and include reduced government funding, larger space launch vehicles, lighter weight satellite materials, larger and more complex satellites performing multiple missions, longer satellite life, multiple satellite launches, and stiffer foreign competition. What has increased is the number of private sector-funded launches, especially in the area of communications and Earth observation satellites.

Definition of space covers The American Philatelic Society (APS) defines Astrophilatelic

material as "... philatelic material relating to space exploration"{APS Judging} The F.I.P., in their section on

Guidelines for Judging Astrophilatelic Exhibits provides an international perspective and states:

AUSA Space Programmes

- 3.3.1 Envelopes and cards recording takeoffs (launches), landings or other space activities shall be postmarked with the exact date on which they took place.

3.3.2 Where the post office was closed at the

time when launches, landings or other space activities took place, the postmark of the next

working day is valid. - 3.3.3 Postmarks for launches should be shown

only from the post office nearest to the site of the launch.

- 3.3.4 Postmarks of the launching sites and different rocket test sites in the USA are valid. From 1965 - 1975 an official NASA

cachet was applied to some covers and cards at the post office in Kennedy Space Centre (KSC).

- 3.3.5 Envelopes and cards recording splashdowns (landings) should have the postmark of the post office on board of the main recovery ship with the date of recovery of the astronauts and/or space capsule. If not available on the ship, the postmark of the port of landing or of the nearest supply

base after arrival of the ship is valid. Mail from ships. helicopters and/or airplanes participating in the recovery shall be postmarked with a date during the mission. Additional official cachets, referring to the mission, are also applied on recovery ships covers. Space Shuttle landings shall be recorded by the postmark of the post office nearest to the landing site.

- 3.3.6 For the different missions (after the takeoff), within the scope of the US space

programmes, the postmarks of the corresponding mission control centre responsible for the supervision are valid for manned programmes, for earth orbiting satellites, and for lunar and space probes. Postmarks from tracking stations and ships participating in the mission may be shown as a supplement. Envelopes and cards with the official cachet are of primary interest.

- 3.4 e) Manned Space Programmes Manned spaceflights of the USA, the USSR/Russia and multinational flights as well as the missions performed by the astronauts/cosmonauts form the basis of this study. The space events of the countries may be shown in a chronological order either alternatively, or of each country separately. The related precursors e.g. scientific and medical manned stratosphere balloons and rocket plane flights; rocket experiments with animals, capsule recovery, tests of

survival equipments; test flights of satellites and rocket carriers; etc. as well as of space probes exploring the Moon may be included.@{FIP}

Space covers, for the purpose of this document, are Astrophilatelic materials, ad defined by the APS and the Appendix, Space Covers. The term First Day Cover in the U.S. refers to the first day of issuance of a new stamp.

Many examples of U.S. Space Covers are shown in my Space Covers Dictionary and Identifier, 2006, and will not be repeated here.

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Postal Organizations The United States Postal Service (USPS) (http://www.usps.gov/) regulates postal operations, operates most post offices, and operates the mail service throughout the U.S. Some post offices are operated by the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) or other government and private organizations, but all are regulated by the USPS. The USPS is the only organization that issues postal stamps and cancels mail. However, private organizations, authorized by the USPS, operate meter postage and computer postage. Postage stamps, postal stationery, meter or computer postage must be on a cover (e.g., envelopes, post card) in order for the cover to receive postal markings. Postal markings are only applied to the cover as the cover travels through the U.S. postal system. The USPS issues space theme stamps as well as space theme postal stationery envelopes. Stamps and postal stationery are available from the local post office, USPS Stamp Fulfillment Service, and

philatelic stores. The proper amount of postage must be on the cover in order for it to go through the postal service and receive a post mark. Excess postage is acceptable. The USPS offers many types of postal services, depending on the size, weight, content, speed and security the postal customer wish to utilize. The most common service is first class and cost (as of 2004) $0.37 per ounce (28 grams) and $0.23 for each additional ounce (28 grams). Before the first satellite was launched in 1957, the USPS was known as the United States Post Office (USPO). The name was changed on 1971/ 01/07, and became the United States Postal Service (USPS).

Other organizations that deliver materials from many space event locations include FEDEX, UPS, DHL. However, collecting mailing containers (envelopes, boxes), from these organizations is not very popular in the U.S.

Stamps and postage The USPS recognizes several types of postage;

stamps, meter, computers (E-stamps, Netstamps), personal

postage. Stamps issued by the USPS, both regular issue and commemorative, must be for the proper amount, depending on the type of service and weight. (Note, the USPS offers several types of service which are explained on the USPS web site, at a local post office, or by writing the USPS. See section 14.)

Many collectors try to use a stamp or stamps with a

space theme. The USPS has issued more than 80 space theme stamps and 4 space theme envelopes (Figure 387, Official USPS Space Theme Envelope) since 1957, all of which can be used, provide they total face value is at least the proper value necessary for postage. (Note, the face value of the stamp is the value in U.S. dollars, printed on the stamp). The USPS will accept postage in excess of the minimum required. The most common type of space cover has stamps placed on the envelope, which is usually less than 1 ounce, for first class postage. Multiple stamps can be used as long as the total face value is sufficient to mail the envelope. If the envelope is to be sent to another country, it must have sufficient postage for international mail. The first class domestic postage rate has changed over the years, starting at $0.03 per ounce in 1957 to $0.44 in 2009. Postal stationery with the postage stamp impressed or printed on it is considered official USPS or US Government envelopes, since

the USPS and the U.S. Government are the only organizations that can print and sell it. Other organizations may purchase and resell USPS postal stationery.{Miller1}

The USPS and licensed private companies can use

meter postage, which identifies the amount of postage on the envelope. This is less popular among collectors since the meter postage generally does not have a theme. Computer postage and personal postage may be used, but both are currently in an experimental phase of development. Computer postage is also known as E stamps (Electronic), PC (personal computer) postage and Net (Internet) Stamps. T h e program within the USPS the authorized computer stamps or computer postage is the Information Based Indicia Program (IBIP). On 1999/98/09, the USPS authorized computer postage nationwide. Several companies provide computer postage. The franking imprint part of the postage, contains information or date, that is encrypted to make each imprint unique that cannot be duplicated.{Kelsey1}. The postage can be printed from a PC.

Cancellations or Postmarks.

The USPS uses several types of cancellations, including; machine (Figure 24), hand (Figure 21), pictorial (Figure 67), and space theme (Figure 67), or a combination of these. The USPS started using Inkjet cancelers in 2003, and will start removing the die-hub cancelling machines in 2004.{Blanks1}{McAllister1} Cancellations contain the location of the facility where cancelled, and the date of the cancellation, and usually the ZIP Code (Figure 35). The USPS is beginning to use color postmarks, but only on a limited number of official FDC and inaugural covers the USPS sells. All other postmarks are typically black. {McAllister2}

It is illegal for a post office to change the date or

location of the cancellation. Unfortunately, some individuals and organizations have backdated or changed the locality of cancellations on space covers, creating counterfeit, fraudulent, bogus, or suspect covers. Examples of the fraudulent covers include some Orbit Covers, and some by Riser. Most manufacturers of space covers are reputable. {Bulver Suspect}

The date format used in the U.S. is typically Month,

Day, Year (Figure 20). Other format used in the US included day, month, year (Figure 25), and month, day, time (AM or PM) and year. The month may be Hindu-Arabic numbers, or roman numbers or letters, abbreviations or entire words. As an example the month of February could be February, Feb. 2, or II. Postmarks are often used on space covers traveling through the USPS mail system. The USPS also use 30 different types of bar codes on mail (Figure 97).{Allister2}

Major event sites and organizations The cancellation sites for launch, tracking and

recovery events are primarily government facilities, with a post office on site or nearby and have their own designated address and postal code, in the U.S., it is known as the ZIP Code.

The major U.S. space events include: a) research and test, b) development c) manufacturing of launch vehicles and spacecraft d) assembly of launch vehicles and spacecraft

payloads, e) launch,

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Figure 24, 23337 Zip Code, cancellation, machine.

Figure 35, 32782, Astronaut Trail Station, Ti-tusville, FL, Can-cellation, 32782, Hand

Figure 21, 20771 ZIP code, cancellation, hand.

Figure 67, 77058 Zip code, cancellation, hand, space theme.

Figure 97, Bar Code

Figure 20, 20770, Zip Code, cancellation, hand.

Figure 25, 236 Zip Code, cancellation, machine.

Figure 103, Jon Cartier Cover

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f) monitoring, tracking, mission control, and communications,

g) activities in space, h) recovery. The names and locations of many of these sites have

changed over the last 50 years, making collecting older space covers, challenging. In general, the greater interest in manned space events results in a larger number of space covers for manned events than for unmanned events. As an example, almost every event for the development, test, assembly, and flight of the STS is recorded by space covers. This is seldom done for unmanned satellites/spacecraft.

One of the major challengers to the space cover

collector is the identification of a space event, who, what, when, where, how, and why. The first step is to decide what interest you, the second is to identify the source of the space event information, and third is to gather and digest the information. Several sources are available for identifying past, present, and future space events: Space Unit, National Aeronautics and Astronautics Administration (NASA), DOD, National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), contractors, periodicals, and web sites. Contact the organization by phone, through letters, web sites, subscriptions to periodicals. See section 14, sources of information and references. No single method may be sufficient to gather all the information on space events.

Research and Tests Research and tests are performed at different sites

throughout the U.S. Most of the sites are federal government owned (e.g., Edwards Air Force Base, California; White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico; numerous NASA centers, Army, Navy, and Air Force centers). However, many privately owned company and corporations (also known as contractors) use their own test sites. Activities may include drop tests, flight tests, engine tests, static firing, or any number of equipment tests.

Spacecraft recovery is typically limited to manned

space vehicles and early spy satellites. From Mercury through the Apollo missions, the recovery sites were the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The U.S. Navy deployed ships at the recovery site to retrieve the astronauts and their capsule. This changed when the Space Transportation System (STS) was developed. The STS Space Shuttles were designed for conventional aircraft landing. The two major sites are Edwards Air Force Base, California, and Kennedy Space Center, Florida. Early spy satellites required the recovery photographic film in the air over the ocean to prevent damaged to land based structures and humans, and to prevent the film from falling into the

wrong hands if the Air Force missed the recovery capsule. Newer communications technology has eliminated the need to recover spy satellite film capsules. NASA has several new programs that will return material from space and will require recovering of the returning payload. Nearly all earth orbiting satellites, and those less fortunate that never made it into orbit, will eventually renter the atmosphere. Depending on the size and materials, some will burn up, and some may make it to the ground (e.g., SKYLAB).

Development Development activities are similar to Research and

Test, and are often performed at the same sites by the same organizations.

Manufacturing of launch vehicles and spacecraft The vast majority of launch vehicles and spacecraft

are manufactured by private companies, corporations, and research organizations. Very little is actually built by the federal government. However, the federal government funds most of the research, hardware, and manned flights. Exceptions are the nonmilitary communications equipment and satellites, which are funded and operated by private companies and corporations.

The launch vehicles and spacecraft manufacturing

were initially limited to a few large defense companies that contracted with the federal government (e.g., Aerojet, Boeing, Chrysler, Comsat, Ford, GE, General Dynamics, Lockheed, Motorola, Northrop, RCA, Rocketdyne, Rockwell, TRW, United Technologies). Today, many of these companies no longer exist, due to mergers, and/or sales of their space technology divisions. Some are no longer in business. New manufacturing companies include GenCorp, Globalstar, and Orbital Science Corporation. Today, the

major launch vehicle manufacturers are Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Orbital Science Corp. They are also the major satellite/spacecraft manufacturers. Activities may include completion of the manufacturing of a launch vehicle or spacecraft, special tests, or transfer to the launch site facilities.

Assembly of the Launch vehicle with the spacecraft payloads

Since the 1950's, the assembly of the launch vehicle with the spacecraft, have been accomplished at Patrick Air Force Base, Florida; Kennedy Space Center in Florida (both part of the Eastern Test Range at Cape Canaveral, Florida); Vandenberg Air Force Base in California (part of the Western Test Range); Wallops Island in Virginia. Added in 2001, was Kodiak Alaska. Newly built assembly facilities allow assembly of the satellites and launch vehicles at Cape Canaveral, Florida. Activities may include assembly of specific components, completion of assembly, and transfer from the assembly building to the launch pad.

Launch Actual launches take place at the Eastern Test

Range, Cape Canaveral and Kennedy Space Center, and Patrick Air Force Base, Florida; Western Test Range which includes Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. Other sites include Wallops Island, Virginia; Kodiak, Alaska. Boeing is involved in satellite launches at sea (Sea Launch, location 154o W, 0o N). Orbital Science Corp. with an airplane launch capability can launch satellites from just about anywhere in the world. Activities include launches into space (space being 50-80 miles above the surface of the earth). The launch may be commemorated whether or not it was successful. Attempted launches, whether the launch vehicle left the launch pad or not, may also be documented. Occasionally an event that occurred on the launch pad, during testing, may also be documented, such as the Apollo 1 fire which killed 3 astronauts. With international cooperation, the definition of a U.S. event becomes complicated. Other countries may launch U.S. Satellites or satellites with U.S. manufactured components. Also, the foreign manufactured satellite or components, may be launched by a U.S. company, at a U.S. launch site.

To be concluded in our October edition

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A Mission Impossible By Bert van Eijck

“So close and yet so far away !” w ere my thoughts in

May 2008 when I was on the Italian island of Sardinia and hoped to visit the old space rocket base near the

village of Perdasdefogu in the southeast part. It is called Salto di Quirra and for years it was an inter-service

missile test centre operated by the Italian Air Force.

In my collection are two very nice launch covers from

1968. Both are cancelled on the launch date at the post office of Perdasdefogu. Both ‘covered’ the Sounding

Rocket Campaign Skylark of ESRO (European Space Research Organization), the forerunner of today’s ESA

(European Space Agency).

The first 40 years old cover is dated with the hand

cancel 7.10.68. It was mission ESRO S47/1 Ultraviolet Astronomy with a apogee of 200 km.

The second one is machine cancelled 3.12.68, mission ESRO S27/1, again Ultraviolet Astronomy, apogee 198

km. Both covers were sent to Germany.

And now about the disappointment. After visiting the French island of Corsica (famous for Napoleon

Bonaparte), our tourist group went by ferry from

Bonifacio to Santa Teresa di Gallura in northern Sardinia. Moby Lines crossed the 18 km water to

Sardegna, as the Italians say, in one hour. Our hotel stop for three days was near the coast in Castelsardo at

the Gulf dell’ Asinara. A picturesque village with a

impressive castle built in the year 1102.

This three day stay was the opportunity to visit the former rocket base in Perdasdefogu. I thought, but I

was wrong. Men of Castelsardo bend over the Sardegna

map, looked for the place in the southeast and concluded it was a six hour drive to go and six hours

back, because of the very bad situation of the roads with a lot of rockiness and boulder. Yet, there was a

young man who was kind enough to drive me, for …… 500 euros ! Of course it was too much, so I cancelled

the trip. Later that same day I heard the former base

now is a NATO base, strictly forbidden to enter, with fences and watchdogs. So, I was after all not

disappointed I did not go there.

San Lorenzo was the name of the launch pad of Salto di

Quirra, one can read in the Encyclopedia Astronautica. The first launch was on January 12, 1961, the last one

on March 18, 1992. NASA launched here Nike Asps and Nike Cajuns sounding rockets in 1961 en 1963. ESRO

launched a wide range of sounding rockets (Skylarks, Centaures, Beliers, Zenits) from 1964 to 1972.

Bert at the Castle of Castelsardo on Sardinia

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It was a disappointment. Strolling in the National Museum of Fujairah, I could hardly find the stamps of this desert state near the Gulf of Oman. The guide had told us before entering the modest building, “There are stamps as well”.

It was January of this year, winter in Europe with snow and ice-skating, but here about 5200 km away in the Middle East the sun was shining, the sky blue. One did not need a jacket—short sleeves de rigueur Finally in a small corner between the sections on Archaeology and on Ethnography in the museum (founded and inaugurated in 1991 by his High Highness Sheik Ramad Bin Mohammed Al-Sharqi, the Ruler of Fujairiah) I found what I was looking for. But again what a disappointment. In a glass display case there were about ten cancelled stamps without any link to Fujairiah. The stamps showed portraits of famous world leaders in the past, like Napoleon, Churchill de Gaulle and others. Paintings had been used for the production of the stamps. You can hardly call this display a National Treasure ! One can not say, “Fujairah had no stamps”. Look in the philatelic world catalogue or the French Lollini catalogues and you will see hundreds of issues with the name of this state on them, including very many space stamps.

The first stamp issued in this emirate (in 1964) shows a portrait of the sheik and a camel. Two years later a series of eight stamps called Space Achievements saw light of day. Satellites from the 1960’s were shown in 1966, the first of a lot

of space issues. From 1967 stamps were issued not for regular postal use and were not available to the public in reasonable quantities at face value.

Mosst of these issues on space topics (but other themes as well) were designed, printed and distributed by stamp agencies abroad especially for collectors. These agencies bought the rights for issuing stamps from the emirate government for good money. It all ended on July 18, 1971, when Fujairah and six other sheikdoms around the Persian Gulf formed the state of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), The UAE Ministry of

Communication took over the Fujairah Postal Service on August 1 1972. Further released stamps (by “Fujairah”) were without authority and had no validity, one reads in Stanley

Philately in Fujairah By Bert van Eijck

Bert near the Al Bidiya Mosque

and watch tow-er in

Fujairah

Museum entry ticket

Gibbons catalogue notes !!! Editor’s note : see related article in Orbit #72, p30 ff

Above Apollo 16 issue (1972), below Apollo 14 (1971)

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Part 2 of 3 From Bert van Eijck

This time we look at more or less official fraud made by a philatelic society, to be precise the Gmuender Weltraumfreunde, our sister society in Austria. This occurred almost thirty years ago and it was justified to get enough money to organise an exhibition. Here is the story.

The stamp show in 1980 was dedicated to the 100th birthday of the Austrian rocket pioneer Guido Pirquet (1880-1966). His most famous work Interplanetaire Fahrroute of 1928 made it possible to set out planning for probes to the planets in our Solar System. In fact one sent to Venus in 1961 followed exactly Pirquet’s route. The Austrian postal authorities honoured the pioneer with a large postal cancel in Vienna on March 30, (his birthday) in 1980. In the cancel we see his portrait and craters on the Moon, one of them named

after him. So far so good. At the same time stamps were manipulated — not by the official Austrian Post but by the Gmuender Weltraumfreunde. What did they do ? They bought a lot of sheets of the one schilling definitive at the post office and with blank se-tenant labels. These labels which came in pairs were overprinted, one with the Society’s logo and the text “100 Geburstag des Österr Pioniers der Raketentechnik” (100th birthday of the Austrian Pioneer of Rocketry), followed by his signature Guide Pirquet Dipl. Ing. (Diploma Ingenieure).

The other stamp was over printed with “Fahhrroutezur Venus” same calculations plus the birthday 1880.03.30, Hirschstetten (his birthplace) and the day and place of death 1966.04.17 Wien. There were two versions of the labels: one printed over the stamps with the other below them. There were 1500 sets printed @ 30 Schilling. These were called Allongenaudruck: Allogen overprint (from the French verb allonger (to make longer) And that is exactly what happened to make the stamp look longer.

There was a lot of criticism, even from Austrian Post who refused to cancel the allongestamps with the special Pirquet cancel. The Society said, “This was the only way to get money for the Pirquet exhibition” Was it to blame, do you think ? However the fact is—it was a fraud. Alongside the stamps there was Aerogramme illegally printed with a Pirquet text and “Fahhrroute zum Mars” Not only was the Society’s logo on it but the FISA one as well. This of course was also unofficial.

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Un-manned Satellites on Postage Stamps : 30 By Guest Contributors Don Hillger and Garry Toth

A version of this article first appeared in The Astrophile for May/June 2008

The D-Series Portions of this article and accompanying table were

revised following its publication in Astrophile, based on feedback received from Gert Meinl.

This is the thirtieth in a series of articles about un-

manned satellites on postage stamps. This article

features the French D-series satellites. Seven D-series satellites were successfully launched, starting

with D-1A on 18 February 1966, and ending with D-2B / SIGNE-3 on 17 June 1977. Two of the D-series

satellites failed.

The first of the D-series, D-1A / Diapason, was a

small satellite designed to make geodetic measurements using the Doppler delay of radio

signals. The spacecraft body was a flat cylinder 20 cm high by 50 cm in diameter, with four solar panels, each

attached to the body of the cylinder by two thin arms,

like crabs attached by their pincers. Four antennas extended outward from one end of the cylindrical

body. This general design was used for the rest of the D-1 and D-2 series, including D-1B which was

cancelled as obsolete and unnecessary due to the

extremely successful D-1A mission.

D-1C / Diademe-1 and D-1D / Diademe-2 were experimental geodetic missions as well, with dual-

frequency Doppler transmitters and a retro-reflector array for laser telemetry.

D-2A (Tournesol and Polaire) were scientific satellites designed to detect hydrogen and measure

solar ultraviolet radiation in outer space. They were larger versions of the D-1 series with cylindrical bodies

80 cm high by 70 cm in diameter. The solar panels

extended 130 cm from the spacecraft axis. Polaire, intended to complement Tournesol using a more-

inclined polar orbit, unfortunately failed to reach orbit.

D-2B / Aura carried both EUV (Extreme Ultra-Violet) experiments for solar and atmospheric investigations

and UV experiments for stellar, zodiacal, and sky

background observations. The Aura name for D-2B should not be confused with EOS-Aura which is one of

the three U.S. Earth Observing System (EOS) satellites.

The D-3 and D-4 names in this series either evolved

into other spacecraft or were canceled outright.

D-5A / Pollux and D-5B / Castor were a pair of piggyback satellites. D-5A was a polyhedron with 26

faces, each containing a laser reflector. It had a

diameter of 80 cm and was designed to study upper

atmospheric density variations, gravity field

perturbations and micrometeoroid impacts. D-5B was a polyhedron with 14 faces, for testing of hydrazine

propulsion systems. Eight of the faces were covered with solar cells.

SIGNE-3 (Solar Interplanetary Gamma-Neutron Experiment) was a D-2B type satellite placed into orbit

by the Soviet Union under a cooperative agreement with France. One of the two experiments aboard was for

gamma-ray astronomy and the other was for solar monitoring in two UV bands. SIGNE-3 was the last of

the D-series spacecraft. Predecessors SIGNE-1 and

SIGNE-2, instead of being independent spacecraft, were payloads on the Soviet Prognoz-2 and (possibly)

Prognoz-6 spacecraft, respectively.

Many postal items show either the D-1 satellite or the D

-2 and SIGNE-3 satellites. Most of the items showing D-1 were issued as a common design by different

countries with varying denominations. Only three stamps show the D-5 satellites: D-5A on two stamps

from French Southern and Antarctic Territories (Scott C49 and C52), and D-5B on a souvenir sheet from

Upper Volta (Scott C184).

A checklist of postal items showing D-series satellites

(http://www.cira.colostate.edu/ramm/hil lger/D-series.htm) is available on the Un-manned Satellite

Philately website developed by the authors (http://

www.cira.colostate.edu/ramm/hillger/satellites.htm). E-mail correspondence is welcome. Don Hillger can be

reached at hillger@cira.colostate.edu and Garry Toth at garry_toth@hotmail.com.

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Flight STS-109 Commander Scott Altman Pilot Duane Carey MS John Grunsfield MS Nancy Currie MS James Newman MS Richard Linnehan MS Michael Massimino KSC Launch Date 1.3.02 KSC Landing 12.3.02 Purpose / Hubble Servicing Main Payload & Modification

Shuttle Story : 2002 STS –109, -110, -111, -112, -113

STS-109 was the second last—at one point the last—mission to

service the Hubble Space Telescope. Flown aboard Columbia in March 2002, the five spacewalks to replace and install equipment

were a complete success. It would also prove to be Columbia's final successful mission from start to finish.

This was Columbia's first flight following an extensive two and a half year modification period (its most recent mission being STS-

93). During the mission they installed a new science instrument, the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), new rigid Solar Arrays

(SA3), new Power Control Unit (PCU) and a new Cryocooler for the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer

(NICMOS). STS-109 also re-boosted HST to a higher orbit.

The STS-109 astronauts performed a total of five spacewalks in

five consecutive days to service and upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope. The spacewalkers received assistance from their

crewmates inside Columbia. Currie operated the Shuttle's robot

arm while Altman was her backup. Carey and Altman documented the EVA activities with video and still images that had silly parts.

The video was shown on NASA TV.

Accomplishments of the spacewalks included the installation of

new solar arrays, a new camera, a new Power Control Unit, a Reaction Wheel Assembly and an experimental cooling system for

the NICMOS unit. STS-109 accumulated a total of 35 hours, 55 minutes of EVA time. Following STS-109, a total of 18 spacewalks

had been conducted during four Space Shuttle missions to service Hubble (the others being STS-61, STS-82, STS-103 and STS-125)

for a total of 129 hours, 10 minutes by 14 different astronauts

It was also the last successful flight of the Columbia orbiter, as on

its next mission, STS-107, it disintegrated on re-entry, killing all on board.

STS-109 is considered a night launch, as sunrise was at 6:47 AM, and Columbia launched at 6:22 AM EST, 25 minutes before

sunrise.

Cover signed by STS 109 Pilot Duane “Digger” Carey and NASA’s Dr Neal Pellis, Chief Scientist, Advanced Programs, Space Life Sciences Directorate when they visited Elgin High School on 21.6.06 and pictured with your editor, above left.

Above 2002 State issue for Florida showing shuttle taking off on right

The Mission Patch shows HST and Columbia over North America. Inside the Hubble aperture is a portrayal of the spectacular Hubble Deep Field Image, symbolising all the major discoveries made so far in the previous ten years and many more to come after the Advanced Camera for Surveys was installed. The ACS is the major upgrade element to dramatically increase HST’s ability to see deeper into the universe. Also shown are the smaller, sturdier and more efficient solar arrays which will permit the simultaneous use of more equipment.

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Flight STS-110 Commander Michael Bloomfield Pilot Stephen Frick MS Jerry Ross MS Steven Smith MS Ellen Ochoa MS Lee Morin MS Rick Walheim KSC Launch Date 8.4.02 KSC Landing 19.4.02 Purpose / ISS S0 Truss Main Payload Installation

This mission began the third and final phase of construction of the ISS. The crew patch is patterned after the cross section of S0 Truss and in-

cludes a silhouette of how the ISS will look after the installation.

STS-110 was a mission to the International Space Station (ISS)

flown by Space Shuttle Atlantis. The main purpose was to install the S0 Truss segment to the Destiny Laboratory Module. It forms

the backbone of the station to which the S1 and P1 truss seg-

ments were attached (on the following missions STS-112 and STS-113, respectively).

STS-110 also delivered the Mobile Transporter (MT), which is an

885 kg (1,950 lb) assembly that glides down rails on the station integrated trusses. During the next shuttle mission, STS-111, the

Mobile Base System (MBS) was mounted to the MT. This Mobile

Servicing System (MSS) allows the Canadarm2 to travel down the length of the installed truss structure.

Notably veteran astronaut Jerry Ross was making his seventh

launch into space, equalling John Young’s record.

Illustration showing the new Truss section, bottom right quadrant

Below cover created by ASSS

member Ken Woods cancelled in London for this flight.

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Flight STS-111 Commander Kenneth Cockrell Pilot Paul Lockhart MS Franklin Chang-Diaz MS Philippe Perrin MS up Valery Korzun MS up Peggy Whitson MS up Sergei Treschev MS down Yuri Onufrienko MS down Carl Walz MS down Daniel Bursch KSC Launch Date 5.6.02 EAFB Landing 19.6.02 Purpose / ISS Crew rotation Main Payload MPLM

STS-111 was a mission to the ISS flown by Endeavour to re-supply

the station and replace the Expedition 4 crew with the Expedition 5 crew. It was launched on June 5, 2002, from Kennedy Space

Center, Florida.

In addition to providing supplies, the flight rotated the crews

aboard the ISS, exchanging the three Expedition 4 members (1 Russian, 2 American) for the three Expedition 5 members (2

Russian, 1 American).

The Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) carried experiment

racks and three stowage and resupply racks to the station. The mission also installed a component of the Canadarm2 called the

Mobile Base System (MBS) to the Mobile Transporter (MT) (which was installed during STS-110); This completed the Canadian Mobile

Servicing System, or MSS. This gave the mechanical arm the capability to "inchworm" from the U.S. Lab fixture to the MSS and

travel along the Truss to work sites.

STS-111 was the last flight of a CNES astronaut, the French agency

having disbanded its astronaut group and transferred them to the ESA and the record-equalling seventh flight of Franklin Chang-Diaz,

commemorated in this 2003 Costa Rican se-tenant pair.

Launch cover bearing Mission Patch with the names of the ISS up and down crews at bottom. The shuttle appears at the top of the astronaut symbol which grows naturally out of the number 111. Orbiting around it in a red white and blue tricolour is the ISS. Landing cover carrying photo of the ISS up and down crews which reads…...

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Flight STS-112 Commander Jeffrey Ashby Pilot Pamela Melroy MS David Wolf MS Piers Sellers MS Sandra Magnus MS Fyodor Yurchikhin KSC Launch Date 7.10.02 KSC Landing 18.10.02 Purpose / ISS Construction Main Payload S1 Truss

Launch cover with blue and yellow mission patch depicting the ISS from the aspect of the departing shuttle with the new truss (in red) just to the right of the nine pointed star. “9A” is the denomination of this element of construction of the ISS. The star represents the combined on-orbit team of six shuttle and three ISS crew members. The trajectory ends in another smaller star representing the STS 112 crew, returning to Earth

STS-112 was flown to the ISS by Atlantis as a 10-day assembly

mission in October 2002 to attach the 30,000 lbs Starboard S1 Truss segment. Atlantis would not fly again until STS-115 on

September 9, 2006.

The S1 Truss was to provide structural support for the Space

Station radiators. It also delivered the Crew Equipment Translation Aid (CETA) Cart to the Space Station. The CETA cart was attached

to the Mobile Transporter (launched on STS-110) to be used by assembly crews on later missions. STS-112 also carried several

science experiments to the station including the Plant Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus (PGBA), Commercial Generic Bioprocessing

Apparatus (CGBA), the Protein Crystal Growth Single-locker

Thermal Enclosure System housing the Protein Crystillization Apparatus for Microgravity (PCG-STES-PCAM) and samples for the

Zeolite Crystal Growth Furnace (ZCG) experiment.

A camera mounted to the shuttle's external tank captured Atlantis' ascent to orbit. This was the first time such footage was recorded.

In the response to the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster (STS-107), the camera was also used on STS-114, STS-121, STS-115, STS-

116, STS-117, and STS-118. The Cameras may be used on all

remaining Space Shuttle missions.

A photo taken from the ISS showing Atlantis carrying the Truss in Payload Bay and right an illustration of where it was added in the construction of the ISS

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Flight STS-113 Commander James Wetherbee Pilot Paul Lockhart MS Michael Lopez-Alegria MS John Herrington MS up Nikolai Budarin MS up Ken Bowersox MS up Donald Pettit MS down Valery Korzun MS down Peggy Whitson MS down Sergei Treschev KSC Launch Date 23.11.02 EAFB Landing 7.12.02 Purpose / ISS Crew rotation Main Payload P1 Truss installation

STS-113 was a 14-day mission flown to the ISS during which

Endeavour and its crew extended the ISS backbone with the P1 truss and exchanged the Expedition 5 and Expedition 6 crews

aboard the station. With Commander Jim Wetherbee and Pilot Paul Lockhart at the controls, Endeavour docked with the

station on November 25 to begin seven days of station

assembly, spacewalks and crew and equipment transfers. This was Endeavour’s last flight before entering its Orbiter Major

Modification period until 2007, and also the last shuttle mission before the Columbia disaster.

This was an Assembly Mission (11A) delivering the P1 Truss

segment, which provides structural support for the Space

Station radiators. Mission Specialists John Herrington and Michael Lopez-Alegria performed three spacewalks to activate

and outfit the P1. The STS-113 crew and both Expedition crews transferred about 1,969 kilograms (4,340 pounds) of cargo

between the shuttle and station.

STS-113 delivered the Expedition 6 crew to the station for a

four-month increment. The Expedition 5 crew returned to Earth aboard STS-113, ending an 185-day stay in space.

STS-113 came to a close when Endeavour glided in to a landing at Kennedy Space Center on December 7. It was the 19th flight

of Endeavour, the 112th shuttle mission, and the 16th shuttle mission to the station. The landing was the first time a mission

ended on the fourth day of landing attempts.

Also carried aboard STS-113 was the Micro-Electromechanical

System (MEMS) based Pico Satellite Inspector. This payload deployed two small satellites which are connected via a 50 ft

(15 m) tether.

STS-113 was the final mission during which Russian

cosmonauts flew on the Space Shuttle and the last successful mission until late July 2005, nearly 30 months after the loss of

Columbia returning from STS 107 in January 2003.

Opposite—the P1 truss in the cargo bay and below an illustration of the component in situ on the ISS.

The almost luridly colourful mission patch depicts Endeavour docked to the ISS with the robotic Canadarm moving the new segment into position. The seven brightest stars in the constellation Orion, below the star of the Astronaut symbol represent the crew as it made its way to the ISS. The three stars to the right represent the ISS on-board crew. The number of the flight is given, unusually, in Roman numerals and the US and Russian flags complement the design either side of the ISS rotating crew names.

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Apollo XI Retrospect by Harvey Duncan

This anniversary is a

chance to look back at the stamp issues from

forty years ago. All three crew members

were featured on

stamps either as individuals or as

shown in a group.

All the designs originated from a mixture of fact,

(Photographs) Information or artistic inspiration

Blast off , the journey and descent to the surface by the

moon Lander (EAGLE) is depicted on several stamps.

This historic moment was also commemorated with a

few overprints

After landing came the descent

of Neil Armstrong down a ladder attached to one of the

Landers legs, prior to stepping upon the surface of the moon

for the first time. This was

televised by a camera attached to the Lander and transmitted

in black and white, the designers sharpened up their

versions and added

colour. Despite the view being taken on

Neil’s left side many designers preferred to

show it taken from the right with some opting

for a rear view

I particularly like this one from Ajman where

the designer implies that Neil is thinking as

he looks around before

stepping onto the moon’s surface.

“Where the hell am

I ?”

‘Houston reply – There are no signposts on the moon, mate – just get on with it’

That all important first step unto the surface of the moon left a historic

footprint which was represented on

some issues. Does it still exist – I very much doubt it as a lot of activity

occurred at that spot.

One thing that still remains on

the moon is the memorial plaque

attached to a leg of the Moon Lander.

NASA failed to appreciate space suits all look the same,

until they looked at the photographs taken by the astronauts on the surface of the moon. Then once the

film was developed and printed it was a case of

“Who’s Who”

Note - The identity problem was

highlighted by Apollo 12 and in subsequent missions all the

astronauts wore different

coloured arm bands

A favourite with designers was this one taken by Neil Armstrong

showing his reflection in the visor of Buzz Aldrin.- that one

was obvious

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The American flag was a prerequisite of course but the moon failed to

co-operate, and gravity took over

Two experimental packages were deployed on the surface with one

being shown on a sheet from Sharjah. This was a laser reflector to enable scientists to measure the distance to the moon more accurately

Lift off from the moon is depicted with the first televised recording of the event being via the

Lunar Rover of Apollo 16 in 1972. Previous designs of this show a remarkable similarity to

the real thing

The landing back on

earth is recorded in

v a r i o u s f a s h i o n s ;

one favorite

was the crew speaking to President Nixon from inside the isolation

chamber on board the USS Hornet

They brought back 48.5 lbs of

moon rock and a design on the ½ cent and £1 stamps

from Grenada show o n e o f t h e

astronauts holding

a rock. Note the he appears to be

standing in a hole he has excavated

in order to obtain it

Also worth noting is that the ½ cent stamp the lowest

value from a set of nine is larger than the rest contrary

to normal practice

The designers came up with a variety of designs to the extent of producing Gold, Silver and 3D stamps along with two of the largest stamps ever produced for good measure

Those together with the various anniversary issues to appear since, have covered just about every aspect of the mission.

So what will they come up for this anniversary I wonder?

Not shown full size : this is a very large stamp indeed

Spot anything odd in this design ? Count the astronauts on the surface—and , mind

you, isn’t the Command module a bit low !!!

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ASSS Member’s 2009 Designs for Romania

In partial answer to Harvey’s question at the end of his article here are the draft and annotated designs from Alec Bartos who was asked to design them for the Romanian P.O.

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John Beenen interrupts his UFO speculations series to investigate the above old chestnut…. Introduction

When I studied the subject of lost Soviet astronauts, from time to time I looked at some other hoaxes such as, doubts about the reality of Gagarin’s flight on 12th April 1961 and the moon landings by the Americans at the end of the sixties and early seventies. This last hoax persists on the Internet and at least some of the observations

there need a more serious investigation. What, if it finally appear to be all faked? What does it mean for our hobby? Let’s start with the fact that most of the allegations are originating from only a few sources. The most important being: a pamphlet by Bill Kaysing and Randy Reed, ‘We never went to the Moon, America’s thirty billion dollar swindle’ (Health research, 1976, ISBN 07-8730-487-5) a book called ‘Dark Moon: Apollo and the whistle-blowers’ of Mary Bennet and David S.Percy (1999, ISBN 1898541108) a book ‘Somebody else is on the Moon’, George Leonard (2001) a TV programme of FOX of February 15, 2001, ‘Conspiracy theory: Did we land on the Moon?’ a book by Gerhard Wisnewski, ‘Lügen im Weltraum, von der Mondlandung zur Weltherrschaft’, 2005, ISBN-13: 978-3-726-77755-8.

The “whistle-blowers” In order to get everything in perspective you need to know something about the most well-known people who started all the fuss. One of the first dealing with the Moon hoax was Bill Kaysing (1922-2005). a librarian/writer of technical publications. After his military service he worked as a furniture maker and from 1956-1963 as a head of technical publications at advanced research at Rocketdyne Systems where the Saturn V rocket engines were built. He was neither an engineer nor a scientist. In 1959 he had stated that there was only a 0.0014 chance of landing men on the Moon and returning them safely. He, in fact, started the Moon hoax controversy. David Percy is an award winning television and film producer, a professional photographer and a member of the Royal Photographic Society. Together with Mary Bennett (pictured below) he is the co-author of the book ‘Dark Moon’. Percy, however, seriously believes that sentient beings are living on Mars and other nonsense about the Egyptian Sphinx and he also suspects incidents and accidents at every occasion. Some of their ideas can be found back on www.aulis.com . Bart Sibrel is an amateur filmmaker who is a strong believer of the Apollo

hoax. He even hunted after the Apollo astronauts to let them swear on the Bible that they really went to the Moon. In a famous incident he was hit on the chin by Buzz Aldrin after Aldrin refused to swear

and was called names by Sibrel such as, a coward, a thief and a liar. Although he claimed the astronauts never have left earth orbit, he scored a certain point when he stated that the Apollo 13 mission was manufactured by the government to force

THE MOONLANDINGS: Did they really happen?

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people to pay attention to the space programme. And I would add, to force the American Parliament to raise the funds needed. Gerhard Wisnewski is a German journalist specialized in conspiracy theories. He wrote also books about the German RAF and the conspiracy theories around 9/11. All these sources claim that the moon project was a total fake and that the astronauts never left Earth orbit and that all photo’s were taken in a studio. They support their opinion with a lot of ‘proof’. One source (www.ufos-aliens.co.uk/cosmicapollo,html) cites 33 questions to be answered, most of which can be answered scientifically soundly and will be handled separately. Wikipedia has listed 23 different subjects divided into four categories. I will categorize the most relevant questions into these categories and add some more.

A. Problems with the photo’s.

B. Problems with radiation and heat

C. Problems on radio transmission

D. Mechanical and chemical problems

The photo’s were made on Earth Questions The shadows in the Lunar images indicate more than

one light source There are no stars visible in the sky You can see the tops of the astronauts helmets despite

having the cameras mounted on their chest Daytime temperatures on the Moon would melt film in the

cameras The shadow lengths are not consistent and point in

different directions. Why is the Sun so big? The Apollo TV pictures were lousy but the photo’s made

by the astronauts are brilliant and of optimum composition in spite of the camera on their chest.

Why, in the Apollo photo’s, there is a clear of definition between the rough foreground and the smooth background?

Why some cross hairs are hidden by the subject? The number of photo’s was far too high for the time left

to the astronauts The most important allegations are certainly made regarding the photo’s. It is a fact that the astronauts carried their camera’s on their chest, (Bhutan WB 67), were not able to look through the mirror and had their cameras

adjusted on a fixed setting certainly not always suitable for the conditions on the Moon. However they were able

to take pictures which were not only excellently framed, but also very well exposed. The counter-argument to these remarks was that we only got to see a selection of a selection and that only the very best pictures were presented to the general public. However, this argument is not completely true. Some persons have searched the whole bunch of photo’s and established that in some series nearly all photo’s were of optimum quality. However, NASA still opposes this opinion (www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/frame.html). Looking at the numerous pictures at the NASA site I must admit that also many failures appear and unintended and badly exposed pictures have been taken. Other discussions are about the crosshairs behind the objects, invisible stars in the sky, inconsistent shadows, identical backgrounds in photo’s taken miles apart. All these questions could be refuted relatively easy with sound scientific and photo-technical arguments. One photo contains an artefact such as a ‘C’ on a rock, normally a sign in a movie to show the centre of the frame. This ‘observation’ mainly is considered as a printing imperfection, but at least some doubt exists if some of the moon photo’s are not made in a studio. Such an opinion can be supported further by the presence of more than one light source in some pictures. It also has been shown that pictures of the Sun could actually be pictures from a photographic spotlight Some sources on the Internet also show that some photo’s certainly are made in training situations and not in space as they show anomalies pointing to building structures or, e.g. in the case of a photo of Michael Collins, it is completely the same as another photo with the background still present only turned 180 degrees and the partly brushed away. To me one of the more important allegations is the amount of pictures taken. The supporters of the hoax theory calculated that such an amount (5571) could not have been taken as it required at least one photo every 50 seconds and sometimes much less. The answer to the calculations of the hoax believers is not too strong and mainly comes to the fact that the astronauts were well-trained and many photo’s belong to a twin set. In some photo’s it seems if two light sources are present. This has his origin in the fact that also the Moon surface shows some reflection. One of the references (www.braeunig.us/) demonstrates that the

(Aiman WB575/13)

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Moon has a reflection comparable to about the light of a 35 W light bulb, which can explain some illumination in the Apollo photographs. However, 35 W is very little in the ambience of the moon.

The advocates of the hoax theory discuss some photo’s because of their inconsistent shadows. The background showing completely black but the astronaut is easy to see. The same reference as before explains very clearly

that such a thing is also an effect of the reflection of the Moon on their white suits.

Astronauts cannot stand the radiation within the van Allen Belt and the and heat on the Moon. Question 11. Would not Radiation in space kill the crew ?

Many people argue against the moon landings because of the fact that astronauts could not pass the van Allen radiation belts without sustaining serious radiation damage. This is opposed by the fact that the astronauts only remain in the van Allen region for about 30 minutes. During that time they should have been exposed to a

dose equal to the amount of one roentgen photo (1 milligray: 1 Gray = 1 J/kg = 100 Rad or Rem). The fact that 33 of the 36 astronauts involved sustained an early stage of cataract is also used to prove that the astronauts crossed the van Allen belts indeed. Ref. Braeunig mentions the radiation dose to have been 1 Rem (Roentgen Equivalent Man) (= 0,01 Gray) i.e.10 times higher. Wisnewski calculates in his book that the astronauts in total got a dose of about 1 Sievert, - 1000 times higher than officially announced. With such an amount the astronauts already come into the region of serious effects on their body (change of blood structure, redness of the skin, feeling of discomfort, fainting). This also could explain the early cataract cases as mentioned before and the light flashes in their eyes astronauts often saw NB. In this comparison a Sievert can be considered to be equal to a Gray. A Sievert is the amount of ionized radiation received and is equal to 1 J/kg. But the average radiation dose for flights in Earth orbit and to the Moon are more or less equal which a table in

Wisnewski’s book shows. He therefore uses this also as an argument that the Apollo crews never have left the Earth orbit. But in general a radiation dose of 1 or 2 Rem (10-20 milliSievert) for the Apollo astronauts is accepted, which makes the assumptions of Wisnewski very unlikely. It is also claimed that the film emulsion which was not especially protected against radiation could not resist its effect, but the metal case in which the film was held ought to have had enough protection against radiation and heat. It also is claimed that the film emulsion would melt on the moon because of the temperature

but this only takes place when there is a direct

connection between the heat source and the object which in the vacuum of the Moon is not the case.

Retardation of radio transmission is not heard Question 12. Why the 2 seconds delay between the messages is never heard?

Mission Control, Ras al Khaima WB 211

To me a subordinate point of discussion is the effect

of radio transmission. Over a distance of 400.000 km to the Moon the radio waves are just over 2 seconds

retarded. This retardation ought to have been heard on tapes but isn’t. The answer is that the periods of

silence were simply left out, and on the original tapes

they of course are present.

Also other claims on the transmission and receiving of the signals could be sufficiently challenged.

Manama, WB132/2

Pickering, van Allen and von Braun with Explorer I

Macao 2004, Sc.1152b, cosmic radiation

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Together with Pioneer 8, NASA launched a small (40

kg) TETR-A satellite (TEst and TRaining satellite,13-12-1967). The proclaimed purpose was to simulate

transmissions coming from the moon so that the ground crew (‘Houston’) could rehearse the first moon

landing. The site ‘ufos-aliens’, however, states that the

satellite relays voice, fuel consumption, altitude, and telemetry data as if the transmissions were coming

from an Apollo spacecraft, but this also may refer to the TETR-B (8-11-1968) which actually was used in the

transmission of Apollo 11 data.

Against what the hoax believers are suggesting the

satellite in the preset case (TETR-A) re-entered the Earth atmosphere on 28 April 1968, eight months

before the first lunar flight.

No dust, no flame, no noise, no wind, no data Questions 13. There is no blast crater from the rocket module on the LM 14. There is no dust on the footage of the LM after landing 15. No exhaust sound was heard when the astronauts landed and left the Moon 16. How could NASA have gotten astronauts to the Moon when their computers took up entire rooms? 17. How could Apollo land with a computer of the level of a Commodore 64? 18. Tracks in the Lunar dust should not be well formed without water 19. Why is there no exhaust flame to see 20. Why did the flag not stop fluttering? 21. Why could a ‘C’ mark be seen on one of the rocks? 22. Why blue prints and plans for the LM and Moon buggy are missing?

An important claim is that the landings on the Moon showed no

visible craters and no dust clouds. But, although there was no crater

because of the very low landing

speed and weight of the Lander, the astronauts did complain about

the dust.

However, it is known from the experiment of the falling hammer

and feather (on the Apollo XV

mission), that in vacuum all dust particles show an equal speed, and no dust cloud of

finer particles hangs around. (Manama WB 322)

Some detailed photo’s show no dust at all on the

footage of the LM. That is a

bit strange, but dust b e ha ve s c om p l e t e l y

differently in a vacuum with

no wind. Still some dust must have been there and

NASA claims that looking at other photo’s shows there is.

An exhaust flame is not

present because of the kind of

fuel used in the Lander (hydrazine with di-nitrogen-

tetroxide) which nearly shows no flame in stead of the

combination oxygen-kerosene used in the Saturn rocket.

With regard to this effect most stamps depicting this event are

wrong in showing- a clear flame.

A fact which is a little strange is the absence of sound during landing and take-off. This is contradicted by

the fact that all communication with the astronauts took place through the microphones in their helmet and

suit and therefore was disconnected from surrounding noise. On the other hand the astronauts were closely

connected to their machine and some noise should

have been heard.

Ano the r p o i n t

w h i c h comes up

e v e r y

time is t h e

w a v i n g of the

American flag. As

the Moon

has no atmosphere a flag cannot wave. The apparent waving is only the unfolding of the flag. Also, because

the lack of an atmosphere on the Moon, the waves the flag is making at unfolding are much less quenched.

This picture also shows a strange footprint transverse

on most of the other footprints but from a different size (just under the middle of the perforated stamp, below

the “$3”). The footprint shows clearly 12 rib marks, but all other prints have only nine ribs. Who made this

footprint? (page 6, photo AS11-490-5874 in magnification)

It also is claimed that important data such as the blueprints of the Saturn V rocket, the lunar module and

the lunar rover and some telemetric data are missing. However, this is not proven, it is only said that the

persons interviewed did not know where they were at

that time. Moreover, the designing was a complicated

Mahra State WB6

Burundi WB 78 one of many to present a major

error in detail re lunar lift-off

Samoa WB28

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operation with many parties involved. Hence, blueprints

are scattered all over the country. The most important design data are microfilmed and stored properly.

And finally it is claimed that the power of the computer -

of the level of an early Commodore 64 - was absolutely

insufficient to do the job. However, this computer has to do no more than to take care of the guidance. All other

tasks are carried out by the mainframe at Mission Control. Even in that case the computers of the LM were

overloaded several times and Armstrong had to take over control by hand.

Dropped from an Aeroplane ? Moon landing hoax

theorists assert there is something odd with the

return of the Apollo crafts

to Earth.

As a mean most of the previous return capsules

landed rather far away

from their target area but suddenly all the Apollo craft landed very accurately some even close to the carrier ship.

This gives support to the opinion that the Apollo’s were not returning from the Moon but were simply dropped

from an aeroplane. Actually such a practice in test

conditions had been carried as observed by several pilots. Wisnewski’s book (cf. page 237 and 238) a list of the

deviation of several space craft from the planned landing point.

G.Wisnewski, Lügen im Weltraum, p.237,238 1) Mean without large exceptions

The three Skylabs landed respectively at 9,6 and 8 km distance.

Km km Km

Freedom 7 9,2 Gemini 3 111,1 Apollo 7 3,5

Liberty Bell 7 9,2 Gemini 4 81,4 Apollo 8 2,6

Friendship 7 75 Gemini 5 170,3 Apollo 9 5,0

Aurora 7 400 Gemini 6A 12,9 Apollo 10 2,4

Sigma 7 8,2 Gemini 7 11,8 Apollo 11 3,1

Faith 7 6,4 Gemini 8 330 Apollo 12 3,7

Gemini 9A 0,7 Apollo 13 1,9

Gemini 10 6,2 Apollo 14 1,1

Gemini 11 4,9 Apollo 15 1,9

Gemini 12 4,8 Apollo 16 5,6

Apollo 17 1,9

Mean 1) 8,3 6,9 3,3

Thus, if we leave out the exceptional results, (of

some Mercury and Gemini flights) instead of what Wisnewski is saying, there is nothing exceptional with

the Apollo series. The only thing we can say is that they show no extreme landings which in itself is quite

an achievement. As the Apollo flights landed not from

an orbit, but directly from space it seems that in this way the accuracy of the landing was increased.

The Moon rocks came from Antarctica Question 23. Moonrocks are originating from Antarctica

Some people claim that the ‘moon

rocks’ were actually col lected from

Earth. After all

Wernher von Braun visited Antarctica in

1967.

This claim can be

refuted relatively easily. The astronauts brought 382 kg of moon rocks back to Earth. The Russians

brought back altogether 326 grams. The first lunar rock in Antarctica was found in 1979 and its origin

was established only in 1982. Still, they are extremely

rare and only 30 kg have been found until today. So, its most unlikely that 382 kg had been collected on

Earth before.

Grenada WB 23 Grenada WB 26

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Analysis shows that the moon rocks showed a

composition which is identical to the Russian samples and the samples from Antarctica but of course showed

no sign of atmospheric friction. The samples are easily distinguishable from both meteorites and terrestrial

rocks in that they show a complete lack of hydrous

alteration products. Further, they show evidence of having been subjected to impact events on an airless

body and they have unique geochemical characteristics e.g. in their oxygen isotopes.

Today no scientist disputes the origin of the moon

rocks.

Somebody else is on the Moon ! Questions 24. What about the UFO’s the astronauts have seen 25. There are hidden messages in some of the images In his book of the same title the

author, George Leonard, uses NASA

photos to “show” that the Moon has been colonized by an alien race

who left the surface littered with huge structures and machines.

Either the NASA is too blind to see it, or is covering it

up. Leonard sees such structures in the Sea of Tranquillity (NASA photo 66-H-1612) and the Crater

Tycho. He even talks about a giant screw.

But even this is not the most exciting assertion. Some people believe that during the flight of Apollo 11 the

astronauts saw alien spaceships and some interesting

UFO’s.

The following I took from: The Apollo 11 UFO incidents, James Oberg www.debunker.com/texts/apollo11.html

“For only shortly after the astronauts returned to earth

in mid-1969, a bootleg "tape" and voice transcript of what was really said on the moon has been circulating

clandestinely in UFO circles. The headline on the cover of National Bulletin magazine (distributed in Canada but

printed in New York City) for September 29,1969 cries out that "Phony Transmission Failure Hides Apollo 11

Discovery. . . Moon is a U.F.O. Base!" Author Sam

Pepper gave this version of the "Top Secret Tape Transcript" from "a leak close to the top," as follows: What was it, what the hell was it? That's all I want to know.... These. . . (garbled) . . .babies were huge, sir, they were enormous.... No, No, that's just field distortion.... Oh, God, you wouldn't believe it.... What...what...what the hell's going on? Whatsa matter with you guys . . . ? They're here, under the surface....

What's there.. .malfunction. . .Mission Control calling Apollo 11.... Roger, we're here, all three of us, but we've found some

visitors.... Yeah, they've been here for quite a while judging by the installations.... Mission control, repeat last message.... I'm telling you, there are other spacecraft out there. They're lined up in ranks on the far side of the crater edge.... Repeat, repeat.... Let's get that orbit scanned and head home.... In 625 to the fifth, auto-relays set...My hands are shaking so bad.... Film...yes, the damned cameras were clicking away from up here... Did you fellows get anything? Had no film left by the time. . . (garbled) . . . three shots of the saucers, or whatever they were. . .may have fogged the film. Mission Control, this is Mission Control...are you under way, repeat, are you under way? What's this uproar about UFOs? Over. They're set up down there...they're on the moon... watching us.... The mirrors, the mirrors . . . you set them up, didn't you? Yes, the mirrors are all in place. But whatever built those spacecraft will probably come over and pull 'em all out by the roots tomorrow.... “

In his long article Oberg, who does not believe in this nonsense at all, analyses all ‘observations’ step by step.

It’s a fact that the original tapes from the Apollo 11 do not show any sign of such a conversation whatsoever.

Also the Apollo astronauts reveal that they do not know

of any UFO or other alien encounter. They declare it to be utter nonsense. That the text is possibly ‘made up’

can also be extracted from the word ‘Mission Control’. In their conversation the astronauts never address their

counterparts on Earth as ‘Mission Control’ but only as

‘Houston’.

Oberg states that the UFO’s, which were seen by the astronauts according the ufologists, could be easily

explained by light scatterings in the windows of the craft which is clearly shown when looking at the

original pictures from the film. The ufologists are very

good in editing such pictures in such a way that every defect looks at last like an UFO. Even Dr.Hynek, the

UFO guru, is convinced that these stories are made up and comparable to those of the “Canals” and the

“face” on Mars

And then even there are the jokers who love to play

records backwards to listen if some secret information can be obtained. And some of them claim that when

you play the first sentence of Armstrong on the Moon

backwards: ‘One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind’, it sounds like: ‘Man never space walk’. OK,

Elvis lives for ever and has been recently seen in London!

Suspicious deaths of Apollo personnel Questions 26. Why the NASA administrator resigned just days before the first Apollo mission ?

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27. Some opponents of the Moon landings are suddenly killed

Some sources think that the death of certain astronauts and some technical personnel is part of a cover up.

The death of astronaut James Irwin (Apollo 15)

is discussed especially. It is said that he was at

the edge to uncover the Apollo hoax. But in fact

Irwin died in after a

heart attack in 1991. Also, when walking on

the Moon doctors found some irregularities in Irwin’s heart rhythm already and

advised him to see a doctor after his return on earth.

Another discussion

is brought up about the death of

Virgil Grissom in the Apollo 1 fire.

In this test a series

of defects (?) occurred leading to the death of the three astronauts,

Virgil Grissom, Roger Chaffee, and Edward White on January 27, 1967

Scott Grissom, the Apollo 1 commander’s son, investigated the accident thoroughly and came to the

conclusion that it was framed because of the fact that Grissom had heavily criticized the design of the craft

and called it a ‘bucket of screws’. According to

Wisnewski already in 1966 about 20,000 design errors had been listed.

Scott Grissom not only mentions the oxygen rich

atmosphere from which the designers already could have known that it was dangerous, but also the hatch

which was very difficult to open and the electrical

design which easily could lead to sparks. Further, the craft was full of inflammable material such as plastic

mats and nylon tape. The astronauts had mentioned the development of smoke 10 minutes before the fire

started, so why did no one stop the test then?

When finally the hatched was hauled open five minutes

after the conflagration, no doctor was present. It was officially announced that the crew was found dead at

that time, though Scott Grissom states that they were still alive after 10 minutes and no attempts were made

to save them. However, this is very unlikely. The craft

contained rather large amounts of nylon tape. When nylon burns some very toxic gases such as prussic acid

gas are released. In such circumstances the astronauts would have perished much more quickly.

Finally, Scott claims to have found the origin of the

sabotage, a piece of metal causing a short-circuited switch. Wisnewski shows photo’s of the culprit. He even

claims that the piece of metal used in the short-circuiting was sawn out of one of the posts of the craft

itself. As, unfortunately, no independent commission

investigated the event, only NASA themselves, a final and decisive answer, unfortunately, cannot be given.

But to me, this accident happened because of the haste necessary to reach the Moon before the Sovjets and

before the end of 1969. .

Even politics With all these allegations it‘s no surprise that some political reasons are

given for the moon flights.

Wisneweski shows that after every

negative political issue for the United States shortly after a Moon subject is

started to neutralize its effect on the general public. I give you his review:

It certainly looks if every negative event for America is

covered by a success in space and as such influencing public opinion. It is certainly the case that the Moon

flights were also used as a good opportunity to influence public opinion and to cover up some of

America’s failures in the Vietnam War, but the Apollo’s

were not launched especially for this purpose.

I think that every historian is able to draft an identical list with other negative or even positive events

happening at the same times. But the Apollo launchings just happened in a politically hectic period for the US.

This is just a very good example of conspiracy thinking.

Date Event…...Moon flight Moon subject

May ‘69 Illegal bombardment in Cambodja….Apoll10 Apollo 10

June‘69 Withdrawal of troops from Vietnam..Apollo 10/11 Apollo 10 and preview Apollo 11

July ‘69 Foltering scandal in Vietnam..Apollo 11 Apollo 11

Nov.’69 Massacre My Lai….Apollo 12 Apollo 12

May ‘70 US enters Cambodja…..Apollo 13 Apollo 13

Jan.’71 Accusation My Lai……..Apollo 14 Apollo 14

July’71 Pentagon Papers…...Apollo15 Apollo 15

April’72 Start attack of North Vietnamese….Apollo 16 Apollo 16

Dec’72 Rupture of the peace talks…...Apollo 17 Apollo 17

Maldives WB 26

North Vietnam, 1965, Scott 374 USA, 1999, Scott

3188g

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ORBIT

Some loose ends Questions 28. There are unknown things reflected in visors 29 Meteors would be dangerous 30 How could man get to the Moon when a simulated Moon landing was never tested? 31. Why were the steps of the astronauts on the Moon equal in length as on Earth despite the 1/6th gravity? 32. The fabric space suits had a crotch to shoulder zipper? How was air leakage prevented? 33 How could the astronauts bend their fingers and arms in pressurized suits? 34. A photo in the book of Wisnewski shows a serious damage on the LM of Apollo 16, how did this happen? Most of the questions above received scientific sound answers.

T h e r e c e r t a i n l y w e r e Micrometeorites there but because

of their low mass only a little bit of shielding was sufficient to stop

these dust-sized particles. The LM

was shielded by a thin aluminium outer shield and the astronauts’

s p a c e s u i t s i n c l u d e d a micrometeoroid garment.

Still there remain

some observations

where an easy answer was not

forthcoming.

So, there exist some photo’s of the Moon

Rover besides the Lander. There are tracks seen in a

distance, but strangely enough the Rover stands just in the sand, with no tracks seen directly under or behind

the wheels (page 1, photo AS17-14—21354).

Another point is the

saluting jump of Neil Young with Apollo 16.

A French researcher has studied the photo’s

made from this event and found out that the

astronaut remained

suspended for 0,3 seconds before returning back to the Moon. The dust,

however, commences its fall back again after 0,1 seconds. How come ? (page 5, http://speedge.free.fr/

nasa/jumpflag.htm).

It also had been found strange that the astronauts on

the Moon walked the same way as on Earth in spite of the lower gravity. It is clear that one has to adjust first

before finding a new way of walking. The stamp as

above shows that certainly the later astronauts found other ways of walking such as the ‘kangaroo jump’ by

Eugene Cernan from Apollo 17.

When some of the pictures were viewed in more

contrast it could be established that they were crudely retouched. Possibly these pictures were made at

training sessions and unwanted background had been removed. Although retouching is not so easy as today,

even at that time retouching was well-known also from the Soviets (page 4 and 5).

And then a photo of Apollo 17 shows in magnification a bizarre rectangular frame (page 8, AS17-145-22169

enhanced by Jack White).

However, all these remarks originate from an Internet

site called: www.aulis.com/further_findings.htm a site mainly made by David Percy and Mary Bennett.

Reliable? Believable? Not at all!

The same article tries to establish that one Apollo 12 photo of the sun over the Moon surface (photo AS17-

134-20410) was actually not the sun but a large artificial source. Computer enhancements should

support the opinion that we look at a light reflector or

light bulb in stead of the sun (page 1-5).

One also refers to a conversation of Conrad and Bean during their

stay on the Moon with Apollo 12. When Conrad walked out of the

shadow of the LM he should have

said: ‘Well, how bright is that Sun, it looks if somebody has a spotlight in his hand…’ And collecting soil samples he says: ‘I say to you … you know … that Sun … looks really if somebody has turned on a super bright light… ‘ .

He also amazes himself about the lack of a crater: ‘The landing exhaust – it is just like Neil, it shows no crater at all’. And then he jokes: ‘That American flag shows good, isn’t it? Looks like a model’. The book mentions also some other remarks.

Of course all words of the astronauts are important

and are worth to consider carefully. But first, Conrad

is well-known for his jokes and second, most

Niuafo’ou

Umm al Qiwain WB 351

Congo WB 39 re Apollo 17

USA WB19,20

Ajman WB 247

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astronauts walked in high spirits on the Moon. It’s just

their way of expressing their feelings.

Oman WB

178; Penrhyn

WB 7

On the Internet there exists a series

of photo’s where Buzz Aldrin is

walking with the seismic experiment package. The enhancements of

those photo’s show 18 anomalies, not all of them very clear, but the fact is that some of those differences in

the photo’s are hard to explain (Photo 40-5942 until 40-

5946, www.aulis.com/jackstudies_5a.html). The reply to this point is not very strong. As a matter of fact the

whistle-blowers are accused of having introduced those anomalies deliberately as they cannot occur on their

own, nor are ‘accidents’. But the most probable answer is that some of the photo’s originate from training

sessions.

What should we make of all this? Perhaps, in the course of this article, I have not touched

all questions, but some of them are so obvious that I consider an answer unnecessary.

And I must admit, I do not consider the whistle-blowers

as the most reliable source with respect to this subject. Generally, they are no scientists, no specialists and some

of them present, to say the least, odd ideas. Others I

suspect of just making money from such subjects, confusing people’s minds. Still 6% of all Americans today

think that the moon landings are fake. I expect that that number in Europe is much less.

Anyhow, it is interesting to see to which wild theories emerge when people are starting to use or even

manipulating information for their own good.

At least, until today, no one has come up with a decisive proof that the moon landings were faked. On the other

hand there exists overwhelming evidence that they really

took place. With respect to the disbelievers it all comes to assumptions, and attacks on details based upon

sometimes very incredible and close-minded argumentation. As one of the debunkers says: ‘The hoax-believers create a delusional fantasy in which they are the heroes’.

If the landings were faked, certainly Soviet intelligence would have known this and would have made

propaganda with it. But then, if the Gagarin flight also

was a fake it would have been better to keep their mouth shut, the disbelievers argue.

And so every argument ‘in favour’ becomes refuted.

Another relatively strong argument is that such a fake

cannot be kept secret for such a long time with so many people involved. Some disbelievers come up with

so-called insiders, but most of them worked at a large

distance from the actual place and are mostly of the level of the neighbour of the son of a worker who

worked at a company manufacturing accessories for the Saturn rocket.

Even when the circle of real insiders finally was small,

one guy should have come up with the real story. That

no one did to me is the real evidence that the flights a c t u a l l y w e r e c a r r i e d o u t .

A very strong point in

favour of the moon

landings I found also in the recently issued book

‘Moon Dust, in search of the last moon travellers’, by Andrew Smith (ISBN 90 414 0895 9, 2006) from

which it becomes quite

obvious that their trip to the Moon has influenced

the lives and minds of most of the moon

astronauts considerably.

This would not have been the case if they had just

been actors in a staged drama.

Still I believe that not the all arguments of the disbelievers are completely unfounded. I think that

some of the moon photo’s actually were made on Earth in a studio or at training situations or are, let’s

say, edited in some way for publicity reasons. But, doing so, some mistakes could have been introduced

which fed the arguments.

I further think that the Americans reaching for the

Moon took outrageous and irresponsible risks with the lives of their astronauts. That, with exception of the

Apollo 13, nothing went fatally wrong to me is the real

miracle. Hoorn, 1 November 2008

Literature Bill Kaysing, Randy Reid, We never went to the Moon, America’s thirty billion dollar swindle, Health research 1976, ISBN 07-8730-487-5 Mary Bennett, David S.Percy, Dark Moon, Apollo and the whistle-blowers, 1999, ISBN 1898541108 Gerhard, Wisnewski, Lügen im Weltraum (German, Lying in space), 2005, ISBN 10: 3-426-77755-X., ISBN 13: 978-3-426-77755-8. Maanstof (Dutch, Moon Dust), Andrew Smith, 2006, ISBN 90 414 0895 9 George Leonard, Somebody else is on the Moon, 1976, ISBN

Ajman WB 575-6 Davaar Island (local)

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0679506063. nl.wikpedia.org Apollo maanlandingscomplottheorie en.wikidedia.org Apollo moon landing hoax accusations www.debunker.com/texts/apollo11.html James Oberg, The Apollo-11 UFO incidents www.ufos-aliens.co.uk/cosmicapollo.html The faked Apollo landings www.aulis.com Apollo investigation www.clavius.org Moon base Clavius www.moonmovie.com Bart Sibrel, Site for purchasing his films:

‘A funny thing happened on the way to the Moon’’, ‘Astronauts gone wild’, ‘Apollo 11, monkey business’, ‘Apollo 11 post-flight press conference’. www.badastronomy.com/ bad/tv/foxapollo.html Fox TV and the Moon Apollo hoax www.braeunig.us/space/hoax.htm Did we land on the Moon? A debunking of the Moon Hoax Theory. www.wwheaton.com/waw/mad/mad19.html The van Allen Belts and travel to the Moon

Commemorative Covers from your Editor’s Collection

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Commemorative Covers from Bruce Cranford’s Collection

Including this signed and flown cover—what a

gem !!