Orbit issue 87 (October 2010)
description
Transcript of Orbit issue 87 (October 2010)
1
2
ORBIT
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copy Copyright 2010 The Astro Space Stamp Society No article contained herein may be reproduced without
prior permission of the Author and the Society
Editorial
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publication should be with the Editor
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ASSS website at URL
wwwasssutvinternetcom
ISSN 0953 1599 THE JOURNAL OF THE ASTRO
SPACE STAMP SOCIETY Issue No 87 October 2010
Patron
Cosmonaut Georgi Grechko Hero of the Soviet Union
COMMITTEE
Chair Margaret Morris 55 Canniesburn Drive Bearsden Glasgow
GS1 1RX (E-mail MMorris671aolcom)
Hon Secretary Brian JLockyer 21 Exford CloseWeston-Super-Mare
Somerset BS23 4RE
(E-mail brianlockyertesconet)
Compiler of Checklist Hon Treasurer Postal Packet Organiser
Harvey Duncan16 Begg Avenue Falkirk Scotland FK1 5DL
(E-mail duncan1975btinternetcom)
Orbit Editor Jeff Dugdale Glebe Cottage Speymouth Mosstodloch Moray
Scotland IV32 7LE (E-mail jefforbitedaolcom)
Webmaster Derek Clarke 36 Cherryfield Road Walkington
Dublin 12 (E-mail dclarkeutvinternetcom)
Postal Auction Organiser David Saunders 42 Burnet Road Bradwell
Great Yarmouth NR31 8SL
Overseas Representatives
Australia Charles Bromser 37 Bridport Street Melbourne 3205 GermanyJurgen P Esders An der Apostelkirche 10 10783 Berlin
EireDerek 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 Linda Valley Villa 236 11075 Benton Street Loma Linda CA 92354-3182 USA
Life Members UK - Harvey Duncan George Spiteri Ian Ridpath Margaret Morris Michael Packham Dr WR Withey Paul Uppington
Jillian Wood Derek Clarke (Eire) Charles Bromser (Australia) Tom Baughn (USA) Ross Smith (Australia)
Vincent Leung Wing Sing (Hong Kong) Mohammed KSafdar (Saudi Arabia)
The report of its death has been exaggerated
Mark Twain would be proud of me My plans for
this issue to mark the end of the space shuttle have
(inevitably) been thwarted by delays in the NASA schedule and it now looks as if there will be at least
two further launches STS-133 in November of this year and STS-134 in February 2011 There are even
plans for STS-135 with a four man crew to be
launched in June so taking the longevity of this programme beyond the 30 year mark the first
shuttled having been launched on 12 April 1981
So apologies for the cover which was planned and designed when it looked as if the shuttlersquos swansong
was very imminent Therersquos no need to write to me
Perhaps Americarsquos reluctance to say goodbye to these
grand old craft follows on from its sense of great uncertainly of what lies beyond that and the prospect
of the USA having no autonomous access to space for
four to five years
By the time NASA finally returns to space with a vehicle capable of servicing the ISS whose life itself
is now projected well into this decade other nations
and several private organisations will have made their mark on space and will have been commemorated by
international space stamps
3
ORBIT ORBIT
Part Two
Part One covered the ISS from its inception in 1998
up to the completion of the second phase in Summer
2001
The third resident crew (EO-3) commanded by American Frank
Culbertson with two Russ ian colleagues had arrived at the ISS via
STS-105 in August 2001 for a fourth month stay 129 days in fact
researching in many science disciplines and conducting
the first EVAs by a resident crew
Soyuz TM 33 (launched 21102001)
The second Soyuz taxi mission (3S) carried a veteran Russian commander in Viktor Afanasyev a rookie flight
engineer in Konstantin Kozeev and ldquospationauterdquo Claudie Haignereacute making her second flightmdashher first
having been to Mir five years beforemdashfollowing her
marriage to a fellow French spacefarer Haignereacutersquos week long CNES sponsored mission was dubbed
ldquoAndromegravederdquo and included two experiments devoted to the observation of earth and the study of the
ionosphere three life science studies and two physics
experiments French high schools also devised
educational experiments designed to support
science teaching in schools This crew left
for Earth in the TM 31
craft on 31 October
Claudie Haignereacute was honoured with
a Lollini sponsored issue of four stamps from Somalia one of which is
shown below left
STS-108 (launched 5122001)
The final shuttle flight of the year was ISS assembly flight UF-1 which
also carried the Multi Purpose
Logisitcs Module Raffaello and a change of crew taking up the ISS-4
(EO-4) crew of Yuri Onufriyenko Daniel Bursch and Carl Weiz which
was a mirror image of the EO-3 crew having a Russian commander and
two American crew each of whom was making his
fourth flight Endeavour remained docked to the ISS for almost 190 hours during which in the only EVA
which lasted just over four hours mission specialists
Dan Tani and Linda Godwin installed insulation on the solar array rotation mechanism and retrieved antennae
covers for return to Earth The official handover between the ISS resident crews occurred on 13
December Just after undocking the crew of the shuttle splayed the small Starshine 2 satellite from a
Get Away Special canister which was to be tracked by
thousands of students in 26 countries during its eight months in orbit
EO-4 Highlights The fourth expedition which
began with the arrival of STS-108 at the ISS concluded on
19the June 2002 when the
crew returned aboard STS-111 During their 196 day
stay the EO4 crew worked on over 50 science experiments almost equally divided in
origin between the USA and Russia and many of them
already installed on the station
4
ORBIT
The crew performed three EVAs the first two via the
Russian Pirs module and the third out of the Quest airlock These EVA involved relocation of the cargo
boom for the Strela crane to the outside of Pirs the installation of six deflector shields on the Service
Module thrusters and of radio antennae Then on the
40th anniversary of the first orbital flight by the American John Glenn Walz and Bursch performed the
first EVA out of Quest without an attached shuttle in support in order to prepare the area for installation of
the S0 Truss due to arrive with STS-110 in April
During their spell on the ISS the crew experienced
power problems and a number of failures of the Elektron oxygen equipment They also had difficulties
with the operation of Canadarm2 whose wrist joint failed and required replacement They were relieved
with arrived of the EO-5 crew who came up with STS-
111
Both Bursch and Walz broke the record established by Shannon Lucid for an extended spell in space
eventually spending 196 days on the ISS 8 more than her endurance record On landing the three crew had a
joint accumulated total of nearly 850 days in space
STS-110 (launched 842002)
Atlantis docked with the ISS on 10th April and in the following 170 hours at the station the four mission
specialists conducted four EVAs in order to install the S0
Truss as well as the increasingly routine duties of transferring equipment and supplies to the ISS
The truss was to serve as a platform on to which other
trusses were to be attached and solar arrays navigation
devices and power systems for later additions mounted
Initial tests of the Mobile Transporter (railcar) which
typically moved slowly (3 cms a second) were
successfully completed This facility would later prove to be very valuable in moving equipment about the ISS
On this mission Jerry Ross became the first astronaut to
be launched from Earth seven times though John Young had been launched six and once from the Moon
Soyuz TM 34 (launched 25042002)
This ldquotaxirdquo mission exchanged Soyuz ferries allowed Italian Robert Vittori to complete a Science programme
(called Marco Polo) for the Italian Space Agency and
carried the second fare-paying passenger to the ISS in the shape of Mark Shuttleworth the first African to fly
in space Stamps were produced to mark these flights by South Africa on 17122003 and a Lollini sponsored
issue of four from Somalia issued on launch day
Shuttleworth was determined to improve on the image
of the ldquospace touristrdquo created following Denis Titorsquos first flight and he developed a programme of life science
experiments using on board equipment and bringing up four South African university developed ones
TM 34 was the last in the series of that version of Soyuz (which had begun in May 1986) with a new type
capable of more comfortably carrying astronauts of varying sizes about to come into service
STS-111 (launched 562002)
5
ORBIT
STS-111 was assembly mission UF2 and transported to
the station the new resident crew of Valery Korzun Peggy Whitson and Sergei Treschev
Endeavour docked with the ISS on 7th June and
remained mated for almost a 190 hours On the same
day the EO-4 crew formally ended their 182-day residence handing over to the new team During the
time the two crews had together three EVAs were completed by Chang-Diaz (making his seventh flight)
and spationaut Perrin (the first Frenchman to spacewalk from the ISS) working on developing the
truss arrangement which would grow with every
subsequent visit of a shuttle One necessary repair was to Canadarm2 whose wrist roll joint was replaced
so restoring the sophisticated tool to operational status The MPLM Leonardo brought up in the shuttle payload
bay also permitted a large amount of new kit such as
a new science rack for microgravity experiments and a new glove box for isolation condition testsmdashto be taken
into the ISS and old materials to be returned to Earth
EO-5 Highlights As with EO-4 well over 50 experiments were tackled or re-
run by the new resident crew including one concerning the
forming of kidney stones during
spaceflight for which Peggy Whitson was the principal
investigator as the first ldquoScience Officerrdquo designated by
NASA
During their 185 days on the ISS the crew received two
Progress re-supply craft (M1-8 and M1-9) bringing over 5000 kg of cargo and equipment for the ESA Odessa science programme in November
By now routine EVA were conducted and the crew
overcame equipment repair and maintenance challenges Whitson posted a regular series of
journals on the NASA website about the work she was doing so providing a fascinating insight into the daily
work of the ISS crew She was amused to be
compared to ldquoScience Officerrdquo Mr Spock of the USS Enterprise in Star Trek
STS-112 (launched 7102002)
Assembly flight 9A flown by Atlantis docked with the ISS
on 9th October carrying materials for the construction of the S1 Truss and CETAmdash the Crew Equipment
Translation Aid (cart) which was to travel along the MBS rail
During EVAs David Wolf and (British born) Piers Sellers connected power data and fluid lines and released
launch bolts that allowed the radiators to be orientated for optimum cooling and set CETA in place Crew
members also repaired the exercise treadmill vibration dampening system in Zvezda and replaced a humidity
separator in Quest which had been leaking
Soyuz TMA 1 (launched 30102002)
Within two weeks of the department of Atlantis the first
of the new style Soyuz ferries arrived manned by two
Russians (Sergei Zaletin and Yuri Lonchakov and a Belgian Frank DeWinne) This flight ought to have
carried the third space flight participant (aka tourist) in the shape of N Synch pop singer Lance Bass but the
millionaire failed to pay his fare and was replaced by the back-up commander ldquoTMArdquo signified Transport
Modification Anthropometric and allowed many
American astronauts to fly who had been too large to fit in the Soyuz ferryrsquos previous versions very fortuitous
development given the dramatic space events which were to occur within a few months This was the first
Soyuz variant to fly without first being ldquoroad-testedrdquo
unmanned
The visitors who stayed at the station for a week worked with the resident
crew on Russian science programmes
and helped DeWinne with his ESA Odessa experiment programme which
had some twenty different features Returning in the TM 34 spacecraft they
had quite a hard landing in the first Russian landing at night time in ten
years DeWinne appears (on the right) in a Belgian
sheet issued in 2004 containing ten stamps showing famous countrymen
6
ORBIT
At this point in late 2002 the ISS
complex looked much as does in this 2006 stamp from Sierra Leone
captioned ldquoISS June 15th 2002rdquo showing the first basic trusses in
place
STS-113 (launched 23112002)
Assembly mission 11A began with the arrival of
Endeavour at the ISS on 25th November and the following day the P1 Truss which had been carried up
was relocated to the port end of the S0 Truss and automatically bolted in place
The mission also brought up the EO-6 crew of Ken Bowersox Nikolai Budarin and Donald Pettit who
officially took over shortly after the docking Three EVAs were conducted in support of the truss installation and
that of the CETA-B cart The activities included the first
EVA by a native American in rookie MS John Herrington
Although no one could possibly have predicted it at the time this would be the last time for thirty months that a
shuttle would dock at the station Endeavourrsquos own attempts to land were waived off on a record three
consecutive days before finally making it home on 7th
December
EO-6 Highlights The sixth resident crew had expected to return by shuttle at the end of their stay on the station but the
loss of Columbia on 1st February 2003 (in a mission that had not visited the ISS) resulted in the fleet being
grounded and the crew having to use the TMA-1
spacecraft for landing and they were replaced by the TMA-2 ldquocaretakerrdquo crew
Donald Pettit had been included
late the preparatory stage when
the original Science Officer Don Thomas was adjudged to have
received too much radiation on his previous spaceflights for duty
on a long duration flight There were no planned visiting
missions scheduled until the arrival of STS-114 to
bring them home after a four month tour
The science programme included over twenty new investigations and Pettit broadcast a series of science
demonstrated supported by postings on the internet
Two EVA (one unplanned) were conducted the first related to the P1 Truss radiator system but the
second (after the loss of Columbia) conducted on 8th April to ensure that the new crew would need to
perform an EVA only in an emergency
Progress M47 arrived on 4th February and further such
visits would now prove indispensable to the maintenance of operations on the ISS in the following
two to three years The resident crew departed on 3rd May so becoming the first to return to earth in a
Soyuz craft and accordingly making Bowersox and
Pettit the first NASA men to fly home in a Russian craft
The landing went far from well with the crew
experiencing almost 8G in the re-entry process and landing well off target so that it took over two hours to
find them they had not been equipped with mobile
phones Pettit was much distressed by the landing but the crew were much praised for their professionalism
in dealing with the problem which was later traced to the yaw gyroscope experiencing a gimbal lock when its
angular rate exceeded 54deg
Soyuz TMA 2 (launched 2642003) EO-7
The new style Soyuz ferry was now the only means of taking
astronauts to the ISS and due
to limited supply capacity it was decided that until shuttles
could be used again the resident crews would have to
be only two-strong (one from each nation) and launched
every six months The previously identified ISS crews
were reassigned as two-person crews with the third seat allocated to ESA astronauts flying short visits
7
ORBIT
However ESA had delayed their next astronautrsquos flight
by six months and so TMA2 flew with only two men on board
The first ldquocaretakerrdquo crew simply maintained systems on
the complex with limited capacity for science
programmes conducting only those which were already in situ Although both Mir and Salyut space stations
had been run by only two people the ISS was much more complex and considerably bigger so the ground
managers were very cautious in allocating duties
Progress M1-10 and M48 brought new supplies up to
Yuri Malenchenko and Ed Lu Lu as Science Officer continued to post on the web a series of personal
recollections of events on board
On 28 May a demonstration of American EMU suiting
was completed so proving that two men could suit up and remove suits without assistance from a third should
an emergency EVA be required On 10th August Malenchenko was ldquomarriedrdquo via a TV link to his fianceacutee
in Houston Texas arrangements having been made long in advance
Soyuz TMA 3 (launched 18102003) EO-8
The second caretaker crew arrived in mid-October
carrying Spanish ESA astronaut Pedro Duque British born ISS commander Michael Foale making his sixth
flight and Russian Alexander Kaleri the whole crew
being curiously celebrated by an issue from Tchad in 2004
Duque returned to Earth with
the EO7 crew on 27th October ha v i ng comp l e t ed h i s
Cervantes science programme during his eight days on the
station
In November Foale and Kaleri
practised emergency ingress procedures to determine if crew members wearing
Orlan EVA suits could enter Soyuz using the internal hatches This was proved possible after a great deal
of stressful activity
One EVA was conducted (on 26th February) and with
both men outside that was the first occasion on which no one had been inside the ISS for three and a half
years On 8th December Foale became the most
experienced NASA astronaut surpassing Carl Walzrsquos career total of 231 days over four missions When he
finally landed Foale had logged 375 days in space but his colleague Kaleri was still 238 days ahead of him in
aggregate terms
Soyuz TMA 4 (launched 1942004) EO-9
The new resident crew comprising Gennady Padalka Ed Fincke and Dutch ESA astronaut Andreacute Kuipers
arrived in mid-April and they are shown on this Lollini sponsored issue from Somalia in 2004 with Kuipers
appearing on his own in the top two stamps with
Fincke and Padalka (left) and Kaleri and Foale in the bottom pairing
8
ORBIT
Kuipers completed his ESA DELTA package during his
eight days on board ISS and returned with the EO8 crew on 30th April
The EO9 crew received no
visitors other than cargo
payloads via Progress M1-11 M49 and M50 After working on
suit repairs and servicing for over a month the crew
abandoned their first EVA after only 14 minutes because of a
pressure drop in the main
oxygen supply of an Orlan suit but a week later after successful repairs they spent
almost six hours outside working on the S0 truss In a second EVA in early August they installed reflectors and
communication units ready for the first ESA Automatic
Transfer Vehicle Jules Verne though this was later delayed by many months
On 18th June Fincke made history by becoming the first
US astronaut to become a father in space listening to the birth of his second daughter via his cell phone
The crew had severe problems with the Elektron oxygen generator which was failing every three days or so and
requiring manual starts These shutdowns were found to be centred on the liquid units that held trapped gas
inside micro-pumps despite using purified water
The crew completed their programme of many
maintenance tasks and returned to earth with test cosmonaut Yuri Shargin in October
Soyuz TMA 5 (launched 14102004) EO-10
The two members of the new resident crew arrived at
the ISS in mid-October the Commander Leroy Chiao and Salizhan Sharipov accompanied by Russian Yuri
Shargin who would stay only for the week or so Russian businessman Sergei Polonsky had been
scheduled to become the third paying space flight
participant but failed a late medical test and so was replaced by a Russian Spaces Forces cosmonaut the
first of that group to be
selected for cosmonaut training eight years earlier He
carried out his own programme of scientific study the Russians
stressing that none of his
activity was military as such practice is banned from the
ISS Sharipov was celebrated by a minisheet from his Kyrgyz homeland in 2005
(above) showing the space station nearing completion in the background
During the tenth expedition this crew would complete two Pirs-based EVAs receive two Progress supply craft
visits and relocate Canadarm2 Problems with the Elektron unit continued repairs were made to EVA
suits an upgrade made to the computer software
trouble experienced with the toilet in Zvezda and a heat exchanger replaced in Quest
There was concern in November that food was running
low with it due to run out in mid-January but this was found to be down to poor record keeping because of
the increased work load of a two person crew and
anyway Progress M51 arrived to solve the problem and the shuttlersquos impending return to flight would also help
Germany 2004 and Japan 2005 show
the station nearing completion
9
ORBIT
Soyuz TMA 6 (launched 1542005) EO-11
The eleventh resident crew would be the first to receive
a shuttle mission since STS-
113 in December 2002 because the loss of
Columbia had created the need to fly two-man
resident crews but the
docking of STS-114 in July would signify the impending return to full station
operation
Italian ESA astronaut Roberto Vittori was back at the ISS in the company of Russian Sergei Krikalev making
his sixth flight and American civilian John Phillips as
science officer This time Vittori completed research under the Eneide programme doing experiments in
human physiology biology and also getting involved in educational demonstrations
The new crew was not long on board before the Elektron system finally broke down in early May
though there were sufficient alternative sources of oxygen on board These would be complemented by
Shuttle and Progress deliveries such as Progress M53 in June which also carried spare parts for the Elektron
unit which the crew worked on in addition to routine
maintenance tasks and the repositioning of their Soyuz from Pirs to Zarya
STS-114 (launched 2672005)
On 28th July the first shuttle
crew to visit the ISS for two and half years arrived via Discovery This was a very experienced crew commanded by Eilleen
Collins By now the decision to
use the shuttle to complete station assembly and then retire
it had been taken The station then looked as it does in this
2006 issue from Sierra Leone As Discovery approached the ISS it flew around it at a distance of some 180
metres to allow the crew on board to photograph the
underside of the shuttle to check for launch damage This rather worryingly revealed the loss of two
protruding tile gap fillers Because these might cause hot spots on re-entry extra EVAs were designed to
manually extract them during which an astronaut
(Stephen Robinson) ventured under the shuttlersquos body for the first time ever in orbital operations
Discovery also brought up MPLM Raffaello carrying a
large amount of supplies including the Human Research Facility 2 and the new CMG 2 gyroscope
As the shuttle departed after over 12 days at the station both crews photographed each otherrsquos spacecraft The
second shuttle Return to Flight mission was then delayed because of questions about the integrity of the
foam fixtures on the External Tanks
In August the Vodzukh COsup2 removal system on the ISS
failed and the American unit in Destiny was activated to take over On 16th August Krikalev the first person
to complete two residences and the first cosmonaut to
fly six missions became the longest served Russian cosmonaut with over 747 days of spaceflight
experience Next day 17th August Krikalev and Phillips performed the only EVA of Expedition 11 after which
they prepared for their next visitors via Soyuz TMA7 which would carry in Gary Olsen the third spaceflight
participant and the new two man resident crew of Bill
McArthur and Valery Tokarev
Soyuz TMA 7 (launched 1102005) EO-12
To be continuedhellip
10
ORBIT ORBIT
2 The Moon Second Quadrant (North-West) We learn from our main source Atlas of the Universe by
Patrick Moore (Philiprsquos 1999)helliphellip
Selected Craters illustratedhellip
Archimedes (Diam 75 km Lat degN 30 Long degW 4) A large impact crater on the Eastern edges of the Mare Imbrium with Montes Archimedes mountains to the South Named after the Greek mathematician and scientist who lived c 287mdash212 BC
(San Marino 1982)
Copernicus (Diam 97 km Lat degN 10 Long degW 20)
A prominent feature named after the famous Polish astronomer (1473mdash1543) and located in the eastern Oceanus Procellarum this is estimated to be around 800 million years old and is typical of craters of that period having a very clear ray
system (Soviet Union 1973)
The Naming of Craters Einstein (Diam 160 km Lat degN 18 Long degW 86)
A large crater which lies along the Western limb of the Moon therefore difficult to observe from Earth and discovered only in 1952 by Patrick Moore Named after the German theoretical physicist and philosopher (1879-1955) (India 1979)
Encke (Diam 32 km Lat degN 5 Long degW 37) Located on the W edge of Mare Insularum to the S SE of crater Kepler Named after German astronomer Johann Frank Encke (1791-1865) (Comoros Isles 1986)
Euler (Diam 25 km Lat degN 23 Long degW 29) Located in the southern half of the Mare Imbrium its most notable nearby feature is Mons Vinogradov to the W-SW Named after Leonard Euler (1707mdash83) the Swiss mathematician and physicist (E Germany 1950)
J Herschel (Diam 145 km Lat degN 62 Long degW 41) A large walled plain which appears foreshortened when viewed from Earth Named after British mathematician chemist and astronomer Sir John Herschel (1792mdash1871) (Centre of GB 1970 )
Kepler (Diam 35 km Lat degN 8 Long degW 38) This lies between the Oceanus Procellarum to the W and Mare Insularm in the E with crater Encke to the SE Named after German mathematician and astronomer Johannes Kepler (1571mdash1630) (Czech Rep 2009)
Lavoisier (Diam 71 km Lat degN 36 Long degW 70) Located near the NW limb at the W edge of Oceanus Procellarum this lies to the SW of crater von Braun and SE of Bunsen Named in honour of ldquothe Father of Modern Chemistryrdquo the French chemist Antoine Lavoisier (1743mdash1794) (France 1943)
Le Verrier (Diam 25 km Lat degN 40 Long degW 20) A small nearly circular bowl shaped feature in the N part of the Mare Imbrium just E of the larger Helicon Named for the French mathematical astronomer Urbain Le Verrier (1811mdash1877) (France 1958)
11
ORBIT
Otto Struve (Diam 160 km Lat degN 25 Long degW 75) This is a vast lava flooded plain near the W
edge of Oceanus Procellarum close the W limb of the Moon and so appears foreshortened Named in honour of German astronomers Friedrich von Struve (Russian VY Struve) (1793-1864) and son (Otto) and grandson (Otto) (USSR 1964) Pythagoras (Diam 113 km Lat degN 65 Long degW 65)
This prominent feature lies near the NW limb just NW of the somewhat larger
Babbage It has an oval appearance due to the oblique viewing angle from Earth and only part of it can be viewed from Earth Named after Greek philosopher Pythagoras of Samos (c 570mdashc 495 BC) ( S a n M a r i n o 1982)
Babbage (Diam 143 km Lat degN 60 Long degW 57) An ancient crater located near the NW
l i m b n a m e d a f t e r B r i t i s h mathematician philosopher and computing pioneer Charles Babbage (1791mdash1871) (GB 2010)
Hevelius (Diam 122 km Lat degN 2 Long degW 67) This is a low-rimmed crater on
the W edge of the Oceanus Procellarum named after Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius (1611mdash1687) - ldquothe founder of lunar topographyrdquo (Poland
1987) Plato (Diam 97 km Lat degN 51 Long degW 9) The lava-filled remains of a crater on the NE shore of Mare Imbrium at the W
extremity of Montes Alpes named after the Classical Greek philosopher and mathematician (c 428mdashc 348 BC) (Greece 1998)
Schiaparelli (Diam 29 km Lat degN 23 Long degW 59) A small crater on the W part of Oceanus Procellarum to the W of Herodotus and named after Giovanni Schiaparelli(1835-
1910) Italian astronomer and science historian famous for his misinterpreted comments re ldquocanalirdquo on Mars (Hungary 1974)
12
ORBIT
ASTEROIDS Some Bits and Pieces
Ulugh Beigh (Diam 70 km Lat deg29 2 Long degW 85) The remnant of a crater just to the W of Oceanus Procellarum near the NW limbmdashforeshortened from the Earth Named after Ulugh Beg Persian ruler and astronomermathemat ic ian (Turkey 1983) Von Braun (Diam 60 km Lat deg41 2
Long degW 78) Named after rocket pioneer Wernher von Braun (1912-77) this is located near the NW limb on the W edge of Oceanus Procellarum and to the NE of Lavoisier (Guinea Biussau 2006)
Uncatalogued Hungarian Stamp Referenced in Spaceflight Article
The June 2010 issue of Spaceflight magazine contained
a five page article by Naacutendo
Schuminszky celebrating the first Hungarian in space whose
flight in Soyuz 36 occurred 30 years beforeon 26th May 1980
A side panel to the article
reproduced right contains
images of a pair of stamps with two subtle differencesmdashin
bottom left hand corner the date ldquo1979rdquo and ldquo1980rdquo and
rightmdashthe face value The
article goes on to explain how unexpected events delayed the
flight by a year Hungarian cosmonaut Bertalan Farkas was
due to be launched in mid-June
1979 in Soyuz 34 but his flight was cancelled following the
failure of Soyuz 33 carrying Bulgarian cosmonaut Georgi Ivanov to dock with Salyut 6 Soyuz 34 was eventually
launched unmanned to provide a fresh ferry for the resident crew to use
In anticipation of the 1979 flight a large number of associated souvenirs including posters emblems and
stamps had been prepared but had to be destroyed though evidently some escaped
However the 1979 version of the eventual SG 3320 is not listed in WEEBAU or Gibbons If any members have
any info about these unissued stamps please share it with us
More on Lunar Craters Our Chairman Margaret Morris forwarded the article opposite from the March 1989 issue of Sky amp Telescope which is of interest in the context of our new series explaining as it does how several Far Side craters have been named after astronauts and cosmonauts
Orbit for June 2010
Our last issue contained one glaring error for which your editor apologises The number on the front ldquo85rdquo was the same as the number for the March issue This will cause
problems when Harvey Duncan issues the next version of the index A lovely cover again by your Editorrsquos wife but spoiled by this typo Sorry
Flown STS-8 Covers These are referred to at the bottom of the left hand column of p 27 of this edition in Umberto Cavallarorsquos article where we learn that there were well over a quarter of a million of them
Alan Tunnicliffe editor of NZ Air Mail News advises that New Zealand stamp dealer JRMowbray has for sale at NZ $75 a piece flown STS-8 space covers date stamped 14 Aug 1983 at KSC with launch and return cancels and bearing a $935 stamp NZ$75 = US$53 or pound35 This seems a rather high price for flown STS-8 covers given the number available and members will possibly be able to obtain the item cheaper with an internet search
Solar Sails and The Sun Peter Hoffman comments on John Beenenrsquos feature on The Sun in our June 2010 issuehellip ldquoIn the Solar Sails section on page 8 mention is made of the failed launch of Cosmos-1 What is not mention is that is was a project of The Planetary Society httpwwwplanetaryorghome They are working on a new version called LightSail the first of which is planned for a launch later this year In case you are not familiar with it The Planetary Society is a privately funded space advocacy group founded in part by Carl Sagan ldquoThe Planetary Society yearly presents the Cosmos Award for Outstanding Public Presentation of Science in honour of Carl Sagan This years winner was Stephen Hawking They printed his acceptance speech Why go into space An amusing comment was a quote from a Calvin and Hobbes cartoon Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere is that none of it has tried to contact us ldquoThe Japanese Space Agency launched its solar sail spacecraft IKAROS (Interplanetary Kite-Craft Accelerated by Radiation Of the Sun) together with its Venus Climate Orbiter Akatsuki on 20 May You can read about it at httpwwwspacecommissionlaunchesjapan-venus-wrap-100520htmlrdquo
13
ORBIT
14
ORBIT
Spaceflight Books for Sale
Books about Space andor Astronomy in English
The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Space 1990 386 pages coffee table book euro 1500
Life in Space D Monchersquo 1979 ldquo 500
The Conquest of Space Willy Ley amp Chesley Bonestell+pictures 1952 RARE ldquo 2000
Star Hunters D Mammana 1990 coffee table book ldquo 1000
The Rocket David Baker 276p+490pictures 1978 coffee table book classic ldquo 2000
The History of Manned Spaceflight David Baker 576p+362pictures 1985coffeerdquo 2000
The Observerrsquos Spaceflight Directory R Turnill 384p 1978 ldquo 1000
The Observerrsquos Book of Unmanned Spaceflight+Manned Spaceflight 1974+1975 ldquo 1000
The Observerrsquos Book Of Astronomy Patrick Moore 1973 ldquo 500
Basic Astronomy Patrick Moore 1967 ldquo 300
Space a Novel James A Michener pocket Ballantine 1983 ldquo 250
Voyagers Ben Bova 1983 pocket ldquo 250
The Universe Herbert Zim 1973 ldquo 200
Exploring Other Worlds WyberampAmes 1968 ldquo 200
Tomorrowrsquos Moon Henry Little 1969 ldquo 200
Observatories of the World Marx amp Pfau 1982 ldquo 1000
Are We Alone Paul Davis Penquin 1995 ldquo 250
Moonport USA (Kennedy Space Center) 1977 ldquo 250
Living in Space (Colonies) J Trefil 1981 ldquo 500
The Cosmonauts Gordon Hooper 1977 ldquo 250
Extraterrestrials-Where Are They Zuckerman ampHart 1995 ldquo 1000
The Cosmic Connection Carl Sagan pocket 1975 ldquo 300
Exploring the Planets Ian Nicolson 1972 ldquo 250
Janersquos pocket Book 11 Space Exploration 1976 ldquo 300
Twenty-First Report Internat Telecomm Union Geneva 1982 ldquo 250
Satellites amp Space Travel Taylor ampAllward 1970 ldquo 200
Watchers of the Stars Patrick Moore 1974 ldquo 500
Robot Explorers Kenneth Garland 1972 ldquo 500
APOLLO by astronaut Alan Bean+paintings Bean in space 1998 coffeetable ldquo 2000
The World of Mars VA Firsoff 1969 ldquo 200
Missiles and Rockets Kenneth Garland ldquo 500
Stars and Planets Ian Ridpath 1978 ldquo 500
Race to Mars The ITN Mars Flight Atlas 1988 ldquo 500
Worlds Beyond Search for Life in Space Ian Ridpath 1975 ldquo 500
CETI Communication with Extraterrestrial Intelligence Stonelay 1976 ldquo 250
Horizon at the Edge of the Universe 9 chapters of astronomers 1983 ldquo 300
The New Race for Space James Oberg 1984 ldquo 500
The Hunt for Life on Mars Goldsmith 1998 ldquo 500
The High Road Ben Bova pocket 1983 ldquo 250
Operation Morning Light the True Story of Cosmos 954 Leo Heaps 1978 ldquo1000
Space Volunteers T Kay 1960 ldquo 300
Legal Aspects of Outer Space Dr C Reijnen 1976 205 pages the Worldrsquos
First Thesis of this Kind by female Dutch scholar ldquo 400
E-MAIL bertvaneijckhomenl if interested in any to discuss sale and postage
See further list on page 24
15
ORBIT
The above obituary and tribute by David Shayler
appeared in the August 2010 of Spaceflight magazine marking the passing of Rex Hall who was also one of
the longest standing members of the ASSS carrying
the membership number 88033 We extend our condolences to Rexrsquos family
16
ORBIT
Un-manned Satellites on Postage Stamps 35 By Guest Contributors Don Hillger and Garry Toth
A version of this article first appeared in The Astrophile for sic)
The Discoverer series
This is the thirty-fifth in a series of articles about un-manned satellites on postage stamps This article
features the satellites in the US Air Force (USAF) Discoverer series The first Discoverer was launched
on 21 January 1959 and the last one on 18 April 1962
There were a total of 39 launches a third (or 13) of which were failures The Discoverer series also called
Corona satellites were later declassified as the first Keyhole (KH) spy satellites
Discoverer was the public name of the Corona series
of film-return reconnaissance spy satellites whose true
mission was not officially revealed until about 35 years after the program ended The Discoverers secret
program was masked by scientific goals it was kept secret even from program staff who knew nothing
about Corona Scientific instruments were even placed
on Discoverer satellites and then covertly removed before launch
The Discoverer satellites were designed to take pictures
of target countries and then eject a film capsule
which was to de-orbit and enter the Earthrsquos atmosphere on a parachute and be recovered by a
specially-modified aircraft as it floated downward On many of the missions however the capture of the film
capsules was not successful for various reasons The first successful return of a capsule through the Earths
atmosphere occurred with Discoverer-13 though in this
case the aerial capture failed and the capsule fell into the sea Fortunately that mission carried no cameras
Discoverer-14 was the first completely successfully Corona mission in which reconnaissance photos were
taken from the spy satellite and ejected in a capsule
which was then successfully recovered in a mid-air capture carried out by a C-119 aircraft
Because of secret nature of their mission the
Discoverer satellites were not well-known and so were not featured on many postal items A set of three
stamps issued by Libya in 1966 (Scott 297-299) shows
a Discoverer capsule There is also a local post item from Batum that depicts the recovery of a Discoverer
capsule and a souvenir sheet from Chad (Michel BL247) that shows the re-entry of a Discoverer capsule
in the margin Another capsule recovery is shown in
the margin of a souvenir sheet issued by the Malagasy Republic in 1999 (Scott 1502a)
A checklist of postal items identified as showing Discoverer-
series satellites (httprammbciracolostateedudevhillgerDiscovererhtm) is available as part of the Website developed by the authors to accompany this series of articles (httprammbciracolostateedudevhillgersatelliteshtm) E-mail correspondence is welcome Don Hillger can be reached at hillgerciracolostateedu and Garry Toth at garry_tothhotmailcom
Top KH-4B Corona satellite Above Recovery of Discoverer 14 return capsule (typical for
the Corona series (ex Wikipedia)
17
ORBIT
18
ORBIT
Flight STS-130 Commander George Zamka Pilot Terry Virtis MS Kathryn Hire MS Stephen Robinson MS Nicholas Patrick MS Robert Behnken MS Koichi Wakata KSC Launch Date 822010 KSC Landing 21210 Purpose Tranquility Module Main Payload and Cupola
Shuttle Story 201011 STSndash130 -131 -132 Part One
STS-130 (ISS assembly flight 20A) via Endeavour carried as its
primary payloads the Tranquility module and the Cupola a robotic control station with six windows around its sides and
another in the centre providing a 360-degree view around the station Endeavour launched at 0414 EST (0914 UTC) on 8
February 2010 and landed at 2220 EST on 21 February 2010 on
runway 15 at the Kennedy Space Centers Shuttle Landing Facility
Tranquility was shipped from the
Thales Alenia Space facility in
Turin Italy It arrived at Kennedy Space Center on 21 May 2009 It
was formerly known as Node 3 and was named by a NASA poll
The module provides six berthing locations however three of those
locations are disabled as modules
originally planned to be attached to Tranquility were cancelled The
photo right shows Tranquility just before being installed to Unity node
STS-130 also brought the Cupola a large window
module and robotics work station to the ISS which was
to be attached to the nadir-
side of Tranquility The module also includes various
ISS systems including addit iona l l i fe support
systems This photo shows the facility being prepared at KSC whilst the photo above right
shows the module and cupola being moved into position on the
ISS
The shape of the mission patch on the launch
cover below represents the cupola over the earth in a photo taken by the unmanned
Lunar Orbiter probe in 1966 so representing a past and future designation for explorers from
Earth
For other Zazzle stamps
see page 33
19
ORBIT
Flight STS-131 Commander Alan Pointdexter Pilot James Dutton MS Rick Mastracchio MS Dorthy Metcalf- Lindenburger MS Stephanie Wilson MS Naoko Yamakazi MS Clayton Anderson KSC Launch Date 5410 KSC Landing 20410 Purpose MPLM Leonardo Main Payload
STS-131 (ISS assembly flight 19A) via Discovery launched on 5
April 2010 from Kennedy Space Centers launch pad 39A and landed at 908 AM on 20 April 2010 on runway 33 at the Kennedy
Space Centers Shuttle Landing Facility The mission marked the longest flight for space shuttle Discovery
The primary payload was a Multi-Purpose Logistics Module loaded with supplies and equipment for the ISS The mission also
removed and replaced an ammonia tank assembly outside the station on the S1 truss The mission also included several on-
board payloads this mission had the most payloads since STS-
107
The primary payload of STS-131 was MPLM Leonardo filled with food and science supplies and also carried the third and final
Minus Eighty Degree Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI) Window Orbital Research Facility (WORF) one Crew Quarters Rack the
Muscle Atrophy Resistive Exercise (MARES) rack Resupply
Stowage Racks (RSRs) as well as Resupply Stowage Platforms (RSPs) The Lightweight Multi-Purpose Equipment Support
Structure Carrier (LMC) carried a refurbished Ammonia Tank Assembly (ATA) to the ISS The refurbished ATA was removed
from the Space Station and returned for use on this mission
during STS-128 It was swapped with an empty tank which will ride home on the LMC
This mission was the second flight of the TriDAR a 3D dual-
sensing laser camera intended for potential use as an
autonomous rendezvous and docking sensor TriDAR provides guidance information that can be used to guide a vehicle during
rendezvous and docking operations in space TriDAR does not rely on any reference markers such as reflectors positioned on
the target spacecraft
This was the final Space Shuttle mission that contains one or
more rookie astronauts the missions after this will have all- veteran crews
STS-131 was only the third mission in the Space Shuttle
programme to carry three female astronauts
the others being STS-40 and STS-96
With three female crew members arriving on board Discovery and Expedition 23 Flight
Engineer Tracy Caldwell Dyson at the station
the STS-131 mission marked the first time that four women have been in space at one
time
STS-131 marked the first time that two
Japanese astronauts Naoko Yamazaki from the Shuttle crew and Soichi Noguchi on the
ISS had been in space together
Although Naoko Yamazaki is not the last non-
US astronaut Naoko was the last Japanese astronaut to fly the space shuttle
MPLM Leonardo can
be seen in the shuttle cargo bay
The seven stars either side of our
sun represent the
crew members
The shuttlersquos orientation indicates
it is performing the Rendezvous Pitch
Manoeuvre which
allows the ISS to photograph its
underbelly
20
ORBIT
Flight STS-132 Commander Kenneth Ham Pilot Dominic Antonelli MS Michael Good MS Garret Reisman MS Piers Sellars MS Stephen Bowen KSC Launch Date 1452010 KSC Landing 2652010 Purpose Delivery of Russian Main Payload Rassvet Module
STS-132 (ISS assembly flight ULF4) docked with the ISS on May
16 2010 It was launched from the Kennedy Space Center on May 14 2010 The primary payload is the Russian Rassvet Mini-
Research Module along with an Integrated Cargo Carrier-Vertical Light Deployable (ICC-VLD) STS-132 is scheduled to be the
final flight of Space Shuttle Atlantis provided that the STS-335
Launch On Need rescue mission is not flown
Rassvet means dawn in Russian The module was built
by Russian aerospace company
Energia and arrived at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC)
aboard an Antonov 124 cargo plane on 17 December 2009
After it was unloaded from the Antonov the module was
transported to an Astrotech processing bay in Cape Canaveral to
undergo preparations for launch shown in this photo
An airlock and radiation heat exchanger to be used for outfitting the Russian Nauka Module (to be launched in 2012) a spare
elbow part of the European Robotic Arm (ERA) and a portable
work platform for science hardware for performing experiments in outer space were externally mounted on Rassvet in its launch
configuration Russian and US cargo delivered was also accommodated inside the module The volume for cargo and
science inside MRM1 is 5 cubic meters] Rassvet was outfitted
with ISS standard grapple fixtures that allowed the module to be unloaded from the payload bay of Atlantis using the stations
robotic arm
The ICC pallet is constructed of aluminum It is approximately 8 feet long 13 feet wide and 10 inches thick The empty weight of
the pallet is 2645 pounds The total weight of ICCndashVLD and the ORUs is approximately 8330 pounds ICC-VLD return mass is
2933 kilograms (6470 lb)
The ICC-VLD was berthed in the centre of the
payload bay for both launch and re-entry
In the photo above Rassvet is shown centre top
The mission patch shows Atlantis flying off into the sunset as the end of the shuttle
programme approaches
21
ORBIT
By Andreacute Scheer and Margaret Morris This fascinating structure is an octagonal pentelic marble tower on the Roman agora or marketplace in Athens It was supposedly built by the astronomer Andronicus of Kyrrhos c 50 BC but according to other sources might have been constructed in the 2
nd
century BC before the rest of the forum The structure is 12 metres high with a diameter of approximately 8 metres On each of the eight sides (aligned with the eight principal points of the compass) is a sculpture featuring the wind gods and below each sculpture is engraved a sundial Thus the tower served as a solar clock but additionally in the interior was a water-clock (clepsydra) driven by water coming down from the Acropolis There were mechanical hour indicators and displays for the seasons of the year with astrological dates and periods The tower was topped in antiquity by a weather-vane in the shape of a triton with a wand which pointed at whichever of the winds was blowing The tower must have been one of the most useful structures in the agora as it showed the time for civilian purposes and indicated the wind direction for merchants awaiting the arrival of a ship The earliest philatelic items to depict this unusual building are postal stationery postcards originating from 1900 when the Greek postal authorities organised a competition for photographers and artists The best pictures were selected for issue and on 1 July 1901 the first series of 32 cards was issued In total 12 series of 32 cards each were issued between then and 20 March 1903 The cards were issued in three colours (chestnut black and green) with imprinted stamps of two values (5 lepta green for national mail and 10 lepta red for international mail) The cards additionally have an impressed stamp without colour on the left side being 10 lepta for the card itself so the cards were sold for 15 and 20 lepta The design of the imprinted stamps was based on the Hermes (Mercury) statue by Giovanni da Bologna During the war on the Balkans the cards were used by the Greek army and have an extra imprint ndash Carte Postale ndash Franchise Militaire A few examples of these postal stationery postcards are illustrated opposite and on page 23 The wording ldquoLrsquohorloge de Kyrrhestesrdquo refers to the timepiece built by Andronicus of Kyrrhos while ldquoTEMPLE DrsquoEOLErdquo translates as ldquoTemple of Aeolusrdquo (Aeolus = god of the winds) For each card 12 versions can be distinguished ndash ie 3 colours x 2 values x 2 usages For fuller information see reference no 1 Of course numerous picture postcards also feature this interesting structure
The Tower of the Winds The Oldest Planetarium on Stamps and
Postal Stationery
Front and back of postal stationery postcard
Examples of Greek postal stationery from the early 20th
century
Front and back of postal stationery postcard
22
ORBIT
The 19423 issues (SG 561-572) of Greece shown beside the 1973 Dominica souvenir sheet whose designer has
reinterpreted the divine sculptures in the margins
Boreas also on the 100d value in black and grey
Skiron
Zephyrus in two 25d vals
orange and green
Lips
Notus
Eurus
Apeliotes in two 10d vals red brown and red orange
Kaikias in two 50d vals black and grey violet and blue
Wind Direction Name of Deity Characteristics of the Sculpture North Boreas An old man wearing heavy clothing and holding a conch shell This wind was cold fierce and
stormy and in Athens made a loud hollow noise
North East Kaikias Old man with severe expression holding circular shield from which he will drop hailstones Weather characteristically cloudy wet and cold
East Apeliotes Young man with hair flowing in every direction holding a cloak full of fruit and grain ndash he brings gradual gentle rain
South East Eurus Old man with morose countenance wrapped tightly against the elements in his cloak This wind brought sultry gloomy weather with much rain
South Notus Young man emptying an urn and producing a shower of water This wind was associated with sultry very wet weather
South West Lips Boy pushing the stern of a ship promising a good sailing wind This was the wind which blew right into Piraeus harbour
West Zephyrus Beautiful lightly clad youth of happy aspect holding a cloak full of flowers In summer this wind brought very sultry weather
North West Skiron Bearded man with a bronze pot full of hot ashes and charcoal This was a dry wind extremely cold in winter but scorching and with lightning in summer
The following table gives details of the sculptures and the characteristics attributed to each of the wind gods
For fuller information see reference no 2
23
ORBIT
The sculptures of the eight winds were depicted on stamps of Greece issued in 1942 (six designs) and 1943 (again six designs ndash four as the previous issue but including the two omitted winds) Five values were surcharged in 1944 to aid victims of the Piraeus bombing of 11 January 1944 the exceptionally high face value resulted in few of these stamps being used Later in 1944 the same five values were surcharged in aid of a Childrenrsquos Convalescent Camp Fund Finally in 1946 two values of the 1942 issue were surcharged ndash the 10dr value in black and the 50dr revalued as 20dr in red See opposite for examples of the stamp designs In addition to these attractive engraved stamps the 1973 issue from Dominica commemorating the centenary of the World Meteorological Organisation included a miniature sheet incorporating the 50c and $1 values and surrounded in the margin by images of all eight wind sculptures (see page 22) More recently the cover of a booklet issued by Greece on 7 October 1988 provides an aerial view of the agora and the Tower of the Winds can be detected (see below) The booklet contains 16 stamps (4 each of 4 different values) and celebrates capitals of Greek provinces In early Christian times the building was used as the bell tower of a Byzantine Church It was partly buried in the ground until fully excavated in the 19
th century by the
Archaeological Society of Athens It is interesting to note that the design of the upper octagon of the 18th century Radcliffe Observatory in Oxford England is based on the Tower of the Winds as is the mausoleum of the founder of the Greek National Library Panayis Vagliano at West Norwood Cemetery London There is a similar tower in Sevastopol built in 1849 References
1 ldquoEntiers Postaux Illustreacutes du service des postes
helleacuteniques et leurs preacutecurseursrdquo Georges Mathas 1985
2 For finely detailed drawings and information about the sculptures you may care to see if your Library has a copy of ldquoThe Antiquities of Athensrdquo Stuart amp Revett Vol 1 published in London 1762
3 Article by Derek J de Solla Price in ldquoNational
Geographic April 1967 pp587-596 4 Much useful information may also be obtained from
sites on the internet
Examples of Overprints from left to right
1944 Piraeus Bombing Aid 1944 Childrenrsquos convalescent camp fund 1946 Surcharge
Below Cover of the 1988 stamp booklet
Front and back of postal stationery postcard
24
ORBIT
Old Photo Makes New(s) Story
A photo taken twenty-one years ago became hot international new(s) this July writes Bert van Eijck
It is a picture of your correspondent in front of the
monument on the graves of the seven astronauts killed
in the Challenger disaster The photo from November 1989 shows the national cemetery at Arlington in
Washington DC And it is this graveyard a national American field of pride and honour that was involved in
a scandal making news all over the world
What happened This became a hot story after it was leaked to the press that in 211 graves on Arlington the wrong corpse had
been buried But this disgrace grew to international
proportions when the US Senate published a report which revealed that it was not 211 but 6600 graves that
had been so dishonoured And maybe there are more the researchers stated
Consequently it meant that family members had been paying their respect at the wrong graves because many
were not marked well or the ground-plan directed to wrong places
Arlingtonrsquos director John Metzler was fired as was his
depute Thurman Higginbotham both of whom said
they knew there were made mistakes but they could not help ldquobecause of economyrdquo
Arlington cemetery was opened in 1864 Since then
300000 Americans have been buried here including
famous or well-known persons like presidents
ministers high ranked military artists judges and
astronauts
And what about some of the most recent ones Did I indeed visit and honour the seven Challenger astronauts in their last resting place on Earth in
November 1989 as shown on the photo Or are they perhaps mistakenly buried in another
unmarked grave This is hard to believe but one never knowshelliphellip
For those who wonder what was doing 21
years ago in the US capital I visited the
World Stamp Exporsquo89 at the Convention Center in Washington DC Of course I did
more sightseeing at and in the famous Smithsonian Museums (a must the
National AirampSpace Museum with 10
million visitors a year) the Capitol the metro (deepest in the world) George
Washingtonrsquos house in Vernon Arlington of course and much more
At the World Stamp Expo there was a
presentation of both USA and USSR space
stamps The American stamps were presented by astronaut Buzz Aldrin the
Soviet stamps by cosmonaut Gherman Titov
Author and the Challenger astronauts monument at Arlington seven figures in bronze (left) At right a plaque honoring US-soldiers killed in action saving
hostages in Iran
Astronaut Buzz Aldrin (left) presents the US space stamps while cosmonaut Gherman Titov (right) does the same with
Soviet space stamps In the middle officials of USPS Below the
stampshellip
25
ORBIT
The Apollo 15 Cover Scandal by Umberto Cavallaro
In a feature which first appeared in the April-June 2010 issue of Ad Astra the web journal of the Italian Astrophilatelic Association its editor reveals in considerable detail the full story of those covers which today sell for so much money The Apollo 15 flown covers are among the best known
collectibles from the Apollo Era mainly because of what Jim Irwin recalls as ldquothe problem we brought
back from the Moonrdquo
The crew of Apollo 15 carried out one of the most complete scientific explorations of the Moon the first
lunar roving vehicle was operated on the Moon to
extend the range of exploration some 180 pounds of lunar surface samples were returned for analysis Yet
Fifteen is best remembered as the crew that carried envelopes to the moon and the whole mission is
remembered for the ldquogreat postal caperrdquo
Apollo 15 was not the first mission to carry covers
dozens were carried on each flight from Apollo 11 onwards and as Commander Dave Scott recalls in his
book the whole business had probably been building since Mercury through Gemini and into Apollo People
had a fascination with objects that had been carried in space and they became more and more popular and
valuable as the programme progressed Right from
the start of the Mercury programme each astronaut had been allowed to carry on board a certain number
of personal items
NASA was in the habit of authorizing astronauts to
carry certain personal items on manned flights known as Astronautsrsquo PPK (Personal Preference Kits) All such
items had to be listed and approved by Deke Slayton the Head of the Astronaut Office prior to launch and
were intended for private use or as personal gifts
after the flight and could not be employed for commercial
Fig 1 The official USPS cover postmarked on the Moon
purposes or personal gain Astronaut kits typically
included badges jewellery coins medals flags stamps postal covers currency printed materials and
similar easily packed lightweight mementoes As the flight became more significant the number and type of
items increased
Aside from personal mementoes each crew had
carried medallions whose number had grown steadily on each mission In his book The All-American Boys astronaut Walter Cunningham reveals that it was rumoured around the Astronaut Office that Apollo 14
carried on board a personal package weighing forty-
two pounds Before that flight the Franklin Mint had even advertised the proposed sale After the flight the
commercial deal was never completed and all went quiet nothing about it being published in the media
But some members of the US Congress were unhappy
of the situation
In that context the ldquolapses of judgmentrdquo of the Apollo 15 crew became fatal Dave Scott went too far
carrying on board a total of 641 postal covers (including the two official covers) of which only 243
were listed and authorized before the flight and 398
were not -- secretly carried on board Apollo 15 by Scott in a pocket of his space suit Had they been
listed as being in Scotts PPK they would probably have been routinely approved for inclusion in the
preference kit
The 243 listed and authorized covers include
bull 2 official US Postal Service covers one of which the ldquoOfficial Coverrdquo was publicly cancelled on the
moon by Scott at the request of the US Postal
Service 10 (Fig 1) bull 1 Wright Brothers commemorative cover dated
1928 and autographed by Orville Wright which was carried by Worden for a friend
bull 1 cover bearing a First Man on the Moon stamp and a Bliss Centennial three-cent stamp carried by
Irwin for Barbara Baker (Fig 2 below)
26
ORBIT
8 Shamrock covers carried by Irwin (as below)
144 Herrickrsquos ldquoMoon Phasesrdquo covers carried by Worden
(Fig 4) printed with a cachet showing 15 phases of the moon On the USS Okinawa the Apollo 15 recovery ship
the astronauts placed two eight-cent stamps purchased
on board by Worden on each of these covers and they had the covers cancelled by the shipboard post office
The astronauts later autographed these covers while flying back from Hawaii to Houston Sixteen covers were
torn or damaged and were destroyed Because of the furore created by the Apollo 15 covers incident NASA
confiscated 61 of these 144 Moon Phases covers
87 Apollo 12 covers (Fig 5) that for unknown reason
did not fly on that mission and which were carried on
Apollo 15 for Mrs Barbara Gordon a stamp collector then wife of Richard Gordon Apollo 12 astronaut who
at was the back-up pilot for Apollo 15
The 398 unauthorized covers (initially there were
400 but 2 were damaged and discarded) are lightweight envelopes carrying as a cachet a replica
of the official Apollo 15 patch overprinted with an Air Force wing and propeller emblem
The idea of these additional covers was suggested during a cocktail party by Eiermann a salesman for
the heat-shield contractor who had frequent business and social contacts with NASA personnel and
astronauts He suggested to fly 400 lightweight covers 100 for each of the astronauts and 100 for
his friend Sieger the German stamp dealer The
cacheted covers were provided by Al Bishop a friend of many astronauts then at the Howard
Hughes organization He had already provided covers for the previous flights since Apollo 12
Above one of the 100 Sieger covers with the handwritten note ldquoLanded at Hadley Moon July 30 1971 On the
reverse is a typed and notarised inscription ldquoThis is to certify that this cover was on board the Falcon at the Hadley-
Apennine Moon July 30 ndashAug 2 1971rdquo
Below one of the 298 unauthorised covers carried to the Moon by David Scott with the inscription ldquoThis envelope was
carried to the Moon aboard the Apollo 15 of 300 to the Lunar Surface in LMrdquoFalconrdquo
The crews usually returned to Bishop a couple of
flown covers signed with gratitude ldquoTo my
knowledge ndash Cunningham reports in his well documented book ndash Bishop never sold any and never
made a dime off his relationship He was simply a fan To Al Bishop Apollo 15 was no different from any
other flight except for a phone call he received from
Hal Collins the Astronaut Office manager at the Cape
27
ORBIT
Collins told Bishop that the crew would like to know
whether he could obtain some very lightweight envelopes for them Al said that hed be happy to do so
He was unaware then that many of them would be smuggled on board the next lunar flight Al was trusted
Thats why many of us imposed on him with our
problems special requests and sometimes matters which we would rather not share with NASArdquo
This time Al was badly used he emerged as a
scapegoat and his name was dragged as though he was the Mr Big of an international stamp conspiracy
The covers were cancelled at Kennedy Space Center
several days before July 26 1971 The date of the post office machine canceller was moved forward
Additionally twin eight-cent stamps were purchased by the astronauts on the USS Okinawa the Apollo 15
recovery ship and affixed to these covers ndash as for the
Herrickrsquos covers In the shipboard post office the covers were then cancelled and date-stamped August 7 1971
The astronauts finally autographed these covers while flying from Hawaii to Houston
Soon after the flight the astronauts gave Eiermann
the 100 covers ndash after agreeing that there was to be
no commercialization or advertising of these covers and that nothing would be done with them until after
completion of the Apollo programme
But after a while news started to circulate that the
German dealer was selling in Europe covers flown on Apollo 15 for a reported average of US $1500 each
The reports infuriated Congress not least because congressmen had to read such controversial
information in the press before being informed by
NASA which is obligated to keep Congress fully informed of its activity Recollection of the Apollo 14
medallions incident must have echoed in the minds of certain members of Congress many of whom were
not fans of NASA anyway NASA started an internal investigation This was the most controversial
development of the Apollo Programme and although
most astronauts were involved to some degree NASA made an example of the Apollo 15 flight crew ldquoIt
was turning into a witch-huntrdquo recalled Scott ldquoOur bosses had abrogated their responsibilities and we
were left alone on a very wet dayrdquo
It is ironic that after addressing a joint session of
Congress as heroes in less that one year the three astronauts of Apollo 15 had to go back in front of these
same senators in disgrace because of this envelope scandal
After this ldquoincidentrdquo NASA prohibited from Apollo 17 on the flying of covers or stamps during a space
missions (they were not on time to block the covers carried on Apollo 16) The only exceptions have been
since then the items flown in cooperation with the US
Postal Service ie the 266000 covers carried in 1983 in
the payload bay of the Space Shuttle Challenger on
STS-8 and the 500000 $995 Express Mail stamp created by Paul and Chris Calle in 1994 flown on
Endeavour STS-68 in recognition of the 25th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing The huge
number of such items carried in space discourages
speculations and these items still are widely available for few dollars
So far fewer than 1000 envelopes in total have flown
to the Moon No other American covers will flow to the Moon in the foreseeable future Perhaps the next
ldquoMoon coversrdquo will bear Chinese or Indian stamps
Dave Scott was the first lunar Postmaster and had two
postmarks with him and two covers with imperforated dieproof of the US twin Decade of Space Achievements
stamps affixed (Fig 1)
He had one postmark with ldquoMoon Landing USArdquo (Fig 8 below) and another with ldquoUnited States on the
Moonrdquo (Fig 9 bottom)
The First Lunar Post Office was opened on August 2 1971 when David Scott postmarked only the official
cover (and brought back the official backup-cover uncancelled) A handful covers had however been
postmarked before launch with both postmarks Dr Matthew Radnofsky ndash who in his laboratory already
had simulated cancelling in space for Apollo 11 ndash
tested both postmarks to ensure that the cancellation devices were in working order
Especially the date could be changed easily Contrary
to Apollo 11 covers without stamps were used for
28
ORBIT
these tests Apollo 15 Lunar Cancellation Proofs are
much scarcer than Apollo 11 ones ldquoAs by now I am aware of only 17 itemsrdquo states famous astrophilatelist
Walter Hopferwieser Covers with proofs of the Apollo 15 moon postmarks have been recently sold at Regency
Superior and Aurora auctions
The official Apollo 15 cover postmarked on the Moon
(see Fig 1 repeated above ) is displayed at the US National Postal Museum It was publicly cancelled and
the video can be seen at httpwwwpostalmuseumsiedustampstakeflight
apollo15video-01html A short speech was given by
Dave Scott while cancelling the cover ldquoTo show that our good Postal Service has deliveries any place in the
universe I have the pleasant task of cancelling here on the Moon the first stamp of a new issue dedicated to
commemorate US achievements in space I have the
first one here on an envelope At the bottom it says United States in Space a decade of achievement and
Im very proud to have the opportunity here to play postman I pull out a cancellation device It says
August 2 1971 first day of issuehellip What could be a
better place to cancel this stamp than right here at Hadley Rillehelliprdquo
Immediately thereafter the Postmaster General who
was waiting at the Mission Control at Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston Texas gave the signal to start the
First- Day cancellations at post offices in Houston
Kennedy Space Center and Huntsville
Acknowledgement Thanks to Walter Hopferwieser for his comments
Some Notes About Space Mail
Commenting on Brian Vincentrsquos article in the June
2010 Orbit ASSS member Geoff Chivers writes in an
email to your Editorhellip Im sure you wont mind me commenting on Brian G Vincents Some Notes About Space Mail (page 36)
In paragraph 2 he refers to the Apollo 15 cover incident leaving the impression that Scott Worden and Irwin were guilty of some heinous crime This has been the subject of much miss-reporting over the years The full story of what actually happened is explained in depth at page 328 et seq of Two sides of the moon by David Scott and Alexei Leonov published by Simon amp Shuster The astronauts were of course exonerated
This is the quote (slightly edited to enable it to stand as an independent piece)-
During 1972 while on a trip to Washington DC George Low NASA deputy administrator asked me to stop by his
office writes David Scott I had known George in Houston while he was Apollo spacecraft programme manager and I had great respect for him We spent a short while exchanging pleasantries Then George looked me in the eye and came to the point ldquoWell Daverdquo he said ldquoI have to tell you I was not very proud of my performancerdquo His comment was the culmination of what had become known as the Apollo 15 ldquocover incidentrdquo This involved some first day postal covers which we had carried aboard Apollo 15 some of which were unfortunately sold by a German stamp dealer several months after the flight As No 2 in NASA George
had been heavily involved in NASAs handling of the incident and his comment referred to one of the poorest management performances the space agency had ever demonstrated - up to then The whole business had probably been building since Mercury through Gemini and into Apollo People had a fascination with objects that had been carried in space and they became more and more popular and valuable as the programme progressed Right from the start of the Mercury programme each astronaut had been allowed to carry on board a certain number of personal items in what were known as PPKS - Personal Preference Kits Before each flight a list of the items was prepared for Deke Slayton who
Two Sides of The Moon
by David Scott and Alexei Leonov
The text opposite from the
above book has been
referred to by Umberto Cavallaro in preparing his
above piece
29
ORBIT
had overall responsibility for approving them As the flights became more significant the number and type of items increased Aside from personal mementoes each crew had carried a certain number of medallions which they could hand out afterwards as souvenirs The number of medallions had grown steadily on each mission - eventually some crew members had been carrying several hundred each and their weight was becoming a concern And as always commercialisation began to creep in In the end on Apollo 14 commanded by Al Shepard it was alleged that the crew had carried some silver medallions on board which were to be melted down after the flight and mixed with many other commemorative medallions by the Franklin Mint to be sold to the general public The Franklin Mint had even advertised the proposed sale before the flight After the flight the deal was never consummated and all went quiet nothing about it was printed in the media But some members of Congress had heard about it and were unhappy with the situation Since we were busy training for Apollo 15 (launched 26 July 1971) we knew nothing about all this Had we known we would have been far more wary of what happened subsequently All we knew was that Deke Slayton had halved the number of medallions we could carry Shortly afterwards Deke introduced Jim (Irwin) Al (Worden) and me to a long-standing friend of his at the Cape called Walter Eiermann In retrospect this seems likely to have been more than a coincidence Deke invited us to join him at dinner at Eiermanns house one evening several months before the Apollo 15 launch Eiermann asked if we would like to make some money on the side by signing some stamps ldquoAll the guys are doing itrdquo he said We agreed We were also approached by several members of the Manned Spacecraft Centerrsquos stamp club who asked us to sign many first - day covers before the flight for their members as well as for ourselves At that time we could not buy life insurance If we signed some covers we reasoned they could be held during the flight and act as limited life insurance for our families if anything happened to us But then Eiermann proposed we carry four hundred lightweight commemorative covers a hundred of which would be passed on to a stamp dealer in Germany when we returned All the covers would be franked on the day of launch and franked on the day of our return Our understanding was that the dealer would hold his hundred covers to be sold at some future date after the Apollo programme was over In return he would set up a $6000 trust fund for each of us for the education of our children In the months of intense activity before the flight we did not give this more than a moment of thought But we agreed In retrospect we made a mistake in even considering it In the months following our mission we learnt that the German dealer had begun to sell the covers We let Eiermann know that we were opposed to the sale Forget the trust funds we said we dont want any money This is not what we had understood would happen But when senior managers at NASA learnt about the covers being sold they were furious Incomplete information was then provided to the press by NASArsquos Public Affairs Office and reports started to appear that we had smuggled the covers onto our flight This was literally impossible NASA personnel prepared us for every aspect of the flight - from our birthday suits out Everything we had carried had to be specially packaged by the flight support crew to make sure apart from anything else
that it was fireproof Everything in our PPKs was on a list which was certified before launch I was never aware of any rules about what could or could not be taken in these packs Slayton was to approve the list so as far as I was concerned it was up to management to keep us on the straight and narrow I assumed if the list was approved that was fine Usually the list was certified by Deke But before our flight for some reason he neither asked us personally for each of our lists as was customary nor signed off on the list personally He said the flight - crew support team had already logged everything Whereas we had purchased the covers ourselves the Astronaut Office at the Cape had prepared the covers for the flight and had had them stamped and franked on the day of launch Somehow however the support team had missed them when they prepared the PPK flight manifest It was also reported after the incident that we had been removed from the astronaut corps Again totally untrue Unfortunately NASA managers did nothing to dispel this false and misleading information They just tucked their heads in and let the rumours run The reports infuriated Congress not least because congressmen had to read such controversial information in the press before being informed by NASA which is obligated to keep Congress fully informed of its activities Recollections of the Apollo 14 medallion incident must have seeped into the minds of certain members of Congress many of whom were not fans of NASA anyway When NASA started an internal investigation we were told by a senior official in the agency that we were on our own We were advised to get our own legal representation A Senate hearing into the matter had been called and a justice Department investigation would follow It was turning into a witch - hunt NASA we were advised expected us to keep quiet and take the Fifth Amendment at this hearing We did not We told it like it was We had nothing to hide Eventually the Justice Department concluded that we had broken some administrative rules but had done nothing criminal NASA confiscated the remaining covers but they acted before discovering all the facts of the case Following an investigation by NASA the Justice Department and the Senate the Justice Department concluded on 6 December 1978 in a ldquoMemorandum Opinion for the Assistant Attorney Generalrdquo that NASA had no claim to the remaining covers that the covers were never intended for sale that there was no attempt at concealment by the crew of the fact that the covers were to be flown on Apollo 15 and finally that the covers would have been approved to carry aboard Apollo 15 had a request been made We were reprimanded and we took our licks But it was a very raw deal NASA had hung us out to dry Our bosses had abrogated their responsibilities and we were left alone on a very wet day I spent many years trying to get full access to NASA and congressional records on the case NASA refused to provide full disclosure We subsequently found out there had been rumblings about profitmdashmaking on previous missions A copy of a letter was released to me in which NASA admitted that ten other astronauts who were not identified had been involved in selling signed blocks of stamps and postcards for Eiermann But the wave reached the shore on Apollo 15 and we were the ones who bore the brunt of the blame for such incidents
30
ORBIT
Buckingham Cover offer Free Souvenirs for You
Brian Austin of Buckinghamrsquos Rare Cover Department writes to your Editorhellip
Over the last two or three years we have been dealing more and more in signed space covers This led us to earlier this year buying an Apollo 11 crew signed cover which had been carried to the moon which we had on display on our stand at London 2010
For this we also printed a limited edition of 800 sets of postcards one featuring the Apollo 11 cover and another
featuring an Apollo 15 cover The idea was to give away 100 sets per day to customers at the show but now the show is all finished I still have around 150 pairs left on my desk
We wondered if you would like to offer them to your readers we are happy to send them out free of charge to the first 150 readers to contact us with their details as long as we can also include one of our lists of space
covers
BrianAustinbuckinghamcoverscom
31
ORBIT
More About Missile Mail
Harvey Duncan told us in the last Orbit (page 15) about the First Official Missile Mail writes Bert van Eijck After the useful technical details about the USS Barbero he gave us I can offer you more philatelic information and show you some illustrations The missile mail experiment was a joint venture between
the Ministry of Defense and the US Post Office Dept headed by Postmaster General Mr Arthur E
Summerfield Three thousand special envelopes were printed with a reproduction of a Navy missile type
Regulus with the text ldquoFirst Official Missile Mailrdquo and above that ldquoThe Postmaster General Washingtonrdquo All
the envelopes were addressed to The President high
government officials like senators and to the Post Masters General of ninety nine other member nations of
UPU Inside was a letter from Mr Summerfield entitled ldquoThe First Official Missile Mailrdquo with the official seal of
the Post Office dept It was explained therein what had
happed to that letter and the other 2999
The special letters were loaded in two metal compartments and came aboard the guided missile USS Barbero (SSG-317) The shot was to occur during a regular training mission from Norfolk Virginia to Florida
About 350 kilometres off the coast of Florida the
Regulus missile was launched toward Airport Mayport
The missile climbed 10 km above the Atlantic and
landed within twenty minutes with all the letters intact The letters were cancelled with the hand stamp ldquoUSS
Barberordquo with the date ldquoJun 8 1959rdquo and the approximate timing of the launching ldquo930 amrdquo This
was done by post office staff part of an established
branch office on the USS Barbero The letters bore the 1957 4c American flag postage stamp Those
addressed to foreign countries carried two such stamps covering surface mail postage costs On the
reverse side is the Jacksonville Post Office cancellation with the approximate time of arrival ldquoJune 8 1030 am
1959 Floridardquo
Such flown letters are expensive to buy and a jewel in
any exhibit
But this is NOT the case with the Barbero souvenir
cover dated a month later on July 8 1959 issued in the same quantity (3000) as the originals The
inscription reads ldquoPoint of LandingmdashFirst Official Missile Mail 8 June 1959 US Naval Station Mayport Floridardquo
About 16000 () collectors had applied for such a cover
The imprint of the official Barbero cover was reproduced on a memorial cover issued and posted at
the Vienna International Airpost Exhibition Luposta on August 1959 in the Austrian capital Of course neither
of these items had been carried within the Regulus
missile
Also of interest the Postal Administration of
Paraguay issued a stamp
and a block in 1976 honouring the Barbero
Missile Mail The Gs 20 stamp shows a Regulus
missile in flight while the sheet shows the whole
addressed cover and in
miniature the complete letter inside from the US Postmaster General
as mentioned above and as illustrated below
Above a specimen envelope as described in the text and below its reverse cancel
32
ORBIT
An Invitation to Our Readers to Donate to an Innovative International Projecthellip
Kindest Sir or Madam
The municipality of Vitanje
(Slovenia) is honoured to have had a hand in the life of the
famous space architect Herman Potocnik Noordung
(1892-1929) (pictured right) who had already found a
surprising number of solutions
to space travel and troubles of living in vacuum long before
actual space flights took place His creations were used by the
renowned novelist Arthur C Clarke
in his book 2001 A Space Odyssey which was later also turned into a
movie directed by Stanley Kubrick In Noordungs honour we have
created the Memorial Centre of Herman Potocnik Noordung This
year the cultural centre of European
space technology will also get going in Vitanje This will be a place
where the European space heritage will be gathered and various events connected with the
contemporary European space technologies will be
organized
Proposed Philatelic Collection We would like to bring the project onto a higher level
where we would have the collaboration of various
countries in the world including such with a history in space travel (like USA Russia) One of the steps of this
expansion process would also include a philatelic collection of stamps with themes of outer space
(astronomy astronautics and everything connected to
outer space) We already have quite a decent collection but we would like to expand on that
Our goal is to have 6000 stamps before opening our
exhibition For this we would require the help of as many philatelists as possible
All of these philatelists would become co-creators and partners of this collection for which we hope will
become the largest collection of its kind in the world The people donating the stamps would get a great deal
of exposure at all these exhibitions and on the special
website which will be started shortly If you give us enough support and we are able to raise enough
stamps for a first-class collection we hope the first
exhibitions and various special events (like visits from
astronauts ndash philatelists) will see the light of day as early as in 2011
From a professional point of view we have an
excellent team working with us Long-time philatelist
Tone Petek is the person who initiated this project while Bojan Bracic the secretary of FEPA is one of our
counsellors and is completely behind this project
If you would be interested in such cooperation I will get the wheels in motion and send you a verifying
mail with the stamp of the municipality of Vitanje and
also of some higher organization within the Slovene political system
The collection is already underway with the help of the
Slovene Philatelic organisation (FZS) adds Rok in an email to your Editor in July This organisation has been of immense help with technical expertise and
connections It looks as if there might be an introductory exhibition next year sometime
In the hope of a successful partnership we offer our
sincere appreciation
Rok Podgrajsek
Obcina Vitanje Grajski trg 1
3205 Vitanje
Slovenia
Email address rokpodgrajsekgmailcom
But see also website httpwwwvitanjesi
(Editorrsquos Note both Wendy Buckle editor of
Themescene and our Chairman Margaret Morris commend this project to you We will be sending Rok
some recent copies of Orbit for the displays)
Some illustrations from Noordungrsquos only published text ldquoThe Problem of
Space Travel The Rocket Motorrdquo (the original German title
was ldquoDas Problem der Befahrung
des Weltraums - der Raketen-Motorrdquo) which saw the light of day
in 1928
Vitanje Local Private Post stamp
33
ORBIT
Zazzle Space Stamps Dazzle
I have noticed Zazzle Space Stamps appearing in Lollini brochures and on their web pages in recent months writes your Editor so I undertook to find out some facts about them and am grateful to The Astrophile Editor Jim Roth and the man who inspired him to create his own Zazzle designs Otto Bergman for the following infohellip Zazzle is one of half a dozen or more US companies
who facilitate the printing of non-copyrighted photos and artwork on private postage stamps which count
as postage within and outwith the USA You can
design your own Zazzle stampsmdashsee their websitemdashwhich you then purchase for your own use 20 to a
page
They are therefore a bit like British Smilers except
that the personal element of the stamp is not on a se-tenant label but actually incorporated within the
stamp itself as you can see from the examples on this page
Jim Roth was annoyed that the Kennedy Space Center Post office would not cancel his Zazzle stamps as they
consider them to be ldquometersrdquo and although he has marked STS-122 he wonrsquot be creating any others
You can see (and buy) all Jim Rothrsquos Space Zazzles on
his website m57coverscommdashclick on ldquostampsrdquo
Three of Jim Rothrsquos designs
See others on his website
An Otto Bergman space creation on
Zazzlecomottobergman
These space Zazzles and others are
available from the Lollini website or brochures
STS 128 in May 2010 section
STS 129 in June 2010
WISE and Delta 2 launch in July 2010 STS 130 in August 2010
STS 128 stamps show astronauts Christer Fuglesang (far left) and left Frank De Winne ISS Commander Expedition 21 STS 129 issues depict mission
patch and the crew led by Charles Hobaugh
Delta 2 rocket launch from Cape Canaveral of WISE Deep InfraRed telescope
34
ORBIT
Concluded on page 39
More Spaceflight Books for Sale
35
ORBIT ORBIT
SPACE HABITATS (Part Two) by John Beenen Continuing his feature from our last issue John Beenen begins by posing the questionhellip Why Should we Seek to Live
in Space
Spacecom gives ten main reasons why we should enter space for a prolonged
period
1 To secure a future for humanity
2 To build a new frontier
3 To find new energy sources
4 To build an industrial settlement on
the Moon
5 Better quality images of the
Universe
6 The SETI effort
7 Mining
8 Learning the history of our
Universe
9 Environmental benefits
Meeting the challenge
Taking for granted that it is naturally fascinating to investigate how mankind
might be able to maintain its habitat outside earth there are several further reasons to investigate why
mankind should settle themselves outside earth in the far future And More reasons mean a overall better
argument
Primarily there is the question of overpopulation and
secondly a solution for the energy problem
Next we have to consider that climate circumstances
are not under control anymore and earth eventually becomes uninhabitable
Also when for various reasons we start to kill each
other for some groups of people it may be an attractive proposition to depart this Earth in quite a different
sense And that is perhaps the most common thought
through activities in space more money can be obtained
But there are disadvantageshellip
On the other hand a prolonged stay in space is not that safe The construction must be protected against
radiation and it can be hit by large and small debris which makes space a very unsafe place
Furthermore cosmic radiation produces
a radiation of 80 mSv (millisievert) - well over the allowed maximum of 50
mSv and very much over the amount which is considered as safe for man
which is 3 mSv
Next solar flares produce a sudden
increase of soft gamma and energy rich radiation so much that without the
protection of an atmosphere half of our population could die easily
It is interesting that even without shielding most of this radiation can be
absorbed in the projected spacecraftsrsquo structure and in the air Smaller
structures can be protected with a
shield of co-rotating rocks
The construction further must be protected against sunlight which by
lack of the air shield will fall in unshielded so sun blinds and radiators
are indispensable
And as a result of the artificial gravity
there are some tiny movement problems which we will face later
Finally the created ecosystem should be fully self-supporting and that is easier said than done as
experiments with Biosphere-2 have showed
Biosphere-2 Biosphere-2 was a project built between 1987 and 1991 providing in an area of about 2frac12 football fields
a closed biological system of different composition From 1991-1993 a crew of 8 persons stayed herein A
second crew of 7 persons bridged a period of March
until September 1994 During the first period it appeared difficult to keep the atmosphere constant in
particular the carbon dioxide values changed rapidlymdashthe reason why many of the carried insects perished
Further the oxygen level decreased slowly because pf a leak
Even during the first two-year phase large differences in opinion appeared and the yield was not large
enough to deliver the calories necessary Reserve stocks had to be broken into Finally the second
experiment had to be ended prematurely because of
mismanagement
However it seems that a well-functioning stable ecosystem should not be underestimated physically
not technically
Artists impressions above Interior Stanford Torus and below Interior
OrsquoNeill Cylinder
Solar flares Czechoslovakia 1965 WB 47
36
ORBIT
It further has to be speculated on that men would resist
a regulated weather programme instead of the customary ever changing circumstances on Earth
Also we must physically resist an eternal stay outside
Earth That is not always easy as some people will show
some kind of sea sickness for ever In any case rooms with a diameter of less than 100 meters and a speed of
revolution over three per minute are insufficient At specifications of over 500 m and at less than 1 revolution
per minute fewer problems have to be expected
How do we get raw materials (Fantasy Moon Mining Yemen
Mutawakelite 1969 1343)
And still there have to be enough raw materials to sustain the
colony but as a principle the
search for raw materials is not the most difficult
From the asteroid belt enough small rocks can be
transported as a building material Also mines can be put
on the Moon Bercause of the lower gravity there transport is easier and some kind of firing mechanism
has been calculated which launch packets of ore simply into space where they can be manipulated
Air can be produced from moonstone Nitrogen nearly without loss can be recycled and eventually added to
ammonia mined from comets Large gardens and fields should start the normal photosynthesis and doing so
finally a complete sustainable society might be built up Energy from the Sun is present in superfluous quantities
What to do about gravity Most designs for a Space station start with a gravity of
1G Some designers however think that a lower level of gravity is possible But in the meantime experiments
with astronauts have showed that our physiology
changes rapidly influenced by decreased or absence of gravity Thus the calcium potassium and sodium
contents of our bone system decrease by about 10 That is not bad were we to stay in space forever but
very troublesome when occasionally we would return to
Earth
Also the quality of our muscles decreases as the blood volume does Providing effects comparable to aging
Further by lack of gravity astronauts become a little
taller with accompanying pain in the back Hence the staying with 1G gravity is not so bad
That has to be maintained by rotation of the
construction The larger the diameter of the construction is the slower it will turn to provide 1 G That is a result
of the centrifugal or centripetal force Its
magnitude has long been established thanks to the work of Dutchman Christiaan Huygens and fixed in
the formula
m v2
F = r where
F = the external force in N(ewton) m = mass in kg
v = speed in msec r = radius in m
Hence a spacecraft with a diameter of 15 meters has to carry out one revolution every 8 seconds to
produce a sensation of 1G And that is too quick for man The effect of the centrifugal force is that should
an astronaut drop an object it does not fall straight
down but partly away from himher Weird
Coriolis force But in a rotating Space station another force is at
work That is the lsquoCoriolis forcersquo named after the
French Gustave-Gaspard Coriolis (1792-1843) who described this kind of force for the first time
The most common manifestation is the second law of
Buys Ballot which says that air streams in the
atmosphere which according the first law of Boys Ballot as a principle run from high to low pressure at
the northern hemisphere are bent to the right and at the southern hemisphere to the left because of the
rotation of the Earth
Therefore air streams around depressions show a
spiral shape in opposite directions at the northern and southern hemisphere In a space station this
force can especially noticed when moving around through the spokes of the wheel
(Diagram of Coriolis F o r c e h t t p
wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm)
A s s u m e t h a t a n
astronaut on a ladder
climbs through a spoke to the axis As he climbs
along he circles around more slowly as he
describes a smaller circle
in the same time What happens with the difference in speed that he had before He will be pressed
against the ladder and that is the Coriolis force The force also acts in opposite direction when he
descends from the ladder
Also the throwing up and catching of a ball will
become a huge achievement as the ball does not
37
ORBIT
drop perpendicularly but will shift a little into the
direction of the orbit of the station and also achieves a higher speed
This also has strange effects on the astronaut As moves
quickly in the rotation direction of the station his weight
appears to increase to a noteworthy extent Then as he moves against the speed of rotation his weight
decreases apparently Mathematically this effect is explainable but very complex
Also the astronautrsquos head and feet move in different
speed to artificial gravity This is plainly noticeable when
somebody jumps up Hence avoid this practice
With these kind of effects adaptation to the changed circumstances in a space station will ask a lot of the
crew members I do hope they can stand it But in any
case the larger the space ship the lesser the problems
Inflatable stations
But therersquos more The inflatable station was considered
many years ago The first i d e a w a s p o s s i b l y
developed when on 12th August 1960 the Echo
balloon with a diameter of
30 meters was launched (Echo I balloon USA 1960
WB 3)
It is true you could not live in it as the balloon was of too frail a construction but the idea of an inflatable
spacecraft was then alive By 1958 groups within NASA
had begun to think about inflatable stations The Goett-committee has been one of the first On 25th26th May
1959 a conference started about projects after
Mercury In particular the
representative of Langley L a r r y Lo f t i n wa s
enthusiastic about his AMIS (Advanced Man in
Space) project (Hexagonal structure
Manama 1970 WB 113)
One of his first projects was a rotating hexagonal
inflatable construction with a diameter of 25 meters a cylindrical core and three lsquospokesrsquo Acting as a ferry to
and from the station the lsquoDyna Soarrsquo Space plane could
be used The Dyna Soar project (at that time still
under development) was cancelled by the American
Minister of Defense Robert
McNamara Inflatable Habitat NASA
1961 enwikipediaorg)
A Langley Space Station
team managed by Paul Hill and Emanuel lsquoMannyrsquo
Schnitzer developed the concept together with the
G o o d y e a r A i r c r a f t
Corporation
(Langleyrsquos self-inflating rotating hexagonal structure httphistorynasagov
SP-4308) Its original diameter had already been reduced to 10
meters
In the years after Langley built several experimental
modules called lsquoErectable Torus Manned Space Laboratoryrsquo a 11 model built by firms such as
Goodyear The torus was built from three layers of
nylon tissue and in between a rubber-like plastic material butyl elastomer A large problem was the
penetration by micrometeorites which as was learnt from the results of the Echo balloon finally damaged
the whole structure
Another problem was the great instability of the ring
due to movements of the astronauts the station started to wobble when they moved around Finally
the project was cancelled and at the end of the eighties the Langley Research Center started to
design inflatable constructions for a base camp on the
Moon
( A r t i s t imp r e s s i on Transhab inflatable
m o d u l e h t t p
enwikipediaorg)
Due to the development of a new series of
s t r o n g e r p l a s t i c materials such as Kevlar
these construct ions
received new interest That lead to the development of Transhab (Transit Habitat) as a resource for crews
coupled at the ISS (international Space Station) The construction is a cylinder in a diameter of 82 meters
and several storeys high
Its volume in inflatable state is 340 m3 The wall has a
thickness of 30 () cm and consists of 12 layers of which the outside layer is made from Kevlar The
layers beneath are made from Nextel a ceramic fibre Disagreements during development and the spiralling
costs finally in 2000 saw the end of NASArsquos interest
G e n e s i s 1
thespacereviewcom)
From 1999 the project was
taken up by Bigelow
38
ORBIT
Aerospace who improved the design and tested it with
successful launchings of Genesis I on 12 July 2006 and Genesis II on 28 June 2007
In their design it has once again more or less the shape
of a balloon With a thickness of 40 cm the wall is still
very thick The outside layer is still Kevlar but inside are some layers of Vectran a textile fibre Within the
structure ants and scorpions were launched along with some objects which people who paid for the privilege of
boosting into space
In this way Bigelow hopes to build a Space Hotel named
Nautilus To stimulate the development Bigelow offered a price of $50 million to everybody who succeeded in
launching a crew of 5 persons to an altitude of 400 km before 2010 So little money lost here so far
A second project which can be realized within the near future is a fixed residence on the Moon As said Langley
occupies itself with the design of such a base which partly should be build below the surface Stamp
designers have already realized the idea
What does the future hold Although we are a long way away from the kind of space station by which a large amount of earth inhabitants can
leave the planet Earth forever the first steps for doing
so are in preparation With the development of their Space Hotel Bigelow tries to make the step to space
albeit a temporary one
Also Langley literally tries to set foot on the Moon and
finally they will succeed in doing so However The cost of such projects are literally astronomical and it is not
expected that in the coming decades much money can be allocated to such projects
Of course in some thousands of years (possibly only in
hundreds of years) this will become the case but for the
time being in my opinion the true conquest of space will stay as science-fiction for at least a few hundred years
Hoorn 2009
John Beenen
NB The stamps entitled lsquoSpace Cityrsquo with a value of 0 cnt do not exist but have been made by the author by means of frames and pictures present at the Internet
Fantasy Moon
b a s e M a n a -ma1970 WB 122
Fantasy bases
ready for Mars
YAR 1971 WB 2892 and 6
Fantasy Modular
base YAR 169 WB 233
39
ORBIT
Cover Below bottom right Future space Dutch Antilles 2000
Literature references (for both parts of article) httpenwikipediaorg Space habitat Space Colonization Orbital Colony Space City Space settlement Space stations L5 Society Bernal Sphere Stanford Torus OrsquoNeil Cylinder Inflatable Space Habitat Transhab Biosphere 2 Generation Ship wwwdsenl~hklruimtehtm Wonen op groene eilanden in de Ruimte (Dutch Living on green Islands in Space) Henry Kluytmans wwworionsarmcom McKendree Cylinder Bishops Ring wwwnasnasagovAboutEducationSpaceSettlement The Colonization of Space wwwdyarstraightscommsgundamhabitatshtml Mobile Suit Gundam High Frontier Life in the Universal Century Developing sound habitats wwwartificial-gravitycomDissertation1_2htm From Tsiolkovsky to Sputnik (1878-1957) httpsciencenasagovheadlinesy2000ast26may_1mhtm Wheels in the Sky httpdiscaircraftgreyfalconus Hermann Noordung Wohnrad (Wheel for Habitation) httparticlesadsabsharvardedufull1992lbsaconf249R Inflatable habitation for the lunar base MRoberts httphistorynasagovSP-4308ch9htm lsquoAs inevitable as the Rising Sunrsquo From the inflatable Torus to the Rotating Hexagon wwwspacecomnewsbusinessmonday_040524html Bigelow Aerospace to tackle inflatable Space Habitats httpsciencehowstuffsworkcominflatable-spacecraft2htm How Inflatable Spacecraft Will Work wwwbogancaphysicscoriolishtml Rotating Space Stations Dynamics An Explanation of the Coriolis Force httpdemonstrationswolframcomRotatingSpaceStation Rotating Space Station wwwdvandomcomcoliolisspacestationhtml Frame Effects and Space Stations wwwdvandomcomcoriolisindexhtml A (hopefully) simple explanation of the Coriolis Force wwwdaviddarlinginfoencyclopedia Hale Edward Everett von Pirquet Guido Noordung Hermann Space Station wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm The Coriolis Force wwwastronautixcomcraftfamlunbaseshtm Lunar bases wwwastronautixcomgallerycspebasehtm Photo Gallery Space base wwwregererating-universeorgOn_Moon_as_Space_Basehtm On Moon as Space Base wwwspacefuturecomhabitatlivingshtml Space Habitat Introduction Living in Space wwwspacepagebevideotaak=bekijkampid=47 Living in space (Video) wwwnutricomspace The Case for Space colonization ndash Now Oscar Falconi wwwxentcompipermailfork (FoRK) Bigelowrsquos inflatable Genesis I satellite in orbit wwwrussianforcesorg Russian strategic nuclear forces (Genesis II) wwwbigelowaerospacecomgenesis Genesis I Genesis II
Thanks to Alan Tunnicliffe who came across the attached news item
complete with stamp in the eNZ Magazine the bi-monthly journal of
the Institution of Professional Engineers NZ Inc Vol 11 No 3 May-
June 2010
Vaccari Auction Sells Remarkable Space Covers April 2010
Apollo 12 cover 55 of 87 flown to the moon on Apollo 15 having been left behind by the original crew sold for euro12200 1977 Salyut
6 Soyuz 27 cover sold for euro1600
40
ORBIT ORBIT
Shuttle 1981mdash2010 Stamps Marshall
Islands 2005
United Nations 2007 Monaco and Ascension 2008
Bulgaria 1991 including stamp from souvenir sheet
USA 1981
below USA 1995 and bottom USA 1998
(two values)
St Vincent Grenadines 1983
Ascension 1989
Bulgaria 1990
and above right W Germany 1975
and USA 2000 Guyana 2006
USA 1995
41
ASSS Membership Renewal 2010
Memberrsquos Name amp Addresshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
I wish to renew my membership of the ASSS for a further year and enclose the equivalent of
pound15 (UK) euro30 (Europe) $US 45 (Rest of the World)
Please return this form with your remittance to Harvey Duncan by the
end of July Thank you
Harvey Duncan Treasurer ASSS 16 Begg Avenue
Falkirk Scotland FK1 2DL
PayPal For details of how to Pay via Paypal
please email Jeff Dugdale Email address on Page 2
42
43
44
2
ORBIT
ADVERTISING RATES We invite advertisers to use ORBIT to reach Astro-Philatelic enthusiasts worldwide If readers have
a commercial source they think they would like others to benefit from please let the firm know of
us Rates are Full page Display - pound24 Half Page - pound12 Quarter
Page pound6 One eighth of a page - pound4 Camera ready copy required with remittance by the above stated copy deadline for inclusion in
our next edition
copy Copyright 2010 The Astro Space Stamp Society No article contained herein may be reproduced without
prior permission of the Author and the Society
Editorial
Copy Deadline for the January 2011 issue is December14th by which time all material intended for
publication should be with the Editor
ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION RATES Members in UKmdashpound15
in Europe (EU and non-EU) - euro30
Elsewhere - $45 equivalent
Juniors (under 18) pound650
ASSS website at URL
wwwasssutvinternetcom
ISSN 0953 1599 THE JOURNAL OF THE ASTRO
SPACE STAMP SOCIETY Issue No 87 October 2010
Patron
Cosmonaut Georgi Grechko Hero of the Soviet Union
COMMITTEE
Chair Margaret Morris 55 Canniesburn Drive Bearsden Glasgow
GS1 1RX (E-mail MMorris671aolcom)
Hon Secretary Brian JLockyer 21 Exford CloseWeston-Super-Mare
Somerset BS23 4RE
(E-mail brianlockyertesconet)
Compiler of Checklist Hon Treasurer Postal Packet Organiser
Harvey Duncan16 Begg Avenue Falkirk Scotland FK1 5DL
(E-mail duncan1975btinternetcom)
Orbit Editor Jeff Dugdale Glebe Cottage Speymouth Mosstodloch Moray
Scotland IV32 7LE (E-mail jefforbitedaolcom)
Webmaster Derek Clarke 36 Cherryfield Road Walkington
Dublin 12 (E-mail dclarkeutvinternetcom)
Postal Auction Organiser David Saunders 42 Burnet Road Bradwell
Great Yarmouth NR31 8SL
Overseas Representatives
Australia Charles Bromser 37 Bridport Street Melbourne 3205 GermanyJurgen P Esders An der Apostelkirche 10 10783 Berlin
EireDerek 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 Linda Valley Villa 236 11075 Benton Street Loma Linda CA 92354-3182 USA
Life Members UK - Harvey Duncan George Spiteri Ian Ridpath Margaret Morris Michael Packham Dr WR Withey Paul Uppington
Jillian Wood Derek Clarke (Eire) Charles Bromser (Australia) Tom Baughn (USA) Ross Smith (Australia)
Vincent Leung Wing Sing (Hong Kong) Mohammed KSafdar (Saudi Arabia)
The report of its death has been exaggerated
Mark Twain would be proud of me My plans for
this issue to mark the end of the space shuttle have
(inevitably) been thwarted by delays in the NASA schedule and it now looks as if there will be at least
two further launches STS-133 in November of this year and STS-134 in February 2011 There are even
plans for STS-135 with a four man crew to be
launched in June so taking the longevity of this programme beyond the 30 year mark the first
shuttled having been launched on 12 April 1981
So apologies for the cover which was planned and designed when it looked as if the shuttlersquos swansong
was very imminent Therersquos no need to write to me
Perhaps Americarsquos reluctance to say goodbye to these
grand old craft follows on from its sense of great uncertainly of what lies beyond that and the prospect
of the USA having no autonomous access to space for
four to five years
By the time NASA finally returns to space with a vehicle capable of servicing the ISS whose life itself
is now projected well into this decade other nations
and several private organisations will have made their mark on space and will have been commemorated by
international space stamps
3
ORBIT ORBIT
Part Two
Part One covered the ISS from its inception in 1998
up to the completion of the second phase in Summer
2001
The third resident crew (EO-3) commanded by American Frank
Culbertson with two Russ ian colleagues had arrived at the ISS via
STS-105 in August 2001 for a fourth month stay 129 days in fact
researching in many science disciplines and conducting
the first EVAs by a resident crew
Soyuz TM 33 (launched 21102001)
The second Soyuz taxi mission (3S) carried a veteran Russian commander in Viktor Afanasyev a rookie flight
engineer in Konstantin Kozeev and ldquospationauterdquo Claudie Haignereacute making her second flightmdashher first
having been to Mir five years beforemdashfollowing her
marriage to a fellow French spacefarer Haignereacutersquos week long CNES sponsored mission was dubbed
ldquoAndromegravederdquo and included two experiments devoted to the observation of earth and the study of the
ionosphere three life science studies and two physics
experiments French high schools also devised
educational experiments designed to support
science teaching in schools This crew left
for Earth in the TM 31
craft on 31 October
Claudie Haignereacute was honoured with
a Lollini sponsored issue of four stamps from Somalia one of which is
shown below left
STS-108 (launched 5122001)
The final shuttle flight of the year was ISS assembly flight UF-1 which
also carried the Multi Purpose
Logisitcs Module Raffaello and a change of crew taking up the ISS-4
(EO-4) crew of Yuri Onufriyenko Daniel Bursch and Carl Weiz which
was a mirror image of the EO-3 crew having a Russian commander and
two American crew each of whom was making his
fourth flight Endeavour remained docked to the ISS for almost 190 hours during which in the only EVA
which lasted just over four hours mission specialists
Dan Tani and Linda Godwin installed insulation on the solar array rotation mechanism and retrieved antennae
covers for return to Earth The official handover between the ISS resident crews occurred on 13
December Just after undocking the crew of the shuttle splayed the small Starshine 2 satellite from a
Get Away Special canister which was to be tracked by
thousands of students in 26 countries during its eight months in orbit
EO-4 Highlights The fourth expedition which
began with the arrival of STS-108 at the ISS concluded on
19the June 2002 when the
crew returned aboard STS-111 During their 196 day
stay the EO4 crew worked on over 50 science experiments almost equally divided in
origin between the USA and Russia and many of them
already installed on the station
4
ORBIT
The crew performed three EVAs the first two via the
Russian Pirs module and the third out of the Quest airlock These EVA involved relocation of the cargo
boom for the Strela crane to the outside of Pirs the installation of six deflector shields on the Service
Module thrusters and of radio antennae Then on the
40th anniversary of the first orbital flight by the American John Glenn Walz and Bursch performed the
first EVA out of Quest without an attached shuttle in support in order to prepare the area for installation of
the S0 Truss due to arrive with STS-110 in April
During their spell on the ISS the crew experienced
power problems and a number of failures of the Elektron oxygen equipment They also had difficulties
with the operation of Canadarm2 whose wrist joint failed and required replacement They were relieved
with arrived of the EO-5 crew who came up with STS-
111
Both Bursch and Walz broke the record established by Shannon Lucid for an extended spell in space
eventually spending 196 days on the ISS 8 more than her endurance record On landing the three crew had a
joint accumulated total of nearly 850 days in space
STS-110 (launched 842002)
Atlantis docked with the ISS on 10th April and in the following 170 hours at the station the four mission
specialists conducted four EVAs in order to install the S0
Truss as well as the increasingly routine duties of transferring equipment and supplies to the ISS
The truss was to serve as a platform on to which other
trusses were to be attached and solar arrays navigation
devices and power systems for later additions mounted
Initial tests of the Mobile Transporter (railcar) which
typically moved slowly (3 cms a second) were
successfully completed This facility would later prove to be very valuable in moving equipment about the ISS
On this mission Jerry Ross became the first astronaut to
be launched from Earth seven times though John Young had been launched six and once from the Moon
Soyuz TM 34 (launched 25042002)
This ldquotaxirdquo mission exchanged Soyuz ferries allowed Italian Robert Vittori to complete a Science programme
(called Marco Polo) for the Italian Space Agency and
carried the second fare-paying passenger to the ISS in the shape of Mark Shuttleworth the first African to fly
in space Stamps were produced to mark these flights by South Africa on 17122003 and a Lollini sponsored
issue of four from Somalia issued on launch day
Shuttleworth was determined to improve on the image
of the ldquospace touristrdquo created following Denis Titorsquos first flight and he developed a programme of life science
experiments using on board equipment and bringing up four South African university developed ones
TM 34 was the last in the series of that version of Soyuz (which had begun in May 1986) with a new type
capable of more comfortably carrying astronauts of varying sizes about to come into service
STS-111 (launched 562002)
5
ORBIT
STS-111 was assembly mission UF2 and transported to
the station the new resident crew of Valery Korzun Peggy Whitson and Sergei Treschev
Endeavour docked with the ISS on 7th June and
remained mated for almost a 190 hours On the same
day the EO-4 crew formally ended their 182-day residence handing over to the new team During the
time the two crews had together three EVAs were completed by Chang-Diaz (making his seventh flight)
and spationaut Perrin (the first Frenchman to spacewalk from the ISS) working on developing the
truss arrangement which would grow with every
subsequent visit of a shuttle One necessary repair was to Canadarm2 whose wrist roll joint was replaced
so restoring the sophisticated tool to operational status The MPLM Leonardo brought up in the shuttle payload
bay also permitted a large amount of new kit such as
a new science rack for microgravity experiments and a new glove box for isolation condition testsmdashto be taken
into the ISS and old materials to be returned to Earth
EO-5 Highlights As with EO-4 well over 50 experiments were tackled or re-
run by the new resident crew including one concerning the
forming of kidney stones during
spaceflight for which Peggy Whitson was the principal
investigator as the first ldquoScience Officerrdquo designated by
NASA
During their 185 days on the ISS the crew received two
Progress re-supply craft (M1-8 and M1-9) bringing over 5000 kg of cargo and equipment for the ESA Odessa science programme in November
By now routine EVA were conducted and the crew
overcame equipment repair and maintenance challenges Whitson posted a regular series of
journals on the NASA website about the work she was doing so providing a fascinating insight into the daily
work of the ISS crew She was amused to be
compared to ldquoScience Officerrdquo Mr Spock of the USS Enterprise in Star Trek
STS-112 (launched 7102002)
Assembly flight 9A flown by Atlantis docked with the ISS
on 9th October carrying materials for the construction of the S1 Truss and CETAmdash the Crew Equipment
Translation Aid (cart) which was to travel along the MBS rail
During EVAs David Wolf and (British born) Piers Sellers connected power data and fluid lines and released
launch bolts that allowed the radiators to be orientated for optimum cooling and set CETA in place Crew
members also repaired the exercise treadmill vibration dampening system in Zvezda and replaced a humidity
separator in Quest which had been leaking
Soyuz TMA 1 (launched 30102002)
Within two weeks of the department of Atlantis the first
of the new style Soyuz ferries arrived manned by two
Russians (Sergei Zaletin and Yuri Lonchakov and a Belgian Frank DeWinne) This flight ought to have
carried the third space flight participant (aka tourist) in the shape of N Synch pop singer Lance Bass but the
millionaire failed to pay his fare and was replaced by the back-up commander ldquoTMArdquo signified Transport
Modification Anthropometric and allowed many
American astronauts to fly who had been too large to fit in the Soyuz ferryrsquos previous versions very fortuitous
development given the dramatic space events which were to occur within a few months This was the first
Soyuz variant to fly without first being ldquoroad-testedrdquo
unmanned
The visitors who stayed at the station for a week worked with the resident
crew on Russian science programmes
and helped DeWinne with his ESA Odessa experiment programme which
had some twenty different features Returning in the TM 34 spacecraft they
had quite a hard landing in the first Russian landing at night time in ten
years DeWinne appears (on the right) in a Belgian
sheet issued in 2004 containing ten stamps showing famous countrymen
6
ORBIT
At this point in late 2002 the ISS
complex looked much as does in this 2006 stamp from Sierra Leone
captioned ldquoISS June 15th 2002rdquo showing the first basic trusses in
place
STS-113 (launched 23112002)
Assembly mission 11A began with the arrival of
Endeavour at the ISS on 25th November and the following day the P1 Truss which had been carried up
was relocated to the port end of the S0 Truss and automatically bolted in place
The mission also brought up the EO-6 crew of Ken Bowersox Nikolai Budarin and Donald Pettit who
officially took over shortly after the docking Three EVAs were conducted in support of the truss installation and
that of the CETA-B cart The activities included the first
EVA by a native American in rookie MS John Herrington
Although no one could possibly have predicted it at the time this would be the last time for thirty months that a
shuttle would dock at the station Endeavourrsquos own attempts to land were waived off on a record three
consecutive days before finally making it home on 7th
December
EO-6 Highlights The sixth resident crew had expected to return by shuttle at the end of their stay on the station but the
loss of Columbia on 1st February 2003 (in a mission that had not visited the ISS) resulted in the fleet being
grounded and the crew having to use the TMA-1
spacecraft for landing and they were replaced by the TMA-2 ldquocaretakerrdquo crew
Donald Pettit had been included
late the preparatory stage when
the original Science Officer Don Thomas was adjudged to have
received too much radiation on his previous spaceflights for duty
on a long duration flight There were no planned visiting
missions scheduled until the arrival of STS-114 to
bring them home after a four month tour
The science programme included over twenty new investigations and Pettit broadcast a series of science
demonstrated supported by postings on the internet
Two EVA (one unplanned) were conducted the first related to the P1 Truss radiator system but the
second (after the loss of Columbia) conducted on 8th April to ensure that the new crew would need to
perform an EVA only in an emergency
Progress M47 arrived on 4th February and further such
visits would now prove indispensable to the maintenance of operations on the ISS in the following
two to three years The resident crew departed on 3rd May so becoming the first to return to earth in a
Soyuz craft and accordingly making Bowersox and
Pettit the first NASA men to fly home in a Russian craft
The landing went far from well with the crew
experiencing almost 8G in the re-entry process and landing well off target so that it took over two hours to
find them they had not been equipped with mobile
phones Pettit was much distressed by the landing but the crew were much praised for their professionalism
in dealing with the problem which was later traced to the yaw gyroscope experiencing a gimbal lock when its
angular rate exceeded 54deg
Soyuz TMA 2 (launched 2642003) EO-7
The new style Soyuz ferry was now the only means of taking
astronauts to the ISS and due
to limited supply capacity it was decided that until shuttles
could be used again the resident crews would have to
be only two-strong (one from each nation) and launched
every six months The previously identified ISS crews
were reassigned as two-person crews with the third seat allocated to ESA astronauts flying short visits
7
ORBIT
However ESA had delayed their next astronautrsquos flight
by six months and so TMA2 flew with only two men on board
The first ldquocaretakerrdquo crew simply maintained systems on
the complex with limited capacity for science
programmes conducting only those which were already in situ Although both Mir and Salyut space stations
had been run by only two people the ISS was much more complex and considerably bigger so the ground
managers were very cautious in allocating duties
Progress M1-10 and M48 brought new supplies up to
Yuri Malenchenko and Ed Lu Lu as Science Officer continued to post on the web a series of personal
recollections of events on board
On 28 May a demonstration of American EMU suiting
was completed so proving that two men could suit up and remove suits without assistance from a third should
an emergency EVA be required On 10th August Malenchenko was ldquomarriedrdquo via a TV link to his fianceacutee
in Houston Texas arrangements having been made long in advance
Soyuz TMA 3 (launched 18102003) EO-8
The second caretaker crew arrived in mid-October
carrying Spanish ESA astronaut Pedro Duque British born ISS commander Michael Foale making his sixth
flight and Russian Alexander Kaleri the whole crew
being curiously celebrated by an issue from Tchad in 2004
Duque returned to Earth with
the EO7 crew on 27th October ha v i ng comp l e t ed h i s
Cervantes science programme during his eight days on the
station
In November Foale and Kaleri
practised emergency ingress procedures to determine if crew members wearing
Orlan EVA suits could enter Soyuz using the internal hatches This was proved possible after a great deal
of stressful activity
One EVA was conducted (on 26th February) and with
both men outside that was the first occasion on which no one had been inside the ISS for three and a half
years On 8th December Foale became the most
experienced NASA astronaut surpassing Carl Walzrsquos career total of 231 days over four missions When he
finally landed Foale had logged 375 days in space but his colleague Kaleri was still 238 days ahead of him in
aggregate terms
Soyuz TMA 4 (launched 1942004) EO-9
The new resident crew comprising Gennady Padalka Ed Fincke and Dutch ESA astronaut Andreacute Kuipers
arrived in mid-April and they are shown on this Lollini sponsored issue from Somalia in 2004 with Kuipers
appearing on his own in the top two stamps with
Fincke and Padalka (left) and Kaleri and Foale in the bottom pairing
8
ORBIT
Kuipers completed his ESA DELTA package during his
eight days on board ISS and returned with the EO8 crew on 30th April
The EO9 crew received no
visitors other than cargo
payloads via Progress M1-11 M49 and M50 After working on
suit repairs and servicing for over a month the crew
abandoned their first EVA after only 14 minutes because of a
pressure drop in the main
oxygen supply of an Orlan suit but a week later after successful repairs they spent
almost six hours outside working on the S0 truss In a second EVA in early August they installed reflectors and
communication units ready for the first ESA Automatic
Transfer Vehicle Jules Verne though this was later delayed by many months
On 18th June Fincke made history by becoming the first
US astronaut to become a father in space listening to the birth of his second daughter via his cell phone
The crew had severe problems with the Elektron oxygen generator which was failing every three days or so and
requiring manual starts These shutdowns were found to be centred on the liquid units that held trapped gas
inside micro-pumps despite using purified water
The crew completed their programme of many
maintenance tasks and returned to earth with test cosmonaut Yuri Shargin in October
Soyuz TMA 5 (launched 14102004) EO-10
The two members of the new resident crew arrived at
the ISS in mid-October the Commander Leroy Chiao and Salizhan Sharipov accompanied by Russian Yuri
Shargin who would stay only for the week or so Russian businessman Sergei Polonsky had been
scheduled to become the third paying space flight
participant but failed a late medical test and so was replaced by a Russian Spaces Forces cosmonaut the
first of that group to be
selected for cosmonaut training eight years earlier He
carried out his own programme of scientific study the Russians
stressing that none of his
activity was military as such practice is banned from the
ISS Sharipov was celebrated by a minisheet from his Kyrgyz homeland in 2005
(above) showing the space station nearing completion in the background
During the tenth expedition this crew would complete two Pirs-based EVAs receive two Progress supply craft
visits and relocate Canadarm2 Problems with the Elektron unit continued repairs were made to EVA
suits an upgrade made to the computer software
trouble experienced with the toilet in Zvezda and a heat exchanger replaced in Quest
There was concern in November that food was running
low with it due to run out in mid-January but this was found to be down to poor record keeping because of
the increased work load of a two person crew and
anyway Progress M51 arrived to solve the problem and the shuttlersquos impending return to flight would also help
Germany 2004 and Japan 2005 show
the station nearing completion
9
ORBIT
Soyuz TMA 6 (launched 1542005) EO-11
The eleventh resident crew would be the first to receive
a shuttle mission since STS-
113 in December 2002 because the loss of
Columbia had created the need to fly two-man
resident crews but the
docking of STS-114 in July would signify the impending return to full station
operation
Italian ESA astronaut Roberto Vittori was back at the ISS in the company of Russian Sergei Krikalev making
his sixth flight and American civilian John Phillips as
science officer This time Vittori completed research under the Eneide programme doing experiments in
human physiology biology and also getting involved in educational demonstrations
The new crew was not long on board before the Elektron system finally broke down in early May
though there were sufficient alternative sources of oxygen on board These would be complemented by
Shuttle and Progress deliveries such as Progress M53 in June which also carried spare parts for the Elektron
unit which the crew worked on in addition to routine
maintenance tasks and the repositioning of their Soyuz from Pirs to Zarya
STS-114 (launched 2672005)
On 28th July the first shuttle
crew to visit the ISS for two and half years arrived via Discovery This was a very experienced crew commanded by Eilleen
Collins By now the decision to
use the shuttle to complete station assembly and then retire
it had been taken The station then looked as it does in this
2006 issue from Sierra Leone As Discovery approached the ISS it flew around it at a distance of some 180
metres to allow the crew on board to photograph the
underside of the shuttle to check for launch damage This rather worryingly revealed the loss of two
protruding tile gap fillers Because these might cause hot spots on re-entry extra EVAs were designed to
manually extract them during which an astronaut
(Stephen Robinson) ventured under the shuttlersquos body for the first time ever in orbital operations
Discovery also brought up MPLM Raffaello carrying a
large amount of supplies including the Human Research Facility 2 and the new CMG 2 gyroscope
As the shuttle departed after over 12 days at the station both crews photographed each otherrsquos spacecraft The
second shuttle Return to Flight mission was then delayed because of questions about the integrity of the
foam fixtures on the External Tanks
In August the Vodzukh COsup2 removal system on the ISS
failed and the American unit in Destiny was activated to take over On 16th August Krikalev the first person
to complete two residences and the first cosmonaut to
fly six missions became the longest served Russian cosmonaut with over 747 days of spaceflight
experience Next day 17th August Krikalev and Phillips performed the only EVA of Expedition 11 after which
they prepared for their next visitors via Soyuz TMA7 which would carry in Gary Olsen the third spaceflight
participant and the new two man resident crew of Bill
McArthur and Valery Tokarev
Soyuz TMA 7 (launched 1102005) EO-12
To be continuedhellip
10
ORBIT ORBIT
2 The Moon Second Quadrant (North-West) We learn from our main source Atlas of the Universe by
Patrick Moore (Philiprsquos 1999)helliphellip
Selected Craters illustratedhellip
Archimedes (Diam 75 km Lat degN 30 Long degW 4) A large impact crater on the Eastern edges of the Mare Imbrium with Montes Archimedes mountains to the South Named after the Greek mathematician and scientist who lived c 287mdash212 BC
(San Marino 1982)
Copernicus (Diam 97 km Lat degN 10 Long degW 20)
A prominent feature named after the famous Polish astronomer (1473mdash1543) and located in the eastern Oceanus Procellarum this is estimated to be around 800 million years old and is typical of craters of that period having a very clear ray
system (Soviet Union 1973)
The Naming of Craters Einstein (Diam 160 km Lat degN 18 Long degW 86)
A large crater which lies along the Western limb of the Moon therefore difficult to observe from Earth and discovered only in 1952 by Patrick Moore Named after the German theoretical physicist and philosopher (1879-1955) (India 1979)
Encke (Diam 32 km Lat degN 5 Long degW 37) Located on the W edge of Mare Insularum to the S SE of crater Kepler Named after German astronomer Johann Frank Encke (1791-1865) (Comoros Isles 1986)
Euler (Diam 25 km Lat degN 23 Long degW 29) Located in the southern half of the Mare Imbrium its most notable nearby feature is Mons Vinogradov to the W-SW Named after Leonard Euler (1707mdash83) the Swiss mathematician and physicist (E Germany 1950)
J Herschel (Diam 145 km Lat degN 62 Long degW 41) A large walled plain which appears foreshortened when viewed from Earth Named after British mathematician chemist and astronomer Sir John Herschel (1792mdash1871) (Centre of GB 1970 )
Kepler (Diam 35 km Lat degN 8 Long degW 38) This lies between the Oceanus Procellarum to the W and Mare Insularm in the E with crater Encke to the SE Named after German mathematician and astronomer Johannes Kepler (1571mdash1630) (Czech Rep 2009)
Lavoisier (Diam 71 km Lat degN 36 Long degW 70) Located near the NW limb at the W edge of Oceanus Procellarum this lies to the SW of crater von Braun and SE of Bunsen Named in honour of ldquothe Father of Modern Chemistryrdquo the French chemist Antoine Lavoisier (1743mdash1794) (France 1943)
Le Verrier (Diam 25 km Lat degN 40 Long degW 20) A small nearly circular bowl shaped feature in the N part of the Mare Imbrium just E of the larger Helicon Named for the French mathematical astronomer Urbain Le Verrier (1811mdash1877) (France 1958)
11
ORBIT
Otto Struve (Diam 160 km Lat degN 25 Long degW 75) This is a vast lava flooded plain near the W
edge of Oceanus Procellarum close the W limb of the Moon and so appears foreshortened Named in honour of German astronomers Friedrich von Struve (Russian VY Struve) (1793-1864) and son (Otto) and grandson (Otto) (USSR 1964) Pythagoras (Diam 113 km Lat degN 65 Long degW 65)
This prominent feature lies near the NW limb just NW of the somewhat larger
Babbage It has an oval appearance due to the oblique viewing angle from Earth and only part of it can be viewed from Earth Named after Greek philosopher Pythagoras of Samos (c 570mdashc 495 BC) ( S a n M a r i n o 1982)
Babbage (Diam 143 km Lat degN 60 Long degW 57) An ancient crater located near the NW
l i m b n a m e d a f t e r B r i t i s h mathematician philosopher and computing pioneer Charles Babbage (1791mdash1871) (GB 2010)
Hevelius (Diam 122 km Lat degN 2 Long degW 67) This is a low-rimmed crater on
the W edge of the Oceanus Procellarum named after Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius (1611mdash1687) - ldquothe founder of lunar topographyrdquo (Poland
1987) Plato (Diam 97 km Lat degN 51 Long degW 9) The lava-filled remains of a crater on the NE shore of Mare Imbrium at the W
extremity of Montes Alpes named after the Classical Greek philosopher and mathematician (c 428mdashc 348 BC) (Greece 1998)
Schiaparelli (Diam 29 km Lat degN 23 Long degW 59) A small crater on the W part of Oceanus Procellarum to the W of Herodotus and named after Giovanni Schiaparelli(1835-
1910) Italian astronomer and science historian famous for his misinterpreted comments re ldquocanalirdquo on Mars (Hungary 1974)
12
ORBIT
ASTEROIDS Some Bits and Pieces
Ulugh Beigh (Diam 70 km Lat deg29 2 Long degW 85) The remnant of a crater just to the W of Oceanus Procellarum near the NW limbmdashforeshortened from the Earth Named after Ulugh Beg Persian ruler and astronomermathemat ic ian (Turkey 1983) Von Braun (Diam 60 km Lat deg41 2
Long degW 78) Named after rocket pioneer Wernher von Braun (1912-77) this is located near the NW limb on the W edge of Oceanus Procellarum and to the NE of Lavoisier (Guinea Biussau 2006)
Uncatalogued Hungarian Stamp Referenced in Spaceflight Article
The June 2010 issue of Spaceflight magazine contained
a five page article by Naacutendo
Schuminszky celebrating the first Hungarian in space whose
flight in Soyuz 36 occurred 30 years beforeon 26th May 1980
A side panel to the article
reproduced right contains
images of a pair of stamps with two subtle differencesmdashin
bottom left hand corner the date ldquo1979rdquo and ldquo1980rdquo and
rightmdashthe face value The
article goes on to explain how unexpected events delayed the
flight by a year Hungarian cosmonaut Bertalan Farkas was
due to be launched in mid-June
1979 in Soyuz 34 but his flight was cancelled following the
failure of Soyuz 33 carrying Bulgarian cosmonaut Georgi Ivanov to dock with Salyut 6 Soyuz 34 was eventually
launched unmanned to provide a fresh ferry for the resident crew to use
In anticipation of the 1979 flight a large number of associated souvenirs including posters emblems and
stamps had been prepared but had to be destroyed though evidently some escaped
However the 1979 version of the eventual SG 3320 is not listed in WEEBAU or Gibbons If any members have
any info about these unissued stamps please share it with us
More on Lunar Craters Our Chairman Margaret Morris forwarded the article opposite from the March 1989 issue of Sky amp Telescope which is of interest in the context of our new series explaining as it does how several Far Side craters have been named after astronauts and cosmonauts
Orbit for June 2010
Our last issue contained one glaring error for which your editor apologises The number on the front ldquo85rdquo was the same as the number for the March issue This will cause
problems when Harvey Duncan issues the next version of the index A lovely cover again by your Editorrsquos wife but spoiled by this typo Sorry
Flown STS-8 Covers These are referred to at the bottom of the left hand column of p 27 of this edition in Umberto Cavallarorsquos article where we learn that there were well over a quarter of a million of them
Alan Tunnicliffe editor of NZ Air Mail News advises that New Zealand stamp dealer JRMowbray has for sale at NZ $75 a piece flown STS-8 space covers date stamped 14 Aug 1983 at KSC with launch and return cancels and bearing a $935 stamp NZ$75 = US$53 or pound35 This seems a rather high price for flown STS-8 covers given the number available and members will possibly be able to obtain the item cheaper with an internet search
Solar Sails and The Sun Peter Hoffman comments on John Beenenrsquos feature on The Sun in our June 2010 issuehellip ldquoIn the Solar Sails section on page 8 mention is made of the failed launch of Cosmos-1 What is not mention is that is was a project of The Planetary Society httpwwwplanetaryorghome They are working on a new version called LightSail the first of which is planned for a launch later this year In case you are not familiar with it The Planetary Society is a privately funded space advocacy group founded in part by Carl Sagan ldquoThe Planetary Society yearly presents the Cosmos Award for Outstanding Public Presentation of Science in honour of Carl Sagan This years winner was Stephen Hawking They printed his acceptance speech Why go into space An amusing comment was a quote from a Calvin and Hobbes cartoon Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere is that none of it has tried to contact us ldquoThe Japanese Space Agency launched its solar sail spacecraft IKAROS (Interplanetary Kite-Craft Accelerated by Radiation Of the Sun) together with its Venus Climate Orbiter Akatsuki on 20 May You can read about it at httpwwwspacecommissionlaunchesjapan-venus-wrap-100520htmlrdquo
13
ORBIT
14
ORBIT
Spaceflight Books for Sale
Books about Space andor Astronomy in English
The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Space 1990 386 pages coffee table book euro 1500
Life in Space D Monchersquo 1979 ldquo 500
The Conquest of Space Willy Ley amp Chesley Bonestell+pictures 1952 RARE ldquo 2000
Star Hunters D Mammana 1990 coffee table book ldquo 1000
The Rocket David Baker 276p+490pictures 1978 coffee table book classic ldquo 2000
The History of Manned Spaceflight David Baker 576p+362pictures 1985coffeerdquo 2000
The Observerrsquos Spaceflight Directory R Turnill 384p 1978 ldquo 1000
The Observerrsquos Book of Unmanned Spaceflight+Manned Spaceflight 1974+1975 ldquo 1000
The Observerrsquos Book Of Astronomy Patrick Moore 1973 ldquo 500
Basic Astronomy Patrick Moore 1967 ldquo 300
Space a Novel James A Michener pocket Ballantine 1983 ldquo 250
Voyagers Ben Bova 1983 pocket ldquo 250
The Universe Herbert Zim 1973 ldquo 200
Exploring Other Worlds WyberampAmes 1968 ldquo 200
Tomorrowrsquos Moon Henry Little 1969 ldquo 200
Observatories of the World Marx amp Pfau 1982 ldquo 1000
Are We Alone Paul Davis Penquin 1995 ldquo 250
Moonport USA (Kennedy Space Center) 1977 ldquo 250
Living in Space (Colonies) J Trefil 1981 ldquo 500
The Cosmonauts Gordon Hooper 1977 ldquo 250
Extraterrestrials-Where Are They Zuckerman ampHart 1995 ldquo 1000
The Cosmic Connection Carl Sagan pocket 1975 ldquo 300
Exploring the Planets Ian Nicolson 1972 ldquo 250
Janersquos pocket Book 11 Space Exploration 1976 ldquo 300
Twenty-First Report Internat Telecomm Union Geneva 1982 ldquo 250
Satellites amp Space Travel Taylor ampAllward 1970 ldquo 200
Watchers of the Stars Patrick Moore 1974 ldquo 500
Robot Explorers Kenneth Garland 1972 ldquo 500
APOLLO by astronaut Alan Bean+paintings Bean in space 1998 coffeetable ldquo 2000
The World of Mars VA Firsoff 1969 ldquo 200
Missiles and Rockets Kenneth Garland ldquo 500
Stars and Planets Ian Ridpath 1978 ldquo 500
Race to Mars The ITN Mars Flight Atlas 1988 ldquo 500
Worlds Beyond Search for Life in Space Ian Ridpath 1975 ldquo 500
CETI Communication with Extraterrestrial Intelligence Stonelay 1976 ldquo 250
Horizon at the Edge of the Universe 9 chapters of astronomers 1983 ldquo 300
The New Race for Space James Oberg 1984 ldquo 500
The Hunt for Life on Mars Goldsmith 1998 ldquo 500
The High Road Ben Bova pocket 1983 ldquo 250
Operation Morning Light the True Story of Cosmos 954 Leo Heaps 1978 ldquo1000
Space Volunteers T Kay 1960 ldquo 300
Legal Aspects of Outer Space Dr C Reijnen 1976 205 pages the Worldrsquos
First Thesis of this Kind by female Dutch scholar ldquo 400
E-MAIL bertvaneijckhomenl if interested in any to discuss sale and postage
See further list on page 24
15
ORBIT
The above obituary and tribute by David Shayler
appeared in the August 2010 of Spaceflight magazine marking the passing of Rex Hall who was also one of
the longest standing members of the ASSS carrying
the membership number 88033 We extend our condolences to Rexrsquos family
16
ORBIT
Un-manned Satellites on Postage Stamps 35 By Guest Contributors Don Hillger and Garry Toth
A version of this article first appeared in The Astrophile for sic)
The Discoverer series
This is the thirty-fifth in a series of articles about un-manned satellites on postage stamps This article
features the satellites in the US Air Force (USAF) Discoverer series The first Discoverer was launched
on 21 January 1959 and the last one on 18 April 1962
There were a total of 39 launches a third (or 13) of which were failures The Discoverer series also called
Corona satellites were later declassified as the first Keyhole (KH) spy satellites
Discoverer was the public name of the Corona series
of film-return reconnaissance spy satellites whose true
mission was not officially revealed until about 35 years after the program ended The Discoverers secret
program was masked by scientific goals it was kept secret even from program staff who knew nothing
about Corona Scientific instruments were even placed
on Discoverer satellites and then covertly removed before launch
The Discoverer satellites were designed to take pictures
of target countries and then eject a film capsule
which was to de-orbit and enter the Earthrsquos atmosphere on a parachute and be recovered by a
specially-modified aircraft as it floated downward On many of the missions however the capture of the film
capsules was not successful for various reasons The first successful return of a capsule through the Earths
atmosphere occurred with Discoverer-13 though in this
case the aerial capture failed and the capsule fell into the sea Fortunately that mission carried no cameras
Discoverer-14 was the first completely successfully Corona mission in which reconnaissance photos were
taken from the spy satellite and ejected in a capsule
which was then successfully recovered in a mid-air capture carried out by a C-119 aircraft
Because of secret nature of their mission the
Discoverer satellites were not well-known and so were not featured on many postal items A set of three
stamps issued by Libya in 1966 (Scott 297-299) shows
a Discoverer capsule There is also a local post item from Batum that depicts the recovery of a Discoverer
capsule and a souvenir sheet from Chad (Michel BL247) that shows the re-entry of a Discoverer capsule
in the margin Another capsule recovery is shown in
the margin of a souvenir sheet issued by the Malagasy Republic in 1999 (Scott 1502a)
A checklist of postal items identified as showing Discoverer-
series satellites (httprammbciracolostateedudevhillgerDiscovererhtm) is available as part of the Website developed by the authors to accompany this series of articles (httprammbciracolostateedudevhillgersatelliteshtm) E-mail correspondence is welcome Don Hillger can be reached at hillgerciracolostateedu and Garry Toth at garry_tothhotmailcom
Top KH-4B Corona satellite Above Recovery of Discoverer 14 return capsule (typical for
the Corona series (ex Wikipedia)
17
ORBIT
18
ORBIT
Flight STS-130 Commander George Zamka Pilot Terry Virtis MS Kathryn Hire MS Stephen Robinson MS Nicholas Patrick MS Robert Behnken MS Koichi Wakata KSC Launch Date 822010 KSC Landing 21210 Purpose Tranquility Module Main Payload and Cupola
Shuttle Story 201011 STSndash130 -131 -132 Part One
STS-130 (ISS assembly flight 20A) via Endeavour carried as its
primary payloads the Tranquility module and the Cupola a robotic control station with six windows around its sides and
another in the centre providing a 360-degree view around the station Endeavour launched at 0414 EST (0914 UTC) on 8
February 2010 and landed at 2220 EST on 21 February 2010 on
runway 15 at the Kennedy Space Centers Shuttle Landing Facility
Tranquility was shipped from the
Thales Alenia Space facility in
Turin Italy It arrived at Kennedy Space Center on 21 May 2009 It
was formerly known as Node 3 and was named by a NASA poll
The module provides six berthing locations however three of those
locations are disabled as modules
originally planned to be attached to Tranquility were cancelled The
photo right shows Tranquility just before being installed to Unity node
STS-130 also brought the Cupola a large window
module and robotics work station to the ISS which was
to be attached to the nadir-
side of Tranquility The module also includes various
ISS systems including addit iona l l i fe support
systems This photo shows the facility being prepared at KSC whilst the photo above right
shows the module and cupola being moved into position on the
ISS
The shape of the mission patch on the launch
cover below represents the cupola over the earth in a photo taken by the unmanned
Lunar Orbiter probe in 1966 so representing a past and future designation for explorers from
Earth
For other Zazzle stamps
see page 33
19
ORBIT
Flight STS-131 Commander Alan Pointdexter Pilot James Dutton MS Rick Mastracchio MS Dorthy Metcalf- Lindenburger MS Stephanie Wilson MS Naoko Yamakazi MS Clayton Anderson KSC Launch Date 5410 KSC Landing 20410 Purpose MPLM Leonardo Main Payload
STS-131 (ISS assembly flight 19A) via Discovery launched on 5
April 2010 from Kennedy Space Centers launch pad 39A and landed at 908 AM on 20 April 2010 on runway 33 at the Kennedy
Space Centers Shuttle Landing Facility The mission marked the longest flight for space shuttle Discovery
The primary payload was a Multi-Purpose Logistics Module loaded with supplies and equipment for the ISS The mission also
removed and replaced an ammonia tank assembly outside the station on the S1 truss The mission also included several on-
board payloads this mission had the most payloads since STS-
107
The primary payload of STS-131 was MPLM Leonardo filled with food and science supplies and also carried the third and final
Minus Eighty Degree Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI) Window Orbital Research Facility (WORF) one Crew Quarters Rack the
Muscle Atrophy Resistive Exercise (MARES) rack Resupply
Stowage Racks (RSRs) as well as Resupply Stowage Platforms (RSPs) The Lightweight Multi-Purpose Equipment Support
Structure Carrier (LMC) carried a refurbished Ammonia Tank Assembly (ATA) to the ISS The refurbished ATA was removed
from the Space Station and returned for use on this mission
during STS-128 It was swapped with an empty tank which will ride home on the LMC
This mission was the second flight of the TriDAR a 3D dual-
sensing laser camera intended for potential use as an
autonomous rendezvous and docking sensor TriDAR provides guidance information that can be used to guide a vehicle during
rendezvous and docking operations in space TriDAR does not rely on any reference markers such as reflectors positioned on
the target spacecraft
This was the final Space Shuttle mission that contains one or
more rookie astronauts the missions after this will have all- veteran crews
STS-131 was only the third mission in the Space Shuttle
programme to carry three female astronauts
the others being STS-40 and STS-96
With three female crew members arriving on board Discovery and Expedition 23 Flight
Engineer Tracy Caldwell Dyson at the station
the STS-131 mission marked the first time that four women have been in space at one
time
STS-131 marked the first time that two
Japanese astronauts Naoko Yamazaki from the Shuttle crew and Soichi Noguchi on the
ISS had been in space together
Although Naoko Yamazaki is not the last non-
US astronaut Naoko was the last Japanese astronaut to fly the space shuttle
MPLM Leonardo can
be seen in the shuttle cargo bay
The seven stars either side of our
sun represent the
crew members
The shuttlersquos orientation indicates
it is performing the Rendezvous Pitch
Manoeuvre which
allows the ISS to photograph its
underbelly
20
ORBIT
Flight STS-132 Commander Kenneth Ham Pilot Dominic Antonelli MS Michael Good MS Garret Reisman MS Piers Sellars MS Stephen Bowen KSC Launch Date 1452010 KSC Landing 2652010 Purpose Delivery of Russian Main Payload Rassvet Module
STS-132 (ISS assembly flight ULF4) docked with the ISS on May
16 2010 It was launched from the Kennedy Space Center on May 14 2010 The primary payload is the Russian Rassvet Mini-
Research Module along with an Integrated Cargo Carrier-Vertical Light Deployable (ICC-VLD) STS-132 is scheduled to be the
final flight of Space Shuttle Atlantis provided that the STS-335
Launch On Need rescue mission is not flown
Rassvet means dawn in Russian The module was built
by Russian aerospace company
Energia and arrived at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC)
aboard an Antonov 124 cargo plane on 17 December 2009
After it was unloaded from the Antonov the module was
transported to an Astrotech processing bay in Cape Canaveral to
undergo preparations for launch shown in this photo
An airlock and radiation heat exchanger to be used for outfitting the Russian Nauka Module (to be launched in 2012) a spare
elbow part of the European Robotic Arm (ERA) and a portable
work platform for science hardware for performing experiments in outer space were externally mounted on Rassvet in its launch
configuration Russian and US cargo delivered was also accommodated inside the module The volume for cargo and
science inside MRM1 is 5 cubic meters] Rassvet was outfitted
with ISS standard grapple fixtures that allowed the module to be unloaded from the payload bay of Atlantis using the stations
robotic arm
The ICC pallet is constructed of aluminum It is approximately 8 feet long 13 feet wide and 10 inches thick The empty weight of
the pallet is 2645 pounds The total weight of ICCndashVLD and the ORUs is approximately 8330 pounds ICC-VLD return mass is
2933 kilograms (6470 lb)
The ICC-VLD was berthed in the centre of the
payload bay for both launch and re-entry
In the photo above Rassvet is shown centre top
The mission patch shows Atlantis flying off into the sunset as the end of the shuttle
programme approaches
21
ORBIT
By Andreacute Scheer and Margaret Morris This fascinating structure is an octagonal pentelic marble tower on the Roman agora or marketplace in Athens It was supposedly built by the astronomer Andronicus of Kyrrhos c 50 BC but according to other sources might have been constructed in the 2
nd
century BC before the rest of the forum The structure is 12 metres high with a diameter of approximately 8 metres On each of the eight sides (aligned with the eight principal points of the compass) is a sculpture featuring the wind gods and below each sculpture is engraved a sundial Thus the tower served as a solar clock but additionally in the interior was a water-clock (clepsydra) driven by water coming down from the Acropolis There were mechanical hour indicators and displays for the seasons of the year with astrological dates and periods The tower was topped in antiquity by a weather-vane in the shape of a triton with a wand which pointed at whichever of the winds was blowing The tower must have been one of the most useful structures in the agora as it showed the time for civilian purposes and indicated the wind direction for merchants awaiting the arrival of a ship The earliest philatelic items to depict this unusual building are postal stationery postcards originating from 1900 when the Greek postal authorities organised a competition for photographers and artists The best pictures were selected for issue and on 1 July 1901 the first series of 32 cards was issued In total 12 series of 32 cards each were issued between then and 20 March 1903 The cards were issued in three colours (chestnut black and green) with imprinted stamps of two values (5 lepta green for national mail and 10 lepta red for international mail) The cards additionally have an impressed stamp without colour on the left side being 10 lepta for the card itself so the cards were sold for 15 and 20 lepta The design of the imprinted stamps was based on the Hermes (Mercury) statue by Giovanni da Bologna During the war on the Balkans the cards were used by the Greek army and have an extra imprint ndash Carte Postale ndash Franchise Militaire A few examples of these postal stationery postcards are illustrated opposite and on page 23 The wording ldquoLrsquohorloge de Kyrrhestesrdquo refers to the timepiece built by Andronicus of Kyrrhos while ldquoTEMPLE DrsquoEOLErdquo translates as ldquoTemple of Aeolusrdquo (Aeolus = god of the winds) For each card 12 versions can be distinguished ndash ie 3 colours x 2 values x 2 usages For fuller information see reference no 1 Of course numerous picture postcards also feature this interesting structure
The Tower of the Winds The Oldest Planetarium on Stamps and
Postal Stationery
Front and back of postal stationery postcard
Examples of Greek postal stationery from the early 20th
century
Front and back of postal stationery postcard
22
ORBIT
The 19423 issues (SG 561-572) of Greece shown beside the 1973 Dominica souvenir sheet whose designer has
reinterpreted the divine sculptures in the margins
Boreas also on the 100d value in black and grey
Skiron
Zephyrus in two 25d vals
orange and green
Lips
Notus
Eurus
Apeliotes in two 10d vals red brown and red orange
Kaikias in two 50d vals black and grey violet and blue
Wind Direction Name of Deity Characteristics of the Sculpture North Boreas An old man wearing heavy clothing and holding a conch shell This wind was cold fierce and
stormy and in Athens made a loud hollow noise
North East Kaikias Old man with severe expression holding circular shield from which he will drop hailstones Weather characteristically cloudy wet and cold
East Apeliotes Young man with hair flowing in every direction holding a cloak full of fruit and grain ndash he brings gradual gentle rain
South East Eurus Old man with morose countenance wrapped tightly against the elements in his cloak This wind brought sultry gloomy weather with much rain
South Notus Young man emptying an urn and producing a shower of water This wind was associated with sultry very wet weather
South West Lips Boy pushing the stern of a ship promising a good sailing wind This was the wind which blew right into Piraeus harbour
West Zephyrus Beautiful lightly clad youth of happy aspect holding a cloak full of flowers In summer this wind brought very sultry weather
North West Skiron Bearded man with a bronze pot full of hot ashes and charcoal This was a dry wind extremely cold in winter but scorching and with lightning in summer
The following table gives details of the sculptures and the characteristics attributed to each of the wind gods
For fuller information see reference no 2
23
ORBIT
The sculptures of the eight winds were depicted on stamps of Greece issued in 1942 (six designs) and 1943 (again six designs ndash four as the previous issue but including the two omitted winds) Five values were surcharged in 1944 to aid victims of the Piraeus bombing of 11 January 1944 the exceptionally high face value resulted in few of these stamps being used Later in 1944 the same five values were surcharged in aid of a Childrenrsquos Convalescent Camp Fund Finally in 1946 two values of the 1942 issue were surcharged ndash the 10dr value in black and the 50dr revalued as 20dr in red See opposite for examples of the stamp designs In addition to these attractive engraved stamps the 1973 issue from Dominica commemorating the centenary of the World Meteorological Organisation included a miniature sheet incorporating the 50c and $1 values and surrounded in the margin by images of all eight wind sculptures (see page 22) More recently the cover of a booklet issued by Greece on 7 October 1988 provides an aerial view of the agora and the Tower of the Winds can be detected (see below) The booklet contains 16 stamps (4 each of 4 different values) and celebrates capitals of Greek provinces In early Christian times the building was used as the bell tower of a Byzantine Church It was partly buried in the ground until fully excavated in the 19
th century by the
Archaeological Society of Athens It is interesting to note that the design of the upper octagon of the 18th century Radcliffe Observatory in Oxford England is based on the Tower of the Winds as is the mausoleum of the founder of the Greek National Library Panayis Vagliano at West Norwood Cemetery London There is a similar tower in Sevastopol built in 1849 References
1 ldquoEntiers Postaux Illustreacutes du service des postes
helleacuteniques et leurs preacutecurseursrdquo Georges Mathas 1985
2 For finely detailed drawings and information about the sculptures you may care to see if your Library has a copy of ldquoThe Antiquities of Athensrdquo Stuart amp Revett Vol 1 published in London 1762
3 Article by Derek J de Solla Price in ldquoNational
Geographic April 1967 pp587-596 4 Much useful information may also be obtained from
sites on the internet
Examples of Overprints from left to right
1944 Piraeus Bombing Aid 1944 Childrenrsquos convalescent camp fund 1946 Surcharge
Below Cover of the 1988 stamp booklet
Front and back of postal stationery postcard
24
ORBIT
Old Photo Makes New(s) Story
A photo taken twenty-one years ago became hot international new(s) this July writes Bert van Eijck
It is a picture of your correspondent in front of the
monument on the graves of the seven astronauts killed
in the Challenger disaster The photo from November 1989 shows the national cemetery at Arlington in
Washington DC And it is this graveyard a national American field of pride and honour that was involved in
a scandal making news all over the world
What happened This became a hot story after it was leaked to the press that in 211 graves on Arlington the wrong corpse had
been buried But this disgrace grew to international
proportions when the US Senate published a report which revealed that it was not 211 but 6600 graves that
had been so dishonoured And maybe there are more the researchers stated
Consequently it meant that family members had been paying their respect at the wrong graves because many
were not marked well or the ground-plan directed to wrong places
Arlingtonrsquos director John Metzler was fired as was his
depute Thurman Higginbotham both of whom said
they knew there were made mistakes but they could not help ldquobecause of economyrdquo
Arlington cemetery was opened in 1864 Since then
300000 Americans have been buried here including
famous or well-known persons like presidents
ministers high ranked military artists judges and
astronauts
And what about some of the most recent ones Did I indeed visit and honour the seven Challenger astronauts in their last resting place on Earth in
November 1989 as shown on the photo Or are they perhaps mistakenly buried in another
unmarked grave This is hard to believe but one never knowshelliphellip
For those who wonder what was doing 21
years ago in the US capital I visited the
World Stamp Exporsquo89 at the Convention Center in Washington DC Of course I did
more sightseeing at and in the famous Smithsonian Museums (a must the
National AirampSpace Museum with 10
million visitors a year) the Capitol the metro (deepest in the world) George
Washingtonrsquos house in Vernon Arlington of course and much more
At the World Stamp Expo there was a
presentation of both USA and USSR space
stamps The American stamps were presented by astronaut Buzz Aldrin the
Soviet stamps by cosmonaut Gherman Titov
Author and the Challenger astronauts monument at Arlington seven figures in bronze (left) At right a plaque honoring US-soldiers killed in action saving
hostages in Iran
Astronaut Buzz Aldrin (left) presents the US space stamps while cosmonaut Gherman Titov (right) does the same with
Soviet space stamps In the middle officials of USPS Below the
stampshellip
25
ORBIT
The Apollo 15 Cover Scandal by Umberto Cavallaro
In a feature which first appeared in the April-June 2010 issue of Ad Astra the web journal of the Italian Astrophilatelic Association its editor reveals in considerable detail the full story of those covers which today sell for so much money The Apollo 15 flown covers are among the best known
collectibles from the Apollo Era mainly because of what Jim Irwin recalls as ldquothe problem we brought
back from the Moonrdquo
The crew of Apollo 15 carried out one of the most complete scientific explorations of the Moon the first
lunar roving vehicle was operated on the Moon to
extend the range of exploration some 180 pounds of lunar surface samples were returned for analysis Yet
Fifteen is best remembered as the crew that carried envelopes to the moon and the whole mission is
remembered for the ldquogreat postal caperrdquo
Apollo 15 was not the first mission to carry covers
dozens were carried on each flight from Apollo 11 onwards and as Commander Dave Scott recalls in his
book the whole business had probably been building since Mercury through Gemini and into Apollo People
had a fascination with objects that had been carried in space and they became more and more popular and
valuable as the programme progressed Right from
the start of the Mercury programme each astronaut had been allowed to carry on board a certain number
of personal items
NASA was in the habit of authorizing astronauts to
carry certain personal items on manned flights known as Astronautsrsquo PPK (Personal Preference Kits) All such
items had to be listed and approved by Deke Slayton the Head of the Astronaut Office prior to launch and
were intended for private use or as personal gifts
after the flight and could not be employed for commercial
Fig 1 The official USPS cover postmarked on the Moon
purposes or personal gain Astronaut kits typically
included badges jewellery coins medals flags stamps postal covers currency printed materials and
similar easily packed lightweight mementoes As the flight became more significant the number and type of
items increased
Aside from personal mementoes each crew had
carried medallions whose number had grown steadily on each mission In his book The All-American Boys astronaut Walter Cunningham reveals that it was rumoured around the Astronaut Office that Apollo 14
carried on board a personal package weighing forty-
two pounds Before that flight the Franklin Mint had even advertised the proposed sale After the flight the
commercial deal was never completed and all went quiet nothing about it being published in the media
But some members of the US Congress were unhappy
of the situation
In that context the ldquolapses of judgmentrdquo of the Apollo 15 crew became fatal Dave Scott went too far
carrying on board a total of 641 postal covers (including the two official covers) of which only 243
were listed and authorized before the flight and 398
were not -- secretly carried on board Apollo 15 by Scott in a pocket of his space suit Had they been
listed as being in Scotts PPK they would probably have been routinely approved for inclusion in the
preference kit
The 243 listed and authorized covers include
bull 2 official US Postal Service covers one of which the ldquoOfficial Coverrdquo was publicly cancelled on the
moon by Scott at the request of the US Postal
Service 10 (Fig 1) bull 1 Wright Brothers commemorative cover dated
1928 and autographed by Orville Wright which was carried by Worden for a friend
bull 1 cover bearing a First Man on the Moon stamp and a Bliss Centennial three-cent stamp carried by
Irwin for Barbara Baker (Fig 2 below)
26
ORBIT
8 Shamrock covers carried by Irwin (as below)
144 Herrickrsquos ldquoMoon Phasesrdquo covers carried by Worden
(Fig 4) printed with a cachet showing 15 phases of the moon On the USS Okinawa the Apollo 15 recovery ship
the astronauts placed two eight-cent stamps purchased
on board by Worden on each of these covers and they had the covers cancelled by the shipboard post office
The astronauts later autographed these covers while flying back from Hawaii to Houston Sixteen covers were
torn or damaged and were destroyed Because of the furore created by the Apollo 15 covers incident NASA
confiscated 61 of these 144 Moon Phases covers
87 Apollo 12 covers (Fig 5) that for unknown reason
did not fly on that mission and which were carried on
Apollo 15 for Mrs Barbara Gordon a stamp collector then wife of Richard Gordon Apollo 12 astronaut who
at was the back-up pilot for Apollo 15
The 398 unauthorized covers (initially there were
400 but 2 were damaged and discarded) are lightweight envelopes carrying as a cachet a replica
of the official Apollo 15 patch overprinted with an Air Force wing and propeller emblem
The idea of these additional covers was suggested during a cocktail party by Eiermann a salesman for
the heat-shield contractor who had frequent business and social contacts with NASA personnel and
astronauts He suggested to fly 400 lightweight covers 100 for each of the astronauts and 100 for
his friend Sieger the German stamp dealer The
cacheted covers were provided by Al Bishop a friend of many astronauts then at the Howard
Hughes organization He had already provided covers for the previous flights since Apollo 12
Above one of the 100 Sieger covers with the handwritten note ldquoLanded at Hadley Moon July 30 1971 On the
reverse is a typed and notarised inscription ldquoThis is to certify that this cover was on board the Falcon at the Hadley-
Apennine Moon July 30 ndashAug 2 1971rdquo
Below one of the 298 unauthorised covers carried to the Moon by David Scott with the inscription ldquoThis envelope was
carried to the Moon aboard the Apollo 15 of 300 to the Lunar Surface in LMrdquoFalconrdquo
The crews usually returned to Bishop a couple of
flown covers signed with gratitude ldquoTo my
knowledge ndash Cunningham reports in his well documented book ndash Bishop never sold any and never
made a dime off his relationship He was simply a fan To Al Bishop Apollo 15 was no different from any
other flight except for a phone call he received from
Hal Collins the Astronaut Office manager at the Cape
27
ORBIT
Collins told Bishop that the crew would like to know
whether he could obtain some very lightweight envelopes for them Al said that hed be happy to do so
He was unaware then that many of them would be smuggled on board the next lunar flight Al was trusted
Thats why many of us imposed on him with our
problems special requests and sometimes matters which we would rather not share with NASArdquo
This time Al was badly used he emerged as a
scapegoat and his name was dragged as though he was the Mr Big of an international stamp conspiracy
The covers were cancelled at Kennedy Space Center
several days before July 26 1971 The date of the post office machine canceller was moved forward
Additionally twin eight-cent stamps were purchased by the astronauts on the USS Okinawa the Apollo 15
recovery ship and affixed to these covers ndash as for the
Herrickrsquos covers In the shipboard post office the covers were then cancelled and date-stamped August 7 1971
The astronauts finally autographed these covers while flying from Hawaii to Houston
Soon after the flight the astronauts gave Eiermann
the 100 covers ndash after agreeing that there was to be
no commercialization or advertising of these covers and that nothing would be done with them until after
completion of the Apollo programme
But after a while news started to circulate that the
German dealer was selling in Europe covers flown on Apollo 15 for a reported average of US $1500 each
The reports infuriated Congress not least because congressmen had to read such controversial
information in the press before being informed by
NASA which is obligated to keep Congress fully informed of its activity Recollection of the Apollo 14
medallions incident must have echoed in the minds of certain members of Congress many of whom were
not fans of NASA anyway NASA started an internal investigation This was the most controversial
development of the Apollo Programme and although
most astronauts were involved to some degree NASA made an example of the Apollo 15 flight crew ldquoIt
was turning into a witch-huntrdquo recalled Scott ldquoOur bosses had abrogated their responsibilities and we
were left alone on a very wet dayrdquo
It is ironic that after addressing a joint session of
Congress as heroes in less that one year the three astronauts of Apollo 15 had to go back in front of these
same senators in disgrace because of this envelope scandal
After this ldquoincidentrdquo NASA prohibited from Apollo 17 on the flying of covers or stamps during a space
missions (they were not on time to block the covers carried on Apollo 16) The only exceptions have been
since then the items flown in cooperation with the US
Postal Service ie the 266000 covers carried in 1983 in
the payload bay of the Space Shuttle Challenger on
STS-8 and the 500000 $995 Express Mail stamp created by Paul and Chris Calle in 1994 flown on
Endeavour STS-68 in recognition of the 25th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing The huge
number of such items carried in space discourages
speculations and these items still are widely available for few dollars
So far fewer than 1000 envelopes in total have flown
to the Moon No other American covers will flow to the Moon in the foreseeable future Perhaps the next
ldquoMoon coversrdquo will bear Chinese or Indian stamps
Dave Scott was the first lunar Postmaster and had two
postmarks with him and two covers with imperforated dieproof of the US twin Decade of Space Achievements
stamps affixed (Fig 1)
He had one postmark with ldquoMoon Landing USArdquo (Fig 8 below) and another with ldquoUnited States on the
Moonrdquo (Fig 9 bottom)
The First Lunar Post Office was opened on August 2 1971 when David Scott postmarked only the official
cover (and brought back the official backup-cover uncancelled) A handful covers had however been
postmarked before launch with both postmarks Dr Matthew Radnofsky ndash who in his laboratory already
had simulated cancelling in space for Apollo 11 ndash
tested both postmarks to ensure that the cancellation devices were in working order
Especially the date could be changed easily Contrary
to Apollo 11 covers without stamps were used for
28
ORBIT
these tests Apollo 15 Lunar Cancellation Proofs are
much scarcer than Apollo 11 ones ldquoAs by now I am aware of only 17 itemsrdquo states famous astrophilatelist
Walter Hopferwieser Covers with proofs of the Apollo 15 moon postmarks have been recently sold at Regency
Superior and Aurora auctions
The official Apollo 15 cover postmarked on the Moon
(see Fig 1 repeated above ) is displayed at the US National Postal Museum It was publicly cancelled and
the video can be seen at httpwwwpostalmuseumsiedustampstakeflight
apollo15video-01html A short speech was given by
Dave Scott while cancelling the cover ldquoTo show that our good Postal Service has deliveries any place in the
universe I have the pleasant task of cancelling here on the Moon the first stamp of a new issue dedicated to
commemorate US achievements in space I have the
first one here on an envelope At the bottom it says United States in Space a decade of achievement and
Im very proud to have the opportunity here to play postman I pull out a cancellation device It says
August 2 1971 first day of issuehellip What could be a
better place to cancel this stamp than right here at Hadley Rillehelliprdquo
Immediately thereafter the Postmaster General who
was waiting at the Mission Control at Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston Texas gave the signal to start the
First- Day cancellations at post offices in Houston
Kennedy Space Center and Huntsville
Acknowledgement Thanks to Walter Hopferwieser for his comments
Some Notes About Space Mail
Commenting on Brian Vincentrsquos article in the June
2010 Orbit ASSS member Geoff Chivers writes in an
email to your Editorhellip Im sure you wont mind me commenting on Brian G Vincents Some Notes About Space Mail (page 36)
In paragraph 2 he refers to the Apollo 15 cover incident leaving the impression that Scott Worden and Irwin were guilty of some heinous crime This has been the subject of much miss-reporting over the years The full story of what actually happened is explained in depth at page 328 et seq of Two sides of the moon by David Scott and Alexei Leonov published by Simon amp Shuster The astronauts were of course exonerated
This is the quote (slightly edited to enable it to stand as an independent piece)-
During 1972 while on a trip to Washington DC George Low NASA deputy administrator asked me to stop by his
office writes David Scott I had known George in Houston while he was Apollo spacecraft programme manager and I had great respect for him We spent a short while exchanging pleasantries Then George looked me in the eye and came to the point ldquoWell Daverdquo he said ldquoI have to tell you I was not very proud of my performancerdquo His comment was the culmination of what had become known as the Apollo 15 ldquocover incidentrdquo This involved some first day postal covers which we had carried aboard Apollo 15 some of which were unfortunately sold by a German stamp dealer several months after the flight As No 2 in NASA George
had been heavily involved in NASAs handling of the incident and his comment referred to one of the poorest management performances the space agency had ever demonstrated - up to then The whole business had probably been building since Mercury through Gemini and into Apollo People had a fascination with objects that had been carried in space and they became more and more popular and valuable as the programme progressed Right from the start of the Mercury programme each astronaut had been allowed to carry on board a certain number of personal items in what were known as PPKS - Personal Preference Kits Before each flight a list of the items was prepared for Deke Slayton who
Two Sides of The Moon
by David Scott and Alexei Leonov
The text opposite from the
above book has been
referred to by Umberto Cavallaro in preparing his
above piece
29
ORBIT
had overall responsibility for approving them As the flights became more significant the number and type of items increased Aside from personal mementoes each crew had carried a certain number of medallions which they could hand out afterwards as souvenirs The number of medallions had grown steadily on each mission - eventually some crew members had been carrying several hundred each and their weight was becoming a concern And as always commercialisation began to creep in In the end on Apollo 14 commanded by Al Shepard it was alleged that the crew had carried some silver medallions on board which were to be melted down after the flight and mixed with many other commemorative medallions by the Franklin Mint to be sold to the general public The Franklin Mint had even advertised the proposed sale before the flight After the flight the deal was never consummated and all went quiet nothing about it was printed in the media But some members of Congress had heard about it and were unhappy with the situation Since we were busy training for Apollo 15 (launched 26 July 1971) we knew nothing about all this Had we known we would have been far more wary of what happened subsequently All we knew was that Deke Slayton had halved the number of medallions we could carry Shortly afterwards Deke introduced Jim (Irwin) Al (Worden) and me to a long-standing friend of his at the Cape called Walter Eiermann In retrospect this seems likely to have been more than a coincidence Deke invited us to join him at dinner at Eiermanns house one evening several months before the Apollo 15 launch Eiermann asked if we would like to make some money on the side by signing some stamps ldquoAll the guys are doing itrdquo he said We agreed We were also approached by several members of the Manned Spacecraft Centerrsquos stamp club who asked us to sign many first - day covers before the flight for their members as well as for ourselves At that time we could not buy life insurance If we signed some covers we reasoned they could be held during the flight and act as limited life insurance for our families if anything happened to us But then Eiermann proposed we carry four hundred lightweight commemorative covers a hundred of which would be passed on to a stamp dealer in Germany when we returned All the covers would be franked on the day of launch and franked on the day of our return Our understanding was that the dealer would hold his hundred covers to be sold at some future date after the Apollo programme was over In return he would set up a $6000 trust fund for each of us for the education of our children In the months of intense activity before the flight we did not give this more than a moment of thought But we agreed In retrospect we made a mistake in even considering it In the months following our mission we learnt that the German dealer had begun to sell the covers We let Eiermann know that we were opposed to the sale Forget the trust funds we said we dont want any money This is not what we had understood would happen But when senior managers at NASA learnt about the covers being sold they were furious Incomplete information was then provided to the press by NASArsquos Public Affairs Office and reports started to appear that we had smuggled the covers onto our flight This was literally impossible NASA personnel prepared us for every aspect of the flight - from our birthday suits out Everything we had carried had to be specially packaged by the flight support crew to make sure apart from anything else
that it was fireproof Everything in our PPKs was on a list which was certified before launch I was never aware of any rules about what could or could not be taken in these packs Slayton was to approve the list so as far as I was concerned it was up to management to keep us on the straight and narrow I assumed if the list was approved that was fine Usually the list was certified by Deke But before our flight for some reason he neither asked us personally for each of our lists as was customary nor signed off on the list personally He said the flight - crew support team had already logged everything Whereas we had purchased the covers ourselves the Astronaut Office at the Cape had prepared the covers for the flight and had had them stamped and franked on the day of launch Somehow however the support team had missed them when they prepared the PPK flight manifest It was also reported after the incident that we had been removed from the astronaut corps Again totally untrue Unfortunately NASA managers did nothing to dispel this false and misleading information They just tucked their heads in and let the rumours run The reports infuriated Congress not least because congressmen had to read such controversial information in the press before being informed by NASA which is obligated to keep Congress fully informed of its activities Recollections of the Apollo 14 medallion incident must have seeped into the minds of certain members of Congress many of whom were not fans of NASA anyway When NASA started an internal investigation we were told by a senior official in the agency that we were on our own We were advised to get our own legal representation A Senate hearing into the matter had been called and a justice Department investigation would follow It was turning into a witch - hunt NASA we were advised expected us to keep quiet and take the Fifth Amendment at this hearing We did not We told it like it was We had nothing to hide Eventually the Justice Department concluded that we had broken some administrative rules but had done nothing criminal NASA confiscated the remaining covers but they acted before discovering all the facts of the case Following an investigation by NASA the Justice Department and the Senate the Justice Department concluded on 6 December 1978 in a ldquoMemorandum Opinion for the Assistant Attorney Generalrdquo that NASA had no claim to the remaining covers that the covers were never intended for sale that there was no attempt at concealment by the crew of the fact that the covers were to be flown on Apollo 15 and finally that the covers would have been approved to carry aboard Apollo 15 had a request been made We were reprimanded and we took our licks But it was a very raw deal NASA had hung us out to dry Our bosses had abrogated their responsibilities and we were left alone on a very wet day I spent many years trying to get full access to NASA and congressional records on the case NASA refused to provide full disclosure We subsequently found out there had been rumblings about profitmdashmaking on previous missions A copy of a letter was released to me in which NASA admitted that ten other astronauts who were not identified had been involved in selling signed blocks of stamps and postcards for Eiermann But the wave reached the shore on Apollo 15 and we were the ones who bore the brunt of the blame for such incidents
30
ORBIT
Buckingham Cover offer Free Souvenirs for You
Brian Austin of Buckinghamrsquos Rare Cover Department writes to your Editorhellip
Over the last two or three years we have been dealing more and more in signed space covers This led us to earlier this year buying an Apollo 11 crew signed cover which had been carried to the moon which we had on display on our stand at London 2010
For this we also printed a limited edition of 800 sets of postcards one featuring the Apollo 11 cover and another
featuring an Apollo 15 cover The idea was to give away 100 sets per day to customers at the show but now the show is all finished I still have around 150 pairs left on my desk
We wondered if you would like to offer them to your readers we are happy to send them out free of charge to the first 150 readers to contact us with their details as long as we can also include one of our lists of space
covers
BrianAustinbuckinghamcoverscom
31
ORBIT
More About Missile Mail
Harvey Duncan told us in the last Orbit (page 15) about the First Official Missile Mail writes Bert van Eijck After the useful technical details about the USS Barbero he gave us I can offer you more philatelic information and show you some illustrations The missile mail experiment was a joint venture between
the Ministry of Defense and the US Post Office Dept headed by Postmaster General Mr Arthur E
Summerfield Three thousand special envelopes were printed with a reproduction of a Navy missile type
Regulus with the text ldquoFirst Official Missile Mailrdquo and above that ldquoThe Postmaster General Washingtonrdquo All
the envelopes were addressed to The President high
government officials like senators and to the Post Masters General of ninety nine other member nations of
UPU Inside was a letter from Mr Summerfield entitled ldquoThe First Official Missile Mailrdquo with the official seal of
the Post Office dept It was explained therein what had
happed to that letter and the other 2999
The special letters were loaded in two metal compartments and came aboard the guided missile USS Barbero (SSG-317) The shot was to occur during a regular training mission from Norfolk Virginia to Florida
About 350 kilometres off the coast of Florida the
Regulus missile was launched toward Airport Mayport
The missile climbed 10 km above the Atlantic and
landed within twenty minutes with all the letters intact The letters were cancelled with the hand stamp ldquoUSS
Barberordquo with the date ldquoJun 8 1959rdquo and the approximate timing of the launching ldquo930 amrdquo This
was done by post office staff part of an established
branch office on the USS Barbero The letters bore the 1957 4c American flag postage stamp Those
addressed to foreign countries carried two such stamps covering surface mail postage costs On the
reverse side is the Jacksonville Post Office cancellation with the approximate time of arrival ldquoJune 8 1030 am
1959 Floridardquo
Such flown letters are expensive to buy and a jewel in
any exhibit
But this is NOT the case with the Barbero souvenir
cover dated a month later on July 8 1959 issued in the same quantity (3000) as the originals The
inscription reads ldquoPoint of LandingmdashFirst Official Missile Mail 8 June 1959 US Naval Station Mayport Floridardquo
About 16000 () collectors had applied for such a cover
The imprint of the official Barbero cover was reproduced on a memorial cover issued and posted at
the Vienna International Airpost Exhibition Luposta on August 1959 in the Austrian capital Of course neither
of these items had been carried within the Regulus
missile
Also of interest the Postal Administration of
Paraguay issued a stamp
and a block in 1976 honouring the Barbero
Missile Mail The Gs 20 stamp shows a Regulus
missile in flight while the sheet shows the whole
addressed cover and in
miniature the complete letter inside from the US Postmaster General
as mentioned above and as illustrated below
Above a specimen envelope as described in the text and below its reverse cancel
32
ORBIT
An Invitation to Our Readers to Donate to an Innovative International Projecthellip
Kindest Sir or Madam
The municipality of Vitanje
(Slovenia) is honoured to have had a hand in the life of the
famous space architect Herman Potocnik Noordung
(1892-1929) (pictured right) who had already found a
surprising number of solutions
to space travel and troubles of living in vacuum long before
actual space flights took place His creations were used by the
renowned novelist Arthur C Clarke
in his book 2001 A Space Odyssey which was later also turned into a
movie directed by Stanley Kubrick In Noordungs honour we have
created the Memorial Centre of Herman Potocnik Noordung This
year the cultural centre of European
space technology will also get going in Vitanje This will be a place
where the European space heritage will be gathered and various events connected with the
contemporary European space technologies will be
organized
Proposed Philatelic Collection We would like to bring the project onto a higher level
where we would have the collaboration of various
countries in the world including such with a history in space travel (like USA Russia) One of the steps of this
expansion process would also include a philatelic collection of stamps with themes of outer space
(astronomy astronautics and everything connected to
outer space) We already have quite a decent collection but we would like to expand on that
Our goal is to have 6000 stamps before opening our
exhibition For this we would require the help of as many philatelists as possible
All of these philatelists would become co-creators and partners of this collection for which we hope will
become the largest collection of its kind in the world The people donating the stamps would get a great deal
of exposure at all these exhibitions and on the special
website which will be started shortly If you give us enough support and we are able to raise enough
stamps for a first-class collection we hope the first
exhibitions and various special events (like visits from
astronauts ndash philatelists) will see the light of day as early as in 2011
From a professional point of view we have an
excellent team working with us Long-time philatelist
Tone Petek is the person who initiated this project while Bojan Bracic the secretary of FEPA is one of our
counsellors and is completely behind this project
If you would be interested in such cooperation I will get the wheels in motion and send you a verifying
mail with the stamp of the municipality of Vitanje and
also of some higher organization within the Slovene political system
The collection is already underway with the help of the
Slovene Philatelic organisation (FZS) adds Rok in an email to your Editor in July This organisation has been of immense help with technical expertise and
connections It looks as if there might be an introductory exhibition next year sometime
In the hope of a successful partnership we offer our
sincere appreciation
Rok Podgrajsek
Obcina Vitanje Grajski trg 1
3205 Vitanje
Slovenia
Email address rokpodgrajsekgmailcom
But see also website httpwwwvitanjesi
(Editorrsquos Note both Wendy Buckle editor of
Themescene and our Chairman Margaret Morris commend this project to you We will be sending Rok
some recent copies of Orbit for the displays)
Some illustrations from Noordungrsquos only published text ldquoThe Problem of
Space Travel The Rocket Motorrdquo (the original German title
was ldquoDas Problem der Befahrung
des Weltraums - der Raketen-Motorrdquo) which saw the light of day
in 1928
Vitanje Local Private Post stamp
33
ORBIT
Zazzle Space Stamps Dazzle
I have noticed Zazzle Space Stamps appearing in Lollini brochures and on their web pages in recent months writes your Editor so I undertook to find out some facts about them and am grateful to The Astrophile Editor Jim Roth and the man who inspired him to create his own Zazzle designs Otto Bergman for the following infohellip Zazzle is one of half a dozen or more US companies
who facilitate the printing of non-copyrighted photos and artwork on private postage stamps which count
as postage within and outwith the USA You can
design your own Zazzle stampsmdashsee their websitemdashwhich you then purchase for your own use 20 to a
page
They are therefore a bit like British Smilers except
that the personal element of the stamp is not on a se-tenant label but actually incorporated within the
stamp itself as you can see from the examples on this page
Jim Roth was annoyed that the Kennedy Space Center Post office would not cancel his Zazzle stamps as they
consider them to be ldquometersrdquo and although he has marked STS-122 he wonrsquot be creating any others
You can see (and buy) all Jim Rothrsquos Space Zazzles on
his website m57coverscommdashclick on ldquostampsrdquo
Three of Jim Rothrsquos designs
See others on his website
An Otto Bergman space creation on
Zazzlecomottobergman
These space Zazzles and others are
available from the Lollini website or brochures
STS 128 in May 2010 section
STS 129 in June 2010
WISE and Delta 2 launch in July 2010 STS 130 in August 2010
STS 128 stamps show astronauts Christer Fuglesang (far left) and left Frank De Winne ISS Commander Expedition 21 STS 129 issues depict mission
patch and the crew led by Charles Hobaugh
Delta 2 rocket launch from Cape Canaveral of WISE Deep InfraRed telescope
34
ORBIT
Concluded on page 39
More Spaceflight Books for Sale
35
ORBIT ORBIT
SPACE HABITATS (Part Two) by John Beenen Continuing his feature from our last issue John Beenen begins by posing the questionhellip Why Should we Seek to Live
in Space
Spacecom gives ten main reasons why we should enter space for a prolonged
period
1 To secure a future for humanity
2 To build a new frontier
3 To find new energy sources
4 To build an industrial settlement on
the Moon
5 Better quality images of the
Universe
6 The SETI effort
7 Mining
8 Learning the history of our
Universe
9 Environmental benefits
Meeting the challenge
Taking for granted that it is naturally fascinating to investigate how mankind
might be able to maintain its habitat outside earth there are several further reasons to investigate why
mankind should settle themselves outside earth in the far future And More reasons mean a overall better
argument
Primarily there is the question of overpopulation and
secondly a solution for the energy problem
Next we have to consider that climate circumstances
are not under control anymore and earth eventually becomes uninhabitable
Also when for various reasons we start to kill each
other for some groups of people it may be an attractive proposition to depart this Earth in quite a different
sense And that is perhaps the most common thought
through activities in space more money can be obtained
But there are disadvantageshellip
On the other hand a prolonged stay in space is not that safe The construction must be protected against
radiation and it can be hit by large and small debris which makes space a very unsafe place
Furthermore cosmic radiation produces
a radiation of 80 mSv (millisievert) - well over the allowed maximum of 50
mSv and very much over the amount which is considered as safe for man
which is 3 mSv
Next solar flares produce a sudden
increase of soft gamma and energy rich radiation so much that without the
protection of an atmosphere half of our population could die easily
It is interesting that even without shielding most of this radiation can be
absorbed in the projected spacecraftsrsquo structure and in the air Smaller
structures can be protected with a
shield of co-rotating rocks
The construction further must be protected against sunlight which by
lack of the air shield will fall in unshielded so sun blinds and radiators
are indispensable
And as a result of the artificial gravity
there are some tiny movement problems which we will face later
Finally the created ecosystem should be fully self-supporting and that is easier said than done as
experiments with Biosphere-2 have showed
Biosphere-2 Biosphere-2 was a project built between 1987 and 1991 providing in an area of about 2frac12 football fields
a closed biological system of different composition From 1991-1993 a crew of 8 persons stayed herein A
second crew of 7 persons bridged a period of March
until September 1994 During the first period it appeared difficult to keep the atmosphere constant in
particular the carbon dioxide values changed rapidlymdashthe reason why many of the carried insects perished
Further the oxygen level decreased slowly because pf a leak
Even during the first two-year phase large differences in opinion appeared and the yield was not large
enough to deliver the calories necessary Reserve stocks had to be broken into Finally the second
experiment had to be ended prematurely because of
mismanagement
However it seems that a well-functioning stable ecosystem should not be underestimated physically
not technically
Artists impressions above Interior Stanford Torus and below Interior
OrsquoNeill Cylinder
Solar flares Czechoslovakia 1965 WB 47
36
ORBIT
It further has to be speculated on that men would resist
a regulated weather programme instead of the customary ever changing circumstances on Earth
Also we must physically resist an eternal stay outside
Earth That is not always easy as some people will show
some kind of sea sickness for ever In any case rooms with a diameter of less than 100 meters and a speed of
revolution over three per minute are insufficient At specifications of over 500 m and at less than 1 revolution
per minute fewer problems have to be expected
How do we get raw materials (Fantasy Moon Mining Yemen
Mutawakelite 1969 1343)
And still there have to be enough raw materials to sustain the
colony but as a principle the
search for raw materials is not the most difficult
From the asteroid belt enough small rocks can be
transported as a building material Also mines can be put
on the Moon Bercause of the lower gravity there transport is easier and some kind of firing mechanism
has been calculated which launch packets of ore simply into space where they can be manipulated
Air can be produced from moonstone Nitrogen nearly without loss can be recycled and eventually added to
ammonia mined from comets Large gardens and fields should start the normal photosynthesis and doing so
finally a complete sustainable society might be built up Energy from the Sun is present in superfluous quantities
What to do about gravity Most designs for a Space station start with a gravity of
1G Some designers however think that a lower level of gravity is possible But in the meantime experiments
with astronauts have showed that our physiology
changes rapidly influenced by decreased or absence of gravity Thus the calcium potassium and sodium
contents of our bone system decrease by about 10 That is not bad were we to stay in space forever but
very troublesome when occasionally we would return to
Earth
Also the quality of our muscles decreases as the blood volume does Providing effects comparable to aging
Further by lack of gravity astronauts become a little
taller with accompanying pain in the back Hence the staying with 1G gravity is not so bad
That has to be maintained by rotation of the
construction The larger the diameter of the construction is the slower it will turn to provide 1 G That is a result
of the centrifugal or centripetal force Its
magnitude has long been established thanks to the work of Dutchman Christiaan Huygens and fixed in
the formula
m v2
F = r where
F = the external force in N(ewton) m = mass in kg
v = speed in msec r = radius in m
Hence a spacecraft with a diameter of 15 meters has to carry out one revolution every 8 seconds to
produce a sensation of 1G And that is too quick for man The effect of the centrifugal force is that should
an astronaut drop an object it does not fall straight
down but partly away from himher Weird
Coriolis force But in a rotating Space station another force is at
work That is the lsquoCoriolis forcersquo named after the
French Gustave-Gaspard Coriolis (1792-1843) who described this kind of force for the first time
The most common manifestation is the second law of
Buys Ballot which says that air streams in the
atmosphere which according the first law of Boys Ballot as a principle run from high to low pressure at
the northern hemisphere are bent to the right and at the southern hemisphere to the left because of the
rotation of the Earth
Therefore air streams around depressions show a
spiral shape in opposite directions at the northern and southern hemisphere In a space station this
force can especially noticed when moving around through the spokes of the wheel
(Diagram of Coriolis F o r c e h t t p
wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm)
A s s u m e t h a t a n
astronaut on a ladder
climbs through a spoke to the axis As he climbs
along he circles around more slowly as he
describes a smaller circle
in the same time What happens with the difference in speed that he had before He will be pressed
against the ladder and that is the Coriolis force The force also acts in opposite direction when he
descends from the ladder
Also the throwing up and catching of a ball will
become a huge achievement as the ball does not
37
ORBIT
drop perpendicularly but will shift a little into the
direction of the orbit of the station and also achieves a higher speed
This also has strange effects on the astronaut As moves
quickly in the rotation direction of the station his weight
appears to increase to a noteworthy extent Then as he moves against the speed of rotation his weight
decreases apparently Mathematically this effect is explainable but very complex
Also the astronautrsquos head and feet move in different
speed to artificial gravity This is plainly noticeable when
somebody jumps up Hence avoid this practice
With these kind of effects adaptation to the changed circumstances in a space station will ask a lot of the
crew members I do hope they can stand it But in any
case the larger the space ship the lesser the problems
Inflatable stations
But therersquos more The inflatable station was considered
many years ago The first i d e a w a s p o s s i b l y
developed when on 12th August 1960 the Echo
balloon with a diameter of
30 meters was launched (Echo I balloon USA 1960
WB 3)
It is true you could not live in it as the balloon was of too frail a construction but the idea of an inflatable
spacecraft was then alive By 1958 groups within NASA
had begun to think about inflatable stations The Goett-committee has been one of the first On 25th26th May
1959 a conference started about projects after
Mercury In particular the
representative of Langley L a r r y Lo f t i n wa s
enthusiastic about his AMIS (Advanced Man in
Space) project (Hexagonal structure
Manama 1970 WB 113)
One of his first projects was a rotating hexagonal
inflatable construction with a diameter of 25 meters a cylindrical core and three lsquospokesrsquo Acting as a ferry to
and from the station the lsquoDyna Soarrsquo Space plane could
be used The Dyna Soar project (at that time still
under development) was cancelled by the American
Minister of Defense Robert
McNamara Inflatable Habitat NASA
1961 enwikipediaorg)
A Langley Space Station
team managed by Paul Hill and Emanuel lsquoMannyrsquo
Schnitzer developed the concept together with the
G o o d y e a r A i r c r a f t
Corporation
(Langleyrsquos self-inflating rotating hexagonal structure httphistorynasagov
SP-4308) Its original diameter had already been reduced to 10
meters
In the years after Langley built several experimental
modules called lsquoErectable Torus Manned Space Laboratoryrsquo a 11 model built by firms such as
Goodyear The torus was built from three layers of
nylon tissue and in between a rubber-like plastic material butyl elastomer A large problem was the
penetration by micrometeorites which as was learnt from the results of the Echo balloon finally damaged
the whole structure
Another problem was the great instability of the ring
due to movements of the astronauts the station started to wobble when they moved around Finally
the project was cancelled and at the end of the eighties the Langley Research Center started to
design inflatable constructions for a base camp on the
Moon
( A r t i s t imp r e s s i on Transhab inflatable
m o d u l e h t t p
enwikipediaorg)
Due to the development of a new series of
s t r o n g e r p l a s t i c materials such as Kevlar
these construct ions
received new interest That lead to the development of Transhab (Transit Habitat) as a resource for crews
coupled at the ISS (international Space Station) The construction is a cylinder in a diameter of 82 meters
and several storeys high
Its volume in inflatable state is 340 m3 The wall has a
thickness of 30 () cm and consists of 12 layers of which the outside layer is made from Kevlar The
layers beneath are made from Nextel a ceramic fibre Disagreements during development and the spiralling
costs finally in 2000 saw the end of NASArsquos interest
G e n e s i s 1
thespacereviewcom)
From 1999 the project was
taken up by Bigelow
38
ORBIT
Aerospace who improved the design and tested it with
successful launchings of Genesis I on 12 July 2006 and Genesis II on 28 June 2007
In their design it has once again more or less the shape
of a balloon With a thickness of 40 cm the wall is still
very thick The outside layer is still Kevlar but inside are some layers of Vectran a textile fibre Within the
structure ants and scorpions were launched along with some objects which people who paid for the privilege of
boosting into space
In this way Bigelow hopes to build a Space Hotel named
Nautilus To stimulate the development Bigelow offered a price of $50 million to everybody who succeeded in
launching a crew of 5 persons to an altitude of 400 km before 2010 So little money lost here so far
A second project which can be realized within the near future is a fixed residence on the Moon As said Langley
occupies itself with the design of such a base which partly should be build below the surface Stamp
designers have already realized the idea
What does the future hold Although we are a long way away from the kind of space station by which a large amount of earth inhabitants can
leave the planet Earth forever the first steps for doing
so are in preparation With the development of their Space Hotel Bigelow tries to make the step to space
albeit a temporary one
Also Langley literally tries to set foot on the Moon and
finally they will succeed in doing so However The cost of such projects are literally astronomical and it is not
expected that in the coming decades much money can be allocated to such projects
Of course in some thousands of years (possibly only in
hundreds of years) this will become the case but for the
time being in my opinion the true conquest of space will stay as science-fiction for at least a few hundred years
Hoorn 2009
John Beenen
NB The stamps entitled lsquoSpace Cityrsquo with a value of 0 cnt do not exist but have been made by the author by means of frames and pictures present at the Internet
Fantasy Moon
b a s e M a n a -ma1970 WB 122
Fantasy bases
ready for Mars
YAR 1971 WB 2892 and 6
Fantasy Modular
base YAR 169 WB 233
39
ORBIT
Cover Below bottom right Future space Dutch Antilles 2000
Literature references (for both parts of article) httpenwikipediaorg Space habitat Space Colonization Orbital Colony Space City Space settlement Space stations L5 Society Bernal Sphere Stanford Torus OrsquoNeil Cylinder Inflatable Space Habitat Transhab Biosphere 2 Generation Ship wwwdsenl~hklruimtehtm Wonen op groene eilanden in de Ruimte (Dutch Living on green Islands in Space) Henry Kluytmans wwworionsarmcom McKendree Cylinder Bishops Ring wwwnasnasagovAboutEducationSpaceSettlement The Colonization of Space wwwdyarstraightscommsgundamhabitatshtml Mobile Suit Gundam High Frontier Life in the Universal Century Developing sound habitats wwwartificial-gravitycomDissertation1_2htm From Tsiolkovsky to Sputnik (1878-1957) httpsciencenasagovheadlinesy2000ast26may_1mhtm Wheels in the Sky httpdiscaircraftgreyfalconus Hermann Noordung Wohnrad (Wheel for Habitation) httparticlesadsabsharvardedufull1992lbsaconf249R Inflatable habitation for the lunar base MRoberts httphistorynasagovSP-4308ch9htm lsquoAs inevitable as the Rising Sunrsquo From the inflatable Torus to the Rotating Hexagon wwwspacecomnewsbusinessmonday_040524html Bigelow Aerospace to tackle inflatable Space Habitats httpsciencehowstuffsworkcominflatable-spacecraft2htm How Inflatable Spacecraft Will Work wwwbogancaphysicscoriolishtml Rotating Space Stations Dynamics An Explanation of the Coriolis Force httpdemonstrationswolframcomRotatingSpaceStation Rotating Space Station wwwdvandomcomcoliolisspacestationhtml Frame Effects and Space Stations wwwdvandomcomcoriolisindexhtml A (hopefully) simple explanation of the Coriolis Force wwwdaviddarlinginfoencyclopedia Hale Edward Everett von Pirquet Guido Noordung Hermann Space Station wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm The Coriolis Force wwwastronautixcomcraftfamlunbaseshtm Lunar bases wwwastronautixcomgallerycspebasehtm Photo Gallery Space base wwwregererating-universeorgOn_Moon_as_Space_Basehtm On Moon as Space Base wwwspacefuturecomhabitatlivingshtml Space Habitat Introduction Living in Space wwwspacepagebevideotaak=bekijkampid=47 Living in space (Video) wwwnutricomspace The Case for Space colonization ndash Now Oscar Falconi wwwxentcompipermailfork (FoRK) Bigelowrsquos inflatable Genesis I satellite in orbit wwwrussianforcesorg Russian strategic nuclear forces (Genesis II) wwwbigelowaerospacecomgenesis Genesis I Genesis II
Thanks to Alan Tunnicliffe who came across the attached news item
complete with stamp in the eNZ Magazine the bi-monthly journal of
the Institution of Professional Engineers NZ Inc Vol 11 No 3 May-
June 2010
Vaccari Auction Sells Remarkable Space Covers April 2010
Apollo 12 cover 55 of 87 flown to the moon on Apollo 15 having been left behind by the original crew sold for euro12200 1977 Salyut
6 Soyuz 27 cover sold for euro1600
40
ORBIT ORBIT
Shuttle 1981mdash2010 Stamps Marshall
Islands 2005
United Nations 2007 Monaco and Ascension 2008
Bulgaria 1991 including stamp from souvenir sheet
USA 1981
below USA 1995 and bottom USA 1998
(two values)
St Vincent Grenadines 1983
Ascension 1989
Bulgaria 1990
and above right W Germany 1975
and USA 2000 Guyana 2006
USA 1995
41
ASSS Membership Renewal 2010
Memberrsquos Name amp Addresshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
I wish to renew my membership of the ASSS for a further year and enclose the equivalent of
pound15 (UK) euro30 (Europe) $US 45 (Rest of the World)
Please return this form with your remittance to Harvey Duncan by the
end of July Thank you
Harvey Duncan Treasurer ASSS 16 Begg Avenue
Falkirk Scotland FK1 2DL
PayPal For details of how to Pay via Paypal
please email Jeff Dugdale Email address on Page 2
42
43
44
3
ORBIT ORBIT
Part Two
Part One covered the ISS from its inception in 1998
up to the completion of the second phase in Summer
2001
The third resident crew (EO-3) commanded by American Frank
Culbertson with two Russ ian colleagues had arrived at the ISS via
STS-105 in August 2001 for a fourth month stay 129 days in fact
researching in many science disciplines and conducting
the first EVAs by a resident crew
Soyuz TM 33 (launched 21102001)
The second Soyuz taxi mission (3S) carried a veteran Russian commander in Viktor Afanasyev a rookie flight
engineer in Konstantin Kozeev and ldquospationauterdquo Claudie Haignereacute making her second flightmdashher first
having been to Mir five years beforemdashfollowing her
marriage to a fellow French spacefarer Haignereacutersquos week long CNES sponsored mission was dubbed
ldquoAndromegravederdquo and included two experiments devoted to the observation of earth and the study of the
ionosphere three life science studies and two physics
experiments French high schools also devised
educational experiments designed to support
science teaching in schools This crew left
for Earth in the TM 31
craft on 31 October
Claudie Haignereacute was honoured with
a Lollini sponsored issue of four stamps from Somalia one of which is
shown below left
STS-108 (launched 5122001)
The final shuttle flight of the year was ISS assembly flight UF-1 which
also carried the Multi Purpose
Logisitcs Module Raffaello and a change of crew taking up the ISS-4
(EO-4) crew of Yuri Onufriyenko Daniel Bursch and Carl Weiz which
was a mirror image of the EO-3 crew having a Russian commander and
two American crew each of whom was making his
fourth flight Endeavour remained docked to the ISS for almost 190 hours during which in the only EVA
which lasted just over four hours mission specialists
Dan Tani and Linda Godwin installed insulation on the solar array rotation mechanism and retrieved antennae
covers for return to Earth The official handover between the ISS resident crews occurred on 13
December Just after undocking the crew of the shuttle splayed the small Starshine 2 satellite from a
Get Away Special canister which was to be tracked by
thousands of students in 26 countries during its eight months in orbit
EO-4 Highlights The fourth expedition which
began with the arrival of STS-108 at the ISS concluded on
19the June 2002 when the
crew returned aboard STS-111 During their 196 day
stay the EO4 crew worked on over 50 science experiments almost equally divided in
origin between the USA and Russia and many of them
already installed on the station
4
ORBIT
The crew performed three EVAs the first two via the
Russian Pirs module and the third out of the Quest airlock These EVA involved relocation of the cargo
boom for the Strela crane to the outside of Pirs the installation of six deflector shields on the Service
Module thrusters and of radio antennae Then on the
40th anniversary of the first orbital flight by the American John Glenn Walz and Bursch performed the
first EVA out of Quest without an attached shuttle in support in order to prepare the area for installation of
the S0 Truss due to arrive with STS-110 in April
During their spell on the ISS the crew experienced
power problems and a number of failures of the Elektron oxygen equipment They also had difficulties
with the operation of Canadarm2 whose wrist joint failed and required replacement They were relieved
with arrived of the EO-5 crew who came up with STS-
111
Both Bursch and Walz broke the record established by Shannon Lucid for an extended spell in space
eventually spending 196 days on the ISS 8 more than her endurance record On landing the three crew had a
joint accumulated total of nearly 850 days in space
STS-110 (launched 842002)
Atlantis docked with the ISS on 10th April and in the following 170 hours at the station the four mission
specialists conducted four EVAs in order to install the S0
Truss as well as the increasingly routine duties of transferring equipment and supplies to the ISS
The truss was to serve as a platform on to which other
trusses were to be attached and solar arrays navigation
devices and power systems for later additions mounted
Initial tests of the Mobile Transporter (railcar) which
typically moved slowly (3 cms a second) were
successfully completed This facility would later prove to be very valuable in moving equipment about the ISS
On this mission Jerry Ross became the first astronaut to
be launched from Earth seven times though John Young had been launched six and once from the Moon
Soyuz TM 34 (launched 25042002)
This ldquotaxirdquo mission exchanged Soyuz ferries allowed Italian Robert Vittori to complete a Science programme
(called Marco Polo) for the Italian Space Agency and
carried the second fare-paying passenger to the ISS in the shape of Mark Shuttleworth the first African to fly
in space Stamps were produced to mark these flights by South Africa on 17122003 and a Lollini sponsored
issue of four from Somalia issued on launch day
Shuttleworth was determined to improve on the image
of the ldquospace touristrdquo created following Denis Titorsquos first flight and he developed a programme of life science
experiments using on board equipment and bringing up four South African university developed ones
TM 34 was the last in the series of that version of Soyuz (which had begun in May 1986) with a new type
capable of more comfortably carrying astronauts of varying sizes about to come into service
STS-111 (launched 562002)
5
ORBIT
STS-111 was assembly mission UF2 and transported to
the station the new resident crew of Valery Korzun Peggy Whitson and Sergei Treschev
Endeavour docked with the ISS on 7th June and
remained mated for almost a 190 hours On the same
day the EO-4 crew formally ended their 182-day residence handing over to the new team During the
time the two crews had together three EVAs were completed by Chang-Diaz (making his seventh flight)
and spationaut Perrin (the first Frenchman to spacewalk from the ISS) working on developing the
truss arrangement which would grow with every
subsequent visit of a shuttle One necessary repair was to Canadarm2 whose wrist roll joint was replaced
so restoring the sophisticated tool to operational status The MPLM Leonardo brought up in the shuttle payload
bay also permitted a large amount of new kit such as
a new science rack for microgravity experiments and a new glove box for isolation condition testsmdashto be taken
into the ISS and old materials to be returned to Earth
EO-5 Highlights As with EO-4 well over 50 experiments were tackled or re-
run by the new resident crew including one concerning the
forming of kidney stones during
spaceflight for which Peggy Whitson was the principal
investigator as the first ldquoScience Officerrdquo designated by
NASA
During their 185 days on the ISS the crew received two
Progress re-supply craft (M1-8 and M1-9) bringing over 5000 kg of cargo and equipment for the ESA Odessa science programme in November
By now routine EVA were conducted and the crew
overcame equipment repair and maintenance challenges Whitson posted a regular series of
journals on the NASA website about the work she was doing so providing a fascinating insight into the daily
work of the ISS crew She was amused to be
compared to ldquoScience Officerrdquo Mr Spock of the USS Enterprise in Star Trek
STS-112 (launched 7102002)
Assembly flight 9A flown by Atlantis docked with the ISS
on 9th October carrying materials for the construction of the S1 Truss and CETAmdash the Crew Equipment
Translation Aid (cart) which was to travel along the MBS rail
During EVAs David Wolf and (British born) Piers Sellers connected power data and fluid lines and released
launch bolts that allowed the radiators to be orientated for optimum cooling and set CETA in place Crew
members also repaired the exercise treadmill vibration dampening system in Zvezda and replaced a humidity
separator in Quest which had been leaking
Soyuz TMA 1 (launched 30102002)
Within two weeks of the department of Atlantis the first
of the new style Soyuz ferries arrived manned by two
Russians (Sergei Zaletin and Yuri Lonchakov and a Belgian Frank DeWinne) This flight ought to have
carried the third space flight participant (aka tourist) in the shape of N Synch pop singer Lance Bass but the
millionaire failed to pay his fare and was replaced by the back-up commander ldquoTMArdquo signified Transport
Modification Anthropometric and allowed many
American astronauts to fly who had been too large to fit in the Soyuz ferryrsquos previous versions very fortuitous
development given the dramatic space events which were to occur within a few months This was the first
Soyuz variant to fly without first being ldquoroad-testedrdquo
unmanned
The visitors who stayed at the station for a week worked with the resident
crew on Russian science programmes
and helped DeWinne with his ESA Odessa experiment programme which
had some twenty different features Returning in the TM 34 spacecraft they
had quite a hard landing in the first Russian landing at night time in ten
years DeWinne appears (on the right) in a Belgian
sheet issued in 2004 containing ten stamps showing famous countrymen
6
ORBIT
At this point in late 2002 the ISS
complex looked much as does in this 2006 stamp from Sierra Leone
captioned ldquoISS June 15th 2002rdquo showing the first basic trusses in
place
STS-113 (launched 23112002)
Assembly mission 11A began with the arrival of
Endeavour at the ISS on 25th November and the following day the P1 Truss which had been carried up
was relocated to the port end of the S0 Truss and automatically bolted in place
The mission also brought up the EO-6 crew of Ken Bowersox Nikolai Budarin and Donald Pettit who
officially took over shortly after the docking Three EVAs were conducted in support of the truss installation and
that of the CETA-B cart The activities included the first
EVA by a native American in rookie MS John Herrington
Although no one could possibly have predicted it at the time this would be the last time for thirty months that a
shuttle would dock at the station Endeavourrsquos own attempts to land were waived off on a record three
consecutive days before finally making it home on 7th
December
EO-6 Highlights The sixth resident crew had expected to return by shuttle at the end of their stay on the station but the
loss of Columbia on 1st February 2003 (in a mission that had not visited the ISS) resulted in the fleet being
grounded and the crew having to use the TMA-1
spacecraft for landing and they were replaced by the TMA-2 ldquocaretakerrdquo crew
Donald Pettit had been included
late the preparatory stage when
the original Science Officer Don Thomas was adjudged to have
received too much radiation on his previous spaceflights for duty
on a long duration flight There were no planned visiting
missions scheduled until the arrival of STS-114 to
bring them home after a four month tour
The science programme included over twenty new investigations and Pettit broadcast a series of science
demonstrated supported by postings on the internet
Two EVA (one unplanned) were conducted the first related to the P1 Truss radiator system but the
second (after the loss of Columbia) conducted on 8th April to ensure that the new crew would need to
perform an EVA only in an emergency
Progress M47 arrived on 4th February and further such
visits would now prove indispensable to the maintenance of operations on the ISS in the following
two to three years The resident crew departed on 3rd May so becoming the first to return to earth in a
Soyuz craft and accordingly making Bowersox and
Pettit the first NASA men to fly home in a Russian craft
The landing went far from well with the crew
experiencing almost 8G in the re-entry process and landing well off target so that it took over two hours to
find them they had not been equipped with mobile
phones Pettit was much distressed by the landing but the crew were much praised for their professionalism
in dealing with the problem which was later traced to the yaw gyroscope experiencing a gimbal lock when its
angular rate exceeded 54deg
Soyuz TMA 2 (launched 2642003) EO-7
The new style Soyuz ferry was now the only means of taking
astronauts to the ISS and due
to limited supply capacity it was decided that until shuttles
could be used again the resident crews would have to
be only two-strong (one from each nation) and launched
every six months The previously identified ISS crews
were reassigned as two-person crews with the third seat allocated to ESA astronauts flying short visits
7
ORBIT
However ESA had delayed their next astronautrsquos flight
by six months and so TMA2 flew with only two men on board
The first ldquocaretakerrdquo crew simply maintained systems on
the complex with limited capacity for science
programmes conducting only those which were already in situ Although both Mir and Salyut space stations
had been run by only two people the ISS was much more complex and considerably bigger so the ground
managers were very cautious in allocating duties
Progress M1-10 and M48 brought new supplies up to
Yuri Malenchenko and Ed Lu Lu as Science Officer continued to post on the web a series of personal
recollections of events on board
On 28 May a demonstration of American EMU suiting
was completed so proving that two men could suit up and remove suits without assistance from a third should
an emergency EVA be required On 10th August Malenchenko was ldquomarriedrdquo via a TV link to his fianceacutee
in Houston Texas arrangements having been made long in advance
Soyuz TMA 3 (launched 18102003) EO-8
The second caretaker crew arrived in mid-October
carrying Spanish ESA astronaut Pedro Duque British born ISS commander Michael Foale making his sixth
flight and Russian Alexander Kaleri the whole crew
being curiously celebrated by an issue from Tchad in 2004
Duque returned to Earth with
the EO7 crew on 27th October ha v i ng comp l e t ed h i s
Cervantes science programme during his eight days on the
station
In November Foale and Kaleri
practised emergency ingress procedures to determine if crew members wearing
Orlan EVA suits could enter Soyuz using the internal hatches This was proved possible after a great deal
of stressful activity
One EVA was conducted (on 26th February) and with
both men outside that was the first occasion on which no one had been inside the ISS for three and a half
years On 8th December Foale became the most
experienced NASA astronaut surpassing Carl Walzrsquos career total of 231 days over four missions When he
finally landed Foale had logged 375 days in space but his colleague Kaleri was still 238 days ahead of him in
aggregate terms
Soyuz TMA 4 (launched 1942004) EO-9
The new resident crew comprising Gennady Padalka Ed Fincke and Dutch ESA astronaut Andreacute Kuipers
arrived in mid-April and they are shown on this Lollini sponsored issue from Somalia in 2004 with Kuipers
appearing on his own in the top two stamps with
Fincke and Padalka (left) and Kaleri and Foale in the bottom pairing
8
ORBIT
Kuipers completed his ESA DELTA package during his
eight days on board ISS and returned with the EO8 crew on 30th April
The EO9 crew received no
visitors other than cargo
payloads via Progress M1-11 M49 and M50 After working on
suit repairs and servicing for over a month the crew
abandoned their first EVA after only 14 minutes because of a
pressure drop in the main
oxygen supply of an Orlan suit but a week later after successful repairs they spent
almost six hours outside working on the S0 truss In a second EVA in early August they installed reflectors and
communication units ready for the first ESA Automatic
Transfer Vehicle Jules Verne though this was later delayed by many months
On 18th June Fincke made history by becoming the first
US astronaut to become a father in space listening to the birth of his second daughter via his cell phone
The crew had severe problems with the Elektron oxygen generator which was failing every three days or so and
requiring manual starts These shutdowns were found to be centred on the liquid units that held trapped gas
inside micro-pumps despite using purified water
The crew completed their programme of many
maintenance tasks and returned to earth with test cosmonaut Yuri Shargin in October
Soyuz TMA 5 (launched 14102004) EO-10
The two members of the new resident crew arrived at
the ISS in mid-October the Commander Leroy Chiao and Salizhan Sharipov accompanied by Russian Yuri
Shargin who would stay only for the week or so Russian businessman Sergei Polonsky had been
scheduled to become the third paying space flight
participant but failed a late medical test and so was replaced by a Russian Spaces Forces cosmonaut the
first of that group to be
selected for cosmonaut training eight years earlier He
carried out his own programme of scientific study the Russians
stressing that none of his
activity was military as such practice is banned from the
ISS Sharipov was celebrated by a minisheet from his Kyrgyz homeland in 2005
(above) showing the space station nearing completion in the background
During the tenth expedition this crew would complete two Pirs-based EVAs receive two Progress supply craft
visits and relocate Canadarm2 Problems with the Elektron unit continued repairs were made to EVA
suits an upgrade made to the computer software
trouble experienced with the toilet in Zvezda and a heat exchanger replaced in Quest
There was concern in November that food was running
low with it due to run out in mid-January but this was found to be down to poor record keeping because of
the increased work load of a two person crew and
anyway Progress M51 arrived to solve the problem and the shuttlersquos impending return to flight would also help
Germany 2004 and Japan 2005 show
the station nearing completion
9
ORBIT
Soyuz TMA 6 (launched 1542005) EO-11
The eleventh resident crew would be the first to receive
a shuttle mission since STS-
113 in December 2002 because the loss of
Columbia had created the need to fly two-man
resident crews but the
docking of STS-114 in July would signify the impending return to full station
operation
Italian ESA astronaut Roberto Vittori was back at the ISS in the company of Russian Sergei Krikalev making
his sixth flight and American civilian John Phillips as
science officer This time Vittori completed research under the Eneide programme doing experiments in
human physiology biology and also getting involved in educational demonstrations
The new crew was not long on board before the Elektron system finally broke down in early May
though there were sufficient alternative sources of oxygen on board These would be complemented by
Shuttle and Progress deliveries such as Progress M53 in June which also carried spare parts for the Elektron
unit which the crew worked on in addition to routine
maintenance tasks and the repositioning of their Soyuz from Pirs to Zarya
STS-114 (launched 2672005)
On 28th July the first shuttle
crew to visit the ISS for two and half years arrived via Discovery This was a very experienced crew commanded by Eilleen
Collins By now the decision to
use the shuttle to complete station assembly and then retire
it had been taken The station then looked as it does in this
2006 issue from Sierra Leone As Discovery approached the ISS it flew around it at a distance of some 180
metres to allow the crew on board to photograph the
underside of the shuttle to check for launch damage This rather worryingly revealed the loss of two
protruding tile gap fillers Because these might cause hot spots on re-entry extra EVAs were designed to
manually extract them during which an astronaut
(Stephen Robinson) ventured under the shuttlersquos body for the first time ever in orbital operations
Discovery also brought up MPLM Raffaello carrying a
large amount of supplies including the Human Research Facility 2 and the new CMG 2 gyroscope
As the shuttle departed after over 12 days at the station both crews photographed each otherrsquos spacecraft The
second shuttle Return to Flight mission was then delayed because of questions about the integrity of the
foam fixtures on the External Tanks
In August the Vodzukh COsup2 removal system on the ISS
failed and the American unit in Destiny was activated to take over On 16th August Krikalev the first person
to complete two residences and the first cosmonaut to
fly six missions became the longest served Russian cosmonaut with over 747 days of spaceflight
experience Next day 17th August Krikalev and Phillips performed the only EVA of Expedition 11 after which
they prepared for their next visitors via Soyuz TMA7 which would carry in Gary Olsen the third spaceflight
participant and the new two man resident crew of Bill
McArthur and Valery Tokarev
Soyuz TMA 7 (launched 1102005) EO-12
To be continuedhellip
10
ORBIT ORBIT
2 The Moon Second Quadrant (North-West) We learn from our main source Atlas of the Universe by
Patrick Moore (Philiprsquos 1999)helliphellip
Selected Craters illustratedhellip
Archimedes (Diam 75 km Lat degN 30 Long degW 4) A large impact crater on the Eastern edges of the Mare Imbrium with Montes Archimedes mountains to the South Named after the Greek mathematician and scientist who lived c 287mdash212 BC
(San Marino 1982)
Copernicus (Diam 97 km Lat degN 10 Long degW 20)
A prominent feature named after the famous Polish astronomer (1473mdash1543) and located in the eastern Oceanus Procellarum this is estimated to be around 800 million years old and is typical of craters of that period having a very clear ray
system (Soviet Union 1973)
The Naming of Craters Einstein (Diam 160 km Lat degN 18 Long degW 86)
A large crater which lies along the Western limb of the Moon therefore difficult to observe from Earth and discovered only in 1952 by Patrick Moore Named after the German theoretical physicist and philosopher (1879-1955) (India 1979)
Encke (Diam 32 km Lat degN 5 Long degW 37) Located on the W edge of Mare Insularum to the S SE of crater Kepler Named after German astronomer Johann Frank Encke (1791-1865) (Comoros Isles 1986)
Euler (Diam 25 km Lat degN 23 Long degW 29) Located in the southern half of the Mare Imbrium its most notable nearby feature is Mons Vinogradov to the W-SW Named after Leonard Euler (1707mdash83) the Swiss mathematician and physicist (E Germany 1950)
J Herschel (Diam 145 km Lat degN 62 Long degW 41) A large walled plain which appears foreshortened when viewed from Earth Named after British mathematician chemist and astronomer Sir John Herschel (1792mdash1871) (Centre of GB 1970 )
Kepler (Diam 35 km Lat degN 8 Long degW 38) This lies between the Oceanus Procellarum to the W and Mare Insularm in the E with crater Encke to the SE Named after German mathematician and astronomer Johannes Kepler (1571mdash1630) (Czech Rep 2009)
Lavoisier (Diam 71 km Lat degN 36 Long degW 70) Located near the NW limb at the W edge of Oceanus Procellarum this lies to the SW of crater von Braun and SE of Bunsen Named in honour of ldquothe Father of Modern Chemistryrdquo the French chemist Antoine Lavoisier (1743mdash1794) (France 1943)
Le Verrier (Diam 25 km Lat degN 40 Long degW 20) A small nearly circular bowl shaped feature in the N part of the Mare Imbrium just E of the larger Helicon Named for the French mathematical astronomer Urbain Le Verrier (1811mdash1877) (France 1958)
11
ORBIT
Otto Struve (Diam 160 km Lat degN 25 Long degW 75) This is a vast lava flooded plain near the W
edge of Oceanus Procellarum close the W limb of the Moon and so appears foreshortened Named in honour of German astronomers Friedrich von Struve (Russian VY Struve) (1793-1864) and son (Otto) and grandson (Otto) (USSR 1964) Pythagoras (Diam 113 km Lat degN 65 Long degW 65)
This prominent feature lies near the NW limb just NW of the somewhat larger
Babbage It has an oval appearance due to the oblique viewing angle from Earth and only part of it can be viewed from Earth Named after Greek philosopher Pythagoras of Samos (c 570mdashc 495 BC) ( S a n M a r i n o 1982)
Babbage (Diam 143 km Lat degN 60 Long degW 57) An ancient crater located near the NW
l i m b n a m e d a f t e r B r i t i s h mathematician philosopher and computing pioneer Charles Babbage (1791mdash1871) (GB 2010)
Hevelius (Diam 122 km Lat degN 2 Long degW 67) This is a low-rimmed crater on
the W edge of the Oceanus Procellarum named after Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius (1611mdash1687) - ldquothe founder of lunar topographyrdquo (Poland
1987) Plato (Diam 97 km Lat degN 51 Long degW 9) The lava-filled remains of a crater on the NE shore of Mare Imbrium at the W
extremity of Montes Alpes named after the Classical Greek philosopher and mathematician (c 428mdashc 348 BC) (Greece 1998)
Schiaparelli (Diam 29 km Lat degN 23 Long degW 59) A small crater on the W part of Oceanus Procellarum to the W of Herodotus and named after Giovanni Schiaparelli(1835-
1910) Italian astronomer and science historian famous for his misinterpreted comments re ldquocanalirdquo on Mars (Hungary 1974)
12
ORBIT
ASTEROIDS Some Bits and Pieces
Ulugh Beigh (Diam 70 km Lat deg29 2 Long degW 85) The remnant of a crater just to the W of Oceanus Procellarum near the NW limbmdashforeshortened from the Earth Named after Ulugh Beg Persian ruler and astronomermathemat ic ian (Turkey 1983) Von Braun (Diam 60 km Lat deg41 2
Long degW 78) Named after rocket pioneer Wernher von Braun (1912-77) this is located near the NW limb on the W edge of Oceanus Procellarum and to the NE of Lavoisier (Guinea Biussau 2006)
Uncatalogued Hungarian Stamp Referenced in Spaceflight Article
The June 2010 issue of Spaceflight magazine contained
a five page article by Naacutendo
Schuminszky celebrating the first Hungarian in space whose
flight in Soyuz 36 occurred 30 years beforeon 26th May 1980
A side panel to the article
reproduced right contains
images of a pair of stamps with two subtle differencesmdashin
bottom left hand corner the date ldquo1979rdquo and ldquo1980rdquo and
rightmdashthe face value The
article goes on to explain how unexpected events delayed the
flight by a year Hungarian cosmonaut Bertalan Farkas was
due to be launched in mid-June
1979 in Soyuz 34 but his flight was cancelled following the
failure of Soyuz 33 carrying Bulgarian cosmonaut Georgi Ivanov to dock with Salyut 6 Soyuz 34 was eventually
launched unmanned to provide a fresh ferry for the resident crew to use
In anticipation of the 1979 flight a large number of associated souvenirs including posters emblems and
stamps had been prepared but had to be destroyed though evidently some escaped
However the 1979 version of the eventual SG 3320 is not listed in WEEBAU or Gibbons If any members have
any info about these unissued stamps please share it with us
More on Lunar Craters Our Chairman Margaret Morris forwarded the article opposite from the March 1989 issue of Sky amp Telescope which is of interest in the context of our new series explaining as it does how several Far Side craters have been named after astronauts and cosmonauts
Orbit for June 2010
Our last issue contained one glaring error for which your editor apologises The number on the front ldquo85rdquo was the same as the number for the March issue This will cause
problems when Harvey Duncan issues the next version of the index A lovely cover again by your Editorrsquos wife but spoiled by this typo Sorry
Flown STS-8 Covers These are referred to at the bottom of the left hand column of p 27 of this edition in Umberto Cavallarorsquos article where we learn that there were well over a quarter of a million of them
Alan Tunnicliffe editor of NZ Air Mail News advises that New Zealand stamp dealer JRMowbray has for sale at NZ $75 a piece flown STS-8 space covers date stamped 14 Aug 1983 at KSC with launch and return cancels and bearing a $935 stamp NZ$75 = US$53 or pound35 This seems a rather high price for flown STS-8 covers given the number available and members will possibly be able to obtain the item cheaper with an internet search
Solar Sails and The Sun Peter Hoffman comments on John Beenenrsquos feature on The Sun in our June 2010 issuehellip ldquoIn the Solar Sails section on page 8 mention is made of the failed launch of Cosmos-1 What is not mention is that is was a project of The Planetary Society httpwwwplanetaryorghome They are working on a new version called LightSail the first of which is planned for a launch later this year In case you are not familiar with it The Planetary Society is a privately funded space advocacy group founded in part by Carl Sagan ldquoThe Planetary Society yearly presents the Cosmos Award for Outstanding Public Presentation of Science in honour of Carl Sagan This years winner was Stephen Hawking They printed his acceptance speech Why go into space An amusing comment was a quote from a Calvin and Hobbes cartoon Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere is that none of it has tried to contact us ldquoThe Japanese Space Agency launched its solar sail spacecraft IKAROS (Interplanetary Kite-Craft Accelerated by Radiation Of the Sun) together with its Venus Climate Orbiter Akatsuki on 20 May You can read about it at httpwwwspacecommissionlaunchesjapan-venus-wrap-100520htmlrdquo
13
ORBIT
14
ORBIT
Spaceflight Books for Sale
Books about Space andor Astronomy in English
The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Space 1990 386 pages coffee table book euro 1500
Life in Space D Monchersquo 1979 ldquo 500
The Conquest of Space Willy Ley amp Chesley Bonestell+pictures 1952 RARE ldquo 2000
Star Hunters D Mammana 1990 coffee table book ldquo 1000
The Rocket David Baker 276p+490pictures 1978 coffee table book classic ldquo 2000
The History of Manned Spaceflight David Baker 576p+362pictures 1985coffeerdquo 2000
The Observerrsquos Spaceflight Directory R Turnill 384p 1978 ldquo 1000
The Observerrsquos Book of Unmanned Spaceflight+Manned Spaceflight 1974+1975 ldquo 1000
The Observerrsquos Book Of Astronomy Patrick Moore 1973 ldquo 500
Basic Astronomy Patrick Moore 1967 ldquo 300
Space a Novel James A Michener pocket Ballantine 1983 ldquo 250
Voyagers Ben Bova 1983 pocket ldquo 250
The Universe Herbert Zim 1973 ldquo 200
Exploring Other Worlds WyberampAmes 1968 ldquo 200
Tomorrowrsquos Moon Henry Little 1969 ldquo 200
Observatories of the World Marx amp Pfau 1982 ldquo 1000
Are We Alone Paul Davis Penquin 1995 ldquo 250
Moonport USA (Kennedy Space Center) 1977 ldquo 250
Living in Space (Colonies) J Trefil 1981 ldquo 500
The Cosmonauts Gordon Hooper 1977 ldquo 250
Extraterrestrials-Where Are They Zuckerman ampHart 1995 ldquo 1000
The Cosmic Connection Carl Sagan pocket 1975 ldquo 300
Exploring the Planets Ian Nicolson 1972 ldquo 250
Janersquos pocket Book 11 Space Exploration 1976 ldquo 300
Twenty-First Report Internat Telecomm Union Geneva 1982 ldquo 250
Satellites amp Space Travel Taylor ampAllward 1970 ldquo 200
Watchers of the Stars Patrick Moore 1974 ldquo 500
Robot Explorers Kenneth Garland 1972 ldquo 500
APOLLO by astronaut Alan Bean+paintings Bean in space 1998 coffeetable ldquo 2000
The World of Mars VA Firsoff 1969 ldquo 200
Missiles and Rockets Kenneth Garland ldquo 500
Stars and Planets Ian Ridpath 1978 ldquo 500
Race to Mars The ITN Mars Flight Atlas 1988 ldquo 500
Worlds Beyond Search for Life in Space Ian Ridpath 1975 ldquo 500
CETI Communication with Extraterrestrial Intelligence Stonelay 1976 ldquo 250
Horizon at the Edge of the Universe 9 chapters of astronomers 1983 ldquo 300
The New Race for Space James Oberg 1984 ldquo 500
The Hunt for Life on Mars Goldsmith 1998 ldquo 500
The High Road Ben Bova pocket 1983 ldquo 250
Operation Morning Light the True Story of Cosmos 954 Leo Heaps 1978 ldquo1000
Space Volunteers T Kay 1960 ldquo 300
Legal Aspects of Outer Space Dr C Reijnen 1976 205 pages the Worldrsquos
First Thesis of this Kind by female Dutch scholar ldquo 400
E-MAIL bertvaneijckhomenl if interested in any to discuss sale and postage
See further list on page 24
15
ORBIT
The above obituary and tribute by David Shayler
appeared in the August 2010 of Spaceflight magazine marking the passing of Rex Hall who was also one of
the longest standing members of the ASSS carrying
the membership number 88033 We extend our condolences to Rexrsquos family
16
ORBIT
Un-manned Satellites on Postage Stamps 35 By Guest Contributors Don Hillger and Garry Toth
A version of this article first appeared in The Astrophile for sic)
The Discoverer series
This is the thirty-fifth in a series of articles about un-manned satellites on postage stamps This article
features the satellites in the US Air Force (USAF) Discoverer series The first Discoverer was launched
on 21 January 1959 and the last one on 18 April 1962
There were a total of 39 launches a third (or 13) of which were failures The Discoverer series also called
Corona satellites were later declassified as the first Keyhole (KH) spy satellites
Discoverer was the public name of the Corona series
of film-return reconnaissance spy satellites whose true
mission was not officially revealed until about 35 years after the program ended The Discoverers secret
program was masked by scientific goals it was kept secret even from program staff who knew nothing
about Corona Scientific instruments were even placed
on Discoverer satellites and then covertly removed before launch
The Discoverer satellites were designed to take pictures
of target countries and then eject a film capsule
which was to de-orbit and enter the Earthrsquos atmosphere on a parachute and be recovered by a
specially-modified aircraft as it floated downward On many of the missions however the capture of the film
capsules was not successful for various reasons The first successful return of a capsule through the Earths
atmosphere occurred with Discoverer-13 though in this
case the aerial capture failed and the capsule fell into the sea Fortunately that mission carried no cameras
Discoverer-14 was the first completely successfully Corona mission in which reconnaissance photos were
taken from the spy satellite and ejected in a capsule
which was then successfully recovered in a mid-air capture carried out by a C-119 aircraft
Because of secret nature of their mission the
Discoverer satellites were not well-known and so were not featured on many postal items A set of three
stamps issued by Libya in 1966 (Scott 297-299) shows
a Discoverer capsule There is also a local post item from Batum that depicts the recovery of a Discoverer
capsule and a souvenir sheet from Chad (Michel BL247) that shows the re-entry of a Discoverer capsule
in the margin Another capsule recovery is shown in
the margin of a souvenir sheet issued by the Malagasy Republic in 1999 (Scott 1502a)
A checklist of postal items identified as showing Discoverer-
series satellites (httprammbciracolostateedudevhillgerDiscovererhtm) is available as part of the Website developed by the authors to accompany this series of articles (httprammbciracolostateedudevhillgersatelliteshtm) E-mail correspondence is welcome Don Hillger can be reached at hillgerciracolostateedu and Garry Toth at garry_tothhotmailcom
Top KH-4B Corona satellite Above Recovery of Discoverer 14 return capsule (typical for
the Corona series (ex Wikipedia)
17
ORBIT
18
ORBIT
Flight STS-130 Commander George Zamka Pilot Terry Virtis MS Kathryn Hire MS Stephen Robinson MS Nicholas Patrick MS Robert Behnken MS Koichi Wakata KSC Launch Date 822010 KSC Landing 21210 Purpose Tranquility Module Main Payload and Cupola
Shuttle Story 201011 STSndash130 -131 -132 Part One
STS-130 (ISS assembly flight 20A) via Endeavour carried as its
primary payloads the Tranquility module and the Cupola a robotic control station with six windows around its sides and
another in the centre providing a 360-degree view around the station Endeavour launched at 0414 EST (0914 UTC) on 8
February 2010 and landed at 2220 EST on 21 February 2010 on
runway 15 at the Kennedy Space Centers Shuttle Landing Facility
Tranquility was shipped from the
Thales Alenia Space facility in
Turin Italy It arrived at Kennedy Space Center on 21 May 2009 It
was formerly known as Node 3 and was named by a NASA poll
The module provides six berthing locations however three of those
locations are disabled as modules
originally planned to be attached to Tranquility were cancelled The
photo right shows Tranquility just before being installed to Unity node
STS-130 also brought the Cupola a large window
module and robotics work station to the ISS which was
to be attached to the nadir-
side of Tranquility The module also includes various
ISS systems including addit iona l l i fe support
systems This photo shows the facility being prepared at KSC whilst the photo above right
shows the module and cupola being moved into position on the
ISS
The shape of the mission patch on the launch
cover below represents the cupola over the earth in a photo taken by the unmanned
Lunar Orbiter probe in 1966 so representing a past and future designation for explorers from
Earth
For other Zazzle stamps
see page 33
19
ORBIT
Flight STS-131 Commander Alan Pointdexter Pilot James Dutton MS Rick Mastracchio MS Dorthy Metcalf- Lindenburger MS Stephanie Wilson MS Naoko Yamakazi MS Clayton Anderson KSC Launch Date 5410 KSC Landing 20410 Purpose MPLM Leonardo Main Payload
STS-131 (ISS assembly flight 19A) via Discovery launched on 5
April 2010 from Kennedy Space Centers launch pad 39A and landed at 908 AM on 20 April 2010 on runway 33 at the Kennedy
Space Centers Shuttle Landing Facility The mission marked the longest flight for space shuttle Discovery
The primary payload was a Multi-Purpose Logistics Module loaded with supplies and equipment for the ISS The mission also
removed and replaced an ammonia tank assembly outside the station on the S1 truss The mission also included several on-
board payloads this mission had the most payloads since STS-
107
The primary payload of STS-131 was MPLM Leonardo filled with food and science supplies and also carried the third and final
Minus Eighty Degree Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI) Window Orbital Research Facility (WORF) one Crew Quarters Rack the
Muscle Atrophy Resistive Exercise (MARES) rack Resupply
Stowage Racks (RSRs) as well as Resupply Stowage Platforms (RSPs) The Lightweight Multi-Purpose Equipment Support
Structure Carrier (LMC) carried a refurbished Ammonia Tank Assembly (ATA) to the ISS The refurbished ATA was removed
from the Space Station and returned for use on this mission
during STS-128 It was swapped with an empty tank which will ride home on the LMC
This mission was the second flight of the TriDAR a 3D dual-
sensing laser camera intended for potential use as an
autonomous rendezvous and docking sensor TriDAR provides guidance information that can be used to guide a vehicle during
rendezvous and docking operations in space TriDAR does not rely on any reference markers such as reflectors positioned on
the target spacecraft
This was the final Space Shuttle mission that contains one or
more rookie astronauts the missions after this will have all- veteran crews
STS-131 was only the third mission in the Space Shuttle
programme to carry three female astronauts
the others being STS-40 and STS-96
With three female crew members arriving on board Discovery and Expedition 23 Flight
Engineer Tracy Caldwell Dyson at the station
the STS-131 mission marked the first time that four women have been in space at one
time
STS-131 marked the first time that two
Japanese astronauts Naoko Yamazaki from the Shuttle crew and Soichi Noguchi on the
ISS had been in space together
Although Naoko Yamazaki is not the last non-
US astronaut Naoko was the last Japanese astronaut to fly the space shuttle
MPLM Leonardo can
be seen in the shuttle cargo bay
The seven stars either side of our
sun represent the
crew members
The shuttlersquos orientation indicates
it is performing the Rendezvous Pitch
Manoeuvre which
allows the ISS to photograph its
underbelly
20
ORBIT
Flight STS-132 Commander Kenneth Ham Pilot Dominic Antonelli MS Michael Good MS Garret Reisman MS Piers Sellars MS Stephen Bowen KSC Launch Date 1452010 KSC Landing 2652010 Purpose Delivery of Russian Main Payload Rassvet Module
STS-132 (ISS assembly flight ULF4) docked with the ISS on May
16 2010 It was launched from the Kennedy Space Center on May 14 2010 The primary payload is the Russian Rassvet Mini-
Research Module along with an Integrated Cargo Carrier-Vertical Light Deployable (ICC-VLD) STS-132 is scheduled to be the
final flight of Space Shuttle Atlantis provided that the STS-335
Launch On Need rescue mission is not flown
Rassvet means dawn in Russian The module was built
by Russian aerospace company
Energia and arrived at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC)
aboard an Antonov 124 cargo plane on 17 December 2009
After it was unloaded from the Antonov the module was
transported to an Astrotech processing bay in Cape Canaveral to
undergo preparations for launch shown in this photo
An airlock and radiation heat exchanger to be used for outfitting the Russian Nauka Module (to be launched in 2012) a spare
elbow part of the European Robotic Arm (ERA) and a portable
work platform for science hardware for performing experiments in outer space were externally mounted on Rassvet in its launch
configuration Russian and US cargo delivered was also accommodated inside the module The volume for cargo and
science inside MRM1 is 5 cubic meters] Rassvet was outfitted
with ISS standard grapple fixtures that allowed the module to be unloaded from the payload bay of Atlantis using the stations
robotic arm
The ICC pallet is constructed of aluminum It is approximately 8 feet long 13 feet wide and 10 inches thick The empty weight of
the pallet is 2645 pounds The total weight of ICCndashVLD and the ORUs is approximately 8330 pounds ICC-VLD return mass is
2933 kilograms (6470 lb)
The ICC-VLD was berthed in the centre of the
payload bay for both launch and re-entry
In the photo above Rassvet is shown centre top
The mission patch shows Atlantis flying off into the sunset as the end of the shuttle
programme approaches
21
ORBIT
By Andreacute Scheer and Margaret Morris This fascinating structure is an octagonal pentelic marble tower on the Roman agora or marketplace in Athens It was supposedly built by the astronomer Andronicus of Kyrrhos c 50 BC but according to other sources might have been constructed in the 2
nd
century BC before the rest of the forum The structure is 12 metres high with a diameter of approximately 8 metres On each of the eight sides (aligned with the eight principal points of the compass) is a sculpture featuring the wind gods and below each sculpture is engraved a sundial Thus the tower served as a solar clock but additionally in the interior was a water-clock (clepsydra) driven by water coming down from the Acropolis There were mechanical hour indicators and displays for the seasons of the year with astrological dates and periods The tower was topped in antiquity by a weather-vane in the shape of a triton with a wand which pointed at whichever of the winds was blowing The tower must have been one of the most useful structures in the agora as it showed the time for civilian purposes and indicated the wind direction for merchants awaiting the arrival of a ship The earliest philatelic items to depict this unusual building are postal stationery postcards originating from 1900 when the Greek postal authorities organised a competition for photographers and artists The best pictures were selected for issue and on 1 July 1901 the first series of 32 cards was issued In total 12 series of 32 cards each were issued between then and 20 March 1903 The cards were issued in three colours (chestnut black and green) with imprinted stamps of two values (5 lepta green for national mail and 10 lepta red for international mail) The cards additionally have an impressed stamp without colour on the left side being 10 lepta for the card itself so the cards were sold for 15 and 20 lepta The design of the imprinted stamps was based on the Hermes (Mercury) statue by Giovanni da Bologna During the war on the Balkans the cards were used by the Greek army and have an extra imprint ndash Carte Postale ndash Franchise Militaire A few examples of these postal stationery postcards are illustrated opposite and on page 23 The wording ldquoLrsquohorloge de Kyrrhestesrdquo refers to the timepiece built by Andronicus of Kyrrhos while ldquoTEMPLE DrsquoEOLErdquo translates as ldquoTemple of Aeolusrdquo (Aeolus = god of the winds) For each card 12 versions can be distinguished ndash ie 3 colours x 2 values x 2 usages For fuller information see reference no 1 Of course numerous picture postcards also feature this interesting structure
The Tower of the Winds The Oldest Planetarium on Stamps and
Postal Stationery
Front and back of postal stationery postcard
Examples of Greek postal stationery from the early 20th
century
Front and back of postal stationery postcard
22
ORBIT
The 19423 issues (SG 561-572) of Greece shown beside the 1973 Dominica souvenir sheet whose designer has
reinterpreted the divine sculptures in the margins
Boreas also on the 100d value in black and grey
Skiron
Zephyrus in two 25d vals
orange and green
Lips
Notus
Eurus
Apeliotes in two 10d vals red brown and red orange
Kaikias in two 50d vals black and grey violet and blue
Wind Direction Name of Deity Characteristics of the Sculpture North Boreas An old man wearing heavy clothing and holding a conch shell This wind was cold fierce and
stormy and in Athens made a loud hollow noise
North East Kaikias Old man with severe expression holding circular shield from which he will drop hailstones Weather characteristically cloudy wet and cold
East Apeliotes Young man with hair flowing in every direction holding a cloak full of fruit and grain ndash he brings gradual gentle rain
South East Eurus Old man with morose countenance wrapped tightly against the elements in his cloak This wind brought sultry gloomy weather with much rain
South Notus Young man emptying an urn and producing a shower of water This wind was associated with sultry very wet weather
South West Lips Boy pushing the stern of a ship promising a good sailing wind This was the wind which blew right into Piraeus harbour
West Zephyrus Beautiful lightly clad youth of happy aspect holding a cloak full of flowers In summer this wind brought very sultry weather
North West Skiron Bearded man with a bronze pot full of hot ashes and charcoal This was a dry wind extremely cold in winter but scorching and with lightning in summer
The following table gives details of the sculptures and the characteristics attributed to each of the wind gods
For fuller information see reference no 2
23
ORBIT
The sculptures of the eight winds were depicted on stamps of Greece issued in 1942 (six designs) and 1943 (again six designs ndash four as the previous issue but including the two omitted winds) Five values were surcharged in 1944 to aid victims of the Piraeus bombing of 11 January 1944 the exceptionally high face value resulted in few of these stamps being used Later in 1944 the same five values were surcharged in aid of a Childrenrsquos Convalescent Camp Fund Finally in 1946 two values of the 1942 issue were surcharged ndash the 10dr value in black and the 50dr revalued as 20dr in red See opposite for examples of the stamp designs In addition to these attractive engraved stamps the 1973 issue from Dominica commemorating the centenary of the World Meteorological Organisation included a miniature sheet incorporating the 50c and $1 values and surrounded in the margin by images of all eight wind sculptures (see page 22) More recently the cover of a booklet issued by Greece on 7 October 1988 provides an aerial view of the agora and the Tower of the Winds can be detected (see below) The booklet contains 16 stamps (4 each of 4 different values) and celebrates capitals of Greek provinces In early Christian times the building was used as the bell tower of a Byzantine Church It was partly buried in the ground until fully excavated in the 19
th century by the
Archaeological Society of Athens It is interesting to note that the design of the upper octagon of the 18th century Radcliffe Observatory in Oxford England is based on the Tower of the Winds as is the mausoleum of the founder of the Greek National Library Panayis Vagliano at West Norwood Cemetery London There is a similar tower in Sevastopol built in 1849 References
1 ldquoEntiers Postaux Illustreacutes du service des postes
helleacuteniques et leurs preacutecurseursrdquo Georges Mathas 1985
2 For finely detailed drawings and information about the sculptures you may care to see if your Library has a copy of ldquoThe Antiquities of Athensrdquo Stuart amp Revett Vol 1 published in London 1762
3 Article by Derek J de Solla Price in ldquoNational
Geographic April 1967 pp587-596 4 Much useful information may also be obtained from
sites on the internet
Examples of Overprints from left to right
1944 Piraeus Bombing Aid 1944 Childrenrsquos convalescent camp fund 1946 Surcharge
Below Cover of the 1988 stamp booklet
Front and back of postal stationery postcard
24
ORBIT
Old Photo Makes New(s) Story
A photo taken twenty-one years ago became hot international new(s) this July writes Bert van Eijck
It is a picture of your correspondent in front of the
monument on the graves of the seven astronauts killed
in the Challenger disaster The photo from November 1989 shows the national cemetery at Arlington in
Washington DC And it is this graveyard a national American field of pride and honour that was involved in
a scandal making news all over the world
What happened This became a hot story after it was leaked to the press that in 211 graves on Arlington the wrong corpse had
been buried But this disgrace grew to international
proportions when the US Senate published a report which revealed that it was not 211 but 6600 graves that
had been so dishonoured And maybe there are more the researchers stated
Consequently it meant that family members had been paying their respect at the wrong graves because many
were not marked well or the ground-plan directed to wrong places
Arlingtonrsquos director John Metzler was fired as was his
depute Thurman Higginbotham both of whom said
they knew there were made mistakes but they could not help ldquobecause of economyrdquo
Arlington cemetery was opened in 1864 Since then
300000 Americans have been buried here including
famous or well-known persons like presidents
ministers high ranked military artists judges and
astronauts
And what about some of the most recent ones Did I indeed visit and honour the seven Challenger astronauts in their last resting place on Earth in
November 1989 as shown on the photo Or are they perhaps mistakenly buried in another
unmarked grave This is hard to believe but one never knowshelliphellip
For those who wonder what was doing 21
years ago in the US capital I visited the
World Stamp Exporsquo89 at the Convention Center in Washington DC Of course I did
more sightseeing at and in the famous Smithsonian Museums (a must the
National AirampSpace Museum with 10
million visitors a year) the Capitol the metro (deepest in the world) George
Washingtonrsquos house in Vernon Arlington of course and much more
At the World Stamp Expo there was a
presentation of both USA and USSR space
stamps The American stamps were presented by astronaut Buzz Aldrin the
Soviet stamps by cosmonaut Gherman Titov
Author and the Challenger astronauts monument at Arlington seven figures in bronze (left) At right a plaque honoring US-soldiers killed in action saving
hostages in Iran
Astronaut Buzz Aldrin (left) presents the US space stamps while cosmonaut Gherman Titov (right) does the same with
Soviet space stamps In the middle officials of USPS Below the
stampshellip
25
ORBIT
The Apollo 15 Cover Scandal by Umberto Cavallaro
In a feature which first appeared in the April-June 2010 issue of Ad Astra the web journal of the Italian Astrophilatelic Association its editor reveals in considerable detail the full story of those covers which today sell for so much money The Apollo 15 flown covers are among the best known
collectibles from the Apollo Era mainly because of what Jim Irwin recalls as ldquothe problem we brought
back from the Moonrdquo
The crew of Apollo 15 carried out one of the most complete scientific explorations of the Moon the first
lunar roving vehicle was operated on the Moon to
extend the range of exploration some 180 pounds of lunar surface samples were returned for analysis Yet
Fifteen is best remembered as the crew that carried envelopes to the moon and the whole mission is
remembered for the ldquogreat postal caperrdquo
Apollo 15 was not the first mission to carry covers
dozens were carried on each flight from Apollo 11 onwards and as Commander Dave Scott recalls in his
book the whole business had probably been building since Mercury through Gemini and into Apollo People
had a fascination with objects that had been carried in space and they became more and more popular and
valuable as the programme progressed Right from
the start of the Mercury programme each astronaut had been allowed to carry on board a certain number
of personal items
NASA was in the habit of authorizing astronauts to
carry certain personal items on manned flights known as Astronautsrsquo PPK (Personal Preference Kits) All such
items had to be listed and approved by Deke Slayton the Head of the Astronaut Office prior to launch and
were intended for private use or as personal gifts
after the flight and could not be employed for commercial
Fig 1 The official USPS cover postmarked on the Moon
purposes or personal gain Astronaut kits typically
included badges jewellery coins medals flags stamps postal covers currency printed materials and
similar easily packed lightweight mementoes As the flight became more significant the number and type of
items increased
Aside from personal mementoes each crew had
carried medallions whose number had grown steadily on each mission In his book The All-American Boys astronaut Walter Cunningham reveals that it was rumoured around the Astronaut Office that Apollo 14
carried on board a personal package weighing forty-
two pounds Before that flight the Franklin Mint had even advertised the proposed sale After the flight the
commercial deal was never completed and all went quiet nothing about it being published in the media
But some members of the US Congress were unhappy
of the situation
In that context the ldquolapses of judgmentrdquo of the Apollo 15 crew became fatal Dave Scott went too far
carrying on board a total of 641 postal covers (including the two official covers) of which only 243
were listed and authorized before the flight and 398
were not -- secretly carried on board Apollo 15 by Scott in a pocket of his space suit Had they been
listed as being in Scotts PPK they would probably have been routinely approved for inclusion in the
preference kit
The 243 listed and authorized covers include
bull 2 official US Postal Service covers one of which the ldquoOfficial Coverrdquo was publicly cancelled on the
moon by Scott at the request of the US Postal
Service 10 (Fig 1) bull 1 Wright Brothers commemorative cover dated
1928 and autographed by Orville Wright which was carried by Worden for a friend
bull 1 cover bearing a First Man on the Moon stamp and a Bliss Centennial three-cent stamp carried by
Irwin for Barbara Baker (Fig 2 below)
26
ORBIT
8 Shamrock covers carried by Irwin (as below)
144 Herrickrsquos ldquoMoon Phasesrdquo covers carried by Worden
(Fig 4) printed with a cachet showing 15 phases of the moon On the USS Okinawa the Apollo 15 recovery ship
the astronauts placed two eight-cent stamps purchased
on board by Worden on each of these covers and they had the covers cancelled by the shipboard post office
The astronauts later autographed these covers while flying back from Hawaii to Houston Sixteen covers were
torn or damaged and were destroyed Because of the furore created by the Apollo 15 covers incident NASA
confiscated 61 of these 144 Moon Phases covers
87 Apollo 12 covers (Fig 5) that for unknown reason
did not fly on that mission and which were carried on
Apollo 15 for Mrs Barbara Gordon a stamp collector then wife of Richard Gordon Apollo 12 astronaut who
at was the back-up pilot for Apollo 15
The 398 unauthorized covers (initially there were
400 but 2 were damaged and discarded) are lightweight envelopes carrying as a cachet a replica
of the official Apollo 15 patch overprinted with an Air Force wing and propeller emblem
The idea of these additional covers was suggested during a cocktail party by Eiermann a salesman for
the heat-shield contractor who had frequent business and social contacts with NASA personnel and
astronauts He suggested to fly 400 lightweight covers 100 for each of the astronauts and 100 for
his friend Sieger the German stamp dealer The
cacheted covers were provided by Al Bishop a friend of many astronauts then at the Howard
Hughes organization He had already provided covers for the previous flights since Apollo 12
Above one of the 100 Sieger covers with the handwritten note ldquoLanded at Hadley Moon July 30 1971 On the
reverse is a typed and notarised inscription ldquoThis is to certify that this cover was on board the Falcon at the Hadley-
Apennine Moon July 30 ndashAug 2 1971rdquo
Below one of the 298 unauthorised covers carried to the Moon by David Scott with the inscription ldquoThis envelope was
carried to the Moon aboard the Apollo 15 of 300 to the Lunar Surface in LMrdquoFalconrdquo
The crews usually returned to Bishop a couple of
flown covers signed with gratitude ldquoTo my
knowledge ndash Cunningham reports in his well documented book ndash Bishop never sold any and never
made a dime off his relationship He was simply a fan To Al Bishop Apollo 15 was no different from any
other flight except for a phone call he received from
Hal Collins the Astronaut Office manager at the Cape
27
ORBIT
Collins told Bishop that the crew would like to know
whether he could obtain some very lightweight envelopes for them Al said that hed be happy to do so
He was unaware then that many of them would be smuggled on board the next lunar flight Al was trusted
Thats why many of us imposed on him with our
problems special requests and sometimes matters which we would rather not share with NASArdquo
This time Al was badly used he emerged as a
scapegoat and his name was dragged as though he was the Mr Big of an international stamp conspiracy
The covers were cancelled at Kennedy Space Center
several days before July 26 1971 The date of the post office machine canceller was moved forward
Additionally twin eight-cent stamps were purchased by the astronauts on the USS Okinawa the Apollo 15
recovery ship and affixed to these covers ndash as for the
Herrickrsquos covers In the shipboard post office the covers were then cancelled and date-stamped August 7 1971
The astronauts finally autographed these covers while flying from Hawaii to Houston
Soon after the flight the astronauts gave Eiermann
the 100 covers ndash after agreeing that there was to be
no commercialization or advertising of these covers and that nothing would be done with them until after
completion of the Apollo programme
But after a while news started to circulate that the
German dealer was selling in Europe covers flown on Apollo 15 for a reported average of US $1500 each
The reports infuriated Congress not least because congressmen had to read such controversial
information in the press before being informed by
NASA which is obligated to keep Congress fully informed of its activity Recollection of the Apollo 14
medallions incident must have echoed in the minds of certain members of Congress many of whom were
not fans of NASA anyway NASA started an internal investigation This was the most controversial
development of the Apollo Programme and although
most astronauts were involved to some degree NASA made an example of the Apollo 15 flight crew ldquoIt
was turning into a witch-huntrdquo recalled Scott ldquoOur bosses had abrogated their responsibilities and we
were left alone on a very wet dayrdquo
It is ironic that after addressing a joint session of
Congress as heroes in less that one year the three astronauts of Apollo 15 had to go back in front of these
same senators in disgrace because of this envelope scandal
After this ldquoincidentrdquo NASA prohibited from Apollo 17 on the flying of covers or stamps during a space
missions (they were not on time to block the covers carried on Apollo 16) The only exceptions have been
since then the items flown in cooperation with the US
Postal Service ie the 266000 covers carried in 1983 in
the payload bay of the Space Shuttle Challenger on
STS-8 and the 500000 $995 Express Mail stamp created by Paul and Chris Calle in 1994 flown on
Endeavour STS-68 in recognition of the 25th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing The huge
number of such items carried in space discourages
speculations and these items still are widely available for few dollars
So far fewer than 1000 envelopes in total have flown
to the Moon No other American covers will flow to the Moon in the foreseeable future Perhaps the next
ldquoMoon coversrdquo will bear Chinese or Indian stamps
Dave Scott was the first lunar Postmaster and had two
postmarks with him and two covers with imperforated dieproof of the US twin Decade of Space Achievements
stamps affixed (Fig 1)
He had one postmark with ldquoMoon Landing USArdquo (Fig 8 below) and another with ldquoUnited States on the
Moonrdquo (Fig 9 bottom)
The First Lunar Post Office was opened on August 2 1971 when David Scott postmarked only the official
cover (and brought back the official backup-cover uncancelled) A handful covers had however been
postmarked before launch with both postmarks Dr Matthew Radnofsky ndash who in his laboratory already
had simulated cancelling in space for Apollo 11 ndash
tested both postmarks to ensure that the cancellation devices were in working order
Especially the date could be changed easily Contrary
to Apollo 11 covers without stamps were used for
28
ORBIT
these tests Apollo 15 Lunar Cancellation Proofs are
much scarcer than Apollo 11 ones ldquoAs by now I am aware of only 17 itemsrdquo states famous astrophilatelist
Walter Hopferwieser Covers with proofs of the Apollo 15 moon postmarks have been recently sold at Regency
Superior and Aurora auctions
The official Apollo 15 cover postmarked on the Moon
(see Fig 1 repeated above ) is displayed at the US National Postal Museum It was publicly cancelled and
the video can be seen at httpwwwpostalmuseumsiedustampstakeflight
apollo15video-01html A short speech was given by
Dave Scott while cancelling the cover ldquoTo show that our good Postal Service has deliveries any place in the
universe I have the pleasant task of cancelling here on the Moon the first stamp of a new issue dedicated to
commemorate US achievements in space I have the
first one here on an envelope At the bottom it says United States in Space a decade of achievement and
Im very proud to have the opportunity here to play postman I pull out a cancellation device It says
August 2 1971 first day of issuehellip What could be a
better place to cancel this stamp than right here at Hadley Rillehelliprdquo
Immediately thereafter the Postmaster General who
was waiting at the Mission Control at Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston Texas gave the signal to start the
First- Day cancellations at post offices in Houston
Kennedy Space Center and Huntsville
Acknowledgement Thanks to Walter Hopferwieser for his comments
Some Notes About Space Mail
Commenting on Brian Vincentrsquos article in the June
2010 Orbit ASSS member Geoff Chivers writes in an
email to your Editorhellip Im sure you wont mind me commenting on Brian G Vincents Some Notes About Space Mail (page 36)
In paragraph 2 he refers to the Apollo 15 cover incident leaving the impression that Scott Worden and Irwin were guilty of some heinous crime This has been the subject of much miss-reporting over the years The full story of what actually happened is explained in depth at page 328 et seq of Two sides of the moon by David Scott and Alexei Leonov published by Simon amp Shuster The astronauts were of course exonerated
This is the quote (slightly edited to enable it to stand as an independent piece)-
During 1972 while on a trip to Washington DC George Low NASA deputy administrator asked me to stop by his
office writes David Scott I had known George in Houston while he was Apollo spacecraft programme manager and I had great respect for him We spent a short while exchanging pleasantries Then George looked me in the eye and came to the point ldquoWell Daverdquo he said ldquoI have to tell you I was not very proud of my performancerdquo His comment was the culmination of what had become known as the Apollo 15 ldquocover incidentrdquo This involved some first day postal covers which we had carried aboard Apollo 15 some of which were unfortunately sold by a German stamp dealer several months after the flight As No 2 in NASA George
had been heavily involved in NASAs handling of the incident and his comment referred to one of the poorest management performances the space agency had ever demonstrated - up to then The whole business had probably been building since Mercury through Gemini and into Apollo People had a fascination with objects that had been carried in space and they became more and more popular and valuable as the programme progressed Right from the start of the Mercury programme each astronaut had been allowed to carry on board a certain number of personal items in what were known as PPKS - Personal Preference Kits Before each flight a list of the items was prepared for Deke Slayton who
Two Sides of The Moon
by David Scott and Alexei Leonov
The text opposite from the
above book has been
referred to by Umberto Cavallaro in preparing his
above piece
29
ORBIT
had overall responsibility for approving them As the flights became more significant the number and type of items increased Aside from personal mementoes each crew had carried a certain number of medallions which they could hand out afterwards as souvenirs The number of medallions had grown steadily on each mission - eventually some crew members had been carrying several hundred each and their weight was becoming a concern And as always commercialisation began to creep in In the end on Apollo 14 commanded by Al Shepard it was alleged that the crew had carried some silver medallions on board which were to be melted down after the flight and mixed with many other commemorative medallions by the Franklin Mint to be sold to the general public The Franklin Mint had even advertised the proposed sale before the flight After the flight the deal was never consummated and all went quiet nothing about it was printed in the media But some members of Congress had heard about it and were unhappy with the situation Since we were busy training for Apollo 15 (launched 26 July 1971) we knew nothing about all this Had we known we would have been far more wary of what happened subsequently All we knew was that Deke Slayton had halved the number of medallions we could carry Shortly afterwards Deke introduced Jim (Irwin) Al (Worden) and me to a long-standing friend of his at the Cape called Walter Eiermann In retrospect this seems likely to have been more than a coincidence Deke invited us to join him at dinner at Eiermanns house one evening several months before the Apollo 15 launch Eiermann asked if we would like to make some money on the side by signing some stamps ldquoAll the guys are doing itrdquo he said We agreed We were also approached by several members of the Manned Spacecraft Centerrsquos stamp club who asked us to sign many first - day covers before the flight for their members as well as for ourselves At that time we could not buy life insurance If we signed some covers we reasoned they could be held during the flight and act as limited life insurance for our families if anything happened to us But then Eiermann proposed we carry four hundred lightweight commemorative covers a hundred of which would be passed on to a stamp dealer in Germany when we returned All the covers would be franked on the day of launch and franked on the day of our return Our understanding was that the dealer would hold his hundred covers to be sold at some future date after the Apollo programme was over In return he would set up a $6000 trust fund for each of us for the education of our children In the months of intense activity before the flight we did not give this more than a moment of thought But we agreed In retrospect we made a mistake in even considering it In the months following our mission we learnt that the German dealer had begun to sell the covers We let Eiermann know that we were opposed to the sale Forget the trust funds we said we dont want any money This is not what we had understood would happen But when senior managers at NASA learnt about the covers being sold they were furious Incomplete information was then provided to the press by NASArsquos Public Affairs Office and reports started to appear that we had smuggled the covers onto our flight This was literally impossible NASA personnel prepared us for every aspect of the flight - from our birthday suits out Everything we had carried had to be specially packaged by the flight support crew to make sure apart from anything else
that it was fireproof Everything in our PPKs was on a list which was certified before launch I was never aware of any rules about what could or could not be taken in these packs Slayton was to approve the list so as far as I was concerned it was up to management to keep us on the straight and narrow I assumed if the list was approved that was fine Usually the list was certified by Deke But before our flight for some reason he neither asked us personally for each of our lists as was customary nor signed off on the list personally He said the flight - crew support team had already logged everything Whereas we had purchased the covers ourselves the Astronaut Office at the Cape had prepared the covers for the flight and had had them stamped and franked on the day of launch Somehow however the support team had missed them when they prepared the PPK flight manifest It was also reported after the incident that we had been removed from the astronaut corps Again totally untrue Unfortunately NASA managers did nothing to dispel this false and misleading information They just tucked their heads in and let the rumours run The reports infuriated Congress not least because congressmen had to read such controversial information in the press before being informed by NASA which is obligated to keep Congress fully informed of its activities Recollections of the Apollo 14 medallion incident must have seeped into the minds of certain members of Congress many of whom were not fans of NASA anyway When NASA started an internal investigation we were told by a senior official in the agency that we were on our own We were advised to get our own legal representation A Senate hearing into the matter had been called and a justice Department investigation would follow It was turning into a witch - hunt NASA we were advised expected us to keep quiet and take the Fifth Amendment at this hearing We did not We told it like it was We had nothing to hide Eventually the Justice Department concluded that we had broken some administrative rules but had done nothing criminal NASA confiscated the remaining covers but they acted before discovering all the facts of the case Following an investigation by NASA the Justice Department and the Senate the Justice Department concluded on 6 December 1978 in a ldquoMemorandum Opinion for the Assistant Attorney Generalrdquo that NASA had no claim to the remaining covers that the covers were never intended for sale that there was no attempt at concealment by the crew of the fact that the covers were to be flown on Apollo 15 and finally that the covers would have been approved to carry aboard Apollo 15 had a request been made We were reprimanded and we took our licks But it was a very raw deal NASA had hung us out to dry Our bosses had abrogated their responsibilities and we were left alone on a very wet day I spent many years trying to get full access to NASA and congressional records on the case NASA refused to provide full disclosure We subsequently found out there had been rumblings about profitmdashmaking on previous missions A copy of a letter was released to me in which NASA admitted that ten other astronauts who were not identified had been involved in selling signed blocks of stamps and postcards for Eiermann But the wave reached the shore on Apollo 15 and we were the ones who bore the brunt of the blame for such incidents
30
ORBIT
Buckingham Cover offer Free Souvenirs for You
Brian Austin of Buckinghamrsquos Rare Cover Department writes to your Editorhellip
Over the last two or three years we have been dealing more and more in signed space covers This led us to earlier this year buying an Apollo 11 crew signed cover which had been carried to the moon which we had on display on our stand at London 2010
For this we also printed a limited edition of 800 sets of postcards one featuring the Apollo 11 cover and another
featuring an Apollo 15 cover The idea was to give away 100 sets per day to customers at the show but now the show is all finished I still have around 150 pairs left on my desk
We wondered if you would like to offer them to your readers we are happy to send them out free of charge to the first 150 readers to contact us with their details as long as we can also include one of our lists of space
covers
BrianAustinbuckinghamcoverscom
31
ORBIT
More About Missile Mail
Harvey Duncan told us in the last Orbit (page 15) about the First Official Missile Mail writes Bert van Eijck After the useful technical details about the USS Barbero he gave us I can offer you more philatelic information and show you some illustrations The missile mail experiment was a joint venture between
the Ministry of Defense and the US Post Office Dept headed by Postmaster General Mr Arthur E
Summerfield Three thousand special envelopes were printed with a reproduction of a Navy missile type
Regulus with the text ldquoFirst Official Missile Mailrdquo and above that ldquoThe Postmaster General Washingtonrdquo All
the envelopes were addressed to The President high
government officials like senators and to the Post Masters General of ninety nine other member nations of
UPU Inside was a letter from Mr Summerfield entitled ldquoThe First Official Missile Mailrdquo with the official seal of
the Post Office dept It was explained therein what had
happed to that letter and the other 2999
The special letters were loaded in two metal compartments and came aboard the guided missile USS Barbero (SSG-317) The shot was to occur during a regular training mission from Norfolk Virginia to Florida
About 350 kilometres off the coast of Florida the
Regulus missile was launched toward Airport Mayport
The missile climbed 10 km above the Atlantic and
landed within twenty minutes with all the letters intact The letters were cancelled with the hand stamp ldquoUSS
Barberordquo with the date ldquoJun 8 1959rdquo and the approximate timing of the launching ldquo930 amrdquo This
was done by post office staff part of an established
branch office on the USS Barbero The letters bore the 1957 4c American flag postage stamp Those
addressed to foreign countries carried two such stamps covering surface mail postage costs On the
reverse side is the Jacksonville Post Office cancellation with the approximate time of arrival ldquoJune 8 1030 am
1959 Floridardquo
Such flown letters are expensive to buy and a jewel in
any exhibit
But this is NOT the case with the Barbero souvenir
cover dated a month later on July 8 1959 issued in the same quantity (3000) as the originals The
inscription reads ldquoPoint of LandingmdashFirst Official Missile Mail 8 June 1959 US Naval Station Mayport Floridardquo
About 16000 () collectors had applied for such a cover
The imprint of the official Barbero cover was reproduced on a memorial cover issued and posted at
the Vienna International Airpost Exhibition Luposta on August 1959 in the Austrian capital Of course neither
of these items had been carried within the Regulus
missile
Also of interest the Postal Administration of
Paraguay issued a stamp
and a block in 1976 honouring the Barbero
Missile Mail The Gs 20 stamp shows a Regulus
missile in flight while the sheet shows the whole
addressed cover and in
miniature the complete letter inside from the US Postmaster General
as mentioned above and as illustrated below
Above a specimen envelope as described in the text and below its reverse cancel
32
ORBIT
An Invitation to Our Readers to Donate to an Innovative International Projecthellip
Kindest Sir or Madam
The municipality of Vitanje
(Slovenia) is honoured to have had a hand in the life of the
famous space architect Herman Potocnik Noordung
(1892-1929) (pictured right) who had already found a
surprising number of solutions
to space travel and troubles of living in vacuum long before
actual space flights took place His creations were used by the
renowned novelist Arthur C Clarke
in his book 2001 A Space Odyssey which was later also turned into a
movie directed by Stanley Kubrick In Noordungs honour we have
created the Memorial Centre of Herman Potocnik Noordung This
year the cultural centre of European
space technology will also get going in Vitanje This will be a place
where the European space heritage will be gathered and various events connected with the
contemporary European space technologies will be
organized
Proposed Philatelic Collection We would like to bring the project onto a higher level
where we would have the collaboration of various
countries in the world including such with a history in space travel (like USA Russia) One of the steps of this
expansion process would also include a philatelic collection of stamps with themes of outer space
(astronomy astronautics and everything connected to
outer space) We already have quite a decent collection but we would like to expand on that
Our goal is to have 6000 stamps before opening our
exhibition For this we would require the help of as many philatelists as possible
All of these philatelists would become co-creators and partners of this collection for which we hope will
become the largest collection of its kind in the world The people donating the stamps would get a great deal
of exposure at all these exhibitions and on the special
website which will be started shortly If you give us enough support and we are able to raise enough
stamps for a first-class collection we hope the first
exhibitions and various special events (like visits from
astronauts ndash philatelists) will see the light of day as early as in 2011
From a professional point of view we have an
excellent team working with us Long-time philatelist
Tone Petek is the person who initiated this project while Bojan Bracic the secretary of FEPA is one of our
counsellors and is completely behind this project
If you would be interested in such cooperation I will get the wheels in motion and send you a verifying
mail with the stamp of the municipality of Vitanje and
also of some higher organization within the Slovene political system
The collection is already underway with the help of the
Slovene Philatelic organisation (FZS) adds Rok in an email to your Editor in July This organisation has been of immense help with technical expertise and
connections It looks as if there might be an introductory exhibition next year sometime
In the hope of a successful partnership we offer our
sincere appreciation
Rok Podgrajsek
Obcina Vitanje Grajski trg 1
3205 Vitanje
Slovenia
Email address rokpodgrajsekgmailcom
But see also website httpwwwvitanjesi
(Editorrsquos Note both Wendy Buckle editor of
Themescene and our Chairman Margaret Morris commend this project to you We will be sending Rok
some recent copies of Orbit for the displays)
Some illustrations from Noordungrsquos only published text ldquoThe Problem of
Space Travel The Rocket Motorrdquo (the original German title
was ldquoDas Problem der Befahrung
des Weltraums - der Raketen-Motorrdquo) which saw the light of day
in 1928
Vitanje Local Private Post stamp
33
ORBIT
Zazzle Space Stamps Dazzle
I have noticed Zazzle Space Stamps appearing in Lollini brochures and on their web pages in recent months writes your Editor so I undertook to find out some facts about them and am grateful to The Astrophile Editor Jim Roth and the man who inspired him to create his own Zazzle designs Otto Bergman for the following infohellip Zazzle is one of half a dozen or more US companies
who facilitate the printing of non-copyrighted photos and artwork on private postage stamps which count
as postage within and outwith the USA You can
design your own Zazzle stampsmdashsee their websitemdashwhich you then purchase for your own use 20 to a
page
They are therefore a bit like British Smilers except
that the personal element of the stamp is not on a se-tenant label but actually incorporated within the
stamp itself as you can see from the examples on this page
Jim Roth was annoyed that the Kennedy Space Center Post office would not cancel his Zazzle stamps as they
consider them to be ldquometersrdquo and although he has marked STS-122 he wonrsquot be creating any others
You can see (and buy) all Jim Rothrsquos Space Zazzles on
his website m57coverscommdashclick on ldquostampsrdquo
Three of Jim Rothrsquos designs
See others on his website
An Otto Bergman space creation on
Zazzlecomottobergman
These space Zazzles and others are
available from the Lollini website or brochures
STS 128 in May 2010 section
STS 129 in June 2010
WISE and Delta 2 launch in July 2010 STS 130 in August 2010
STS 128 stamps show astronauts Christer Fuglesang (far left) and left Frank De Winne ISS Commander Expedition 21 STS 129 issues depict mission
patch and the crew led by Charles Hobaugh
Delta 2 rocket launch from Cape Canaveral of WISE Deep InfraRed telescope
34
ORBIT
Concluded on page 39
More Spaceflight Books for Sale
35
ORBIT ORBIT
SPACE HABITATS (Part Two) by John Beenen Continuing his feature from our last issue John Beenen begins by posing the questionhellip Why Should we Seek to Live
in Space
Spacecom gives ten main reasons why we should enter space for a prolonged
period
1 To secure a future for humanity
2 To build a new frontier
3 To find new energy sources
4 To build an industrial settlement on
the Moon
5 Better quality images of the
Universe
6 The SETI effort
7 Mining
8 Learning the history of our
Universe
9 Environmental benefits
Meeting the challenge
Taking for granted that it is naturally fascinating to investigate how mankind
might be able to maintain its habitat outside earth there are several further reasons to investigate why
mankind should settle themselves outside earth in the far future And More reasons mean a overall better
argument
Primarily there is the question of overpopulation and
secondly a solution for the energy problem
Next we have to consider that climate circumstances
are not under control anymore and earth eventually becomes uninhabitable
Also when for various reasons we start to kill each
other for some groups of people it may be an attractive proposition to depart this Earth in quite a different
sense And that is perhaps the most common thought
through activities in space more money can be obtained
But there are disadvantageshellip
On the other hand a prolonged stay in space is not that safe The construction must be protected against
radiation and it can be hit by large and small debris which makes space a very unsafe place
Furthermore cosmic radiation produces
a radiation of 80 mSv (millisievert) - well over the allowed maximum of 50
mSv and very much over the amount which is considered as safe for man
which is 3 mSv
Next solar flares produce a sudden
increase of soft gamma and energy rich radiation so much that without the
protection of an atmosphere half of our population could die easily
It is interesting that even without shielding most of this radiation can be
absorbed in the projected spacecraftsrsquo structure and in the air Smaller
structures can be protected with a
shield of co-rotating rocks
The construction further must be protected against sunlight which by
lack of the air shield will fall in unshielded so sun blinds and radiators
are indispensable
And as a result of the artificial gravity
there are some tiny movement problems which we will face later
Finally the created ecosystem should be fully self-supporting and that is easier said than done as
experiments with Biosphere-2 have showed
Biosphere-2 Biosphere-2 was a project built between 1987 and 1991 providing in an area of about 2frac12 football fields
a closed biological system of different composition From 1991-1993 a crew of 8 persons stayed herein A
second crew of 7 persons bridged a period of March
until September 1994 During the first period it appeared difficult to keep the atmosphere constant in
particular the carbon dioxide values changed rapidlymdashthe reason why many of the carried insects perished
Further the oxygen level decreased slowly because pf a leak
Even during the first two-year phase large differences in opinion appeared and the yield was not large
enough to deliver the calories necessary Reserve stocks had to be broken into Finally the second
experiment had to be ended prematurely because of
mismanagement
However it seems that a well-functioning stable ecosystem should not be underestimated physically
not technically
Artists impressions above Interior Stanford Torus and below Interior
OrsquoNeill Cylinder
Solar flares Czechoslovakia 1965 WB 47
36
ORBIT
It further has to be speculated on that men would resist
a regulated weather programme instead of the customary ever changing circumstances on Earth
Also we must physically resist an eternal stay outside
Earth That is not always easy as some people will show
some kind of sea sickness for ever In any case rooms with a diameter of less than 100 meters and a speed of
revolution over three per minute are insufficient At specifications of over 500 m and at less than 1 revolution
per minute fewer problems have to be expected
How do we get raw materials (Fantasy Moon Mining Yemen
Mutawakelite 1969 1343)
And still there have to be enough raw materials to sustain the
colony but as a principle the
search for raw materials is not the most difficult
From the asteroid belt enough small rocks can be
transported as a building material Also mines can be put
on the Moon Bercause of the lower gravity there transport is easier and some kind of firing mechanism
has been calculated which launch packets of ore simply into space where they can be manipulated
Air can be produced from moonstone Nitrogen nearly without loss can be recycled and eventually added to
ammonia mined from comets Large gardens and fields should start the normal photosynthesis and doing so
finally a complete sustainable society might be built up Energy from the Sun is present in superfluous quantities
What to do about gravity Most designs for a Space station start with a gravity of
1G Some designers however think that a lower level of gravity is possible But in the meantime experiments
with astronauts have showed that our physiology
changes rapidly influenced by decreased or absence of gravity Thus the calcium potassium and sodium
contents of our bone system decrease by about 10 That is not bad were we to stay in space forever but
very troublesome when occasionally we would return to
Earth
Also the quality of our muscles decreases as the blood volume does Providing effects comparable to aging
Further by lack of gravity astronauts become a little
taller with accompanying pain in the back Hence the staying with 1G gravity is not so bad
That has to be maintained by rotation of the
construction The larger the diameter of the construction is the slower it will turn to provide 1 G That is a result
of the centrifugal or centripetal force Its
magnitude has long been established thanks to the work of Dutchman Christiaan Huygens and fixed in
the formula
m v2
F = r where
F = the external force in N(ewton) m = mass in kg
v = speed in msec r = radius in m
Hence a spacecraft with a diameter of 15 meters has to carry out one revolution every 8 seconds to
produce a sensation of 1G And that is too quick for man The effect of the centrifugal force is that should
an astronaut drop an object it does not fall straight
down but partly away from himher Weird
Coriolis force But in a rotating Space station another force is at
work That is the lsquoCoriolis forcersquo named after the
French Gustave-Gaspard Coriolis (1792-1843) who described this kind of force for the first time
The most common manifestation is the second law of
Buys Ballot which says that air streams in the
atmosphere which according the first law of Boys Ballot as a principle run from high to low pressure at
the northern hemisphere are bent to the right and at the southern hemisphere to the left because of the
rotation of the Earth
Therefore air streams around depressions show a
spiral shape in opposite directions at the northern and southern hemisphere In a space station this
force can especially noticed when moving around through the spokes of the wheel
(Diagram of Coriolis F o r c e h t t p
wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm)
A s s u m e t h a t a n
astronaut on a ladder
climbs through a spoke to the axis As he climbs
along he circles around more slowly as he
describes a smaller circle
in the same time What happens with the difference in speed that he had before He will be pressed
against the ladder and that is the Coriolis force The force also acts in opposite direction when he
descends from the ladder
Also the throwing up and catching of a ball will
become a huge achievement as the ball does not
37
ORBIT
drop perpendicularly but will shift a little into the
direction of the orbit of the station and also achieves a higher speed
This also has strange effects on the astronaut As moves
quickly in the rotation direction of the station his weight
appears to increase to a noteworthy extent Then as he moves against the speed of rotation his weight
decreases apparently Mathematically this effect is explainable but very complex
Also the astronautrsquos head and feet move in different
speed to artificial gravity This is plainly noticeable when
somebody jumps up Hence avoid this practice
With these kind of effects adaptation to the changed circumstances in a space station will ask a lot of the
crew members I do hope they can stand it But in any
case the larger the space ship the lesser the problems
Inflatable stations
But therersquos more The inflatable station was considered
many years ago The first i d e a w a s p o s s i b l y
developed when on 12th August 1960 the Echo
balloon with a diameter of
30 meters was launched (Echo I balloon USA 1960
WB 3)
It is true you could not live in it as the balloon was of too frail a construction but the idea of an inflatable
spacecraft was then alive By 1958 groups within NASA
had begun to think about inflatable stations The Goett-committee has been one of the first On 25th26th May
1959 a conference started about projects after
Mercury In particular the
representative of Langley L a r r y Lo f t i n wa s
enthusiastic about his AMIS (Advanced Man in
Space) project (Hexagonal structure
Manama 1970 WB 113)
One of his first projects was a rotating hexagonal
inflatable construction with a diameter of 25 meters a cylindrical core and three lsquospokesrsquo Acting as a ferry to
and from the station the lsquoDyna Soarrsquo Space plane could
be used The Dyna Soar project (at that time still
under development) was cancelled by the American
Minister of Defense Robert
McNamara Inflatable Habitat NASA
1961 enwikipediaorg)
A Langley Space Station
team managed by Paul Hill and Emanuel lsquoMannyrsquo
Schnitzer developed the concept together with the
G o o d y e a r A i r c r a f t
Corporation
(Langleyrsquos self-inflating rotating hexagonal structure httphistorynasagov
SP-4308) Its original diameter had already been reduced to 10
meters
In the years after Langley built several experimental
modules called lsquoErectable Torus Manned Space Laboratoryrsquo a 11 model built by firms such as
Goodyear The torus was built from three layers of
nylon tissue and in between a rubber-like plastic material butyl elastomer A large problem was the
penetration by micrometeorites which as was learnt from the results of the Echo balloon finally damaged
the whole structure
Another problem was the great instability of the ring
due to movements of the astronauts the station started to wobble when they moved around Finally
the project was cancelled and at the end of the eighties the Langley Research Center started to
design inflatable constructions for a base camp on the
Moon
( A r t i s t imp r e s s i on Transhab inflatable
m o d u l e h t t p
enwikipediaorg)
Due to the development of a new series of
s t r o n g e r p l a s t i c materials such as Kevlar
these construct ions
received new interest That lead to the development of Transhab (Transit Habitat) as a resource for crews
coupled at the ISS (international Space Station) The construction is a cylinder in a diameter of 82 meters
and several storeys high
Its volume in inflatable state is 340 m3 The wall has a
thickness of 30 () cm and consists of 12 layers of which the outside layer is made from Kevlar The
layers beneath are made from Nextel a ceramic fibre Disagreements during development and the spiralling
costs finally in 2000 saw the end of NASArsquos interest
G e n e s i s 1
thespacereviewcom)
From 1999 the project was
taken up by Bigelow
38
ORBIT
Aerospace who improved the design and tested it with
successful launchings of Genesis I on 12 July 2006 and Genesis II on 28 June 2007
In their design it has once again more or less the shape
of a balloon With a thickness of 40 cm the wall is still
very thick The outside layer is still Kevlar but inside are some layers of Vectran a textile fibre Within the
structure ants and scorpions were launched along with some objects which people who paid for the privilege of
boosting into space
In this way Bigelow hopes to build a Space Hotel named
Nautilus To stimulate the development Bigelow offered a price of $50 million to everybody who succeeded in
launching a crew of 5 persons to an altitude of 400 km before 2010 So little money lost here so far
A second project which can be realized within the near future is a fixed residence on the Moon As said Langley
occupies itself with the design of such a base which partly should be build below the surface Stamp
designers have already realized the idea
What does the future hold Although we are a long way away from the kind of space station by which a large amount of earth inhabitants can
leave the planet Earth forever the first steps for doing
so are in preparation With the development of their Space Hotel Bigelow tries to make the step to space
albeit a temporary one
Also Langley literally tries to set foot on the Moon and
finally they will succeed in doing so However The cost of such projects are literally astronomical and it is not
expected that in the coming decades much money can be allocated to such projects
Of course in some thousands of years (possibly only in
hundreds of years) this will become the case but for the
time being in my opinion the true conquest of space will stay as science-fiction for at least a few hundred years
Hoorn 2009
John Beenen
NB The stamps entitled lsquoSpace Cityrsquo with a value of 0 cnt do not exist but have been made by the author by means of frames and pictures present at the Internet
Fantasy Moon
b a s e M a n a -ma1970 WB 122
Fantasy bases
ready for Mars
YAR 1971 WB 2892 and 6
Fantasy Modular
base YAR 169 WB 233
39
ORBIT
Cover Below bottom right Future space Dutch Antilles 2000
Literature references (for both parts of article) httpenwikipediaorg Space habitat Space Colonization Orbital Colony Space City Space settlement Space stations L5 Society Bernal Sphere Stanford Torus OrsquoNeil Cylinder Inflatable Space Habitat Transhab Biosphere 2 Generation Ship wwwdsenl~hklruimtehtm Wonen op groene eilanden in de Ruimte (Dutch Living on green Islands in Space) Henry Kluytmans wwworionsarmcom McKendree Cylinder Bishops Ring wwwnasnasagovAboutEducationSpaceSettlement The Colonization of Space wwwdyarstraightscommsgundamhabitatshtml Mobile Suit Gundam High Frontier Life in the Universal Century Developing sound habitats wwwartificial-gravitycomDissertation1_2htm From Tsiolkovsky to Sputnik (1878-1957) httpsciencenasagovheadlinesy2000ast26may_1mhtm Wheels in the Sky httpdiscaircraftgreyfalconus Hermann Noordung Wohnrad (Wheel for Habitation) httparticlesadsabsharvardedufull1992lbsaconf249R Inflatable habitation for the lunar base MRoberts httphistorynasagovSP-4308ch9htm lsquoAs inevitable as the Rising Sunrsquo From the inflatable Torus to the Rotating Hexagon wwwspacecomnewsbusinessmonday_040524html Bigelow Aerospace to tackle inflatable Space Habitats httpsciencehowstuffsworkcominflatable-spacecraft2htm How Inflatable Spacecraft Will Work wwwbogancaphysicscoriolishtml Rotating Space Stations Dynamics An Explanation of the Coriolis Force httpdemonstrationswolframcomRotatingSpaceStation Rotating Space Station wwwdvandomcomcoliolisspacestationhtml Frame Effects and Space Stations wwwdvandomcomcoriolisindexhtml A (hopefully) simple explanation of the Coriolis Force wwwdaviddarlinginfoencyclopedia Hale Edward Everett von Pirquet Guido Noordung Hermann Space Station wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm The Coriolis Force wwwastronautixcomcraftfamlunbaseshtm Lunar bases wwwastronautixcomgallerycspebasehtm Photo Gallery Space base wwwregererating-universeorgOn_Moon_as_Space_Basehtm On Moon as Space Base wwwspacefuturecomhabitatlivingshtml Space Habitat Introduction Living in Space wwwspacepagebevideotaak=bekijkampid=47 Living in space (Video) wwwnutricomspace The Case for Space colonization ndash Now Oscar Falconi wwwxentcompipermailfork (FoRK) Bigelowrsquos inflatable Genesis I satellite in orbit wwwrussianforcesorg Russian strategic nuclear forces (Genesis II) wwwbigelowaerospacecomgenesis Genesis I Genesis II
Thanks to Alan Tunnicliffe who came across the attached news item
complete with stamp in the eNZ Magazine the bi-monthly journal of
the Institution of Professional Engineers NZ Inc Vol 11 No 3 May-
June 2010
Vaccari Auction Sells Remarkable Space Covers April 2010
Apollo 12 cover 55 of 87 flown to the moon on Apollo 15 having been left behind by the original crew sold for euro12200 1977 Salyut
6 Soyuz 27 cover sold for euro1600
40
ORBIT ORBIT
Shuttle 1981mdash2010 Stamps Marshall
Islands 2005
United Nations 2007 Monaco and Ascension 2008
Bulgaria 1991 including stamp from souvenir sheet
USA 1981
below USA 1995 and bottom USA 1998
(two values)
St Vincent Grenadines 1983
Ascension 1989
Bulgaria 1990
and above right W Germany 1975
and USA 2000 Guyana 2006
USA 1995
41
ASSS Membership Renewal 2010
Memberrsquos Name amp Addresshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
I wish to renew my membership of the ASSS for a further year and enclose the equivalent of
pound15 (UK) euro30 (Europe) $US 45 (Rest of the World)
Please return this form with your remittance to Harvey Duncan by the
end of July Thank you
Harvey Duncan Treasurer ASSS 16 Begg Avenue
Falkirk Scotland FK1 2DL
PayPal For details of how to Pay via Paypal
please email Jeff Dugdale Email address on Page 2
42
43
44
4
ORBIT
The crew performed three EVAs the first two via the
Russian Pirs module and the third out of the Quest airlock These EVA involved relocation of the cargo
boom for the Strela crane to the outside of Pirs the installation of six deflector shields on the Service
Module thrusters and of radio antennae Then on the
40th anniversary of the first orbital flight by the American John Glenn Walz and Bursch performed the
first EVA out of Quest without an attached shuttle in support in order to prepare the area for installation of
the S0 Truss due to arrive with STS-110 in April
During their spell on the ISS the crew experienced
power problems and a number of failures of the Elektron oxygen equipment They also had difficulties
with the operation of Canadarm2 whose wrist joint failed and required replacement They were relieved
with arrived of the EO-5 crew who came up with STS-
111
Both Bursch and Walz broke the record established by Shannon Lucid for an extended spell in space
eventually spending 196 days on the ISS 8 more than her endurance record On landing the three crew had a
joint accumulated total of nearly 850 days in space
STS-110 (launched 842002)
Atlantis docked with the ISS on 10th April and in the following 170 hours at the station the four mission
specialists conducted four EVAs in order to install the S0
Truss as well as the increasingly routine duties of transferring equipment and supplies to the ISS
The truss was to serve as a platform on to which other
trusses were to be attached and solar arrays navigation
devices and power systems for later additions mounted
Initial tests of the Mobile Transporter (railcar) which
typically moved slowly (3 cms a second) were
successfully completed This facility would later prove to be very valuable in moving equipment about the ISS
On this mission Jerry Ross became the first astronaut to
be launched from Earth seven times though John Young had been launched six and once from the Moon
Soyuz TM 34 (launched 25042002)
This ldquotaxirdquo mission exchanged Soyuz ferries allowed Italian Robert Vittori to complete a Science programme
(called Marco Polo) for the Italian Space Agency and
carried the second fare-paying passenger to the ISS in the shape of Mark Shuttleworth the first African to fly
in space Stamps were produced to mark these flights by South Africa on 17122003 and a Lollini sponsored
issue of four from Somalia issued on launch day
Shuttleworth was determined to improve on the image
of the ldquospace touristrdquo created following Denis Titorsquos first flight and he developed a programme of life science
experiments using on board equipment and bringing up four South African university developed ones
TM 34 was the last in the series of that version of Soyuz (which had begun in May 1986) with a new type
capable of more comfortably carrying astronauts of varying sizes about to come into service
STS-111 (launched 562002)
5
ORBIT
STS-111 was assembly mission UF2 and transported to
the station the new resident crew of Valery Korzun Peggy Whitson and Sergei Treschev
Endeavour docked with the ISS on 7th June and
remained mated for almost a 190 hours On the same
day the EO-4 crew formally ended their 182-day residence handing over to the new team During the
time the two crews had together three EVAs were completed by Chang-Diaz (making his seventh flight)
and spationaut Perrin (the first Frenchman to spacewalk from the ISS) working on developing the
truss arrangement which would grow with every
subsequent visit of a shuttle One necessary repair was to Canadarm2 whose wrist roll joint was replaced
so restoring the sophisticated tool to operational status The MPLM Leonardo brought up in the shuttle payload
bay also permitted a large amount of new kit such as
a new science rack for microgravity experiments and a new glove box for isolation condition testsmdashto be taken
into the ISS and old materials to be returned to Earth
EO-5 Highlights As with EO-4 well over 50 experiments were tackled or re-
run by the new resident crew including one concerning the
forming of kidney stones during
spaceflight for which Peggy Whitson was the principal
investigator as the first ldquoScience Officerrdquo designated by
NASA
During their 185 days on the ISS the crew received two
Progress re-supply craft (M1-8 and M1-9) bringing over 5000 kg of cargo and equipment for the ESA Odessa science programme in November
By now routine EVA were conducted and the crew
overcame equipment repair and maintenance challenges Whitson posted a regular series of
journals on the NASA website about the work she was doing so providing a fascinating insight into the daily
work of the ISS crew She was amused to be
compared to ldquoScience Officerrdquo Mr Spock of the USS Enterprise in Star Trek
STS-112 (launched 7102002)
Assembly flight 9A flown by Atlantis docked with the ISS
on 9th October carrying materials for the construction of the S1 Truss and CETAmdash the Crew Equipment
Translation Aid (cart) which was to travel along the MBS rail
During EVAs David Wolf and (British born) Piers Sellers connected power data and fluid lines and released
launch bolts that allowed the radiators to be orientated for optimum cooling and set CETA in place Crew
members also repaired the exercise treadmill vibration dampening system in Zvezda and replaced a humidity
separator in Quest which had been leaking
Soyuz TMA 1 (launched 30102002)
Within two weeks of the department of Atlantis the first
of the new style Soyuz ferries arrived manned by two
Russians (Sergei Zaletin and Yuri Lonchakov and a Belgian Frank DeWinne) This flight ought to have
carried the third space flight participant (aka tourist) in the shape of N Synch pop singer Lance Bass but the
millionaire failed to pay his fare and was replaced by the back-up commander ldquoTMArdquo signified Transport
Modification Anthropometric and allowed many
American astronauts to fly who had been too large to fit in the Soyuz ferryrsquos previous versions very fortuitous
development given the dramatic space events which were to occur within a few months This was the first
Soyuz variant to fly without first being ldquoroad-testedrdquo
unmanned
The visitors who stayed at the station for a week worked with the resident
crew on Russian science programmes
and helped DeWinne with his ESA Odessa experiment programme which
had some twenty different features Returning in the TM 34 spacecraft they
had quite a hard landing in the first Russian landing at night time in ten
years DeWinne appears (on the right) in a Belgian
sheet issued in 2004 containing ten stamps showing famous countrymen
6
ORBIT
At this point in late 2002 the ISS
complex looked much as does in this 2006 stamp from Sierra Leone
captioned ldquoISS June 15th 2002rdquo showing the first basic trusses in
place
STS-113 (launched 23112002)
Assembly mission 11A began with the arrival of
Endeavour at the ISS on 25th November and the following day the P1 Truss which had been carried up
was relocated to the port end of the S0 Truss and automatically bolted in place
The mission also brought up the EO-6 crew of Ken Bowersox Nikolai Budarin and Donald Pettit who
officially took over shortly after the docking Three EVAs were conducted in support of the truss installation and
that of the CETA-B cart The activities included the first
EVA by a native American in rookie MS John Herrington
Although no one could possibly have predicted it at the time this would be the last time for thirty months that a
shuttle would dock at the station Endeavourrsquos own attempts to land were waived off on a record three
consecutive days before finally making it home on 7th
December
EO-6 Highlights The sixth resident crew had expected to return by shuttle at the end of their stay on the station but the
loss of Columbia on 1st February 2003 (in a mission that had not visited the ISS) resulted in the fleet being
grounded and the crew having to use the TMA-1
spacecraft for landing and they were replaced by the TMA-2 ldquocaretakerrdquo crew
Donald Pettit had been included
late the preparatory stage when
the original Science Officer Don Thomas was adjudged to have
received too much radiation on his previous spaceflights for duty
on a long duration flight There were no planned visiting
missions scheduled until the arrival of STS-114 to
bring them home after a four month tour
The science programme included over twenty new investigations and Pettit broadcast a series of science
demonstrated supported by postings on the internet
Two EVA (one unplanned) were conducted the first related to the P1 Truss radiator system but the
second (after the loss of Columbia) conducted on 8th April to ensure that the new crew would need to
perform an EVA only in an emergency
Progress M47 arrived on 4th February and further such
visits would now prove indispensable to the maintenance of operations on the ISS in the following
two to three years The resident crew departed on 3rd May so becoming the first to return to earth in a
Soyuz craft and accordingly making Bowersox and
Pettit the first NASA men to fly home in a Russian craft
The landing went far from well with the crew
experiencing almost 8G in the re-entry process and landing well off target so that it took over two hours to
find them they had not been equipped with mobile
phones Pettit was much distressed by the landing but the crew were much praised for their professionalism
in dealing with the problem which was later traced to the yaw gyroscope experiencing a gimbal lock when its
angular rate exceeded 54deg
Soyuz TMA 2 (launched 2642003) EO-7
The new style Soyuz ferry was now the only means of taking
astronauts to the ISS and due
to limited supply capacity it was decided that until shuttles
could be used again the resident crews would have to
be only two-strong (one from each nation) and launched
every six months The previously identified ISS crews
were reassigned as two-person crews with the third seat allocated to ESA astronauts flying short visits
7
ORBIT
However ESA had delayed their next astronautrsquos flight
by six months and so TMA2 flew with only two men on board
The first ldquocaretakerrdquo crew simply maintained systems on
the complex with limited capacity for science
programmes conducting only those which were already in situ Although both Mir and Salyut space stations
had been run by only two people the ISS was much more complex and considerably bigger so the ground
managers were very cautious in allocating duties
Progress M1-10 and M48 brought new supplies up to
Yuri Malenchenko and Ed Lu Lu as Science Officer continued to post on the web a series of personal
recollections of events on board
On 28 May a demonstration of American EMU suiting
was completed so proving that two men could suit up and remove suits without assistance from a third should
an emergency EVA be required On 10th August Malenchenko was ldquomarriedrdquo via a TV link to his fianceacutee
in Houston Texas arrangements having been made long in advance
Soyuz TMA 3 (launched 18102003) EO-8
The second caretaker crew arrived in mid-October
carrying Spanish ESA astronaut Pedro Duque British born ISS commander Michael Foale making his sixth
flight and Russian Alexander Kaleri the whole crew
being curiously celebrated by an issue from Tchad in 2004
Duque returned to Earth with
the EO7 crew on 27th October ha v i ng comp l e t ed h i s
Cervantes science programme during his eight days on the
station
In November Foale and Kaleri
practised emergency ingress procedures to determine if crew members wearing
Orlan EVA suits could enter Soyuz using the internal hatches This was proved possible after a great deal
of stressful activity
One EVA was conducted (on 26th February) and with
both men outside that was the first occasion on which no one had been inside the ISS for three and a half
years On 8th December Foale became the most
experienced NASA astronaut surpassing Carl Walzrsquos career total of 231 days over four missions When he
finally landed Foale had logged 375 days in space but his colleague Kaleri was still 238 days ahead of him in
aggregate terms
Soyuz TMA 4 (launched 1942004) EO-9
The new resident crew comprising Gennady Padalka Ed Fincke and Dutch ESA astronaut Andreacute Kuipers
arrived in mid-April and they are shown on this Lollini sponsored issue from Somalia in 2004 with Kuipers
appearing on his own in the top two stamps with
Fincke and Padalka (left) and Kaleri and Foale in the bottom pairing
8
ORBIT
Kuipers completed his ESA DELTA package during his
eight days on board ISS and returned with the EO8 crew on 30th April
The EO9 crew received no
visitors other than cargo
payloads via Progress M1-11 M49 and M50 After working on
suit repairs and servicing for over a month the crew
abandoned their first EVA after only 14 minutes because of a
pressure drop in the main
oxygen supply of an Orlan suit but a week later after successful repairs they spent
almost six hours outside working on the S0 truss In a second EVA in early August they installed reflectors and
communication units ready for the first ESA Automatic
Transfer Vehicle Jules Verne though this was later delayed by many months
On 18th June Fincke made history by becoming the first
US astronaut to become a father in space listening to the birth of his second daughter via his cell phone
The crew had severe problems with the Elektron oxygen generator which was failing every three days or so and
requiring manual starts These shutdowns were found to be centred on the liquid units that held trapped gas
inside micro-pumps despite using purified water
The crew completed their programme of many
maintenance tasks and returned to earth with test cosmonaut Yuri Shargin in October
Soyuz TMA 5 (launched 14102004) EO-10
The two members of the new resident crew arrived at
the ISS in mid-October the Commander Leroy Chiao and Salizhan Sharipov accompanied by Russian Yuri
Shargin who would stay only for the week or so Russian businessman Sergei Polonsky had been
scheduled to become the third paying space flight
participant but failed a late medical test and so was replaced by a Russian Spaces Forces cosmonaut the
first of that group to be
selected for cosmonaut training eight years earlier He
carried out his own programme of scientific study the Russians
stressing that none of his
activity was military as such practice is banned from the
ISS Sharipov was celebrated by a minisheet from his Kyrgyz homeland in 2005
(above) showing the space station nearing completion in the background
During the tenth expedition this crew would complete two Pirs-based EVAs receive two Progress supply craft
visits and relocate Canadarm2 Problems with the Elektron unit continued repairs were made to EVA
suits an upgrade made to the computer software
trouble experienced with the toilet in Zvezda and a heat exchanger replaced in Quest
There was concern in November that food was running
low with it due to run out in mid-January but this was found to be down to poor record keeping because of
the increased work load of a two person crew and
anyway Progress M51 arrived to solve the problem and the shuttlersquos impending return to flight would also help
Germany 2004 and Japan 2005 show
the station nearing completion
9
ORBIT
Soyuz TMA 6 (launched 1542005) EO-11
The eleventh resident crew would be the first to receive
a shuttle mission since STS-
113 in December 2002 because the loss of
Columbia had created the need to fly two-man
resident crews but the
docking of STS-114 in July would signify the impending return to full station
operation
Italian ESA astronaut Roberto Vittori was back at the ISS in the company of Russian Sergei Krikalev making
his sixth flight and American civilian John Phillips as
science officer This time Vittori completed research under the Eneide programme doing experiments in
human physiology biology and also getting involved in educational demonstrations
The new crew was not long on board before the Elektron system finally broke down in early May
though there were sufficient alternative sources of oxygen on board These would be complemented by
Shuttle and Progress deliveries such as Progress M53 in June which also carried spare parts for the Elektron
unit which the crew worked on in addition to routine
maintenance tasks and the repositioning of their Soyuz from Pirs to Zarya
STS-114 (launched 2672005)
On 28th July the first shuttle
crew to visit the ISS for two and half years arrived via Discovery This was a very experienced crew commanded by Eilleen
Collins By now the decision to
use the shuttle to complete station assembly and then retire
it had been taken The station then looked as it does in this
2006 issue from Sierra Leone As Discovery approached the ISS it flew around it at a distance of some 180
metres to allow the crew on board to photograph the
underside of the shuttle to check for launch damage This rather worryingly revealed the loss of two
protruding tile gap fillers Because these might cause hot spots on re-entry extra EVAs were designed to
manually extract them during which an astronaut
(Stephen Robinson) ventured under the shuttlersquos body for the first time ever in orbital operations
Discovery also brought up MPLM Raffaello carrying a
large amount of supplies including the Human Research Facility 2 and the new CMG 2 gyroscope
As the shuttle departed after over 12 days at the station both crews photographed each otherrsquos spacecraft The
second shuttle Return to Flight mission was then delayed because of questions about the integrity of the
foam fixtures on the External Tanks
In August the Vodzukh COsup2 removal system on the ISS
failed and the American unit in Destiny was activated to take over On 16th August Krikalev the first person
to complete two residences and the first cosmonaut to
fly six missions became the longest served Russian cosmonaut with over 747 days of spaceflight
experience Next day 17th August Krikalev and Phillips performed the only EVA of Expedition 11 after which
they prepared for their next visitors via Soyuz TMA7 which would carry in Gary Olsen the third spaceflight
participant and the new two man resident crew of Bill
McArthur and Valery Tokarev
Soyuz TMA 7 (launched 1102005) EO-12
To be continuedhellip
10
ORBIT ORBIT
2 The Moon Second Quadrant (North-West) We learn from our main source Atlas of the Universe by
Patrick Moore (Philiprsquos 1999)helliphellip
Selected Craters illustratedhellip
Archimedes (Diam 75 km Lat degN 30 Long degW 4) A large impact crater on the Eastern edges of the Mare Imbrium with Montes Archimedes mountains to the South Named after the Greek mathematician and scientist who lived c 287mdash212 BC
(San Marino 1982)
Copernicus (Diam 97 km Lat degN 10 Long degW 20)
A prominent feature named after the famous Polish astronomer (1473mdash1543) and located in the eastern Oceanus Procellarum this is estimated to be around 800 million years old and is typical of craters of that period having a very clear ray
system (Soviet Union 1973)
The Naming of Craters Einstein (Diam 160 km Lat degN 18 Long degW 86)
A large crater which lies along the Western limb of the Moon therefore difficult to observe from Earth and discovered only in 1952 by Patrick Moore Named after the German theoretical physicist and philosopher (1879-1955) (India 1979)
Encke (Diam 32 km Lat degN 5 Long degW 37) Located on the W edge of Mare Insularum to the S SE of crater Kepler Named after German astronomer Johann Frank Encke (1791-1865) (Comoros Isles 1986)
Euler (Diam 25 km Lat degN 23 Long degW 29) Located in the southern half of the Mare Imbrium its most notable nearby feature is Mons Vinogradov to the W-SW Named after Leonard Euler (1707mdash83) the Swiss mathematician and physicist (E Germany 1950)
J Herschel (Diam 145 km Lat degN 62 Long degW 41) A large walled plain which appears foreshortened when viewed from Earth Named after British mathematician chemist and astronomer Sir John Herschel (1792mdash1871) (Centre of GB 1970 )
Kepler (Diam 35 km Lat degN 8 Long degW 38) This lies between the Oceanus Procellarum to the W and Mare Insularm in the E with crater Encke to the SE Named after German mathematician and astronomer Johannes Kepler (1571mdash1630) (Czech Rep 2009)
Lavoisier (Diam 71 km Lat degN 36 Long degW 70) Located near the NW limb at the W edge of Oceanus Procellarum this lies to the SW of crater von Braun and SE of Bunsen Named in honour of ldquothe Father of Modern Chemistryrdquo the French chemist Antoine Lavoisier (1743mdash1794) (France 1943)
Le Verrier (Diam 25 km Lat degN 40 Long degW 20) A small nearly circular bowl shaped feature in the N part of the Mare Imbrium just E of the larger Helicon Named for the French mathematical astronomer Urbain Le Verrier (1811mdash1877) (France 1958)
11
ORBIT
Otto Struve (Diam 160 km Lat degN 25 Long degW 75) This is a vast lava flooded plain near the W
edge of Oceanus Procellarum close the W limb of the Moon and so appears foreshortened Named in honour of German astronomers Friedrich von Struve (Russian VY Struve) (1793-1864) and son (Otto) and grandson (Otto) (USSR 1964) Pythagoras (Diam 113 km Lat degN 65 Long degW 65)
This prominent feature lies near the NW limb just NW of the somewhat larger
Babbage It has an oval appearance due to the oblique viewing angle from Earth and only part of it can be viewed from Earth Named after Greek philosopher Pythagoras of Samos (c 570mdashc 495 BC) ( S a n M a r i n o 1982)
Babbage (Diam 143 km Lat degN 60 Long degW 57) An ancient crater located near the NW
l i m b n a m e d a f t e r B r i t i s h mathematician philosopher and computing pioneer Charles Babbage (1791mdash1871) (GB 2010)
Hevelius (Diam 122 km Lat degN 2 Long degW 67) This is a low-rimmed crater on
the W edge of the Oceanus Procellarum named after Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius (1611mdash1687) - ldquothe founder of lunar topographyrdquo (Poland
1987) Plato (Diam 97 km Lat degN 51 Long degW 9) The lava-filled remains of a crater on the NE shore of Mare Imbrium at the W
extremity of Montes Alpes named after the Classical Greek philosopher and mathematician (c 428mdashc 348 BC) (Greece 1998)
Schiaparelli (Diam 29 km Lat degN 23 Long degW 59) A small crater on the W part of Oceanus Procellarum to the W of Herodotus and named after Giovanni Schiaparelli(1835-
1910) Italian astronomer and science historian famous for his misinterpreted comments re ldquocanalirdquo on Mars (Hungary 1974)
12
ORBIT
ASTEROIDS Some Bits and Pieces
Ulugh Beigh (Diam 70 km Lat deg29 2 Long degW 85) The remnant of a crater just to the W of Oceanus Procellarum near the NW limbmdashforeshortened from the Earth Named after Ulugh Beg Persian ruler and astronomermathemat ic ian (Turkey 1983) Von Braun (Diam 60 km Lat deg41 2
Long degW 78) Named after rocket pioneer Wernher von Braun (1912-77) this is located near the NW limb on the W edge of Oceanus Procellarum and to the NE of Lavoisier (Guinea Biussau 2006)
Uncatalogued Hungarian Stamp Referenced in Spaceflight Article
The June 2010 issue of Spaceflight magazine contained
a five page article by Naacutendo
Schuminszky celebrating the first Hungarian in space whose
flight in Soyuz 36 occurred 30 years beforeon 26th May 1980
A side panel to the article
reproduced right contains
images of a pair of stamps with two subtle differencesmdashin
bottom left hand corner the date ldquo1979rdquo and ldquo1980rdquo and
rightmdashthe face value The
article goes on to explain how unexpected events delayed the
flight by a year Hungarian cosmonaut Bertalan Farkas was
due to be launched in mid-June
1979 in Soyuz 34 but his flight was cancelled following the
failure of Soyuz 33 carrying Bulgarian cosmonaut Georgi Ivanov to dock with Salyut 6 Soyuz 34 was eventually
launched unmanned to provide a fresh ferry for the resident crew to use
In anticipation of the 1979 flight a large number of associated souvenirs including posters emblems and
stamps had been prepared but had to be destroyed though evidently some escaped
However the 1979 version of the eventual SG 3320 is not listed in WEEBAU or Gibbons If any members have
any info about these unissued stamps please share it with us
More on Lunar Craters Our Chairman Margaret Morris forwarded the article opposite from the March 1989 issue of Sky amp Telescope which is of interest in the context of our new series explaining as it does how several Far Side craters have been named after astronauts and cosmonauts
Orbit for June 2010
Our last issue contained one glaring error for which your editor apologises The number on the front ldquo85rdquo was the same as the number for the March issue This will cause
problems when Harvey Duncan issues the next version of the index A lovely cover again by your Editorrsquos wife but spoiled by this typo Sorry
Flown STS-8 Covers These are referred to at the bottom of the left hand column of p 27 of this edition in Umberto Cavallarorsquos article where we learn that there were well over a quarter of a million of them
Alan Tunnicliffe editor of NZ Air Mail News advises that New Zealand stamp dealer JRMowbray has for sale at NZ $75 a piece flown STS-8 space covers date stamped 14 Aug 1983 at KSC with launch and return cancels and bearing a $935 stamp NZ$75 = US$53 or pound35 This seems a rather high price for flown STS-8 covers given the number available and members will possibly be able to obtain the item cheaper with an internet search
Solar Sails and The Sun Peter Hoffman comments on John Beenenrsquos feature on The Sun in our June 2010 issuehellip ldquoIn the Solar Sails section on page 8 mention is made of the failed launch of Cosmos-1 What is not mention is that is was a project of The Planetary Society httpwwwplanetaryorghome They are working on a new version called LightSail the first of which is planned for a launch later this year In case you are not familiar with it The Planetary Society is a privately funded space advocacy group founded in part by Carl Sagan ldquoThe Planetary Society yearly presents the Cosmos Award for Outstanding Public Presentation of Science in honour of Carl Sagan This years winner was Stephen Hawking They printed his acceptance speech Why go into space An amusing comment was a quote from a Calvin and Hobbes cartoon Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere is that none of it has tried to contact us ldquoThe Japanese Space Agency launched its solar sail spacecraft IKAROS (Interplanetary Kite-Craft Accelerated by Radiation Of the Sun) together with its Venus Climate Orbiter Akatsuki on 20 May You can read about it at httpwwwspacecommissionlaunchesjapan-venus-wrap-100520htmlrdquo
13
ORBIT
14
ORBIT
Spaceflight Books for Sale
Books about Space andor Astronomy in English
The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Space 1990 386 pages coffee table book euro 1500
Life in Space D Monchersquo 1979 ldquo 500
The Conquest of Space Willy Ley amp Chesley Bonestell+pictures 1952 RARE ldquo 2000
Star Hunters D Mammana 1990 coffee table book ldquo 1000
The Rocket David Baker 276p+490pictures 1978 coffee table book classic ldquo 2000
The History of Manned Spaceflight David Baker 576p+362pictures 1985coffeerdquo 2000
The Observerrsquos Spaceflight Directory R Turnill 384p 1978 ldquo 1000
The Observerrsquos Book of Unmanned Spaceflight+Manned Spaceflight 1974+1975 ldquo 1000
The Observerrsquos Book Of Astronomy Patrick Moore 1973 ldquo 500
Basic Astronomy Patrick Moore 1967 ldquo 300
Space a Novel James A Michener pocket Ballantine 1983 ldquo 250
Voyagers Ben Bova 1983 pocket ldquo 250
The Universe Herbert Zim 1973 ldquo 200
Exploring Other Worlds WyberampAmes 1968 ldquo 200
Tomorrowrsquos Moon Henry Little 1969 ldquo 200
Observatories of the World Marx amp Pfau 1982 ldquo 1000
Are We Alone Paul Davis Penquin 1995 ldquo 250
Moonport USA (Kennedy Space Center) 1977 ldquo 250
Living in Space (Colonies) J Trefil 1981 ldquo 500
The Cosmonauts Gordon Hooper 1977 ldquo 250
Extraterrestrials-Where Are They Zuckerman ampHart 1995 ldquo 1000
The Cosmic Connection Carl Sagan pocket 1975 ldquo 300
Exploring the Planets Ian Nicolson 1972 ldquo 250
Janersquos pocket Book 11 Space Exploration 1976 ldquo 300
Twenty-First Report Internat Telecomm Union Geneva 1982 ldquo 250
Satellites amp Space Travel Taylor ampAllward 1970 ldquo 200
Watchers of the Stars Patrick Moore 1974 ldquo 500
Robot Explorers Kenneth Garland 1972 ldquo 500
APOLLO by astronaut Alan Bean+paintings Bean in space 1998 coffeetable ldquo 2000
The World of Mars VA Firsoff 1969 ldquo 200
Missiles and Rockets Kenneth Garland ldquo 500
Stars and Planets Ian Ridpath 1978 ldquo 500
Race to Mars The ITN Mars Flight Atlas 1988 ldquo 500
Worlds Beyond Search for Life in Space Ian Ridpath 1975 ldquo 500
CETI Communication with Extraterrestrial Intelligence Stonelay 1976 ldquo 250
Horizon at the Edge of the Universe 9 chapters of astronomers 1983 ldquo 300
The New Race for Space James Oberg 1984 ldquo 500
The Hunt for Life on Mars Goldsmith 1998 ldquo 500
The High Road Ben Bova pocket 1983 ldquo 250
Operation Morning Light the True Story of Cosmos 954 Leo Heaps 1978 ldquo1000
Space Volunteers T Kay 1960 ldquo 300
Legal Aspects of Outer Space Dr C Reijnen 1976 205 pages the Worldrsquos
First Thesis of this Kind by female Dutch scholar ldquo 400
E-MAIL bertvaneijckhomenl if interested in any to discuss sale and postage
See further list on page 24
15
ORBIT
The above obituary and tribute by David Shayler
appeared in the August 2010 of Spaceflight magazine marking the passing of Rex Hall who was also one of
the longest standing members of the ASSS carrying
the membership number 88033 We extend our condolences to Rexrsquos family
16
ORBIT
Un-manned Satellites on Postage Stamps 35 By Guest Contributors Don Hillger and Garry Toth
A version of this article first appeared in The Astrophile for sic)
The Discoverer series
This is the thirty-fifth in a series of articles about un-manned satellites on postage stamps This article
features the satellites in the US Air Force (USAF) Discoverer series The first Discoverer was launched
on 21 January 1959 and the last one on 18 April 1962
There were a total of 39 launches a third (or 13) of which were failures The Discoverer series also called
Corona satellites were later declassified as the first Keyhole (KH) spy satellites
Discoverer was the public name of the Corona series
of film-return reconnaissance spy satellites whose true
mission was not officially revealed until about 35 years after the program ended The Discoverers secret
program was masked by scientific goals it was kept secret even from program staff who knew nothing
about Corona Scientific instruments were even placed
on Discoverer satellites and then covertly removed before launch
The Discoverer satellites were designed to take pictures
of target countries and then eject a film capsule
which was to de-orbit and enter the Earthrsquos atmosphere on a parachute and be recovered by a
specially-modified aircraft as it floated downward On many of the missions however the capture of the film
capsules was not successful for various reasons The first successful return of a capsule through the Earths
atmosphere occurred with Discoverer-13 though in this
case the aerial capture failed and the capsule fell into the sea Fortunately that mission carried no cameras
Discoverer-14 was the first completely successfully Corona mission in which reconnaissance photos were
taken from the spy satellite and ejected in a capsule
which was then successfully recovered in a mid-air capture carried out by a C-119 aircraft
Because of secret nature of their mission the
Discoverer satellites were not well-known and so were not featured on many postal items A set of three
stamps issued by Libya in 1966 (Scott 297-299) shows
a Discoverer capsule There is also a local post item from Batum that depicts the recovery of a Discoverer
capsule and a souvenir sheet from Chad (Michel BL247) that shows the re-entry of a Discoverer capsule
in the margin Another capsule recovery is shown in
the margin of a souvenir sheet issued by the Malagasy Republic in 1999 (Scott 1502a)
A checklist of postal items identified as showing Discoverer-
series satellites (httprammbciracolostateedudevhillgerDiscovererhtm) is available as part of the Website developed by the authors to accompany this series of articles (httprammbciracolostateedudevhillgersatelliteshtm) E-mail correspondence is welcome Don Hillger can be reached at hillgerciracolostateedu and Garry Toth at garry_tothhotmailcom
Top KH-4B Corona satellite Above Recovery of Discoverer 14 return capsule (typical for
the Corona series (ex Wikipedia)
17
ORBIT
18
ORBIT
Flight STS-130 Commander George Zamka Pilot Terry Virtis MS Kathryn Hire MS Stephen Robinson MS Nicholas Patrick MS Robert Behnken MS Koichi Wakata KSC Launch Date 822010 KSC Landing 21210 Purpose Tranquility Module Main Payload and Cupola
Shuttle Story 201011 STSndash130 -131 -132 Part One
STS-130 (ISS assembly flight 20A) via Endeavour carried as its
primary payloads the Tranquility module and the Cupola a robotic control station with six windows around its sides and
another in the centre providing a 360-degree view around the station Endeavour launched at 0414 EST (0914 UTC) on 8
February 2010 and landed at 2220 EST on 21 February 2010 on
runway 15 at the Kennedy Space Centers Shuttle Landing Facility
Tranquility was shipped from the
Thales Alenia Space facility in
Turin Italy It arrived at Kennedy Space Center on 21 May 2009 It
was formerly known as Node 3 and was named by a NASA poll
The module provides six berthing locations however three of those
locations are disabled as modules
originally planned to be attached to Tranquility were cancelled The
photo right shows Tranquility just before being installed to Unity node
STS-130 also brought the Cupola a large window
module and robotics work station to the ISS which was
to be attached to the nadir-
side of Tranquility The module also includes various
ISS systems including addit iona l l i fe support
systems This photo shows the facility being prepared at KSC whilst the photo above right
shows the module and cupola being moved into position on the
ISS
The shape of the mission patch on the launch
cover below represents the cupola over the earth in a photo taken by the unmanned
Lunar Orbiter probe in 1966 so representing a past and future designation for explorers from
Earth
For other Zazzle stamps
see page 33
19
ORBIT
Flight STS-131 Commander Alan Pointdexter Pilot James Dutton MS Rick Mastracchio MS Dorthy Metcalf- Lindenburger MS Stephanie Wilson MS Naoko Yamakazi MS Clayton Anderson KSC Launch Date 5410 KSC Landing 20410 Purpose MPLM Leonardo Main Payload
STS-131 (ISS assembly flight 19A) via Discovery launched on 5
April 2010 from Kennedy Space Centers launch pad 39A and landed at 908 AM on 20 April 2010 on runway 33 at the Kennedy
Space Centers Shuttle Landing Facility The mission marked the longest flight for space shuttle Discovery
The primary payload was a Multi-Purpose Logistics Module loaded with supplies and equipment for the ISS The mission also
removed and replaced an ammonia tank assembly outside the station on the S1 truss The mission also included several on-
board payloads this mission had the most payloads since STS-
107
The primary payload of STS-131 was MPLM Leonardo filled with food and science supplies and also carried the third and final
Minus Eighty Degree Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI) Window Orbital Research Facility (WORF) one Crew Quarters Rack the
Muscle Atrophy Resistive Exercise (MARES) rack Resupply
Stowage Racks (RSRs) as well as Resupply Stowage Platforms (RSPs) The Lightweight Multi-Purpose Equipment Support
Structure Carrier (LMC) carried a refurbished Ammonia Tank Assembly (ATA) to the ISS The refurbished ATA was removed
from the Space Station and returned for use on this mission
during STS-128 It was swapped with an empty tank which will ride home on the LMC
This mission was the second flight of the TriDAR a 3D dual-
sensing laser camera intended for potential use as an
autonomous rendezvous and docking sensor TriDAR provides guidance information that can be used to guide a vehicle during
rendezvous and docking operations in space TriDAR does not rely on any reference markers such as reflectors positioned on
the target spacecraft
This was the final Space Shuttle mission that contains one or
more rookie astronauts the missions after this will have all- veteran crews
STS-131 was only the third mission in the Space Shuttle
programme to carry three female astronauts
the others being STS-40 and STS-96
With three female crew members arriving on board Discovery and Expedition 23 Flight
Engineer Tracy Caldwell Dyson at the station
the STS-131 mission marked the first time that four women have been in space at one
time
STS-131 marked the first time that two
Japanese astronauts Naoko Yamazaki from the Shuttle crew and Soichi Noguchi on the
ISS had been in space together
Although Naoko Yamazaki is not the last non-
US astronaut Naoko was the last Japanese astronaut to fly the space shuttle
MPLM Leonardo can
be seen in the shuttle cargo bay
The seven stars either side of our
sun represent the
crew members
The shuttlersquos orientation indicates
it is performing the Rendezvous Pitch
Manoeuvre which
allows the ISS to photograph its
underbelly
20
ORBIT
Flight STS-132 Commander Kenneth Ham Pilot Dominic Antonelli MS Michael Good MS Garret Reisman MS Piers Sellars MS Stephen Bowen KSC Launch Date 1452010 KSC Landing 2652010 Purpose Delivery of Russian Main Payload Rassvet Module
STS-132 (ISS assembly flight ULF4) docked with the ISS on May
16 2010 It was launched from the Kennedy Space Center on May 14 2010 The primary payload is the Russian Rassvet Mini-
Research Module along with an Integrated Cargo Carrier-Vertical Light Deployable (ICC-VLD) STS-132 is scheduled to be the
final flight of Space Shuttle Atlantis provided that the STS-335
Launch On Need rescue mission is not flown
Rassvet means dawn in Russian The module was built
by Russian aerospace company
Energia and arrived at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC)
aboard an Antonov 124 cargo plane on 17 December 2009
After it was unloaded from the Antonov the module was
transported to an Astrotech processing bay in Cape Canaveral to
undergo preparations for launch shown in this photo
An airlock and radiation heat exchanger to be used for outfitting the Russian Nauka Module (to be launched in 2012) a spare
elbow part of the European Robotic Arm (ERA) and a portable
work platform for science hardware for performing experiments in outer space were externally mounted on Rassvet in its launch
configuration Russian and US cargo delivered was also accommodated inside the module The volume for cargo and
science inside MRM1 is 5 cubic meters] Rassvet was outfitted
with ISS standard grapple fixtures that allowed the module to be unloaded from the payload bay of Atlantis using the stations
robotic arm
The ICC pallet is constructed of aluminum It is approximately 8 feet long 13 feet wide and 10 inches thick The empty weight of
the pallet is 2645 pounds The total weight of ICCndashVLD and the ORUs is approximately 8330 pounds ICC-VLD return mass is
2933 kilograms (6470 lb)
The ICC-VLD was berthed in the centre of the
payload bay for both launch and re-entry
In the photo above Rassvet is shown centre top
The mission patch shows Atlantis flying off into the sunset as the end of the shuttle
programme approaches
21
ORBIT
By Andreacute Scheer and Margaret Morris This fascinating structure is an octagonal pentelic marble tower on the Roman agora or marketplace in Athens It was supposedly built by the astronomer Andronicus of Kyrrhos c 50 BC but according to other sources might have been constructed in the 2
nd
century BC before the rest of the forum The structure is 12 metres high with a diameter of approximately 8 metres On each of the eight sides (aligned with the eight principal points of the compass) is a sculpture featuring the wind gods and below each sculpture is engraved a sundial Thus the tower served as a solar clock but additionally in the interior was a water-clock (clepsydra) driven by water coming down from the Acropolis There were mechanical hour indicators and displays for the seasons of the year with astrological dates and periods The tower was topped in antiquity by a weather-vane in the shape of a triton with a wand which pointed at whichever of the winds was blowing The tower must have been one of the most useful structures in the agora as it showed the time for civilian purposes and indicated the wind direction for merchants awaiting the arrival of a ship The earliest philatelic items to depict this unusual building are postal stationery postcards originating from 1900 when the Greek postal authorities organised a competition for photographers and artists The best pictures were selected for issue and on 1 July 1901 the first series of 32 cards was issued In total 12 series of 32 cards each were issued between then and 20 March 1903 The cards were issued in three colours (chestnut black and green) with imprinted stamps of two values (5 lepta green for national mail and 10 lepta red for international mail) The cards additionally have an impressed stamp without colour on the left side being 10 lepta for the card itself so the cards were sold for 15 and 20 lepta The design of the imprinted stamps was based on the Hermes (Mercury) statue by Giovanni da Bologna During the war on the Balkans the cards were used by the Greek army and have an extra imprint ndash Carte Postale ndash Franchise Militaire A few examples of these postal stationery postcards are illustrated opposite and on page 23 The wording ldquoLrsquohorloge de Kyrrhestesrdquo refers to the timepiece built by Andronicus of Kyrrhos while ldquoTEMPLE DrsquoEOLErdquo translates as ldquoTemple of Aeolusrdquo (Aeolus = god of the winds) For each card 12 versions can be distinguished ndash ie 3 colours x 2 values x 2 usages For fuller information see reference no 1 Of course numerous picture postcards also feature this interesting structure
The Tower of the Winds The Oldest Planetarium on Stamps and
Postal Stationery
Front and back of postal stationery postcard
Examples of Greek postal stationery from the early 20th
century
Front and back of postal stationery postcard
22
ORBIT
The 19423 issues (SG 561-572) of Greece shown beside the 1973 Dominica souvenir sheet whose designer has
reinterpreted the divine sculptures in the margins
Boreas also on the 100d value in black and grey
Skiron
Zephyrus in two 25d vals
orange and green
Lips
Notus
Eurus
Apeliotes in two 10d vals red brown and red orange
Kaikias in two 50d vals black and grey violet and blue
Wind Direction Name of Deity Characteristics of the Sculpture North Boreas An old man wearing heavy clothing and holding a conch shell This wind was cold fierce and
stormy and in Athens made a loud hollow noise
North East Kaikias Old man with severe expression holding circular shield from which he will drop hailstones Weather characteristically cloudy wet and cold
East Apeliotes Young man with hair flowing in every direction holding a cloak full of fruit and grain ndash he brings gradual gentle rain
South East Eurus Old man with morose countenance wrapped tightly against the elements in his cloak This wind brought sultry gloomy weather with much rain
South Notus Young man emptying an urn and producing a shower of water This wind was associated with sultry very wet weather
South West Lips Boy pushing the stern of a ship promising a good sailing wind This was the wind which blew right into Piraeus harbour
West Zephyrus Beautiful lightly clad youth of happy aspect holding a cloak full of flowers In summer this wind brought very sultry weather
North West Skiron Bearded man with a bronze pot full of hot ashes and charcoal This was a dry wind extremely cold in winter but scorching and with lightning in summer
The following table gives details of the sculptures and the characteristics attributed to each of the wind gods
For fuller information see reference no 2
23
ORBIT
The sculptures of the eight winds were depicted on stamps of Greece issued in 1942 (six designs) and 1943 (again six designs ndash four as the previous issue but including the two omitted winds) Five values were surcharged in 1944 to aid victims of the Piraeus bombing of 11 January 1944 the exceptionally high face value resulted in few of these stamps being used Later in 1944 the same five values were surcharged in aid of a Childrenrsquos Convalescent Camp Fund Finally in 1946 two values of the 1942 issue were surcharged ndash the 10dr value in black and the 50dr revalued as 20dr in red See opposite for examples of the stamp designs In addition to these attractive engraved stamps the 1973 issue from Dominica commemorating the centenary of the World Meteorological Organisation included a miniature sheet incorporating the 50c and $1 values and surrounded in the margin by images of all eight wind sculptures (see page 22) More recently the cover of a booklet issued by Greece on 7 October 1988 provides an aerial view of the agora and the Tower of the Winds can be detected (see below) The booklet contains 16 stamps (4 each of 4 different values) and celebrates capitals of Greek provinces In early Christian times the building was used as the bell tower of a Byzantine Church It was partly buried in the ground until fully excavated in the 19
th century by the
Archaeological Society of Athens It is interesting to note that the design of the upper octagon of the 18th century Radcliffe Observatory in Oxford England is based on the Tower of the Winds as is the mausoleum of the founder of the Greek National Library Panayis Vagliano at West Norwood Cemetery London There is a similar tower in Sevastopol built in 1849 References
1 ldquoEntiers Postaux Illustreacutes du service des postes
helleacuteniques et leurs preacutecurseursrdquo Georges Mathas 1985
2 For finely detailed drawings and information about the sculptures you may care to see if your Library has a copy of ldquoThe Antiquities of Athensrdquo Stuart amp Revett Vol 1 published in London 1762
3 Article by Derek J de Solla Price in ldquoNational
Geographic April 1967 pp587-596 4 Much useful information may also be obtained from
sites on the internet
Examples of Overprints from left to right
1944 Piraeus Bombing Aid 1944 Childrenrsquos convalescent camp fund 1946 Surcharge
Below Cover of the 1988 stamp booklet
Front and back of postal stationery postcard
24
ORBIT
Old Photo Makes New(s) Story
A photo taken twenty-one years ago became hot international new(s) this July writes Bert van Eijck
It is a picture of your correspondent in front of the
monument on the graves of the seven astronauts killed
in the Challenger disaster The photo from November 1989 shows the national cemetery at Arlington in
Washington DC And it is this graveyard a national American field of pride and honour that was involved in
a scandal making news all over the world
What happened This became a hot story after it was leaked to the press that in 211 graves on Arlington the wrong corpse had
been buried But this disgrace grew to international
proportions when the US Senate published a report which revealed that it was not 211 but 6600 graves that
had been so dishonoured And maybe there are more the researchers stated
Consequently it meant that family members had been paying their respect at the wrong graves because many
were not marked well or the ground-plan directed to wrong places
Arlingtonrsquos director John Metzler was fired as was his
depute Thurman Higginbotham both of whom said
they knew there were made mistakes but they could not help ldquobecause of economyrdquo
Arlington cemetery was opened in 1864 Since then
300000 Americans have been buried here including
famous or well-known persons like presidents
ministers high ranked military artists judges and
astronauts
And what about some of the most recent ones Did I indeed visit and honour the seven Challenger astronauts in their last resting place on Earth in
November 1989 as shown on the photo Or are they perhaps mistakenly buried in another
unmarked grave This is hard to believe but one never knowshelliphellip
For those who wonder what was doing 21
years ago in the US capital I visited the
World Stamp Exporsquo89 at the Convention Center in Washington DC Of course I did
more sightseeing at and in the famous Smithsonian Museums (a must the
National AirampSpace Museum with 10
million visitors a year) the Capitol the metro (deepest in the world) George
Washingtonrsquos house in Vernon Arlington of course and much more
At the World Stamp Expo there was a
presentation of both USA and USSR space
stamps The American stamps were presented by astronaut Buzz Aldrin the
Soviet stamps by cosmonaut Gherman Titov
Author and the Challenger astronauts monument at Arlington seven figures in bronze (left) At right a plaque honoring US-soldiers killed in action saving
hostages in Iran
Astronaut Buzz Aldrin (left) presents the US space stamps while cosmonaut Gherman Titov (right) does the same with
Soviet space stamps In the middle officials of USPS Below the
stampshellip
25
ORBIT
The Apollo 15 Cover Scandal by Umberto Cavallaro
In a feature which first appeared in the April-June 2010 issue of Ad Astra the web journal of the Italian Astrophilatelic Association its editor reveals in considerable detail the full story of those covers which today sell for so much money The Apollo 15 flown covers are among the best known
collectibles from the Apollo Era mainly because of what Jim Irwin recalls as ldquothe problem we brought
back from the Moonrdquo
The crew of Apollo 15 carried out one of the most complete scientific explorations of the Moon the first
lunar roving vehicle was operated on the Moon to
extend the range of exploration some 180 pounds of lunar surface samples were returned for analysis Yet
Fifteen is best remembered as the crew that carried envelopes to the moon and the whole mission is
remembered for the ldquogreat postal caperrdquo
Apollo 15 was not the first mission to carry covers
dozens were carried on each flight from Apollo 11 onwards and as Commander Dave Scott recalls in his
book the whole business had probably been building since Mercury through Gemini and into Apollo People
had a fascination with objects that had been carried in space and they became more and more popular and
valuable as the programme progressed Right from
the start of the Mercury programme each astronaut had been allowed to carry on board a certain number
of personal items
NASA was in the habit of authorizing astronauts to
carry certain personal items on manned flights known as Astronautsrsquo PPK (Personal Preference Kits) All such
items had to be listed and approved by Deke Slayton the Head of the Astronaut Office prior to launch and
were intended for private use or as personal gifts
after the flight and could not be employed for commercial
Fig 1 The official USPS cover postmarked on the Moon
purposes or personal gain Astronaut kits typically
included badges jewellery coins medals flags stamps postal covers currency printed materials and
similar easily packed lightweight mementoes As the flight became more significant the number and type of
items increased
Aside from personal mementoes each crew had
carried medallions whose number had grown steadily on each mission In his book The All-American Boys astronaut Walter Cunningham reveals that it was rumoured around the Astronaut Office that Apollo 14
carried on board a personal package weighing forty-
two pounds Before that flight the Franklin Mint had even advertised the proposed sale After the flight the
commercial deal was never completed and all went quiet nothing about it being published in the media
But some members of the US Congress were unhappy
of the situation
In that context the ldquolapses of judgmentrdquo of the Apollo 15 crew became fatal Dave Scott went too far
carrying on board a total of 641 postal covers (including the two official covers) of which only 243
were listed and authorized before the flight and 398
were not -- secretly carried on board Apollo 15 by Scott in a pocket of his space suit Had they been
listed as being in Scotts PPK they would probably have been routinely approved for inclusion in the
preference kit
The 243 listed and authorized covers include
bull 2 official US Postal Service covers one of which the ldquoOfficial Coverrdquo was publicly cancelled on the
moon by Scott at the request of the US Postal
Service 10 (Fig 1) bull 1 Wright Brothers commemorative cover dated
1928 and autographed by Orville Wright which was carried by Worden for a friend
bull 1 cover bearing a First Man on the Moon stamp and a Bliss Centennial three-cent stamp carried by
Irwin for Barbara Baker (Fig 2 below)
26
ORBIT
8 Shamrock covers carried by Irwin (as below)
144 Herrickrsquos ldquoMoon Phasesrdquo covers carried by Worden
(Fig 4) printed with a cachet showing 15 phases of the moon On the USS Okinawa the Apollo 15 recovery ship
the astronauts placed two eight-cent stamps purchased
on board by Worden on each of these covers and they had the covers cancelled by the shipboard post office
The astronauts later autographed these covers while flying back from Hawaii to Houston Sixteen covers were
torn or damaged and were destroyed Because of the furore created by the Apollo 15 covers incident NASA
confiscated 61 of these 144 Moon Phases covers
87 Apollo 12 covers (Fig 5) that for unknown reason
did not fly on that mission and which were carried on
Apollo 15 for Mrs Barbara Gordon a stamp collector then wife of Richard Gordon Apollo 12 astronaut who
at was the back-up pilot for Apollo 15
The 398 unauthorized covers (initially there were
400 but 2 were damaged and discarded) are lightweight envelopes carrying as a cachet a replica
of the official Apollo 15 patch overprinted with an Air Force wing and propeller emblem
The idea of these additional covers was suggested during a cocktail party by Eiermann a salesman for
the heat-shield contractor who had frequent business and social contacts with NASA personnel and
astronauts He suggested to fly 400 lightweight covers 100 for each of the astronauts and 100 for
his friend Sieger the German stamp dealer The
cacheted covers were provided by Al Bishop a friend of many astronauts then at the Howard
Hughes organization He had already provided covers for the previous flights since Apollo 12
Above one of the 100 Sieger covers with the handwritten note ldquoLanded at Hadley Moon July 30 1971 On the
reverse is a typed and notarised inscription ldquoThis is to certify that this cover was on board the Falcon at the Hadley-
Apennine Moon July 30 ndashAug 2 1971rdquo
Below one of the 298 unauthorised covers carried to the Moon by David Scott with the inscription ldquoThis envelope was
carried to the Moon aboard the Apollo 15 of 300 to the Lunar Surface in LMrdquoFalconrdquo
The crews usually returned to Bishop a couple of
flown covers signed with gratitude ldquoTo my
knowledge ndash Cunningham reports in his well documented book ndash Bishop never sold any and never
made a dime off his relationship He was simply a fan To Al Bishop Apollo 15 was no different from any
other flight except for a phone call he received from
Hal Collins the Astronaut Office manager at the Cape
27
ORBIT
Collins told Bishop that the crew would like to know
whether he could obtain some very lightweight envelopes for them Al said that hed be happy to do so
He was unaware then that many of them would be smuggled on board the next lunar flight Al was trusted
Thats why many of us imposed on him with our
problems special requests and sometimes matters which we would rather not share with NASArdquo
This time Al was badly used he emerged as a
scapegoat and his name was dragged as though he was the Mr Big of an international stamp conspiracy
The covers were cancelled at Kennedy Space Center
several days before July 26 1971 The date of the post office machine canceller was moved forward
Additionally twin eight-cent stamps were purchased by the astronauts on the USS Okinawa the Apollo 15
recovery ship and affixed to these covers ndash as for the
Herrickrsquos covers In the shipboard post office the covers were then cancelled and date-stamped August 7 1971
The astronauts finally autographed these covers while flying from Hawaii to Houston
Soon after the flight the astronauts gave Eiermann
the 100 covers ndash after agreeing that there was to be
no commercialization or advertising of these covers and that nothing would be done with them until after
completion of the Apollo programme
But after a while news started to circulate that the
German dealer was selling in Europe covers flown on Apollo 15 for a reported average of US $1500 each
The reports infuriated Congress not least because congressmen had to read such controversial
information in the press before being informed by
NASA which is obligated to keep Congress fully informed of its activity Recollection of the Apollo 14
medallions incident must have echoed in the minds of certain members of Congress many of whom were
not fans of NASA anyway NASA started an internal investigation This was the most controversial
development of the Apollo Programme and although
most astronauts were involved to some degree NASA made an example of the Apollo 15 flight crew ldquoIt
was turning into a witch-huntrdquo recalled Scott ldquoOur bosses had abrogated their responsibilities and we
were left alone on a very wet dayrdquo
It is ironic that after addressing a joint session of
Congress as heroes in less that one year the three astronauts of Apollo 15 had to go back in front of these
same senators in disgrace because of this envelope scandal
After this ldquoincidentrdquo NASA prohibited from Apollo 17 on the flying of covers or stamps during a space
missions (they were not on time to block the covers carried on Apollo 16) The only exceptions have been
since then the items flown in cooperation with the US
Postal Service ie the 266000 covers carried in 1983 in
the payload bay of the Space Shuttle Challenger on
STS-8 and the 500000 $995 Express Mail stamp created by Paul and Chris Calle in 1994 flown on
Endeavour STS-68 in recognition of the 25th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing The huge
number of such items carried in space discourages
speculations and these items still are widely available for few dollars
So far fewer than 1000 envelopes in total have flown
to the Moon No other American covers will flow to the Moon in the foreseeable future Perhaps the next
ldquoMoon coversrdquo will bear Chinese or Indian stamps
Dave Scott was the first lunar Postmaster and had two
postmarks with him and two covers with imperforated dieproof of the US twin Decade of Space Achievements
stamps affixed (Fig 1)
He had one postmark with ldquoMoon Landing USArdquo (Fig 8 below) and another with ldquoUnited States on the
Moonrdquo (Fig 9 bottom)
The First Lunar Post Office was opened on August 2 1971 when David Scott postmarked only the official
cover (and brought back the official backup-cover uncancelled) A handful covers had however been
postmarked before launch with both postmarks Dr Matthew Radnofsky ndash who in his laboratory already
had simulated cancelling in space for Apollo 11 ndash
tested both postmarks to ensure that the cancellation devices were in working order
Especially the date could be changed easily Contrary
to Apollo 11 covers without stamps were used for
28
ORBIT
these tests Apollo 15 Lunar Cancellation Proofs are
much scarcer than Apollo 11 ones ldquoAs by now I am aware of only 17 itemsrdquo states famous astrophilatelist
Walter Hopferwieser Covers with proofs of the Apollo 15 moon postmarks have been recently sold at Regency
Superior and Aurora auctions
The official Apollo 15 cover postmarked on the Moon
(see Fig 1 repeated above ) is displayed at the US National Postal Museum It was publicly cancelled and
the video can be seen at httpwwwpostalmuseumsiedustampstakeflight
apollo15video-01html A short speech was given by
Dave Scott while cancelling the cover ldquoTo show that our good Postal Service has deliveries any place in the
universe I have the pleasant task of cancelling here on the Moon the first stamp of a new issue dedicated to
commemorate US achievements in space I have the
first one here on an envelope At the bottom it says United States in Space a decade of achievement and
Im very proud to have the opportunity here to play postman I pull out a cancellation device It says
August 2 1971 first day of issuehellip What could be a
better place to cancel this stamp than right here at Hadley Rillehelliprdquo
Immediately thereafter the Postmaster General who
was waiting at the Mission Control at Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston Texas gave the signal to start the
First- Day cancellations at post offices in Houston
Kennedy Space Center and Huntsville
Acknowledgement Thanks to Walter Hopferwieser for his comments
Some Notes About Space Mail
Commenting on Brian Vincentrsquos article in the June
2010 Orbit ASSS member Geoff Chivers writes in an
email to your Editorhellip Im sure you wont mind me commenting on Brian G Vincents Some Notes About Space Mail (page 36)
In paragraph 2 he refers to the Apollo 15 cover incident leaving the impression that Scott Worden and Irwin were guilty of some heinous crime This has been the subject of much miss-reporting over the years The full story of what actually happened is explained in depth at page 328 et seq of Two sides of the moon by David Scott and Alexei Leonov published by Simon amp Shuster The astronauts were of course exonerated
This is the quote (slightly edited to enable it to stand as an independent piece)-
During 1972 while on a trip to Washington DC George Low NASA deputy administrator asked me to stop by his
office writes David Scott I had known George in Houston while he was Apollo spacecraft programme manager and I had great respect for him We spent a short while exchanging pleasantries Then George looked me in the eye and came to the point ldquoWell Daverdquo he said ldquoI have to tell you I was not very proud of my performancerdquo His comment was the culmination of what had become known as the Apollo 15 ldquocover incidentrdquo This involved some first day postal covers which we had carried aboard Apollo 15 some of which were unfortunately sold by a German stamp dealer several months after the flight As No 2 in NASA George
had been heavily involved in NASAs handling of the incident and his comment referred to one of the poorest management performances the space agency had ever demonstrated - up to then The whole business had probably been building since Mercury through Gemini and into Apollo People had a fascination with objects that had been carried in space and they became more and more popular and valuable as the programme progressed Right from the start of the Mercury programme each astronaut had been allowed to carry on board a certain number of personal items in what were known as PPKS - Personal Preference Kits Before each flight a list of the items was prepared for Deke Slayton who
Two Sides of The Moon
by David Scott and Alexei Leonov
The text opposite from the
above book has been
referred to by Umberto Cavallaro in preparing his
above piece
29
ORBIT
had overall responsibility for approving them As the flights became more significant the number and type of items increased Aside from personal mementoes each crew had carried a certain number of medallions which they could hand out afterwards as souvenirs The number of medallions had grown steadily on each mission - eventually some crew members had been carrying several hundred each and their weight was becoming a concern And as always commercialisation began to creep in In the end on Apollo 14 commanded by Al Shepard it was alleged that the crew had carried some silver medallions on board which were to be melted down after the flight and mixed with many other commemorative medallions by the Franklin Mint to be sold to the general public The Franklin Mint had even advertised the proposed sale before the flight After the flight the deal was never consummated and all went quiet nothing about it was printed in the media But some members of Congress had heard about it and were unhappy with the situation Since we were busy training for Apollo 15 (launched 26 July 1971) we knew nothing about all this Had we known we would have been far more wary of what happened subsequently All we knew was that Deke Slayton had halved the number of medallions we could carry Shortly afterwards Deke introduced Jim (Irwin) Al (Worden) and me to a long-standing friend of his at the Cape called Walter Eiermann In retrospect this seems likely to have been more than a coincidence Deke invited us to join him at dinner at Eiermanns house one evening several months before the Apollo 15 launch Eiermann asked if we would like to make some money on the side by signing some stamps ldquoAll the guys are doing itrdquo he said We agreed We were also approached by several members of the Manned Spacecraft Centerrsquos stamp club who asked us to sign many first - day covers before the flight for their members as well as for ourselves At that time we could not buy life insurance If we signed some covers we reasoned they could be held during the flight and act as limited life insurance for our families if anything happened to us But then Eiermann proposed we carry four hundred lightweight commemorative covers a hundred of which would be passed on to a stamp dealer in Germany when we returned All the covers would be franked on the day of launch and franked on the day of our return Our understanding was that the dealer would hold his hundred covers to be sold at some future date after the Apollo programme was over In return he would set up a $6000 trust fund for each of us for the education of our children In the months of intense activity before the flight we did not give this more than a moment of thought But we agreed In retrospect we made a mistake in even considering it In the months following our mission we learnt that the German dealer had begun to sell the covers We let Eiermann know that we were opposed to the sale Forget the trust funds we said we dont want any money This is not what we had understood would happen But when senior managers at NASA learnt about the covers being sold they were furious Incomplete information was then provided to the press by NASArsquos Public Affairs Office and reports started to appear that we had smuggled the covers onto our flight This was literally impossible NASA personnel prepared us for every aspect of the flight - from our birthday suits out Everything we had carried had to be specially packaged by the flight support crew to make sure apart from anything else
that it was fireproof Everything in our PPKs was on a list which was certified before launch I was never aware of any rules about what could or could not be taken in these packs Slayton was to approve the list so as far as I was concerned it was up to management to keep us on the straight and narrow I assumed if the list was approved that was fine Usually the list was certified by Deke But before our flight for some reason he neither asked us personally for each of our lists as was customary nor signed off on the list personally He said the flight - crew support team had already logged everything Whereas we had purchased the covers ourselves the Astronaut Office at the Cape had prepared the covers for the flight and had had them stamped and franked on the day of launch Somehow however the support team had missed them when they prepared the PPK flight manifest It was also reported after the incident that we had been removed from the astronaut corps Again totally untrue Unfortunately NASA managers did nothing to dispel this false and misleading information They just tucked their heads in and let the rumours run The reports infuriated Congress not least because congressmen had to read such controversial information in the press before being informed by NASA which is obligated to keep Congress fully informed of its activities Recollections of the Apollo 14 medallion incident must have seeped into the minds of certain members of Congress many of whom were not fans of NASA anyway When NASA started an internal investigation we were told by a senior official in the agency that we were on our own We were advised to get our own legal representation A Senate hearing into the matter had been called and a justice Department investigation would follow It was turning into a witch - hunt NASA we were advised expected us to keep quiet and take the Fifth Amendment at this hearing We did not We told it like it was We had nothing to hide Eventually the Justice Department concluded that we had broken some administrative rules but had done nothing criminal NASA confiscated the remaining covers but they acted before discovering all the facts of the case Following an investigation by NASA the Justice Department and the Senate the Justice Department concluded on 6 December 1978 in a ldquoMemorandum Opinion for the Assistant Attorney Generalrdquo that NASA had no claim to the remaining covers that the covers were never intended for sale that there was no attempt at concealment by the crew of the fact that the covers were to be flown on Apollo 15 and finally that the covers would have been approved to carry aboard Apollo 15 had a request been made We were reprimanded and we took our licks But it was a very raw deal NASA had hung us out to dry Our bosses had abrogated their responsibilities and we were left alone on a very wet day I spent many years trying to get full access to NASA and congressional records on the case NASA refused to provide full disclosure We subsequently found out there had been rumblings about profitmdashmaking on previous missions A copy of a letter was released to me in which NASA admitted that ten other astronauts who were not identified had been involved in selling signed blocks of stamps and postcards for Eiermann But the wave reached the shore on Apollo 15 and we were the ones who bore the brunt of the blame for such incidents
30
ORBIT
Buckingham Cover offer Free Souvenirs for You
Brian Austin of Buckinghamrsquos Rare Cover Department writes to your Editorhellip
Over the last two or three years we have been dealing more and more in signed space covers This led us to earlier this year buying an Apollo 11 crew signed cover which had been carried to the moon which we had on display on our stand at London 2010
For this we also printed a limited edition of 800 sets of postcards one featuring the Apollo 11 cover and another
featuring an Apollo 15 cover The idea was to give away 100 sets per day to customers at the show but now the show is all finished I still have around 150 pairs left on my desk
We wondered if you would like to offer them to your readers we are happy to send them out free of charge to the first 150 readers to contact us with their details as long as we can also include one of our lists of space
covers
BrianAustinbuckinghamcoverscom
31
ORBIT
More About Missile Mail
Harvey Duncan told us in the last Orbit (page 15) about the First Official Missile Mail writes Bert van Eijck After the useful technical details about the USS Barbero he gave us I can offer you more philatelic information and show you some illustrations The missile mail experiment was a joint venture between
the Ministry of Defense and the US Post Office Dept headed by Postmaster General Mr Arthur E
Summerfield Three thousand special envelopes were printed with a reproduction of a Navy missile type
Regulus with the text ldquoFirst Official Missile Mailrdquo and above that ldquoThe Postmaster General Washingtonrdquo All
the envelopes were addressed to The President high
government officials like senators and to the Post Masters General of ninety nine other member nations of
UPU Inside was a letter from Mr Summerfield entitled ldquoThe First Official Missile Mailrdquo with the official seal of
the Post Office dept It was explained therein what had
happed to that letter and the other 2999
The special letters were loaded in two metal compartments and came aboard the guided missile USS Barbero (SSG-317) The shot was to occur during a regular training mission from Norfolk Virginia to Florida
About 350 kilometres off the coast of Florida the
Regulus missile was launched toward Airport Mayport
The missile climbed 10 km above the Atlantic and
landed within twenty minutes with all the letters intact The letters were cancelled with the hand stamp ldquoUSS
Barberordquo with the date ldquoJun 8 1959rdquo and the approximate timing of the launching ldquo930 amrdquo This
was done by post office staff part of an established
branch office on the USS Barbero The letters bore the 1957 4c American flag postage stamp Those
addressed to foreign countries carried two such stamps covering surface mail postage costs On the
reverse side is the Jacksonville Post Office cancellation with the approximate time of arrival ldquoJune 8 1030 am
1959 Floridardquo
Such flown letters are expensive to buy and a jewel in
any exhibit
But this is NOT the case with the Barbero souvenir
cover dated a month later on July 8 1959 issued in the same quantity (3000) as the originals The
inscription reads ldquoPoint of LandingmdashFirst Official Missile Mail 8 June 1959 US Naval Station Mayport Floridardquo
About 16000 () collectors had applied for such a cover
The imprint of the official Barbero cover was reproduced on a memorial cover issued and posted at
the Vienna International Airpost Exhibition Luposta on August 1959 in the Austrian capital Of course neither
of these items had been carried within the Regulus
missile
Also of interest the Postal Administration of
Paraguay issued a stamp
and a block in 1976 honouring the Barbero
Missile Mail The Gs 20 stamp shows a Regulus
missile in flight while the sheet shows the whole
addressed cover and in
miniature the complete letter inside from the US Postmaster General
as mentioned above and as illustrated below
Above a specimen envelope as described in the text and below its reverse cancel
32
ORBIT
An Invitation to Our Readers to Donate to an Innovative International Projecthellip
Kindest Sir or Madam
The municipality of Vitanje
(Slovenia) is honoured to have had a hand in the life of the
famous space architect Herman Potocnik Noordung
(1892-1929) (pictured right) who had already found a
surprising number of solutions
to space travel and troubles of living in vacuum long before
actual space flights took place His creations were used by the
renowned novelist Arthur C Clarke
in his book 2001 A Space Odyssey which was later also turned into a
movie directed by Stanley Kubrick In Noordungs honour we have
created the Memorial Centre of Herman Potocnik Noordung This
year the cultural centre of European
space technology will also get going in Vitanje This will be a place
where the European space heritage will be gathered and various events connected with the
contemporary European space technologies will be
organized
Proposed Philatelic Collection We would like to bring the project onto a higher level
where we would have the collaboration of various
countries in the world including such with a history in space travel (like USA Russia) One of the steps of this
expansion process would also include a philatelic collection of stamps with themes of outer space
(astronomy astronautics and everything connected to
outer space) We already have quite a decent collection but we would like to expand on that
Our goal is to have 6000 stamps before opening our
exhibition For this we would require the help of as many philatelists as possible
All of these philatelists would become co-creators and partners of this collection for which we hope will
become the largest collection of its kind in the world The people donating the stamps would get a great deal
of exposure at all these exhibitions and on the special
website which will be started shortly If you give us enough support and we are able to raise enough
stamps for a first-class collection we hope the first
exhibitions and various special events (like visits from
astronauts ndash philatelists) will see the light of day as early as in 2011
From a professional point of view we have an
excellent team working with us Long-time philatelist
Tone Petek is the person who initiated this project while Bojan Bracic the secretary of FEPA is one of our
counsellors and is completely behind this project
If you would be interested in such cooperation I will get the wheels in motion and send you a verifying
mail with the stamp of the municipality of Vitanje and
also of some higher organization within the Slovene political system
The collection is already underway with the help of the
Slovene Philatelic organisation (FZS) adds Rok in an email to your Editor in July This organisation has been of immense help with technical expertise and
connections It looks as if there might be an introductory exhibition next year sometime
In the hope of a successful partnership we offer our
sincere appreciation
Rok Podgrajsek
Obcina Vitanje Grajski trg 1
3205 Vitanje
Slovenia
Email address rokpodgrajsekgmailcom
But see also website httpwwwvitanjesi
(Editorrsquos Note both Wendy Buckle editor of
Themescene and our Chairman Margaret Morris commend this project to you We will be sending Rok
some recent copies of Orbit for the displays)
Some illustrations from Noordungrsquos only published text ldquoThe Problem of
Space Travel The Rocket Motorrdquo (the original German title
was ldquoDas Problem der Befahrung
des Weltraums - der Raketen-Motorrdquo) which saw the light of day
in 1928
Vitanje Local Private Post stamp
33
ORBIT
Zazzle Space Stamps Dazzle
I have noticed Zazzle Space Stamps appearing in Lollini brochures and on their web pages in recent months writes your Editor so I undertook to find out some facts about them and am grateful to The Astrophile Editor Jim Roth and the man who inspired him to create his own Zazzle designs Otto Bergman for the following infohellip Zazzle is one of half a dozen or more US companies
who facilitate the printing of non-copyrighted photos and artwork on private postage stamps which count
as postage within and outwith the USA You can
design your own Zazzle stampsmdashsee their websitemdashwhich you then purchase for your own use 20 to a
page
They are therefore a bit like British Smilers except
that the personal element of the stamp is not on a se-tenant label but actually incorporated within the
stamp itself as you can see from the examples on this page
Jim Roth was annoyed that the Kennedy Space Center Post office would not cancel his Zazzle stamps as they
consider them to be ldquometersrdquo and although he has marked STS-122 he wonrsquot be creating any others
You can see (and buy) all Jim Rothrsquos Space Zazzles on
his website m57coverscommdashclick on ldquostampsrdquo
Three of Jim Rothrsquos designs
See others on his website
An Otto Bergman space creation on
Zazzlecomottobergman
These space Zazzles and others are
available from the Lollini website or brochures
STS 128 in May 2010 section
STS 129 in June 2010
WISE and Delta 2 launch in July 2010 STS 130 in August 2010
STS 128 stamps show astronauts Christer Fuglesang (far left) and left Frank De Winne ISS Commander Expedition 21 STS 129 issues depict mission
patch and the crew led by Charles Hobaugh
Delta 2 rocket launch from Cape Canaveral of WISE Deep InfraRed telescope
34
ORBIT
Concluded on page 39
More Spaceflight Books for Sale
35
ORBIT ORBIT
SPACE HABITATS (Part Two) by John Beenen Continuing his feature from our last issue John Beenen begins by posing the questionhellip Why Should we Seek to Live
in Space
Spacecom gives ten main reasons why we should enter space for a prolonged
period
1 To secure a future for humanity
2 To build a new frontier
3 To find new energy sources
4 To build an industrial settlement on
the Moon
5 Better quality images of the
Universe
6 The SETI effort
7 Mining
8 Learning the history of our
Universe
9 Environmental benefits
Meeting the challenge
Taking for granted that it is naturally fascinating to investigate how mankind
might be able to maintain its habitat outside earth there are several further reasons to investigate why
mankind should settle themselves outside earth in the far future And More reasons mean a overall better
argument
Primarily there is the question of overpopulation and
secondly a solution for the energy problem
Next we have to consider that climate circumstances
are not under control anymore and earth eventually becomes uninhabitable
Also when for various reasons we start to kill each
other for some groups of people it may be an attractive proposition to depart this Earth in quite a different
sense And that is perhaps the most common thought
through activities in space more money can be obtained
But there are disadvantageshellip
On the other hand a prolonged stay in space is not that safe The construction must be protected against
radiation and it can be hit by large and small debris which makes space a very unsafe place
Furthermore cosmic radiation produces
a radiation of 80 mSv (millisievert) - well over the allowed maximum of 50
mSv and very much over the amount which is considered as safe for man
which is 3 mSv
Next solar flares produce a sudden
increase of soft gamma and energy rich radiation so much that without the
protection of an atmosphere half of our population could die easily
It is interesting that even without shielding most of this radiation can be
absorbed in the projected spacecraftsrsquo structure and in the air Smaller
structures can be protected with a
shield of co-rotating rocks
The construction further must be protected against sunlight which by
lack of the air shield will fall in unshielded so sun blinds and radiators
are indispensable
And as a result of the artificial gravity
there are some tiny movement problems which we will face later
Finally the created ecosystem should be fully self-supporting and that is easier said than done as
experiments with Biosphere-2 have showed
Biosphere-2 Biosphere-2 was a project built between 1987 and 1991 providing in an area of about 2frac12 football fields
a closed biological system of different composition From 1991-1993 a crew of 8 persons stayed herein A
second crew of 7 persons bridged a period of March
until September 1994 During the first period it appeared difficult to keep the atmosphere constant in
particular the carbon dioxide values changed rapidlymdashthe reason why many of the carried insects perished
Further the oxygen level decreased slowly because pf a leak
Even during the first two-year phase large differences in opinion appeared and the yield was not large
enough to deliver the calories necessary Reserve stocks had to be broken into Finally the second
experiment had to be ended prematurely because of
mismanagement
However it seems that a well-functioning stable ecosystem should not be underestimated physically
not technically
Artists impressions above Interior Stanford Torus and below Interior
OrsquoNeill Cylinder
Solar flares Czechoslovakia 1965 WB 47
36
ORBIT
It further has to be speculated on that men would resist
a regulated weather programme instead of the customary ever changing circumstances on Earth
Also we must physically resist an eternal stay outside
Earth That is not always easy as some people will show
some kind of sea sickness for ever In any case rooms with a diameter of less than 100 meters and a speed of
revolution over three per minute are insufficient At specifications of over 500 m and at less than 1 revolution
per minute fewer problems have to be expected
How do we get raw materials (Fantasy Moon Mining Yemen
Mutawakelite 1969 1343)
And still there have to be enough raw materials to sustain the
colony but as a principle the
search for raw materials is not the most difficult
From the asteroid belt enough small rocks can be
transported as a building material Also mines can be put
on the Moon Bercause of the lower gravity there transport is easier and some kind of firing mechanism
has been calculated which launch packets of ore simply into space where they can be manipulated
Air can be produced from moonstone Nitrogen nearly without loss can be recycled and eventually added to
ammonia mined from comets Large gardens and fields should start the normal photosynthesis and doing so
finally a complete sustainable society might be built up Energy from the Sun is present in superfluous quantities
What to do about gravity Most designs for a Space station start with a gravity of
1G Some designers however think that a lower level of gravity is possible But in the meantime experiments
with astronauts have showed that our physiology
changes rapidly influenced by decreased or absence of gravity Thus the calcium potassium and sodium
contents of our bone system decrease by about 10 That is not bad were we to stay in space forever but
very troublesome when occasionally we would return to
Earth
Also the quality of our muscles decreases as the blood volume does Providing effects comparable to aging
Further by lack of gravity astronauts become a little
taller with accompanying pain in the back Hence the staying with 1G gravity is not so bad
That has to be maintained by rotation of the
construction The larger the diameter of the construction is the slower it will turn to provide 1 G That is a result
of the centrifugal or centripetal force Its
magnitude has long been established thanks to the work of Dutchman Christiaan Huygens and fixed in
the formula
m v2
F = r where
F = the external force in N(ewton) m = mass in kg
v = speed in msec r = radius in m
Hence a spacecraft with a diameter of 15 meters has to carry out one revolution every 8 seconds to
produce a sensation of 1G And that is too quick for man The effect of the centrifugal force is that should
an astronaut drop an object it does not fall straight
down but partly away from himher Weird
Coriolis force But in a rotating Space station another force is at
work That is the lsquoCoriolis forcersquo named after the
French Gustave-Gaspard Coriolis (1792-1843) who described this kind of force for the first time
The most common manifestation is the second law of
Buys Ballot which says that air streams in the
atmosphere which according the first law of Boys Ballot as a principle run from high to low pressure at
the northern hemisphere are bent to the right and at the southern hemisphere to the left because of the
rotation of the Earth
Therefore air streams around depressions show a
spiral shape in opposite directions at the northern and southern hemisphere In a space station this
force can especially noticed when moving around through the spokes of the wheel
(Diagram of Coriolis F o r c e h t t p
wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm)
A s s u m e t h a t a n
astronaut on a ladder
climbs through a spoke to the axis As he climbs
along he circles around more slowly as he
describes a smaller circle
in the same time What happens with the difference in speed that he had before He will be pressed
against the ladder and that is the Coriolis force The force also acts in opposite direction when he
descends from the ladder
Also the throwing up and catching of a ball will
become a huge achievement as the ball does not
37
ORBIT
drop perpendicularly but will shift a little into the
direction of the orbit of the station and also achieves a higher speed
This also has strange effects on the astronaut As moves
quickly in the rotation direction of the station his weight
appears to increase to a noteworthy extent Then as he moves against the speed of rotation his weight
decreases apparently Mathematically this effect is explainable but very complex
Also the astronautrsquos head and feet move in different
speed to artificial gravity This is plainly noticeable when
somebody jumps up Hence avoid this practice
With these kind of effects adaptation to the changed circumstances in a space station will ask a lot of the
crew members I do hope they can stand it But in any
case the larger the space ship the lesser the problems
Inflatable stations
But therersquos more The inflatable station was considered
many years ago The first i d e a w a s p o s s i b l y
developed when on 12th August 1960 the Echo
balloon with a diameter of
30 meters was launched (Echo I balloon USA 1960
WB 3)
It is true you could not live in it as the balloon was of too frail a construction but the idea of an inflatable
spacecraft was then alive By 1958 groups within NASA
had begun to think about inflatable stations The Goett-committee has been one of the first On 25th26th May
1959 a conference started about projects after
Mercury In particular the
representative of Langley L a r r y Lo f t i n wa s
enthusiastic about his AMIS (Advanced Man in
Space) project (Hexagonal structure
Manama 1970 WB 113)
One of his first projects was a rotating hexagonal
inflatable construction with a diameter of 25 meters a cylindrical core and three lsquospokesrsquo Acting as a ferry to
and from the station the lsquoDyna Soarrsquo Space plane could
be used The Dyna Soar project (at that time still
under development) was cancelled by the American
Minister of Defense Robert
McNamara Inflatable Habitat NASA
1961 enwikipediaorg)
A Langley Space Station
team managed by Paul Hill and Emanuel lsquoMannyrsquo
Schnitzer developed the concept together with the
G o o d y e a r A i r c r a f t
Corporation
(Langleyrsquos self-inflating rotating hexagonal structure httphistorynasagov
SP-4308) Its original diameter had already been reduced to 10
meters
In the years after Langley built several experimental
modules called lsquoErectable Torus Manned Space Laboratoryrsquo a 11 model built by firms such as
Goodyear The torus was built from three layers of
nylon tissue and in between a rubber-like plastic material butyl elastomer A large problem was the
penetration by micrometeorites which as was learnt from the results of the Echo balloon finally damaged
the whole structure
Another problem was the great instability of the ring
due to movements of the astronauts the station started to wobble when they moved around Finally
the project was cancelled and at the end of the eighties the Langley Research Center started to
design inflatable constructions for a base camp on the
Moon
( A r t i s t imp r e s s i on Transhab inflatable
m o d u l e h t t p
enwikipediaorg)
Due to the development of a new series of
s t r o n g e r p l a s t i c materials such as Kevlar
these construct ions
received new interest That lead to the development of Transhab (Transit Habitat) as a resource for crews
coupled at the ISS (international Space Station) The construction is a cylinder in a diameter of 82 meters
and several storeys high
Its volume in inflatable state is 340 m3 The wall has a
thickness of 30 () cm and consists of 12 layers of which the outside layer is made from Kevlar The
layers beneath are made from Nextel a ceramic fibre Disagreements during development and the spiralling
costs finally in 2000 saw the end of NASArsquos interest
G e n e s i s 1
thespacereviewcom)
From 1999 the project was
taken up by Bigelow
38
ORBIT
Aerospace who improved the design and tested it with
successful launchings of Genesis I on 12 July 2006 and Genesis II on 28 June 2007
In their design it has once again more or less the shape
of a balloon With a thickness of 40 cm the wall is still
very thick The outside layer is still Kevlar but inside are some layers of Vectran a textile fibre Within the
structure ants and scorpions were launched along with some objects which people who paid for the privilege of
boosting into space
In this way Bigelow hopes to build a Space Hotel named
Nautilus To stimulate the development Bigelow offered a price of $50 million to everybody who succeeded in
launching a crew of 5 persons to an altitude of 400 km before 2010 So little money lost here so far
A second project which can be realized within the near future is a fixed residence on the Moon As said Langley
occupies itself with the design of such a base which partly should be build below the surface Stamp
designers have already realized the idea
What does the future hold Although we are a long way away from the kind of space station by which a large amount of earth inhabitants can
leave the planet Earth forever the first steps for doing
so are in preparation With the development of their Space Hotel Bigelow tries to make the step to space
albeit a temporary one
Also Langley literally tries to set foot on the Moon and
finally they will succeed in doing so However The cost of such projects are literally astronomical and it is not
expected that in the coming decades much money can be allocated to such projects
Of course in some thousands of years (possibly only in
hundreds of years) this will become the case but for the
time being in my opinion the true conquest of space will stay as science-fiction for at least a few hundred years
Hoorn 2009
John Beenen
NB The stamps entitled lsquoSpace Cityrsquo with a value of 0 cnt do not exist but have been made by the author by means of frames and pictures present at the Internet
Fantasy Moon
b a s e M a n a -ma1970 WB 122
Fantasy bases
ready for Mars
YAR 1971 WB 2892 and 6
Fantasy Modular
base YAR 169 WB 233
39
ORBIT
Cover Below bottom right Future space Dutch Antilles 2000
Literature references (for both parts of article) httpenwikipediaorg Space habitat Space Colonization Orbital Colony Space City Space settlement Space stations L5 Society Bernal Sphere Stanford Torus OrsquoNeil Cylinder Inflatable Space Habitat Transhab Biosphere 2 Generation Ship wwwdsenl~hklruimtehtm Wonen op groene eilanden in de Ruimte (Dutch Living on green Islands in Space) Henry Kluytmans wwworionsarmcom McKendree Cylinder Bishops Ring wwwnasnasagovAboutEducationSpaceSettlement The Colonization of Space wwwdyarstraightscommsgundamhabitatshtml Mobile Suit Gundam High Frontier Life in the Universal Century Developing sound habitats wwwartificial-gravitycomDissertation1_2htm From Tsiolkovsky to Sputnik (1878-1957) httpsciencenasagovheadlinesy2000ast26may_1mhtm Wheels in the Sky httpdiscaircraftgreyfalconus Hermann Noordung Wohnrad (Wheel for Habitation) httparticlesadsabsharvardedufull1992lbsaconf249R Inflatable habitation for the lunar base MRoberts httphistorynasagovSP-4308ch9htm lsquoAs inevitable as the Rising Sunrsquo From the inflatable Torus to the Rotating Hexagon wwwspacecomnewsbusinessmonday_040524html Bigelow Aerospace to tackle inflatable Space Habitats httpsciencehowstuffsworkcominflatable-spacecraft2htm How Inflatable Spacecraft Will Work wwwbogancaphysicscoriolishtml Rotating Space Stations Dynamics An Explanation of the Coriolis Force httpdemonstrationswolframcomRotatingSpaceStation Rotating Space Station wwwdvandomcomcoliolisspacestationhtml Frame Effects and Space Stations wwwdvandomcomcoriolisindexhtml A (hopefully) simple explanation of the Coriolis Force wwwdaviddarlinginfoencyclopedia Hale Edward Everett von Pirquet Guido Noordung Hermann Space Station wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm The Coriolis Force wwwastronautixcomcraftfamlunbaseshtm Lunar bases wwwastronautixcomgallerycspebasehtm Photo Gallery Space base wwwregererating-universeorgOn_Moon_as_Space_Basehtm On Moon as Space Base wwwspacefuturecomhabitatlivingshtml Space Habitat Introduction Living in Space wwwspacepagebevideotaak=bekijkampid=47 Living in space (Video) wwwnutricomspace The Case for Space colonization ndash Now Oscar Falconi wwwxentcompipermailfork (FoRK) Bigelowrsquos inflatable Genesis I satellite in orbit wwwrussianforcesorg Russian strategic nuclear forces (Genesis II) wwwbigelowaerospacecomgenesis Genesis I Genesis II
Thanks to Alan Tunnicliffe who came across the attached news item
complete with stamp in the eNZ Magazine the bi-monthly journal of
the Institution of Professional Engineers NZ Inc Vol 11 No 3 May-
June 2010
Vaccari Auction Sells Remarkable Space Covers April 2010
Apollo 12 cover 55 of 87 flown to the moon on Apollo 15 having been left behind by the original crew sold for euro12200 1977 Salyut
6 Soyuz 27 cover sold for euro1600
40
ORBIT ORBIT
Shuttle 1981mdash2010 Stamps Marshall
Islands 2005
United Nations 2007 Monaco and Ascension 2008
Bulgaria 1991 including stamp from souvenir sheet
USA 1981
below USA 1995 and bottom USA 1998
(two values)
St Vincent Grenadines 1983
Ascension 1989
Bulgaria 1990
and above right W Germany 1975
and USA 2000 Guyana 2006
USA 1995
41
ASSS Membership Renewal 2010
Memberrsquos Name amp Addresshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
I wish to renew my membership of the ASSS for a further year and enclose the equivalent of
pound15 (UK) euro30 (Europe) $US 45 (Rest of the World)
Please return this form with your remittance to Harvey Duncan by the
end of July Thank you
Harvey Duncan Treasurer ASSS 16 Begg Avenue
Falkirk Scotland FK1 2DL
PayPal For details of how to Pay via Paypal
please email Jeff Dugdale Email address on Page 2
42
43
44
5
ORBIT
STS-111 was assembly mission UF2 and transported to
the station the new resident crew of Valery Korzun Peggy Whitson and Sergei Treschev
Endeavour docked with the ISS on 7th June and
remained mated for almost a 190 hours On the same
day the EO-4 crew formally ended their 182-day residence handing over to the new team During the
time the two crews had together three EVAs were completed by Chang-Diaz (making his seventh flight)
and spationaut Perrin (the first Frenchman to spacewalk from the ISS) working on developing the
truss arrangement which would grow with every
subsequent visit of a shuttle One necessary repair was to Canadarm2 whose wrist roll joint was replaced
so restoring the sophisticated tool to operational status The MPLM Leonardo brought up in the shuttle payload
bay also permitted a large amount of new kit such as
a new science rack for microgravity experiments and a new glove box for isolation condition testsmdashto be taken
into the ISS and old materials to be returned to Earth
EO-5 Highlights As with EO-4 well over 50 experiments were tackled or re-
run by the new resident crew including one concerning the
forming of kidney stones during
spaceflight for which Peggy Whitson was the principal
investigator as the first ldquoScience Officerrdquo designated by
NASA
During their 185 days on the ISS the crew received two
Progress re-supply craft (M1-8 and M1-9) bringing over 5000 kg of cargo and equipment for the ESA Odessa science programme in November
By now routine EVA were conducted and the crew
overcame equipment repair and maintenance challenges Whitson posted a regular series of
journals on the NASA website about the work she was doing so providing a fascinating insight into the daily
work of the ISS crew She was amused to be
compared to ldquoScience Officerrdquo Mr Spock of the USS Enterprise in Star Trek
STS-112 (launched 7102002)
Assembly flight 9A flown by Atlantis docked with the ISS
on 9th October carrying materials for the construction of the S1 Truss and CETAmdash the Crew Equipment
Translation Aid (cart) which was to travel along the MBS rail
During EVAs David Wolf and (British born) Piers Sellers connected power data and fluid lines and released
launch bolts that allowed the radiators to be orientated for optimum cooling and set CETA in place Crew
members also repaired the exercise treadmill vibration dampening system in Zvezda and replaced a humidity
separator in Quest which had been leaking
Soyuz TMA 1 (launched 30102002)
Within two weeks of the department of Atlantis the first
of the new style Soyuz ferries arrived manned by two
Russians (Sergei Zaletin and Yuri Lonchakov and a Belgian Frank DeWinne) This flight ought to have
carried the third space flight participant (aka tourist) in the shape of N Synch pop singer Lance Bass but the
millionaire failed to pay his fare and was replaced by the back-up commander ldquoTMArdquo signified Transport
Modification Anthropometric and allowed many
American astronauts to fly who had been too large to fit in the Soyuz ferryrsquos previous versions very fortuitous
development given the dramatic space events which were to occur within a few months This was the first
Soyuz variant to fly without first being ldquoroad-testedrdquo
unmanned
The visitors who stayed at the station for a week worked with the resident
crew on Russian science programmes
and helped DeWinne with his ESA Odessa experiment programme which
had some twenty different features Returning in the TM 34 spacecraft they
had quite a hard landing in the first Russian landing at night time in ten
years DeWinne appears (on the right) in a Belgian
sheet issued in 2004 containing ten stamps showing famous countrymen
6
ORBIT
At this point in late 2002 the ISS
complex looked much as does in this 2006 stamp from Sierra Leone
captioned ldquoISS June 15th 2002rdquo showing the first basic trusses in
place
STS-113 (launched 23112002)
Assembly mission 11A began with the arrival of
Endeavour at the ISS on 25th November and the following day the P1 Truss which had been carried up
was relocated to the port end of the S0 Truss and automatically bolted in place
The mission also brought up the EO-6 crew of Ken Bowersox Nikolai Budarin and Donald Pettit who
officially took over shortly after the docking Three EVAs were conducted in support of the truss installation and
that of the CETA-B cart The activities included the first
EVA by a native American in rookie MS John Herrington
Although no one could possibly have predicted it at the time this would be the last time for thirty months that a
shuttle would dock at the station Endeavourrsquos own attempts to land were waived off on a record three
consecutive days before finally making it home on 7th
December
EO-6 Highlights The sixth resident crew had expected to return by shuttle at the end of their stay on the station but the
loss of Columbia on 1st February 2003 (in a mission that had not visited the ISS) resulted in the fleet being
grounded and the crew having to use the TMA-1
spacecraft for landing and they were replaced by the TMA-2 ldquocaretakerrdquo crew
Donald Pettit had been included
late the preparatory stage when
the original Science Officer Don Thomas was adjudged to have
received too much radiation on his previous spaceflights for duty
on a long duration flight There were no planned visiting
missions scheduled until the arrival of STS-114 to
bring them home after a four month tour
The science programme included over twenty new investigations and Pettit broadcast a series of science
demonstrated supported by postings on the internet
Two EVA (one unplanned) were conducted the first related to the P1 Truss radiator system but the
second (after the loss of Columbia) conducted on 8th April to ensure that the new crew would need to
perform an EVA only in an emergency
Progress M47 arrived on 4th February and further such
visits would now prove indispensable to the maintenance of operations on the ISS in the following
two to three years The resident crew departed on 3rd May so becoming the first to return to earth in a
Soyuz craft and accordingly making Bowersox and
Pettit the first NASA men to fly home in a Russian craft
The landing went far from well with the crew
experiencing almost 8G in the re-entry process and landing well off target so that it took over two hours to
find them they had not been equipped with mobile
phones Pettit was much distressed by the landing but the crew were much praised for their professionalism
in dealing with the problem which was later traced to the yaw gyroscope experiencing a gimbal lock when its
angular rate exceeded 54deg
Soyuz TMA 2 (launched 2642003) EO-7
The new style Soyuz ferry was now the only means of taking
astronauts to the ISS and due
to limited supply capacity it was decided that until shuttles
could be used again the resident crews would have to
be only two-strong (one from each nation) and launched
every six months The previously identified ISS crews
were reassigned as two-person crews with the third seat allocated to ESA astronauts flying short visits
7
ORBIT
However ESA had delayed their next astronautrsquos flight
by six months and so TMA2 flew with only two men on board
The first ldquocaretakerrdquo crew simply maintained systems on
the complex with limited capacity for science
programmes conducting only those which were already in situ Although both Mir and Salyut space stations
had been run by only two people the ISS was much more complex and considerably bigger so the ground
managers were very cautious in allocating duties
Progress M1-10 and M48 brought new supplies up to
Yuri Malenchenko and Ed Lu Lu as Science Officer continued to post on the web a series of personal
recollections of events on board
On 28 May a demonstration of American EMU suiting
was completed so proving that two men could suit up and remove suits without assistance from a third should
an emergency EVA be required On 10th August Malenchenko was ldquomarriedrdquo via a TV link to his fianceacutee
in Houston Texas arrangements having been made long in advance
Soyuz TMA 3 (launched 18102003) EO-8
The second caretaker crew arrived in mid-October
carrying Spanish ESA astronaut Pedro Duque British born ISS commander Michael Foale making his sixth
flight and Russian Alexander Kaleri the whole crew
being curiously celebrated by an issue from Tchad in 2004
Duque returned to Earth with
the EO7 crew on 27th October ha v i ng comp l e t ed h i s
Cervantes science programme during his eight days on the
station
In November Foale and Kaleri
practised emergency ingress procedures to determine if crew members wearing
Orlan EVA suits could enter Soyuz using the internal hatches This was proved possible after a great deal
of stressful activity
One EVA was conducted (on 26th February) and with
both men outside that was the first occasion on which no one had been inside the ISS for three and a half
years On 8th December Foale became the most
experienced NASA astronaut surpassing Carl Walzrsquos career total of 231 days over four missions When he
finally landed Foale had logged 375 days in space but his colleague Kaleri was still 238 days ahead of him in
aggregate terms
Soyuz TMA 4 (launched 1942004) EO-9
The new resident crew comprising Gennady Padalka Ed Fincke and Dutch ESA astronaut Andreacute Kuipers
arrived in mid-April and they are shown on this Lollini sponsored issue from Somalia in 2004 with Kuipers
appearing on his own in the top two stamps with
Fincke and Padalka (left) and Kaleri and Foale in the bottom pairing
8
ORBIT
Kuipers completed his ESA DELTA package during his
eight days on board ISS and returned with the EO8 crew on 30th April
The EO9 crew received no
visitors other than cargo
payloads via Progress M1-11 M49 and M50 After working on
suit repairs and servicing for over a month the crew
abandoned their first EVA after only 14 minutes because of a
pressure drop in the main
oxygen supply of an Orlan suit but a week later after successful repairs they spent
almost six hours outside working on the S0 truss In a second EVA in early August they installed reflectors and
communication units ready for the first ESA Automatic
Transfer Vehicle Jules Verne though this was later delayed by many months
On 18th June Fincke made history by becoming the first
US astronaut to become a father in space listening to the birth of his second daughter via his cell phone
The crew had severe problems with the Elektron oxygen generator which was failing every three days or so and
requiring manual starts These shutdowns were found to be centred on the liquid units that held trapped gas
inside micro-pumps despite using purified water
The crew completed their programme of many
maintenance tasks and returned to earth with test cosmonaut Yuri Shargin in October
Soyuz TMA 5 (launched 14102004) EO-10
The two members of the new resident crew arrived at
the ISS in mid-October the Commander Leroy Chiao and Salizhan Sharipov accompanied by Russian Yuri
Shargin who would stay only for the week or so Russian businessman Sergei Polonsky had been
scheduled to become the third paying space flight
participant but failed a late medical test and so was replaced by a Russian Spaces Forces cosmonaut the
first of that group to be
selected for cosmonaut training eight years earlier He
carried out his own programme of scientific study the Russians
stressing that none of his
activity was military as such practice is banned from the
ISS Sharipov was celebrated by a minisheet from his Kyrgyz homeland in 2005
(above) showing the space station nearing completion in the background
During the tenth expedition this crew would complete two Pirs-based EVAs receive two Progress supply craft
visits and relocate Canadarm2 Problems with the Elektron unit continued repairs were made to EVA
suits an upgrade made to the computer software
trouble experienced with the toilet in Zvezda and a heat exchanger replaced in Quest
There was concern in November that food was running
low with it due to run out in mid-January but this was found to be down to poor record keeping because of
the increased work load of a two person crew and
anyway Progress M51 arrived to solve the problem and the shuttlersquos impending return to flight would also help
Germany 2004 and Japan 2005 show
the station nearing completion
9
ORBIT
Soyuz TMA 6 (launched 1542005) EO-11
The eleventh resident crew would be the first to receive
a shuttle mission since STS-
113 in December 2002 because the loss of
Columbia had created the need to fly two-man
resident crews but the
docking of STS-114 in July would signify the impending return to full station
operation
Italian ESA astronaut Roberto Vittori was back at the ISS in the company of Russian Sergei Krikalev making
his sixth flight and American civilian John Phillips as
science officer This time Vittori completed research under the Eneide programme doing experiments in
human physiology biology and also getting involved in educational demonstrations
The new crew was not long on board before the Elektron system finally broke down in early May
though there were sufficient alternative sources of oxygen on board These would be complemented by
Shuttle and Progress deliveries such as Progress M53 in June which also carried spare parts for the Elektron
unit which the crew worked on in addition to routine
maintenance tasks and the repositioning of their Soyuz from Pirs to Zarya
STS-114 (launched 2672005)
On 28th July the first shuttle
crew to visit the ISS for two and half years arrived via Discovery This was a very experienced crew commanded by Eilleen
Collins By now the decision to
use the shuttle to complete station assembly and then retire
it had been taken The station then looked as it does in this
2006 issue from Sierra Leone As Discovery approached the ISS it flew around it at a distance of some 180
metres to allow the crew on board to photograph the
underside of the shuttle to check for launch damage This rather worryingly revealed the loss of two
protruding tile gap fillers Because these might cause hot spots on re-entry extra EVAs were designed to
manually extract them during which an astronaut
(Stephen Robinson) ventured under the shuttlersquos body for the first time ever in orbital operations
Discovery also brought up MPLM Raffaello carrying a
large amount of supplies including the Human Research Facility 2 and the new CMG 2 gyroscope
As the shuttle departed after over 12 days at the station both crews photographed each otherrsquos spacecraft The
second shuttle Return to Flight mission was then delayed because of questions about the integrity of the
foam fixtures on the External Tanks
In August the Vodzukh COsup2 removal system on the ISS
failed and the American unit in Destiny was activated to take over On 16th August Krikalev the first person
to complete two residences and the first cosmonaut to
fly six missions became the longest served Russian cosmonaut with over 747 days of spaceflight
experience Next day 17th August Krikalev and Phillips performed the only EVA of Expedition 11 after which
they prepared for their next visitors via Soyuz TMA7 which would carry in Gary Olsen the third spaceflight
participant and the new two man resident crew of Bill
McArthur and Valery Tokarev
Soyuz TMA 7 (launched 1102005) EO-12
To be continuedhellip
10
ORBIT ORBIT
2 The Moon Second Quadrant (North-West) We learn from our main source Atlas of the Universe by
Patrick Moore (Philiprsquos 1999)helliphellip
Selected Craters illustratedhellip
Archimedes (Diam 75 km Lat degN 30 Long degW 4) A large impact crater on the Eastern edges of the Mare Imbrium with Montes Archimedes mountains to the South Named after the Greek mathematician and scientist who lived c 287mdash212 BC
(San Marino 1982)
Copernicus (Diam 97 km Lat degN 10 Long degW 20)
A prominent feature named after the famous Polish astronomer (1473mdash1543) and located in the eastern Oceanus Procellarum this is estimated to be around 800 million years old and is typical of craters of that period having a very clear ray
system (Soviet Union 1973)
The Naming of Craters Einstein (Diam 160 km Lat degN 18 Long degW 86)
A large crater which lies along the Western limb of the Moon therefore difficult to observe from Earth and discovered only in 1952 by Patrick Moore Named after the German theoretical physicist and philosopher (1879-1955) (India 1979)
Encke (Diam 32 km Lat degN 5 Long degW 37) Located on the W edge of Mare Insularum to the S SE of crater Kepler Named after German astronomer Johann Frank Encke (1791-1865) (Comoros Isles 1986)
Euler (Diam 25 km Lat degN 23 Long degW 29) Located in the southern half of the Mare Imbrium its most notable nearby feature is Mons Vinogradov to the W-SW Named after Leonard Euler (1707mdash83) the Swiss mathematician and physicist (E Germany 1950)
J Herschel (Diam 145 km Lat degN 62 Long degW 41) A large walled plain which appears foreshortened when viewed from Earth Named after British mathematician chemist and astronomer Sir John Herschel (1792mdash1871) (Centre of GB 1970 )
Kepler (Diam 35 km Lat degN 8 Long degW 38) This lies between the Oceanus Procellarum to the W and Mare Insularm in the E with crater Encke to the SE Named after German mathematician and astronomer Johannes Kepler (1571mdash1630) (Czech Rep 2009)
Lavoisier (Diam 71 km Lat degN 36 Long degW 70) Located near the NW limb at the W edge of Oceanus Procellarum this lies to the SW of crater von Braun and SE of Bunsen Named in honour of ldquothe Father of Modern Chemistryrdquo the French chemist Antoine Lavoisier (1743mdash1794) (France 1943)
Le Verrier (Diam 25 km Lat degN 40 Long degW 20) A small nearly circular bowl shaped feature in the N part of the Mare Imbrium just E of the larger Helicon Named for the French mathematical astronomer Urbain Le Verrier (1811mdash1877) (France 1958)
11
ORBIT
Otto Struve (Diam 160 km Lat degN 25 Long degW 75) This is a vast lava flooded plain near the W
edge of Oceanus Procellarum close the W limb of the Moon and so appears foreshortened Named in honour of German astronomers Friedrich von Struve (Russian VY Struve) (1793-1864) and son (Otto) and grandson (Otto) (USSR 1964) Pythagoras (Diam 113 km Lat degN 65 Long degW 65)
This prominent feature lies near the NW limb just NW of the somewhat larger
Babbage It has an oval appearance due to the oblique viewing angle from Earth and only part of it can be viewed from Earth Named after Greek philosopher Pythagoras of Samos (c 570mdashc 495 BC) ( S a n M a r i n o 1982)
Babbage (Diam 143 km Lat degN 60 Long degW 57) An ancient crater located near the NW
l i m b n a m e d a f t e r B r i t i s h mathematician philosopher and computing pioneer Charles Babbage (1791mdash1871) (GB 2010)
Hevelius (Diam 122 km Lat degN 2 Long degW 67) This is a low-rimmed crater on
the W edge of the Oceanus Procellarum named after Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius (1611mdash1687) - ldquothe founder of lunar topographyrdquo (Poland
1987) Plato (Diam 97 km Lat degN 51 Long degW 9) The lava-filled remains of a crater on the NE shore of Mare Imbrium at the W
extremity of Montes Alpes named after the Classical Greek philosopher and mathematician (c 428mdashc 348 BC) (Greece 1998)
Schiaparelli (Diam 29 km Lat degN 23 Long degW 59) A small crater on the W part of Oceanus Procellarum to the W of Herodotus and named after Giovanni Schiaparelli(1835-
1910) Italian astronomer and science historian famous for his misinterpreted comments re ldquocanalirdquo on Mars (Hungary 1974)
12
ORBIT
ASTEROIDS Some Bits and Pieces
Ulugh Beigh (Diam 70 km Lat deg29 2 Long degW 85) The remnant of a crater just to the W of Oceanus Procellarum near the NW limbmdashforeshortened from the Earth Named after Ulugh Beg Persian ruler and astronomermathemat ic ian (Turkey 1983) Von Braun (Diam 60 km Lat deg41 2
Long degW 78) Named after rocket pioneer Wernher von Braun (1912-77) this is located near the NW limb on the W edge of Oceanus Procellarum and to the NE of Lavoisier (Guinea Biussau 2006)
Uncatalogued Hungarian Stamp Referenced in Spaceflight Article
The June 2010 issue of Spaceflight magazine contained
a five page article by Naacutendo
Schuminszky celebrating the first Hungarian in space whose
flight in Soyuz 36 occurred 30 years beforeon 26th May 1980
A side panel to the article
reproduced right contains
images of a pair of stamps with two subtle differencesmdashin
bottom left hand corner the date ldquo1979rdquo and ldquo1980rdquo and
rightmdashthe face value The
article goes on to explain how unexpected events delayed the
flight by a year Hungarian cosmonaut Bertalan Farkas was
due to be launched in mid-June
1979 in Soyuz 34 but his flight was cancelled following the
failure of Soyuz 33 carrying Bulgarian cosmonaut Georgi Ivanov to dock with Salyut 6 Soyuz 34 was eventually
launched unmanned to provide a fresh ferry for the resident crew to use
In anticipation of the 1979 flight a large number of associated souvenirs including posters emblems and
stamps had been prepared but had to be destroyed though evidently some escaped
However the 1979 version of the eventual SG 3320 is not listed in WEEBAU or Gibbons If any members have
any info about these unissued stamps please share it with us
More on Lunar Craters Our Chairman Margaret Morris forwarded the article opposite from the March 1989 issue of Sky amp Telescope which is of interest in the context of our new series explaining as it does how several Far Side craters have been named after astronauts and cosmonauts
Orbit for June 2010
Our last issue contained one glaring error for which your editor apologises The number on the front ldquo85rdquo was the same as the number for the March issue This will cause
problems when Harvey Duncan issues the next version of the index A lovely cover again by your Editorrsquos wife but spoiled by this typo Sorry
Flown STS-8 Covers These are referred to at the bottom of the left hand column of p 27 of this edition in Umberto Cavallarorsquos article where we learn that there were well over a quarter of a million of them
Alan Tunnicliffe editor of NZ Air Mail News advises that New Zealand stamp dealer JRMowbray has for sale at NZ $75 a piece flown STS-8 space covers date stamped 14 Aug 1983 at KSC with launch and return cancels and bearing a $935 stamp NZ$75 = US$53 or pound35 This seems a rather high price for flown STS-8 covers given the number available and members will possibly be able to obtain the item cheaper with an internet search
Solar Sails and The Sun Peter Hoffman comments on John Beenenrsquos feature on The Sun in our June 2010 issuehellip ldquoIn the Solar Sails section on page 8 mention is made of the failed launch of Cosmos-1 What is not mention is that is was a project of The Planetary Society httpwwwplanetaryorghome They are working on a new version called LightSail the first of which is planned for a launch later this year In case you are not familiar with it The Planetary Society is a privately funded space advocacy group founded in part by Carl Sagan ldquoThe Planetary Society yearly presents the Cosmos Award for Outstanding Public Presentation of Science in honour of Carl Sagan This years winner was Stephen Hawking They printed his acceptance speech Why go into space An amusing comment was a quote from a Calvin and Hobbes cartoon Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere is that none of it has tried to contact us ldquoThe Japanese Space Agency launched its solar sail spacecraft IKAROS (Interplanetary Kite-Craft Accelerated by Radiation Of the Sun) together with its Venus Climate Orbiter Akatsuki on 20 May You can read about it at httpwwwspacecommissionlaunchesjapan-venus-wrap-100520htmlrdquo
13
ORBIT
14
ORBIT
Spaceflight Books for Sale
Books about Space andor Astronomy in English
The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Space 1990 386 pages coffee table book euro 1500
Life in Space D Monchersquo 1979 ldquo 500
The Conquest of Space Willy Ley amp Chesley Bonestell+pictures 1952 RARE ldquo 2000
Star Hunters D Mammana 1990 coffee table book ldquo 1000
The Rocket David Baker 276p+490pictures 1978 coffee table book classic ldquo 2000
The History of Manned Spaceflight David Baker 576p+362pictures 1985coffeerdquo 2000
The Observerrsquos Spaceflight Directory R Turnill 384p 1978 ldquo 1000
The Observerrsquos Book of Unmanned Spaceflight+Manned Spaceflight 1974+1975 ldquo 1000
The Observerrsquos Book Of Astronomy Patrick Moore 1973 ldquo 500
Basic Astronomy Patrick Moore 1967 ldquo 300
Space a Novel James A Michener pocket Ballantine 1983 ldquo 250
Voyagers Ben Bova 1983 pocket ldquo 250
The Universe Herbert Zim 1973 ldquo 200
Exploring Other Worlds WyberampAmes 1968 ldquo 200
Tomorrowrsquos Moon Henry Little 1969 ldquo 200
Observatories of the World Marx amp Pfau 1982 ldquo 1000
Are We Alone Paul Davis Penquin 1995 ldquo 250
Moonport USA (Kennedy Space Center) 1977 ldquo 250
Living in Space (Colonies) J Trefil 1981 ldquo 500
The Cosmonauts Gordon Hooper 1977 ldquo 250
Extraterrestrials-Where Are They Zuckerman ampHart 1995 ldquo 1000
The Cosmic Connection Carl Sagan pocket 1975 ldquo 300
Exploring the Planets Ian Nicolson 1972 ldquo 250
Janersquos pocket Book 11 Space Exploration 1976 ldquo 300
Twenty-First Report Internat Telecomm Union Geneva 1982 ldquo 250
Satellites amp Space Travel Taylor ampAllward 1970 ldquo 200
Watchers of the Stars Patrick Moore 1974 ldquo 500
Robot Explorers Kenneth Garland 1972 ldquo 500
APOLLO by astronaut Alan Bean+paintings Bean in space 1998 coffeetable ldquo 2000
The World of Mars VA Firsoff 1969 ldquo 200
Missiles and Rockets Kenneth Garland ldquo 500
Stars and Planets Ian Ridpath 1978 ldquo 500
Race to Mars The ITN Mars Flight Atlas 1988 ldquo 500
Worlds Beyond Search for Life in Space Ian Ridpath 1975 ldquo 500
CETI Communication with Extraterrestrial Intelligence Stonelay 1976 ldquo 250
Horizon at the Edge of the Universe 9 chapters of astronomers 1983 ldquo 300
The New Race for Space James Oberg 1984 ldquo 500
The Hunt for Life on Mars Goldsmith 1998 ldquo 500
The High Road Ben Bova pocket 1983 ldquo 250
Operation Morning Light the True Story of Cosmos 954 Leo Heaps 1978 ldquo1000
Space Volunteers T Kay 1960 ldquo 300
Legal Aspects of Outer Space Dr C Reijnen 1976 205 pages the Worldrsquos
First Thesis of this Kind by female Dutch scholar ldquo 400
E-MAIL bertvaneijckhomenl if interested in any to discuss sale and postage
See further list on page 24
15
ORBIT
The above obituary and tribute by David Shayler
appeared in the August 2010 of Spaceflight magazine marking the passing of Rex Hall who was also one of
the longest standing members of the ASSS carrying
the membership number 88033 We extend our condolences to Rexrsquos family
16
ORBIT
Un-manned Satellites on Postage Stamps 35 By Guest Contributors Don Hillger and Garry Toth
A version of this article first appeared in The Astrophile for sic)
The Discoverer series
This is the thirty-fifth in a series of articles about un-manned satellites on postage stamps This article
features the satellites in the US Air Force (USAF) Discoverer series The first Discoverer was launched
on 21 January 1959 and the last one on 18 April 1962
There were a total of 39 launches a third (or 13) of which were failures The Discoverer series also called
Corona satellites were later declassified as the first Keyhole (KH) spy satellites
Discoverer was the public name of the Corona series
of film-return reconnaissance spy satellites whose true
mission was not officially revealed until about 35 years after the program ended The Discoverers secret
program was masked by scientific goals it was kept secret even from program staff who knew nothing
about Corona Scientific instruments were even placed
on Discoverer satellites and then covertly removed before launch
The Discoverer satellites were designed to take pictures
of target countries and then eject a film capsule
which was to de-orbit and enter the Earthrsquos atmosphere on a parachute and be recovered by a
specially-modified aircraft as it floated downward On many of the missions however the capture of the film
capsules was not successful for various reasons The first successful return of a capsule through the Earths
atmosphere occurred with Discoverer-13 though in this
case the aerial capture failed and the capsule fell into the sea Fortunately that mission carried no cameras
Discoverer-14 was the first completely successfully Corona mission in which reconnaissance photos were
taken from the spy satellite and ejected in a capsule
which was then successfully recovered in a mid-air capture carried out by a C-119 aircraft
Because of secret nature of their mission the
Discoverer satellites were not well-known and so were not featured on many postal items A set of three
stamps issued by Libya in 1966 (Scott 297-299) shows
a Discoverer capsule There is also a local post item from Batum that depicts the recovery of a Discoverer
capsule and a souvenir sheet from Chad (Michel BL247) that shows the re-entry of a Discoverer capsule
in the margin Another capsule recovery is shown in
the margin of a souvenir sheet issued by the Malagasy Republic in 1999 (Scott 1502a)
A checklist of postal items identified as showing Discoverer-
series satellites (httprammbciracolostateedudevhillgerDiscovererhtm) is available as part of the Website developed by the authors to accompany this series of articles (httprammbciracolostateedudevhillgersatelliteshtm) E-mail correspondence is welcome Don Hillger can be reached at hillgerciracolostateedu and Garry Toth at garry_tothhotmailcom
Top KH-4B Corona satellite Above Recovery of Discoverer 14 return capsule (typical for
the Corona series (ex Wikipedia)
17
ORBIT
18
ORBIT
Flight STS-130 Commander George Zamka Pilot Terry Virtis MS Kathryn Hire MS Stephen Robinson MS Nicholas Patrick MS Robert Behnken MS Koichi Wakata KSC Launch Date 822010 KSC Landing 21210 Purpose Tranquility Module Main Payload and Cupola
Shuttle Story 201011 STSndash130 -131 -132 Part One
STS-130 (ISS assembly flight 20A) via Endeavour carried as its
primary payloads the Tranquility module and the Cupola a robotic control station with six windows around its sides and
another in the centre providing a 360-degree view around the station Endeavour launched at 0414 EST (0914 UTC) on 8
February 2010 and landed at 2220 EST on 21 February 2010 on
runway 15 at the Kennedy Space Centers Shuttle Landing Facility
Tranquility was shipped from the
Thales Alenia Space facility in
Turin Italy It arrived at Kennedy Space Center on 21 May 2009 It
was formerly known as Node 3 and was named by a NASA poll
The module provides six berthing locations however three of those
locations are disabled as modules
originally planned to be attached to Tranquility were cancelled The
photo right shows Tranquility just before being installed to Unity node
STS-130 also brought the Cupola a large window
module and robotics work station to the ISS which was
to be attached to the nadir-
side of Tranquility The module also includes various
ISS systems including addit iona l l i fe support
systems This photo shows the facility being prepared at KSC whilst the photo above right
shows the module and cupola being moved into position on the
ISS
The shape of the mission patch on the launch
cover below represents the cupola over the earth in a photo taken by the unmanned
Lunar Orbiter probe in 1966 so representing a past and future designation for explorers from
Earth
For other Zazzle stamps
see page 33
19
ORBIT
Flight STS-131 Commander Alan Pointdexter Pilot James Dutton MS Rick Mastracchio MS Dorthy Metcalf- Lindenburger MS Stephanie Wilson MS Naoko Yamakazi MS Clayton Anderson KSC Launch Date 5410 KSC Landing 20410 Purpose MPLM Leonardo Main Payload
STS-131 (ISS assembly flight 19A) via Discovery launched on 5
April 2010 from Kennedy Space Centers launch pad 39A and landed at 908 AM on 20 April 2010 on runway 33 at the Kennedy
Space Centers Shuttle Landing Facility The mission marked the longest flight for space shuttle Discovery
The primary payload was a Multi-Purpose Logistics Module loaded with supplies and equipment for the ISS The mission also
removed and replaced an ammonia tank assembly outside the station on the S1 truss The mission also included several on-
board payloads this mission had the most payloads since STS-
107
The primary payload of STS-131 was MPLM Leonardo filled with food and science supplies and also carried the third and final
Minus Eighty Degree Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI) Window Orbital Research Facility (WORF) one Crew Quarters Rack the
Muscle Atrophy Resistive Exercise (MARES) rack Resupply
Stowage Racks (RSRs) as well as Resupply Stowage Platforms (RSPs) The Lightweight Multi-Purpose Equipment Support
Structure Carrier (LMC) carried a refurbished Ammonia Tank Assembly (ATA) to the ISS The refurbished ATA was removed
from the Space Station and returned for use on this mission
during STS-128 It was swapped with an empty tank which will ride home on the LMC
This mission was the second flight of the TriDAR a 3D dual-
sensing laser camera intended for potential use as an
autonomous rendezvous and docking sensor TriDAR provides guidance information that can be used to guide a vehicle during
rendezvous and docking operations in space TriDAR does not rely on any reference markers such as reflectors positioned on
the target spacecraft
This was the final Space Shuttle mission that contains one or
more rookie astronauts the missions after this will have all- veteran crews
STS-131 was only the third mission in the Space Shuttle
programme to carry three female astronauts
the others being STS-40 and STS-96
With three female crew members arriving on board Discovery and Expedition 23 Flight
Engineer Tracy Caldwell Dyson at the station
the STS-131 mission marked the first time that four women have been in space at one
time
STS-131 marked the first time that two
Japanese astronauts Naoko Yamazaki from the Shuttle crew and Soichi Noguchi on the
ISS had been in space together
Although Naoko Yamazaki is not the last non-
US astronaut Naoko was the last Japanese astronaut to fly the space shuttle
MPLM Leonardo can
be seen in the shuttle cargo bay
The seven stars either side of our
sun represent the
crew members
The shuttlersquos orientation indicates
it is performing the Rendezvous Pitch
Manoeuvre which
allows the ISS to photograph its
underbelly
20
ORBIT
Flight STS-132 Commander Kenneth Ham Pilot Dominic Antonelli MS Michael Good MS Garret Reisman MS Piers Sellars MS Stephen Bowen KSC Launch Date 1452010 KSC Landing 2652010 Purpose Delivery of Russian Main Payload Rassvet Module
STS-132 (ISS assembly flight ULF4) docked with the ISS on May
16 2010 It was launched from the Kennedy Space Center on May 14 2010 The primary payload is the Russian Rassvet Mini-
Research Module along with an Integrated Cargo Carrier-Vertical Light Deployable (ICC-VLD) STS-132 is scheduled to be the
final flight of Space Shuttle Atlantis provided that the STS-335
Launch On Need rescue mission is not flown
Rassvet means dawn in Russian The module was built
by Russian aerospace company
Energia and arrived at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC)
aboard an Antonov 124 cargo plane on 17 December 2009
After it was unloaded from the Antonov the module was
transported to an Astrotech processing bay in Cape Canaveral to
undergo preparations for launch shown in this photo
An airlock and radiation heat exchanger to be used for outfitting the Russian Nauka Module (to be launched in 2012) a spare
elbow part of the European Robotic Arm (ERA) and a portable
work platform for science hardware for performing experiments in outer space were externally mounted on Rassvet in its launch
configuration Russian and US cargo delivered was also accommodated inside the module The volume for cargo and
science inside MRM1 is 5 cubic meters] Rassvet was outfitted
with ISS standard grapple fixtures that allowed the module to be unloaded from the payload bay of Atlantis using the stations
robotic arm
The ICC pallet is constructed of aluminum It is approximately 8 feet long 13 feet wide and 10 inches thick The empty weight of
the pallet is 2645 pounds The total weight of ICCndashVLD and the ORUs is approximately 8330 pounds ICC-VLD return mass is
2933 kilograms (6470 lb)
The ICC-VLD was berthed in the centre of the
payload bay for both launch and re-entry
In the photo above Rassvet is shown centre top
The mission patch shows Atlantis flying off into the sunset as the end of the shuttle
programme approaches
21
ORBIT
By Andreacute Scheer and Margaret Morris This fascinating structure is an octagonal pentelic marble tower on the Roman agora or marketplace in Athens It was supposedly built by the astronomer Andronicus of Kyrrhos c 50 BC but according to other sources might have been constructed in the 2
nd
century BC before the rest of the forum The structure is 12 metres high with a diameter of approximately 8 metres On each of the eight sides (aligned with the eight principal points of the compass) is a sculpture featuring the wind gods and below each sculpture is engraved a sundial Thus the tower served as a solar clock but additionally in the interior was a water-clock (clepsydra) driven by water coming down from the Acropolis There were mechanical hour indicators and displays for the seasons of the year with astrological dates and periods The tower was topped in antiquity by a weather-vane in the shape of a triton with a wand which pointed at whichever of the winds was blowing The tower must have been one of the most useful structures in the agora as it showed the time for civilian purposes and indicated the wind direction for merchants awaiting the arrival of a ship The earliest philatelic items to depict this unusual building are postal stationery postcards originating from 1900 when the Greek postal authorities organised a competition for photographers and artists The best pictures were selected for issue and on 1 July 1901 the first series of 32 cards was issued In total 12 series of 32 cards each were issued between then and 20 March 1903 The cards were issued in three colours (chestnut black and green) with imprinted stamps of two values (5 lepta green for national mail and 10 lepta red for international mail) The cards additionally have an impressed stamp without colour on the left side being 10 lepta for the card itself so the cards were sold for 15 and 20 lepta The design of the imprinted stamps was based on the Hermes (Mercury) statue by Giovanni da Bologna During the war on the Balkans the cards were used by the Greek army and have an extra imprint ndash Carte Postale ndash Franchise Militaire A few examples of these postal stationery postcards are illustrated opposite and on page 23 The wording ldquoLrsquohorloge de Kyrrhestesrdquo refers to the timepiece built by Andronicus of Kyrrhos while ldquoTEMPLE DrsquoEOLErdquo translates as ldquoTemple of Aeolusrdquo (Aeolus = god of the winds) For each card 12 versions can be distinguished ndash ie 3 colours x 2 values x 2 usages For fuller information see reference no 1 Of course numerous picture postcards also feature this interesting structure
The Tower of the Winds The Oldest Planetarium on Stamps and
Postal Stationery
Front and back of postal stationery postcard
Examples of Greek postal stationery from the early 20th
century
Front and back of postal stationery postcard
22
ORBIT
The 19423 issues (SG 561-572) of Greece shown beside the 1973 Dominica souvenir sheet whose designer has
reinterpreted the divine sculptures in the margins
Boreas also on the 100d value in black and grey
Skiron
Zephyrus in two 25d vals
orange and green
Lips
Notus
Eurus
Apeliotes in two 10d vals red brown and red orange
Kaikias in two 50d vals black and grey violet and blue
Wind Direction Name of Deity Characteristics of the Sculpture North Boreas An old man wearing heavy clothing and holding a conch shell This wind was cold fierce and
stormy and in Athens made a loud hollow noise
North East Kaikias Old man with severe expression holding circular shield from which he will drop hailstones Weather characteristically cloudy wet and cold
East Apeliotes Young man with hair flowing in every direction holding a cloak full of fruit and grain ndash he brings gradual gentle rain
South East Eurus Old man with morose countenance wrapped tightly against the elements in his cloak This wind brought sultry gloomy weather with much rain
South Notus Young man emptying an urn and producing a shower of water This wind was associated with sultry very wet weather
South West Lips Boy pushing the stern of a ship promising a good sailing wind This was the wind which blew right into Piraeus harbour
West Zephyrus Beautiful lightly clad youth of happy aspect holding a cloak full of flowers In summer this wind brought very sultry weather
North West Skiron Bearded man with a bronze pot full of hot ashes and charcoal This was a dry wind extremely cold in winter but scorching and with lightning in summer
The following table gives details of the sculptures and the characteristics attributed to each of the wind gods
For fuller information see reference no 2
23
ORBIT
The sculptures of the eight winds were depicted on stamps of Greece issued in 1942 (six designs) and 1943 (again six designs ndash four as the previous issue but including the two omitted winds) Five values were surcharged in 1944 to aid victims of the Piraeus bombing of 11 January 1944 the exceptionally high face value resulted in few of these stamps being used Later in 1944 the same five values were surcharged in aid of a Childrenrsquos Convalescent Camp Fund Finally in 1946 two values of the 1942 issue were surcharged ndash the 10dr value in black and the 50dr revalued as 20dr in red See opposite for examples of the stamp designs In addition to these attractive engraved stamps the 1973 issue from Dominica commemorating the centenary of the World Meteorological Organisation included a miniature sheet incorporating the 50c and $1 values and surrounded in the margin by images of all eight wind sculptures (see page 22) More recently the cover of a booklet issued by Greece on 7 October 1988 provides an aerial view of the agora and the Tower of the Winds can be detected (see below) The booklet contains 16 stamps (4 each of 4 different values) and celebrates capitals of Greek provinces In early Christian times the building was used as the bell tower of a Byzantine Church It was partly buried in the ground until fully excavated in the 19
th century by the
Archaeological Society of Athens It is interesting to note that the design of the upper octagon of the 18th century Radcliffe Observatory in Oxford England is based on the Tower of the Winds as is the mausoleum of the founder of the Greek National Library Panayis Vagliano at West Norwood Cemetery London There is a similar tower in Sevastopol built in 1849 References
1 ldquoEntiers Postaux Illustreacutes du service des postes
helleacuteniques et leurs preacutecurseursrdquo Georges Mathas 1985
2 For finely detailed drawings and information about the sculptures you may care to see if your Library has a copy of ldquoThe Antiquities of Athensrdquo Stuart amp Revett Vol 1 published in London 1762
3 Article by Derek J de Solla Price in ldquoNational
Geographic April 1967 pp587-596 4 Much useful information may also be obtained from
sites on the internet
Examples of Overprints from left to right
1944 Piraeus Bombing Aid 1944 Childrenrsquos convalescent camp fund 1946 Surcharge
Below Cover of the 1988 stamp booklet
Front and back of postal stationery postcard
24
ORBIT
Old Photo Makes New(s) Story
A photo taken twenty-one years ago became hot international new(s) this July writes Bert van Eijck
It is a picture of your correspondent in front of the
monument on the graves of the seven astronauts killed
in the Challenger disaster The photo from November 1989 shows the national cemetery at Arlington in
Washington DC And it is this graveyard a national American field of pride and honour that was involved in
a scandal making news all over the world
What happened This became a hot story after it was leaked to the press that in 211 graves on Arlington the wrong corpse had
been buried But this disgrace grew to international
proportions when the US Senate published a report which revealed that it was not 211 but 6600 graves that
had been so dishonoured And maybe there are more the researchers stated
Consequently it meant that family members had been paying their respect at the wrong graves because many
were not marked well or the ground-plan directed to wrong places
Arlingtonrsquos director John Metzler was fired as was his
depute Thurman Higginbotham both of whom said
they knew there were made mistakes but they could not help ldquobecause of economyrdquo
Arlington cemetery was opened in 1864 Since then
300000 Americans have been buried here including
famous or well-known persons like presidents
ministers high ranked military artists judges and
astronauts
And what about some of the most recent ones Did I indeed visit and honour the seven Challenger astronauts in their last resting place on Earth in
November 1989 as shown on the photo Or are they perhaps mistakenly buried in another
unmarked grave This is hard to believe but one never knowshelliphellip
For those who wonder what was doing 21
years ago in the US capital I visited the
World Stamp Exporsquo89 at the Convention Center in Washington DC Of course I did
more sightseeing at and in the famous Smithsonian Museums (a must the
National AirampSpace Museum with 10
million visitors a year) the Capitol the metro (deepest in the world) George
Washingtonrsquos house in Vernon Arlington of course and much more
At the World Stamp Expo there was a
presentation of both USA and USSR space
stamps The American stamps were presented by astronaut Buzz Aldrin the
Soviet stamps by cosmonaut Gherman Titov
Author and the Challenger astronauts monument at Arlington seven figures in bronze (left) At right a plaque honoring US-soldiers killed in action saving
hostages in Iran
Astronaut Buzz Aldrin (left) presents the US space stamps while cosmonaut Gherman Titov (right) does the same with
Soviet space stamps In the middle officials of USPS Below the
stampshellip
25
ORBIT
The Apollo 15 Cover Scandal by Umberto Cavallaro
In a feature which first appeared in the April-June 2010 issue of Ad Astra the web journal of the Italian Astrophilatelic Association its editor reveals in considerable detail the full story of those covers which today sell for so much money The Apollo 15 flown covers are among the best known
collectibles from the Apollo Era mainly because of what Jim Irwin recalls as ldquothe problem we brought
back from the Moonrdquo
The crew of Apollo 15 carried out one of the most complete scientific explorations of the Moon the first
lunar roving vehicle was operated on the Moon to
extend the range of exploration some 180 pounds of lunar surface samples were returned for analysis Yet
Fifteen is best remembered as the crew that carried envelopes to the moon and the whole mission is
remembered for the ldquogreat postal caperrdquo
Apollo 15 was not the first mission to carry covers
dozens were carried on each flight from Apollo 11 onwards and as Commander Dave Scott recalls in his
book the whole business had probably been building since Mercury through Gemini and into Apollo People
had a fascination with objects that had been carried in space and they became more and more popular and
valuable as the programme progressed Right from
the start of the Mercury programme each astronaut had been allowed to carry on board a certain number
of personal items
NASA was in the habit of authorizing astronauts to
carry certain personal items on manned flights known as Astronautsrsquo PPK (Personal Preference Kits) All such
items had to be listed and approved by Deke Slayton the Head of the Astronaut Office prior to launch and
were intended for private use or as personal gifts
after the flight and could not be employed for commercial
Fig 1 The official USPS cover postmarked on the Moon
purposes or personal gain Astronaut kits typically
included badges jewellery coins medals flags stamps postal covers currency printed materials and
similar easily packed lightweight mementoes As the flight became more significant the number and type of
items increased
Aside from personal mementoes each crew had
carried medallions whose number had grown steadily on each mission In his book The All-American Boys astronaut Walter Cunningham reveals that it was rumoured around the Astronaut Office that Apollo 14
carried on board a personal package weighing forty-
two pounds Before that flight the Franklin Mint had even advertised the proposed sale After the flight the
commercial deal was never completed and all went quiet nothing about it being published in the media
But some members of the US Congress were unhappy
of the situation
In that context the ldquolapses of judgmentrdquo of the Apollo 15 crew became fatal Dave Scott went too far
carrying on board a total of 641 postal covers (including the two official covers) of which only 243
were listed and authorized before the flight and 398
were not -- secretly carried on board Apollo 15 by Scott in a pocket of his space suit Had they been
listed as being in Scotts PPK they would probably have been routinely approved for inclusion in the
preference kit
The 243 listed and authorized covers include
bull 2 official US Postal Service covers one of which the ldquoOfficial Coverrdquo was publicly cancelled on the
moon by Scott at the request of the US Postal
Service 10 (Fig 1) bull 1 Wright Brothers commemorative cover dated
1928 and autographed by Orville Wright which was carried by Worden for a friend
bull 1 cover bearing a First Man on the Moon stamp and a Bliss Centennial three-cent stamp carried by
Irwin for Barbara Baker (Fig 2 below)
26
ORBIT
8 Shamrock covers carried by Irwin (as below)
144 Herrickrsquos ldquoMoon Phasesrdquo covers carried by Worden
(Fig 4) printed with a cachet showing 15 phases of the moon On the USS Okinawa the Apollo 15 recovery ship
the astronauts placed two eight-cent stamps purchased
on board by Worden on each of these covers and they had the covers cancelled by the shipboard post office
The astronauts later autographed these covers while flying back from Hawaii to Houston Sixteen covers were
torn or damaged and were destroyed Because of the furore created by the Apollo 15 covers incident NASA
confiscated 61 of these 144 Moon Phases covers
87 Apollo 12 covers (Fig 5) that for unknown reason
did not fly on that mission and which were carried on
Apollo 15 for Mrs Barbara Gordon a stamp collector then wife of Richard Gordon Apollo 12 astronaut who
at was the back-up pilot for Apollo 15
The 398 unauthorized covers (initially there were
400 but 2 were damaged and discarded) are lightweight envelopes carrying as a cachet a replica
of the official Apollo 15 patch overprinted with an Air Force wing and propeller emblem
The idea of these additional covers was suggested during a cocktail party by Eiermann a salesman for
the heat-shield contractor who had frequent business and social contacts with NASA personnel and
astronauts He suggested to fly 400 lightweight covers 100 for each of the astronauts and 100 for
his friend Sieger the German stamp dealer The
cacheted covers were provided by Al Bishop a friend of many astronauts then at the Howard
Hughes organization He had already provided covers for the previous flights since Apollo 12
Above one of the 100 Sieger covers with the handwritten note ldquoLanded at Hadley Moon July 30 1971 On the
reverse is a typed and notarised inscription ldquoThis is to certify that this cover was on board the Falcon at the Hadley-
Apennine Moon July 30 ndashAug 2 1971rdquo
Below one of the 298 unauthorised covers carried to the Moon by David Scott with the inscription ldquoThis envelope was
carried to the Moon aboard the Apollo 15 of 300 to the Lunar Surface in LMrdquoFalconrdquo
The crews usually returned to Bishop a couple of
flown covers signed with gratitude ldquoTo my
knowledge ndash Cunningham reports in his well documented book ndash Bishop never sold any and never
made a dime off his relationship He was simply a fan To Al Bishop Apollo 15 was no different from any
other flight except for a phone call he received from
Hal Collins the Astronaut Office manager at the Cape
27
ORBIT
Collins told Bishop that the crew would like to know
whether he could obtain some very lightweight envelopes for them Al said that hed be happy to do so
He was unaware then that many of them would be smuggled on board the next lunar flight Al was trusted
Thats why many of us imposed on him with our
problems special requests and sometimes matters which we would rather not share with NASArdquo
This time Al was badly used he emerged as a
scapegoat and his name was dragged as though he was the Mr Big of an international stamp conspiracy
The covers were cancelled at Kennedy Space Center
several days before July 26 1971 The date of the post office machine canceller was moved forward
Additionally twin eight-cent stamps were purchased by the astronauts on the USS Okinawa the Apollo 15
recovery ship and affixed to these covers ndash as for the
Herrickrsquos covers In the shipboard post office the covers were then cancelled and date-stamped August 7 1971
The astronauts finally autographed these covers while flying from Hawaii to Houston
Soon after the flight the astronauts gave Eiermann
the 100 covers ndash after agreeing that there was to be
no commercialization or advertising of these covers and that nothing would be done with them until after
completion of the Apollo programme
But after a while news started to circulate that the
German dealer was selling in Europe covers flown on Apollo 15 for a reported average of US $1500 each
The reports infuriated Congress not least because congressmen had to read such controversial
information in the press before being informed by
NASA which is obligated to keep Congress fully informed of its activity Recollection of the Apollo 14
medallions incident must have echoed in the minds of certain members of Congress many of whom were
not fans of NASA anyway NASA started an internal investigation This was the most controversial
development of the Apollo Programme and although
most astronauts were involved to some degree NASA made an example of the Apollo 15 flight crew ldquoIt
was turning into a witch-huntrdquo recalled Scott ldquoOur bosses had abrogated their responsibilities and we
were left alone on a very wet dayrdquo
It is ironic that after addressing a joint session of
Congress as heroes in less that one year the three astronauts of Apollo 15 had to go back in front of these
same senators in disgrace because of this envelope scandal
After this ldquoincidentrdquo NASA prohibited from Apollo 17 on the flying of covers or stamps during a space
missions (they were not on time to block the covers carried on Apollo 16) The only exceptions have been
since then the items flown in cooperation with the US
Postal Service ie the 266000 covers carried in 1983 in
the payload bay of the Space Shuttle Challenger on
STS-8 and the 500000 $995 Express Mail stamp created by Paul and Chris Calle in 1994 flown on
Endeavour STS-68 in recognition of the 25th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing The huge
number of such items carried in space discourages
speculations and these items still are widely available for few dollars
So far fewer than 1000 envelopes in total have flown
to the Moon No other American covers will flow to the Moon in the foreseeable future Perhaps the next
ldquoMoon coversrdquo will bear Chinese or Indian stamps
Dave Scott was the first lunar Postmaster and had two
postmarks with him and two covers with imperforated dieproof of the US twin Decade of Space Achievements
stamps affixed (Fig 1)
He had one postmark with ldquoMoon Landing USArdquo (Fig 8 below) and another with ldquoUnited States on the
Moonrdquo (Fig 9 bottom)
The First Lunar Post Office was opened on August 2 1971 when David Scott postmarked only the official
cover (and brought back the official backup-cover uncancelled) A handful covers had however been
postmarked before launch with both postmarks Dr Matthew Radnofsky ndash who in his laboratory already
had simulated cancelling in space for Apollo 11 ndash
tested both postmarks to ensure that the cancellation devices were in working order
Especially the date could be changed easily Contrary
to Apollo 11 covers without stamps were used for
28
ORBIT
these tests Apollo 15 Lunar Cancellation Proofs are
much scarcer than Apollo 11 ones ldquoAs by now I am aware of only 17 itemsrdquo states famous astrophilatelist
Walter Hopferwieser Covers with proofs of the Apollo 15 moon postmarks have been recently sold at Regency
Superior and Aurora auctions
The official Apollo 15 cover postmarked on the Moon
(see Fig 1 repeated above ) is displayed at the US National Postal Museum It was publicly cancelled and
the video can be seen at httpwwwpostalmuseumsiedustampstakeflight
apollo15video-01html A short speech was given by
Dave Scott while cancelling the cover ldquoTo show that our good Postal Service has deliveries any place in the
universe I have the pleasant task of cancelling here on the Moon the first stamp of a new issue dedicated to
commemorate US achievements in space I have the
first one here on an envelope At the bottom it says United States in Space a decade of achievement and
Im very proud to have the opportunity here to play postman I pull out a cancellation device It says
August 2 1971 first day of issuehellip What could be a
better place to cancel this stamp than right here at Hadley Rillehelliprdquo
Immediately thereafter the Postmaster General who
was waiting at the Mission Control at Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston Texas gave the signal to start the
First- Day cancellations at post offices in Houston
Kennedy Space Center and Huntsville
Acknowledgement Thanks to Walter Hopferwieser for his comments
Some Notes About Space Mail
Commenting on Brian Vincentrsquos article in the June
2010 Orbit ASSS member Geoff Chivers writes in an
email to your Editorhellip Im sure you wont mind me commenting on Brian G Vincents Some Notes About Space Mail (page 36)
In paragraph 2 he refers to the Apollo 15 cover incident leaving the impression that Scott Worden and Irwin were guilty of some heinous crime This has been the subject of much miss-reporting over the years The full story of what actually happened is explained in depth at page 328 et seq of Two sides of the moon by David Scott and Alexei Leonov published by Simon amp Shuster The astronauts were of course exonerated
This is the quote (slightly edited to enable it to stand as an independent piece)-
During 1972 while on a trip to Washington DC George Low NASA deputy administrator asked me to stop by his
office writes David Scott I had known George in Houston while he was Apollo spacecraft programme manager and I had great respect for him We spent a short while exchanging pleasantries Then George looked me in the eye and came to the point ldquoWell Daverdquo he said ldquoI have to tell you I was not very proud of my performancerdquo His comment was the culmination of what had become known as the Apollo 15 ldquocover incidentrdquo This involved some first day postal covers which we had carried aboard Apollo 15 some of which were unfortunately sold by a German stamp dealer several months after the flight As No 2 in NASA George
had been heavily involved in NASAs handling of the incident and his comment referred to one of the poorest management performances the space agency had ever demonstrated - up to then The whole business had probably been building since Mercury through Gemini and into Apollo People had a fascination with objects that had been carried in space and they became more and more popular and valuable as the programme progressed Right from the start of the Mercury programme each astronaut had been allowed to carry on board a certain number of personal items in what were known as PPKS - Personal Preference Kits Before each flight a list of the items was prepared for Deke Slayton who
Two Sides of The Moon
by David Scott and Alexei Leonov
The text opposite from the
above book has been
referred to by Umberto Cavallaro in preparing his
above piece
29
ORBIT
had overall responsibility for approving them As the flights became more significant the number and type of items increased Aside from personal mementoes each crew had carried a certain number of medallions which they could hand out afterwards as souvenirs The number of medallions had grown steadily on each mission - eventually some crew members had been carrying several hundred each and their weight was becoming a concern And as always commercialisation began to creep in In the end on Apollo 14 commanded by Al Shepard it was alleged that the crew had carried some silver medallions on board which were to be melted down after the flight and mixed with many other commemorative medallions by the Franklin Mint to be sold to the general public The Franklin Mint had even advertised the proposed sale before the flight After the flight the deal was never consummated and all went quiet nothing about it was printed in the media But some members of Congress had heard about it and were unhappy with the situation Since we were busy training for Apollo 15 (launched 26 July 1971) we knew nothing about all this Had we known we would have been far more wary of what happened subsequently All we knew was that Deke Slayton had halved the number of medallions we could carry Shortly afterwards Deke introduced Jim (Irwin) Al (Worden) and me to a long-standing friend of his at the Cape called Walter Eiermann In retrospect this seems likely to have been more than a coincidence Deke invited us to join him at dinner at Eiermanns house one evening several months before the Apollo 15 launch Eiermann asked if we would like to make some money on the side by signing some stamps ldquoAll the guys are doing itrdquo he said We agreed We were also approached by several members of the Manned Spacecraft Centerrsquos stamp club who asked us to sign many first - day covers before the flight for their members as well as for ourselves At that time we could not buy life insurance If we signed some covers we reasoned they could be held during the flight and act as limited life insurance for our families if anything happened to us But then Eiermann proposed we carry four hundred lightweight commemorative covers a hundred of which would be passed on to a stamp dealer in Germany when we returned All the covers would be franked on the day of launch and franked on the day of our return Our understanding was that the dealer would hold his hundred covers to be sold at some future date after the Apollo programme was over In return he would set up a $6000 trust fund for each of us for the education of our children In the months of intense activity before the flight we did not give this more than a moment of thought But we agreed In retrospect we made a mistake in even considering it In the months following our mission we learnt that the German dealer had begun to sell the covers We let Eiermann know that we were opposed to the sale Forget the trust funds we said we dont want any money This is not what we had understood would happen But when senior managers at NASA learnt about the covers being sold they were furious Incomplete information was then provided to the press by NASArsquos Public Affairs Office and reports started to appear that we had smuggled the covers onto our flight This was literally impossible NASA personnel prepared us for every aspect of the flight - from our birthday suits out Everything we had carried had to be specially packaged by the flight support crew to make sure apart from anything else
that it was fireproof Everything in our PPKs was on a list which was certified before launch I was never aware of any rules about what could or could not be taken in these packs Slayton was to approve the list so as far as I was concerned it was up to management to keep us on the straight and narrow I assumed if the list was approved that was fine Usually the list was certified by Deke But before our flight for some reason he neither asked us personally for each of our lists as was customary nor signed off on the list personally He said the flight - crew support team had already logged everything Whereas we had purchased the covers ourselves the Astronaut Office at the Cape had prepared the covers for the flight and had had them stamped and franked on the day of launch Somehow however the support team had missed them when they prepared the PPK flight manifest It was also reported after the incident that we had been removed from the astronaut corps Again totally untrue Unfortunately NASA managers did nothing to dispel this false and misleading information They just tucked their heads in and let the rumours run The reports infuriated Congress not least because congressmen had to read such controversial information in the press before being informed by NASA which is obligated to keep Congress fully informed of its activities Recollections of the Apollo 14 medallion incident must have seeped into the minds of certain members of Congress many of whom were not fans of NASA anyway When NASA started an internal investigation we were told by a senior official in the agency that we were on our own We were advised to get our own legal representation A Senate hearing into the matter had been called and a justice Department investigation would follow It was turning into a witch - hunt NASA we were advised expected us to keep quiet and take the Fifth Amendment at this hearing We did not We told it like it was We had nothing to hide Eventually the Justice Department concluded that we had broken some administrative rules but had done nothing criminal NASA confiscated the remaining covers but they acted before discovering all the facts of the case Following an investigation by NASA the Justice Department and the Senate the Justice Department concluded on 6 December 1978 in a ldquoMemorandum Opinion for the Assistant Attorney Generalrdquo that NASA had no claim to the remaining covers that the covers were never intended for sale that there was no attempt at concealment by the crew of the fact that the covers were to be flown on Apollo 15 and finally that the covers would have been approved to carry aboard Apollo 15 had a request been made We were reprimanded and we took our licks But it was a very raw deal NASA had hung us out to dry Our bosses had abrogated their responsibilities and we were left alone on a very wet day I spent many years trying to get full access to NASA and congressional records on the case NASA refused to provide full disclosure We subsequently found out there had been rumblings about profitmdashmaking on previous missions A copy of a letter was released to me in which NASA admitted that ten other astronauts who were not identified had been involved in selling signed blocks of stamps and postcards for Eiermann But the wave reached the shore on Apollo 15 and we were the ones who bore the brunt of the blame for such incidents
30
ORBIT
Buckingham Cover offer Free Souvenirs for You
Brian Austin of Buckinghamrsquos Rare Cover Department writes to your Editorhellip
Over the last two or three years we have been dealing more and more in signed space covers This led us to earlier this year buying an Apollo 11 crew signed cover which had been carried to the moon which we had on display on our stand at London 2010
For this we also printed a limited edition of 800 sets of postcards one featuring the Apollo 11 cover and another
featuring an Apollo 15 cover The idea was to give away 100 sets per day to customers at the show but now the show is all finished I still have around 150 pairs left on my desk
We wondered if you would like to offer them to your readers we are happy to send them out free of charge to the first 150 readers to contact us with their details as long as we can also include one of our lists of space
covers
BrianAustinbuckinghamcoverscom
31
ORBIT
More About Missile Mail
Harvey Duncan told us in the last Orbit (page 15) about the First Official Missile Mail writes Bert van Eijck After the useful technical details about the USS Barbero he gave us I can offer you more philatelic information and show you some illustrations The missile mail experiment was a joint venture between
the Ministry of Defense and the US Post Office Dept headed by Postmaster General Mr Arthur E
Summerfield Three thousand special envelopes were printed with a reproduction of a Navy missile type
Regulus with the text ldquoFirst Official Missile Mailrdquo and above that ldquoThe Postmaster General Washingtonrdquo All
the envelopes were addressed to The President high
government officials like senators and to the Post Masters General of ninety nine other member nations of
UPU Inside was a letter from Mr Summerfield entitled ldquoThe First Official Missile Mailrdquo with the official seal of
the Post Office dept It was explained therein what had
happed to that letter and the other 2999
The special letters were loaded in two metal compartments and came aboard the guided missile USS Barbero (SSG-317) The shot was to occur during a regular training mission from Norfolk Virginia to Florida
About 350 kilometres off the coast of Florida the
Regulus missile was launched toward Airport Mayport
The missile climbed 10 km above the Atlantic and
landed within twenty minutes with all the letters intact The letters were cancelled with the hand stamp ldquoUSS
Barberordquo with the date ldquoJun 8 1959rdquo and the approximate timing of the launching ldquo930 amrdquo This
was done by post office staff part of an established
branch office on the USS Barbero The letters bore the 1957 4c American flag postage stamp Those
addressed to foreign countries carried two such stamps covering surface mail postage costs On the
reverse side is the Jacksonville Post Office cancellation with the approximate time of arrival ldquoJune 8 1030 am
1959 Floridardquo
Such flown letters are expensive to buy and a jewel in
any exhibit
But this is NOT the case with the Barbero souvenir
cover dated a month later on July 8 1959 issued in the same quantity (3000) as the originals The
inscription reads ldquoPoint of LandingmdashFirst Official Missile Mail 8 June 1959 US Naval Station Mayport Floridardquo
About 16000 () collectors had applied for such a cover
The imprint of the official Barbero cover was reproduced on a memorial cover issued and posted at
the Vienna International Airpost Exhibition Luposta on August 1959 in the Austrian capital Of course neither
of these items had been carried within the Regulus
missile
Also of interest the Postal Administration of
Paraguay issued a stamp
and a block in 1976 honouring the Barbero
Missile Mail The Gs 20 stamp shows a Regulus
missile in flight while the sheet shows the whole
addressed cover and in
miniature the complete letter inside from the US Postmaster General
as mentioned above and as illustrated below
Above a specimen envelope as described in the text and below its reverse cancel
32
ORBIT
An Invitation to Our Readers to Donate to an Innovative International Projecthellip
Kindest Sir or Madam
The municipality of Vitanje
(Slovenia) is honoured to have had a hand in the life of the
famous space architect Herman Potocnik Noordung
(1892-1929) (pictured right) who had already found a
surprising number of solutions
to space travel and troubles of living in vacuum long before
actual space flights took place His creations were used by the
renowned novelist Arthur C Clarke
in his book 2001 A Space Odyssey which was later also turned into a
movie directed by Stanley Kubrick In Noordungs honour we have
created the Memorial Centre of Herman Potocnik Noordung This
year the cultural centre of European
space technology will also get going in Vitanje This will be a place
where the European space heritage will be gathered and various events connected with the
contemporary European space technologies will be
organized
Proposed Philatelic Collection We would like to bring the project onto a higher level
where we would have the collaboration of various
countries in the world including such with a history in space travel (like USA Russia) One of the steps of this
expansion process would also include a philatelic collection of stamps with themes of outer space
(astronomy astronautics and everything connected to
outer space) We already have quite a decent collection but we would like to expand on that
Our goal is to have 6000 stamps before opening our
exhibition For this we would require the help of as many philatelists as possible
All of these philatelists would become co-creators and partners of this collection for which we hope will
become the largest collection of its kind in the world The people donating the stamps would get a great deal
of exposure at all these exhibitions and on the special
website which will be started shortly If you give us enough support and we are able to raise enough
stamps for a first-class collection we hope the first
exhibitions and various special events (like visits from
astronauts ndash philatelists) will see the light of day as early as in 2011
From a professional point of view we have an
excellent team working with us Long-time philatelist
Tone Petek is the person who initiated this project while Bojan Bracic the secretary of FEPA is one of our
counsellors and is completely behind this project
If you would be interested in such cooperation I will get the wheels in motion and send you a verifying
mail with the stamp of the municipality of Vitanje and
also of some higher organization within the Slovene political system
The collection is already underway with the help of the
Slovene Philatelic organisation (FZS) adds Rok in an email to your Editor in July This organisation has been of immense help with technical expertise and
connections It looks as if there might be an introductory exhibition next year sometime
In the hope of a successful partnership we offer our
sincere appreciation
Rok Podgrajsek
Obcina Vitanje Grajski trg 1
3205 Vitanje
Slovenia
Email address rokpodgrajsekgmailcom
But see also website httpwwwvitanjesi
(Editorrsquos Note both Wendy Buckle editor of
Themescene and our Chairman Margaret Morris commend this project to you We will be sending Rok
some recent copies of Orbit for the displays)
Some illustrations from Noordungrsquos only published text ldquoThe Problem of
Space Travel The Rocket Motorrdquo (the original German title
was ldquoDas Problem der Befahrung
des Weltraums - der Raketen-Motorrdquo) which saw the light of day
in 1928
Vitanje Local Private Post stamp
33
ORBIT
Zazzle Space Stamps Dazzle
I have noticed Zazzle Space Stamps appearing in Lollini brochures and on their web pages in recent months writes your Editor so I undertook to find out some facts about them and am grateful to The Astrophile Editor Jim Roth and the man who inspired him to create his own Zazzle designs Otto Bergman for the following infohellip Zazzle is one of half a dozen or more US companies
who facilitate the printing of non-copyrighted photos and artwork on private postage stamps which count
as postage within and outwith the USA You can
design your own Zazzle stampsmdashsee their websitemdashwhich you then purchase for your own use 20 to a
page
They are therefore a bit like British Smilers except
that the personal element of the stamp is not on a se-tenant label but actually incorporated within the
stamp itself as you can see from the examples on this page
Jim Roth was annoyed that the Kennedy Space Center Post office would not cancel his Zazzle stamps as they
consider them to be ldquometersrdquo and although he has marked STS-122 he wonrsquot be creating any others
You can see (and buy) all Jim Rothrsquos Space Zazzles on
his website m57coverscommdashclick on ldquostampsrdquo
Three of Jim Rothrsquos designs
See others on his website
An Otto Bergman space creation on
Zazzlecomottobergman
These space Zazzles and others are
available from the Lollini website or brochures
STS 128 in May 2010 section
STS 129 in June 2010
WISE and Delta 2 launch in July 2010 STS 130 in August 2010
STS 128 stamps show astronauts Christer Fuglesang (far left) and left Frank De Winne ISS Commander Expedition 21 STS 129 issues depict mission
patch and the crew led by Charles Hobaugh
Delta 2 rocket launch from Cape Canaveral of WISE Deep InfraRed telescope
34
ORBIT
Concluded on page 39
More Spaceflight Books for Sale
35
ORBIT ORBIT
SPACE HABITATS (Part Two) by John Beenen Continuing his feature from our last issue John Beenen begins by posing the questionhellip Why Should we Seek to Live
in Space
Spacecom gives ten main reasons why we should enter space for a prolonged
period
1 To secure a future for humanity
2 To build a new frontier
3 To find new energy sources
4 To build an industrial settlement on
the Moon
5 Better quality images of the
Universe
6 The SETI effort
7 Mining
8 Learning the history of our
Universe
9 Environmental benefits
Meeting the challenge
Taking for granted that it is naturally fascinating to investigate how mankind
might be able to maintain its habitat outside earth there are several further reasons to investigate why
mankind should settle themselves outside earth in the far future And More reasons mean a overall better
argument
Primarily there is the question of overpopulation and
secondly a solution for the energy problem
Next we have to consider that climate circumstances
are not under control anymore and earth eventually becomes uninhabitable
Also when for various reasons we start to kill each
other for some groups of people it may be an attractive proposition to depart this Earth in quite a different
sense And that is perhaps the most common thought
through activities in space more money can be obtained
But there are disadvantageshellip
On the other hand a prolonged stay in space is not that safe The construction must be protected against
radiation and it can be hit by large and small debris which makes space a very unsafe place
Furthermore cosmic radiation produces
a radiation of 80 mSv (millisievert) - well over the allowed maximum of 50
mSv and very much over the amount which is considered as safe for man
which is 3 mSv
Next solar flares produce a sudden
increase of soft gamma and energy rich radiation so much that without the
protection of an atmosphere half of our population could die easily
It is interesting that even without shielding most of this radiation can be
absorbed in the projected spacecraftsrsquo structure and in the air Smaller
structures can be protected with a
shield of co-rotating rocks
The construction further must be protected against sunlight which by
lack of the air shield will fall in unshielded so sun blinds and radiators
are indispensable
And as a result of the artificial gravity
there are some tiny movement problems which we will face later
Finally the created ecosystem should be fully self-supporting and that is easier said than done as
experiments with Biosphere-2 have showed
Biosphere-2 Biosphere-2 was a project built between 1987 and 1991 providing in an area of about 2frac12 football fields
a closed biological system of different composition From 1991-1993 a crew of 8 persons stayed herein A
second crew of 7 persons bridged a period of March
until September 1994 During the first period it appeared difficult to keep the atmosphere constant in
particular the carbon dioxide values changed rapidlymdashthe reason why many of the carried insects perished
Further the oxygen level decreased slowly because pf a leak
Even during the first two-year phase large differences in opinion appeared and the yield was not large
enough to deliver the calories necessary Reserve stocks had to be broken into Finally the second
experiment had to be ended prematurely because of
mismanagement
However it seems that a well-functioning stable ecosystem should not be underestimated physically
not technically
Artists impressions above Interior Stanford Torus and below Interior
OrsquoNeill Cylinder
Solar flares Czechoslovakia 1965 WB 47
36
ORBIT
It further has to be speculated on that men would resist
a regulated weather programme instead of the customary ever changing circumstances on Earth
Also we must physically resist an eternal stay outside
Earth That is not always easy as some people will show
some kind of sea sickness for ever In any case rooms with a diameter of less than 100 meters and a speed of
revolution over three per minute are insufficient At specifications of over 500 m and at less than 1 revolution
per minute fewer problems have to be expected
How do we get raw materials (Fantasy Moon Mining Yemen
Mutawakelite 1969 1343)
And still there have to be enough raw materials to sustain the
colony but as a principle the
search for raw materials is not the most difficult
From the asteroid belt enough small rocks can be
transported as a building material Also mines can be put
on the Moon Bercause of the lower gravity there transport is easier and some kind of firing mechanism
has been calculated which launch packets of ore simply into space where they can be manipulated
Air can be produced from moonstone Nitrogen nearly without loss can be recycled and eventually added to
ammonia mined from comets Large gardens and fields should start the normal photosynthesis and doing so
finally a complete sustainable society might be built up Energy from the Sun is present in superfluous quantities
What to do about gravity Most designs for a Space station start with a gravity of
1G Some designers however think that a lower level of gravity is possible But in the meantime experiments
with astronauts have showed that our physiology
changes rapidly influenced by decreased or absence of gravity Thus the calcium potassium and sodium
contents of our bone system decrease by about 10 That is not bad were we to stay in space forever but
very troublesome when occasionally we would return to
Earth
Also the quality of our muscles decreases as the blood volume does Providing effects comparable to aging
Further by lack of gravity astronauts become a little
taller with accompanying pain in the back Hence the staying with 1G gravity is not so bad
That has to be maintained by rotation of the
construction The larger the diameter of the construction is the slower it will turn to provide 1 G That is a result
of the centrifugal or centripetal force Its
magnitude has long been established thanks to the work of Dutchman Christiaan Huygens and fixed in
the formula
m v2
F = r where
F = the external force in N(ewton) m = mass in kg
v = speed in msec r = radius in m
Hence a spacecraft with a diameter of 15 meters has to carry out one revolution every 8 seconds to
produce a sensation of 1G And that is too quick for man The effect of the centrifugal force is that should
an astronaut drop an object it does not fall straight
down but partly away from himher Weird
Coriolis force But in a rotating Space station another force is at
work That is the lsquoCoriolis forcersquo named after the
French Gustave-Gaspard Coriolis (1792-1843) who described this kind of force for the first time
The most common manifestation is the second law of
Buys Ballot which says that air streams in the
atmosphere which according the first law of Boys Ballot as a principle run from high to low pressure at
the northern hemisphere are bent to the right and at the southern hemisphere to the left because of the
rotation of the Earth
Therefore air streams around depressions show a
spiral shape in opposite directions at the northern and southern hemisphere In a space station this
force can especially noticed when moving around through the spokes of the wheel
(Diagram of Coriolis F o r c e h t t p
wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm)
A s s u m e t h a t a n
astronaut on a ladder
climbs through a spoke to the axis As he climbs
along he circles around more slowly as he
describes a smaller circle
in the same time What happens with the difference in speed that he had before He will be pressed
against the ladder and that is the Coriolis force The force also acts in opposite direction when he
descends from the ladder
Also the throwing up and catching of a ball will
become a huge achievement as the ball does not
37
ORBIT
drop perpendicularly but will shift a little into the
direction of the orbit of the station and also achieves a higher speed
This also has strange effects on the astronaut As moves
quickly in the rotation direction of the station his weight
appears to increase to a noteworthy extent Then as he moves against the speed of rotation his weight
decreases apparently Mathematically this effect is explainable but very complex
Also the astronautrsquos head and feet move in different
speed to artificial gravity This is plainly noticeable when
somebody jumps up Hence avoid this practice
With these kind of effects adaptation to the changed circumstances in a space station will ask a lot of the
crew members I do hope they can stand it But in any
case the larger the space ship the lesser the problems
Inflatable stations
But therersquos more The inflatable station was considered
many years ago The first i d e a w a s p o s s i b l y
developed when on 12th August 1960 the Echo
balloon with a diameter of
30 meters was launched (Echo I balloon USA 1960
WB 3)
It is true you could not live in it as the balloon was of too frail a construction but the idea of an inflatable
spacecraft was then alive By 1958 groups within NASA
had begun to think about inflatable stations The Goett-committee has been one of the first On 25th26th May
1959 a conference started about projects after
Mercury In particular the
representative of Langley L a r r y Lo f t i n wa s
enthusiastic about his AMIS (Advanced Man in
Space) project (Hexagonal structure
Manama 1970 WB 113)
One of his first projects was a rotating hexagonal
inflatable construction with a diameter of 25 meters a cylindrical core and three lsquospokesrsquo Acting as a ferry to
and from the station the lsquoDyna Soarrsquo Space plane could
be used The Dyna Soar project (at that time still
under development) was cancelled by the American
Minister of Defense Robert
McNamara Inflatable Habitat NASA
1961 enwikipediaorg)
A Langley Space Station
team managed by Paul Hill and Emanuel lsquoMannyrsquo
Schnitzer developed the concept together with the
G o o d y e a r A i r c r a f t
Corporation
(Langleyrsquos self-inflating rotating hexagonal structure httphistorynasagov
SP-4308) Its original diameter had already been reduced to 10
meters
In the years after Langley built several experimental
modules called lsquoErectable Torus Manned Space Laboratoryrsquo a 11 model built by firms such as
Goodyear The torus was built from three layers of
nylon tissue and in between a rubber-like plastic material butyl elastomer A large problem was the
penetration by micrometeorites which as was learnt from the results of the Echo balloon finally damaged
the whole structure
Another problem was the great instability of the ring
due to movements of the astronauts the station started to wobble when they moved around Finally
the project was cancelled and at the end of the eighties the Langley Research Center started to
design inflatable constructions for a base camp on the
Moon
( A r t i s t imp r e s s i on Transhab inflatable
m o d u l e h t t p
enwikipediaorg)
Due to the development of a new series of
s t r o n g e r p l a s t i c materials such as Kevlar
these construct ions
received new interest That lead to the development of Transhab (Transit Habitat) as a resource for crews
coupled at the ISS (international Space Station) The construction is a cylinder in a diameter of 82 meters
and several storeys high
Its volume in inflatable state is 340 m3 The wall has a
thickness of 30 () cm and consists of 12 layers of which the outside layer is made from Kevlar The
layers beneath are made from Nextel a ceramic fibre Disagreements during development and the spiralling
costs finally in 2000 saw the end of NASArsquos interest
G e n e s i s 1
thespacereviewcom)
From 1999 the project was
taken up by Bigelow
38
ORBIT
Aerospace who improved the design and tested it with
successful launchings of Genesis I on 12 July 2006 and Genesis II on 28 June 2007
In their design it has once again more or less the shape
of a balloon With a thickness of 40 cm the wall is still
very thick The outside layer is still Kevlar but inside are some layers of Vectran a textile fibre Within the
structure ants and scorpions were launched along with some objects which people who paid for the privilege of
boosting into space
In this way Bigelow hopes to build a Space Hotel named
Nautilus To stimulate the development Bigelow offered a price of $50 million to everybody who succeeded in
launching a crew of 5 persons to an altitude of 400 km before 2010 So little money lost here so far
A second project which can be realized within the near future is a fixed residence on the Moon As said Langley
occupies itself with the design of such a base which partly should be build below the surface Stamp
designers have already realized the idea
What does the future hold Although we are a long way away from the kind of space station by which a large amount of earth inhabitants can
leave the planet Earth forever the first steps for doing
so are in preparation With the development of their Space Hotel Bigelow tries to make the step to space
albeit a temporary one
Also Langley literally tries to set foot on the Moon and
finally they will succeed in doing so However The cost of such projects are literally astronomical and it is not
expected that in the coming decades much money can be allocated to such projects
Of course in some thousands of years (possibly only in
hundreds of years) this will become the case but for the
time being in my opinion the true conquest of space will stay as science-fiction for at least a few hundred years
Hoorn 2009
John Beenen
NB The stamps entitled lsquoSpace Cityrsquo with a value of 0 cnt do not exist but have been made by the author by means of frames and pictures present at the Internet
Fantasy Moon
b a s e M a n a -ma1970 WB 122
Fantasy bases
ready for Mars
YAR 1971 WB 2892 and 6
Fantasy Modular
base YAR 169 WB 233
39
ORBIT
Cover Below bottom right Future space Dutch Antilles 2000
Literature references (for both parts of article) httpenwikipediaorg Space habitat Space Colonization Orbital Colony Space City Space settlement Space stations L5 Society Bernal Sphere Stanford Torus OrsquoNeil Cylinder Inflatable Space Habitat Transhab Biosphere 2 Generation Ship wwwdsenl~hklruimtehtm Wonen op groene eilanden in de Ruimte (Dutch Living on green Islands in Space) Henry Kluytmans wwworionsarmcom McKendree Cylinder Bishops Ring wwwnasnasagovAboutEducationSpaceSettlement The Colonization of Space wwwdyarstraightscommsgundamhabitatshtml Mobile Suit Gundam High Frontier Life in the Universal Century Developing sound habitats wwwartificial-gravitycomDissertation1_2htm From Tsiolkovsky to Sputnik (1878-1957) httpsciencenasagovheadlinesy2000ast26may_1mhtm Wheels in the Sky httpdiscaircraftgreyfalconus Hermann Noordung Wohnrad (Wheel for Habitation) httparticlesadsabsharvardedufull1992lbsaconf249R Inflatable habitation for the lunar base MRoberts httphistorynasagovSP-4308ch9htm lsquoAs inevitable as the Rising Sunrsquo From the inflatable Torus to the Rotating Hexagon wwwspacecomnewsbusinessmonday_040524html Bigelow Aerospace to tackle inflatable Space Habitats httpsciencehowstuffsworkcominflatable-spacecraft2htm How Inflatable Spacecraft Will Work wwwbogancaphysicscoriolishtml Rotating Space Stations Dynamics An Explanation of the Coriolis Force httpdemonstrationswolframcomRotatingSpaceStation Rotating Space Station wwwdvandomcomcoliolisspacestationhtml Frame Effects and Space Stations wwwdvandomcomcoriolisindexhtml A (hopefully) simple explanation of the Coriolis Force wwwdaviddarlinginfoencyclopedia Hale Edward Everett von Pirquet Guido Noordung Hermann Space Station wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm The Coriolis Force wwwastronautixcomcraftfamlunbaseshtm Lunar bases wwwastronautixcomgallerycspebasehtm Photo Gallery Space base wwwregererating-universeorgOn_Moon_as_Space_Basehtm On Moon as Space Base wwwspacefuturecomhabitatlivingshtml Space Habitat Introduction Living in Space wwwspacepagebevideotaak=bekijkampid=47 Living in space (Video) wwwnutricomspace The Case for Space colonization ndash Now Oscar Falconi wwwxentcompipermailfork (FoRK) Bigelowrsquos inflatable Genesis I satellite in orbit wwwrussianforcesorg Russian strategic nuclear forces (Genesis II) wwwbigelowaerospacecomgenesis Genesis I Genesis II
Thanks to Alan Tunnicliffe who came across the attached news item
complete with stamp in the eNZ Magazine the bi-monthly journal of
the Institution of Professional Engineers NZ Inc Vol 11 No 3 May-
June 2010
Vaccari Auction Sells Remarkable Space Covers April 2010
Apollo 12 cover 55 of 87 flown to the moon on Apollo 15 having been left behind by the original crew sold for euro12200 1977 Salyut
6 Soyuz 27 cover sold for euro1600
40
ORBIT ORBIT
Shuttle 1981mdash2010 Stamps Marshall
Islands 2005
United Nations 2007 Monaco and Ascension 2008
Bulgaria 1991 including stamp from souvenir sheet
USA 1981
below USA 1995 and bottom USA 1998
(two values)
St Vincent Grenadines 1983
Ascension 1989
Bulgaria 1990
and above right W Germany 1975
and USA 2000 Guyana 2006
USA 1995
41
ASSS Membership Renewal 2010
Memberrsquos Name amp Addresshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
I wish to renew my membership of the ASSS for a further year and enclose the equivalent of
pound15 (UK) euro30 (Europe) $US 45 (Rest of the World)
Please return this form with your remittance to Harvey Duncan by the
end of July Thank you
Harvey Duncan Treasurer ASSS 16 Begg Avenue
Falkirk Scotland FK1 2DL
PayPal For details of how to Pay via Paypal
please email Jeff Dugdale Email address on Page 2
42
43
44
6
ORBIT
At this point in late 2002 the ISS
complex looked much as does in this 2006 stamp from Sierra Leone
captioned ldquoISS June 15th 2002rdquo showing the first basic trusses in
place
STS-113 (launched 23112002)
Assembly mission 11A began with the arrival of
Endeavour at the ISS on 25th November and the following day the P1 Truss which had been carried up
was relocated to the port end of the S0 Truss and automatically bolted in place
The mission also brought up the EO-6 crew of Ken Bowersox Nikolai Budarin and Donald Pettit who
officially took over shortly after the docking Three EVAs were conducted in support of the truss installation and
that of the CETA-B cart The activities included the first
EVA by a native American in rookie MS John Herrington
Although no one could possibly have predicted it at the time this would be the last time for thirty months that a
shuttle would dock at the station Endeavourrsquos own attempts to land were waived off on a record three
consecutive days before finally making it home on 7th
December
EO-6 Highlights The sixth resident crew had expected to return by shuttle at the end of their stay on the station but the
loss of Columbia on 1st February 2003 (in a mission that had not visited the ISS) resulted in the fleet being
grounded and the crew having to use the TMA-1
spacecraft for landing and they were replaced by the TMA-2 ldquocaretakerrdquo crew
Donald Pettit had been included
late the preparatory stage when
the original Science Officer Don Thomas was adjudged to have
received too much radiation on his previous spaceflights for duty
on a long duration flight There were no planned visiting
missions scheduled until the arrival of STS-114 to
bring them home after a four month tour
The science programme included over twenty new investigations and Pettit broadcast a series of science
demonstrated supported by postings on the internet
Two EVA (one unplanned) were conducted the first related to the P1 Truss radiator system but the
second (after the loss of Columbia) conducted on 8th April to ensure that the new crew would need to
perform an EVA only in an emergency
Progress M47 arrived on 4th February and further such
visits would now prove indispensable to the maintenance of operations on the ISS in the following
two to three years The resident crew departed on 3rd May so becoming the first to return to earth in a
Soyuz craft and accordingly making Bowersox and
Pettit the first NASA men to fly home in a Russian craft
The landing went far from well with the crew
experiencing almost 8G in the re-entry process and landing well off target so that it took over two hours to
find them they had not been equipped with mobile
phones Pettit was much distressed by the landing but the crew were much praised for their professionalism
in dealing with the problem which was later traced to the yaw gyroscope experiencing a gimbal lock when its
angular rate exceeded 54deg
Soyuz TMA 2 (launched 2642003) EO-7
The new style Soyuz ferry was now the only means of taking
astronauts to the ISS and due
to limited supply capacity it was decided that until shuttles
could be used again the resident crews would have to
be only two-strong (one from each nation) and launched
every six months The previously identified ISS crews
were reassigned as two-person crews with the third seat allocated to ESA astronauts flying short visits
7
ORBIT
However ESA had delayed their next astronautrsquos flight
by six months and so TMA2 flew with only two men on board
The first ldquocaretakerrdquo crew simply maintained systems on
the complex with limited capacity for science
programmes conducting only those which were already in situ Although both Mir and Salyut space stations
had been run by only two people the ISS was much more complex and considerably bigger so the ground
managers were very cautious in allocating duties
Progress M1-10 and M48 brought new supplies up to
Yuri Malenchenko and Ed Lu Lu as Science Officer continued to post on the web a series of personal
recollections of events on board
On 28 May a demonstration of American EMU suiting
was completed so proving that two men could suit up and remove suits without assistance from a third should
an emergency EVA be required On 10th August Malenchenko was ldquomarriedrdquo via a TV link to his fianceacutee
in Houston Texas arrangements having been made long in advance
Soyuz TMA 3 (launched 18102003) EO-8
The second caretaker crew arrived in mid-October
carrying Spanish ESA astronaut Pedro Duque British born ISS commander Michael Foale making his sixth
flight and Russian Alexander Kaleri the whole crew
being curiously celebrated by an issue from Tchad in 2004
Duque returned to Earth with
the EO7 crew on 27th October ha v i ng comp l e t ed h i s
Cervantes science programme during his eight days on the
station
In November Foale and Kaleri
practised emergency ingress procedures to determine if crew members wearing
Orlan EVA suits could enter Soyuz using the internal hatches This was proved possible after a great deal
of stressful activity
One EVA was conducted (on 26th February) and with
both men outside that was the first occasion on which no one had been inside the ISS for three and a half
years On 8th December Foale became the most
experienced NASA astronaut surpassing Carl Walzrsquos career total of 231 days over four missions When he
finally landed Foale had logged 375 days in space but his colleague Kaleri was still 238 days ahead of him in
aggregate terms
Soyuz TMA 4 (launched 1942004) EO-9
The new resident crew comprising Gennady Padalka Ed Fincke and Dutch ESA astronaut Andreacute Kuipers
arrived in mid-April and they are shown on this Lollini sponsored issue from Somalia in 2004 with Kuipers
appearing on his own in the top two stamps with
Fincke and Padalka (left) and Kaleri and Foale in the bottom pairing
8
ORBIT
Kuipers completed his ESA DELTA package during his
eight days on board ISS and returned with the EO8 crew on 30th April
The EO9 crew received no
visitors other than cargo
payloads via Progress M1-11 M49 and M50 After working on
suit repairs and servicing for over a month the crew
abandoned their first EVA after only 14 minutes because of a
pressure drop in the main
oxygen supply of an Orlan suit but a week later after successful repairs they spent
almost six hours outside working on the S0 truss In a second EVA in early August they installed reflectors and
communication units ready for the first ESA Automatic
Transfer Vehicle Jules Verne though this was later delayed by many months
On 18th June Fincke made history by becoming the first
US astronaut to become a father in space listening to the birth of his second daughter via his cell phone
The crew had severe problems with the Elektron oxygen generator which was failing every three days or so and
requiring manual starts These shutdowns were found to be centred on the liquid units that held trapped gas
inside micro-pumps despite using purified water
The crew completed their programme of many
maintenance tasks and returned to earth with test cosmonaut Yuri Shargin in October
Soyuz TMA 5 (launched 14102004) EO-10
The two members of the new resident crew arrived at
the ISS in mid-October the Commander Leroy Chiao and Salizhan Sharipov accompanied by Russian Yuri
Shargin who would stay only for the week or so Russian businessman Sergei Polonsky had been
scheduled to become the third paying space flight
participant but failed a late medical test and so was replaced by a Russian Spaces Forces cosmonaut the
first of that group to be
selected for cosmonaut training eight years earlier He
carried out his own programme of scientific study the Russians
stressing that none of his
activity was military as such practice is banned from the
ISS Sharipov was celebrated by a minisheet from his Kyrgyz homeland in 2005
(above) showing the space station nearing completion in the background
During the tenth expedition this crew would complete two Pirs-based EVAs receive two Progress supply craft
visits and relocate Canadarm2 Problems with the Elektron unit continued repairs were made to EVA
suits an upgrade made to the computer software
trouble experienced with the toilet in Zvezda and a heat exchanger replaced in Quest
There was concern in November that food was running
low with it due to run out in mid-January but this was found to be down to poor record keeping because of
the increased work load of a two person crew and
anyway Progress M51 arrived to solve the problem and the shuttlersquos impending return to flight would also help
Germany 2004 and Japan 2005 show
the station nearing completion
9
ORBIT
Soyuz TMA 6 (launched 1542005) EO-11
The eleventh resident crew would be the first to receive
a shuttle mission since STS-
113 in December 2002 because the loss of
Columbia had created the need to fly two-man
resident crews but the
docking of STS-114 in July would signify the impending return to full station
operation
Italian ESA astronaut Roberto Vittori was back at the ISS in the company of Russian Sergei Krikalev making
his sixth flight and American civilian John Phillips as
science officer This time Vittori completed research under the Eneide programme doing experiments in
human physiology biology and also getting involved in educational demonstrations
The new crew was not long on board before the Elektron system finally broke down in early May
though there were sufficient alternative sources of oxygen on board These would be complemented by
Shuttle and Progress deliveries such as Progress M53 in June which also carried spare parts for the Elektron
unit which the crew worked on in addition to routine
maintenance tasks and the repositioning of their Soyuz from Pirs to Zarya
STS-114 (launched 2672005)
On 28th July the first shuttle
crew to visit the ISS for two and half years arrived via Discovery This was a very experienced crew commanded by Eilleen
Collins By now the decision to
use the shuttle to complete station assembly and then retire
it had been taken The station then looked as it does in this
2006 issue from Sierra Leone As Discovery approached the ISS it flew around it at a distance of some 180
metres to allow the crew on board to photograph the
underside of the shuttle to check for launch damage This rather worryingly revealed the loss of two
protruding tile gap fillers Because these might cause hot spots on re-entry extra EVAs were designed to
manually extract them during which an astronaut
(Stephen Robinson) ventured under the shuttlersquos body for the first time ever in orbital operations
Discovery also brought up MPLM Raffaello carrying a
large amount of supplies including the Human Research Facility 2 and the new CMG 2 gyroscope
As the shuttle departed after over 12 days at the station both crews photographed each otherrsquos spacecraft The
second shuttle Return to Flight mission was then delayed because of questions about the integrity of the
foam fixtures on the External Tanks
In August the Vodzukh COsup2 removal system on the ISS
failed and the American unit in Destiny was activated to take over On 16th August Krikalev the first person
to complete two residences and the first cosmonaut to
fly six missions became the longest served Russian cosmonaut with over 747 days of spaceflight
experience Next day 17th August Krikalev and Phillips performed the only EVA of Expedition 11 after which
they prepared for their next visitors via Soyuz TMA7 which would carry in Gary Olsen the third spaceflight
participant and the new two man resident crew of Bill
McArthur and Valery Tokarev
Soyuz TMA 7 (launched 1102005) EO-12
To be continuedhellip
10
ORBIT ORBIT
2 The Moon Second Quadrant (North-West) We learn from our main source Atlas of the Universe by
Patrick Moore (Philiprsquos 1999)helliphellip
Selected Craters illustratedhellip
Archimedes (Diam 75 km Lat degN 30 Long degW 4) A large impact crater on the Eastern edges of the Mare Imbrium with Montes Archimedes mountains to the South Named after the Greek mathematician and scientist who lived c 287mdash212 BC
(San Marino 1982)
Copernicus (Diam 97 km Lat degN 10 Long degW 20)
A prominent feature named after the famous Polish astronomer (1473mdash1543) and located in the eastern Oceanus Procellarum this is estimated to be around 800 million years old and is typical of craters of that period having a very clear ray
system (Soviet Union 1973)
The Naming of Craters Einstein (Diam 160 km Lat degN 18 Long degW 86)
A large crater which lies along the Western limb of the Moon therefore difficult to observe from Earth and discovered only in 1952 by Patrick Moore Named after the German theoretical physicist and philosopher (1879-1955) (India 1979)
Encke (Diam 32 km Lat degN 5 Long degW 37) Located on the W edge of Mare Insularum to the S SE of crater Kepler Named after German astronomer Johann Frank Encke (1791-1865) (Comoros Isles 1986)
Euler (Diam 25 km Lat degN 23 Long degW 29) Located in the southern half of the Mare Imbrium its most notable nearby feature is Mons Vinogradov to the W-SW Named after Leonard Euler (1707mdash83) the Swiss mathematician and physicist (E Germany 1950)
J Herschel (Diam 145 km Lat degN 62 Long degW 41) A large walled plain which appears foreshortened when viewed from Earth Named after British mathematician chemist and astronomer Sir John Herschel (1792mdash1871) (Centre of GB 1970 )
Kepler (Diam 35 km Lat degN 8 Long degW 38) This lies between the Oceanus Procellarum to the W and Mare Insularm in the E with crater Encke to the SE Named after German mathematician and astronomer Johannes Kepler (1571mdash1630) (Czech Rep 2009)
Lavoisier (Diam 71 km Lat degN 36 Long degW 70) Located near the NW limb at the W edge of Oceanus Procellarum this lies to the SW of crater von Braun and SE of Bunsen Named in honour of ldquothe Father of Modern Chemistryrdquo the French chemist Antoine Lavoisier (1743mdash1794) (France 1943)
Le Verrier (Diam 25 km Lat degN 40 Long degW 20) A small nearly circular bowl shaped feature in the N part of the Mare Imbrium just E of the larger Helicon Named for the French mathematical astronomer Urbain Le Verrier (1811mdash1877) (France 1958)
11
ORBIT
Otto Struve (Diam 160 km Lat degN 25 Long degW 75) This is a vast lava flooded plain near the W
edge of Oceanus Procellarum close the W limb of the Moon and so appears foreshortened Named in honour of German astronomers Friedrich von Struve (Russian VY Struve) (1793-1864) and son (Otto) and grandson (Otto) (USSR 1964) Pythagoras (Diam 113 km Lat degN 65 Long degW 65)
This prominent feature lies near the NW limb just NW of the somewhat larger
Babbage It has an oval appearance due to the oblique viewing angle from Earth and only part of it can be viewed from Earth Named after Greek philosopher Pythagoras of Samos (c 570mdashc 495 BC) ( S a n M a r i n o 1982)
Babbage (Diam 143 km Lat degN 60 Long degW 57) An ancient crater located near the NW
l i m b n a m e d a f t e r B r i t i s h mathematician philosopher and computing pioneer Charles Babbage (1791mdash1871) (GB 2010)
Hevelius (Diam 122 km Lat degN 2 Long degW 67) This is a low-rimmed crater on
the W edge of the Oceanus Procellarum named after Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius (1611mdash1687) - ldquothe founder of lunar topographyrdquo (Poland
1987) Plato (Diam 97 km Lat degN 51 Long degW 9) The lava-filled remains of a crater on the NE shore of Mare Imbrium at the W
extremity of Montes Alpes named after the Classical Greek philosopher and mathematician (c 428mdashc 348 BC) (Greece 1998)
Schiaparelli (Diam 29 km Lat degN 23 Long degW 59) A small crater on the W part of Oceanus Procellarum to the W of Herodotus and named after Giovanni Schiaparelli(1835-
1910) Italian astronomer and science historian famous for his misinterpreted comments re ldquocanalirdquo on Mars (Hungary 1974)
12
ORBIT
ASTEROIDS Some Bits and Pieces
Ulugh Beigh (Diam 70 km Lat deg29 2 Long degW 85) The remnant of a crater just to the W of Oceanus Procellarum near the NW limbmdashforeshortened from the Earth Named after Ulugh Beg Persian ruler and astronomermathemat ic ian (Turkey 1983) Von Braun (Diam 60 km Lat deg41 2
Long degW 78) Named after rocket pioneer Wernher von Braun (1912-77) this is located near the NW limb on the W edge of Oceanus Procellarum and to the NE of Lavoisier (Guinea Biussau 2006)
Uncatalogued Hungarian Stamp Referenced in Spaceflight Article
The June 2010 issue of Spaceflight magazine contained
a five page article by Naacutendo
Schuminszky celebrating the first Hungarian in space whose
flight in Soyuz 36 occurred 30 years beforeon 26th May 1980
A side panel to the article
reproduced right contains
images of a pair of stamps with two subtle differencesmdashin
bottom left hand corner the date ldquo1979rdquo and ldquo1980rdquo and
rightmdashthe face value The
article goes on to explain how unexpected events delayed the
flight by a year Hungarian cosmonaut Bertalan Farkas was
due to be launched in mid-June
1979 in Soyuz 34 but his flight was cancelled following the
failure of Soyuz 33 carrying Bulgarian cosmonaut Georgi Ivanov to dock with Salyut 6 Soyuz 34 was eventually
launched unmanned to provide a fresh ferry for the resident crew to use
In anticipation of the 1979 flight a large number of associated souvenirs including posters emblems and
stamps had been prepared but had to be destroyed though evidently some escaped
However the 1979 version of the eventual SG 3320 is not listed in WEEBAU or Gibbons If any members have
any info about these unissued stamps please share it with us
More on Lunar Craters Our Chairman Margaret Morris forwarded the article opposite from the March 1989 issue of Sky amp Telescope which is of interest in the context of our new series explaining as it does how several Far Side craters have been named after astronauts and cosmonauts
Orbit for June 2010
Our last issue contained one glaring error for which your editor apologises The number on the front ldquo85rdquo was the same as the number for the March issue This will cause
problems when Harvey Duncan issues the next version of the index A lovely cover again by your Editorrsquos wife but spoiled by this typo Sorry
Flown STS-8 Covers These are referred to at the bottom of the left hand column of p 27 of this edition in Umberto Cavallarorsquos article where we learn that there were well over a quarter of a million of them
Alan Tunnicliffe editor of NZ Air Mail News advises that New Zealand stamp dealer JRMowbray has for sale at NZ $75 a piece flown STS-8 space covers date stamped 14 Aug 1983 at KSC with launch and return cancels and bearing a $935 stamp NZ$75 = US$53 or pound35 This seems a rather high price for flown STS-8 covers given the number available and members will possibly be able to obtain the item cheaper with an internet search
Solar Sails and The Sun Peter Hoffman comments on John Beenenrsquos feature on The Sun in our June 2010 issuehellip ldquoIn the Solar Sails section on page 8 mention is made of the failed launch of Cosmos-1 What is not mention is that is was a project of The Planetary Society httpwwwplanetaryorghome They are working on a new version called LightSail the first of which is planned for a launch later this year In case you are not familiar with it The Planetary Society is a privately funded space advocacy group founded in part by Carl Sagan ldquoThe Planetary Society yearly presents the Cosmos Award for Outstanding Public Presentation of Science in honour of Carl Sagan This years winner was Stephen Hawking They printed his acceptance speech Why go into space An amusing comment was a quote from a Calvin and Hobbes cartoon Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere is that none of it has tried to contact us ldquoThe Japanese Space Agency launched its solar sail spacecraft IKAROS (Interplanetary Kite-Craft Accelerated by Radiation Of the Sun) together with its Venus Climate Orbiter Akatsuki on 20 May You can read about it at httpwwwspacecommissionlaunchesjapan-venus-wrap-100520htmlrdquo
13
ORBIT
14
ORBIT
Spaceflight Books for Sale
Books about Space andor Astronomy in English
The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Space 1990 386 pages coffee table book euro 1500
Life in Space D Monchersquo 1979 ldquo 500
The Conquest of Space Willy Ley amp Chesley Bonestell+pictures 1952 RARE ldquo 2000
Star Hunters D Mammana 1990 coffee table book ldquo 1000
The Rocket David Baker 276p+490pictures 1978 coffee table book classic ldquo 2000
The History of Manned Spaceflight David Baker 576p+362pictures 1985coffeerdquo 2000
The Observerrsquos Spaceflight Directory R Turnill 384p 1978 ldquo 1000
The Observerrsquos Book of Unmanned Spaceflight+Manned Spaceflight 1974+1975 ldquo 1000
The Observerrsquos Book Of Astronomy Patrick Moore 1973 ldquo 500
Basic Astronomy Patrick Moore 1967 ldquo 300
Space a Novel James A Michener pocket Ballantine 1983 ldquo 250
Voyagers Ben Bova 1983 pocket ldquo 250
The Universe Herbert Zim 1973 ldquo 200
Exploring Other Worlds WyberampAmes 1968 ldquo 200
Tomorrowrsquos Moon Henry Little 1969 ldquo 200
Observatories of the World Marx amp Pfau 1982 ldquo 1000
Are We Alone Paul Davis Penquin 1995 ldquo 250
Moonport USA (Kennedy Space Center) 1977 ldquo 250
Living in Space (Colonies) J Trefil 1981 ldquo 500
The Cosmonauts Gordon Hooper 1977 ldquo 250
Extraterrestrials-Where Are They Zuckerman ampHart 1995 ldquo 1000
The Cosmic Connection Carl Sagan pocket 1975 ldquo 300
Exploring the Planets Ian Nicolson 1972 ldquo 250
Janersquos pocket Book 11 Space Exploration 1976 ldquo 300
Twenty-First Report Internat Telecomm Union Geneva 1982 ldquo 250
Satellites amp Space Travel Taylor ampAllward 1970 ldquo 200
Watchers of the Stars Patrick Moore 1974 ldquo 500
Robot Explorers Kenneth Garland 1972 ldquo 500
APOLLO by astronaut Alan Bean+paintings Bean in space 1998 coffeetable ldquo 2000
The World of Mars VA Firsoff 1969 ldquo 200
Missiles and Rockets Kenneth Garland ldquo 500
Stars and Planets Ian Ridpath 1978 ldquo 500
Race to Mars The ITN Mars Flight Atlas 1988 ldquo 500
Worlds Beyond Search for Life in Space Ian Ridpath 1975 ldquo 500
CETI Communication with Extraterrestrial Intelligence Stonelay 1976 ldquo 250
Horizon at the Edge of the Universe 9 chapters of astronomers 1983 ldquo 300
The New Race for Space James Oberg 1984 ldquo 500
The Hunt for Life on Mars Goldsmith 1998 ldquo 500
The High Road Ben Bova pocket 1983 ldquo 250
Operation Morning Light the True Story of Cosmos 954 Leo Heaps 1978 ldquo1000
Space Volunteers T Kay 1960 ldquo 300
Legal Aspects of Outer Space Dr C Reijnen 1976 205 pages the Worldrsquos
First Thesis of this Kind by female Dutch scholar ldquo 400
E-MAIL bertvaneijckhomenl if interested in any to discuss sale and postage
See further list on page 24
15
ORBIT
The above obituary and tribute by David Shayler
appeared in the August 2010 of Spaceflight magazine marking the passing of Rex Hall who was also one of
the longest standing members of the ASSS carrying
the membership number 88033 We extend our condolences to Rexrsquos family
16
ORBIT
Un-manned Satellites on Postage Stamps 35 By Guest Contributors Don Hillger and Garry Toth
A version of this article first appeared in The Astrophile for sic)
The Discoverer series
This is the thirty-fifth in a series of articles about un-manned satellites on postage stamps This article
features the satellites in the US Air Force (USAF) Discoverer series The first Discoverer was launched
on 21 January 1959 and the last one on 18 April 1962
There were a total of 39 launches a third (or 13) of which were failures The Discoverer series also called
Corona satellites were later declassified as the first Keyhole (KH) spy satellites
Discoverer was the public name of the Corona series
of film-return reconnaissance spy satellites whose true
mission was not officially revealed until about 35 years after the program ended The Discoverers secret
program was masked by scientific goals it was kept secret even from program staff who knew nothing
about Corona Scientific instruments were even placed
on Discoverer satellites and then covertly removed before launch
The Discoverer satellites were designed to take pictures
of target countries and then eject a film capsule
which was to de-orbit and enter the Earthrsquos atmosphere on a parachute and be recovered by a
specially-modified aircraft as it floated downward On many of the missions however the capture of the film
capsules was not successful for various reasons The first successful return of a capsule through the Earths
atmosphere occurred with Discoverer-13 though in this
case the aerial capture failed and the capsule fell into the sea Fortunately that mission carried no cameras
Discoverer-14 was the first completely successfully Corona mission in which reconnaissance photos were
taken from the spy satellite and ejected in a capsule
which was then successfully recovered in a mid-air capture carried out by a C-119 aircraft
Because of secret nature of their mission the
Discoverer satellites were not well-known and so were not featured on many postal items A set of three
stamps issued by Libya in 1966 (Scott 297-299) shows
a Discoverer capsule There is also a local post item from Batum that depicts the recovery of a Discoverer
capsule and a souvenir sheet from Chad (Michel BL247) that shows the re-entry of a Discoverer capsule
in the margin Another capsule recovery is shown in
the margin of a souvenir sheet issued by the Malagasy Republic in 1999 (Scott 1502a)
A checklist of postal items identified as showing Discoverer-
series satellites (httprammbciracolostateedudevhillgerDiscovererhtm) is available as part of the Website developed by the authors to accompany this series of articles (httprammbciracolostateedudevhillgersatelliteshtm) E-mail correspondence is welcome Don Hillger can be reached at hillgerciracolostateedu and Garry Toth at garry_tothhotmailcom
Top KH-4B Corona satellite Above Recovery of Discoverer 14 return capsule (typical for
the Corona series (ex Wikipedia)
17
ORBIT
18
ORBIT
Flight STS-130 Commander George Zamka Pilot Terry Virtis MS Kathryn Hire MS Stephen Robinson MS Nicholas Patrick MS Robert Behnken MS Koichi Wakata KSC Launch Date 822010 KSC Landing 21210 Purpose Tranquility Module Main Payload and Cupola
Shuttle Story 201011 STSndash130 -131 -132 Part One
STS-130 (ISS assembly flight 20A) via Endeavour carried as its
primary payloads the Tranquility module and the Cupola a robotic control station with six windows around its sides and
another in the centre providing a 360-degree view around the station Endeavour launched at 0414 EST (0914 UTC) on 8
February 2010 and landed at 2220 EST on 21 February 2010 on
runway 15 at the Kennedy Space Centers Shuttle Landing Facility
Tranquility was shipped from the
Thales Alenia Space facility in
Turin Italy It arrived at Kennedy Space Center on 21 May 2009 It
was formerly known as Node 3 and was named by a NASA poll
The module provides six berthing locations however three of those
locations are disabled as modules
originally planned to be attached to Tranquility were cancelled The
photo right shows Tranquility just before being installed to Unity node
STS-130 also brought the Cupola a large window
module and robotics work station to the ISS which was
to be attached to the nadir-
side of Tranquility The module also includes various
ISS systems including addit iona l l i fe support
systems This photo shows the facility being prepared at KSC whilst the photo above right
shows the module and cupola being moved into position on the
ISS
The shape of the mission patch on the launch
cover below represents the cupola over the earth in a photo taken by the unmanned
Lunar Orbiter probe in 1966 so representing a past and future designation for explorers from
Earth
For other Zazzle stamps
see page 33
19
ORBIT
Flight STS-131 Commander Alan Pointdexter Pilot James Dutton MS Rick Mastracchio MS Dorthy Metcalf- Lindenburger MS Stephanie Wilson MS Naoko Yamakazi MS Clayton Anderson KSC Launch Date 5410 KSC Landing 20410 Purpose MPLM Leonardo Main Payload
STS-131 (ISS assembly flight 19A) via Discovery launched on 5
April 2010 from Kennedy Space Centers launch pad 39A and landed at 908 AM on 20 April 2010 on runway 33 at the Kennedy
Space Centers Shuttle Landing Facility The mission marked the longest flight for space shuttle Discovery
The primary payload was a Multi-Purpose Logistics Module loaded with supplies and equipment for the ISS The mission also
removed and replaced an ammonia tank assembly outside the station on the S1 truss The mission also included several on-
board payloads this mission had the most payloads since STS-
107
The primary payload of STS-131 was MPLM Leonardo filled with food and science supplies and also carried the third and final
Minus Eighty Degree Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI) Window Orbital Research Facility (WORF) one Crew Quarters Rack the
Muscle Atrophy Resistive Exercise (MARES) rack Resupply
Stowage Racks (RSRs) as well as Resupply Stowage Platforms (RSPs) The Lightweight Multi-Purpose Equipment Support
Structure Carrier (LMC) carried a refurbished Ammonia Tank Assembly (ATA) to the ISS The refurbished ATA was removed
from the Space Station and returned for use on this mission
during STS-128 It was swapped with an empty tank which will ride home on the LMC
This mission was the second flight of the TriDAR a 3D dual-
sensing laser camera intended for potential use as an
autonomous rendezvous and docking sensor TriDAR provides guidance information that can be used to guide a vehicle during
rendezvous and docking operations in space TriDAR does not rely on any reference markers such as reflectors positioned on
the target spacecraft
This was the final Space Shuttle mission that contains one or
more rookie astronauts the missions after this will have all- veteran crews
STS-131 was only the third mission in the Space Shuttle
programme to carry three female astronauts
the others being STS-40 and STS-96
With three female crew members arriving on board Discovery and Expedition 23 Flight
Engineer Tracy Caldwell Dyson at the station
the STS-131 mission marked the first time that four women have been in space at one
time
STS-131 marked the first time that two
Japanese astronauts Naoko Yamazaki from the Shuttle crew and Soichi Noguchi on the
ISS had been in space together
Although Naoko Yamazaki is not the last non-
US astronaut Naoko was the last Japanese astronaut to fly the space shuttle
MPLM Leonardo can
be seen in the shuttle cargo bay
The seven stars either side of our
sun represent the
crew members
The shuttlersquos orientation indicates
it is performing the Rendezvous Pitch
Manoeuvre which
allows the ISS to photograph its
underbelly
20
ORBIT
Flight STS-132 Commander Kenneth Ham Pilot Dominic Antonelli MS Michael Good MS Garret Reisman MS Piers Sellars MS Stephen Bowen KSC Launch Date 1452010 KSC Landing 2652010 Purpose Delivery of Russian Main Payload Rassvet Module
STS-132 (ISS assembly flight ULF4) docked with the ISS on May
16 2010 It was launched from the Kennedy Space Center on May 14 2010 The primary payload is the Russian Rassvet Mini-
Research Module along with an Integrated Cargo Carrier-Vertical Light Deployable (ICC-VLD) STS-132 is scheduled to be the
final flight of Space Shuttle Atlantis provided that the STS-335
Launch On Need rescue mission is not flown
Rassvet means dawn in Russian The module was built
by Russian aerospace company
Energia and arrived at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC)
aboard an Antonov 124 cargo plane on 17 December 2009
After it was unloaded from the Antonov the module was
transported to an Astrotech processing bay in Cape Canaveral to
undergo preparations for launch shown in this photo
An airlock and radiation heat exchanger to be used for outfitting the Russian Nauka Module (to be launched in 2012) a spare
elbow part of the European Robotic Arm (ERA) and a portable
work platform for science hardware for performing experiments in outer space were externally mounted on Rassvet in its launch
configuration Russian and US cargo delivered was also accommodated inside the module The volume for cargo and
science inside MRM1 is 5 cubic meters] Rassvet was outfitted
with ISS standard grapple fixtures that allowed the module to be unloaded from the payload bay of Atlantis using the stations
robotic arm
The ICC pallet is constructed of aluminum It is approximately 8 feet long 13 feet wide and 10 inches thick The empty weight of
the pallet is 2645 pounds The total weight of ICCndashVLD and the ORUs is approximately 8330 pounds ICC-VLD return mass is
2933 kilograms (6470 lb)
The ICC-VLD was berthed in the centre of the
payload bay for both launch and re-entry
In the photo above Rassvet is shown centre top
The mission patch shows Atlantis flying off into the sunset as the end of the shuttle
programme approaches
21
ORBIT
By Andreacute Scheer and Margaret Morris This fascinating structure is an octagonal pentelic marble tower on the Roman agora or marketplace in Athens It was supposedly built by the astronomer Andronicus of Kyrrhos c 50 BC but according to other sources might have been constructed in the 2
nd
century BC before the rest of the forum The structure is 12 metres high with a diameter of approximately 8 metres On each of the eight sides (aligned with the eight principal points of the compass) is a sculpture featuring the wind gods and below each sculpture is engraved a sundial Thus the tower served as a solar clock but additionally in the interior was a water-clock (clepsydra) driven by water coming down from the Acropolis There were mechanical hour indicators and displays for the seasons of the year with astrological dates and periods The tower was topped in antiquity by a weather-vane in the shape of a triton with a wand which pointed at whichever of the winds was blowing The tower must have been one of the most useful structures in the agora as it showed the time for civilian purposes and indicated the wind direction for merchants awaiting the arrival of a ship The earliest philatelic items to depict this unusual building are postal stationery postcards originating from 1900 when the Greek postal authorities organised a competition for photographers and artists The best pictures were selected for issue and on 1 July 1901 the first series of 32 cards was issued In total 12 series of 32 cards each were issued between then and 20 March 1903 The cards were issued in three colours (chestnut black and green) with imprinted stamps of two values (5 lepta green for national mail and 10 lepta red for international mail) The cards additionally have an impressed stamp without colour on the left side being 10 lepta for the card itself so the cards were sold for 15 and 20 lepta The design of the imprinted stamps was based on the Hermes (Mercury) statue by Giovanni da Bologna During the war on the Balkans the cards were used by the Greek army and have an extra imprint ndash Carte Postale ndash Franchise Militaire A few examples of these postal stationery postcards are illustrated opposite and on page 23 The wording ldquoLrsquohorloge de Kyrrhestesrdquo refers to the timepiece built by Andronicus of Kyrrhos while ldquoTEMPLE DrsquoEOLErdquo translates as ldquoTemple of Aeolusrdquo (Aeolus = god of the winds) For each card 12 versions can be distinguished ndash ie 3 colours x 2 values x 2 usages For fuller information see reference no 1 Of course numerous picture postcards also feature this interesting structure
The Tower of the Winds The Oldest Planetarium on Stamps and
Postal Stationery
Front and back of postal stationery postcard
Examples of Greek postal stationery from the early 20th
century
Front and back of postal stationery postcard
22
ORBIT
The 19423 issues (SG 561-572) of Greece shown beside the 1973 Dominica souvenir sheet whose designer has
reinterpreted the divine sculptures in the margins
Boreas also on the 100d value in black and grey
Skiron
Zephyrus in two 25d vals
orange and green
Lips
Notus
Eurus
Apeliotes in two 10d vals red brown and red orange
Kaikias in two 50d vals black and grey violet and blue
Wind Direction Name of Deity Characteristics of the Sculpture North Boreas An old man wearing heavy clothing and holding a conch shell This wind was cold fierce and
stormy and in Athens made a loud hollow noise
North East Kaikias Old man with severe expression holding circular shield from which he will drop hailstones Weather characteristically cloudy wet and cold
East Apeliotes Young man with hair flowing in every direction holding a cloak full of fruit and grain ndash he brings gradual gentle rain
South East Eurus Old man with morose countenance wrapped tightly against the elements in his cloak This wind brought sultry gloomy weather with much rain
South Notus Young man emptying an urn and producing a shower of water This wind was associated with sultry very wet weather
South West Lips Boy pushing the stern of a ship promising a good sailing wind This was the wind which blew right into Piraeus harbour
West Zephyrus Beautiful lightly clad youth of happy aspect holding a cloak full of flowers In summer this wind brought very sultry weather
North West Skiron Bearded man with a bronze pot full of hot ashes and charcoal This was a dry wind extremely cold in winter but scorching and with lightning in summer
The following table gives details of the sculptures and the characteristics attributed to each of the wind gods
For fuller information see reference no 2
23
ORBIT
The sculptures of the eight winds were depicted on stamps of Greece issued in 1942 (six designs) and 1943 (again six designs ndash four as the previous issue but including the two omitted winds) Five values were surcharged in 1944 to aid victims of the Piraeus bombing of 11 January 1944 the exceptionally high face value resulted in few of these stamps being used Later in 1944 the same five values were surcharged in aid of a Childrenrsquos Convalescent Camp Fund Finally in 1946 two values of the 1942 issue were surcharged ndash the 10dr value in black and the 50dr revalued as 20dr in red See opposite for examples of the stamp designs In addition to these attractive engraved stamps the 1973 issue from Dominica commemorating the centenary of the World Meteorological Organisation included a miniature sheet incorporating the 50c and $1 values and surrounded in the margin by images of all eight wind sculptures (see page 22) More recently the cover of a booklet issued by Greece on 7 October 1988 provides an aerial view of the agora and the Tower of the Winds can be detected (see below) The booklet contains 16 stamps (4 each of 4 different values) and celebrates capitals of Greek provinces In early Christian times the building was used as the bell tower of a Byzantine Church It was partly buried in the ground until fully excavated in the 19
th century by the
Archaeological Society of Athens It is interesting to note that the design of the upper octagon of the 18th century Radcliffe Observatory in Oxford England is based on the Tower of the Winds as is the mausoleum of the founder of the Greek National Library Panayis Vagliano at West Norwood Cemetery London There is a similar tower in Sevastopol built in 1849 References
1 ldquoEntiers Postaux Illustreacutes du service des postes
helleacuteniques et leurs preacutecurseursrdquo Georges Mathas 1985
2 For finely detailed drawings and information about the sculptures you may care to see if your Library has a copy of ldquoThe Antiquities of Athensrdquo Stuart amp Revett Vol 1 published in London 1762
3 Article by Derek J de Solla Price in ldquoNational
Geographic April 1967 pp587-596 4 Much useful information may also be obtained from
sites on the internet
Examples of Overprints from left to right
1944 Piraeus Bombing Aid 1944 Childrenrsquos convalescent camp fund 1946 Surcharge
Below Cover of the 1988 stamp booklet
Front and back of postal stationery postcard
24
ORBIT
Old Photo Makes New(s) Story
A photo taken twenty-one years ago became hot international new(s) this July writes Bert van Eijck
It is a picture of your correspondent in front of the
monument on the graves of the seven astronauts killed
in the Challenger disaster The photo from November 1989 shows the national cemetery at Arlington in
Washington DC And it is this graveyard a national American field of pride and honour that was involved in
a scandal making news all over the world
What happened This became a hot story after it was leaked to the press that in 211 graves on Arlington the wrong corpse had
been buried But this disgrace grew to international
proportions when the US Senate published a report which revealed that it was not 211 but 6600 graves that
had been so dishonoured And maybe there are more the researchers stated
Consequently it meant that family members had been paying their respect at the wrong graves because many
were not marked well or the ground-plan directed to wrong places
Arlingtonrsquos director John Metzler was fired as was his
depute Thurman Higginbotham both of whom said
they knew there were made mistakes but they could not help ldquobecause of economyrdquo
Arlington cemetery was opened in 1864 Since then
300000 Americans have been buried here including
famous or well-known persons like presidents
ministers high ranked military artists judges and
astronauts
And what about some of the most recent ones Did I indeed visit and honour the seven Challenger astronauts in their last resting place on Earth in
November 1989 as shown on the photo Or are they perhaps mistakenly buried in another
unmarked grave This is hard to believe but one never knowshelliphellip
For those who wonder what was doing 21
years ago in the US capital I visited the
World Stamp Exporsquo89 at the Convention Center in Washington DC Of course I did
more sightseeing at and in the famous Smithsonian Museums (a must the
National AirampSpace Museum with 10
million visitors a year) the Capitol the metro (deepest in the world) George
Washingtonrsquos house in Vernon Arlington of course and much more
At the World Stamp Expo there was a
presentation of both USA and USSR space
stamps The American stamps were presented by astronaut Buzz Aldrin the
Soviet stamps by cosmonaut Gherman Titov
Author and the Challenger astronauts monument at Arlington seven figures in bronze (left) At right a plaque honoring US-soldiers killed in action saving
hostages in Iran
Astronaut Buzz Aldrin (left) presents the US space stamps while cosmonaut Gherman Titov (right) does the same with
Soviet space stamps In the middle officials of USPS Below the
stampshellip
25
ORBIT
The Apollo 15 Cover Scandal by Umberto Cavallaro
In a feature which first appeared in the April-June 2010 issue of Ad Astra the web journal of the Italian Astrophilatelic Association its editor reveals in considerable detail the full story of those covers which today sell for so much money The Apollo 15 flown covers are among the best known
collectibles from the Apollo Era mainly because of what Jim Irwin recalls as ldquothe problem we brought
back from the Moonrdquo
The crew of Apollo 15 carried out one of the most complete scientific explorations of the Moon the first
lunar roving vehicle was operated on the Moon to
extend the range of exploration some 180 pounds of lunar surface samples were returned for analysis Yet
Fifteen is best remembered as the crew that carried envelopes to the moon and the whole mission is
remembered for the ldquogreat postal caperrdquo
Apollo 15 was not the first mission to carry covers
dozens were carried on each flight from Apollo 11 onwards and as Commander Dave Scott recalls in his
book the whole business had probably been building since Mercury through Gemini and into Apollo People
had a fascination with objects that had been carried in space and they became more and more popular and
valuable as the programme progressed Right from
the start of the Mercury programme each astronaut had been allowed to carry on board a certain number
of personal items
NASA was in the habit of authorizing astronauts to
carry certain personal items on manned flights known as Astronautsrsquo PPK (Personal Preference Kits) All such
items had to be listed and approved by Deke Slayton the Head of the Astronaut Office prior to launch and
were intended for private use or as personal gifts
after the flight and could not be employed for commercial
Fig 1 The official USPS cover postmarked on the Moon
purposes or personal gain Astronaut kits typically
included badges jewellery coins medals flags stamps postal covers currency printed materials and
similar easily packed lightweight mementoes As the flight became more significant the number and type of
items increased
Aside from personal mementoes each crew had
carried medallions whose number had grown steadily on each mission In his book The All-American Boys astronaut Walter Cunningham reveals that it was rumoured around the Astronaut Office that Apollo 14
carried on board a personal package weighing forty-
two pounds Before that flight the Franklin Mint had even advertised the proposed sale After the flight the
commercial deal was never completed and all went quiet nothing about it being published in the media
But some members of the US Congress were unhappy
of the situation
In that context the ldquolapses of judgmentrdquo of the Apollo 15 crew became fatal Dave Scott went too far
carrying on board a total of 641 postal covers (including the two official covers) of which only 243
were listed and authorized before the flight and 398
were not -- secretly carried on board Apollo 15 by Scott in a pocket of his space suit Had they been
listed as being in Scotts PPK they would probably have been routinely approved for inclusion in the
preference kit
The 243 listed and authorized covers include
bull 2 official US Postal Service covers one of which the ldquoOfficial Coverrdquo was publicly cancelled on the
moon by Scott at the request of the US Postal
Service 10 (Fig 1) bull 1 Wright Brothers commemorative cover dated
1928 and autographed by Orville Wright which was carried by Worden for a friend
bull 1 cover bearing a First Man on the Moon stamp and a Bliss Centennial three-cent stamp carried by
Irwin for Barbara Baker (Fig 2 below)
26
ORBIT
8 Shamrock covers carried by Irwin (as below)
144 Herrickrsquos ldquoMoon Phasesrdquo covers carried by Worden
(Fig 4) printed with a cachet showing 15 phases of the moon On the USS Okinawa the Apollo 15 recovery ship
the astronauts placed two eight-cent stamps purchased
on board by Worden on each of these covers and they had the covers cancelled by the shipboard post office
The astronauts later autographed these covers while flying back from Hawaii to Houston Sixteen covers were
torn or damaged and were destroyed Because of the furore created by the Apollo 15 covers incident NASA
confiscated 61 of these 144 Moon Phases covers
87 Apollo 12 covers (Fig 5) that for unknown reason
did not fly on that mission and which were carried on
Apollo 15 for Mrs Barbara Gordon a stamp collector then wife of Richard Gordon Apollo 12 astronaut who
at was the back-up pilot for Apollo 15
The 398 unauthorized covers (initially there were
400 but 2 were damaged and discarded) are lightweight envelopes carrying as a cachet a replica
of the official Apollo 15 patch overprinted with an Air Force wing and propeller emblem
The idea of these additional covers was suggested during a cocktail party by Eiermann a salesman for
the heat-shield contractor who had frequent business and social contacts with NASA personnel and
astronauts He suggested to fly 400 lightweight covers 100 for each of the astronauts and 100 for
his friend Sieger the German stamp dealer The
cacheted covers were provided by Al Bishop a friend of many astronauts then at the Howard
Hughes organization He had already provided covers for the previous flights since Apollo 12
Above one of the 100 Sieger covers with the handwritten note ldquoLanded at Hadley Moon July 30 1971 On the
reverse is a typed and notarised inscription ldquoThis is to certify that this cover was on board the Falcon at the Hadley-
Apennine Moon July 30 ndashAug 2 1971rdquo
Below one of the 298 unauthorised covers carried to the Moon by David Scott with the inscription ldquoThis envelope was
carried to the Moon aboard the Apollo 15 of 300 to the Lunar Surface in LMrdquoFalconrdquo
The crews usually returned to Bishop a couple of
flown covers signed with gratitude ldquoTo my
knowledge ndash Cunningham reports in his well documented book ndash Bishop never sold any and never
made a dime off his relationship He was simply a fan To Al Bishop Apollo 15 was no different from any
other flight except for a phone call he received from
Hal Collins the Astronaut Office manager at the Cape
27
ORBIT
Collins told Bishop that the crew would like to know
whether he could obtain some very lightweight envelopes for them Al said that hed be happy to do so
He was unaware then that many of them would be smuggled on board the next lunar flight Al was trusted
Thats why many of us imposed on him with our
problems special requests and sometimes matters which we would rather not share with NASArdquo
This time Al was badly used he emerged as a
scapegoat and his name was dragged as though he was the Mr Big of an international stamp conspiracy
The covers were cancelled at Kennedy Space Center
several days before July 26 1971 The date of the post office machine canceller was moved forward
Additionally twin eight-cent stamps were purchased by the astronauts on the USS Okinawa the Apollo 15
recovery ship and affixed to these covers ndash as for the
Herrickrsquos covers In the shipboard post office the covers were then cancelled and date-stamped August 7 1971
The astronauts finally autographed these covers while flying from Hawaii to Houston
Soon after the flight the astronauts gave Eiermann
the 100 covers ndash after agreeing that there was to be
no commercialization or advertising of these covers and that nothing would be done with them until after
completion of the Apollo programme
But after a while news started to circulate that the
German dealer was selling in Europe covers flown on Apollo 15 for a reported average of US $1500 each
The reports infuriated Congress not least because congressmen had to read such controversial
information in the press before being informed by
NASA which is obligated to keep Congress fully informed of its activity Recollection of the Apollo 14
medallions incident must have echoed in the minds of certain members of Congress many of whom were
not fans of NASA anyway NASA started an internal investigation This was the most controversial
development of the Apollo Programme and although
most astronauts were involved to some degree NASA made an example of the Apollo 15 flight crew ldquoIt
was turning into a witch-huntrdquo recalled Scott ldquoOur bosses had abrogated their responsibilities and we
were left alone on a very wet dayrdquo
It is ironic that after addressing a joint session of
Congress as heroes in less that one year the three astronauts of Apollo 15 had to go back in front of these
same senators in disgrace because of this envelope scandal
After this ldquoincidentrdquo NASA prohibited from Apollo 17 on the flying of covers or stamps during a space
missions (they were not on time to block the covers carried on Apollo 16) The only exceptions have been
since then the items flown in cooperation with the US
Postal Service ie the 266000 covers carried in 1983 in
the payload bay of the Space Shuttle Challenger on
STS-8 and the 500000 $995 Express Mail stamp created by Paul and Chris Calle in 1994 flown on
Endeavour STS-68 in recognition of the 25th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing The huge
number of such items carried in space discourages
speculations and these items still are widely available for few dollars
So far fewer than 1000 envelopes in total have flown
to the Moon No other American covers will flow to the Moon in the foreseeable future Perhaps the next
ldquoMoon coversrdquo will bear Chinese or Indian stamps
Dave Scott was the first lunar Postmaster and had two
postmarks with him and two covers with imperforated dieproof of the US twin Decade of Space Achievements
stamps affixed (Fig 1)
He had one postmark with ldquoMoon Landing USArdquo (Fig 8 below) and another with ldquoUnited States on the
Moonrdquo (Fig 9 bottom)
The First Lunar Post Office was opened on August 2 1971 when David Scott postmarked only the official
cover (and brought back the official backup-cover uncancelled) A handful covers had however been
postmarked before launch with both postmarks Dr Matthew Radnofsky ndash who in his laboratory already
had simulated cancelling in space for Apollo 11 ndash
tested both postmarks to ensure that the cancellation devices were in working order
Especially the date could be changed easily Contrary
to Apollo 11 covers without stamps were used for
28
ORBIT
these tests Apollo 15 Lunar Cancellation Proofs are
much scarcer than Apollo 11 ones ldquoAs by now I am aware of only 17 itemsrdquo states famous astrophilatelist
Walter Hopferwieser Covers with proofs of the Apollo 15 moon postmarks have been recently sold at Regency
Superior and Aurora auctions
The official Apollo 15 cover postmarked on the Moon
(see Fig 1 repeated above ) is displayed at the US National Postal Museum It was publicly cancelled and
the video can be seen at httpwwwpostalmuseumsiedustampstakeflight
apollo15video-01html A short speech was given by
Dave Scott while cancelling the cover ldquoTo show that our good Postal Service has deliveries any place in the
universe I have the pleasant task of cancelling here on the Moon the first stamp of a new issue dedicated to
commemorate US achievements in space I have the
first one here on an envelope At the bottom it says United States in Space a decade of achievement and
Im very proud to have the opportunity here to play postman I pull out a cancellation device It says
August 2 1971 first day of issuehellip What could be a
better place to cancel this stamp than right here at Hadley Rillehelliprdquo
Immediately thereafter the Postmaster General who
was waiting at the Mission Control at Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston Texas gave the signal to start the
First- Day cancellations at post offices in Houston
Kennedy Space Center and Huntsville
Acknowledgement Thanks to Walter Hopferwieser for his comments
Some Notes About Space Mail
Commenting on Brian Vincentrsquos article in the June
2010 Orbit ASSS member Geoff Chivers writes in an
email to your Editorhellip Im sure you wont mind me commenting on Brian G Vincents Some Notes About Space Mail (page 36)
In paragraph 2 he refers to the Apollo 15 cover incident leaving the impression that Scott Worden and Irwin were guilty of some heinous crime This has been the subject of much miss-reporting over the years The full story of what actually happened is explained in depth at page 328 et seq of Two sides of the moon by David Scott and Alexei Leonov published by Simon amp Shuster The astronauts were of course exonerated
This is the quote (slightly edited to enable it to stand as an independent piece)-
During 1972 while on a trip to Washington DC George Low NASA deputy administrator asked me to stop by his
office writes David Scott I had known George in Houston while he was Apollo spacecraft programme manager and I had great respect for him We spent a short while exchanging pleasantries Then George looked me in the eye and came to the point ldquoWell Daverdquo he said ldquoI have to tell you I was not very proud of my performancerdquo His comment was the culmination of what had become known as the Apollo 15 ldquocover incidentrdquo This involved some first day postal covers which we had carried aboard Apollo 15 some of which were unfortunately sold by a German stamp dealer several months after the flight As No 2 in NASA George
had been heavily involved in NASAs handling of the incident and his comment referred to one of the poorest management performances the space agency had ever demonstrated - up to then The whole business had probably been building since Mercury through Gemini and into Apollo People had a fascination with objects that had been carried in space and they became more and more popular and valuable as the programme progressed Right from the start of the Mercury programme each astronaut had been allowed to carry on board a certain number of personal items in what were known as PPKS - Personal Preference Kits Before each flight a list of the items was prepared for Deke Slayton who
Two Sides of The Moon
by David Scott and Alexei Leonov
The text opposite from the
above book has been
referred to by Umberto Cavallaro in preparing his
above piece
29
ORBIT
had overall responsibility for approving them As the flights became more significant the number and type of items increased Aside from personal mementoes each crew had carried a certain number of medallions which they could hand out afterwards as souvenirs The number of medallions had grown steadily on each mission - eventually some crew members had been carrying several hundred each and their weight was becoming a concern And as always commercialisation began to creep in In the end on Apollo 14 commanded by Al Shepard it was alleged that the crew had carried some silver medallions on board which were to be melted down after the flight and mixed with many other commemorative medallions by the Franklin Mint to be sold to the general public The Franklin Mint had even advertised the proposed sale before the flight After the flight the deal was never consummated and all went quiet nothing about it was printed in the media But some members of Congress had heard about it and were unhappy with the situation Since we were busy training for Apollo 15 (launched 26 July 1971) we knew nothing about all this Had we known we would have been far more wary of what happened subsequently All we knew was that Deke Slayton had halved the number of medallions we could carry Shortly afterwards Deke introduced Jim (Irwin) Al (Worden) and me to a long-standing friend of his at the Cape called Walter Eiermann In retrospect this seems likely to have been more than a coincidence Deke invited us to join him at dinner at Eiermanns house one evening several months before the Apollo 15 launch Eiermann asked if we would like to make some money on the side by signing some stamps ldquoAll the guys are doing itrdquo he said We agreed We were also approached by several members of the Manned Spacecraft Centerrsquos stamp club who asked us to sign many first - day covers before the flight for their members as well as for ourselves At that time we could not buy life insurance If we signed some covers we reasoned they could be held during the flight and act as limited life insurance for our families if anything happened to us But then Eiermann proposed we carry four hundred lightweight commemorative covers a hundred of which would be passed on to a stamp dealer in Germany when we returned All the covers would be franked on the day of launch and franked on the day of our return Our understanding was that the dealer would hold his hundred covers to be sold at some future date after the Apollo programme was over In return he would set up a $6000 trust fund for each of us for the education of our children In the months of intense activity before the flight we did not give this more than a moment of thought But we agreed In retrospect we made a mistake in even considering it In the months following our mission we learnt that the German dealer had begun to sell the covers We let Eiermann know that we were opposed to the sale Forget the trust funds we said we dont want any money This is not what we had understood would happen But when senior managers at NASA learnt about the covers being sold they were furious Incomplete information was then provided to the press by NASArsquos Public Affairs Office and reports started to appear that we had smuggled the covers onto our flight This was literally impossible NASA personnel prepared us for every aspect of the flight - from our birthday suits out Everything we had carried had to be specially packaged by the flight support crew to make sure apart from anything else
that it was fireproof Everything in our PPKs was on a list which was certified before launch I was never aware of any rules about what could or could not be taken in these packs Slayton was to approve the list so as far as I was concerned it was up to management to keep us on the straight and narrow I assumed if the list was approved that was fine Usually the list was certified by Deke But before our flight for some reason he neither asked us personally for each of our lists as was customary nor signed off on the list personally He said the flight - crew support team had already logged everything Whereas we had purchased the covers ourselves the Astronaut Office at the Cape had prepared the covers for the flight and had had them stamped and franked on the day of launch Somehow however the support team had missed them when they prepared the PPK flight manifest It was also reported after the incident that we had been removed from the astronaut corps Again totally untrue Unfortunately NASA managers did nothing to dispel this false and misleading information They just tucked their heads in and let the rumours run The reports infuriated Congress not least because congressmen had to read such controversial information in the press before being informed by NASA which is obligated to keep Congress fully informed of its activities Recollections of the Apollo 14 medallion incident must have seeped into the minds of certain members of Congress many of whom were not fans of NASA anyway When NASA started an internal investigation we were told by a senior official in the agency that we were on our own We were advised to get our own legal representation A Senate hearing into the matter had been called and a justice Department investigation would follow It was turning into a witch - hunt NASA we were advised expected us to keep quiet and take the Fifth Amendment at this hearing We did not We told it like it was We had nothing to hide Eventually the Justice Department concluded that we had broken some administrative rules but had done nothing criminal NASA confiscated the remaining covers but they acted before discovering all the facts of the case Following an investigation by NASA the Justice Department and the Senate the Justice Department concluded on 6 December 1978 in a ldquoMemorandum Opinion for the Assistant Attorney Generalrdquo that NASA had no claim to the remaining covers that the covers were never intended for sale that there was no attempt at concealment by the crew of the fact that the covers were to be flown on Apollo 15 and finally that the covers would have been approved to carry aboard Apollo 15 had a request been made We were reprimanded and we took our licks But it was a very raw deal NASA had hung us out to dry Our bosses had abrogated their responsibilities and we were left alone on a very wet day I spent many years trying to get full access to NASA and congressional records on the case NASA refused to provide full disclosure We subsequently found out there had been rumblings about profitmdashmaking on previous missions A copy of a letter was released to me in which NASA admitted that ten other astronauts who were not identified had been involved in selling signed blocks of stamps and postcards for Eiermann But the wave reached the shore on Apollo 15 and we were the ones who bore the brunt of the blame for such incidents
30
ORBIT
Buckingham Cover offer Free Souvenirs for You
Brian Austin of Buckinghamrsquos Rare Cover Department writes to your Editorhellip
Over the last two or three years we have been dealing more and more in signed space covers This led us to earlier this year buying an Apollo 11 crew signed cover which had been carried to the moon which we had on display on our stand at London 2010
For this we also printed a limited edition of 800 sets of postcards one featuring the Apollo 11 cover and another
featuring an Apollo 15 cover The idea was to give away 100 sets per day to customers at the show but now the show is all finished I still have around 150 pairs left on my desk
We wondered if you would like to offer them to your readers we are happy to send them out free of charge to the first 150 readers to contact us with their details as long as we can also include one of our lists of space
covers
BrianAustinbuckinghamcoverscom
31
ORBIT
More About Missile Mail
Harvey Duncan told us in the last Orbit (page 15) about the First Official Missile Mail writes Bert van Eijck After the useful technical details about the USS Barbero he gave us I can offer you more philatelic information and show you some illustrations The missile mail experiment was a joint venture between
the Ministry of Defense and the US Post Office Dept headed by Postmaster General Mr Arthur E
Summerfield Three thousand special envelopes were printed with a reproduction of a Navy missile type
Regulus with the text ldquoFirst Official Missile Mailrdquo and above that ldquoThe Postmaster General Washingtonrdquo All
the envelopes were addressed to The President high
government officials like senators and to the Post Masters General of ninety nine other member nations of
UPU Inside was a letter from Mr Summerfield entitled ldquoThe First Official Missile Mailrdquo with the official seal of
the Post Office dept It was explained therein what had
happed to that letter and the other 2999
The special letters were loaded in two metal compartments and came aboard the guided missile USS Barbero (SSG-317) The shot was to occur during a regular training mission from Norfolk Virginia to Florida
About 350 kilometres off the coast of Florida the
Regulus missile was launched toward Airport Mayport
The missile climbed 10 km above the Atlantic and
landed within twenty minutes with all the letters intact The letters were cancelled with the hand stamp ldquoUSS
Barberordquo with the date ldquoJun 8 1959rdquo and the approximate timing of the launching ldquo930 amrdquo This
was done by post office staff part of an established
branch office on the USS Barbero The letters bore the 1957 4c American flag postage stamp Those
addressed to foreign countries carried two such stamps covering surface mail postage costs On the
reverse side is the Jacksonville Post Office cancellation with the approximate time of arrival ldquoJune 8 1030 am
1959 Floridardquo
Such flown letters are expensive to buy and a jewel in
any exhibit
But this is NOT the case with the Barbero souvenir
cover dated a month later on July 8 1959 issued in the same quantity (3000) as the originals The
inscription reads ldquoPoint of LandingmdashFirst Official Missile Mail 8 June 1959 US Naval Station Mayport Floridardquo
About 16000 () collectors had applied for such a cover
The imprint of the official Barbero cover was reproduced on a memorial cover issued and posted at
the Vienna International Airpost Exhibition Luposta on August 1959 in the Austrian capital Of course neither
of these items had been carried within the Regulus
missile
Also of interest the Postal Administration of
Paraguay issued a stamp
and a block in 1976 honouring the Barbero
Missile Mail The Gs 20 stamp shows a Regulus
missile in flight while the sheet shows the whole
addressed cover and in
miniature the complete letter inside from the US Postmaster General
as mentioned above and as illustrated below
Above a specimen envelope as described in the text and below its reverse cancel
32
ORBIT
An Invitation to Our Readers to Donate to an Innovative International Projecthellip
Kindest Sir or Madam
The municipality of Vitanje
(Slovenia) is honoured to have had a hand in the life of the
famous space architect Herman Potocnik Noordung
(1892-1929) (pictured right) who had already found a
surprising number of solutions
to space travel and troubles of living in vacuum long before
actual space flights took place His creations were used by the
renowned novelist Arthur C Clarke
in his book 2001 A Space Odyssey which was later also turned into a
movie directed by Stanley Kubrick In Noordungs honour we have
created the Memorial Centre of Herman Potocnik Noordung This
year the cultural centre of European
space technology will also get going in Vitanje This will be a place
where the European space heritage will be gathered and various events connected with the
contemporary European space technologies will be
organized
Proposed Philatelic Collection We would like to bring the project onto a higher level
where we would have the collaboration of various
countries in the world including such with a history in space travel (like USA Russia) One of the steps of this
expansion process would also include a philatelic collection of stamps with themes of outer space
(astronomy astronautics and everything connected to
outer space) We already have quite a decent collection but we would like to expand on that
Our goal is to have 6000 stamps before opening our
exhibition For this we would require the help of as many philatelists as possible
All of these philatelists would become co-creators and partners of this collection for which we hope will
become the largest collection of its kind in the world The people donating the stamps would get a great deal
of exposure at all these exhibitions and on the special
website which will be started shortly If you give us enough support and we are able to raise enough
stamps for a first-class collection we hope the first
exhibitions and various special events (like visits from
astronauts ndash philatelists) will see the light of day as early as in 2011
From a professional point of view we have an
excellent team working with us Long-time philatelist
Tone Petek is the person who initiated this project while Bojan Bracic the secretary of FEPA is one of our
counsellors and is completely behind this project
If you would be interested in such cooperation I will get the wheels in motion and send you a verifying
mail with the stamp of the municipality of Vitanje and
also of some higher organization within the Slovene political system
The collection is already underway with the help of the
Slovene Philatelic organisation (FZS) adds Rok in an email to your Editor in July This organisation has been of immense help with technical expertise and
connections It looks as if there might be an introductory exhibition next year sometime
In the hope of a successful partnership we offer our
sincere appreciation
Rok Podgrajsek
Obcina Vitanje Grajski trg 1
3205 Vitanje
Slovenia
Email address rokpodgrajsekgmailcom
But see also website httpwwwvitanjesi
(Editorrsquos Note both Wendy Buckle editor of
Themescene and our Chairman Margaret Morris commend this project to you We will be sending Rok
some recent copies of Orbit for the displays)
Some illustrations from Noordungrsquos only published text ldquoThe Problem of
Space Travel The Rocket Motorrdquo (the original German title
was ldquoDas Problem der Befahrung
des Weltraums - der Raketen-Motorrdquo) which saw the light of day
in 1928
Vitanje Local Private Post stamp
33
ORBIT
Zazzle Space Stamps Dazzle
I have noticed Zazzle Space Stamps appearing in Lollini brochures and on their web pages in recent months writes your Editor so I undertook to find out some facts about them and am grateful to The Astrophile Editor Jim Roth and the man who inspired him to create his own Zazzle designs Otto Bergman for the following infohellip Zazzle is one of half a dozen or more US companies
who facilitate the printing of non-copyrighted photos and artwork on private postage stamps which count
as postage within and outwith the USA You can
design your own Zazzle stampsmdashsee their websitemdashwhich you then purchase for your own use 20 to a
page
They are therefore a bit like British Smilers except
that the personal element of the stamp is not on a se-tenant label but actually incorporated within the
stamp itself as you can see from the examples on this page
Jim Roth was annoyed that the Kennedy Space Center Post office would not cancel his Zazzle stamps as they
consider them to be ldquometersrdquo and although he has marked STS-122 he wonrsquot be creating any others
You can see (and buy) all Jim Rothrsquos Space Zazzles on
his website m57coverscommdashclick on ldquostampsrdquo
Three of Jim Rothrsquos designs
See others on his website
An Otto Bergman space creation on
Zazzlecomottobergman
These space Zazzles and others are
available from the Lollini website or brochures
STS 128 in May 2010 section
STS 129 in June 2010
WISE and Delta 2 launch in July 2010 STS 130 in August 2010
STS 128 stamps show astronauts Christer Fuglesang (far left) and left Frank De Winne ISS Commander Expedition 21 STS 129 issues depict mission
patch and the crew led by Charles Hobaugh
Delta 2 rocket launch from Cape Canaveral of WISE Deep InfraRed telescope
34
ORBIT
Concluded on page 39
More Spaceflight Books for Sale
35
ORBIT ORBIT
SPACE HABITATS (Part Two) by John Beenen Continuing his feature from our last issue John Beenen begins by posing the questionhellip Why Should we Seek to Live
in Space
Spacecom gives ten main reasons why we should enter space for a prolonged
period
1 To secure a future for humanity
2 To build a new frontier
3 To find new energy sources
4 To build an industrial settlement on
the Moon
5 Better quality images of the
Universe
6 The SETI effort
7 Mining
8 Learning the history of our
Universe
9 Environmental benefits
Meeting the challenge
Taking for granted that it is naturally fascinating to investigate how mankind
might be able to maintain its habitat outside earth there are several further reasons to investigate why
mankind should settle themselves outside earth in the far future And More reasons mean a overall better
argument
Primarily there is the question of overpopulation and
secondly a solution for the energy problem
Next we have to consider that climate circumstances
are not under control anymore and earth eventually becomes uninhabitable
Also when for various reasons we start to kill each
other for some groups of people it may be an attractive proposition to depart this Earth in quite a different
sense And that is perhaps the most common thought
through activities in space more money can be obtained
But there are disadvantageshellip
On the other hand a prolonged stay in space is not that safe The construction must be protected against
radiation and it can be hit by large and small debris which makes space a very unsafe place
Furthermore cosmic radiation produces
a radiation of 80 mSv (millisievert) - well over the allowed maximum of 50
mSv and very much over the amount which is considered as safe for man
which is 3 mSv
Next solar flares produce a sudden
increase of soft gamma and energy rich radiation so much that without the
protection of an atmosphere half of our population could die easily
It is interesting that even without shielding most of this radiation can be
absorbed in the projected spacecraftsrsquo structure and in the air Smaller
structures can be protected with a
shield of co-rotating rocks
The construction further must be protected against sunlight which by
lack of the air shield will fall in unshielded so sun blinds and radiators
are indispensable
And as a result of the artificial gravity
there are some tiny movement problems which we will face later
Finally the created ecosystem should be fully self-supporting and that is easier said than done as
experiments with Biosphere-2 have showed
Biosphere-2 Biosphere-2 was a project built between 1987 and 1991 providing in an area of about 2frac12 football fields
a closed biological system of different composition From 1991-1993 a crew of 8 persons stayed herein A
second crew of 7 persons bridged a period of March
until September 1994 During the first period it appeared difficult to keep the atmosphere constant in
particular the carbon dioxide values changed rapidlymdashthe reason why many of the carried insects perished
Further the oxygen level decreased slowly because pf a leak
Even during the first two-year phase large differences in opinion appeared and the yield was not large
enough to deliver the calories necessary Reserve stocks had to be broken into Finally the second
experiment had to be ended prematurely because of
mismanagement
However it seems that a well-functioning stable ecosystem should not be underestimated physically
not technically
Artists impressions above Interior Stanford Torus and below Interior
OrsquoNeill Cylinder
Solar flares Czechoslovakia 1965 WB 47
36
ORBIT
It further has to be speculated on that men would resist
a regulated weather programme instead of the customary ever changing circumstances on Earth
Also we must physically resist an eternal stay outside
Earth That is not always easy as some people will show
some kind of sea sickness for ever In any case rooms with a diameter of less than 100 meters and a speed of
revolution over three per minute are insufficient At specifications of over 500 m and at less than 1 revolution
per minute fewer problems have to be expected
How do we get raw materials (Fantasy Moon Mining Yemen
Mutawakelite 1969 1343)
And still there have to be enough raw materials to sustain the
colony but as a principle the
search for raw materials is not the most difficult
From the asteroid belt enough small rocks can be
transported as a building material Also mines can be put
on the Moon Bercause of the lower gravity there transport is easier and some kind of firing mechanism
has been calculated which launch packets of ore simply into space where they can be manipulated
Air can be produced from moonstone Nitrogen nearly without loss can be recycled and eventually added to
ammonia mined from comets Large gardens and fields should start the normal photosynthesis and doing so
finally a complete sustainable society might be built up Energy from the Sun is present in superfluous quantities
What to do about gravity Most designs for a Space station start with a gravity of
1G Some designers however think that a lower level of gravity is possible But in the meantime experiments
with astronauts have showed that our physiology
changes rapidly influenced by decreased or absence of gravity Thus the calcium potassium and sodium
contents of our bone system decrease by about 10 That is not bad were we to stay in space forever but
very troublesome when occasionally we would return to
Earth
Also the quality of our muscles decreases as the blood volume does Providing effects comparable to aging
Further by lack of gravity astronauts become a little
taller with accompanying pain in the back Hence the staying with 1G gravity is not so bad
That has to be maintained by rotation of the
construction The larger the diameter of the construction is the slower it will turn to provide 1 G That is a result
of the centrifugal or centripetal force Its
magnitude has long been established thanks to the work of Dutchman Christiaan Huygens and fixed in
the formula
m v2
F = r where
F = the external force in N(ewton) m = mass in kg
v = speed in msec r = radius in m
Hence a spacecraft with a diameter of 15 meters has to carry out one revolution every 8 seconds to
produce a sensation of 1G And that is too quick for man The effect of the centrifugal force is that should
an astronaut drop an object it does not fall straight
down but partly away from himher Weird
Coriolis force But in a rotating Space station another force is at
work That is the lsquoCoriolis forcersquo named after the
French Gustave-Gaspard Coriolis (1792-1843) who described this kind of force for the first time
The most common manifestation is the second law of
Buys Ballot which says that air streams in the
atmosphere which according the first law of Boys Ballot as a principle run from high to low pressure at
the northern hemisphere are bent to the right and at the southern hemisphere to the left because of the
rotation of the Earth
Therefore air streams around depressions show a
spiral shape in opposite directions at the northern and southern hemisphere In a space station this
force can especially noticed when moving around through the spokes of the wheel
(Diagram of Coriolis F o r c e h t t p
wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm)
A s s u m e t h a t a n
astronaut on a ladder
climbs through a spoke to the axis As he climbs
along he circles around more slowly as he
describes a smaller circle
in the same time What happens with the difference in speed that he had before He will be pressed
against the ladder and that is the Coriolis force The force also acts in opposite direction when he
descends from the ladder
Also the throwing up and catching of a ball will
become a huge achievement as the ball does not
37
ORBIT
drop perpendicularly but will shift a little into the
direction of the orbit of the station and also achieves a higher speed
This also has strange effects on the astronaut As moves
quickly in the rotation direction of the station his weight
appears to increase to a noteworthy extent Then as he moves against the speed of rotation his weight
decreases apparently Mathematically this effect is explainable but very complex
Also the astronautrsquos head and feet move in different
speed to artificial gravity This is plainly noticeable when
somebody jumps up Hence avoid this practice
With these kind of effects adaptation to the changed circumstances in a space station will ask a lot of the
crew members I do hope they can stand it But in any
case the larger the space ship the lesser the problems
Inflatable stations
But therersquos more The inflatable station was considered
many years ago The first i d e a w a s p o s s i b l y
developed when on 12th August 1960 the Echo
balloon with a diameter of
30 meters was launched (Echo I balloon USA 1960
WB 3)
It is true you could not live in it as the balloon was of too frail a construction but the idea of an inflatable
spacecraft was then alive By 1958 groups within NASA
had begun to think about inflatable stations The Goett-committee has been one of the first On 25th26th May
1959 a conference started about projects after
Mercury In particular the
representative of Langley L a r r y Lo f t i n wa s
enthusiastic about his AMIS (Advanced Man in
Space) project (Hexagonal structure
Manama 1970 WB 113)
One of his first projects was a rotating hexagonal
inflatable construction with a diameter of 25 meters a cylindrical core and three lsquospokesrsquo Acting as a ferry to
and from the station the lsquoDyna Soarrsquo Space plane could
be used The Dyna Soar project (at that time still
under development) was cancelled by the American
Minister of Defense Robert
McNamara Inflatable Habitat NASA
1961 enwikipediaorg)
A Langley Space Station
team managed by Paul Hill and Emanuel lsquoMannyrsquo
Schnitzer developed the concept together with the
G o o d y e a r A i r c r a f t
Corporation
(Langleyrsquos self-inflating rotating hexagonal structure httphistorynasagov
SP-4308) Its original diameter had already been reduced to 10
meters
In the years after Langley built several experimental
modules called lsquoErectable Torus Manned Space Laboratoryrsquo a 11 model built by firms such as
Goodyear The torus was built from three layers of
nylon tissue and in between a rubber-like plastic material butyl elastomer A large problem was the
penetration by micrometeorites which as was learnt from the results of the Echo balloon finally damaged
the whole structure
Another problem was the great instability of the ring
due to movements of the astronauts the station started to wobble when they moved around Finally
the project was cancelled and at the end of the eighties the Langley Research Center started to
design inflatable constructions for a base camp on the
Moon
( A r t i s t imp r e s s i on Transhab inflatable
m o d u l e h t t p
enwikipediaorg)
Due to the development of a new series of
s t r o n g e r p l a s t i c materials such as Kevlar
these construct ions
received new interest That lead to the development of Transhab (Transit Habitat) as a resource for crews
coupled at the ISS (international Space Station) The construction is a cylinder in a diameter of 82 meters
and several storeys high
Its volume in inflatable state is 340 m3 The wall has a
thickness of 30 () cm and consists of 12 layers of which the outside layer is made from Kevlar The
layers beneath are made from Nextel a ceramic fibre Disagreements during development and the spiralling
costs finally in 2000 saw the end of NASArsquos interest
G e n e s i s 1
thespacereviewcom)
From 1999 the project was
taken up by Bigelow
38
ORBIT
Aerospace who improved the design and tested it with
successful launchings of Genesis I on 12 July 2006 and Genesis II on 28 June 2007
In their design it has once again more or less the shape
of a balloon With a thickness of 40 cm the wall is still
very thick The outside layer is still Kevlar but inside are some layers of Vectran a textile fibre Within the
structure ants and scorpions were launched along with some objects which people who paid for the privilege of
boosting into space
In this way Bigelow hopes to build a Space Hotel named
Nautilus To stimulate the development Bigelow offered a price of $50 million to everybody who succeeded in
launching a crew of 5 persons to an altitude of 400 km before 2010 So little money lost here so far
A second project which can be realized within the near future is a fixed residence on the Moon As said Langley
occupies itself with the design of such a base which partly should be build below the surface Stamp
designers have already realized the idea
What does the future hold Although we are a long way away from the kind of space station by which a large amount of earth inhabitants can
leave the planet Earth forever the first steps for doing
so are in preparation With the development of their Space Hotel Bigelow tries to make the step to space
albeit a temporary one
Also Langley literally tries to set foot on the Moon and
finally they will succeed in doing so However The cost of such projects are literally astronomical and it is not
expected that in the coming decades much money can be allocated to such projects
Of course in some thousands of years (possibly only in
hundreds of years) this will become the case but for the
time being in my opinion the true conquest of space will stay as science-fiction for at least a few hundred years
Hoorn 2009
John Beenen
NB The stamps entitled lsquoSpace Cityrsquo with a value of 0 cnt do not exist but have been made by the author by means of frames and pictures present at the Internet
Fantasy Moon
b a s e M a n a -ma1970 WB 122
Fantasy bases
ready for Mars
YAR 1971 WB 2892 and 6
Fantasy Modular
base YAR 169 WB 233
39
ORBIT
Cover Below bottom right Future space Dutch Antilles 2000
Literature references (for both parts of article) httpenwikipediaorg Space habitat Space Colonization Orbital Colony Space City Space settlement Space stations L5 Society Bernal Sphere Stanford Torus OrsquoNeil Cylinder Inflatable Space Habitat Transhab Biosphere 2 Generation Ship wwwdsenl~hklruimtehtm Wonen op groene eilanden in de Ruimte (Dutch Living on green Islands in Space) Henry Kluytmans wwworionsarmcom McKendree Cylinder Bishops Ring wwwnasnasagovAboutEducationSpaceSettlement The Colonization of Space wwwdyarstraightscommsgundamhabitatshtml Mobile Suit Gundam High Frontier Life in the Universal Century Developing sound habitats wwwartificial-gravitycomDissertation1_2htm From Tsiolkovsky to Sputnik (1878-1957) httpsciencenasagovheadlinesy2000ast26may_1mhtm Wheels in the Sky httpdiscaircraftgreyfalconus Hermann Noordung Wohnrad (Wheel for Habitation) httparticlesadsabsharvardedufull1992lbsaconf249R Inflatable habitation for the lunar base MRoberts httphistorynasagovSP-4308ch9htm lsquoAs inevitable as the Rising Sunrsquo From the inflatable Torus to the Rotating Hexagon wwwspacecomnewsbusinessmonday_040524html Bigelow Aerospace to tackle inflatable Space Habitats httpsciencehowstuffsworkcominflatable-spacecraft2htm How Inflatable Spacecraft Will Work wwwbogancaphysicscoriolishtml Rotating Space Stations Dynamics An Explanation of the Coriolis Force httpdemonstrationswolframcomRotatingSpaceStation Rotating Space Station wwwdvandomcomcoliolisspacestationhtml Frame Effects and Space Stations wwwdvandomcomcoriolisindexhtml A (hopefully) simple explanation of the Coriolis Force wwwdaviddarlinginfoencyclopedia Hale Edward Everett von Pirquet Guido Noordung Hermann Space Station wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm The Coriolis Force wwwastronautixcomcraftfamlunbaseshtm Lunar bases wwwastronautixcomgallerycspebasehtm Photo Gallery Space base wwwregererating-universeorgOn_Moon_as_Space_Basehtm On Moon as Space Base wwwspacefuturecomhabitatlivingshtml Space Habitat Introduction Living in Space wwwspacepagebevideotaak=bekijkampid=47 Living in space (Video) wwwnutricomspace The Case for Space colonization ndash Now Oscar Falconi wwwxentcompipermailfork (FoRK) Bigelowrsquos inflatable Genesis I satellite in orbit wwwrussianforcesorg Russian strategic nuclear forces (Genesis II) wwwbigelowaerospacecomgenesis Genesis I Genesis II
Thanks to Alan Tunnicliffe who came across the attached news item
complete with stamp in the eNZ Magazine the bi-monthly journal of
the Institution of Professional Engineers NZ Inc Vol 11 No 3 May-
June 2010
Vaccari Auction Sells Remarkable Space Covers April 2010
Apollo 12 cover 55 of 87 flown to the moon on Apollo 15 having been left behind by the original crew sold for euro12200 1977 Salyut
6 Soyuz 27 cover sold for euro1600
40
ORBIT ORBIT
Shuttle 1981mdash2010 Stamps Marshall
Islands 2005
United Nations 2007 Monaco and Ascension 2008
Bulgaria 1991 including stamp from souvenir sheet
USA 1981
below USA 1995 and bottom USA 1998
(two values)
St Vincent Grenadines 1983
Ascension 1989
Bulgaria 1990
and above right W Germany 1975
and USA 2000 Guyana 2006
USA 1995
41
ASSS Membership Renewal 2010
Memberrsquos Name amp Addresshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
I wish to renew my membership of the ASSS for a further year and enclose the equivalent of
pound15 (UK) euro30 (Europe) $US 45 (Rest of the World)
Please return this form with your remittance to Harvey Duncan by the
end of July Thank you
Harvey Duncan Treasurer ASSS 16 Begg Avenue
Falkirk Scotland FK1 2DL
PayPal For details of how to Pay via Paypal
please email Jeff Dugdale Email address on Page 2
42
43
44
7
ORBIT
However ESA had delayed their next astronautrsquos flight
by six months and so TMA2 flew with only two men on board
The first ldquocaretakerrdquo crew simply maintained systems on
the complex with limited capacity for science
programmes conducting only those which were already in situ Although both Mir and Salyut space stations
had been run by only two people the ISS was much more complex and considerably bigger so the ground
managers were very cautious in allocating duties
Progress M1-10 and M48 brought new supplies up to
Yuri Malenchenko and Ed Lu Lu as Science Officer continued to post on the web a series of personal
recollections of events on board
On 28 May a demonstration of American EMU suiting
was completed so proving that two men could suit up and remove suits without assistance from a third should
an emergency EVA be required On 10th August Malenchenko was ldquomarriedrdquo via a TV link to his fianceacutee
in Houston Texas arrangements having been made long in advance
Soyuz TMA 3 (launched 18102003) EO-8
The second caretaker crew arrived in mid-October
carrying Spanish ESA astronaut Pedro Duque British born ISS commander Michael Foale making his sixth
flight and Russian Alexander Kaleri the whole crew
being curiously celebrated by an issue from Tchad in 2004
Duque returned to Earth with
the EO7 crew on 27th October ha v i ng comp l e t ed h i s
Cervantes science programme during his eight days on the
station
In November Foale and Kaleri
practised emergency ingress procedures to determine if crew members wearing
Orlan EVA suits could enter Soyuz using the internal hatches This was proved possible after a great deal
of stressful activity
One EVA was conducted (on 26th February) and with
both men outside that was the first occasion on which no one had been inside the ISS for three and a half
years On 8th December Foale became the most
experienced NASA astronaut surpassing Carl Walzrsquos career total of 231 days over four missions When he
finally landed Foale had logged 375 days in space but his colleague Kaleri was still 238 days ahead of him in
aggregate terms
Soyuz TMA 4 (launched 1942004) EO-9
The new resident crew comprising Gennady Padalka Ed Fincke and Dutch ESA astronaut Andreacute Kuipers
arrived in mid-April and they are shown on this Lollini sponsored issue from Somalia in 2004 with Kuipers
appearing on his own in the top two stamps with
Fincke and Padalka (left) and Kaleri and Foale in the bottom pairing
8
ORBIT
Kuipers completed his ESA DELTA package during his
eight days on board ISS and returned with the EO8 crew on 30th April
The EO9 crew received no
visitors other than cargo
payloads via Progress M1-11 M49 and M50 After working on
suit repairs and servicing for over a month the crew
abandoned their first EVA after only 14 minutes because of a
pressure drop in the main
oxygen supply of an Orlan suit but a week later after successful repairs they spent
almost six hours outside working on the S0 truss In a second EVA in early August they installed reflectors and
communication units ready for the first ESA Automatic
Transfer Vehicle Jules Verne though this was later delayed by many months
On 18th June Fincke made history by becoming the first
US astronaut to become a father in space listening to the birth of his second daughter via his cell phone
The crew had severe problems with the Elektron oxygen generator which was failing every three days or so and
requiring manual starts These shutdowns were found to be centred on the liquid units that held trapped gas
inside micro-pumps despite using purified water
The crew completed their programme of many
maintenance tasks and returned to earth with test cosmonaut Yuri Shargin in October
Soyuz TMA 5 (launched 14102004) EO-10
The two members of the new resident crew arrived at
the ISS in mid-October the Commander Leroy Chiao and Salizhan Sharipov accompanied by Russian Yuri
Shargin who would stay only for the week or so Russian businessman Sergei Polonsky had been
scheduled to become the third paying space flight
participant but failed a late medical test and so was replaced by a Russian Spaces Forces cosmonaut the
first of that group to be
selected for cosmonaut training eight years earlier He
carried out his own programme of scientific study the Russians
stressing that none of his
activity was military as such practice is banned from the
ISS Sharipov was celebrated by a minisheet from his Kyrgyz homeland in 2005
(above) showing the space station nearing completion in the background
During the tenth expedition this crew would complete two Pirs-based EVAs receive two Progress supply craft
visits and relocate Canadarm2 Problems with the Elektron unit continued repairs were made to EVA
suits an upgrade made to the computer software
trouble experienced with the toilet in Zvezda and a heat exchanger replaced in Quest
There was concern in November that food was running
low with it due to run out in mid-January but this was found to be down to poor record keeping because of
the increased work load of a two person crew and
anyway Progress M51 arrived to solve the problem and the shuttlersquos impending return to flight would also help
Germany 2004 and Japan 2005 show
the station nearing completion
9
ORBIT
Soyuz TMA 6 (launched 1542005) EO-11
The eleventh resident crew would be the first to receive
a shuttle mission since STS-
113 in December 2002 because the loss of
Columbia had created the need to fly two-man
resident crews but the
docking of STS-114 in July would signify the impending return to full station
operation
Italian ESA astronaut Roberto Vittori was back at the ISS in the company of Russian Sergei Krikalev making
his sixth flight and American civilian John Phillips as
science officer This time Vittori completed research under the Eneide programme doing experiments in
human physiology biology and also getting involved in educational demonstrations
The new crew was not long on board before the Elektron system finally broke down in early May
though there were sufficient alternative sources of oxygen on board These would be complemented by
Shuttle and Progress deliveries such as Progress M53 in June which also carried spare parts for the Elektron
unit which the crew worked on in addition to routine
maintenance tasks and the repositioning of their Soyuz from Pirs to Zarya
STS-114 (launched 2672005)
On 28th July the first shuttle
crew to visit the ISS for two and half years arrived via Discovery This was a very experienced crew commanded by Eilleen
Collins By now the decision to
use the shuttle to complete station assembly and then retire
it had been taken The station then looked as it does in this
2006 issue from Sierra Leone As Discovery approached the ISS it flew around it at a distance of some 180
metres to allow the crew on board to photograph the
underside of the shuttle to check for launch damage This rather worryingly revealed the loss of two
protruding tile gap fillers Because these might cause hot spots on re-entry extra EVAs were designed to
manually extract them during which an astronaut
(Stephen Robinson) ventured under the shuttlersquos body for the first time ever in orbital operations
Discovery also brought up MPLM Raffaello carrying a
large amount of supplies including the Human Research Facility 2 and the new CMG 2 gyroscope
As the shuttle departed after over 12 days at the station both crews photographed each otherrsquos spacecraft The
second shuttle Return to Flight mission was then delayed because of questions about the integrity of the
foam fixtures on the External Tanks
In August the Vodzukh COsup2 removal system on the ISS
failed and the American unit in Destiny was activated to take over On 16th August Krikalev the first person
to complete two residences and the first cosmonaut to
fly six missions became the longest served Russian cosmonaut with over 747 days of spaceflight
experience Next day 17th August Krikalev and Phillips performed the only EVA of Expedition 11 after which
they prepared for their next visitors via Soyuz TMA7 which would carry in Gary Olsen the third spaceflight
participant and the new two man resident crew of Bill
McArthur and Valery Tokarev
Soyuz TMA 7 (launched 1102005) EO-12
To be continuedhellip
10
ORBIT ORBIT
2 The Moon Second Quadrant (North-West) We learn from our main source Atlas of the Universe by
Patrick Moore (Philiprsquos 1999)helliphellip
Selected Craters illustratedhellip
Archimedes (Diam 75 km Lat degN 30 Long degW 4) A large impact crater on the Eastern edges of the Mare Imbrium with Montes Archimedes mountains to the South Named after the Greek mathematician and scientist who lived c 287mdash212 BC
(San Marino 1982)
Copernicus (Diam 97 km Lat degN 10 Long degW 20)
A prominent feature named after the famous Polish astronomer (1473mdash1543) and located in the eastern Oceanus Procellarum this is estimated to be around 800 million years old and is typical of craters of that period having a very clear ray
system (Soviet Union 1973)
The Naming of Craters Einstein (Diam 160 km Lat degN 18 Long degW 86)
A large crater which lies along the Western limb of the Moon therefore difficult to observe from Earth and discovered only in 1952 by Patrick Moore Named after the German theoretical physicist and philosopher (1879-1955) (India 1979)
Encke (Diam 32 km Lat degN 5 Long degW 37) Located on the W edge of Mare Insularum to the S SE of crater Kepler Named after German astronomer Johann Frank Encke (1791-1865) (Comoros Isles 1986)
Euler (Diam 25 km Lat degN 23 Long degW 29) Located in the southern half of the Mare Imbrium its most notable nearby feature is Mons Vinogradov to the W-SW Named after Leonard Euler (1707mdash83) the Swiss mathematician and physicist (E Germany 1950)
J Herschel (Diam 145 km Lat degN 62 Long degW 41) A large walled plain which appears foreshortened when viewed from Earth Named after British mathematician chemist and astronomer Sir John Herschel (1792mdash1871) (Centre of GB 1970 )
Kepler (Diam 35 km Lat degN 8 Long degW 38) This lies between the Oceanus Procellarum to the W and Mare Insularm in the E with crater Encke to the SE Named after German mathematician and astronomer Johannes Kepler (1571mdash1630) (Czech Rep 2009)
Lavoisier (Diam 71 km Lat degN 36 Long degW 70) Located near the NW limb at the W edge of Oceanus Procellarum this lies to the SW of crater von Braun and SE of Bunsen Named in honour of ldquothe Father of Modern Chemistryrdquo the French chemist Antoine Lavoisier (1743mdash1794) (France 1943)
Le Verrier (Diam 25 km Lat degN 40 Long degW 20) A small nearly circular bowl shaped feature in the N part of the Mare Imbrium just E of the larger Helicon Named for the French mathematical astronomer Urbain Le Verrier (1811mdash1877) (France 1958)
11
ORBIT
Otto Struve (Diam 160 km Lat degN 25 Long degW 75) This is a vast lava flooded plain near the W
edge of Oceanus Procellarum close the W limb of the Moon and so appears foreshortened Named in honour of German astronomers Friedrich von Struve (Russian VY Struve) (1793-1864) and son (Otto) and grandson (Otto) (USSR 1964) Pythagoras (Diam 113 km Lat degN 65 Long degW 65)
This prominent feature lies near the NW limb just NW of the somewhat larger
Babbage It has an oval appearance due to the oblique viewing angle from Earth and only part of it can be viewed from Earth Named after Greek philosopher Pythagoras of Samos (c 570mdashc 495 BC) ( S a n M a r i n o 1982)
Babbage (Diam 143 km Lat degN 60 Long degW 57) An ancient crater located near the NW
l i m b n a m e d a f t e r B r i t i s h mathematician philosopher and computing pioneer Charles Babbage (1791mdash1871) (GB 2010)
Hevelius (Diam 122 km Lat degN 2 Long degW 67) This is a low-rimmed crater on
the W edge of the Oceanus Procellarum named after Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius (1611mdash1687) - ldquothe founder of lunar topographyrdquo (Poland
1987) Plato (Diam 97 km Lat degN 51 Long degW 9) The lava-filled remains of a crater on the NE shore of Mare Imbrium at the W
extremity of Montes Alpes named after the Classical Greek philosopher and mathematician (c 428mdashc 348 BC) (Greece 1998)
Schiaparelli (Diam 29 km Lat degN 23 Long degW 59) A small crater on the W part of Oceanus Procellarum to the W of Herodotus and named after Giovanni Schiaparelli(1835-
1910) Italian astronomer and science historian famous for his misinterpreted comments re ldquocanalirdquo on Mars (Hungary 1974)
12
ORBIT
ASTEROIDS Some Bits and Pieces
Ulugh Beigh (Diam 70 km Lat deg29 2 Long degW 85) The remnant of a crater just to the W of Oceanus Procellarum near the NW limbmdashforeshortened from the Earth Named after Ulugh Beg Persian ruler and astronomermathemat ic ian (Turkey 1983) Von Braun (Diam 60 km Lat deg41 2
Long degW 78) Named after rocket pioneer Wernher von Braun (1912-77) this is located near the NW limb on the W edge of Oceanus Procellarum and to the NE of Lavoisier (Guinea Biussau 2006)
Uncatalogued Hungarian Stamp Referenced in Spaceflight Article
The June 2010 issue of Spaceflight magazine contained
a five page article by Naacutendo
Schuminszky celebrating the first Hungarian in space whose
flight in Soyuz 36 occurred 30 years beforeon 26th May 1980
A side panel to the article
reproduced right contains
images of a pair of stamps with two subtle differencesmdashin
bottom left hand corner the date ldquo1979rdquo and ldquo1980rdquo and
rightmdashthe face value The
article goes on to explain how unexpected events delayed the
flight by a year Hungarian cosmonaut Bertalan Farkas was
due to be launched in mid-June
1979 in Soyuz 34 but his flight was cancelled following the
failure of Soyuz 33 carrying Bulgarian cosmonaut Georgi Ivanov to dock with Salyut 6 Soyuz 34 was eventually
launched unmanned to provide a fresh ferry for the resident crew to use
In anticipation of the 1979 flight a large number of associated souvenirs including posters emblems and
stamps had been prepared but had to be destroyed though evidently some escaped
However the 1979 version of the eventual SG 3320 is not listed in WEEBAU or Gibbons If any members have
any info about these unissued stamps please share it with us
More on Lunar Craters Our Chairman Margaret Morris forwarded the article opposite from the March 1989 issue of Sky amp Telescope which is of interest in the context of our new series explaining as it does how several Far Side craters have been named after astronauts and cosmonauts
Orbit for June 2010
Our last issue contained one glaring error for which your editor apologises The number on the front ldquo85rdquo was the same as the number for the March issue This will cause
problems when Harvey Duncan issues the next version of the index A lovely cover again by your Editorrsquos wife but spoiled by this typo Sorry
Flown STS-8 Covers These are referred to at the bottom of the left hand column of p 27 of this edition in Umberto Cavallarorsquos article where we learn that there were well over a quarter of a million of them
Alan Tunnicliffe editor of NZ Air Mail News advises that New Zealand stamp dealer JRMowbray has for sale at NZ $75 a piece flown STS-8 space covers date stamped 14 Aug 1983 at KSC with launch and return cancels and bearing a $935 stamp NZ$75 = US$53 or pound35 This seems a rather high price for flown STS-8 covers given the number available and members will possibly be able to obtain the item cheaper with an internet search
Solar Sails and The Sun Peter Hoffman comments on John Beenenrsquos feature on The Sun in our June 2010 issuehellip ldquoIn the Solar Sails section on page 8 mention is made of the failed launch of Cosmos-1 What is not mention is that is was a project of The Planetary Society httpwwwplanetaryorghome They are working on a new version called LightSail the first of which is planned for a launch later this year In case you are not familiar with it The Planetary Society is a privately funded space advocacy group founded in part by Carl Sagan ldquoThe Planetary Society yearly presents the Cosmos Award for Outstanding Public Presentation of Science in honour of Carl Sagan This years winner was Stephen Hawking They printed his acceptance speech Why go into space An amusing comment was a quote from a Calvin and Hobbes cartoon Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere is that none of it has tried to contact us ldquoThe Japanese Space Agency launched its solar sail spacecraft IKAROS (Interplanetary Kite-Craft Accelerated by Radiation Of the Sun) together with its Venus Climate Orbiter Akatsuki on 20 May You can read about it at httpwwwspacecommissionlaunchesjapan-venus-wrap-100520htmlrdquo
13
ORBIT
14
ORBIT
Spaceflight Books for Sale
Books about Space andor Astronomy in English
The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Space 1990 386 pages coffee table book euro 1500
Life in Space D Monchersquo 1979 ldquo 500
The Conquest of Space Willy Ley amp Chesley Bonestell+pictures 1952 RARE ldquo 2000
Star Hunters D Mammana 1990 coffee table book ldquo 1000
The Rocket David Baker 276p+490pictures 1978 coffee table book classic ldquo 2000
The History of Manned Spaceflight David Baker 576p+362pictures 1985coffeerdquo 2000
The Observerrsquos Spaceflight Directory R Turnill 384p 1978 ldquo 1000
The Observerrsquos Book of Unmanned Spaceflight+Manned Spaceflight 1974+1975 ldquo 1000
The Observerrsquos Book Of Astronomy Patrick Moore 1973 ldquo 500
Basic Astronomy Patrick Moore 1967 ldquo 300
Space a Novel James A Michener pocket Ballantine 1983 ldquo 250
Voyagers Ben Bova 1983 pocket ldquo 250
The Universe Herbert Zim 1973 ldquo 200
Exploring Other Worlds WyberampAmes 1968 ldquo 200
Tomorrowrsquos Moon Henry Little 1969 ldquo 200
Observatories of the World Marx amp Pfau 1982 ldquo 1000
Are We Alone Paul Davis Penquin 1995 ldquo 250
Moonport USA (Kennedy Space Center) 1977 ldquo 250
Living in Space (Colonies) J Trefil 1981 ldquo 500
The Cosmonauts Gordon Hooper 1977 ldquo 250
Extraterrestrials-Where Are They Zuckerman ampHart 1995 ldquo 1000
The Cosmic Connection Carl Sagan pocket 1975 ldquo 300
Exploring the Planets Ian Nicolson 1972 ldquo 250
Janersquos pocket Book 11 Space Exploration 1976 ldquo 300
Twenty-First Report Internat Telecomm Union Geneva 1982 ldquo 250
Satellites amp Space Travel Taylor ampAllward 1970 ldquo 200
Watchers of the Stars Patrick Moore 1974 ldquo 500
Robot Explorers Kenneth Garland 1972 ldquo 500
APOLLO by astronaut Alan Bean+paintings Bean in space 1998 coffeetable ldquo 2000
The World of Mars VA Firsoff 1969 ldquo 200
Missiles and Rockets Kenneth Garland ldquo 500
Stars and Planets Ian Ridpath 1978 ldquo 500
Race to Mars The ITN Mars Flight Atlas 1988 ldquo 500
Worlds Beyond Search for Life in Space Ian Ridpath 1975 ldquo 500
CETI Communication with Extraterrestrial Intelligence Stonelay 1976 ldquo 250
Horizon at the Edge of the Universe 9 chapters of astronomers 1983 ldquo 300
The New Race for Space James Oberg 1984 ldquo 500
The Hunt for Life on Mars Goldsmith 1998 ldquo 500
The High Road Ben Bova pocket 1983 ldquo 250
Operation Morning Light the True Story of Cosmos 954 Leo Heaps 1978 ldquo1000
Space Volunteers T Kay 1960 ldquo 300
Legal Aspects of Outer Space Dr C Reijnen 1976 205 pages the Worldrsquos
First Thesis of this Kind by female Dutch scholar ldquo 400
E-MAIL bertvaneijckhomenl if interested in any to discuss sale and postage
See further list on page 24
15
ORBIT
The above obituary and tribute by David Shayler
appeared in the August 2010 of Spaceflight magazine marking the passing of Rex Hall who was also one of
the longest standing members of the ASSS carrying
the membership number 88033 We extend our condolences to Rexrsquos family
16
ORBIT
Un-manned Satellites on Postage Stamps 35 By Guest Contributors Don Hillger and Garry Toth
A version of this article first appeared in The Astrophile for sic)
The Discoverer series
This is the thirty-fifth in a series of articles about un-manned satellites on postage stamps This article
features the satellites in the US Air Force (USAF) Discoverer series The first Discoverer was launched
on 21 January 1959 and the last one on 18 April 1962
There were a total of 39 launches a third (or 13) of which were failures The Discoverer series also called
Corona satellites were later declassified as the first Keyhole (KH) spy satellites
Discoverer was the public name of the Corona series
of film-return reconnaissance spy satellites whose true
mission was not officially revealed until about 35 years after the program ended The Discoverers secret
program was masked by scientific goals it was kept secret even from program staff who knew nothing
about Corona Scientific instruments were even placed
on Discoverer satellites and then covertly removed before launch
The Discoverer satellites were designed to take pictures
of target countries and then eject a film capsule
which was to de-orbit and enter the Earthrsquos atmosphere on a parachute and be recovered by a
specially-modified aircraft as it floated downward On many of the missions however the capture of the film
capsules was not successful for various reasons The first successful return of a capsule through the Earths
atmosphere occurred with Discoverer-13 though in this
case the aerial capture failed and the capsule fell into the sea Fortunately that mission carried no cameras
Discoverer-14 was the first completely successfully Corona mission in which reconnaissance photos were
taken from the spy satellite and ejected in a capsule
which was then successfully recovered in a mid-air capture carried out by a C-119 aircraft
Because of secret nature of their mission the
Discoverer satellites were not well-known and so were not featured on many postal items A set of three
stamps issued by Libya in 1966 (Scott 297-299) shows
a Discoverer capsule There is also a local post item from Batum that depicts the recovery of a Discoverer
capsule and a souvenir sheet from Chad (Michel BL247) that shows the re-entry of a Discoverer capsule
in the margin Another capsule recovery is shown in
the margin of a souvenir sheet issued by the Malagasy Republic in 1999 (Scott 1502a)
A checklist of postal items identified as showing Discoverer-
series satellites (httprammbciracolostateedudevhillgerDiscovererhtm) is available as part of the Website developed by the authors to accompany this series of articles (httprammbciracolostateedudevhillgersatelliteshtm) E-mail correspondence is welcome Don Hillger can be reached at hillgerciracolostateedu and Garry Toth at garry_tothhotmailcom
Top KH-4B Corona satellite Above Recovery of Discoverer 14 return capsule (typical for
the Corona series (ex Wikipedia)
17
ORBIT
18
ORBIT
Flight STS-130 Commander George Zamka Pilot Terry Virtis MS Kathryn Hire MS Stephen Robinson MS Nicholas Patrick MS Robert Behnken MS Koichi Wakata KSC Launch Date 822010 KSC Landing 21210 Purpose Tranquility Module Main Payload and Cupola
Shuttle Story 201011 STSndash130 -131 -132 Part One
STS-130 (ISS assembly flight 20A) via Endeavour carried as its
primary payloads the Tranquility module and the Cupola a robotic control station with six windows around its sides and
another in the centre providing a 360-degree view around the station Endeavour launched at 0414 EST (0914 UTC) on 8
February 2010 and landed at 2220 EST on 21 February 2010 on
runway 15 at the Kennedy Space Centers Shuttle Landing Facility
Tranquility was shipped from the
Thales Alenia Space facility in
Turin Italy It arrived at Kennedy Space Center on 21 May 2009 It
was formerly known as Node 3 and was named by a NASA poll
The module provides six berthing locations however three of those
locations are disabled as modules
originally planned to be attached to Tranquility were cancelled The
photo right shows Tranquility just before being installed to Unity node
STS-130 also brought the Cupola a large window
module and robotics work station to the ISS which was
to be attached to the nadir-
side of Tranquility The module also includes various
ISS systems including addit iona l l i fe support
systems This photo shows the facility being prepared at KSC whilst the photo above right
shows the module and cupola being moved into position on the
ISS
The shape of the mission patch on the launch
cover below represents the cupola over the earth in a photo taken by the unmanned
Lunar Orbiter probe in 1966 so representing a past and future designation for explorers from
Earth
For other Zazzle stamps
see page 33
19
ORBIT
Flight STS-131 Commander Alan Pointdexter Pilot James Dutton MS Rick Mastracchio MS Dorthy Metcalf- Lindenburger MS Stephanie Wilson MS Naoko Yamakazi MS Clayton Anderson KSC Launch Date 5410 KSC Landing 20410 Purpose MPLM Leonardo Main Payload
STS-131 (ISS assembly flight 19A) via Discovery launched on 5
April 2010 from Kennedy Space Centers launch pad 39A and landed at 908 AM on 20 April 2010 on runway 33 at the Kennedy
Space Centers Shuttle Landing Facility The mission marked the longest flight for space shuttle Discovery
The primary payload was a Multi-Purpose Logistics Module loaded with supplies and equipment for the ISS The mission also
removed and replaced an ammonia tank assembly outside the station on the S1 truss The mission also included several on-
board payloads this mission had the most payloads since STS-
107
The primary payload of STS-131 was MPLM Leonardo filled with food and science supplies and also carried the third and final
Minus Eighty Degree Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI) Window Orbital Research Facility (WORF) one Crew Quarters Rack the
Muscle Atrophy Resistive Exercise (MARES) rack Resupply
Stowage Racks (RSRs) as well as Resupply Stowage Platforms (RSPs) The Lightweight Multi-Purpose Equipment Support
Structure Carrier (LMC) carried a refurbished Ammonia Tank Assembly (ATA) to the ISS The refurbished ATA was removed
from the Space Station and returned for use on this mission
during STS-128 It was swapped with an empty tank which will ride home on the LMC
This mission was the second flight of the TriDAR a 3D dual-
sensing laser camera intended for potential use as an
autonomous rendezvous and docking sensor TriDAR provides guidance information that can be used to guide a vehicle during
rendezvous and docking operations in space TriDAR does not rely on any reference markers such as reflectors positioned on
the target spacecraft
This was the final Space Shuttle mission that contains one or
more rookie astronauts the missions after this will have all- veteran crews
STS-131 was only the third mission in the Space Shuttle
programme to carry three female astronauts
the others being STS-40 and STS-96
With three female crew members arriving on board Discovery and Expedition 23 Flight
Engineer Tracy Caldwell Dyson at the station
the STS-131 mission marked the first time that four women have been in space at one
time
STS-131 marked the first time that two
Japanese astronauts Naoko Yamazaki from the Shuttle crew and Soichi Noguchi on the
ISS had been in space together
Although Naoko Yamazaki is not the last non-
US astronaut Naoko was the last Japanese astronaut to fly the space shuttle
MPLM Leonardo can
be seen in the shuttle cargo bay
The seven stars either side of our
sun represent the
crew members
The shuttlersquos orientation indicates
it is performing the Rendezvous Pitch
Manoeuvre which
allows the ISS to photograph its
underbelly
20
ORBIT
Flight STS-132 Commander Kenneth Ham Pilot Dominic Antonelli MS Michael Good MS Garret Reisman MS Piers Sellars MS Stephen Bowen KSC Launch Date 1452010 KSC Landing 2652010 Purpose Delivery of Russian Main Payload Rassvet Module
STS-132 (ISS assembly flight ULF4) docked with the ISS on May
16 2010 It was launched from the Kennedy Space Center on May 14 2010 The primary payload is the Russian Rassvet Mini-
Research Module along with an Integrated Cargo Carrier-Vertical Light Deployable (ICC-VLD) STS-132 is scheduled to be the
final flight of Space Shuttle Atlantis provided that the STS-335
Launch On Need rescue mission is not flown
Rassvet means dawn in Russian The module was built
by Russian aerospace company
Energia and arrived at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC)
aboard an Antonov 124 cargo plane on 17 December 2009
After it was unloaded from the Antonov the module was
transported to an Astrotech processing bay in Cape Canaveral to
undergo preparations for launch shown in this photo
An airlock and radiation heat exchanger to be used for outfitting the Russian Nauka Module (to be launched in 2012) a spare
elbow part of the European Robotic Arm (ERA) and a portable
work platform for science hardware for performing experiments in outer space were externally mounted on Rassvet in its launch
configuration Russian and US cargo delivered was also accommodated inside the module The volume for cargo and
science inside MRM1 is 5 cubic meters] Rassvet was outfitted
with ISS standard grapple fixtures that allowed the module to be unloaded from the payload bay of Atlantis using the stations
robotic arm
The ICC pallet is constructed of aluminum It is approximately 8 feet long 13 feet wide and 10 inches thick The empty weight of
the pallet is 2645 pounds The total weight of ICCndashVLD and the ORUs is approximately 8330 pounds ICC-VLD return mass is
2933 kilograms (6470 lb)
The ICC-VLD was berthed in the centre of the
payload bay for both launch and re-entry
In the photo above Rassvet is shown centre top
The mission patch shows Atlantis flying off into the sunset as the end of the shuttle
programme approaches
21
ORBIT
By Andreacute Scheer and Margaret Morris This fascinating structure is an octagonal pentelic marble tower on the Roman agora or marketplace in Athens It was supposedly built by the astronomer Andronicus of Kyrrhos c 50 BC but according to other sources might have been constructed in the 2
nd
century BC before the rest of the forum The structure is 12 metres high with a diameter of approximately 8 metres On each of the eight sides (aligned with the eight principal points of the compass) is a sculpture featuring the wind gods and below each sculpture is engraved a sundial Thus the tower served as a solar clock but additionally in the interior was a water-clock (clepsydra) driven by water coming down from the Acropolis There were mechanical hour indicators and displays for the seasons of the year with astrological dates and periods The tower was topped in antiquity by a weather-vane in the shape of a triton with a wand which pointed at whichever of the winds was blowing The tower must have been one of the most useful structures in the agora as it showed the time for civilian purposes and indicated the wind direction for merchants awaiting the arrival of a ship The earliest philatelic items to depict this unusual building are postal stationery postcards originating from 1900 when the Greek postal authorities organised a competition for photographers and artists The best pictures were selected for issue and on 1 July 1901 the first series of 32 cards was issued In total 12 series of 32 cards each were issued between then and 20 March 1903 The cards were issued in three colours (chestnut black and green) with imprinted stamps of two values (5 lepta green for national mail and 10 lepta red for international mail) The cards additionally have an impressed stamp without colour on the left side being 10 lepta for the card itself so the cards were sold for 15 and 20 lepta The design of the imprinted stamps was based on the Hermes (Mercury) statue by Giovanni da Bologna During the war on the Balkans the cards were used by the Greek army and have an extra imprint ndash Carte Postale ndash Franchise Militaire A few examples of these postal stationery postcards are illustrated opposite and on page 23 The wording ldquoLrsquohorloge de Kyrrhestesrdquo refers to the timepiece built by Andronicus of Kyrrhos while ldquoTEMPLE DrsquoEOLErdquo translates as ldquoTemple of Aeolusrdquo (Aeolus = god of the winds) For each card 12 versions can be distinguished ndash ie 3 colours x 2 values x 2 usages For fuller information see reference no 1 Of course numerous picture postcards also feature this interesting structure
The Tower of the Winds The Oldest Planetarium on Stamps and
Postal Stationery
Front and back of postal stationery postcard
Examples of Greek postal stationery from the early 20th
century
Front and back of postal stationery postcard
22
ORBIT
The 19423 issues (SG 561-572) of Greece shown beside the 1973 Dominica souvenir sheet whose designer has
reinterpreted the divine sculptures in the margins
Boreas also on the 100d value in black and grey
Skiron
Zephyrus in two 25d vals
orange and green
Lips
Notus
Eurus
Apeliotes in two 10d vals red brown and red orange
Kaikias in two 50d vals black and grey violet and blue
Wind Direction Name of Deity Characteristics of the Sculpture North Boreas An old man wearing heavy clothing and holding a conch shell This wind was cold fierce and
stormy and in Athens made a loud hollow noise
North East Kaikias Old man with severe expression holding circular shield from which he will drop hailstones Weather characteristically cloudy wet and cold
East Apeliotes Young man with hair flowing in every direction holding a cloak full of fruit and grain ndash he brings gradual gentle rain
South East Eurus Old man with morose countenance wrapped tightly against the elements in his cloak This wind brought sultry gloomy weather with much rain
South Notus Young man emptying an urn and producing a shower of water This wind was associated with sultry very wet weather
South West Lips Boy pushing the stern of a ship promising a good sailing wind This was the wind which blew right into Piraeus harbour
West Zephyrus Beautiful lightly clad youth of happy aspect holding a cloak full of flowers In summer this wind brought very sultry weather
North West Skiron Bearded man with a bronze pot full of hot ashes and charcoal This was a dry wind extremely cold in winter but scorching and with lightning in summer
The following table gives details of the sculptures and the characteristics attributed to each of the wind gods
For fuller information see reference no 2
23
ORBIT
The sculptures of the eight winds were depicted on stamps of Greece issued in 1942 (six designs) and 1943 (again six designs ndash four as the previous issue but including the two omitted winds) Five values were surcharged in 1944 to aid victims of the Piraeus bombing of 11 January 1944 the exceptionally high face value resulted in few of these stamps being used Later in 1944 the same five values were surcharged in aid of a Childrenrsquos Convalescent Camp Fund Finally in 1946 two values of the 1942 issue were surcharged ndash the 10dr value in black and the 50dr revalued as 20dr in red See opposite for examples of the stamp designs In addition to these attractive engraved stamps the 1973 issue from Dominica commemorating the centenary of the World Meteorological Organisation included a miniature sheet incorporating the 50c and $1 values and surrounded in the margin by images of all eight wind sculptures (see page 22) More recently the cover of a booklet issued by Greece on 7 October 1988 provides an aerial view of the agora and the Tower of the Winds can be detected (see below) The booklet contains 16 stamps (4 each of 4 different values) and celebrates capitals of Greek provinces In early Christian times the building was used as the bell tower of a Byzantine Church It was partly buried in the ground until fully excavated in the 19
th century by the
Archaeological Society of Athens It is interesting to note that the design of the upper octagon of the 18th century Radcliffe Observatory in Oxford England is based on the Tower of the Winds as is the mausoleum of the founder of the Greek National Library Panayis Vagliano at West Norwood Cemetery London There is a similar tower in Sevastopol built in 1849 References
1 ldquoEntiers Postaux Illustreacutes du service des postes
helleacuteniques et leurs preacutecurseursrdquo Georges Mathas 1985
2 For finely detailed drawings and information about the sculptures you may care to see if your Library has a copy of ldquoThe Antiquities of Athensrdquo Stuart amp Revett Vol 1 published in London 1762
3 Article by Derek J de Solla Price in ldquoNational
Geographic April 1967 pp587-596 4 Much useful information may also be obtained from
sites on the internet
Examples of Overprints from left to right
1944 Piraeus Bombing Aid 1944 Childrenrsquos convalescent camp fund 1946 Surcharge
Below Cover of the 1988 stamp booklet
Front and back of postal stationery postcard
24
ORBIT
Old Photo Makes New(s) Story
A photo taken twenty-one years ago became hot international new(s) this July writes Bert van Eijck
It is a picture of your correspondent in front of the
monument on the graves of the seven astronauts killed
in the Challenger disaster The photo from November 1989 shows the national cemetery at Arlington in
Washington DC And it is this graveyard a national American field of pride and honour that was involved in
a scandal making news all over the world
What happened This became a hot story after it was leaked to the press that in 211 graves on Arlington the wrong corpse had
been buried But this disgrace grew to international
proportions when the US Senate published a report which revealed that it was not 211 but 6600 graves that
had been so dishonoured And maybe there are more the researchers stated
Consequently it meant that family members had been paying their respect at the wrong graves because many
were not marked well or the ground-plan directed to wrong places
Arlingtonrsquos director John Metzler was fired as was his
depute Thurman Higginbotham both of whom said
they knew there were made mistakes but they could not help ldquobecause of economyrdquo
Arlington cemetery was opened in 1864 Since then
300000 Americans have been buried here including
famous or well-known persons like presidents
ministers high ranked military artists judges and
astronauts
And what about some of the most recent ones Did I indeed visit and honour the seven Challenger astronauts in their last resting place on Earth in
November 1989 as shown on the photo Or are they perhaps mistakenly buried in another
unmarked grave This is hard to believe but one never knowshelliphellip
For those who wonder what was doing 21
years ago in the US capital I visited the
World Stamp Exporsquo89 at the Convention Center in Washington DC Of course I did
more sightseeing at and in the famous Smithsonian Museums (a must the
National AirampSpace Museum with 10
million visitors a year) the Capitol the metro (deepest in the world) George
Washingtonrsquos house in Vernon Arlington of course and much more
At the World Stamp Expo there was a
presentation of both USA and USSR space
stamps The American stamps were presented by astronaut Buzz Aldrin the
Soviet stamps by cosmonaut Gherman Titov
Author and the Challenger astronauts monument at Arlington seven figures in bronze (left) At right a plaque honoring US-soldiers killed in action saving
hostages in Iran
Astronaut Buzz Aldrin (left) presents the US space stamps while cosmonaut Gherman Titov (right) does the same with
Soviet space stamps In the middle officials of USPS Below the
stampshellip
25
ORBIT
The Apollo 15 Cover Scandal by Umberto Cavallaro
In a feature which first appeared in the April-June 2010 issue of Ad Astra the web journal of the Italian Astrophilatelic Association its editor reveals in considerable detail the full story of those covers which today sell for so much money The Apollo 15 flown covers are among the best known
collectibles from the Apollo Era mainly because of what Jim Irwin recalls as ldquothe problem we brought
back from the Moonrdquo
The crew of Apollo 15 carried out one of the most complete scientific explorations of the Moon the first
lunar roving vehicle was operated on the Moon to
extend the range of exploration some 180 pounds of lunar surface samples were returned for analysis Yet
Fifteen is best remembered as the crew that carried envelopes to the moon and the whole mission is
remembered for the ldquogreat postal caperrdquo
Apollo 15 was not the first mission to carry covers
dozens were carried on each flight from Apollo 11 onwards and as Commander Dave Scott recalls in his
book the whole business had probably been building since Mercury through Gemini and into Apollo People
had a fascination with objects that had been carried in space and they became more and more popular and
valuable as the programme progressed Right from
the start of the Mercury programme each astronaut had been allowed to carry on board a certain number
of personal items
NASA was in the habit of authorizing astronauts to
carry certain personal items on manned flights known as Astronautsrsquo PPK (Personal Preference Kits) All such
items had to be listed and approved by Deke Slayton the Head of the Astronaut Office prior to launch and
were intended for private use or as personal gifts
after the flight and could not be employed for commercial
Fig 1 The official USPS cover postmarked on the Moon
purposes or personal gain Astronaut kits typically
included badges jewellery coins medals flags stamps postal covers currency printed materials and
similar easily packed lightweight mementoes As the flight became more significant the number and type of
items increased
Aside from personal mementoes each crew had
carried medallions whose number had grown steadily on each mission In his book The All-American Boys astronaut Walter Cunningham reveals that it was rumoured around the Astronaut Office that Apollo 14
carried on board a personal package weighing forty-
two pounds Before that flight the Franklin Mint had even advertised the proposed sale After the flight the
commercial deal was never completed and all went quiet nothing about it being published in the media
But some members of the US Congress were unhappy
of the situation
In that context the ldquolapses of judgmentrdquo of the Apollo 15 crew became fatal Dave Scott went too far
carrying on board a total of 641 postal covers (including the two official covers) of which only 243
were listed and authorized before the flight and 398
were not -- secretly carried on board Apollo 15 by Scott in a pocket of his space suit Had they been
listed as being in Scotts PPK they would probably have been routinely approved for inclusion in the
preference kit
The 243 listed and authorized covers include
bull 2 official US Postal Service covers one of which the ldquoOfficial Coverrdquo was publicly cancelled on the
moon by Scott at the request of the US Postal
Service 10 (Fig 1) bull 1 Wright Brothers commemorative cover dated
1928 and autographed by Orville Wright which was carried by Worden for a friend
bull 1 cover bearing a First Man on the Moon stamp and a Bliss Centennial three-cent stamp carried by
Irwin for Barbara Baker (Fig 2 below)
26
ORBIT
8 Shamrock covers carried by Irwin (as below)
144 Herrickrsquos ldquoMoon Phasesrdquo covers carried by Worden
(Fig 4) printed with a cachet showing 15 phases of the moon On the USS Okinawa the Apollo 15 recovery ship
the astronauts placed two eight-cent stamps purchased
on board by Worden on each of these covers and they had the covers cancelled by the shipboard post office
The astronauts later autographed these covers while flying back from Hawaii to Houston Sixteen covers were
torn or damaged and were destroyed Because of the furore created by the Apollo 15 covers incident NASA
confiscated 61 of these 144 Moon Phases covers
87 Apollo 12 covers (Fig 5) that for unknown reason
did not fly on that mission and which were carried on
Apollo 15 for Mrs Barbara Gordon a stamp collector then wife of Richard Gordon Apollo 12 astronaut who
at was the back-up pilot for Apollo 15
The 398 unauthorized covers (initially there were
400 but 2 were damaged and discarded) are lightweight envelopes carrying as a cachet a replica
of the official Apollo 15 patch overprinted with an Air Force wing and propeller emblem
The idea of these additional covers was suggested during a cocktail party by Eiermann a salesman for
the heat-shield contractor who had frequent business and social contacts with NASA personnel and
astronauts He suggested to fly 400 lightweight covers 100 for each of the astronauts and 100 for
his friend Sieger the German stamp dealer The
cacheted covers were provided by Al Bishop a friend of many astronauts then at the Howard
Hughes organization He had already provided covers for the previous flights since Apollo 12
Above one of the 100 Sieger covers with the handwritten note ldquoLanded at Hadley Moon July 30 1971 On the
reverse is a typed and notarised inscription ldquoThis is to certify that this cover was on board the Falcon at the Hadley-
Apennine Moon July 30 ndashAug 2 1971rdquo
Below one of the 298 unauthorised covers carried to the Moon by David Scott with the inscription ldquoThis envelope was
carried to the Moon aboard the Apollo 15 of 300 to the Lunar Surface in LMrdquoFalconrdquo
The crews usually returned to Bishop a couple of
flown covers signed with gratitude ldquoTo my
knowledge ndash Cunningham reports in his well documented book ndash Bishop never sold any and never
made a dime off his relationship He was simply a fan To Al Bishop Apollo 15 was no different from any
other flight except for a phone call he received from
Hal Collins the Astronaut Office manager at the Cape
27
ORBIT
Collins told Bishop that the crew would like to know
whether he could obtain some very lightweight envelopes for them Al said that hed be happy to do so
He was unaware then that many of them would be smuggled on board the next lunar flight Al was trusted
Thats why many of us imposed on him with our
problems special requests and sometimes matters which we would rather not share with NASArdquo
This time Al was badly used he emerged as a
scapegoat and his name was dragged as though he was the Mr Big of an international stamp conspiracy
The covers were cancelled at Kennedy Space Center
several days before July 26 1971 The date of the post office machine canceller was moved forward
Additionally twin eight-cent stamps were purchased by the astronauts on the USS Okinawa the Apollo 15
recovery ship and affixed to these covers ndash as for the
Herrickrsquos covers In the shipboard post office the covers were then cancelled and date-stamped August 7 1971
The astronauts finally autographed these covers while flying from Hawaii to Houston
Soon after the flight the astronauts gave Eiermann
the 100 covers ndash after agreeing that there was to be
no commercialization or advertising of these covers and that nothing would be done with them until after
completion of the Apollo programme
But after a while news started to circulate that the
German dealer was selling in Europe covers flown on Apollo 15 for a reported average of US $1500 each
The reports infuriated Congress not least because congressmen had to read such controversial
information in the press before being informed by
NASA which is obligated to keep Congress fully informed of its activity Recollection of the Apollo 14
medallions incident must have echoed in the minds of certain members of Congress many of whom were
not fans of NASA anyway NASA started an internal investigation This was the most controversial
development of the Apollo Programme and although
most astronauts were involved to some degree NASA made an example of the Apollo 15 flight crew ldquoIt
was turning into a witch-huntrdquo recalled Scott ldquoOur bosses had abrogated their responsibilities and we
were left alone on a very wet dayrdquo
It is ironic that after addressing a joint session of
Congress as heroes in less that one year the three astronauts of Apollo 15 had to go back in front of these
same senators in disgrace because of this envelope scandal
After this ldquoincidentrdquo NASA prohibited from Apollo 17 on the flying of covers or stamps during a space
missions (they were not on time to block the covers carried on Apollo 16) The only exceptions have been
since then the items flown in cooperation with the US
Postal Service ie the 266000 covers carried in 1983 in
the payload bay of the Space Shuttle Challenger on
STS-8 and the 500000 $995 Express Mail stamp created by Paul and Chris Calle in 1994 flown on
Endeavour STS-68 in recognition of the 25th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing The huge
number of such items carried in space discourages
speculations and these items still are widely available for few dollars
So far fewer than 1000 envelopes in total have flown
to the Moon No other American covers will flow to the Moon in the foreseeable future Perhaps the next
ldquoMoon coversrdquo will bear Chinese or Indian stamps
Dave Scott was the first lunar Postmaster and had two
postmarks with him and two covers with imperforated dieproof of the US twin Decade of Space Achievements
stamps affixed (Fig 1)
He had one postmark with ldquoMoon Landing USArdquo (Fig 8 below) and another with ldquoUnited States on the
Moonrdquo (Fig 9 bottom)
The First Lunar Post Office was opened on August 2 1971 when David Scott postmarked only the official
cover (and brought back the official backup-cover uncancelled) A handful covers had however been
postmarked before launch with both postmarks Dr Matthew Radnofsky ndash who in his laboratory already
had simulated cancelling in space for Apollo 11 ndash
tested both postmarks to ensure that the cancellation devices were in working order
Especially the date could be changed easily Contrary
to Apollo 11 covers without stamps were used for
28
ORBIT
these tests Apollo 15 Lunar Cancellation Proofs are
much scarcer than Apollo 11 ones ldquoAs by now I am aware of only 17 itemsrdquo states famous astrophilatelist
Walter Hopferwieser Covers with proofs of the Apollo 15 moon postmarks have been recently sold at Regency
Superior and Aurora auctions
The official Apollo 15 cover postmarked on the Moon
(see Fig 1 repeated above ) is displayed at the US National Postal Museum It was publicly cancelled and
the video can be seen at httpwwwpostalmuseumsiedustampstakeflight
apollo15video-01html A short speech was given by
Dave Scott while cancelling the cover ldquoTo show that our good Postal Service has deliveries any place in the
universe I have the pleasant task of cancelling here on the Moon the first stamp of a new issue dedicated to
commemorate US achievements in space I have the
first one here on an envelope At the bottom it says United States in Space a decade of achievement and
Im very proud to have the opportunity here to play postman I pull out a cancellation device It says
August 2 1971 first day of issuehellip What could be a
better place to cancel this stamp than right here at Hadley Rillehelliprdquo
Immediately thereafter the Postmaster General who
was waiting at the Mission Control at Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston Texas gave the signal to start the
First- Day cancellations at post offices in Houston
Kennedy Space Center and Huntsville
Acknowledgement Thanks to Walter Hopferwieser for his comments
Some Notes About Space Mail
Commenting on Brian Vincentrsquos article in the June
2010 Orbit ASSS member Geoff Chivers writes in an
email to your Editorhellip Im sure you wont mind me commenting on Brian G Vincents Some Notes About Space Mail (page 36)
In paragraph 2 he refers to the Apollo 15 cover incident leaving the impression that Scott Worden and Irwin were guilty of some heinous crime This has been the subject of much miss-reporting over the years The full story of what actually happened is explained in depth at page 328 et seq of Two sides of the moon by David Scott and Alexei Leonov published by Simon amp Shuster The astronauts were of course exonerated
This is the quote (slightly edited to enable it to stand as an independent piece)-
During 1972 while on a trip to Washington DC George Low NASA deputy administrator asked me to stop by his
office writes David Scott I had known George in Houston while he was Apollo spacecraft programme manager and I had great respect for him We spent a short while exchanging pleasantries Then George looked me in the eye and came to the point ldquoWell Daverdquo he said ldquoI have to tell you I was not very proud of my performancerdquo His comment was the culmination of what had become known as the Apollo 15 ldquocover incidentrdquo This involved some first day postal covers which we had carried aboard Apollo 15 some of which were unfortunately sold by a German stamp dealer several months after the flight As No 2 in NASA George
had been heavily involved in NASAs handling of the incident and his comment referred to one of the poorest management performances the space agency had ever demonstrated - up to then The whole business had probably been building since Mercury through Gemini and into Apollo People had a fascination with objects that had been carried in space and they became more and more popular and valuable as the programme progressed Right from the start of the Mercury programme each astronaut had been allowed to carry on board a certain number of personal items in what were known as PPKS - Personal Preference Kits Before each flight a list of the items was prepared for Deke Slayton who
Two Sides of The Moon
by David Scott and Alexei Leonov
The text opposite from the
above book has been
referred to by Umberto Cavallaro in preparing his
above piece
29
ORBIT
had overall responsibility for approving them As the flights became more significant the number and type of items increased Aside from personal mementoes each crew had carried a certain number of medallions which they could hand out afterwards as souvenirs The number of medallions had grown steadily on each mission - eventually some crew members had been carrying several hundred each and their weight was becoming a concern And as always commercialisation began to creep in In the end on Apollo 14 commanded by Al Shepard it was alleged that the crew had carried some silver medallions on board which were to be melted down after the flight and mixed with many other commemorative medallions by the Franklin Mint to be sold to the general public The Franklin Mint had even advertised the proposed sale before the flight After the flight the deal was never consummated and all went quiet nothing about it was printed in the media But some members of Congress had heard about it and were unhappy with the situation Since we were busy training for Apollo 15 (launched 26 July 1971) we knew nothing about all this Had we known we would have been far more wary of what happened subsequently All we knew was that Deke Slayton had halved the number of medallions we could carry Shortly afterwards Deke introduced Jim (Irwin) Al (Worden) and me to a long-standing friend of his at the Cape called Walter Eiermann In retrospect this seems likely to have been more than a coincidence Deke invited us to join him at dinner at Eiermanns house one evening several months before the Apollo 15 launch Eiermann asked if we would like to make some money on the side by signing some stamps ldquoAll the guys are doing itrdquo he said We agreed We were also approached by several members of the Manned Spacecraft Centerrsquos stamp club who asked us to sign many first - day covers before the flight for their members as well as for ourselves At that time we could not buy life insurance If we signed some covers we reasoned they could be held during the flight and act as limited life insurance for our families if anything happened to us But then Eiermann proposed we carry four hundred lightweight commemorative covers a hundred of which would be passed on to a stamp dealer in Germany when we returned All the covers would be franked on the day of launch and franked on the day of our return Our understanding was that the dealer would hold his hundred covers to be sold at some future date after the Apollo programme was over In return he would set up a $6000 trust fund for each of us for the education of our children In the months of intense activity before the flight we did not give this more than a moment of thought But we agreed In retrospect we made a mistake in even considering it In the months following our mission we learnt that the German dealer had begun to sell the covers We let Eiermann know that we were opposed to the sale Forget the trust funds we said we dont want any money This is not what we had understood would happen But when senior managers at NASA learnt about the covers being sold they were furious Incomplete information was then provided to the press by NASArsquos Public Affairs Office and reports started to appear that we had smuggled the covers onto our flight This was literally impossible NASA personnel prepared us for every aspect of the flight - from our birthday suits out Everything we had carried had to be specially packaged by the flight support crew to make sure apart from anything else
that it was fireproof Everything in our PPKs was on a list which was certified before launch I was never aware of any rules about what could or could not be taken in these packs Slayton was to approve the list so as far as I was concerned it was up to management to keep us on the straight and narrow I assumed if the list was approved that was fine Usually the list was certified by Deke But before our flight for some reason he neither asked us personally for each of our lists as was customary nor signed off on the list personally He said the flight - crew support team had already logged everything Whereas we had purchased the covers ourselves the Astronaut Office at the Cape had prepared the covers for the flight and had had them stamped and franked on the day of launch Somehow however the support team had missed them when they prepared the PPK flight manifest It was also reported after the incident that we had been removed from the astronaut corps Again totally untrue Unfortunately NASA managers did nothing to dispel this false and misleading information They just tucked their heads in and let the rumours run The reports infuriated Congress not least because congressmen had to read such controversial information in the press before being informed by NASA which is obligated to keep Congress fully informed of its activities Recollections of the Apollo 14 medallion incident must have seeped into the minds of certain members of Congress many of whom were not fans of NASA anyway When NASA started an internal investigation we were told by a senior official in the agency that we were on our own We were advised to get our own legal representation A Senate hearing into the matter had been called and a justice Department investigation would follow It was turning into a witch - hunt NASA we were advised expected us to keep quiet and take the Fifth Amendment at this hearing We did not We told it like it was We had nothing to hide Eventually the Justice Department concluded that we had broken some administrative rules but had done nothing criminal NASA confiscated the remaining covers but they acted before discovering all the facts of the case Following an investigation by NASA the Justice Department and the Senate the Justice Department concluded on 6 December 1978 in a ldquoMemorandum Opinion for the Assistant Attorney Generalrdquo that NASA had no claim to the remaining covers that the covers were never intended for sale that there was no attempt at concealment by the crew of the fact that the covers were to be flown on Apollo 15 and finally that the covers would have been approved to carry aboard Apollo 15 had a request been made We were reprimanded and we took our licks But it was a very raw deal NASA had hung us out to dry Our bosses had abrogated their responsibilities and we were left alone on a very wet day I spent many years trying to get full access to NASA and congressional records on the case NASA refused to provide full disclosure We subsequently found out there had been rumblings about profitmdashmaking on previous missions A copy of a letter was released to me in which NASA admitted that ten other astronauts who were not identified had been involved in selling signed blocks of stamps and postcards for Eiermann But the wave reached the shore on Apollo 15 and we were the ones who bore the brunt of the blame for such incidents
30
ORBIT
Buckingham Cover offer Free Souvenirs for You
Brian Austin of Buckinghamrsquos Rare Cover Department writes to your Editorhellip
Over the last two or three years we have been dealing more and more in signed space covers This led us to earlier this year buying an Apollo 11 crew signed cover which had been carried to the moon which we had on display on our stand at London 2010
For this we also printed a limited edition of 800 sets of postcards one featuring the Apollo 11 cover and another
featuring an Apollo 15 cover The idea was to give away 100 sets per day to customers at the show but now the show is all finished I still have around 150 pairs left on my desk
We wondered if you would like to offer them to your readers we are happy to send them out free of charge to the first 150 readers to contact us with their details as long as we can also include one of our lists of space
covers
BrianAustinbuckinghamcoverscom
31
ORBIT
More About Missile Mail
Harvey Duncan told us in the last Orbit (page 15) about the First Official Missile Mail writes Bert van Eijck After the useful technical details about the USS Barbero he gave us I can offer you more philatelic information and show you some illustrations The missile mail experiment was a joint venture between
the Ministry of Defense and the US Post Office Dept headed by Postmaster General Mr Arthur E
Summerfield Three thousand special envelopes were printed with a reproduction of a Navy missile type
Regulus with the text ldquoFirst Official Missile Mailrdquo and above that ldquoThe Postmaster General Washingtonrdquo All
the envelopes were addressed to The President high
government officials like senators and to the Post Masters General of ninety nine other member nations of
UPU Inside was a letter from Mr Summerfield entitled ldquoThe First Official Missile Mailrdquo with the official seal of
the Post Office dept It was explained therein what had
happed to that letter and the other 2999
The special letters were loaded in two metal compartments and came aboard the guided missile USS Barbero (SSG-317) The shot was to occur during a regular training mission from Norfolk Virginia to Florida
About 350 kilometres off the coast of Florida the
Regulus missile was launched toward Airport Mayport
The missile climbed 10 km above the Atlantic and
landed within twenty minutes with all the letters intact The letters were cancelled with the hand stamp ldquoUSS
Barberordquo with the date ldquoJun 8 1959rdquo and the approximate timing of the launching ldquo930 amrdquo This
was done by post office staff part of an established
branch office on the USS Barbero The letters bore the 1957 4c American flag postage stamp Those
addressed to foreign countries carried two such stamps covering surface mail postage costs On the
reverse side is the Jacksonville Post Office cancellation with the approximate time of arrival ldquoJune 8 1030 am
1959 Floridardquo
Such flown letters are expensive to buy and a jewel in
any exhibit
But this is NOT the case with the Barbero souvenir
cover dated a month later on July 8 1959 issued in the same quantity (3000) as the originals The
inscription reads ldquoPoint of LandingmdashFirst Official Missile Mail 8 June 1959 US Naval Station Mayport Floridardquo
About 16000 () collectors had applied for such a cover
The imprint of the official Barbero cover was reproduced on a memorial cover issued and posted at
the Vienna International Airpost Exhibition Luposta on August 1959 in the Austrian capital Of course neither
of these items had been carried within the Regulus
missile
Also of interest the Postal Administration of
Paraguay issued a stamp
and a block in 1976 honouring the Barbero
Missile Mail The Gs 20 stamp shows a Regulus
missile in flight while the sheet shows the whole
addressed cover and in
miniature the complete letter inside from the US Postmaster General
as mentioned above and as illustrated below
Above a specimen envelope as described in the text and below its reverse cancel
32
ORBIT
An Invitation to Our Readers to Donate to an Innovative International Projecthellip
Kindest Sir or Madam
The municipality of Vitanje
(Slovenia) is honoured to have had a hand in the life of the
famous space architect Herman Potocnik Noordung
(1892-1929) (pictured right) who had already found a
surprising number of solutions
to space travel and troubles of living in vacuum long before
actual space flights took place His creations were used by the
renowned novelist Arthur C Clarke
in his book 2001 A Space Odyssey which was later also turned into a
movie directed by Stanley Kubrick In Noordungs honour we have
created the Memorial Centre of Herman Potocnik Noordung This
year the cultural centre of European
space technology will also get going in Vitanje This will be a place
where the European space heritage will be gathered and various events connected with the
contemporary European space technologies will be
organized
Proposed Philatelic Collection We would like to bring the project onto a higher level
where we would have the collaboration of various
countries in the world including such with a history in space travel (like USA Russia) One of the steps of this
expansion process would also include a philatelic collection of stamps with themes of outer space
(astronomy astronautics and everything connected to
outer space) We already have quite a decent collection but we would like to expand on that
Our goal is to have 6000 stamps before opening our
exhibition For this we would require the help of as many philatelists as possible
All of these philatelists would become co-creators and partners of this collection for which we hope will
become the largest collection of its kind in the world The people donating the stamps would get a great deal
of exposure at all these exhibitions and on the special
website which will be started shortly If you give us enough support and we are able to raise enough
stamps for a first-class collection we hope the first
exhibitions and various special events (like visits from
astronauts ndash philatelists) will see the light of day as early as in 2011
From a professional point of view we have an
excellent team working with us Long-time philatelist
Tone Petek is the person who initiated this project while Bojan Bracic the secretary of FEPA is one of our
counsellors and is completely behind this project
If you would be interested in such cooperation I will get the wheels in motion and send you a verifying
mail with the stamp of the municipality of Vitanje and
also of some higher organization within the Slovene political system
The collection is already underway with the help of the
Slovene Philatelic organisation (FZS) adds Rok in an email to your Editor in July This organisation has been of immense help with technical expertise and
connections It looks as if there might be an introductory exhibition next year sometime
In the hope of a successful partnership we offer our
sincere appreciation
Rok Podgrajsek
Obcina Vitanje Grajski trg 1
3205 Vitanje
Slovenia
Email address rokpodgrajsekgmailcom
But see also website httpwwwvitanjesi
(Editorrsquos Note both Wendy Buckle editor of
Themescene and our Chairman Margaret Morris commend this project to you We will be sending Rok
some recent copies of Orbit for the displays)
Some illustrations from Noordungrsquos only published text ldquoThe Problem of
Space Travel The Rocket Motorrdquo (the original German title
was ldquoDas Problem der Befahrung
des Weltraums - der Raketen-Motorrdquo) which saw the light of day
in 1928
Vitanje Local Private Post stamp
33
ORBIT
Zazzle Space Stamps Dazzle
I have noticed Zazzle Space Stamps appearing in Lollini brochures and on their web pages in recent months writes your Editor so I undertook to find out some facts about them and am grateful to The Astrophile Editor Jim Roth and the man who inspired him to create his own Zazzle designs Otto Bergman for the following infohellip Zazzle is one of half a dozen or more US companies
who facilitate the printing of non-copyrighted photos and artwork on private postage stamps which count
as postage within and outwith the USA You can
design your own Zazzle stampsmdashsee their websitemdashwhich you then purchase for your own use 20 to a
page
They are therefore a bit like British Smilers except
that the personal element of the stamp is not on a se-tenant label but actually incorporated within the
stamp itself as you can see from the examples on this page
Jim Roth was annoyed that the Kennedy Space Center Post office would not cancel his Zazzle stamps as they
consider them to be ldquometersrdquo and although he has marked STS-122 he wonrsquot be creating any others
You can see (and buy) all Jim Rothrsquos Space Zazzles on
his website m57coverscommdashclick on ldquostampsrdquo
Three of Jim Rothrsquos designs
See others on his website
An Otto Bergman space creation on
Zazzlecomottobergman
These space Zazzles and others are
available from the Lollini website or brochures
STS 128 in May 2010 section
STS 129 in June 2010
WISE and Delta 2 launch in July 2010 STS 130 in August 2010
STS 128 stamps show astronauts Christer Fuglesang (far left) and left Frank De Winne ISS Commander Expedition 21 STS 129 issues depict mission
patch and the crew led by Charles Hobaugh
Delta 2 rocket launch from Cape Canaveral of WISE Deep InfraRed telescope
34
ORBIT
Concluded on page 39
More Spaceflight Books for Sale
35
ORBIT ORBIT
SPACE HABITATS (Part Two) by John Beenen Continuing his feature from our last issue John Beenen begins by posing the questionhellip Why Should we Seek to Live
in Space
Spacecom gives ten main reasons why we should enter space for a prolonged
period
1 To secure a future for humanity
2 To build a new frontier
3 To find new energy sources
4 To build an industrial settlement on
the Moon
5 Better quality images of the
Universe
6 The SETI effort
7 Mining
8 Learning the history of our
Universe
9 Environmental benefits
Meeting the challenge
Taking for granted that it is naturally fascinating to investigate how mankind
might be able to maintain its habitat outside earth there are several further reasons to investigate why
mankind should settle themselves outside earth in the far future And More reasons mean a overall better
argument
Primarily there is the question of overpopulation and
secondly a solution for the energy problem
Next we have to consider that climate circumstances
are not under control anymore and earth eventually becomes uninhabitable
Also when for various reasons we start to kill each
other for some groups of people it may be an attractive proposition to depart this Earth in quite a different
sense And that is perhaps the most common thought
through activities in space more money can be obtained
But there are disadvantageshellip
On the other hand a prolonged stay in space is not that safe The construction must be protected against
radiation and it can be hit by large and small debris which makes space a very unsafe place
Furthermore cosmic radiation produces
a radiation of 80 mSv (millisievert) - well over the allowed maximum of 50
mSv and very much over the amount which is considered as safe for man
which is 3 mSv
Next solar flares produce a sudden
increase of soft gamma and energy rich radiation so much that without the
protection of an atmosphere half of our population could die easily
It is interesting that even without shielding most of this radiation can be
absorbed in the projected spacecraftsrsquo structure and in the air Smaller
structures can be protected with a
shield of co-rotating rocks
The construction further must be protected against sunlight which by
lack of the air shield will fall in unshielded so sun blinds and radiators
are indispensable
And as a result of the artificial gravity
there are some tiny movement problems which we will face later
Finally the created ecosystem should be fully self-supporting and that is easier said than done as
experiments with Biosphere-2 have showed
Biosphere-2 Biosphere-2 was a project built between 1987 and 1991 providing in an area of about 2frac12 football fields
a closed biological system of different composition From 1991-1993 a crew of 8 persons stayed herein A
second crew of 7 persons bridged a period of March
until September 1994 During the first period it appeared difficult to keep the atmosphere constant in
particular the carbon dioxide values changed rapidlymdashthe reason why many of the carried insects perished
Further the oxygen level decreased slowly because pf a leak
Even during the first two-year phase large differences in opinion appeared and the yield was not large
enough to deliver the calories necessary Reserve stocks had to be broken into Finally the second
experiment had to be ended prematurely because of
mismanagement
However it seems that a well-functioning stable ecosystem should not be underestimated physically
not technically
Artists impressions above Interior Stanford Torus and below Interior
OrsquoNeill Cylinder
Solar flares Czechoslovakia 1965 WB 47
36
ORBIT
It further has to be speculated on that men would resist
a regulated weather programme instead of the customary ever changing circumstances on Earth
Also we must physically resist an eternal stay outside
Earth That is not always easy as some people will show
some kind of sea sickness for ever In any case rooms with a diameter of less than 100 meters and a speed of
revolution over three per minute are insufficient At specifications of over 500 m and at less than 1 revolution
per minute fewer problems have to be expected
How do we get raw materials (Fantasy Moon Mining Yemen
Mutawakelite 1969 1343)
And still there have to be enough raw materials to sustain the
colony but as a principle the
search for raw materials is not the most difficult
From the asteroid belt enough small rocks can be
transported as a building material Also mines can be put
on the Moon Bercause of the lower gravity there transport is easier and some kind of firing mechanism
has been calculated which launch packets of ore simply into space where they can be manipulated
Air can be produced from moonstone Nitrogen nearly without loss can be recycled and eventually added to
ammonia mined from comets Large gardens and fields should start the normal photosynthesis and doing so
finally a complete sustainable society might be built up Energy from the Sun is present in superfluous quantities
What to do about gravity Most designs for a Space station start with a gravity of
1G Some designers however think that a lower level of gravity is possible But in the meantime experiments
with astronauts have showed that our physiology
changes rapidly influenced by decreased or absence of gravity Thus the calcium potassium and sodium
contents of our bone system decrease by about 10 That is not bad were we to stay in space forever but
very troublesome when occasionally we would return to
Earth
Also the quality of our muscles decreases as the blood volume does Providing effects comparable to aging
Further by lack of gravity astronauts become a little
taller with accompanying pain in the back Hence the staying with 1G gravity is not so bad
That has to be maintained by rotation of the
construction The larger the diameter of the construction is the slower it will turn to provide 1 G That is a result
of the centrifugal or centripetal force Its
magnitude has long been established thanks to the work of Dutchman Christiaan Huygens and fixed in
the formula
m v2
F = r where
F = the external force in N(ewton) m = mass in kg
v = speed in msec r = radius in m
Hence a spacecraft with a diameter of 15 meters has to carry out one revolution every 8 seconds to
produce a sensation of 1G And that is too quick for man The effect of the centrifugal force is that should
an astronaut drop an object it does not fall straight
down but partly away from himher Weird
Coriolis force But in a rotating Space station another force is at
work That is the lsquoCoriolis forcersquo named after the
French Gustave-Gaspard Coriolis (1792-1843) who described this kind of force for the first time
The most common manifestation is the second law of
Buys Ballot which says that air streams in the
atmosphere which according the first law of Boys Ballot as a principle run from high to low pressure at
the northern hemisphere are bent to the right and at the southern hemisphere to the left because of the
rotation of the Earth
Therefore air streams around depressions show a
spiral shape in opposite directions at the northern and southern hemisphere In a space station this
force can especially noticed when moving around through the spokes of the wheel
(Diagram of Coriolis F o r c e h t t p
wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm)
A s s u m e t h a t a n
astronaut on a ladder
climbs through a spoke to the axis As he climbs
along he circles around more slowly as he
describes a smaller circle
in the same time What happens with the difference in speed that he had before He will be pressed
against the ladder and that is the Coriolis force The force also acts in opposite direction when he
descends from the ladder
Also the throwing up and catching of a ball will
become a huge achievement as the ball does not
37
ORBIT
drop perpendicularly but will shift a little into the
direction of the orbit of the station and also achieves a higher speed
This also has strange effects on the astronaut As moves
quickly in the rotation direction of the station his weight
appears to increase to a noteworthy extent Then as he moves against the speed of rotation his weight
decreases apparently Mathematically this effect is explainable but very complex
Also the astronautrsquos head and feet move in different
speed to artificial gravity This is plainly noticeable when
somebody jumps up Hence avoid this practice
With these kind of effects adaptation to the changed circumstances in a space station will ask a lot of the
crew members I do hope they can stand it But in any
case the larger the space ship the lesser the problems
Inflatable stations
But therersquos more The inflatable station was considered
many years ago The first i d e a w a s p o s s i b l y
developed when on 12th August 1960 the Echo
balloon with a diameter of
30 meters was launched (Echo I balloon USA 1960
WB 3)
It is true you could not live in it as the balloon was of too frail a construction but the idea of an inflatable
spacecraft was then alive By 1958 groups within NASA
had begun to think about inflatable stations The Goett-committee has been one of the first On 25th26th May
1959 a conference started about projects after
Mercury In particular the
representative of Langley L a r r y Lo f t i n wa s
enthusiastic about his AMIS (Advanced Man in
Space) project (Hexagonal structure
Manama 1970 WB 113)
One of his first projects was a rotating hexagonal
inflatable construction with a diameter of 25 meters a cylindrical core and three lsquospokesrsquo Acting as a ferry to
and from the station the lsquoDyna Soarrsquo Space plane could
be used The Dyna Soar project (at that time still
under development) was cancelled by the American
Minister of Defense Robert
McNamara Inflatable Habitat NASA
1961 enwikipediaorg)
A Langley Space Station
team managed by Paul Hill and Emanuel lsquoMannyrsquo
Schnitzer developed the concept together with the
G o o d y e a r A i r c r a f t
Corporation
(Langleyrsquos self-inflating rotating hexagonal structure httphistorynasagov
SP-4308) Its original diameter had already been reduced to 10
meters
In the years after Langley built several experimental
modules called lsquoErectable Torus Manned Space Laboratoryrsquo a 11 model built by firms such as
Goodyear The torus was built from three layers of
nylon tissue and in between a rubber-like plastic material butyl elastomer A large problem was the
penetration by micrometeorites which as was learnt from the results of the Echo balloon finally damaged
the whole structure
Another problem was the great instability of the ring
due to movements of the astronauts the station started to wobble when they moved around Finally
the project was cancelled and at the end of the eighties the Langley Research Center started to
design inflatable constructions for a base camp on the
Moon
( A r t i s t imp r e s s i on Transhab inflatable
m o d u l e h t t p
enwikipediaorg)
Due to the development of a new series of
s t r o n g e r p l a s t i c materials such as Kevlar
these construct ions
received new interest That lead to the development of Transhab (Transit Habitat) as a resource for crews
coupled at the ISS (international Space Station) The construction is a cylinder in a diameter of 82 meters
and several storeys high
Its volume in inflatable state is 340 m3 The wall has a
thickness of 30 () cm and consists of 12 layers of which the outside layer is made from Kevlar The
layers beneath are made from Nextel a ceramic fibre Disagreements during development and the spiralling
costs finally in 2000 saw the end of NASArsquos interest
G e n e s i s 1
thespacereviewcom)
From 1999 the project was
taken up by Bigelow
38
ORBIT
Aerospace who improved the design and tested it with
successful launchings of Genesis I on 12 July 2006 and Genesis II on 28 June 2007
In their design it has once again more or less the shape
of a balloon With a thickness of 40 cm the wall is still
very thick The outside layer is still Kevlar but inside are some layers of Vectran a textile fibre Within the
structure ants and scorpions were launched along with some objects which people who paid for the privilege of
boosting into space
In this way Bigelow hopes to build a Space Hotel named
Nautilus To stimulate the development Bigelow offered a price of $50 million to everybody who succeeded in
launching a crew of 5 persons to an altitude of 400 km before 2010 So little money lost here so far
A second project which can be realized within the near future is a fixed residence on the Moon As said Langley
occupies itself with the design of such a base which partly should be build below the surface Stamp
designers have already realized the idea
What does the future hold Although we are a long way away from the kind of space station by which a large amount of earth inhabitants can
leave the planet Earth forever the first steps for doing
so are in preparation With the development of their Space Hotel Bigelow tries to make the step to space
albeit a temporary one
Also Langley literally tries to set foot on the Moon and
finally they will succeed in doing so However The cost of such projects are literally astronomical and it is not
expected that in the coming decades much money can be allocated to such projects
Of course in some thousands of years (possibly only in
hundreds of years) this will become the case but for the
time being in my opinion the true conquest of space will stay as science-fiction for at least a few hundred years
Hoorn 2009
John Beenen
NB The stamps entitled lsquoSpace Cityrsquo with a value of 0 cnt do not exist but have been made by the author by means of frames and pictures present at the Internet
Fantasy Moon
b a s e M a n a -ma1970 WB 122
Fantasy bases
ready for Mars
YAR 1971 WB 2892 and 6
Fantasy Modular
base YAR 169 WB 233
39
ORBIT
Cover Below bottom right Future space Dutch Antilles 2000
Literature references (for both parts of article) httpenwikipediaorg Space habitat Space Colonization Orbital Colony Space City Space settlement Space stations L5 Society Bernal Sphere Stanford Torus OrsquoNeil Cylinder Inflatable Space Habitat Transhab Biosphere 2 Generation Ship wwwdsenl~hklruimtehtm Wonen op groene eilanden in de Ruimte (Dutch Living on green Islands in Space) Henry Kluytmans wwworionsarmcom McKendree Cylinder Bishops Ring wwwnasnasagovAboutEducationSpaceSettlement The Colonization of Space wwwdyarstraightscommsgundamhabitatshtml Mobile Suit Gundam High Frontier Life in the Universal Century Developing sound habitats wwwartificial-gravitycomDissertation1_2htm From Tsiolkovsky to Sputnik (1878-1957) httpsciencenasagovheadlinesy2000ast26may_1mhtm Wheels in the Sky httpdiscaircraftgreyfalconus Hermann Noordung Wohnrad (Wheel for Habitation) httparticlesadsabsharvardedufull1992lbsaconf249R Inflatable habitation for the lunar base MRoberts httphistorynasagovSP-4308ch9htm lsquoAs inevitable as the Rising Sunrsquo From the inflatable Torus to the Rotating Hexagon wwwspacecomnewsbusinessmonday_040524html Bigelow Aerospace to tackle inflatable Space Habitats httpsciencehowstuffsworkcominflatable-spacecraft2htm How Inflatable Spacecraft Will Work wwwbogancaphysicscoriolishtml Rotating Space Stations Dynamics An Explanation of the Coriolis Force httpdemonstrationswolframcomRotatingSpaceStation Rotating Space Station wwwdvandomcomcoliolisspacestationhtml Frame Effects and Space Stations wwwdvandomcomcoriolisindexhtml A (hopefully) simple explanation of the Coriolis Force wwwdaviddarlinginfoencyclopedia Hale Edward Everett von Pirquet Guido Noordung Hermann Space Station wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm The Coriolis Force wwwastronautixcomcraftfamlunbaseshtm Lunar bases wwwastronautixcomgallerycspebasehtm Photo Gallery Space base wwwregererating-universeorgOn_Moon_as_Space_Basehtm On Moon as Space Base wwwspacefuturecomhabitatlivingshtml Space Habitat Introduction Living in Space wwwspacepagebevideotaak=bekijkampid=47 Living in space (Video) wwwnutricomspace The Case for Space colonization ndash Now Oscar Falconi wwwxentcompipermailfork (FoRK) Bigelowrsquos inflatable Genesis I satellite in orbit wwwrussianforcesorg Russian strategic nuclear forces (Genesis II) wwwbigelowaerospacecomgenesis Genesis I Genesis II
Thanks to Alan Tunnicliffe who came across the attached news item
complete with stamp in the eNZ Magazine the bi-monthly journal of
the Institution of Professional Engineers NZ Inc Vol 11 No 3 May-
June 2010
Vaccari Auction Sells Remarkable Space Covers April 2010
Apollo 12 cover 55 of 87 flown to the moon on Apollo 15 having been left behind by the original crew sold for euro12200 1977 Salyut
6 Soyuz 27 cover sold for euro1600
40
ORBIT ORBIT
Shuttle 1981mdash2010 Stamps Marshall
Islands 2005
United Nations 2007 Monaco and Ascension 2008
Bulgaria 1991 including stamp from souvenir sheet
USA 1981
below USA 1995 and bottom USA 1998
(two values)
St Vincent Grenadines 1983
Ascension 1989
Bulgaria 1990
and above right W Germany 1975
and USA 2000 Guyana 2006
USA 1995
41
ASSS Membership Renewal 2010
Memberrsquos Name amp Addresshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
I wish to renew my membership of the ASSS for a further year and enclose the equivalent of
pound15 (UK) euro30 (Europe) $US 45 (Rest of the World)
Please return this form with your remittance to Harvey Duncan by the
end of July Thank you
Harvey Duncan Treasurer ASSS 16 Begg Avenue
Falkirk Scotland FK1 2DL
PayPal For details of how to Pay via Paypal
please email Jeff Dugdale Email address on Page 2
42
43
44
8
ORBIT
Kuipers completed his ESA DELTA package during his
eight days on board ISS and returned with the EO8 crew on 30th April
The EO9 crew received no
visitors other than cargo
payloads via Progress M1-11 M49 and M50 After working on
suit repairs and servicing for over a month the crew
abandoned their first EVA after only 14 minutes because of a
pressure drop in the main
oxygen supply of an Orlan suit but a week later after successful repairs they spent
almost six hours outside working on the S0 truss In a second EVA in early August they installed reflectors and
communication units ready for the first ESA Automatic
Transfer Vehicle Jules Verne though this was later delayed by many months
On 18th June Fincke made history by becoming the first
US astronaut to become a father in space listening to the birth of his second daughter via his cell phone
The crew had severe problems with the Elektron oxygen generator which was failing every three days or so and
requiring manual starts These shutdowns were found to be centred on the liquid units that held trapped gas
inside micro-pumps despite using purified water
The crew completed their programme of many
maintenance tasks and returned to earth with test cosmonaut Yuri Shargin in October
Soyuz TMA 5 (launched 14102004) EO-10
The two members of the new resident crew arrived at
the ISS in mid-October the Commander Leroy Chiao and Salizhan Sharipov accompanied by Russian Yuri
Shargin who would stay only for the week or so Russian businessman Sergei Polonsky had been
scheduled to become the third paying space flight
participant but failed a late medical test and so was replaced by a Russian Spaces Forces cosmonaut the
first of that group to be
selected for cosmonaut training eight years earlier He
carried out his own programme of scientific study the Russians
stressing that none of his
activity was military as such practice is banned from the
ISS Sharipov was celebrated by a minisheet from his Kyrgyz homeland in 2005
(above) showing the space station nearing completion in the background
During the tenth expedition this crew would complete two Pirs-based EVAs receive two Progress supply craft
visits and relocate Canadarm2 Problems with the Elektron unit continued repairs were made to EVA
suits an upgrade made to the computer software
trouble experienced with the toilet in Zvezda and a heat exchanger replaced in Quest
There was concern in November that food was running
low with it due to run out in mid-January but this was found to be down to poor record keeping because of
the increased work load of a two person crew and
anyway Progress M51 arrived to solve the problem and the shuttlersquos impending return to flight would also help
Germany 2004 and Japan 2005 show
the station nearing completion
9
ORBIT
Soyuz TMA 6 (launched 1542005) EO-11
The eleventh resident crew would be the first to receive
a shuttle mission since STS-
113 in December 2002 because the loss of
Columbia had created the need to fly two-man
resident crews but the
docking of STS-114 in July would signify the impending return to full station
operation
Italian ESA astronaut Roberto Vittori was back at the ISS in the company of Russian Sergei Krikalev making
his sixth flight and American civilian John Phillips as
science officer This time Vittori completed research under the Eneide programme doing experiments in
human physiology biology and also getting involved in educational demonstrations
The new crew was not long on board before the Elektron system finally broke down in early May
though there were sufficient alternative sources of oxygen on board These would be complemented by
Shuttle and Progress deliveries such as Progress M53 in June which also carried spare parts for the Elektron
unit which the crew worked on in addition to routine
maintenance tasks and the repositioning of their Soyuz from Pirs to Zarya
STS-114 (launched 2672005)
On 28th July the first shuttle
crew to visit the ISS for two and half years arrived via Discovery This was a very experienced crew commanded by Eilleen
Collins By now the decision to
use the shuttle to complete station assembly and then retire
it had been taken The station then looked as it does in this
2006 issue from Sierra Leone As Discovery approached the ISS it flew around it at a distance of some 180
metres to allow the crew on board to photograph the
underside of the shuttle to check for launch damage This rather worryingly revealed the loss of two
protruding tile gap fillers Because these might cause hot spots on re-entry extra EVAs were designed to
manually extract them during which an astronaut
(Stephen Robinson) ventured under the shuttlersquos body for the first time ever in orbital operations
Discovery also brought up MPLM Raffaello carrying a
large amount of supplies including the Human Research Facility 2 and the new CMG 2 gyroscope
As the shuttle departed after over 12 days at the station both crews photographed each otherrsquos spacecraft The
second shuttle Return to Flight mission was then delayed because of questions about the integrity of the
foam fixtures on the External Tanks
In August the Vodzukh COsup2 removal system on the ISS
failed and the American unit in Destiny was activated to take over On 16th August Krikalev the first person
to complete two residences and the first cosmonaut to
fly six missions became the longest served Russian cosmonaut with over 747 days of spaceflight
experience Next day 17th August Krikalev and Phillips performed the only EVA of Expedition 11 after which
they prepared for their next visitors via Soyuz TMA7 which would carry in Gary Olsen the third spaceflight
participant and the new two man resident crew of Bill
McArthur and Valery Tokarev
Soyuz TMA 7 (launched 1102005) EO-12
To be continuedhellip
10
ORBIT ORBIT
2 The Moon Second Quadrant (North-West) We learn from our main source Atlas of the Universe by
Patrick Moore (Philiprsquos 1999)helliphellip
Selected Craters illustratedhellip
Archimedes (Diam 75 km Lat degN 30 Long degW 4) A large impact crater on the Eastern edges of the Mare Imbrium with Montes Archimedes mountains to the South Named after the Greek mathematician and scientist who lived c 287mdash212 BC
(San Marino 1982)
Copernicus (Diam 97 km Lat degN 10 Long degW 20)
A prominent feature named after the famous Polish astronomer (1473mdash1543) and located in the eastern Oceanus Procellarum this is estimated to be around 800 million years old and is typical of craters of that period having a very clear ray
system (Soviet Union 1973)
The Naming of Craters Einstein (Diam 160 km Lat degN 18 Long degW 86)
A large crater which lies along the Western limb of the Moon therefore difficult to observe from Earth and discovered only in 1952 by Patrick Moore Named after the German theoretical physicist and philosopher (1879-1955) (India 1979)
Encke (Diam 32 km Lat degN 5 Long degW 37) Located on the W edge of Mare Insularum to the S SE of crater Kepler Named after German astronomer Johann Frank Encke (1791-1865) (Comoros Isles 1986)
Euler (Diam 25 km Lat degN 23 Long degW 29) Located in the southern half of the Mare Imbrium its most notable nearby feature is Mons Vinogradov to the W-SW Named after Leonard Euler (1707mdash83) the Swiss mathematician and physicist (E Germany 1950)
J Herschel (Diam 145 km Lat degN 62 Long degW 41) A large walled plain which appears foreshortened when viewed from Earth Named after British mathematician chemist and astronomer Sir John Herschel (1792mdash1871) (Centre of GB 1970 )
Kepler (Diam 35 km Lat degN 8 Long degW 38) This lies between the Oceanus Procellarum to the W and Mare Insularm in the E with crater Encke to the SE Named after German mathematician and astronomer Johannes Kepler (1571mdash1630) (Czech Rep 2009)
Lavoisier (Diam 71 km Lat degN 36 Long degW 70) Located near the NW limb at the W edge of Oceanus Procellarum this lies to the SW of crater von Braun and SE of Bunsen Named in honour of ldquothe Father of Modern Chemistryrdquo the French chemist Antoine Lavoisier (1743mdash1794) (France 1943)
Le Verrier (Diam 25 km Lat degN 40 Long degW 20) A small nearly circular bowl shaped feature in the N part of the Mare Imbrium just E of the larger Helicon Named for the French mathematical astronomer Urbain Le Verrier (1811mdash1877) (France 1958)
11
ORBIT
Otto Struve (Diam 160 km Lat degN 25 Long degW 75) This is a vast lava flooded plain near the W
edge of Oceanus Procellarum close the W limb of the Moon and so appears foreshortened Named in honour of German astronomers Friedrich von Struve (Russian VY Struve) (1793-1864) and son (Otto) and grandson (Otto) (USSR 1964) Pythagoras (Diam 113 km Lat degN 65 Long degW 65)
This prominent feature lies near the NW limb just NW of the somewhat larger
Babbage It has an oval appearance due to the oblique viewing angle from Earth and only part of it can be viewed from Earth Named after Greek philosopher Pythagoras of Samos (c 570mdashc 495 BC) ( S a n M a r i n o 1982)
Babbage (Diam 143 km Lat degN 60 Long degW 57) An ancient crater located near the NW
l i m b n a m e d a f t e r B r i t i s h mathematician philosopher and computing pioneer Charles Babbage (1791mdash1871) (GB 2010)
Hevelius (Diam 122 km Lat degN 2 Long degW 67) This is a low-rimmed crater on
the W edge of the Oceanus Procellarum named after Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius (1611mdash1687) - ldquothe founder of lunar topographyrdquo (Poland
1987) Plato (Diam 97 km Lat degN 51 Long degW 9) The lava-filled remains of a crater on the NE shore of Mare Imbrium at the W
extremity of Montes Alpes named after the Classical Greek philosopher and mathematician (c 428mdashc 348 BC) (Greece 1998)
Schiaparelli (Diam 29 km Lat degN 23 Long degW 59) A small crater on the W part of Oceanus Procellarum to the W of Herodotus and named after Giovanni Schiaparelli(1835-
1910) Italian astronomer and science historian famous for his misinterpreted comments re ldquocanalirdquo on Mars (Hungary 1974)
12
ORBIT
ASTEROIDS Some Bits and Pieces
Ulugh Beigh (Diam 70 km Lat deg29 2 Long degW 85) The remnant of a crater just to the W of Oceanus Procellarum near the NW limbmdashforeshortened from the Earth Named after Ulugh Beg Persian ruler and astronomermathemat ic ian (Turkey 1983) Von Braun (Diam 60 km Lat deg41 2
Long degW 78) Named after rocket pioneer Wernher von Braun (1912-77) this is located near the NW limb on the W edge of Oceanus Procellarum and to the NE of Lavoisier (Guinea Biussau 2006)
Uncatalogued Hungarian Stamp Referenced in Spaceflight Article
The June 2010 issue of Spaceflight magazine contained
a five page article by Naacutendo
Schuminszky celebrating the first Hungarian in space whose
flight in Soyuz 36 occurred 30 years beforeon 26th May 1980
A side panel to the article
reproduced right contains
images of a pair of stamps with two subtle differencesmdashin
bottom left hand corner the date ldquo1979rdquo and ldquo1980rdquo and
rightmdashthe face value The
article goes on to explain how unexpected events delayed the
flight by a year Hungarian cosmonaut Bertalan Farkas was
due to be launched in mid-June
1979 in Soyuz 34 but his flight was cancelled following the
failure of Soyuz 33 carrying Bulgarian cosmonaut Georgi Ivanov to dock with Salyut 6 Soyuz 34 was eventually
launched unmanned to provide a fresh ferry for the resident crew to use
In anticipation of the 1979 flight a large number of associated souvenirs including posters emblems and
stamps had been prepared but had to be destroyed though evidently some escaped
However the 1979 version of the eventual SG 3320 is not listed in WEEBAU or Gibbons If any members have
any info about these unissued stamps please share it with us
More on Lunar Craters Our Chairman Margaret Morris forwarded the article opposite from the March 1989 issue of Sky amp Telescope which is of interest in the context of our new series explaining as it does how several Far Side craters have been named after astronauts and cosmonauts
Orbit for June 2010
Our last issue contained one glaring error for which your editor apologises The number on the front ldquo85rdquo was the same as the number for the March issue This will cause
problems when Harvey Duncan issues the next version of the index A lovely cover again by your Editorrsquos wife but spoiled by this typo Sorry
Flown STS-8 Covers These are referred to at the bottom of the left hand column of p 27 of this edition in Umberto Cavallarorsquos article where we learn that there were well over a quarter of a million of them
Alan Tunnicliffe editor of NZ Air Mail News advises that New Zealand stamp dealer JRMowbray has for sale at NZ $75 a piece flown STS-8 space covers date stamped 14 Aug 1983 at KSC with launch and return cancels and bearing a $935 stamp NZ$75 = US$53 or pound35 This seems a rather high price for flown STS-8 covers given the number available and members will possibly be able to obtain the item cheaper with an internet search
Solar Sails and The Sun Peter Hoffman comments on John Beenenrsquos feature on The Sun in our June 2010 issuehellip ldquoIn the Solar Sails section on page 8 mention is made of the failed launch of Cosmos-1 What is not mention is that is was a project of The Planetary Society httpwwwplanetaryorghome They are working on a new version called LightSail the first of which is planned for a launch later this year In case you are not familiar with it The Planetary Society is a privately funded space advocacy group founded in part by Carl Sagan ldquoThe Planetary Society yearly presents the Cosmos Award for Outstanding Public Presentation of Science in honour of Carl Sagan This years winner was Stephen Hawking They printed his acceptance speech Why go into space An amusing comment was a quote from a Calvin and Hobbes cartoon Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere is that none of it has tried to contact us ldquoThe Japanese Space Agency launched its solar sail spacecraft IKAROS (Interplanetary Kite-Craft Accelerated by Radiation Of the Sun) together with its Venus Climate Orbiter Akatsuki on 20 May You can read about it at httpwwwspacecommissionlaunchesjapan-venus-wrap-100520htmlrdquo
13
ORBIT
14
ORBIT
Spaceflight Books for Sale
Books about Space andor Astronomy in English
The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Space 1990 386 pages coffee table book euro 1500
Life in Space D Monchersquo 1979 ldquo 500
The Conquest of Space Willy Ley amp Chesley Bonestell+pictures 1952 RARE ldquo 2000
Star Hunters D Mammana 1990 coffee table book ldquo 1000
The Rocket David Baker 276p+490pictures 1978 coffee table book classic ldquo 2000
The History of Manned Spaceflight David Baker 576p+362pictures 1985coffeerdquo 2000
The Observerrsquos Spaceflight Directory R Turnill 384p 1978 ldquo 1000
The Observerrsquos Book of Unmanned Spaceflight+Manned Spaceflight 1974+1975 ldquo 1000
The Observerrsquos Book Of Astronomy Patrick Moore 1973 ldquo 500
Basic Astronomy Patrick Moore 1967 ldquo 300
Space a Novel James A Michener pocket Ballantine 1983 ldquo 250
Voyagers Ben Bova 1983 pocket ldquo 250
The Universe Herbert Zim 1973 ldquo 200
Exploring Other Worlds WyberampAmes 1968 ldquo 200
Tomorrowrsquos Moon Henry Little 1969 ldquo 200
Observatories of the World Marx amp Pfau 1982 ldquo 1000
Are We Alone Paul Davis Penquin 1995 ldquo 250
Moonport USA (Kennedy Space Center) 1977 ldquo 250
Living in Space (Colonies) J Trefil 1981 ldquo 500
The Cosmonauts Gordon Hooper 1977 ldquo 250
Extraterrestrials-Where Are They Zuckerman ampHart 1995 ldquo 1000
The Cosmic Connection Carl Sagan pocket 1975 ldquo 300
Exploring the Planets Ian Nicolson 1972 ldquo 250
Janersquos pocket Book 11 Space Exploration 1976 ldquo 300
Twenty-First Report Internat Telecomm Union Geneva 1982 ldquo 250
Satellites amp Space Travel Taylor ampAllward 1970 ldquo 200
Watchers of the Stars Patrick Moore 1974 ldquo 500
Robot Explorers Kenneth Garland 1972 ldquo 500
APOLLO by astronaut Alan Bean+paintings Bean in space 1998 coffeetable ldquo 2000
The World of Mars VA Firsoff 1969 ldquo 200
Missiles and Rockets Kenneth Garland ldquo 500
Stars and Planets Ian Ridpath 1978 ldquo 500
Race to Mars The ITN Mars Flight Atlas 1988 ldquo 500
Worlds Beyond Search for Life in Space Ian Ridpath 1975 ldquo 500
CETI Communication with Extraterrestrial Intelligence Stonelay 1976 ldquo 250
Horizon at the Edge of the Universe 9 chapters of astronomers 1983 ldquo 300
The New Race for Space James Oberg 1984 ldquo 500
The Hunt for Life on Mars Goldsmith 1998 ldquo 500
The High Road Ben Bova pocket 1983 ldquo 250
Operation Morning Light the True Story of Cosmos 954 Leo Heaps 1978 ldquo1000
Space Volunteers T Kay 1960 ldquo 300
Legal Aspects of Outer Space Dr C Reijnen 1976 205 pages the Worldrsquos
First Thesis of this Kind by female Dutch scholar ldquo 400
E-MAIL bertvaneijckhomenl if interested in any to discuss sale and postage
See further list on page 24
15
ORBIT
The above obituary and tribute by David Shayler
appeared in the August 2010 of Spaceflight magazine marking the passing of Rex Hall who was also one of
the longest standing members of the ASSS carrying
the membership number 88033 We extend our condolences to Rexrsquos family
16
ORBIT
Un-manned Satellites on Postage Stamps 35 By Guest Contributors Don Hillger and Garry Toth
A version of this article first appeared in The Astrophile for sic)
The Discoverer series
This is the thirty-fifth in a series of articles about un-manned satellites on postage stamps This article
features the satellites in the US Air Force (USAF) Discoverer series The first Discoverer was launched
on 21 January 1959 and the last one on 18 April 1962
There were a total of 39 launches a third (or 13) of which were failures The Discoverer series also called
Corona satellites were later declassified as the first Keyhole (KH) spy satellites
Discoverer was the public name of the Corona series
of film-return reconnaissance spy satellites whose true
mission was not officially revealed until about 35 years after the program ended The Discoverers secret
program was masked by scientific goals it was kept secret even from program staff who knew nothing
about Corona Scientific instruments were even placed
on Discoverer satellites and then covertly removed before launch
The Discoverer satellites were designed to take pictures
of target countries and then eject a film capsule
which was to de-orbit and enter the Earthrsquos atmosphere on a parachute and be recovered by a
specially-modified aircraft as it floated downward On many of the missions however the capture of the film
capsules was not successful for various reasons The first successful return of a capsule through the Earths
atmosphere occurred with Discoverer-13 though in this
case the aerial capture failed and the capsule fell into the sea Fortunately that mission carried no cameras
Discoverer-14 was the first completely successfully Corona mission in which reconnaissance photos were
taken from the spy satellite and ejected in a capsule
which was then successfully recovered in a mid-air capture carried out by a C-119 aircraft
Because of secret nature of their mission the
Discoverer satellites were not well-known and so were not featured on many postal items A set of three
stamps issued by Libya in 1966 (Scott 297-299) shows
a Discoverer capsule There is also a local post item from Batum that depicts the recovery of a Discoverer
capsule and a souvenir sheet from Chad (Michel BL247) that shows the re-entry of a Discoverer capsule
in the margin Another capsule recovery is shown in
the margin of a souvenir sheet issued by the Malagasy Republic in 1999 (Scott 1502a)
A checklist of postal items identified as showing Discoverer-
series satellites (httprammbciracolostateedudevhillgerDiscovererhtm) is available as part of the Website developed by the authors to accompany this series of articles (httprammbciracolostateedudevhillgersatelliteshtm) E-mail correspondence is welcome Don Hillger can be reached at hillgerciracolostateedu and Garry Toth at garry_tothhotmailcom
Top KH-4B Corona satellite Above Recovery of Discoverer 14 return capsule (typical for
the Corona series (ex Wikipedia)
17
ORBIT
18
ORBIT
Flight STS-130 Commander George Zamka Pilot Terry Virtis MS Kathryn Hire MS Stephen Robinson MS Nicholas Patrick MS Robert Behnken MS Koichi Wakata KSC Launch Date 822010 KSC Landing 21210 Purpose Tranquility Module Main Payload and Cupola
Shuttle Story 201011 STSndash130 -131 -132 Part One
STS-130 (ISS assembly flight 20A) via Endeavour carried as its
primary payloads the Tranquility module and the Cupola a robotic control station with six windows around its sides and
another in the centre providing a 360-degree view around the station Endeavour launched at 0414 EST (0914 UTC) on 8
February 2010 and landed at 2220 EST on 21 February 2010 on
runway 15 at the Kennedy Space Centers Shuttle Landing Facility
Tranquility was shipped from the
Thales Alenia Space facility in
Turin Italy It arrived at Kennedy Space Center on 21 May 2009 It
was formerly known as Node 3 and was named by a NASA poll
The module provides six berthing locations however three of those
locations are disabled as modules
originally planned to be attached to Tranquility were cancelled The
photo right shows Tranquility just before being installed to Unity node
STS-130 also brought the Cupola a large window
module and robotics work station to the ISS which was
to be attached to the nadir-
side of Tranquility The module also includes various
ISS systems including addit iona l l i fe support
systems This photo shows the facility being prepared at KSC whilst the photo above right
shows the module and cupola being moved into position on the
ISS
The shape of the mission patch on the launch
cover below represents the cupola over the earth in a photo taken by the unmanned
Lunar Orbiter probe in 1966 so representing a past and future designation for explorers from
Earth
For other Zazzle stamps
see page 33
19
ORBIT
Flight STS-131 Commander Alan Pointdexter Pilot James Dutton MS Rick Mastracchio MS Dorthy Metcalf- Lindenburger MS Stephanie Wilson MS Naoko Yamakazi MS Clayton Anderson KSC Launch Date 5410 KSC Landing 20410 Purpose MPLM Leonardo Main Payload
STS-131 (ISS assembly flight 19A) via Discovery launched on 5
April 2010 from Kennedy Space Centers launch pad 39A and landed at 908 AM on 20 April 2010 on runway 33 at the Kennedy
Space Centers Shuttle Landing Facility The mission marked the longest flight for space shuttle Discovery
The primary payload was a Multi-Purpose Logistics Module loaded with supplies and equipment for the ISS The mission also
removed and replaced an ammonia tank assembly outside the station on the S1 truss The mission also included several on-
board payloads this mission had the most payloads since STS-
107
The primary payload of STS-131 was MPLM Leonardo filled with food and science supplies and also carried the third and final
Minus Eighty Degree Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI) Window Orbital Research Facility (WORF) one Crew Quarters Rack the
Muscle Atrophy Resistive Exercise (MARES) rack Resupply
Stowage Racks (RSRs) as well as Resupply Stowage Platforms (RSPs) The Lightweight Multi-Purpose Equipment Support
Structure Carrier (LMC) carried a refurbished Ammonia Tank Assembly (ATA) to the ISS The refurbished ATA was removed
from the Space Station and returned for use on this mission
during STS-128 It was swapped with an empty tank which will ride home on the LMC
This mission was the second flight of the TriDAR a 3D dual-
sensing laser camera intended for potential use as an
autonomous rendezvous and docking sensor TriDAR provides guidance information that can be used to guide a vehicle during
rendezvous and docking operations in space TriDAR does not rely on any reference markers such as reflectors positioned on
the target spacecraft
This was the final Space Shuttle mission that contains one or
more rookie astronauts the missions after this will have all- veteran crews
STS-131 was only the third mission in the Space Shuttle
programme to carry three female astronauts
the others being STS-40 and STS-96
With three female crew members arriving on board Discovery and Expedition 23 Flight
Engineer Tracy Caldwell Dyson at the station
the STS-131 mission marked the first time that four women have been in space at one
time
STS-131 marked the first time that two
Japanese astronauts Naoko Yamazaki from the Shuttle crew and Soichi Noguchi on the
ISS had been in space together
Although Naoko Yamazaki is not the last non-
US astronaut Naoko was the last Japanese astronaut to fly the space shuttle
MPLM Leonardo can
be seen in the shuttle cargo bay
The seven stars either side of our
sun represent the
crew members
The shuttlersquos orientation indicates
it is performing the Rendezvous Pitch
Manoeuvre which
allows the ISS to photograph its
underbelly
20
ORBIT
Flight STS-132 Commander Kenneth Ham Pilot Dominic Antonelli MS Michael Good MS Garret Reisman MS Piers Sellars MS Stephen Bowen KSC Launch Date 1452010 KSC Landing 2652010 Purpose Delivery of Russian Main Payload Rassvet Module
STS-132 (ISS assembly flight ULF4) docked with the ISS on May
16 2010 It was launched from the Kennedy Space Center on May 14 2010 The primary payload is the Russian Rassvet Mini-
Research Module along with an Integrated Cargo Carrier-Vertical Light Deployable (ICC-VLD) STS-132 is scheduled to be the
final flight of Space Shuttle Atlantis provided that the STS-335
Launch On Need rescue mission is not flown
Rassvet means dawn in Russian The module was built
by Russian aerospace company
Energia and arrived at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC)
aboard an Antonov 124 cargo plane on 17 December 2009
After it was unloaded from the Antonov the module was
transported to an Astrotech processing bay in Cape Canaveral to
undergo preparations for launch shown in this photo
An airlock and radiation heat exchanger to be used for outfitting the Russian Nauka Module (to be launched in 2012) a spare
elbow part of the European Robotic Arm (ERA) and a portable
work platform for science hardware for performing experiments in outer space were externally mounted on Rassvet in its launch
configuration Russian and US cargo delivered was also accommodated inside the module The volume for cargo and
science inside MRM1 is 5 cubic meters] Rassvet was outfitted
with ISS standard grapple fixtures that allowed the module to be unloaded from the payload bay of Atlantis using the stations
robotic arm
The ICC pallet is constructed of aluminum It is approximately 8 feet long 13 feet wide and 10 inches thick The empty weight of
the pallet is 2645 pounds The total weight of ICCndashVLD and the ORUs is approximately 8330 pounds ICC-VLD return mass is
2933 kilograms (6470 lb)
The ICC-VLD was berthed in the centre of the
payload bay for both launch and re-entry
In the photo above Rassvet is shown centre top
The mission patch shows Atlantis flying off into the sunset as the end of the shuttle
programme approaches
21
ORBIT
By Andreacute Scheer and Margaret Morris This fascinating structure is an octagonal pentelic marble tower on the Roman agora or marketplace in Athens It was supposedly built by the astronomer Andronicus of Kyrrhos c 50 BC but according to other sources might have been constructed in the 2
nd
century BC before the rest of the forum The structure is 12 metres high with a diameter of approximately 8 metres On each of the eight sides (aligned with the eight principal points of the compass) is a sculpture featuring the wind gods and below each sculpture is engraved a sundial Thus the tower served as a solar clock but additionally in the interior was a water-clock (clepsydra) driven by water coming down from the Acropolis There were mechanical hour indicators and displays for the seasons of the year with astrological dates and periods The tower was topped in antiquity by a weather-vane in the shape of a triton with a wand which pointed at whichever of the winds was blowing The tower must have been one of the most useful structures in the agora as it showed the time for civilian purposes and indicated the wind direction for merchants awaiting the arrival of a ship The earliest philatelic items to depict this unusual building are postal stationery postcards originating from 1900 when the Greek postal authorities organised a competition for photographers and artists The best pictures were selected for issue and on 1 July 1901 the first series of 32 cards was issued In total 12 series of 32 cards each were issued between then and 20 March 1903 The cards were issued in three colours (chestnut black and green) with imprinted stamps of two values (5 lepta green for national mail and 10 lepta red for international mail) The cards additionally have an impressed stamp without colour on the left side being 10 lepta for the card itself so the cards were sold for 15 and 20 lepta The design of the imprinted stamps was based on the Hermes (Mercury) statue by Giovanni da Bologna During the war on the Balkans the cards were used by the Greek army and have an extra imprint ndash Carte Postale ndash Franchise Militaire A few examples of these postal stationery postcards are illustrated opposite and on page 23 The wording ldquoLrsquohorloge de Kyrrhestesrdquo refers to the timepiece built by Andronicus of Kyrrhos while ldquoTEMPLE DrsquoEOLErdquo translates as ldquoTemple of Aeolusrdquo (Aeolus = god of the winds) For each card 12 versions can be distinguished ndash ie 3 colours x 2 values x 2 usages For fuller information see reference no 1 Of course numerous picture postcards also feature this interesting structure
The Tower of the Winds The Oldest Planetarium on Stamps and
Postal Stationery
Front and back of postal stationery postcard
Examples of Greek postal stationery from the early 20th
century
Front and back of postal stationery postcard
22
ORBIT
The 19423 issues (SG 561-572) of Greece shown beside the 1973 Dominica souvenir sheet whose designer has
reinterpreted the divine sculptures in the margins
Boreas also on the 100d value in black and grey
Skiron
Zephyrus in two 25d vals
orange and green
Lips
Notus
Eurus
Apeliotes in two 10d vals red brown and red orange
Kaikias in two 50d vals black and grey violet and blue
Wind Direction Name of Deity Characteristics of the Sculpture North Boreas An old man wearing heavy clothing and holding a conch shell This wind was cold fierce and
stormy and in Athens made a loud hollow noise
North East Kaikias Old man with severe expression holding circular shield from which he will drop hailstones Weather characteristically cloudy wet and cold
East Apeliotes Young man with hair flowing in every direction holding a cloak full of fruit and grain ndash he brings gradual gentle rain
South East Eurus Old man with morose countenance wrapped tightly against the elements in his cloak This wind brought sultry gloomy weather with much rain
South Notus Young man emptying an urn and producing a shower of water This wind was associated with sultry very wet weather
South West Lips Boy pushing the stern of a ship promising a good sailing wind This was the wind which blew right into Piraeus harbour
West Zephyrus Beautiful lightly clad youth of happy aspect holding a cloak full of flowers In summer this wind brought very sultry weather
North West Skiron Bearded man with a bronze pot full of hot ashes and charcoal This was a dry wind extremely cold in winter but scorching and with lightning in summer
The following table gives details of the sculptures and the characteristics attributed to each of the wind gods
For fuller information see reference no 2
23
ORBIT
The sculptures of the eight winds were depicted on stamps of Greece issued in 1942 (six designs) and 1943 (again six designs ndash four as the previous issue but including the two omitted winds) Five values were surcharged in 1944 to aid victims of the Piraeus bombing of 11 January 1944 the exceptionally high face value resulted in few of these stamps being used Later in 1944 the same five values were surcharged in aid of a Childrenrsquos Convalescent Camp Fund Finally in 1946 two values of the 1942 issue were surcharged ndash the 10dr value in black and the 50dr revalued as 20dr in red See opposite for examples of the stamp designs In addition to these attractive engraved stamps the 1973 issue from Dominica commemorating the centenary of the World Meteorological Organisation included a miniature sheet incorporating the 50c and $1 values and surrounded in the margin by images of all eight wind sculptures (see page 22) More recently the cover of a booklet issued by Greece on 7 October 1988 provides an aerial view of the agora and the Tower of the Winds can be detected (see below) The booklet contains 16 stamps (4 each of 4 different values) and celebrates capitals of Greek provinces In early Christian times the building was used as the bell tower of a Byzantine Church It was partly buried in the ground until fully excavated in the 19
th century by the
Archaeological Society of Athens It is interesting to note that the design of the upper octagon of the 18th century Radcliffe Observatory in Oxford England is based on the Tower of the Winds as is the mausoleum of the founder of the Greek National Library Panayis Vagliano at West Norwood Cemetery London There is a similar tower in Sevastopol built in 1849 References
1 ldquoEntiers Postaux Illustreacutes du service des postes
helleacuteniques et leurs preacutecurseursrdquo Georges Mathas 1985
2 For finely detailed drawings and information about the sculptures you may care to see if your Library has a copy of ldquoThe Antiquities of Athensrdquo Stuart amp Revett Vol 1 published in London 1762
3 Article by Derek J de Solla Price in ldquoNational
Geographic April 1967 pp587-596 4 Much useful information may also be obtained from
sites on the internet
Examples of Overprints from left to right
1944 Piraeus Bombing Aid 1944 Childrenrsquos convalescent camp fund 1946 Surcharge
Below Cover of the 1988 stamp booklet
Front and back of postal stationery postcard
24
ORBIT
Old Photo Makes New(s) Story
A photo taken twenty-one years ago became hot international new(s) this July writes Bert van Eijck
It is a picture of your correspondent in front of the
monument on the graves of the seven astronauts killed
in the Challenger disaster The photo from November 1989 shows the national cemetery at Arlington in
Washington DC And it is this graveyard a national American field of pride and honour that was involved in
a scandal making news all over the world
What happened This became a hot story after it was leaked to the press that in 211 graves on Arlington the wrong corpse had
been buried But this disgrace grew to international
proportions when the US Senate published a report which revealed that it was not 211 but 6600 graves that
had been so dishonoured And maybe there are more the researchers stated
Consequently it meant that family members had been paying their respect at the wrong graves because many
were not marked well or the ground-plan directed to wrong places
Arlingtonrsquos director John Metzler was fired as was his
depute Thurman Higginbotham both of whom said
they knew there were made mistakes but they could not help ldquobecause of economyrdquo
Arlington cemetery was opened in 1864 Since then
300000 Americans have been buried here including
famous or well-known persons like presidents
ministers high ranked military artists judges and
astronauts
And what about some of the most recent ones Did I indeed visit and honour the seven Challenger astronauts in their last resting place on Earth in
November 1989 as shown on the photo Or are they perhaps mistakenly buried in another
unmarked grave This is hard to believe but one never knowshelliphellip
For those who wonder what was doing 21
years ago in the US capital I visited the
World Stamp Exporsquo89 at the Convention Center in Washington DC Of course I did
more sightseeing at and in the famous Smithsonian Museums (a must the
National AirampSpace Museum with 10
million visitors a year) the Capitol the metro (deepest in the world) George
Washingtonrsquos house in Vernon Arlington of course and much more
At the World Stamp Expo there was a
presentation of both USA and USSR space
stamps The American stamps were presented by astronaut Buzz Aldrin the
Soviet stamps by cosmonaut Gherman Titov
Author and the Challenger astronauts monument at Arlington seven figures in bronze (left) At right a plaque honoring US-soldiers killed in action saving
hostages in Iran
Astronaut Buzz Aldrin (left) presents the US space stamps while cosmonaut Gherman Titov (right) does the same with
Soviet space stamps In the middle officials of USPS Below the
stampshellip
25
ORBIT
The Apollo 15 Cover Scandal by Umberto Cavallaro
In a feature which first appeared in the April-June 2010 issue of Ad Astra the web journal of the Italian Astrophilatelic Association its editor reveals in considerable detail the full story of those covers which today sell for so much money The Apollo 15 flown covers are among the best known
collectibles from the Apollo Era mainly because of what Jim Irwin recalls as ldquothe problem we brought
back from the Moonrdquo
The crew of Apollo 15 carried out one of the most complete scientific explorations of the Moon the first
lunar roving vehicle was operated on the Moon to
extend the range of exploration some 180 pounds of lunar surface samples were returned for analysis Yet
Fifteen is best remembered as the crew that carried envelopes to the moon and the whole mission is
remembered for the ldquogreat postal caperrdquo
Apollo 15 was not the first mission to carry covers
dozens were carried on each flight from Apollo 11 onwards and as Commander Dave Scott recalls in his
book the whole business had probably been building since Mercury through Gemini and into Apollo People
had a fascination with objects that had been carried in space and they became more and more popular and
valuable as the programme progressed Right from
the start of the Mercury programme each astronaut had been allowed to carry on board a certain number
of personal items
NASA was in the habit of authorizing astronauts to
carry certain personal items on manned flights known as Astronautsrsquo PPK (Personal Preference Kits) All such
items had to be listed and approved by Deke Slayton the Head of the Astronaut Office prior to launch and
were intended for private use or as personal gifts
after the flight and could not be employed for commercial
Fig 1 The official USPS cover postmarked on the Moon
purposes or personal gain Astronaut kits typically
included badges jewellery coins medals flags stamps postal covers currency printed materials and
similar easily packed lightweight mementoes As the flight became more significant the number and type of
items increased
Aside from personal mementoes each crew had
carried medallions whose number had grown steadily on each mission In his book The All-American Boys astronaut Walter Cunningham reveals that it was rumoured around the Astronaut Office that Apollo 14
carried on board a personal package weighing forty-
two pounds Before that flight the Franklin Mint had even advertised the proposed sale After the flight the
commercial deal was never completed and all went quiet nothing about it being published in the media
But some members of the US Congress were unhappy
of the situation
In that context the ldquolapses of judgmentrdquo of the Apollo 15 crew became fatal Dave Scott went too far
carrying on board a total of 641 postal covers (including the two official covers) of which only 243
were listed and authorized before the flight and 398
were not -- secretly carried on board Apollo 15 by Scott in a pocket of his space suit Had they been
listed as being in Scotts PPK they would probably have been routinely approved for inclusion in the
preference kit
The 243 listed and authorized covers include
bull 2 official US Postal Service covers one of which the ldquoOfficial Coverrdquo was publicly cancelled on the
moon by Scott at the request of the US Postal
Service 10 (Fig 1) bull 1 Wright Brothers commemorative cover dated
1928 and autographed by Orville Wright which was carried by Worden for a friend
bull 1 cover bearing a First Man on the Moon stamp and a Bliss Centennial three-cent stamp carried by
Irwin for Barbara Baker (Fig 2 below)
26
ORBIT
8 Shamrock covers carried by Irwin (as below)
144 Herrickrsquos ldquoMoon Phasesrdquo covers carried by Worden
(Fig 4) printed with a cachet showing 15 phases of the moon On the USS Okinawa the Apollo 15 recovery ship
the astronauts placed two eight-cent stamps purchased
on board by Worden on each of these covers and they had the covers cancelled by the shipboard post office
The astronauts later autographed these covers while flying back from Hawaii to Houston Sixteen covers were
torn or damaged and were destroyed Because of the furore created by the Apollo 15 covers incident NASA
confiscated 61 of these 144 Moon Phases covers
87 Apollo 12 covers (Fig 5) that for unknown reason
did not fly on that mission and which were carried on
Apollo 15 for Mrs Barbara Gordon a stamp collector then wife of Richard Gordon Apollo 12 astronaut who
at was the back-up pilot for Apollo 15
The 398 unauthorized covers (initially there were
400 but 2 were damaged and discarded) are lightweight envelopes carrying as a cachet a replica
of the official Apollo 15 patch overprinted with an Air Force wing and propeller emblem
The idea of these additional covers was suggested during a cocktail party by Eiermann a salesman for
the heat-shield contractor who had frequent business and social contacts with NASA personnel and
astronauts He suggested to fly 400 lightweight covers 100 for each of the astronauts and 100 for
his friend Sieger the German stamp dealer The
cacheted covers were provided by Al Bishop a friend of many astronauts then at the Howard
Hughes organization He had already provided covers for the previous flights since Apollo 12
Above one of the 100 Sieger covers with the handwritten note ldquoLanded at Hadley Moon July 30 1971 On the
reverse is a typed and notarised inscription ldquoThis is to certify that this cover was on board the Falcon at the Hadley-
Apennine Moon July 30 ndashAug 2 1971rdquo
Below one of the 298 unauthorised covers carried to the Moon by David Scott with the inscription ldquoThis envelope was
carried to the Moon aboard the Apollo 15 of 300 to the Lunar Surface in LMrdquoFalconrdquo
The crews usually returned to Bishop a couple of
flown covers signed with gratitude ldquoTo my
knowledge ndash Cunningham reports in his well documented book ndash Bishop never sold any and never
made a dime off his relationship He was simply a fan To Al Bishop Apollo 15 was no different from any
other flight except for a phone call he received from
Hal Collins the Astronaut Office manager at the Cape
27
ORBIT
Collins told Bishop that the crew would like to know
whether he could obtain some very lightweight envelopes for them Al said that hed be happy to do so
He was unaware then that many of them would be smuggled on board the next lunar flight Al was trusted
Thats why many of us imposed on him with our
problems special requests and sometimes matters which we would rather not share with NASArdquo
This time Al was badly used he emerged as a
scapegoat and his name was dragged as though he was the Mr Big of an international stamp conspiracy
The covers were cancelled at Kennedy Space Center
several days before July 26 1971 The date of the post office machine canceller was moved forward
Additionally twin eight-cent stamps were purchased by the astronauts on the USS Okinawa the Apollo 15
recovery ship and affixed to these covers ndash as for the
Herrickrsquos covers In the shipboard post office the covers were then cancelled and date-stamped August 7 1971
The astronauts finally autographed these covers while flying from Hawaii to Houston
Soon after the flight the astronauts gave Eiermann
the 100 covers ndash after agreeing that there was to be
no commercialization or advertising of these covers and that nothing would be done with them until after
completion of the Apollo programme
But after a while news started to circulate that the
German dealer was selling in Europe covers flown on Apollo 15 for a reported average of US $1500 each
The reports infuriated Congress not least because congressmen had to read such controversial
information in the press before being informed by
NASA which is obligated to keep Congress fully informed of its activity Recollection of the Apollo 14
medallions incident must have echoed in the minds of certain members of Congress many of whom were
not fans of NASA anyway NASA started an internal investigation This was the most controversial
development of the Apollo Programme and although
most astronauts were involved to some degree NASA made an example of the Apollo 15 flight crew ldquoIt
was turning into a witch-huntrdquo recalled Scott ldquoOur bosses had abrogated their responsibilities and we
were left alone on a very wet dayrdquo
It is ironic that after addressing a joint session of
Congress as heroes in less that one year the three astronauts of Apollo 15 had to go back in front of these
same senators in disgrace because of this envelope scandal
After this ldquoincidentrdquo NASA prohibited from Apollo 17 on the flying of covers or stamps during a space
missions (they were not on time to block the covers carried on Apollo 16) The only exceptions have been
since then the items flown in cooperation with the US
Postal Service ie the 266000 covers carried in 1983 in
the payload bay of the Space Shuttle Challenger on
STS-8 and the 500000 $995 Express Mail stamp created by Paul and Chris Calle in 1994 flown on
Endeavour STS-68 in recognition of the 25th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing The huge
number of such items carried in space discourages
speculations and these items still are widely available for few dollars
So far fewer than 1000 envelopes in total have flown
to the Moon No other American covers will flow to the Moon in the foreseeable future Perhaps the next
ldquoMoon coversrdquo will bear Chinese or Indian stamps
Dave Scott was the first lunar Postmaster and had two
postmarks with him and two covers with imperforated dieproof of the US twin Decade of Space Achievements
stamps affixed (Fig 1)
He had one postmark with ldquoMoon Landing USArdquo (Fig 8 below) and another with ldquoUnited States on the
Moonrdquo (Fig 9 bottom)
The First Lunar Post Office was opened on August 2 1971 when David Scott postmarked only the official
cover (and brought back the official backup-cover uncancelled) A handful covers had however been
postmarked before launch with both postmarks Dr Matthew Radnofsky ndash who in his laboratory already
had simulated cancelling in space for Apollo 11 ndash
tested both postmarks to ensure that the cancellation devices were in working order
Especially the date could be changed easily Contrary
to Apollo 11 covers without stamps were used for
28
ORBIT
these tests Apollo 15 Lunar Cancellation Proofs are
much scarcer than Apollo 11 ones ldquoAs by now I am aware of only 17 itemsrdquo states famous astrophilatelist
Walter Hopferwieser Covers with proofs of the Apollo 15 moon postmarks have been recently sold at Regency
Superior and Aurora auctions
The official Apollo 15 cover postmarked on the Moon
(see Fig 1 repeated above ) is displayed at the US National Postal Museum It was publicly cancelled and
the video can be seen at httpwwwpostalmuseumsiedustampstakeflight
apollo15video-01html A short speech was given by
Dave Scott while cancelling the cover ldquoTo show that our good Postal Service has deliveries any place in the
universe I have the pleasant task of cancelling here on the Moon the first stamp of a new issue dedicated to
commemorate US achievements in space I have the
first one here on an envelope At the bottom it says United States in Space a decade of achievement and
Im very proud to have the opportunity here to play postman I pull out a cancellation device It says
August 2 1971 first day of issuehellip What could be a
better place to cancel this stamp than right here at Hadley Rillehelliprdquo
Immediately thereafter the Postmaster General who
was waiting at the Mission Control at Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston Texas gave the signal to start the
First- Day cancellations at post offices in Houston
Kennedy Space Center and Huntsville
Acknowledgement Thanks to Walter Hopferwieser for his comments
Some Notes About Space Mail
Commenting on Brian Vincentrsquos article in the June
2010 Orbit ASSS member Geoff Chivers writes in an
email to your Editorhellip Im sure you wont mind me commenting on Brian G Vincents Some Notes About Space Mail (page 36)
In paragraph 2 he refers to the Apollo 15 cover incident leaving the impression that Scott Worden and Irwin were guilty of some heinous crime This has been the subject of much miss-reporting over the years The full story of what actually happened is explained in depth at page 328 et seq of Two sides of the moon by David Scott and Alexei Leonov published by Simon amp Shuster The astronauts were of course exonerated
This is the quote (slightly edited to enable it to stand as an independent piece)-
During 1972 while on a trip to Washington DC George Low NASA deputy administrator asked me to stop by his
office writes David Scott I had known George in Houston while he was Apollo spacecraft programme manager and I had great respect for him We spent a short while exchanging pleasantries Then George looked me in the eye and came to the point ldquoWell Daverdquo he said ldquoI have to tell you I was not very proud of my performancerdquo His comment was the culmination of what had become known as the Apollo 15 ldquocover incidentrdquo This involved some first day postal covers which we had carried aboard Apollo 15 some of which were unfortunately sold by a German stamp dealer several months after the flight As No 2 in NASA George
had been heavily involved in NASAs handling of the incident and his comment referred to one of the poorest management performances the space agency had ever demonstrated - up to then The whole business had probably been building since Mercury through Gemini and into Apollo People had a fascination with objects that had been carried in space and they became more and more popular and valuable as the programme progressed Right from the start of the Mercury programme each astronaut had been allowed to carry on board a certain number of personal items in what were known as PPKS - Personal Preference Kits Before each flight a list of the items was prepared for Deke Slayton who
Two Sides of The Moon
by David Scott and Alexei Leonov
The text opposite from the
above book has been
referred to by Umberto Cavallaro in preparing his
above piece
29
ORBIT
had overall responsibility for approving them As the flights became more significant the number and type of items increased Aside from personal mementoes each crew had carried a certain number of medallions which they could hand out afterwards as souvenirs The number of medallions had grown steadily on each mission - eventually some crew members had been carrying several hundred each and their weight was becoming a concern And as always commercialisation began to creep in In the end on Apollo 14 commanded by Al Shepard it was alleged that the crew had carried some silver medallions on board which were to be melted down after the flight and mixed with many other commemorative medallions by the Franklin Mint to be sold to the general public The Franklin Mint had even advertised the proposed sale before the flight After the flight the deal was never consummated and all went quiet nothing about it was printed in the media But some members of Congress had heard about it and were unhappy with the situation Since we were busy training for Apollo 15 (launched 26 July 1971) we knew nothing about all this Had we known we would have been far more wary of what happened subsequently All we knew was that Deke Slayton had halved the number of medallions we could carry Shortly afterwards Deke introduced Jim (Irwin) Al (Worden) and me to a long-standing friend of his at the Cape called Walter Eiermann In retrospect this seems likely to have been more than a coincidence Deke invited us to join him at dinner at Eiermanns house one evening several months before the Apollo 15 launch Eiermann asked if we would like to make some money on the side by signing some stamps ldquoAll the guys are doing itrdquo he said We agreed We were also approached by several members of the Manned Spacecraft Centerrsquos stamp club who asked us to sign many first - day covers before the flight for their members as well as for ourselves At that time we could not buy life insurance If we signed some covers we reasoned they could be held during the flight and act as limited life insurance for our families if anything happened to us But then Eiermann proposed we carry four hundred lightweight commemorative covers a hundred of which would be passed on to a stamp dealer in Germany when we returned All the covers would be franked on the day of launch and franked on the day of our return Our understanding was that the dealer would hold his hundred covers to be sold at some future date after the Apollo programme was over In return he would set up a $6000 trust fund for each of us for the education of our children In the months of intense activity before the flight we did not give this more than a moment of thought But we agreed In retrospect we made a mistake in even considering it In the months following our mission we learnt that the German dealer had begun to sell the covers We let Eiermann know that we were opposed to the sale Forget the trust funds we said we dont want any money This is not what we had understood would happen But when senior managers at NASA learnt about the covers being sold they were furious Incomplete information was then provided to the press by NASArsquos Public Affairs Office and reports started to appear that we had smuggled the covers onto our flight This was literally impossible NASA personnel prepared us for every aspect of the flight - from our birthday suits out Everything we had carried had to be specially packaged by the flight support crew to make sure apart from anything else
that it was fireproof Everything in our PPKs was on a list which was certified before launch I was never aware of any rules about what could or could not be taken in these packs Slayton was to approve the list so as far as I was concerned it was up to management to keep us on the straight and narrow I assumed if the list was approved that was fine Usually the list was certified by Deke But before our flight for some reason he neither asked us personally for each of our lists as was customary nor signed off on the list personally He said the flight - crew support team had already logged everything Whereas we had purchased the covers ourselves the Astronaut Office at the Cape had prepared the covers for the flight and had had them stamped and franked on the day of launch Somehow however the support team had missed them when they prepared the PPK flight manifest It was also reported after the incident that we had been removed from the astronaut corps Again totally untrue Unfortunately NASA managers did nothing to dispel this false and misleading information They just tucked their heads in and let the rumours run The reports infuriated Congress not least because congressmen had to read such controversial information in the press before being informed by NASA which is obligated to keep Congress fully informed of its activities Recollections of the Apollo 14 medallion incident must have seeped into the minds of certain members of Congress many of whom were not fans of NASA anyway When NASA started an internal investigation we were told by a senior official in the agency that we were on our own We were advised to get our own legal representation A Senate hearing into the matter had been called and a justice Department investigation would follow It was turning into a witch - hunt NASA we were advised expected us to keep quiet and take the Fifth Amendment at this hearing We did not We told it like it was We had nothing to hide Eventually the Justice Department concluded that we had broken some administrative rules but had done nothing criminal NASA confiscated the remaining covers but they acted before discovering all the facts of the case Following an investigation by NASA the Justice Department and the Senate the Justice Department concluded on 6 December 1978 in a ldquoMemorandum Opinion for the Assistant Attorney Generalrdquo that NASA had no claim to the remaining covers that the covers were never intended for sale that there was no attempt at concealment by the crew of the fact that the covers were to be flown on Apollo 15 and finally that the covers would have been approved to carry aboard Apollo 15 had a request been made We were reprimanded and we took our licks But it was a very raw deal NASA had hung us out to dry Our bosses had abrogated their responsibilities and we were left alone on a very wet day I spent many years trying to get full access to NASA and congressional records on the case NASA refused to provide full disclosure We subsequently found out there had been rumblings about profitmdashmaking on previous missions A copy of a letter was released to me in which NASA admitted that ten other astronauts who were not identified had been involved in selling signed blocks of stamps and postcards for Eiermann But the wave reached the shore on Apollo 15 and we were the ones who bore the brunt of the blame for such incidents
30
ORBIT
Buckingham Cover offer Free Souvenirs for You
Brian Austin of Buckinghamrsquos Rare Cover Department writes to your Editorhellip
Over the last two or three years we have been dealing more and more in signed space covers This led us to earlier this year buying an Apollo 11 crew signed cover which had been carried to the moon which we had on display on our stand at London 2010
For this we also printed a limited edition of 800 sets of postcards one featuring the Apollo 11 cover and another
featuring an Apollo 15 cover The idea was to give away 100 sets per day to customers at the show but now the show is all finished I still have around 150 pairs left on my desk
We wondered if you would like to offer them to your readers we are happy to send them out free of charge to the first 150 readers to contact us with their details as long as we can also include one of our lists of space
covers
BrianAustinbuckinghamcoverscom
31
ORBIT
More About Missile Mail
Harvey Duncan told us in the last Orbit (page 15) about the First Official Missile Mail writes Bert van Eijck After the useful technical details about the USS Barbero he gave us I can offer you more philatelic information and show you some illustrations The missile mail experiment was a joint venture between
the Ministry of Defense and the US Post Office Dept headed by Postmaster General Mr Arthur E
Summerfield Three thousand special envelopes were printed with a reproduction of a Navy missile type
Regulus with the text ldquoFirst Official Missile Mailrdquo and above that ldquoThe Postmaster General Washingtonrdquo All
the envelopes were addressed to The President high
government officials like senators and to the Post Masters General of ninety nine other member nations of
UPU Inside was a letter from Mr Summerfield entitled ldquoThe First Official Missile Mailrdquo with the official seal of
the Post Office dept It was explained therein what had
happed to that letter and the other 2999
The special letters were loaded in two metal compartments and came aboard the guided missile USS Barbero (SSG-317) The shot was to occur during a regular training mission from Norfolk Virginia to Florida
About 350 kilometres off the coast of Florida the
Regulus missile was launched toward Airport Mayport
The missile climbed 10 km above the Atlantic and
landed within twenty minutes with all the letters intact The letters were cancelled with the hand stamp ldquoUSS
Barberordquo with the date ldquoJun 8 1959rdquo and the approximate timing of the launching ldquo930 amrdquo This
was done by post office staff part of an established
branch office on the USS Barbero The letters bore the 1957 4c American flag postage stamp Those
addressed to foreign countries carried two such stamps covering surface mail postage costs On the
reverse side is the Jacksonville Post Office cancellation with the approximate time of arrival ldquoJune 8 1030 am
1959 Floridardquo
Such flown letters are expensive to buy and a jewel in
any exhibit
But this is NOT the case with the Barbero souvenir
cover dated a month later on July 8 1959 issued in the same quantity (3000) as the originals The
inscription reads ldquoPoint of LandingmdashFirst Official Missile Mail 8 June 1959 US Naval Station Mayport Floridardquo
About 16000 () collectors had applied for such a cover
The imprint of the official Barbero cover was reproduced on a memorial cover issued and posted at
the Vienna International Airpost Exhibition Luposta on August 1959 in the Austrian capital Of course neither
of these items had been carried within the Regulus
missile
Also of interest the Postal Administration of
Paraguay issued a stamp
and a block in 1976 honouring the Barbero
Missile Mail The Gs 20 stamp shows a Regulus
missile in flight while the sheet shows the whole
addressed cover and in
miniature the complete letter inside from the US Postmaster General
as mentioned above and as illustrated below
Above a specimen envelope as described in the text and below its reverse cancel
32
ORBIT
An Invitation to Our Readers to Donate to an Innovative International Projecthellip
Kindest Sir or Madam
The municipality of Vitanje
(Slovenia) is honoured to have had a hand in the life of the
famous space architect Herman Potocnik Noordung
(1892-1929) (pictured right) who had already found a
surprising number of solutions
to space travel and troubles of living in vacuum long before
actual space flights took place His creations were used by the
renowned novelist Arthur C Clarke
in his book 2001 A Space Odyssey which was later also turned into a
movie directed by Stanley Kubrick In Noordungs honour we have
created the Memorial Centre of Herman Potocnik Noordung This
year the cultural centre of European
space technology will also get going in Vitanje This will be a place
where the European space heritage will be gathered and various events connected with the
contemporary European space technologies will be
organized
Proposed Philatelic Collection We would like to bring the project onto a higher level
where we would have the collaboration of various
countries in the world including such with a history in space travel (like USA Russia) One of the steps of this
expansion process would also include a philatelic collection of stamps with themes of outer space
(astronomy astronautics and everything connected to
outer space) We already have quite a decent collection but we would like to expand on that
Our goal is to have 6000 stamps before opening our
exhibition For this we would require the help of as many philatelists as possible
All of these philatelists would become co-creators and partners of this collection for which we hope will
become the largest collection of its kind in the world The people donating the stamps would get a great deal
of exposure at all these exhibitions and on the special
website which will be started shortly If you give us enough support and we are able to raise enough
stamps for a first-class collection we hope the first
exhibitions and various special events (like visits from
astronauts ndash philatelists) will see the light of day as early as in 2011
From a professional point of view we have an
excellent team working with us Long-time philatelist
Tone Petek is the person who initiated this project while Bojan Bracic the secretary of FEPA is one of our
counsellors and is completely behind this project
If you would be interested in such cooperation I will get the wheels in motion and send you a verifying
mail with the stamp of the municipality of Vitanje and
also of some higher organization within the Slovene political system
The collection is already underway with the help of the
Slovene Philatelic organisation (FZS) adds Rok in an email to your Editor in July This organisation has been of immense help with technical expertise and
connections It looks as if there might be an introductory exhibition next year sometime
In the hope of a successful partnership we offer our
sincere appreciation
Rok Podgrajsek
Obcina Vitanje Grajski trg 1
3205 Vitanje
Slovenia
Email address rokpodgrajsekgmailcom
But see also website httpwwwvitanjesi
(Editorrsquos Note both Wendy Buckle editor of
Themescene and our Chairman Margaret Morris commend this project to you We will be sending Rok
some recent copies of Orbit for the displays)
Some illustrations from Noordungrsquos only published text ldquoThe Problem of
Space Travel The Rocket Motorrdquo (the original German title
was ldquoDas Problem der Befahrung
des Weltraums - der Raketen-Motorrdquo) which saw the light of day
in 1928
Vitanje Local Private Post stamp
33
ORBIT
Zazzle Space Stamps Dazzle
I have noticed Zazzle Space Stamps appearing in Lollini brochures and on their web pages in recent months writes your Editor so I undertook to find out some facts about them and am grateful to The Astrophile Editor Jim Roth and the man who inspired him to create his own Zazzle designs Otto Bergman for the following infohellip Zazzle is one of half a dozen or more US companies
who facilitate the printing of non-copyrighted photos and artwork on private postage stamps which count
as postage within and outwith the USA You can
design your own Zazzle stampsmdashsee their websitemdashwhich you then purchase for your own use 20 to a
page
They are therefore a bit like British Smilers except
that the personal element of the stamp is not on a se-tenant label but actually incorporated within the
stamp itself as you can see from the examples on this page
Jim Roth was annoyed that the Kennedy Space Center Post office would not cancel his Zazzle stamps as they
consider them to be ldquometersrdquo and although he has marked STS-122 he wonrsquot be creating any others
You can see (and buy) all Jim Rothrsquos Space Zazzles on
his website m57coverscommdashclick on ldquostampsrdquo
Three of Jim Rothrsquos designs
See others on his website
An Otto Bergman space creation on
Zazzlecomottobergman
These space Zazzles and others are
available from the Lollini website or brochures
STS 128 in May 2010 section
STS 129 in June 2010
WISE and Delta 2 launch in July 2010 STS 130 in August 2010
STS 128 stamps show astronauts Christer Fuglesang (far left) and left Frank De Winne ISS Commander Expedition 21 STS 129 issues depict mission
patch and the crew led by Charles Hobaugh
Delta 2 rocket launch from Cape Canaveral of WISE Deep InfraRed telescope
34
ORBIT
Concluded on page 39
More Spaceflight Books for Sale
35
ORBIT ORBIT
SPACE HABITATS (Part Two) by John Beenen Continuing his feature from our last issue John Beenen begins by posing the questionhellip Why Should we Seek to Live
in Space
Spacecom gives ten main reasons why we should enter space for a prolonged
period
1 To secure a future for humanity
2 To build a new frontier
3 To find new energy sources
4 To build an industrial settlement on
the Moon
5 Better quality images of the
Universe
6 The SETI effort
7 Mining
8 Learning the history of our
Universe
9 Environmental benefits
Meeting the challenge
Taking for granted that it is naturally fascinating to investigate how mankind
might be able to maintain its habitat outside earth there are several further reasons to investigate why
mankind should settle themselves outside earth in the far future And More reasons mean a overall better
argument
Primarily there is the question of overpopulation and
secondly a solution for the energy problem
Next we have to consider that climate circumstances
are not under control anymore and earth eventually becomes uninhabitable
Also when for various reasons we start to kill each
other for some groups of people it may be an attractive proposition to depart this Earth in quite a different
sense And that is perhaps the most common thought
through activities in space more money can be obtained
But there are disadvantageshellip
On the other hand a prolonged stay in space is not that safe The construction must be protected against
radiation and it can be hit by large and small debris which makes space a very unsafe place
Furthermore cosmic radiation produces
a radiation of 80 mSv (millisievert) - well over the allowed maximum of 50
mSv and very much over the amount which is considered as safe for man
which is 3 mSv
Next solar flares produce a sudden
increase of soft gamma and energy rich radiation so much that without the
protection of an atmosphere half of our population could die easily
It is interesting that even without shielding most of this radiation can be
absorbed in the projected spacecraftsrsquo structure and in the air Smaller
structures can be protected with a
shield of co-rotating rocks
The construction further must be protected against sunlight which by
lack of the air shield will fall in unshielded so sun blinds and radiators
are indispensable
And as a result of the artificial gravity
there are some tiny movement problems which we will face later
Finally the created ecosystem should be fully self-supporting and that is easier said than done as
experiments with Biosphere-2 have showed
Biosphere-2 Biosphere-2 was a project built between 1987 and 1991 providing in an area of about 2frac12 football fields
a closed biological system of different composition From 1991-1993 a crew of 8 persons stayed herein A
second crew of 7 persons bridged a period of March
until September 1994 During the first period it appeared difficult to keep the atmosphere constant in
particular the carbon dioxide values changed rapidlymdashthe reason why many of the carried insects perished
Further the oxygen level decreased slowly because pf a leak
Even during the first two-year phase large differences in opinion appeared and the yield was not large
enough to deliver the calories necessary Reserve stocks had to be broken into Finally the second
experiment had to be ended prematurely because of
mismanagement
However it seems that a well-functioning stable ecosystem should not be underestimated physically
not technically
Artists impressions above Interior Stanford Torus and below Interior
OrsquoNeill Cylinder
Solar flares Czechoslovakia 1965 WB 47
36
ORBIT
It further has to be speculated on that men would resist
a regulated weather programme instead of the customary ever changing circumstances on Earth
Also we must physically resist an eternal stay outside
Earth That is not always easy as some people will show
some kind of sea sickness for ever In any case rooms with a diameter of less than 100 meters and a speed of
revolution over three per minute are insufficient At specifications of over 500 m and at less than 1 revolution
per minute fewer problems have to be expected
How do we get raw materials (Fantasy Moon Mining Yemen
Mutawakelite 1969 1343)
And still there have to be enough raw materials to sustain the
colony but as a principle the
search for raw materials is not the most difficult
From the asteroid belt enough small rocks can be
transported as a building material Also mines can be put
on the Moon Bercause of the lower gravity there transport is easier and some kind of firing mechanism
has been calculated which launch packets of ore simply into space where they can be manipulated
Air can be produced from moonstone Nitrogen nearly without loss can be recycled and eventually added to
ammonia mined from comets Large gardens and fields should start the normal photosynthesis and doing so
finally a complete sustainable society might be built up Energy from the Sun is present in superfluous quantities
What to do about gravity Most designs for a Space station start with a gravity of
1G Some designers however think that a lower level of gravity is possible But in the meantime experiments
with astronauts have showed that our physiology
changes rapidly influenced by decreased or absence of gravity Thus the calcium potassium and sodium
contents of our bone system decrease by about 10 That is not bad were we to stay in space forever but
very troublesome when occasionally we would return to
Earth
Also the quality of our muscles decreases as the blood volume does Providing effects comparable to aging
Further by lack of gravity astronauts become a little
taller with accompanying pain in the back Hence the staying with 1G gravity is not so bad
That has to be maintained by rotation of the
construction The larger the diameter of the construction is the slower it will turn to provide 1 G That is a result
of the centrifugal or centripetal force Its
magnitude has long been established thanks to the work of Dutchman Christiaan Huygens and fixed in
the formula
m v2
F = r where
F = the external force in N(ewton) m = mass in kg
v = speed in msec r = radius in m
Hence a spacecraft with a diameter of 15 meters has to carry out one revolution every 8 seconds to
produce a sensation of 1G And that is too quick for man The effect of the centrifugal force is that should
an astronaut drop an object it does not fall straight
down but partly away from himher Weird
Coriolis force But in a rotating Space station another force is at
work That is the lsquoCoriolis forcersquo named after the
French Gustave-Gaspard Coriolis (1792-1843) who described this kind of force for the first time
The most common manifestation is the second law of
Buys Ballot which says that air streams in the
atmosphere which according the first law of Boys Ballot as a principle run from high to low pressure at
the northern hemisphere are bent to the right and at the southern hemisphere to the left because of the
rotation of the Earth
Therefore air streams around depressions show a
spiral shape in opposite directions at the northern and southern hemisphere In a space station this
force can especially noticed when moving around through the spokes of the wheel
(Diagram of Coriolis F o r c e h t t p
wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm)
A s s u m e t h a t a n
astronaut on a ladder
climbs through a spoke to the axis As he climbs
along he circles around more slowly as he
describes a smaller circle
in the same time What happens with the difference in speed that he had before He will be pressed
against the ladder and that is the Coriolis force The force also acts in opposite direction when he
descends from the ladder
Also the throwing up and catching of a ball will
become a huge achievement as the ball does not
37
ORBIT
drop perpendicularly but will shift a little into the
direction of the orbit of the station and also achieves a higher speed
This also has strange effects on the astronaut As moves
quickly in the rotation direction of the station his weight
appears to increase to a noteworthy extent Then as he moves against the speed of rotation his weight
decreases apparently Mathematically this effect is explainable but very complex
Also the astronautrsquos head and feet move in different
speed to artificial gravity This is plainly noticeable when
somebody jumps up Hence avoid this practice
With these kind of effects adaptation to the changed circumstances in a space station will ask a lot of the
crew members I do hope they can stand it But in any
case the larger the space ship the lesser the problems
Inflatable stations
But therersquos more The inflatable station was considered
many years ago The first i d e a w a s p o s s i b l y
developed when on 12th August 1960 the Echo
balloon with a diameter of
30 meters was launched (Echo I balloon USA 1960
WB 3)
It is true you could not live in it as the balloon was of too frail a construction but the idea of an inflatable
spacecraft was then alive By 1958 groups within NASA
had begun to think about inflatable stations The Goett-committee has been one of the first On 25th26th May
1959 a conference started about projects after
Mercury In particular the
representative of Langley L a r r y Lo f t i n wa s
enthusiastic about his AMIS (Advanced Man in
Space) project (Hexagonal structure
Manama 1970 WB 113)
One of his first projects was a rotating hexagonal
inflatable construction with a diameter of 25 meters a cylindrical core and three lsquospokesrsquo Acting as a ferry to
and from the station the lsquoDyna Soarrsquo Space plane could
be used The Dyna Soar project (at that time still
under development) was cancelled by the American
Minister of Defense Robert
McNamara Inflatable Habitat NASA
1961 enwikipediaorg)
A Langley Space Station
team managed by Paul Hill and Emanuel lsquoMannyrsquo
Schnitzer developed the concept together with the
G o o d y e a r A i r c r a f t
Corporation
(Langleyrsquos self-inflating rotating hexagonal structure httphistorynasagov
SP-4308) Its original diameter had already been reduced to 10
meters
In the years after Langley built several experimental
modules called lsquoErectable Torus Manned Space Laboratoryrsquo a 11 model built by firms such as
Goodyear The torus was built from three layers of
nylon tissue and in between a rubber-like plastic material butyl elastomer A large problem was the
penetration by micrometeorites which as was learnt from the results of the Echo balloon finally damaged
the whole structure
Another problem was the great instability of the ring
due to movements of the astronauts the station started to wobble when they moved around Finally
the project was cancelled and at the end of the eighties the Langley Research Center started to
design inflatable constructions for a base camp on the
Moon
( A r t i s t imp r e s s i on Transhab inflatable
m o d u l e h t t p
enwikipediaorg)
Due to the development of a new series of
s t r o n g e r p l a s t i c materials such as Kevlar
these construct ions
received new interest That lead to the development of Transhab (Transit Habitat) as a resource for crews
coupled at the ISS (international Space Station) The construction is a cylinder in a diameter of 82 meters
and several storeys high
Its volume in inflatable state is 340 m3 The wall has a
thickness of 30 () cm and consists of 12 layers of which the outside layer is made from Kevlar The
layers beneath are made from Nextel a ceramic fibre Disagreements during development and the spiralling
costs finally in 2000 saw the end of NASArsquos interest
G e n e s i s 1
thespacereviewcom)
From 1999 the project was
taken up by Bigelow
38
ORBIT
Aerospace who improved the design and tested it with
successful launchings of Genesis I on 12 July 2006 and Genesis II on 28 June 2007
In their design it has once again more or less the shape
of a balloon With a thickness of 40 cm the wall is still
very thick The outside layer is still Kevlar but inside are some layers of Vectran a textile fibre Within the
structure ants and scorpions were launched along with some objects which people who paid for the privilege of
boosting into space
In this way Bigelow hopes to build a Space Hotel named
Nautilus To stimulate the development Bigelow offered a price of $50 million to everybody who succeeded in
launching a crew of 5 persons to an altitude of 400 km before 2010 So little money lost here so far
A second project which can be realized within the near future is a fixed residence on the Moon As said Langley
occupies itself with the design of such a base which partly should be build below the surface Stamp
designers have already realized the idea
What does the future hold Although we are a long way away from the kind of space station by which a large amount of earth inhabitants can
leave the planet Earth forever the first steps for doing
so are in preparation With the development of their Space Hotel Bigelow tries to make the step to space
albeit a temporary one
Also Langley literally tries to set foot on the Moon and
finally they will succeed in doing so However The cost of such projects are literally astronomical and it is not
expected that in the coming decades much money can be allocated to such projects
Of course in some thousands of years (possibly only in
hundreds of years) this will become the case but for the
time being in my opinion the true conquest of space will stay as science-fiction for at least a few hundred years
Hoorn 2009
John Beenen
NB The stamps entitled lsquoSpace Cityrsquo with a value of 0 cnt do not exist but have been made by the author by means of frames and pictures present at the Internet
Fantasy Moon
b a s e M a n a -ma1970 WB 122
Fantasy bases
ready for Mars
YAR 1971 WB 2892 and 6
Fantasy Modular
base YAR 169 WB 233
39
ORBIT
Cover Below bottom right Future space Dutch Antilles 2000
Literature references (for both parts of article) httpenwikipediaorg Space habitat Space Colonization Orbital Colony Space City Space settlement Space stations L5 Society Bernal Sphere Stanford Torus OrsquoNeil Cylinder Inflatable Space Habitat Transhab Biosphere 2 Generation Ship wwwdsenl~hklruimtehtm Wonen op groene eilanden in de Ruimte (Dutch Living on green Islands in Space) Henry Kluytmans wwworionsarmcom McKendree Cylinder Bishops Ring wwwnasnasagovAboutEducationSpaceSettlement The Colonization of Space wwwdyarstraightscommsgundamhabitatshtml Mobile Suit Gundam High Frontier Life in the Universal Century Developing sound habitats wwwartificial-gravitycomDissertation1_2htm From Tsiolkovsky to Sputnik (1878-1957) httpsciencenasagovheadlinesy2000ast26may_1mhtm Wheels in the Sky httpdiscaircraftgreyfalconus Hermann Noordung Wohnrad (Wheel for Habitation) httparticlesadsabsharvardedufull1992lbsaconf249R Inflatable habitation for the lunar base MRoberts httphistorynasagovSP-4308ch9htm lsquoAs inevitable as the Rising Sunrsquo From the inflatable Torus to the Rotating Hexagon wwwspacecomnewsbusinessmonday_040524html Bigelow Aerospace to tackle inflatable Space Habitats httpsciencehowstuffsworkcominflatable-spacecraft2htm How Inflatable Spacecraft Will Work wwwbogancaphysicscoriolishtml Rotating Space Stations Dynamics An Explanation of the Coriolis Force httpdemonstrationswolframcomRotatingSpaceStation Rotating Space Station wwwdvandomcomcoliolisspacestationhtml Frame Effects and Space Stations wwwdvandomcomcoriolisindexhtml A (hopefully) simple explanation of the Coriolis Force wwwdaviddarlinginfoencyclopedia Hale Edward Everett von Pirquet Guido Noordung Hermann Space Station wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm The Coriolis Force wwwastronautixcomcraftfamlunbaseshtm Lunar bases wwwastronautixcomgallerycspebasehtm Photo Gallery Space base wwwregererating-universeorgOn_Moon_as_Space_Basehtm On Moon as Space Base wwwspacefuturecomhabitatlivingshtml Space Habitat Introduction Living in Space wwwspacepagebevideotaak=bekijkampid=47 Living in space (Video) wwwnutricomspace The Case for Space colonization ndash Now Oscar Falconi wwwxentcompipermailfork (FoRK) Bigelowrsquos inflatable Genesis I satellite in orbit wwwrussianforcesorg Russian strategic nuclear forces (Genesis II) wwwbigelowaerospacecomgenesis Genesis I Genesis II
Thanks to Alan Tunnicliffe who came across the attached news item
complete with stamp in the eNZ Magazine the bi-monthly journal of
the Institution of Professional Engineers NZ Inc Vol 11 No 3 May-
June 2010
Vaccari Auction Sells Remarkable Space Covers April 2010
Apollo 12 cover 55 of 87 flown to the moon on Apollo 15 having been left behind by the original crew sold for euro12200 1977 Salyut
6 Soyuz 27 cover sold for euro1600
40
ORBIT ORBIT
Shuttle 1981mdash2010 Stamps Marshall
Islands 2005
United Nations 2007 Monaco and Ascension 2008
Bulgaria 1991 including stamp from souvenir sheet
USA 1981
below USA 1995 and bottom USA 1998
(two values)
St Vincent Grenadines 1983
Ascension 1989
Bulgaria 1990
and above right W Germany 1975
and USA 2000 Guyana 2006
USA 1995
41
ASSS Membership Renewal 2010
Memberrsquos Name amp Addresshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
I wish to renew my membership of the ASSS for a further year and enclose the equivalent of
pound15 (UK) euro30 (Europe) $US 45 (Rest of the World)
Please return this form with your remittance to Harvey Duncan by the
end of July Thank you
Harvey Duncan Treasurer ASSS 16 Begg Avenue
Falkirk Scotland FK1 2DL
PayPal For details of how to Pay via Paypal
please email Jeff Dugdale Email address on Page 2
42
43
44
9
ORBIT
Soyuz TMA 6 (launched 1542005) EO-11
The eleventh resident crew would be the first to receive
a shuttle mission since STS-
113 in December 2002 because the loss of
Columbia had created the need to fly two-man
resident crews but the
docking of STS-114 in July would signify the impending return to full station
operation
Italian ESA astronaut Roberto Vittori was back at the ISS in the company of Russian Sergei Krikalev making
his sixth flight and American civilian John Phillips as
science officer This time Vittori completed research under the Eneide programme doing experiments in
human physiology biology and also getting involved in educational demonstrations
The new crew was not long on board before the Elektron system finally broke down in early May
though there were sufficient alternative sources of oxygen on board These would be complemented by
Shuttle and Progress deliveries such as Progress M53 in June which also carried spare parts for the Elektron
unit which the crew worked on in addition to routine
maintenance tasks and the repositioning of their Soyuz from Pirs to Zarya
STS-114 (launched 2672005)
On 28th July the first shuttle
crew to visit the ISS for two and half years arrived via Discovery This was a very experienced crew commanded by Eilleen
Collins By now the decision to
use the shuttle to complete station assembly and then retire
it had been taken The station then looked as it does in this
2006 issue from Sierra Leone As Discovery approached the ISS it flew around it at a distance of some 180
metres to allow the crew on board to photograph the
underside of the shuttle to check for launch damage This rather worryingly revealed the loss of two
protruding tile gap fillers Because these might cause hot spots on re-entry extra EVAs were designed to
manually extract them during which an astronaut
(Stephen Robinson) ventured under the shuttlersquos body for the first time ever in orbital operations
Discovery also brought up MPLM Raffaello carrying a
large amount of supplies including the Human Research Facility 2 and the new CMG 2 gyroscope
As the shuttle departed after over 12 days at the station both crews photographed each otherrsquos spacecraft The
second shuttle Return to Flight mission was then delayed because of questions about the integrity of the
foam fixtures on the External Tanks
In August the Vodzukh COsup2 removal system on the ISS
failed and the American unit in Destiny was activated to take over On 16th August Krikalev the first person
to complete two residences and the first cosmonaut to
fly six missions became the longest served Russian cosmonaut with over 747 days of spaceflight
experience Next day 17th August Krikalev and Phillips performed the only EVA of Expedition 11 after which
they prepared for their next visitors via Soyuz TMA7 which would carry in Gary Olsen the third spaceflight
participant and the new two man resident crew of Bill
McArthur and Valery Tokarev
Soyuz TMA 7 (launched 1102005) EO-12
To be continuedhellip
10
ORBIT ORBIT
2 The Moon Second Quadrant (North-West) We learn from our main source Atlas of the Universe by
Patrick Moore (Philiprsquos 1999)helliphellip
Selected Craters illustratedhellip
Archimedes (Diam 75 km Lat degN 30 Long degW 4) A large impact crater on the Eastern edges of the Mare Imbrium with Montes Archimedes mountains to the South Named after the Greek mathematician and scientist who lived c 287mdash212 BC
(San Marino 1982)
Copernicus (Diam 97 km Lat degN 10 Long degW 20)
A prominent feature named after the famous Polish astronomer (1473mdash1543) and located in the eastern Oceanus Procellarum this is estimated to be around 800 million years old and is typical of craters of that period having a very clear ray
system (Soviet Union 1973)
The Naming of Craters Einstein (Diam 160 km Lat degN 18 Long degW 86)
A large crater which lies along the Western limb of the Moon therefore difficult to observe from Earth and discovered only in 1952 by Patrick Moore Named after the German theoretical physicist and philosopher (1879-1955) (India 1979)
Encke (Diam 32 km Lat degN 5 Long degW 37) Located on the W edge of Mare Insularum to the S SE of crater Kepler Named after German astronomer Johann Frank Encke (1791-1865) (Comoros Isles 1986)
Euler (Diam 25 km Lat degN 23 Long degW 29) Located in the southern half of the Mare Imbrium its most notable nearby feature is Mons Vinogradov to the W-SW Named after Leonard Euler (1707mdash83) the Swiss mathematician and physicist (E Germany 1950)
J Herschel (Diam 145 km Lat degN 62 Long degW 41) A large walled plain which appears foreshortened when viewed from Earth Named after British mathematician chemist and astronomer Sir John Herschel (1792mdash1871) (Centre of GB 1970 )
Kepler (Diam 35 km Lat degN 8 Long degW 38) This lies between the Oceanus Procellarum to the W and Mare Insularm in the E with crater Encke to the SE Named after German mathematician and astronomer Johannes Kepler (1571mdash1630) (Czech Rep 2009)
Lavoisier (Diam 71 km Lat degN 36 Long degW 70) Located near the NW limb at the W edge of Oceanus Procellarum this lies to the SW of crater von Braun and SE of Bunsen Named in honour of ldquothe Father of Modern Chemistryrdquo the French chemist Antoine Lavoisier (1743mdash1794) (France 1943)
Le Verrier (Diam 25 km Lat degN 40 Long degW 20) A small nearly circular bowl shaped feature in the N part of the Mare Imbrium just E of the larger Helicon Named for the French mathematical astronomer Urbain Le Verrier (1811mdash1877) (France 1958)
11
ORBIT
Otto Struve (Diam 160 km Lat degN 25 Long degW 75) This is a vast lava flooded plain near the W
edge of Oceanus Procellarum close the W limb of the Moon and so appears foreshortened Named in honour of German astronomers Friedrich von Struve (Russian VY Struve) (1793-1864) and son (Otto) and grandson (Otto) (USSR 1964) Pythagoras (Diam 113 km Lat degN 65 Long degW 65)
This prominent feature lies near the NW limb just NW of the somewhat larger
Babbage It has an oval appearance due to the oblique viewing angle from Earth and only part of it can be viewed from Earth Named after Greek philosopher Pythagoras of Samos (c 570mdashc 495 BC) ( S a n M a r i n o 1982)
Babbage (Diam 143 km Lat degN 60 Long degW 57) An ancient crater located near the NW
l i m b n a m e d a f t e r B r i t i s h mathematician philosopher and computing pioneer Charles Babbage (1791mdash1871) (GB 2010)
Hevelius (Diam 122 km Lat degN 2 Long degW 67) This is a low-rimmed crater on
the W edge of the Oceanus Procellarum named after Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius (1611mdash1687) - ldquothe founder of lunar topographyrdquo (Poland
1987) Plato (Diam 97 km Lat degN 51 Long degW 9) The lava-filled remains of a crater on the NE shore of Mare Imbrium at the W
extremity of Montes Alpes named after the Classical Greek philosopher and mathematician (c 428mdashc 348 BC) (Greece 1998)
Schiaparelli (Diam 29 km Lat degN 23 Long degW 59) A small crater on the W part of Oceanus Procellarum to the W of Herodotus and named after Giovanni Schiaparelli(1835-
1910) Italian astronomer and science historian famous for his misinterpreted comments re ldquocanalirdquo on Mars (Hungary 1974)
12
ORBIT
ASTEROIDS Some Bits and Pieces
Ulugh Beigh (Diam 70 km Lat deg29 2 Long degW 85) The remnant of a crater just to the W of Oceanus Procellarum near the NW limbmdashforeshortened from the Earth Named after Ulugh Beg Persian ruler and astronomermathemat ic ian (Turkey 1983) Von Braun (Diam 60 km Lat deg41 2
Long degW 78) Named after rocket pioneer Wernher von Braun (1912-77) this is located near the NW limb on the W edge of Oceanus Procellarum and to the NE of Lavoisier (Guinea Biussau 2006)
Uncatalogued Hungarian Stamp Referenced in Spaceflight Article
The June 2010 issue of Spaceflight magazine contained
a five page article by Naacutendo
Schuminszky celebrating the first Hungarian in space whose
flight in Soyuz 36 occurred 30 years beforeon 26th May 1980
A side panel to the article
reproduced right contains
images of a pair of stamps with two subtle differencesmdashin
bottom left hand corner the date ldquo1979rdquo and ldquo1980rdquo and
rightmdashthe face value The
article goes on to explain how unexpected events delayed the
flight by a year Hungarian cosmonaut Bertalan Farkas was
due to be launched in mid-June
1979 in Soyuz 34 but his flight was cancelled following the
failure of Soyuz 33 carrying Bulgarian cosmonaut Georgi Ivanov to dock with Salyut 6 Soyuz 34 was eventually
launched unmanned to provide a fresh ferry for the resident crew to use
In anticipation of the 1979 flight a large number of associated souvenirs including posters emblems and
stamps had been prepared but had to be destroyed though evidently some escaped
However the 1979 version of the eventual SG 3320 is not listed in WEEBAU or Gibbons If any members have
any info about these unissued stamps please share it with us
More on Lunar Craters Our Chairman Margaret Morris forwarded the article opposite from the March 1989 issue of Sky amp Telescope which is of interest in the context of our new series explaining as it does how several Far Side craters have been named after astronauts and cosmonauts
Orbit for June 2010
Our last issue contained one glaring error for which your editor apologises The number on the front ldquo85rdquo was the same as the number for the March issue This will cause
problems when Harvey Duncan issues the next version of the index A lovely cover again by your Editorrsquos wife but spoiled by this typo Sorry
Flown STS-8 Covers These are referred to at the bottom of the left hand column of p 27 of this edition in Umberto Cavallarorsquos article where we learn that there were well over a quarter of a million of them
Alan Tunnicliffe editor of NZ Air Mail News advises that New Zealand stamp dealer JRMowbray has for sale at NZ $75 a piece flown STS-8 space covers date stamped 14 Aug 1983 at KSC with launch and return cancels and bearing a $935 stamp NZ$75 = US$53 or pound35 This seems a rather high price for flown STS-8 covers given the number available and members will possibly be able to obtain the item cheaper with an internet search
Solar Sails and The Sun Peter Hoffman comments on John Beenenrsquos feature on The Sun in our June 2010 issuehellip ldquoIn the Solar Sails section on page 8 mention is made of the failed launch of Cosmos-1 What is not mention is that is was a project of The Planetary Society httpwwwplanetaryorghome They are working on a new version called LightSail the first of which is planned for a launch later this year In case you are not familiar with it The Planetary Society is a privately funded space advocacy group founded in part by Carl Sagan ldquoThe Planetary Society yearly presents the Cosmos Award for Outstanding Public Presentation of Science in honour of Carl Sagan This years winner was Stephen Hawking They printed his acceptance speech Why go into space An amusing comment was a quote from a Calvin and Hobbes cartoon Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere is that none of it has tried to contact us ldquoThe Japanese Space Agency launched its solar sail spacecraft IKAROS (Interplanetary Kite-Craft Accelerated by Radiation Of the Sun) together with its Venus Climate Orbiter Akatsuki on 20 May You can read about it at httpwwwspacecommissionlaunchesjapan-venus-wrap-100520htmlrdquo
13
ORBIT
14
ORBIT
Spaceflight Books for Sale
Books about Space andor Astronomy in English
The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Space 1990 386 pages coffee table book euro 1500
Life in Space D Monchersquo 1979 ldquo 500
The Conquest of Space Willy Ley amp Chesley Bonestell+pictures 1952 RARE ldquo 2000
Star Hunters D Mammana 1990 coffee table book ldquo 1000
The Rocket David Baker 276p+490pictures 1978 coffee table book classic ldquo 2000
The History of Manned Spaceflight David Baker 576p+362pictures 1985coffeerdquo 2000
The Observerrsquos Spaceflight Directory R Turnill 384p 1978 ldquo 1000
The Observerrsquos Book of Unmanned Spaceflight+Manned Spaceflight 1974+1975 ldquo 1000
The Observerrsquos Book Of Astronomy Patrick Moore 1973 ldquo 500
Basic Astronomy Patrick Moore 1967 ldquo 300
Space a Novel James A Michener pocket Ballantine 1983 ldquo 250
Voyagers Ben Bova 1983 pocket ldquo 250
The Universe Herbert Zim 1973 ldquo 200
Exploring Other Worlds WyberampAmes 1968 ldquo 200
Tomorrowrsquos Moon Henry Little 1969 ldquo 200
Observatories of the World Marx amp Pfau 1982 ldquo 1000
Are We Alone Paul Davis Penquin 1995 ldquo 250
Moonport USA (Kennedy Space Center) 1977 ldquo 250
Living in Space (Colonies) J Trefil 1981 ldquo 500
The Cosmonauts Gordon Hooper 1977 ldquo 250
Extraterrestrials-Where Are They Zuckerman ampHart 1995 ldquo 1000
The Cosmic Connection Carl Sagan pocket 1975 ldquo 300
Exploring the Planets Ian Nicolson 1972 ldquo 250
Janersquos pocket Book 11 Space Exploration 1976 ldquo 300
Twenty-First Report Internat Telecomm Union Geneva 1982 ldquo 250
Satellites amp Space Travel Taylor ampAllward 1970 ldquo 200
Watchers of the Stars Patrick Moore 1974 ldquo 500
Robot Explorers Kenneth Garland 1972 ldquo 500
APOLLO by astronaut Alan Bean+paintings Bean in space 1998 coffeetable ldquo 2000
The World of Mars VA Firsoff 1969 ldquo 200
Missiles and Rockets Kenneth Garland ldquo 500
Stars and Planets Ian Ridpath 1978 ldquo 500
Race to Mars The ITN Mars Flight Atlas 1988 ldquo 500
Worlds Beyond Search for Life in Space Ian Ridpath 1975 ldquo 500
CETI Communication with Extraterrestrial Intelligence Stonelay 1976 ldquo 250
Horizon at the Edge of the Universe 9 chapters of astronomers 1983 ldquo 300
The New Race for Space James Oberg 1984 ldquo 500
The Hunt for Life on Mars Goldsmith 1998 ldquo 500
The High Road Ben Bova pocket 1983 ldquo 250
Operation Morning Light the True Story of Cosmos 954 Leo Heaps 1978 ldquo1000
Space Volunteers T Kay 1960 ldquo 300
Legal Aspects of Outer Space Dr C Reijnen 1976 205 pages the Worldrsquos
First Thesis of this Kind by female Dutch scholar ldquo 400
E-MAIL bertvaneijckhomenl if interested in any to discuss sale and postage
See further list on page 24
15
ORBIT
The above obituary and tribute by David Shayler
appeared in the August 2010 of Spaceflight magazine marking the passing of Rex Hall who was also one of
the longest standing members of the ASSS carrying
the membership number 88033 We extend our condolences to Rexrsquos family
16
ORBIT
Un-manned Satellites on Postage Stamps 35 By Guest Contributors Don Hillger and Garry Toth
A version of this article first appeared in The Astrophile for sic)
The Discoverer series
This is the thirty-fifth in a series of articles about un-manned satellites on postage stamps This article
features the satellites in the US Air Force (USAF) Discoverer series The first Discoverer was launched
on 21 January 1959 and the last one on 18 April 1962
There were a total of 39 launches a third (or 13) of which were failures The Discoverer series also called
Corona satellites were later declassified as the first Keyhole (KH) spy satellites
Discoverer was the public name of the Corona series
of film-return reconnaissance spy satellites whose true
mission was not officially revealed until about 35 years after the program ended The Discoverers secret
program was masked by scientific goals it was kept secret even from program staff who knew nothing
about Corona Scientific instruments were even placed
on Discoverer satellites and then covertly removed before launch
The Discoverer satellites were designed to take pictures
of target countries and then eject a film capsule
which was to de-orbit and enter the Earthrsquos atmosphere on a parachute and be recovered by a
specially-modified aircraft as it floated downward On many of the missions however the capture of the film
capsules was not successful for various reasons The first successful return of a capsule through the Earths
atmosphere occurred with Discoverer-13 though in this
case the aerial capture failed and the capsule fell into the sea Fortunately that mission carried no cameras
Discoverer-14 was the first completely successfully Corona mission in which reconnaissance photos were
taken from the spy satellite and ejected in a capsule
which was then successfully recovered in a mid-air capture carried out by a C-119 aircraft
Because of secret nature of their mission the
Discoverer satellites were not well-known and so were not featured on many postal items A set of three
stamps issued by Libya in 1966 (Scott 297-299) shows
a Discoverer capsule There is also a local post item from Batum that depicts the recovery of a Discoverer
capsule and a souvenir sheet from Chad (Michel BL247) that shows the re-entry of a Discoverer capsule
in the margin Another capsule recovery is shown in
the margin of a souvenir sheet issued by the Malagasy Republic in 1999 (Scott 1502a)
A checklist of postal items identified as showing Discoverer-
series satellites (httprammbciracolostateedudevhillgerDiscovererhtm) is available as part of the Website developed by the authors to accompany this series of articles (httprammbciracolostateedudevhillgersatelliteshtm) E-mail correspondence is welcome Don Hillger can be reached at hillgerciracolostateedu and Garry Toth at garry_tothhotmailcom
Top KH-4B Corona satellite Above Recovery of Discoverer 14 return capsule (typical for
the Corona series (ex Wikipedia)
17
ORBIT
18
ORBIT
Flight STS-130 Commander George Zamka Pilot Terry Virtis MS Kathryn Hire MS Stephen Robinson MS Nicholas Patrick MS Robert Behnken MS Koichi Wakata KSC Launch Date 822010 KSC Landing 21210 Purpose Tranquility Module Main Payload and Cupola
Shuttle Story 201011 STSndash130 -131 -132 Part One
STS-130 (ISS assembly flight 20A) via Endeavour carried as its
primary payloads the Tranquility module and the Cupola a robotic control station with six windows around its sides and
another in the centre providing a 360-degree view around the station Endeavour launched at 0414 EST (0914 UTC) on 8
February 2010 and landed at 2220 EST on 21 February 2010 on
runway 15 at the Kennedy Space Centers Shuttle Landing Facility
Tranquility was shipped from the
Thales Alenia Space facility in
Turin Italy It arrived at Kennedy Space Center on 21 May 2009 It
was formerly known as Node 3 and was named by a NASA poll
The module provides six berthing locations however three of those
locations are disabled as modules
originally planned to be attached to Tranquility were cancelled The
photo right shows Tranquility just before being installed to Unity node
STS-130 also brought the Cupola a large window
module and robotics work station to the ISS which was
to be attached to the nadir-
side of Tranquility The module also includes various
ISS systems including addit iona l l i fe support
systems This photo shows the facility being prepared at KSC whilst the photo above right
shows the module and cupola being moved into position on the
ISS
The shape of the mission patch on the launch
cover below represents the cupola over the earth in a photo taken by the unmanned
Lunar Orbiter probe in 1966 so representing a past and future designation for explorers from
Earth
For other Zazzle stamps
see page 33
19
ORBIT
Flight STS-131 Commander Alan Pointdexter Pilot James Dutton MS Rick Mastracchio MS Dorthy Metcalf- Lindenburger MS Stephanie Wilson MS Naoko Yamakazi MS Clayton Anderson KSC Launch Date 5410 KSC Landing 20410 Purpose MPLM Leonardo Main Payload
STS-131 (ISS assembly flight 19A) via Discovery launched on 5
April 2010 from Kennedy Space Centers launch pad 39A and landed at 908 AM on 20 April 2010 on runway 33 at the Kennedy
Space Centers Shuttle Landing Facility The mission marked the longest flight for space shuttle Discovery
The primary payload was a Multi-Purpose Logistics Module loaded with supplies and equipment for the ISS The mission also
removed and replaced an ammonia tank assembly outside the station on the S1 truss The mission also included several on-
board payloads this mission had the most payloads since STS-
107
The primary payload of STS-131 was MPLM Leonardo filled with food and science supplies and also carried the third and final
Minus Eighty Degree Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI) Window Orbital Research Facility (WORF) one Crew Quarters Rack the
Muscle Atrophy Resistive Exercise (MARES) rack Resupply
Stowage Racks (RSRs) as well as Resupply Stowage Platforms (RSPs) The Lightweight Multi-Purpose Equipment Support
Structure Carrier (LMC) carried a refurbished Ammonia Tank Assembly (ATA) to the ISS The refurbished ATA was removed
from the Space Station and returned for use on this mission
during STS-128 It was swapped with an empty tank which will ride home on the LMC
This mission was the second flight of the TriDAR a 3D dual-
sensing laser camera intended for potential use as an
autonomous rendezvous and docking sensor TriDAR provides guidance information that can be used to guide a vehicle during
rendezvous and docking operations in space TriDAR does not rely on any reference markers such as reflectors positioned on
the target spacecraft
This was the final Space Shuttle mission that contains one or
more rookie astronauts the missions after this will have all- veteran crews
STS-131 was only the third mission in the Space Shuttle
programme to carry three female astronauts
the others being STS-40 and STS-96
With three female crew members arriving on board Discovery and Expedition 23 Flight
Engineer Tracy Caldwell Dyson at the station
the STS-131 mission marked the first time that four women have been in space at one
time
STS-131 marked the first time that two
Japanese astronauts Naoko Yamazaki from the Shuttle crew and Soichi Noguchi on the
ISS had been in space together
Although Naoko Yamazaki is not the last non-
US astronaut Naoko was the last Japanese astronaut to fly the space shuttle
MPLM Leonardo can
be seen in the shuttle cargo bay
The seven stars either side of our
sun represent the
crew members
The shuttlersquos orientation indicates
it is performing the Rendezvous Pitch
Manoeuvre which
allows the ISS to photograph its
underbelly
20
ORBIT
Flight STS-132 Commander Kenneth Ham Pilot Dominic Antonelli MS Michael Good MS Garret Reisman MS Piers Sellars MS Stephen Bowen KSC Launch Date 1452010 KSC Landing 2652010 Purpose Delivery of Russian Main Payload Rassvet Module
STS-132 (ISS assembly flight ULF4) docked with the ISS on May
16 2010 It was launched from the Kennedy Space Center on May 14 2010 The primary payload is the Russian Rassvet Mini-
Research Module along with an Integrated Cargo Carrier-Vertical Light Deployable (ICC-VLD) STS-132 is scheduled to be the
final flight of Space Shuttle Atlantis provided that the STS-335
Launch On Need rescue mission is not flown
Rassvet means dawn in Russian The module was built
by Russian aerospace company
Energia and arrived at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC)
aboard an Antonov 124 cargo plane on 17 December 2009
After it was unloaded from the Antonov the module was
transported to an Astrotech processing bay in Cape Canaveral to
undergo preparations for launch shown in this photo
An airlock and radiation heat exchanger to be used for outfitting the Russian Nauka Module (to be launched in 2012) a spare
elbow part of the European Robotic Arm (ERA) and a portable
work platform for science hardware for performing experiments in outer space were externally mounted on Rassvet in its launch
configuration Russian and US cargo delivered was also accommodated inside the module The volume for cargo and
science inside MRM1 is 5 cubic meters] Rassvet was outfitted
with ISS standard grapple fixtures that allowed the module to be unloaded from the payload bay of Atlantis using the stations
robotic arm
The ICC pallet is constructed of aluminum It is approximately 8 feet long 13 feet wide and 10 inches thick The empty weight of
the pallet is 2645 pounds The total weight of ICCndashVLD and the ORUs is approximately 8330 pounds ICC-VLD return mass is
2933 kilograms (6470 lb)
The ICC-VLD was berthed in the centre of the
payload bay for both launch and re-entry
In the photo above Rassvet is shown centre top
The mission patch shows Atlantis flying off into the sunset as the end of the shuttle
programme approaches
21
ORBIT
By Andreacute Scheer and Margaret Morris This fascinating structure is an octagonal pentelic marble tower on the Roman agora or marketplace in Athens It was supposedly built by the astronomer Andronicus of Kyrrhos c 50 BC but according to other sources might have been constructed in the 2
nd
century BC before the rest of the forum The structure is 12 metres high with a diameter of approximately 8 metres On each of the eight sides (aligned with the eight principal points of the compass) is a sculpture featuring the wind gods and below each sculpture is engraved a sundial Thus the tower served as a solar clock but additionally in the interior was a water-clock (clepsydra) driven by water coming down from the Acropolis There were mechanical hour indicators and displays for the seasons of the year with astrological dates and periods The tower was topped in antiquity by a weather-vane in the shape of a triton with a wand which pointed at whichever of the winds was blowing The tower must have been one of the most useful structures in the agora as it showed the time for civilian purposes and indicated the wind direction for merchants awaiting the arrival of a ship The earliest philatelic items to depict this unusual building are postal stationery postcards originating from 1900 when the Greek postal authorities organised a competition for photographers and artists The best pictures were selected for issue and on 1 July 1901 the first series of 32 cards was issued In total 12 series of 32 cards each were issued between then and 20 March 1903 The cards were issued in three colours (chestnut black and green) with imprinted stamps of two values (5 lepta green for national mail and 10 lepta red for international mail) The cards additionally have an impressed stamp without colour on the left side being 10 lepta for the card itself so the cards were sold for 15 and 20 lepta The design of the imprinted stamps was based on the Hermes (Mercury) statue by Giovanni da Bologna During the war on the Balkans the cards were used by the Greek army and have an extra imprint ndash Carte Postale ndash Franchise Militaire A few examples of these postal stationery postcards are illustrated opposite and on page 23 The wording ldquoLrsquohorloge de Kyrrhestesrdquo refers to the timepiece built by Andronicus of Kyrrhos while ldquoTEMPLE DrsquoEOLErdquo translates as ldquoTemple of Aeolusrdquo (Aeolus = god of the winds) For each card 12 versions can be distinguished ndash ie 3 colours x 2 values x 2 usages For fuller information see reference no 1 Of course numerous picture postcards also feature this interesting structure
The Tower of the Winds The Oldest Planetarium on Stamps and
Postal Stationery
Front and back of postal stationery postcard
Examples of Greek postal stationery from the early 20th
century
Front and back of postal stationery postcard
22
ORBIT
The 19423 issues (SG 561-572) of Greece shown beside the 1973 Dominica souvenir sheet whose designer has
reinterpreted the divine sculptures in the margins
Boreas also on the 100d value in black and grey
Skiron
Zephyrus in two 25d vals
orange and green
Lips
Notus
Eurus
Apeliotes in two 10d vals red brown and red orange
Kaikias in two 50d vals black and grey violet and blue
Wind Direction Name of Deity Characteristics of the Sculpture North Boreas An old man wearing heavy clothing and holding a conch shell This wind was cold fierce and
stormy and in Athens made a loud hollow noise
North East Kaikias Old man with severe expression holding circular shield from which he will drop hailstones Weather characteristically cloudy wet and cold
East Apeliotes Young man with hair flowing in every direction holding a cloak full of fruit and grain ndash he brings gradual gentle rain
South East Eurus Old man with morose countenance wrapped tightly against the elements in his cloak This wind brought sultry gloomy weather with much rain
South Notus Young man emptying an urn and producing a shower of water This wind was associated with sultry very wet weather
South West Lips Boy pushing the stern of a ship promising a good sailing wind This was the wind which blew right into Piraeus harbour
West Zephyrus Beautiful lightly clad youth of happy aspect holding a cloak full of flowers In summer this wind brought very sultry weather
North West Skiron Bearded man with a bronze pot full of hot ashes and charcoal This was a dry wind extremely cold in winter but scorching and with lightning in summer
The following table gives details of the sculptures and the characteristics attributed to each of the wind gods
For fuller information see reference no 2
23
ORBIT
The sculptures of the eight winds were depicted on stamps of Greece issued in 1942 (six designs) and 1943 (again six designs ndash four as the previous issue but including the two omitted winds) Five values were surcharged in 1944 to aid victims of the Piraeus bombing of 11 January 1944 the exceptionally high face value resulted in few of these stamps being used Later in 1944 the same five values were surcharged in aid of a Childrenrsquos Convalescent Camp Fund Finally in 1946 two values of the 1942 issue were surcharged ndash the 10dr value in black and the 50dr revalued as 20dr in red See opposite for examples of the stamp designs In addition to these attractive engraved stamps the 1973 issue from Dominica commemorating the centenary of the World Meteorological Organisation included a miniature sheet incorporating the 50c and $1 values and surrounded in the margin by images of all eight wind sculptures (see page 22) More recently the cover of a booklet issued by Greece on 7 October 1988 provides an aerial view of the agora and the Tower of the Winds can be detected (see below) The booklet contains 16 stamps (4 each of 4 different values) and celebrates capitals of Greek provinces In early Christian times the building was used as the bell tower of a Byzantine Church It was partly buried in the ground until fully excavated in the 19
th century by the
Archaeological Society of Athens It is interesting to note that the design of the upper octagon of the 18th century Radcliffe Observatory in Oxford England is based on the Tower of the Winds as is the mausoleum of the founder of the Greek National Library Panayis Vagliano at West Norwood Cemetery London There is a similar tower in Sevastopol built in 1849 References
1 ldquoEntiers Postaux Illustreacutes du service des postes
helleacuteniques et leurs preacutecurseursrdquo Georges Mathas 1985
2 For finely detailed drawings and information about the sculptures you may care to see if your Library has a copy of ldquoThe Antiquities of Athensrdquo Stuart amp Revett Vol 1 published in London 1762
3 Article by Derek J de Solla Price in ldquoNational
Geographic April 1967 pp587-596 4 Much useful information may also be obtained from
sites on the internet
Examples of Overprints from left to right
1944 Piraeus Bombing Aid 1944 Childrenrsquos convalescent camp fund 1946 Surcharge
Below Cover of the 1988 stamp booklet
Front and back of postal stationery postcard
24
ORBIT
Old Photo Makes New(s) Story
A photo taken twenty-one years ago became hot international new(s) this July writes Bert van Eijck
It is a picture of your correspondent in front of the
monument on the graves of the seven astronauts killed
in the Challenger disaster The photo from November 1989 shows the national cemetery at Arlington in
Washington DC And it is this graveyard a national American field of pride and honour that was involved in
a scandal making news all over the world
What happened This became a hot story after it was leaked to the press that in 211 graves on Arlington the wrong corpse had
been buried But this disgrace grew to international
proportions when the US Senate published a report which revealed that it was not 211 but 6600 graves that
had been so dishonoured And maybe there are more the researchers stated
Consequently it meant that family members had been paying their respect at the wrong graves because many
were not marked well or the ground-plan directed to wrong places
Arlingtonrsquos director John Metzler was fired as was his
depute Thurman Higginbotham both of whom said
they knew there were made mistakes but they could not help ldquobecause of economyrdquo
Arlington cemetery was opened in 1864 Since then
300000 Americans have been buried here including
famous or well-known persons like presidents
ministers high ranked military artists judges and
astronauts
And what about some of the most recent ones Did I indeed visit and honour the seven Challenger astronauts in their last resting place on Earth in
November 1989 as shown on the photo Or are they perhaps mistakenly buried in another
unmarked grave This is hard to believe but one never knowshelliphellip
For those who wonder what was doing 21
years ago in the US capital I visited the
World Stamp Exporsquo89 at the Convention Center in Washington DC Of course I did
more sightseeing at and in the famous Smithsonian Museums (a must the
National AirampSpace Museum with 10
million visitors a year) the Capitol the metro (deepest in the world) George
Washingtonrsquos house in Vernon Arlington of course and much more
At the World Stamp Expo there was a
presentation of both USA and USSR space
stamps The American stamps were presented by astronaut Buzz Aldrin the
Soviet stamps by cosmonaut Gherman Titov
Author and the Challenger astronauts monument at Arlington seven figures in bronze (left) At right a plaque honoring US-soldiers killed in action saving
hostages in Iran
Astronaut Buzz Aldrin (left) presents the US space stamps while cosmonaut Gherman Titov (right) does the same with
Soviet space stamps In the middle officials of USPS Below the
stampshellip
25
ORBIT
The Apollo 15 Cover Scandal by Umberto Cavallaro
In a feature which first appeared in the April-June 2010 issue of Ad Astra the web journal of the Italian Astrophilatelic Association its editor reveals in considerable detail the full story of those covers which today sell for so much money The Apollo 15 flown covers are among the best known
collectibles from the Apollo Era mainly because of what Jim Irwin recalls as ldquothe problem we brought
back from the Moonrdquo
The crew of Apollo 15 carried out one of the most complete scientific explorations of the Moon the first
lunar roving vehicle was operated on the Moon to
extend the range of exploration some 180 pounds of lunar surface samples were returned for analysis Yet
Fifteen is best remembered as the crew that carried envelopes to the moon and the whole mission is
remembered for the ldquogreat postal caperrdquo
Apollo 15 was not the first mission to carry covers
dozens were carried on each flight from Apollo 11 onwards and as Commander Dave Scott recalls in his
book the whole business had probably been building since Mercury through Gemini and into Apollo People
had a fascination with objects that had been carried in space and they became more and more popular and
valuable as the programme progressed Right from
the start of the Mercury programme each astronaut had been allowed to carry on board a certain number
of personal items
NASA was in the habit of authorizing astronauts to
carry certain personal items on manned flights known as Astronautsrsquo PPK (Personal Preference Kits) All such
items had to be listed and approved by Deke Slayton the Head of the Astronaut Office prior to launch and
were intended for private use or as personal gifts
after the flight and could not be employed for commercial
Fig 1 The official USPS cover postmarked on the Moon
purposes or personal gain Astronaut kits typically
included badges jewellery coins medals flags stamps postal covers currency printed materials and
similar easily packed lightweight mementoes As the flight became more significant the number and type of
items increased
Aside from personal mementoes each crew had
carried medallions whose number had grown steadily on each mission In his book The All-American Boys astronaut Walter Cunningham reveals that it was rumoured around the Astronaut Office that Apollo 14
carried on board a personal package weighing forty-
two pounds Before that flight the Franklin Mint had even advertised the proposed sale After the flight the
commercial deal was never completed and all went quiet nothing about it being published in the media
But some members of the US Congress were unhappy
of the situation
In that context the ldquolapses of judgmentrdquo of the Apollo 15 crew became fatal Dave Scott went too far
carrying on board a total of 641 postal covers (including the two official covers) of which only 243
were listed and authorized before the flight and 398
were not -- secretly carried on board Apollo 15 by Scott in a pocket of his space suit Had they been
listed as being in Scotts PPK they would probably have been routinely approved for inclusion in the
preference kit
The 243 listed and authorized covers include
bull 2 official US Postal Service covers one of which the ldquoOfficial Coverrdquo was publicly cancelled on the
moon by Scott at the request of the US Postal
Service 10 (Fig 1) bull 1 Wright Brothers commemorative cover dated
1928 and autographed by Orville Wright which was carried by Worden for a friend
bull 1 cover bearing a First Man on the Moon stamp and a Bliss Centennial three-cent stamp carried by
Irwin for Barbara Baker (Fig 2 below)
26
ORBIT
8 Shamrock covers carried by Irwin (as below)
144 Herrickrsquos ldquoMoon Phasesrdquo covers carried by Worden
(Fig 4) printed with a cachet showing 15 phases of the moon On the USS Okinawa the Apollo 15 recovery ship
the astronauts placed two eight-cent stamps purchased
on board by Worden on each of these covers and they had the covers cancelled by the shipboard post office
The astronauts later autographed these covers while flying back from Hawaii to Houston Sixteen covers were
torn or damaged and were destroyed Because of the furore created by the Apollo 15 covers incident NASA
confiscated 61 of these 144 Moon Phases covers
87 Apollo 12 covers (Fig 5) that for unknown reason
did not fly on that mission and which were carried on
Apollo 15 for Mrs Barbara Gordon a stamp collector then wife of Richard Gordon Apollo 12 astronaut who
at was the back-up pilot for Apollo 15
The 398 unauthorized covers (initially there were
400 but 2 were damaged and discarded) are lightweight envelopes carrying as a cachet a replica
of the official Apollo 15 patch overprinted with an Air Force wing and propeller emblem
The idea of these additional covers was suggested during a cocktail party by Eiermann a salesman for
the heat-shield contractor who had frequent business and social contacts with NASA personnel and
astronauts He suggested to fly 400 lightweight covers 100 for each of the astronauts and 100 for
his friend Sieger the German stamp dealer The
cacheted covers were provided by Al Bishop a friend of many astronauts then at the Howard
Hughes organization He had already provided covers for the previous flights since Apollo 12
Above one of the 100 Sieger covers with the handwritten note ldquoLanded at Hadley Moon July 30 1971 On the
reverse is a typed and notarised inscription ldquoThis is to certify that this cover was on board the Falcon at the Hadley-
Apennine Moon July 30 ndashAug 2 1971rdquo
Below one of the 298 unauthorised covers carried to the Moon by David Scott with the inscription ldquoThis envelope was
carried to the Moon aboard the Apollo 15 of 300 to the Lunar Surface in LMrdquoFalconrdquo
The crews usually returned to Bishop a couple of
flown covers signed with gratitude ldquoTo my
knowledge ndash Cunningham reports in his well documented book ndash Bishop never sold any and never
made a dime off his relationship He was simply a fan To Al Bishop Apollo 15 was no different from any
other flight except for a phone call he received from
Hal Collins the Astronaut Office manager at the Cape
27
ORBIT
Collins told Bishop that the crew would like to know
whether he could obtain some very lightweight envelopes for them Al said that hed be happy to do so
He was unaware then that many of them would be smuggled on board the next lunar flight Al was trusted
Thats why many of us imposed on him with our
problems special requests and sometimes matters which we would rather not share with NASArdquo
This time Al was badly used he emerged as a
scapegoat and his name was dragged as though he was the Mr Big of an international stamp conspiracy
The covers were cancelled at Kennedy Space Center
several days before July 26 1971 The date of the post office machine canceller was moved forward
Additionally twin eight-cent stamps were purchased by the astronauts on the USS Okinawa the Apollo 15
recovery ship and affixed to these covers ndash as for the
Herrickrsquos covers In the shipboard post office the covers were then cancelled and date-stamped August 7 1971
The astronauts finally autographed these covers while flying from Hawaii to Houston
Soon after the flight the astronauts gave Eiermann
the 100 covers ndash after agreeing that there was to be
no commercialization or advertising of these covers and that nothing would be done with them until after
completion of the Apollo programme
But after a while news started to circulate that the
German dealer was selling in Europe covers flown on Apollo 15 for a reported average of US $1500 each
The reports infuriated Congress not least because congressmen had to read such controversial
information in the press before being informed by
NASA which is obligated to keep Congress fully informed of its activity Recollection of the Apollo 14
medallions incident must have echoed in the minds of certain members of Congress many of whom were
not fans of NASA anyway NASA started an internal investigation This was the most controversial
development of the Apollo Programme and although
most astronauts were involved to some degree NASA made an example of the Apollo 15 flight crew ldquoIt
was turning into a witch-huntrdquo recalled Scott ldquoOur bosses had abrogated their responsibilities and we
were left alone on a very wet dayrdquo
It is ironic that after addressing a joint session of
Congress as heroes in less that one year the three astronauts of Apollo 15 had to go back in front of these
same senators in disgrace because of this envelope scandal
After this ldquoincidentrdquo NASA prohibited from Apollo 17 on the flying of covers or stamps during a space
missions (they were not on time to block the covers carried on Apollo 16) The only exceptions have been
since then the items flown in cooperation with the US
Postal Service ie the 266000 covers carried in 1983 in
the payload bay of the Space Shuttle Challenger on
STS-8 and the 500000 $995 Express Mail stamp created by Paul and Chris Calle in 1994 flown on
Endeavour STS-68 in recognition of the 25th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing The huge
number of such items carried in space discourages
speculations and these items still are widely available for few dollars
So far fewer than 1000 envelopes in total have flown
to the Moon No other American covers will flow to the Moon in the foreseeable future Perhaps the next
ldquoMoon coversrdquo will bear Chinese or Indian stamps
Dave Scott was the first lunar Postmaster and had two
postmarks with him and two covers with imperforated dieproof of the US twin Decade of Space Achievements
stamps affixed (Fig 1)
He had one postmark with ldquoMoon Landing USArdquo (Fig 8 below) and another with ldquoUnited States on the
Moonrdquo (Fig 9 bottom)
The First Lunar Post Office was opened on August 2 1971 when David Scott postmarked only the official
cover (and brought back the official backup-cover uncancelled) A handful covers had however been
postmarked before launch with both postmarks Dr Matthew Radnofsky ndash who in his laboratory already
had simulated cancelling in space for Apollo 11 ndash
tested both postmarks to ensure that the cancellation devices were in working order
Especially the date could be changed easily Contrary
to Apollo 11 covers without stamps were used for
28
ORBIT
these tests Apollo 15 Lunar Cancellation Proofs are
much scarcer than Apollo 11 ones ldquoAs by now I am aware of only 17 itemsrdquo states famous astrophilatelist
Walter Hopferwieser Covers with proofs of the Apollo 15 moon postmarks have been recently sold at Regency
Superior and Aurora auctions
The official Apollo 15 cover postmarked on the Moon
(see Fig 1 repeated above ) is displayed at the US National Postal Museum It was publicly cancelled and
the video can be seen at httpwwwpostalmuseumsiedustampstakeflight
apollo15video-01html A short speech was given by
Dave Scott while cancelling the cover ldquoTo show that our good Postal Service has deliveries any place in the
universe I have the pleasant task of cancelling here on the Moon the first stamp of a new issue dedicated to
commemorate US achievements in space I have the
first one here on an envelope At the bottom it says United States in Space a decade of achievement and
Im very proud to have the opportunity here to play postman I pull out a cancellation device It says
August 2 1971 first day of issuehellip What could be a
better place to cancel this stamp than right here at Hadley Rillehelliprdquo
Immediately thereafter the Postmaster General who
was waiting at the Mission Control at Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston Texas gave the signal to start the
First- Day cancellations at post offices in Houston
Kennedy Space Center and Huntsville
Acknowledgement Thanks to Walter Hopferwieser for his comments
Some Notes About Space Mail
Commenting on Brian Vincentrsquos article in the June
2010 Orbit ASSS member Geoff Chivers writes in an
email to your Editorhellip Im sure you wont mind me commenting on Brian G Vincents Some Notes About Space Mail (page 36)
In paragraph 2 he refers to the Apollo 15 cover incident leaving the impression that Scott Worden and Irwin were guilty of some heinous crime This has been the subject of much miss-reporting over the years The full story of what actually happened is explained in depth at page 328 et seq of Two sides of the moon by David Scott and Alexei Leonov published by Simon amp Shuster The astronauts were of course exonerated
This is the quote (slightly edited to enable it to stand as an independent piece)-
During 1972 while on a trip to Washington DC George Low NASA deputy administrator asked me to stop by his
office writes David Scott I had known George in Houston while he was Apollo spacecraft programme manager and I had great respect for him We spent a short while exchanging pleasantries Then George looked me in the eye and came to the point ldquoWell Daverdquo he said ldquoI have to tell you I was not very proud of my performancerdquo His comment was the culmination of what had become known as the Apollo 15 ldquocover incidentrdquo This involved some first day postal covers which we had carried aboard Apollo 15 some of which were unfortunately sold by a German stamp dealer several months after the flight As No 2 in NASA George
had been heavily involved in NASAs handling of the incident and his comment referred to one of the poorest management performances the space agency had ever demonstrated - up to then The whole business had probably been building since Mercury through Gemini and into Apollo People had a fascination with objects that had been carried in space and they became more and more popular and valuable as the programme progressed Right from the start of the Mercury programme each astronaut had been allowed to carry on board a certain number of personal items in what were known as PPKS - Personal Preference Kits Before each flight a list of the items was prepared for Deke Slayton who
Two Sides of The Moon
by David Scott and Alexei Leonov
The text opposite from the
above book has been
referred to by Umberto Cavallaro in preparing his
above piece
29
ORBIT
had overall responsibility for approving them As the flights became more significant the number and type of items increased Aside from personal mementoes each crew had carried a certain number of medallions which they could hand out afterwards as souvenirs The number of medallions had grown steadily on each mission - eventually some crew members had been carrying several hundred each and their weight was becoming a concern And as always commercialisation began to creep in In the end on Apollo 14 commanded by Al Shepard it was alleged that the crew had carried some silver medallions on board which were to be melted down after the flight and mixed with many other commemorative medallions by the Franklin Mint to be sold to the general public The Franklin Mint had even advertised the proposed sale before the flight After the flight the deal was never consummated and all went quiet nothing about it was printed in the media But some members of Congress had heard about it and were unhappy with the situation Since we were busy training for Apollo 15 (launched 26 July 1971) we knew nothing about all this Had we known we would have been far more wary of what happened subsequently All we knew was that Deke Slayton had halved the number of medallions we could carry Shortly afterwards Deke introduced Jim (Irwin) Al (Worden) and me to a long-standing friend of his at the Cape called Walter Eiermann In retrospect this seems likely to have been more than a coincidence Deke invited us to join him at dinner at Eiermanns house one evening several months before the Apollo 15 launch Eiermann asked if we would like to make some money on the side by signing some stamps ldquoAll the guys are doing itrdquo he said We agreed We were also approached by several members of the Manned Spacecraft Centerrsquos stamp club who asked us to sign many first - day covers before the flight for their members as well as for ourselves At that time we could not buy life insurance If we signed some covers we reasoned they could be held during the flight and act as limited life insurance for our families if anything happened to us But then Eiermann proposed we carry four hundred lightweight commemorative covers a hundred of which would be passed on to a stamp dealer in Germany when we returned All the covers would be franked on the day of launch and franked on the day of our return Our understanding was that the dealer would hold his hundred covers to be sold at some future date after the Apollo programme was over In return he would set up a $6000 trust fund for each of us for the education of our children In the months of intense activity before the flight we did not give this more than a moment of thought But we agreed In retrospect we made a mistake in even considering it In the months following our mission we learnt that the German dealer had begun to sell the covers We let Eiermann know that we were opposed to the sale Forget the trust funds we said we dont want any money This is not what we had understood would happen But when senior managers at NASA learnt about the covers being sold they were furious Incomplete information was then provided to the press by NASArsquos Public Affairs Office and reports started to appear that we had smuggled the covers onto our flight This was literally impossible NASA personnel prepared us for every aspect of the flight - from our birthday suits out Everything we had carried had to be specially packaged by the flight support crew to make sure apart from anything else
that it was fireproof Everything in our PPKs was on a list which was certified before launch I was never aware of any rules about what could or could not be taken in these packs Slayton was to approve the list so as far as I was concerned it was up to management to keep us on the straight and narrow I assumed if the list was approved that was fine Usually the list was certified by Deke But before our flight for some reason he neither asked us personally for each of our lists as was customary nor signed off on the list personally He said the flight - crew support team had already logged everything Whereas we had purchased the covers ourselves the Astronaut Office at the Cape had prepared the covers for the flight and had had them stamped and franked on the day of launch Somehow however the support team had missed them when they prepared the PPK flight manifest It was also reported after the incident that we had been removed from the astronaut corps Again totally untrue Unfortunately NASA managers did nothing to dispel this false and misleading information They just tucked their heads in and let the rumours run The reports infuriated Congress not least because congressmen had to read such controversial information in the press before being informed by NASA which is obligated to keep Congress fully informed of its activities Recollections of the Apollo 14 medallion incident must have seeped into the minds of certain members of Congress many of whom were not fans of NASA anyway When NASA started an internal investigation we were told by a senior official in the agency that we were on our own We were advised to get our own legal representation A Senate hearing into the matter had been called and a justice Department investigation would follow It was turning into a witch - hunt NASA we were advised expected us to keep quiet and take the Fifth Amendment at this hearing We did not We told it like it was We had nothing to hide Eventually the Justice Department concluded that we had broken some administrative rules but had done nothing criminal NASA confiscated the remaining covers but they acted before discovering all the facts of the case Following an investigation by NASA the Justice Department and the Senate the Justice Department concluded on 6 December 1978 in a ldquoMemorandum Opinion for the Assistant Attorney Generalrdquo that NASA had no claim to the remaining covers that the covers were never intended for sale that there was no attempt at concealment by the crew of the fact that the covers were to be flown on Apollo 15 and finally that the covers would have been approved to carry aboard Apollo 15 had a request been made We were reprimanded and we took our licks But it was a very raw deal NASA had hung us out to dry Our bosses had abrogated their responsibilities and we were left alone on a very wet day I spent many years trying to get full access to NASA and congressional records on the case NASA refused to provide full disclosure We subsequently found out there had been rumblings about profitmdashmaking on previous missions A copy of a letter was released to me in which NASA admitted that ten other astronauts who were not identified had been involved in selling signed blocks of stamps and postcards for Eiermann But the wave reached the shore on Apollo 15 and we were the ones who bore the brunt of the blame for such incidents
30
ORBIT
Buckingham Cover offer Free Souvenirs for You
Brian Austin of Buckinghamrsquos Rare Cover Department writes to your Editorhellip
Over the last two or three years we have been dealing more and more in signed space covers This led us to earlier this year buying an Apollo 11 crew signed cover which had been carried to the moon which we had on display on our stand at London 2010
For this we also printed a limited edition of 800 sets of postcards one featuring the Apollo 11 cover and another
featuring an Apollo 15 cover The idea was to give away 100 sets per day to customers at the show but now the show is all finished I still have around 150 pairs left on my desk
We wondered if you would like to offer them to your readers we are happy to send them out free of charge to the first 150 readers to contact us with their details as long as we can also include one of our lists of space
covers
BrianAustinbuckinghamcoverscom
31
ORBIT
More About Missile Mail
Harvey Duncan told us in the last Orbit (page 15) about the First Official Missile Mail writes Bert van Eijck After the useful technical details about the USS Barbero he gave us I can offer you more philatelic information and show you some illustrations The missile mail experiment was a joint venture between
the Ministry of Defense and the US Post Office Dept headed by Postmaster General Mr Arthur E
Summerfield Three thousand special envelopes were printed with a reproduction of a Navy missile type
Regulus with the text ldquoFirst Official Missile Mailrdquo and above that ldquoThe Postmaster General Washingtonrdquo All
the envelopes were addressed to The President high
government officials like senators and to the Post Masters General of ninety nine other member nations of
UPU Inside was a letter from Mr Summerfield entitled ldquoThe First Official Missile Mailrdquo with the official seal of
the Post Office dept It was explained therein what had
happed to that letter and the other 2999
The special letters were loaded in two metal compartments and came aboard the guided missile USS Barbero (SSG-317) The shot was to occur during a regular training mission from Norfolk Virginia to Florida
About 350 kilometres off the coast of Florida the
Regulus missile was launched toward Airport Mayport
The missile climbed 10 km above the Atlantic and
landed within twenty minutes with all the letters intact The letters were cancelled with the hand stamp ldquoUSS
Barberordquo with the date ldquoJun 8 1959rdquo and the approximate timing of the launching ldquo930 amrdquo This
was done by post office staff part of an established
branch office on the USS Barbero The letters bore the 1957 4c American flag postage stamp Those
addressed to foreign countries carried two such stamps covering surface mail postage costs On the
reverse side is the Jacksonville Post Office cancellation with the approximate time of arrival ldquoJune 8 1030 am
1959 Floridardquo
Such flown letters are expensive to buy and a jewel in
any exhibit
But this is NOT the case with the Barbero souvenir
cover dated a month later on July 8 1959 issued in the same quantity (3000) as the originals The
inscription reads ldquoPoint of LandingmdashFirst Official Missile Mail 8 June 1959 US Naval Station Mayport Floridardquo
About 16000 () collectors had applied for such a cover
The imprint of the official Barbero cover was reproduced on a memorial cover issued and posted at
the Vienna International Airpost Exhibition Luposta on August 1959 in the Austrian capital Of course neither
of these items had been carried within the Regulus
missile
Also of interest the Postal Administration of
Paraguay issued a stamp
and a block in 1976 honouring the Barbero
Missile Mail The Gs 20 stamp shows a Regulus
missile in flight while the sheet shows the whole
addressed cover and in
miniature the complete letter inside from the US Postmaster General
as mentioned above and as illustrated below
Above a specimen envelope as described in the text and below its reverse cancel
32
ORBIT
An Invitation to Our Readers to Donate to an Innovative International Projecthellip
Kindest Sir or Madam
The municipality of Vitanje
(Slovenia) is honoured to have had a hand in the life of the
famous space architect Herman Potocnik Noordung
(1892-1929) (pictured right) who had already found a
surprising number of solutions
to space travel and troubles of living in vacuum long before
actual space flights took place His creations were used by the
renowned novelist Arthur C Clarke
in his book 2001 A Space Odyssey which was later also turned into a
movie directed by Stanley Kubrick In Noordungs honour we have
created the Memorial Centre of Herman Potocnik Noordung This
year the cultural centre of European
space technology will also get going in Vitanje This will be a place
where the European space heritage will be gathered and various events connected with the
contemporary European space technologies will be
organized
Proposed Philatelic Collection We would like to bring the project onto a higher level
where we would have the collaboration of various
countries in the world including such with a history in space travel (like USA Russia) One of the steps of this
expansion process would also include a philatelic collection of stamps with themes of outer space
(astronomy astronautics and everything connected to
outer space) We already have quite a decent collection but we would like to expand on that
Our goal is to have 6000 stamps before opening our
exhibition For this we would require the help of as many philatelists as possible
All of these philatelists would become co-creators and partners of this collection for which we hope will
become the largest collection of its kind in the world The people donating the stamps would get a great deal
of exposure at all these exhibitions and on the special
website which will be started shortly If you give us enough support and we are able to raise enough
stamps for a first-class collection we hope the first
exhibitions and various special events (like visits from
astronauts ndash philatelists) will see the light of day as early as in 2011
From a professional point of view we have an
excellent team working with us Long-time philatelist
Tone Petek is the person who initiated this project while Bojan Bracic the secretary of FEPA is one of our
counsellors and is completely behind this project
If you would be interested in such cooperation I will get the wheels in motion and send you a verifying
mail with the stamp of the municipality of Vitanje and
also of some higher organization within the Slovene political system
The collection is already underway with the help of the
Slovene Philatelic organisation (FZS) adds Rok in an email to your Editor in July This organisation has been of immense help with technical expertise and
connections It looks as if there might be an introductory exhibition next year sometime
In the hope of a successful partnership we offer our
sincere appreciation
Rok Podgrajsek
Obcina Vitanje Grajski trg 1
3205 Vitanje
Slovenia
Email address rokpodgrajsekgmailcom
But see also website httpwwwvitanjesi
(Editorrsquos Note both Wendy Buckle editor of
Themescene and our Chairman Margaret Morris commend this project to you We will be sending Rok
some recent copies of Orbit for the displays)
Some illustrations from Noordungrsquos only published text ldquoThe Problem of
Space Travel The Rocket Motorrdquo (the original German title
was ldquoDas Problem der Befahrung
des Weltraums - der Raketen-Motorrdquo) which saw the light of day
in 1928
Vitanje Local Private Post stamp
33
ORBIT
Zazzle Space Stamps Dazzle
I have noticed Zazzle Space Stamps appearing in Lollini brochures and on their web pages in recent months writes your Editor so I undertook to find out some facts about them and am grateful to The Astrophile Editor Jim Roth and the man who inspired him to create his own Zazzle designs Otto Bergman for the following infohellip Zazzle is one of half a dozen or more US companies
who facilitate the printing of non-copyrighted photos and artwork on private postage stamps which count
as postage within and outwith the USA You can
design your own Zazzle stampsmdashsee their websitemdashwhich you then purchase for your own use 20 to a
page
They are therefore a bit like British Smilers except
that the personal element of the stamp is not on a se-tenant label but actually incorporated within the
stamp itself as you can see from the examples on this page
Jim Roth was annoyed that the Kennedy Space Center Post office would not cancel his Zazzle stamps as they
consider them to be ldquometersrdquo and although he has marked STS-122 he wonrsquot be creating any others
You can see (and buy) all Jim Rothrsquos Space Zazzles on
his website m57coverscommdashclick on ldquostampsrdquo
Three of Jim Rothrsquos designs
See others on his website
An Otto Bergman space creation on
Zazzlecomottobergman
These space Zazzles and others are
available from the Lollini website or brochures
STS 128 in May 2010 section
STS 129 in June 2010
WISE and Delta 2 launch in July 2010 STS 130 in August 2010
STS 128 stamps show astronauts Christer Fuglesang (far left) and left Frank De Winne ISS Commander Expedition 21 STS 129 issues depict mission
patch and the crew led by Charles Hobaugh
Delta 2 rocket launch from Cape Canaveral of WISE Deep InfraRed telescope
34
ORBIT
Concluded on page 39
More Spaceflight Books for Sale
35
ORBIT ORBIT
SPACE HABITATS (Part Two) by John Beenen Continuing his feature from our last issue John Beenen begins by posing the questionhellip Why Should we Seek to Live
in Space
Spacecom gives ten main reasons why we should enter space for a prolonged
period
1 To secure a future for humanity
2 To build a new frontier
3 To find new energy sources
4 To build an industrial settlement on
the Moon
5 Better quality images of the
Universe
6 The SETI effort
7 Mining
8 Learning the history of our
Universe
9 Environmental benefits
Meeting the challenge
Taking for granted that it is naturally fascinating to investigate how mankind
might be able to maintain its habitat outside earth there are several further reasons to investigate why
mankind should settle themselves outside earth in the far future And More reasons mean a overall better
argument
Primarily there is the question of overpopulation and
secondly a solution for the energy problem
Next we have to consider that climate circumstances
are not under control anymore and earth eventually becomes uninhabitable
Also when for various reasons we start to kill each
other for some groups of people it may be an attractive proposition to depart this Earth in quite a different
sense And that is perhaps the most common thought
through activities in space more money can be obtained
But there are disadvantageshellip
On the other hand a prolonged stay in space is not that safe The construction must be protected against
radiation and it can be hit by large and small debris which makes space a very unsafe place
Furthermore cosmic radiation produces
a radiation of 80 mSv (millisievert) - well over the allowed maximum of 50
mSv and very much over the amount which is considered as safe for man
which is 3 mSv
Next solar flares produce a sudden
increase of soft gamma and energy rich radiation so much that without the
protection of an atmosphere half of our population could die easily
It is interesting that even without shielding most of this radiation can be
absorbed in the projected spacecraftsrsquo structure and in the air Smaller
structures can be protected with a
shield of co-rotating rocks
The construction further must be protected against sunlight which by
lack of the air shield will fall in unshielded so sun blinds and radiators
are indispensable
And as a result of the artificial gravity
there are some tiny movement problems which we will face later
Finally the created ecosystem should be fully self-supporting and that is easier said than done as
experiments with Biosphere-2 have showed
Biosphere-2 Biosphere-2 was a project built between 1987 and 1991 providing in an area of about 2frac12 football fields
a closed biological system of different composition From 1991-1993 a crew of 8 persons stayed herein A
second crew of 7 persons bridged a period of March
until September 1994 During the first period it appeared difficult to keep the atmosphere constant in
particular the carbon dioxide values changed rapidlymdashthe reason why many of the carried insects perished
Further the oxygen level decreased slowly because pf a leak
Even during the first two-year phase large differences in opinion appeared and the yield was not large
enough to deliver the calories necessary Reserve stocks had to be broken into Finally the second
experiment had to be ended prematurely because of
mismanagement
However it seems that a well-functioning stable ecosystem should not be underestimated physically
not technically
Artists impressions above Interior Stanford Torus and below Interior
OrsquoNeill Cylinder
Solar flares Czechoslovakia 1965 WB 47
36
ORBIT
It further has to be speculated on that men would resist
a regulated weather programme instead of the customary ever changing circumstances on Earth
Also we must physically resist an eternal stay outside
Earth That is not always easy as some people will show
some kind of sea sickness for ever In any case rooms with a diameter of less than 100 meters and a speed of
revolution over three per minute are insufficient At specifications of over 500 m and at less than 1 revolution
per minute fewer problems have to be expected
How do we get raw materials (Fantasy Moon Mining Yemen
Mutawakelite 1969 1343)
And still there have to be enough raw materials to sustain the
colony but as a principle the
search for raw materials is not the most difficult
From the asteroid belt enough small rocks can be
transported as a building material Also mines can be put
on the Moon Bercause of the lower gravity there transport is easier and some kind of firing mechanism
has been calculated which launch packets of ore simply into space where they can be manipulated
Air can be produced from moonstone Nitrogen nearly without loss can be recycled and eventually added to
ammonia mined from comets Large gardens and fields should start the normal photosynthesis and doing so
finally a complete sustainable society might be built up Energy from the Sun is present in superfluous quantities
What to do about gravity Most designs for a Space station start with a gravity of
1G Some designers however think that a lower level of gravity is possible But in the meantime experiments
with astronauts have showed that our physiology
changes rapidly influenced by decreased or absence of gravity Thus the calcium potassium and sodium
contents of our bone system decrease by about 10 That is not bad were we to stay in space forever but
very troublesome when occasionally we would return to
Earth
Also the quality of our muscles decreases as the blood volume does Providing effects comparable to aging
Further by lack of gravity astronauts become a little
taller with accompanying pain in the back Hence the staying with 1G gravity is not so bad
That has to be maintained by rotation of the
construction The larger the diameter of the construction is the slower it will turn to provide 1 G That is a result
of the centrifugal or centripetal force Its
magnitude has long been established thanks to the work of Dutchman Christiaan Huygens and fixed in
the formula
m v2
F = r where
F = the external force in N(ewton) m = mass in kg
v = speed in msec r = radius in m
Hence a spacecraft with a diameter of 15 meters has to carry out one revolution every 8 seconds to
produce a sensation of 1G And that is too quick for man The effect of the centrifugal force is that should
an astronaut drop an object it does not fall straight
down but partly away from himher Weird
Coriolis force But in a rotating Space station another force is at
work That is the lsquoCoriolis forcersquo named after the
French Gustave-Gaspard Coriolis (1792-1843) who described this kind of force for the first time
The most common manifestation is the second law of
Buys Ballot which says that air streams in the
atmosphere which according the first law of Boys Ballot as a principle run from high to low pressure at
the northern hemisphere are bent to the right and at the southern hemisphere to the left because of the
rotation of the Earth
Therefore air streams around depressions show a
spiral shape in opposite directions at the northern and southern hemisphere In a space station this
force can especially noticed when moving around through the spokes of the wheel
(Diagram of Coriolis F o r c e h t t p
wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm)
A s s u m e t h a t a n
astronaut on a ladder
climbs through a spoke to the axis As he climbs
along he circles around more slowly as he
describes a smaller circle
in the same time What happens with the difference in speed that he had before He will be pressed
against the ladder and that is the Coriolis force The force also acts in opposite direction when he
descends from the ladder
Also the throwing up and catching of a ball will
become a huge achievement as the ball does not
37
ORBIT
drop perpendicularly but will shift a little into the
direction of the orbit of the station and also achieves a higher speed
This also has strange effects on the astronaut As moves
quickly in the rotation direction of the station his weight
appears to increase to a noteworthy extent Then as he moves against the speed of rotation his weight
decreases apparently Mathematically this effect is explainable but very complex
Also the astronautrsquos head and feet move in different
speed to artificial gravity This is plainly noticeable when
somebody jumps up Hence avoid this practice
With these kind of effects adaptation to the changed circumstances in a space station will ask a lot of the
crew members I do hope they can stand it But in any
case the larger the space ship the lesser the problems
Inflatable stations
But therersquos more The inflatable station was considered
many years ago The first i d e a w a s p o s s i b l y
developed when on 12th August 1960 the Echo
balloon with a diameter of
30 meters was launched (Echo I balloon USA 1960
WB 3)
It is true you could not live in it as the balloon was of too frail a construction but the idea of an inflatable
spacecraft was then alive By 1958 groups within NASA
had begun to think about inflatable stations The Goett-committee has been one of the first On 25th26th May
1959 a conference started about projects after
Mercury In particular the
representative of Langley L a r r y Lo f t i n wa s
enthusiastic about his AMIS (Advanced Man in
Space) project (Hexagonal structure
Manama 1970 WB 113)
One of his first projects was a rotating hexagonal
inflatable construction with a diameter of 25 meters a cylindrical core and three lsquospokesrsquo Acting as a ferry to
and from the station the lsquoDyna Soarrsquo Space plane could
be used The Dyna Soar project (at that time still
under development) was cancelled by the American
Minister of Defense Robert
McNamara Inflatable Habitat NASA
1961 enwikipediaorg)
A Langley Space Station
team managed by Paul Hill and Emanuel lsquoMannyrsquo
Schnitzer developed the concept together with the
G o o d y e a r A i r c r a f t
Corporation
(Langleyrsquos self-inflating rotating hexagonal structure httphistorynasagov
SP-4308) Its original diameter had already been reduced to 10
meters
In the years after Langley built several experimental
modules called lsquoErectable Torus Manned Space Laboratoryrsquo a 11 model built by firms such as
Goodyear The torus was built from three layers of
nylon tissue and in between a rubber-like plastic material butyl elastomer A large problem was the
penetration by micrometeorites which as was learnt from the results of the Echo balloon finally damaged
the whole structure
Another problem was the great instability of the ring
due to movements of the astronauts the station started to wobble when they moved around Finally
the project was cancelled and at the end of the eighties the Langley Research Center started to
design inflatable constructions for a base camp on the
Moon
( A r t i s t imp r e s s i on Transhab inflatable
m o d u l e h t t p
enwikipediaorg)
Due to the development of a new series of
s t r o n g e r p l a s t i c materials such as Kevlar
these construct ions
received new interest That lead to the development of Transhab (Transit Habitat) as a resource for crews
coupled at the ISS (international Space Station) The construction is a cylinder in a diameter of 82 meters
and several storeys high
Its volume in inflatable state is 340 m3 The wall has a
thickness of 30 () cm and consists of 12 layers of which the outside layer is made from Kevlar The
layers beneath are made from Nextel a ceramic fibre Disagreements during development and the spiralling
costs finally in 2000 saw the end of NASArsquos interest
G e n e s i s 1
thespacereviewcom)
From 1999 the project was
taken up by Bigelow
38
ORBIT
Aerospace who improved the design and tested it with
successful launchings of Genesis I on 12 July 2006 and Genesis II on 28 June 2007
In their design it has once again more or less the shape
of a balloon With a thickness of 40 cm the wall is still
very thick The outside layer is still Kevlar but inside are some layers of Vectran a textile fibre Within the
structure ants and scorpions were launched along with some objects which people who paid for the privilege of
boosting into space
In this way Bigelow hopes to build a Space Hotel named
Nautilus To stimulate the development Bigelow offered a price of $50 million to everybody who succeeded in
launching a crew of 5 persons to an altitude of 400 km before 2010 So little money lost here so far
A second project which can be realized within the near future is a fixed residence on the Moon As said Langley
occupies itself with the design of such a base which partly should be build below the surface Stamp
designers have already realized the idea
What does the future hold Although we are a long way away from the kind of space station by which a large amount of earth inhabitants can
leave the planet Earth forever the first steps for doing
so are in preparation With the development of their Space Hotel Bigelow tries to make the step to space
albeit a temporary one
Also Langley literally tries to set foot on the Moon and
finally they will succeed in doing so However The cost of such projects are literally astronomical and it is not
expected that in the coming decades much money can be allocated to such projects
Of course in some thousands of years (possibly only in
hundreds of years) this will become the case but for the
time being in my opinion the true conquest of space will stay as science-fiction for at least a few hundred years
Hoorn 2009
John Beenen
NB The stamps entitled lsquoSpace Cityrsquo with a value of 0 cnt do not exist but have been made by the author by means of frames and pictures present at the Internet
Fantasy Moon
b a s e M a n a -ma1970 WB 122
Fantasy bases
ready for Mars
YAR 1971 WB 2892 and 6
Fantasy Modular
base YAR 169 WB 233
39
ORBIT
Cover Below bottom right Future space Dutch Antilles 2000
Literature references (for both parts of article) httpenwikipediaorg Space habitat Space Colonization Orbital Colony Space City Space settlement Space stations L5 Society Bernal Sphere Stanford Torus OrsquoNeil Cylinder Inflatable Space Habitat Transhab Biosphere 2 Generation Ship wwwdsenl~hklruimtehtm Wonen op groene eilanden in de Ruimte (Dutch Living on green Islands in Space) Henry Kluytmans wwworionsarmcom McKendree Cylinder Bishops Ring wwwnasnasagovAboutEducationSpaceSettlement The Colonization of Space wwwdyarstraightscommsgundamhabitatshtml Mobile Suit Gundam High Frontier Life in the Universal Century Developing sound habitats wwwartificial-gravitycomDissertation1_2htm From Tsiolkovsky to Sputnik (1878-1957) httpsciencenasagovheadlinesy2000ast26may_1mhtm Wheels in the Sky httpdiscaircraftgreyfalconus Hermann Noordung Wohnrad (Wheel for Habitation) httparticlesadsabsharvardedufull1992lbsaconf249R Inflatable habitation for the lunar base MRoberts httphistorynasagovSP-4308ch9htm lsquoAs inevitable as the Rising Sunrsquo From the inflatable Torus to the Rotating Hexagon wwwspacecomnewsbusinessmonday_040524html Bigelow Aerospace to tackle inflatable Space Habitats httpsciencehowstuffsworkcominflatable-spacecraft2htm How Inflatable Spacecraft Will Work wwwbogancaphysicscoriolishtml Rotating Space Stations Dynamics An Explanation of the Coriolis Force httpdemonstrationswolframcomRotatingSpaceStation Rotating Space Station wwwdvandomcomcoliolisspacestationhtml Frame Effects and Space Stations wwwdvandomcomcoriolisindexhtml A (hopefully) simple explanation of the Coriolis Force wwwdaviddarlinginfoencyclopedia Hale Edward Everett von Pirquet Guido Noordung Hermann Space Station wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm The Coriolis Force wwwastronautixcomcraftfamlunbaseshtm Lunar bases wwwastronautixcomgallerycspebasehtm Photo Gallery Space base wwwregererating-universeorgOn_Moon_as_Space_Basehtm On Moon as Space Base wwwspacefuturecomhabitatlivingshtml Space Habitat Introduction Living in Space wwwspacepagebevideotaak=bekijkampid=47 Living in space (Video) wwwnutricomspace The Case for Space colonization ndash Now Oscar Falconi wwwxentcompipermailfork (FoRK) Bigelowrsquos inflatable Genesis I satellite in orbit wwwrussianforcesorg Russian strategic nuclear forces (Genesis II) wwwbigelowaerospacecomgenesis Genesis I Genesis II
Thanks to Alan Tunnicliffe who came across the attached news item
complete with stamp in the eNZ Magazine the bi-monthly journal of
the Institution of Professional Engineers NZ Inc Vol 11 No 3 May-
June 2010
Vaccari Auction Sells Remarkable Space Covers April 2010
Apollo 12 cover 55 of 87 flown to the moon on Apollo 15 having been left behind by the original crew sold for euro12200 1977 Salyut
6 Soyuz 27 cover sold for euro1600
40
ORBIT ORBIT
Shuttle 1981mdash2010 Stamps Marshall
Islands 2005
United Nations 2007 Monaco and Ascension 2008
Bulgaria 1991 including stamp from souvenir sheet
USA 1981
below USA 1995 and bottom USA 1998
(two values)
St Vincent Grenadines 1983
Ascension 1989
Bulgaria 1990
and above right W Germany 1975
and USA 2000 Guyana 2006
USA 1995
41
ASSS Membership Renewal 2010
Memberrsquos Name amp Addresshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
I wish to renew my membership of the ASSS for a further year and enclose the equivalent of
pound15 (UK) euro30 (Europe) $US 45 (Rest of the World)
Please return this form with your remittance to Harvey Duncan by the
end of July Thank you
Harvey Duncan Treasurer ASSS 16 Begg Avenue
Falkirk Scotland FK1 2DL
PayPal For details of how to Pay via Paypal
please email Jeff Dugdale Email address on Page 2
42
43
44
10
ORBIT ORBIT
2 The Moon Second Quadrant (North-West) We learn from our main source Atlas of the Universe by
Patrick Moore (Philiprsquos 1999)helliphellip
Selected Craters illustratedhellip
Archimedes (Diam 75 km Lat degN 30 Long degW 4) A large impact crater on the Eastern edges of the Mare Imbrium with Montes Archimedes mountains to the South Named after the Greek mathematician and scientist who lived c 287mdash212 BC
(San Marino 1982)
Copernicus (Diam 97 km Lat degN 10 Long degW 20)
A prominent feature named after the famous Polish astronomer (1473mdash1543) and located in the eastern Oceanus Procellarum this is estimated to be around 800 million years old and is typical of craters of that period having a very clear ray
system (Soviet Union 1973)
The Naming of Craters Einstein (Diam 160 km Lat degN 18 Long degW 86)
A large crater which lies along the Western limb of the Moon therefore difficult to observe from Earth and discovered only in 1952 by Patrick Moore Named after the German theoretical physicist and philosopher (1879-1955) (India 1979)
Encke (Diam 32 km Lat degN 5 Long degW 37) Located on the W edge of Mare Insularum to the S SE of crater Kepler Named after German astronomer Johann Frank Encke (1791-1865) (Comoros Isles 1986)
Euler (Diam 25 km Lat degN 23 Long degW 29) Located in the southern half of the Mare Imbrium its most notable nearby feature is Mons Vinogradov to the W-SW Named after Leonard Euler (1707mdash83) the Swiss mathematician and physicist (E Germany 1950)
J Herschel (Diam 145 km Lat degN 62 Long degW 41) A large walled plain which appears foreshortened when viewed from Earth Named after British mathematician chemist and astronomer Sir John Herschel (1792mdash1871) (Centre of GB 1970 )
Kepler (Diam 35 km Lat degN 8 Long degW 38) This lies between the Oceanus Procellarum to the W and Mare Insularm in the E with crater Encke to the SE Named after German mathematician and astronomer Johannes Kepler (1571mdash1630) (Czech Rep 2009)
Lavoisier (Diam 71 km Lat degN 36 Long degW 70) Located near the NW limb at the W edge of Oceanus Procellarum this lies to the SW of crater von Braun and SE of Bunsen Named in honour of ldquothe Father of Modern Chemistryrdquo the French chemist Antoine Lavoisier (1743mdash1794) (France 1943)
Le Verrier (Diam 25 km Lat degN 40 Long degW 20) A small nearly circular bowl shaped feature in the N part of the Mare Imbrium just E of the larger Helicon Named for the French mathematical astronomer Urbain Le Verrier (1811mdash1877) (France 1958)
11
ORBIT
Otto Struve (Diam 160 km Lat degN 25 Long degW 75) This is a vast lava flooded plain near the W
edge of Oceanus Procellarum close the W limb of the Moon and so appears foreshortened Named in honour of German astronomers Friedrich von Struve (Russian VY Struve) (1793-1864) and son (Otto) and grandson (Otto) (USSR 1964) Pythagoras (Diam 113 km Lat degN 65 Long degW 65)
This prominent feature lies near the NW limb just NW of the somewhat larger
Babbage It has an oval appearance due to the oblique viewing angle from Earth and only part of it can be viewed from Earth Named after Greek philosopher Pythagoras of Samos (c 570mdashc 495 BC) ( S a n M a r i n o 1982)
Babbage (Diam 143 km Lat degN 60 Long degW 57) An ancient crater located near the NW
l i m b n a m e d a f t e r B r i t i s h mathematician philosopher and computing pioneer Charles Babbage (1791mdash1871) (GB 2010)
Hevelius (Diam 122 km Lat degN 2 Long degW 67) This is a low-rimmed crater on
the W edge of the Oceanus Procellarum named after Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius (1611mdash1687) - ldquothe founder of lunar topographyrdquo (Poland
1987) Plato (Diam 97 km Lat degN 51 Long degW 9) The lava-filled remains of a crater on the NE shore of Mare Imbrium at the W
extremity of Montes Alpes named after the Classical Greek philosopher and mathematician (c 428mdashc 348 BC) (Greece 1998)
Schiaparelli (Diam 29 km Lat degN 23 Long degW 59) A small crater on the W part of Oceanus Procellarum to the W of Herodotus and named after Giovanni Schiaparelli(1835-
1910) Italian astronomer and science historian famous for his misinterpreted comments re ldquocanalirdquo on Mars (Hungary 1974)
12
ORBIT
ASTEROIDS Some Bits and Pieces
Ulugh Beigh (Diam 70 km Lat deg29 2 Long degW 85) The remnant of a crater just to the W of Oceanus Procellarum near the NW limbmdashforeshortened from the Earth Named after Ulugh Beg Persian ruler and astronomermathemat ic ian (Turkey 1983) Von Braun (Diam 60 km Lat deg41 2
Long degW 78) Named after rocket pioneer Wernher von Braun (1912-77) this is located near the NW limb on the W edge of Oceanus Procellarum and to the NE of Lavoisier (Guinea Biussau 2006)
Uncatalogued Hungarian Stamp Referenced in Spaceflight Article
The June 2010 issue of Spaceflight magazine contained
a five page article by Naacutendo
Schuminszky celebrating the first Hungarian in space whose
flight in Soyuz 36 occurred 30 years beforeon 26th May 1980
A side panel to the article
reproduced right contains
images of a pair of stamps with two subtle differencesmdashin
bottom left hand corner the date ldquo1979rdquo and ldquo1980rdquo and
rightmdashthe face value The
article goes on to explain how unexpected events delayed the
flight by a year Hungarian cosmonaut Bertalan Farkas was
due to be launched in mid-June
1979 in Soyuz 34 but his flight was cancelled following the
failure of Soyuz 33 carrying Bulgarian cosmonaut Georgi Ivanov to dock with Salyut 6 Soyuz 34 was eventually
launched unmanned to provide a fresh ferry for the resident crew to use
In anticipation of the 1979 flight a large number of associated souvenirs including posters emblems and
stamps had been prepared but had to be destroyed though evidently some escaped
However the 1979 version of the eventual SG 3320 is not listed in WEEBAU or Gibbons If any members have
any info about these unissued stamps please share it with us
More on Lunar Craters Our Chairman Margaret Morris forwarded the article opposite from the March 1989 issue of Sky amp Telescope which is of interest in the context of our new series explaining as it does how several Far Side craters have been named after astronauts and cosmonauts
Orbit for June 2010
Our last issue contained one glaring error for which your editor apologises The number on the front ldquo85rdquo was the same as the number for the March issue This will cause
problems when Harvey Duncan issues the next version of the index A lovely cover again by your Editorrsquos wife but spoiled by this typo Sorry
Flown STS-8 Covers These are referred to at the bottom of the left hand column of p 27 of this edition in Umberto Cavallarorsquos article where we learn that there were well over a quarter of a million of them
Alan Tunnicliffe editor of NZ Air Mail News advises that New Zealand stamp dealer JRMowbray has for sale at NZ $75 a piece flown STS-8 space covers date stamped 14 Aug 1983 at KSC with launch and return cancels and bearing a $935 stamp NZ$75 = US$53 or pound35 This seems a rather high price for flown STS-8 covers given the number available and members will possibly be able to obtain the item cheaper with an internet search
Solar Sails and The Sun Peter Hoffman comments on John Beenenrsquos feature on The Sun in our June 2010 issuehellip ldquoIn the Solar Sails section on page 8 mention is made of the failed launch of Cosmos-1 What is not mention is that is was a project of The Planetary Society httpwwwplanetaryorghome They are working on a new version called LightSail the first of which is planned for a launch later this year In case you are not familiar with it The Planetary Society is a privately funded space advocacy group founded in part by Carl Sagan ldquoThe Planetary Society yearly presents the Cosmos Award for Outstanding Public Presentation of Science in honour of Carl Sagan This years winner was Stephen Hawking They printed his acceptance speech Why go into space An amusing comment was a quote from a Calvin and Hobbes cartoon Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere is that none of it has tried to contact us ldquoThe Japanese Space Agency launched its solar sail spacecraft IKAROS (Interplanetary Kite-Craft Accelerated by Radiation Of the Sun) together with its Venus Climate Orbiter Akatsuki on 20 May You can read about it at httpwwwspacecommissionlaunchesjapan-venus-wrap-100520htmlrdquo
13
ORBIT
14
ORBIT
Spaceflight Books for Sale
Books about Space andor Astronomy in English
The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Space 1990 386 pages coffee table book euro 1500
Life in Space D Monchersquo 1979 ldquo 500
The Conquest of Space Willy Ley amp Chesley Bonestell+pictures 1952 RARE ldquo 2000
Star Hunters D Mammana 1990 coffee table book ldquo 1000
The Rocket David Baker 276p+490pictures 1978 coffee table book classic ldquo 2000
The History of Manned Spaceflight David Baker 576p+362pictures 1985coffeerdquo 2000
The Observerrsquos Spaceflight Directory R Turnill 384p 1978 ldquo 1000
The Observerrsquos Book of Unmanned Spaceflight+Manned Spaceflight 1974+1975 ldquo 1000
The Observerrsquos Book Of Astronomy Patrick Moore 1973 ldquo 500
Basic Astronomy Patrick Moore 1967 ldquo 300
Space a Novel James A Michener pocket Ballantine 1983 ldquo 250
Voyagers Ben Bova 1983 pocket ldquo 250
The Universe Herbert Zim 1973 ldquo 200
Exploring Other Worlds WyberampAmes 1968 ldquo 200
Tomorrowrsquos Moon Henry Little 1969 ldquo 200
Observatories of the World Marx amp Pfau 1982 ldquo 1000
Are We Alone Paul Davis Penquin 1995 ldquo 250
Moonport USA (Kennedy Space Center) 1977 ldquo 250
Living in Space (Colonies) J Trefil 1981 ldquo 500
The Cosmonauts Gordon Hooper 1977 ldquo 250
Extraterrestrials-Where Are They Zuckerman ampHart 1995 ldquo 1000
The Cosmic Connection Carl Sagan pocket 1975 ldquo 300
Exploring the Planets Ian Nicolson 1972 ldquo 250
Janersquos pocket Book 11 Space Exploration 1976 ldquo 300
Twenty-First Report Internat Telecomm Union Geneva 1982 ldquo 250
Satellites amp Space Travel Taylor ampAllward 1970 ldquo 200
Watchers of the Stars Patrick Moore 1974 ldquo 500
Robot Explorers Kenneth Garland 1972 ldquo 500
APOLLO by astronaut Alan Bean+paintings Bean in space 1998 coffeetable ldquo 2000
The World of Mars VA Firsoff 1969 ldquo 200
Missiles and Rockets Kenneth Garland ldquo 500
Stars and Planets Ian Ridpath 1978 ldquo 500
Race to Mars The ITN Mars Flight Atlas 1988 ldquo 500
Worlds Beyond Search for Life in Space Ian Ridpath 1975 ldquo 500
CETI Communication with Extraterrestrial Intelligence Stonelay 1976 ldquo 250
Horizon at the Edge of the Universe 9 chapters of astronomers 1983 ldquo 300
The New Race for Space James Oberg 1984 ldquo 500
The Hunt for Life on Mars Goldsmith 1998 ldquo 500
The High Road Ben Bova pocket 1983 ldquo 250
Operation Morning Light the True Story of Cosmos 954 Leo Heaps 1978 ldquo1000
Space Volunteers T Kay 1960 ldquo 300
Legal Aspects of Outer Space Dr C Reijnen 1976 205 pages the Worldrsquos
First Thesis of this Kind by female Dutch scholar ldquo 400
E-MAIL bertvaneijckhomenl if interested in any to discuss sale and postage
See further list on page 24
15
ORBIT
The above obituary and tribute by David Shayler
appeared in the August 2010 of Spaceflight magazine marking the passing of Rex Hall who was also one of
the longest standing members of the ASSS carrying
the membership number 88033 We extend our condolences to Rexrsquos family
16
ORBIT
Un-manned Satellites on Postage Stamps 35 By Guest Contributors Don Hillger and Garry Toth
A version of this article first appeared in The Astrophile for sic)
The Discoverer series
This is the thirty-fifth in a series of articles about un-manned satellites on postage stamps This article
features the satellites in the US Air Force (USAF) Discoverer series The first Discoverer was launched
on 21 January 1959 and the last one on 18 April 1962
There were a total of 39 launches a third (or 13) of which were failures The Discoverer series also called
Corona satellites were later declassified as the first Keyhole (KH) spy satellites
Discoverer was the public name of the Corona series
of film-return reconnaissance spy satellites whose true
mission was not officially revealed until about 35 years after the program ended The Discoverers secret
program was masked by scientific goals it was kept secret even from program staff who knew nothing
about Corona Scientific instruments were even placed
on Discoverer satellites and then covertly removed before launch
The Discoverer satellites were designed to take pictures
of target countries and then eject a film capsule
which was to de-orbit and enter the Earthrsquos atmosphere on a parachute and be recovered by a
specially-modified aircraft as it floated downward On many of the missions however the capture of the film
capsules was not successful for various reasons The first successful return of a capsule through the Earths
atmosphere occurred with Discoverer-13 though in this
case the aerial capture failed and the capsule fell into the sea Fortunately that mission carried no cameras
Discoverer-14 was the first completely successfully Corona mission in which reconnaissance photos were
taken from the spy satellite and ejected in a capsule
which was then successfully recovered in a mid-air capture carried out by a C-119 aircraft
Because of secret nature of their mission the
Discoverer satellites were not well-known and so were not featured on many postal items A set of three
stamps issued by Libya in 1966 (Scott 297-299) shows
a Discoverer capsule There is also a local post item from Batum that depicts the recovery of a Discoverer
capsule and a souvenir sheet from Chad (Michel BL247) that shows the re-entry of a Discoverer capsule
in the margin Another capsule recovery is shown in
the margin of a souvenir sheet issued by the Malagasy Republic in 1999 (Scott 1502a)
A checklist of postal items identified as showing Discoverer-
series satellites (httprammbciracolostateedudevhillgerDiscovererhtm) is available as part of the Website developed by the authors to accompany this series of articles (httprammbciracolostateedudevhillgersatelliteshtm) E-mail correspondence is welcome Don Hillger can be reached at hillgerciracolostateedu and Garry Toth at garry_tothhotmailcom
Top KH-4B Corona satellite Above Recovery of Discoverer 14 return capsule (typical for
the Corona series (ex Wikipedia)
17
ORBIT
18
ORBIT
Flight STS-130 Commander George Zamka Pilot Terry Virtis MS Kathryn Hire MS Stephen Robinson MS Nicholas Patrick MS Robert Behnken MS Koichi Wakata KSC Launch Date 822010 KSC Landing 21210 Purpose Tranquility Module Main Payload and Cupola
Shuttle Story 201011 STSndash130 -131 -132 Part One
STS-130 (ISS assembly flight 20A) via Endeavour carried as its
primary payloads the Tranquility module and the Cupola a robotic control station with six windows around its sides and
another in the centre providing a 360-degree view around the station Endeavour launched at 0414 EST (0914 UTC) on 8
February 2010 and landed at 2220 EST on 21 February 2010 on
runway 15 at the Kennedy Space Centers Shuttle Landing Facility
Tranquility was shipped from the
Thales Alenia Space facility in
Turin Italy It arrived at Kennedy Space Center on 21 May 2009 It
was formerly known as Node 3 and was named by a NASA poll
The module provides six berthing locations however three of those
locations are disabled as modules
originally planned to be attached to Tranquility were cancelled The
photo right shows Tranquility just before being installed to Unity node
STS-130 also brought the Cupola a large window
module and robotics work station to the ISS which was
to be attached to the nadir-
side of Tranquility The module also includes various
ISS systems including addit iona l l i fe support
systems This photo shows the facility being prepared at KSC whilst the photo above right
shows the module and cupola being moved into position on the
ISS
The shape of the mission patch on the launch
cover below represents the cupola over the earth in a photo taken by the unmanned
Lunar Orbiter probe in 1966 so representing a past and future designation for explorers from
Earth
For other Zazzle stamps
see page 33
19
ORBIT
Flight STS-131 Commander Alan Pointdexter Pilot James Dutton MS Rick Mastracchio MS Dorthy Metcalf- Lindenburger MS Stephanie Wilson MS Naoko Yamakazi MS Clayton Anderson KSC Launch Date 5410 KSC Landing 20410 Purpose MPLM Leonardo Main Payload
STS-131 (ISS assembly flight 19A) via Discovery launched on 5
April 2010 from Kennedy Space Centers launch pad 39A and landed at 908 AM on 20 April 2010 on runway 33 at the Kennedy
Space Centers Shuttle Landing Facility The mission marked the longest flight for space shuttle Discovery
The primary payload was a Multi-Purpose Logistics Module loaded with supplies and equipment for the ISS The mission also
removed and replaced an ammonia tank assembly outside the station on the S1 truss The mission also included several on-
board payloads this mission had the most payloads since STS-
107
The primary payload of STS-131 was MPLM Leonardo filled with food and science supplies and also carried the third and final
Minus Eighty Degree Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI) Window Orbital Research Facility (WORF) one Crew Quarters Rack the
Muscle Atrophy Resistive Exercise (MARES) rack Resupply
Stowage Racks (RSRs) as well as Resupply Stowage Platforms (RSPs) The Lightweight Multi-Purpose Equipment Support
Structure Carrier (LMC) carried a refurbished Ammonia Tank Assembly (ATA) to the ISS The refurbished ATA was removed
from the Space Station and returned for use on this mission
during STS-128 It was swapped with an empty tank which will ride home on the LMC
This mission was the second flight of the TriDAR a 3D dual-
sensing laser camera intended for potential use as an
autonomous rendezvous and docking sensor TriDAR provides guidance information that can be used to guide a vehicle during
rendezvous and docking operations in space TriDAR does not rely on any reference markers such as reflectors positioned on
the target spacecraft
This was the final Space Shuttle mission that contains one or
more rookie astronauts the missions after this will have all- veteran crews
STS-131 was only the third mission in the Space Shuttle
programme to carry three female astronauts
the others being STS-40 and STS-96
With three female crew members arriving on board Discovery and Expedition 23 Flight
Engineer Tracy Caldwell Dyson at the station
the STS-131 mission marked the first time that four women have been in space at one
time
STS-131 marked the first time that two
Japanese astronauts Naoko Yamazaki from the Shuttle crew and Soichi Noguchi on the
ISS had been in space together
Although Naoko Yamazaki is not the last non-
US astronaut Naoko was the last Japanese astronaut to fly the space shuttle
MPLM Leonardo can
be seen in the shuttle cargo bay
The seven stars either side of our
sun represent the
crew members
The shuttlersquos orientation indicates
it is performing the Rendezvous Pitch
Manoeuvre which
allows the ISS to photograph its
underbelly
20
ORBIT
Flight STS-132 Commander Kenneth Ham Pilot Dominic Antonelli MS Michael Good MS Garret Reisman MS Piers Sellars MS Stephen Bowen KSC Launch Date 1452010 KSC Landing 2652010 Purpose Delivery of Russian Main Payload Rassvet Module
STS-132 (ISS assembly flight ULF4) docked with the ISS on May
16 2010 It was launched from the Kennedy Space Center on May 14 2010 The primary payload is the Russian Rassvet Mini-
Research Module along with an Integrated Cargo Carrier-Vertical Light Deployable (ICC-VLD) STS-132 is scheduled to be the
final flight of Space Shuttle Atlantis provided that the STS-335
Launch On Need rescue mission is not flown
Rassvet means dawn in Russian The module was built
by Russian aerospace company
Energia and arrived at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC)
aboard an Antonov 124 cargo plane on 17 December 2009
After it was unloaded from the Antonov the module was
transported to an Astrotech processing bay in Cape Canaveral to
undergo preparations for launch shown in this photo
An airlock and radiation heat exchanger to be used for outfitting the Russian Nauka Module (to be launched in 2012) a spare
elbow part of the European Robotic Arm (ERA) and a portable
work platform for science hardware for performing experiments in outer space were externally mounted on Rassvet in its launch
configuration Russian and US cargo delivered was also accommodated inside the module The volume for cargo and
science inside MRM1 is 5 cubic meters] Rassvet was outfitted
with ISS standard grapple fixtures that allowed the module to be unloaded from the payload bay of Atlantis using the stations
robotic arm
The ICC pallet is constructed of aluminum It is approximately 8 feet long 13 feet wide and 10 inches thick The empty weight of
the pallet is 2645 pounds The total weight of ICCndashVLD and the ORUs is approximately 8330 pounds ICC-VLD return mass is
2933 kilograms (6470 lb)
The ICC-VLD was berthed in the centre of the
payload bay for both launch and re-entry
In the photo above Rassvet is shown centre top
The mission patch shows Atlantis flying off into the sunset as the end of the shuttle
programme approaches
21
ORBIT
By Andreacute Scheer and Margaret Morris This fascinating structure is an octagonal pentelic marble tower on the Roman agora or marketplace in Athens It was supposedly built by the astronomer Andronicus of Kyrrhos c 50 BC but according to other sources might have been constructed in the 2
nd
century BC before the rest of the forum The structure is 12 metres high with a diameter of approximately 8 metres On each of the eight sides (aligned with the eight principal points of the compass) is a sculpture featuring the wind gods and below each sculpture is engraved a sundial Thus the tower served as a solar clock but additionally in the interior was a water-clock (clepsydra) driven by water coming down from the Acropolis There were mechanical hour indicators and displays for the seasons of the year with astrological dates and periods The tower was topped in antiquity by a weather-vane in the shape of a triton with a wand which pointed at whichever of the winds was blowing The tower must have been one of the most useful structures in the agora as it showed the time for civilian purposes and indicated the wind direction for merchants awaiting the arrival of a ship The earliest philatelic items to depict this unusual building are postal stationery postcards originating from 1900 when the Greek postal authorities organised a competition for photographers and artists The best pictures were selected for issue and on 1 July 1901 the first series of 32 cards was issued In total 12 series of 32 cards each were issued between then and 20 March 1903 The cards were issued in three colours (chestnut black and green) with imprinted stamps of two values (5 lepta green for national mail and 10 lepta red for international mail) The cards additionally have an impressed stamp without colour on the left side being 10 lepta for the card itself so the cards were sold for 15 and 20 lepta The design of the imprinted stamps was based on the Hermes (Mercury) statue by Giovanni da Bologna During the war on the Balkans the cards were used by the Greek army and have an extra imprint ndash Carte Postale ndash Franchise Militaire A few examples of these postal stationery postcards are illustrated opposite and on page 23 The wording ldquoLrsquohorloge de Kyrrhestesrdquo refers to the timepiece built by Andronicus of Kyrrhos while ldquoTEMPLE DrsquoEOLErdquo translates as ldquoTemple of Aeolusrdquo (Aeolus = god of the winds) For each card 12 versions can be distinguished ndash ie 3 colours x 2 values x 2 usages For fuller information see reference no 1 Of course numerous picture postcards also feature this interesting structure
The Tower of the Winds The Oldest Planetarium on Stamps and
Postal Stationery
Front and back of postal stationery postcard
Examples of Greek postal stationery from the early 20th
century
Front and back of postal stationery postcard
22
ORBIT
The 19423 issues (SG 561-572) of Greece shown beside the 1973 Dominica souvenir sheet whose designer has
reinterpreted the divine sculptures in the margins
Boreas also on the 100d value in black and grey
Skiron
Zephyrus in two 25d vals
orange and green
Lips
Notus
Eurus
Apeliotes in two 10d vals red brown and red orange
Kaikias in two 50d vals black and grey violet and blue
Wind Direction Name of Deity Characteristics of the Sculpture North Boreas An old man wearing heavy clothing and holding a conch shell This wind was cold fierce and
stormy and in Athens made a loud hollow noise
North East Kaikias Old man with severe expression holding circular shield from which he will drop hailstones Weather characteristically cloudy wet and cold
East Apeliotes Young man with hair flowing in every direction holding a cloak full of fruit and grain ndash he brings gradual gentle rain
South East Eurus Old man with morose countenance wrapped tightly against the elements in his cloak This wind brought sultry gloomy weather with much rain
South Notus Young man emptying an urn and producing a shower of water This wind was associated with sultry very wet weather
South West Lips Boy pushing the stern of a ship promising a good sailing wind This was the wind which blew right into Piraeus harbour
West Zephyrus Beautiful lightly clad youth of happy aspect holding a cloak full of flowers In summer this wind brought very sultry weather
North West Skiron Bearded man with a bronze pot full of hot ashes and charcoal This was a dry wind extremely cold in winter but scorching and with lightning in summer
The following table gives details of the sculptures and the characteristics attributed to each of the wind gods
For fuller information see reference no 2
23
ORBIT
The sculptures of the eight winds were depicted on stamps of Greece issued in 1942 (six designs) and 1943 (again six designs ndash four as the previous issue but including the two omitted winds) Five values were surcharged in 1944 to aid victims of the Piraeus bombing of 11 January 1944 the exceptionally high face value resulted in few of these stamps being used Later in 1944 the same five values were surcharged in aid of a Childrenrsquos Convalescent Camp Fund Finally in 1946 two values of the 1942 issue were surcharged ndash the 10dr value in black and the 50dr revalued as 20dr in red See opposite for examples of the stamp designs In addition to these attractive engraved stamps the 1973 issue from Dominica commemorating the centenary of the World Meteorological Organisation included a miniature sheet incorporating the 50c and $1 values and surrounded in the margin by images of all eight wind sculptures (see page 22) More recently the cover of a booklet issued by Greece on 7 October 1988 provides an aerial view of the agora and the Tower of the Winds can be detected (see below) The booklet contains 16 stamps (4 each of 4 different values) and celebrates capitals of Greek provinces In early Christian times the building was used as the bell tower of a Byzantine Church It was partly buried in the ground until fully excavated in the 19
th century by the
Archaeological Society of Athens It is interesting to note that the design of the upper octagon of the 18th century Radcliffe Observatory in Oxford England is based on the Tower of the Winds as is the mausoleum of the founder of the Greek National Library Panayis Vagliano at West Norwood Cemetery London There is a similar tower in Sevastopol built in 1849 References
1 ldquoEntiers Postaux Illustreacutes du service des postes
helleacuteniques et leurs preacutecurseursrdquo Georges Mathas 1985
2 For finely detailed drawings and information about the sculptures you may care to see if your Library has a copy of ldquoThe Antiquities of Athensrdquo Stuart amp Revett Vol 1 published in London 1762
3 Article by Derek J de Solla Price in ldquoNational
Geographic April 1967 pp587-596 4 Much useful information may also be obtained from
sites on the internet
Examples of Overprints from left to right
1944 Piraeus Bombing Aid 1944 Childrenrsquos convalescent camp fund 1946 Surcharge
Below Cover of the 1988 stamp booklet
Front and back of postal stationery postcard
24
ORBIT
Old Photo Makes New(s) Story
A photo taken twenty-one years ago became hot international new(s) this July writes Bert van Eijck
It is a picture of your correspondent in front of the
monument on the graves of the seven astronauts killed
in the Challenger disaster The photo from November 1989 shows the national cemetery at Arlington in
Washington DC And it is this graveyard a national American field of pride and honour that was involved in
a scandal making news all over the world
What happened This became a hot story after it was leaked to the press that in 211 graves on Arlington the wrong corpse had
been buried But this disgrace grew to international
proportions when the US Senate published a report which revealed that it was not 211 but 6600 graves that
had been so dishonoured And maybe there are more the researchers stated
Consequently it meant that family members had been paying their respect at the wrong graves because many
were not marked well or the ground-plan directed to wrong places
Arlingtonrsquos director John Metzler was fired as was his
depute Thurman Higginbotham both of whom said
they knew there were made mistakes but they could not help ldquobecause of economyrdquo
Arlington cemetery was opened in 1864 Since then
300000 Americans have been buried here including
famous or well-known persons like presidents
ministers high ranked military artists judges and
astronauts
And what about some of the most recent ones Did I indeed visit and honour the seven Challenger astronauts in their last resting place on Earth in
November 1989 as shown on the photo Or are they perhaps mistakenly buried in another
unmarked grave This is hard to believe but one never knowshelliphellip
For those who wonder what was doing 21
years ago in the US capital I visited the
World Stamp Exporsquo89 at the Convention Center in Washington DC Of course I did
more sightseeing at and in the famous Smithsonian Museums (a must the
National AirampSpace Museum with 10
million visitors a year) the Capitol the metro (deepest in the world) George
Washingtonrsquos house in Vernon Arlington of course and much more
At the World Stamp Expo there was a
presentation of both USA and USSR space
stamps The American stamps were presented by astronaut Buzz Aldrin the
Soviet stamps by cosmonaut Gherman Titov
Author and the Challenger astronauts monument at Arlington seven figures in bronze (left) At right a plaque honoring US-soldiers killed in action saving
hostages in Iran
Astronaut Buzz Aldrin (left) presents the US space stamps while cosmonaut Gherman Titov (right) does the same with
Soviet space stamps In the middle officials of USPS Below the
stampshellip
25
ORBIT
The Apollo 15 Cover Scandal by Umberto Cavallaro
In a feature which first appeared in the April-June 2010 issue of Ad Astra the web journal of the Italian Astrophilatelic Association its editor reveals in considerable detail the full story of those covers which today sell for so much money The Apollo 15 flown covers are among the best known
collectibles from the Apollo Era mainly because of what Jim Irwin recalls as ldquothe problem we brought
back from the Moonrdquo
The crew of Apollo 15 carried out one of the most complete scientific explorations of the Moon the first
lunar roving vehicle was operated on the Moon to
extend the range of exploration some 180 pounds of lunar surface samples were returned for analysis Yet
Fifteen is best remembered as the crew that carried envelopes to the moon and the whole mission is
remembered for the ldquogreat postal caperrdquo
Apollo 15 was not the first mission to carry covers
dozens were carried on each flight from Apollo 11 onwards and as Commander Dave Scott recalls in his
book the whole business had probably been building since Mercury through Gemini and into Apollo People
had a fascination with objects that had been carried in space and they became more and more popular and
valuable as the programme progressed Right from
the start of the Mercury programme each astronaut had been allowed to carry on board a certain number
of personal items
NASA was in the habit of authorizing astronauts to
carry certain personal items on manned flights known as Astronautsrsquo PPK (Personal Preference Kits) All such
items had to be listed and approved by Deke Slayton the Head of the Astronaut Office prior to launch and
were intended for private use or as personal gifts
after the flight and could not be employed for commercial
Fig 1 The official USPS cover postmarked on the Moon
purposes or personal gain Astronaut kits typically
included badges jewellery coins medals flags stamps postal covers currency printed materials and
similar easily packed lightweight mementoes As the flight became more significant the number and type of
items increased
Aside from personal mementoes each crew had
carried medallions whose number had grown steadily on each mission In his book The All-American Boys astronaut Walter Cunningham reveals that it was rumoured around the Astronaut Office that Apollo 14
carried on board a personal package weighing forty-
two pounds Before that flight the Franklin Mint had even advertised the proposed sale After the flight the
commercial deal was never completed and all went quiet nothing about it being published in the media
But some members of the US Congress were unhappy
of the situation
In that context the ldquolapses of judgmentrdquo of the Apollo 15 crew became fatal Dave Scott went too far
carrying on board a total of 641 postal covers (including the two official covers) of which only 243
were listed and authorized before the flight and 398
were not -- secretly carried on board Apollo 15 by Scott in a pocket of his space suit Had they been
listed as being in Scotts PPK they would probably have been routinely approved for inclusion in the
preference kit
The 243 listed and authorized covers include
bull 2 official US Postal Service covers one of which the ldquoOfficial Coverrdquo was publicly cancelled on the
moon by Scott at the request of the US Postal
Service 10 (Fig 1) bull 1 Wright Brothers commemorative cover dated
1928 and autographed by Orville Wright which was carried by Worden for a friend
bull 1 cover bearing a First Man on the Moon stamp and a Bliss Centennial three-cent stamp carried by
Irwin for Barbara Baker (Fig 2 below)
26
ORBIT
8 Shamrock covers carried by Irwin (as below)
144 Herrickrsquos ldquoMoon Phasesrdquo covers carried by Worden
(Fig 4) printed with a cachet showing 15 phases of the moon On the USS Okinawa the Apollo 15 recovery ship
the astronauts placed two eight-cent stamps purchased
on board by Worden on each of these covers and they had the covers cancelled by the shipboard post office
The astronauts later autographed these covers while flying back from Hawaii to Houston Sixteen covers were
torn or damaged and were destroyed Because of the furore created by the Apollo 15 covers incident NASA
confiscated 61 of these 144 Moon Phases covers
87 Apollo 12 covers (Fig 5) that for unknown reason
did not fly on that mission and which were carried on
Apollo 15 for Mrs Barbara Gordon a stamp collector then wife of Richard Gordon Apollo 12 astronaut who
at was the back-up pilot for Apollo 15
The 398 unauthorized covers (initially there were
400 but 2 were damaged and discarded) are lightweight envelopes carrying as a cachet a replica
of the official Apollo 15 patch overprinted with an Air Force wing and propeller emblem
The idea of these additional covers was suggested during a cocktail party by Eiermann a salesman for
the heat-shield contractor who had frequent business and social contacts with NASA personnel and
astronauts He suggested to fly 400 lightweight covers 100 for each of the astronauts and 100 for
his friend Sieger the German stamp dealer The
cacheted covers were provided by Al Bishop a friend of many astronauts then at the Howard
Hughes organization He had already provided covers for the previous flights since Apollo 12
Above one of the 100 Sieger covers with the handwritten note ldquoLanded at Hadley Moon July 30 1971 On the
reverse is a typed and notarised inscription ldquoThis is to certify that this cover was on board the Falcon at the Hadley-
Apennine Moon July 30 ndashAug 2 1971rdquo
Below one of the 298 unauthorised covers carried to the Moon by David Scott with the inscription ldquoThis envelope was
carried to the Moon aboard the Apollo 15 of 300 to the Lunar Surface in LMrdquoFalconrdquo
The crews usually returned to Bishop a couple of
flown covers signed with gratitude ldquoTo my
knowledge ndash Cunningham reports in his well documented book ndash Bishop never sold any and never
made a dime off his relationship He was simply a fan To Al Bishop Apollo 15 was no different from any
other flight except for a phone call he received from
Hal Collins the Astronaut Office manager at the Cape
27
ORBIT
Collins told Bishop that the crew would like to know
whether he could obtain some very lightweight envelopes for them Al said that hed be happy to do so
He was unaware then that many of them would be smuggled on board the next lunar flight Al was trusted
Thats why many of us imposed on him with our
problems special requests and sometimes matters which we would rather not share with NASArdquo
This time Al was badly used he emerged as a
scapegoat and his name was dragged as though he was the Mr Big of an international stamp conspiracy
The covers were cancelled at Kennedy Space Center
several days before July 26 1971 The date of the post office machine canceller was moved forward
Additionally twin eight-cent stamps were purchased by the astronauts on the USS Okinawa the Apollo 15
recovery ship and affixed to these covers ndash as for the
Herrickrsquos covers In the shipboard post office the covers were then cancelled and date-stamped August 7 1971
The astronauts finally autographed these covers while flying from Hawaii to Houston
Soon after the flight the astronauts gave Eiermann
the 100 covers ndash after agreeing that there was to be
no commercialization or advertising of these covers and that nothing would be done with them until after
completion of the Apollo programme
But after a while news started to circulate that the
German dealer was selling in Europe covers flown on Apollo 15 for a reported average of US $1500 each
The reports infuriated Congress not least because congressmen had to read such controversial
information in the press before being informed by
NASA which is obligated to keep Congress fully informed of its activity Recollection of the Apollo 14
medallions incident must have echoed in the minds of certain members of Congress many of whom were
not fans of NASA anyway NASA started an internal investigation This was the most controversial
development of the Apollo Programme and although
most astronauts were involved to some degree NASA made an example of the Apollo 15 flight crew ldquoIt
was turning into a witch-huntrdquo recalled Scott ldquoOur bosses had abrogated their responsibilities and we
were left alone on a very wet dayrdquo
It is ironic that after addressing a joint session of
Congress as heroes in less that one year the three astronauts of Apollo 15 had to go back in front of these
same senators in disgrace because of this envelope scandal
After this ldquoincidentrdquo NASA prohibited from Apollo 17 on the flying of covers or stamps during a space
missions (they were not on time to block the covers carried on Apollo 16) The only exceptions have been
since then the items flown in cooperation with the US
Postal Service ie the 266000 covers carried in 1983 in
the payload bay of the Space Shuttle Challenger on
STS-8 and the 500000 $995 Express Mail stamp created by Paul and Chris Calle in 1994 flown on
Endeavour STS-68 in recognition of the 25th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing The huge
number of such items carried in space discourages
speculations and these items still are widely available for few dollars
So far fewer than 1000 envelopes in total have flown
to the Moon No other American covers will flow to the Moon in the foreseeable future Perhaps the next
ldquoMoon coversrdquo will bear Chinese or Indian stamps
Dave Scott was the first lunar Postmaster and had two
postmarks with him and two covers with imperforated dieproof of the US twin Decade of Space Achievements
stamps affixed (Fig 1)
He had one postmark with ldquoMoon Landing USArdquo (Fig 8 below) and another with ldquoUnited States on the
Moonrdquo (Fig 9 bottom)
The First Lunar Post Office was opened on August 2 1971 when David Scott postmarked only the official
cover (and brought back the official backup-cover uncancelled) A handful covers had however been
postmarked before launch with both postmarks Dr Matthew Radnofsky ndash who in his laboratory already
had simulated cancelling in space for Apollo 11 ndash
tested both postmarks to ensure that the cancellation devices were in working order
Especially the date could be changed easily Contrary
to Apollo 11 covers without stamps were used for
28
ORBIT
these tests Apollo 15 Lunar Cancellation Proofs are
much scarcer than Apollo 11 ones ldquoAs by now I am aware of only 17 itemsrdquo states famous astrophilatelist
Walter Hopferwieser Covers with proofs of the Apollo 15 moon postmarks have been recently sold at Regency
Superior and Aurora auctions
The official Apollo 15 cover postmarked on the Moon
(see Fig 1 repeated above ) is displayed at the US National Postal Museum It was publicly cancelled and
the video can be seen at httpwwwpostalmuseumsiedustampstakeflight
apollo15video-01html A short speech was given by
Dave Scott while cancelling the cover ldquoTo show that our good Postal Service has deliveries any place in the
universe I have the pleasant task of cancelling here on the Moon the first stamp of a new issue dedicated to
commemorate US achievements in space I have the
first one here on an envelope At the bottom it says United States in Space a decade of achievement and
Im very proud to have the opportunity here to play postman I pull out a cancellation device It says
August 2 1971 first day of issuehellip What could be a
better place to cancel this stamp than right here at Hadley Rillehelliprdquo
Immediately thereafter the Postmaster General who
was waiting at the Mission Control at Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston Texas gave the signal to start the
First- Day cancellations at post offices in Houston
Kennedy Space Center and Huntsville
Acknowledgement Thanks to Walter Hopferwieser for his comments
Some Notes About Space Mail
Commenting on Brian Vincentrsquos article in the June
2010 Orbit ASSS member Geoff Chivers writes in an
email to your Editorhellip Im sure you wont mind me commenting on Brian G Vincents Some Notes About Space Mail (page 36)
In paragraph 2 he refers to the Apollo 15 cover incident leaving the impression that Scott Worden and Irwin were guilty of some heinous crime This has been the subject of much miss-reporting over the years The full story of what actually happened is explained in depth at page 328 et seq of Two sides of the moon by David Scott and Alexei Leonov published by Simon amp Shuster The astronauts were of course exonerated
This is the quote (slightly edited to enable it to stand as an independent piece)-
During 1972 while on a trip to Washington DC George Low NASA deputy administrator asked me to stop by his
office writes David Scott I had known George in Houston while he was Apollo spacecraft programme manager and I had great respect for him We spent a short while exchanging pleasantries Then George looked me in the eye and came to the point ldquoWell Daverdquo he said ldquoI have to tell you I was not very proud of my performancerdquo His comment was the culmination of what had become known as the Apollo 15 ldquocover incidentrdquo This involved some first day postal covers which we had carried aboard Apollo 15 some of which were unfortunately sold by a German stamp dealer several months after the flight As No 2 in NASA George
had been heavily involved in NASAs handling of the incident and his comment referred to one of the poorest management performances the space agency had ever demonstrated - up to then The whole business had probably been building since Mercury through Gemini and into Apollo People had a fascination with objects that had been carried in space and they became more and more popular and valuable as the programme progressed Right from the start of the Mercury programme each astronaut had been allowed to carry on board a certain number of personal items in what were known as PPKS - Personal Preference Kits Before each flight a list of the items was prepared for Deke Slayton who
Two Sides of The Moon
by David Scott and Alexei Leonov
The text opposite from the
above book has been
referred to by Umberto Cavallaro in preparing his
above piece
29
ORBIT
had overall responsibility for approving them As the flights became more significant the number and type of items increased Aside from personal mementoes each crew had carried a certain number of medallions which they could hand out afterwards as souvenirs The number of medallions had grown steadily on each mission - eventually some crew members had been carrying several hundred each and their weight was becoming a concern And as always commercialisation began to creep in In the end on Apollo 14 commanded by Al Shepard it was alleged that the crew had carried some silver medallions on board which were to be melted down after the flight and mixed with many other commemorative medallions by the Franklin Mint to be sold to the general public The Franklin Mint had even advertised the proposed sale before the flight After the flight the deal was never consummated and all went quiet nothing about it was printed in the media But some members of Congress had heard about it and were unhappy with the situation Since we were busy training for Apollo 15 (launched 26 July 1971) we knew nothing about all this Had we known we would have been far more wary of what happened subsequently All we knew was that Deke Slayton had halved the number of medallions we could carry Shortly afterwards Deke introduced Jim (Irwin) Al (Worden) and me to a long-standing friend of his at the Cape called Walter Eiermann In retrospect this seems likely to have been more than a coincidence Deke invited us to join him at dinner at Eiermanns house one evening several months before the Apollo 15 launch Eiermann asked if we would like to make some money on the side by signing some stamps ldquoAll the guys are doing itrdquo he said We agreed We were also approached by several members of the Manned Spacecraft Centerrsquos stamp club who asked us to sign many first - day covers before the flight for their members as well as for ourselves At that time we could not buy life insurance If we signed some covers we reasoned they could be held during the flight and act as limited life insurance for our families if anything happened to us But then Eiermann proposed we carry four hundred lightweight commemorative covers a hundred of which would be passed on to a stamp dealer in Germany when we returned All the covers would be franked on the day of launch and franked on the day of our return Our understanding was that the dealer would hold his hundred covers to be sold at some future date after the Apollo programme was over In return he would set up a $6000 trust fund for each of us for the education of our children In the months of intense activity before the flight we did not give this more than a moment of thought But we agreed In retrospect we made a mistake in even considering it In the months following our mission we learnt that the German dealer had begun to sell the covers We let Eiermann know that we were opposed to the sale Forget the trust funds we said we dont want any money This is not what we had understood would happen But when senior managers at NASA learnt about the covers being sold they were furious Incomplete information was then provided to the press by NASArsquos Public Affairs Office and reports started to appear that we had smuggled the covers onto our flight This was literally impossible NASA personnel prepared us for every aspect of the flight - from our birthday suits out Everything we had carried had to be specially packaged by the flight support crew to make sure apart from anything else
that it was fireproof Everything in our PPKs was on a list which was certified before launch I was never aware of any rules about what could or could not be taken in these packs Slayton was to approve the list so as far as I was concerned it was up to management to keep us on the straight and narrow I assumed if the list was approved that was fine Usually the list was certified by Deke But before our flight for some reason he neither asked us personally for each of our lists as was customary nor signed off on the list personally He said the flight - crew support team had already logged everything Whereas we had purchased the covers ourselves the Astronaut Office at the Cape had prepared the covers for the flight and had had them stamped and franked on the day of launch Somehow however the support team had missed them when they prepared the PPK flight manifest It was also reported after the incident that we had been removed from the astronaut corps Again totally untrue Unfortunately NASA managers did nothing to dispel this false and misleading information They just tucked their heads in and let the rumours run The reports infuriated Congress not least because congressmen had to read such controversial information in the press before being informed by NASA which is obligated to keep Congress fully informed of its activities Recollections of the Apollo 14 medallion incident must have seeped into the minds of certain members of Congress many of whom were not fans of NASA anyway When NASA started an internal investigation we were told by a senior official in the agency that we were on our own We were advised to get our own legal representation A Senate hearing into the matter had been called and a justice Department investigation would follow It was turning into a witch - hunt NASA we were advised expected us to keep quiet and take the Fifth Amendment at this hearing We did not We told it like it was We had nothing to hide Eventually the Justice Department concluded that we had broken some administrative rules but had done nothing criminal NASA confiscated the remaining covers but they acted before discovering all the facts of the case Following an investigation by NASA the Justice Department and the Senate the Justice Department concluded on 6 December 1978 in a ldquoMemorandum Opinion for the Assistant Attorney Generalrdquo that NASA had no claim to the remaining covers that the covers were never intended for sale that there was no attempt at concealment by the crew of the fact that the covers were to be flown on Apollo 15 and finally that the covers would have been approved to carry aboard Apollo 15 had a request been made We were reprimanded and we took our licks But it was a very raw deal NASA had hung us out to dry Our bosses had abrogated their responsibilities and we were left alone on a very wet day I spent many years trying to get full access to NASA and congressional records on the case NASA refused to provide full disclosure We subsequently found out there had been rumblings about profitmdashmaking on previous missions A copy of a letter was released to me in which NASA admitted that ten other astronauts who were not identified had been involved in selling signed blocks of stamps and postcards for Eiermann But the wave reached the shore on Apollo 15 and we were the ones who bore the brunt of the blame for such incidents
30
ORBIT
Buckingham Cover offer Free Souvenirs for You
Brian Austin of Buckinghamrsquos Rare Cover Department writes to your Editorhellip
Over the last two or three years we have been dealing more and more in signed space covers This led us to earlier this year buying an Apollo 11 crew signed cover which had been carried to the moon which we had on display on our stand at London 2010
For this we also printed a limited edition of 800 sets of postcards one featuring the Apollo 11 cover and another
featuring an Apollo 15 cover The idea was to give away 100 sets per day to customers at the show but now the show is all finished I still have around 150 pairs left on my desk
We wondered if you would like to offer them to your readers we are happy to send them out free of charge to the first 150 readers to contact us with their details as long as we can also include one of our lists of space
covers
BrianAustinbuckinghamcoverscom
31
ORBIT
More About Missile Mail
Harvey Duncan told us in the last Orbit (page 15) about the First Official Missile Mail writes Bert van Eijck After the useful technical details about the USS Barbero he gave us I can offer you more philatelic information and show you some illustrations The missile mail experiment was a joint venture between
the Ministry of Defense and the US Post Office Dept headed by Postmaster General Mr Arthur E
Summerfield Three thousand special envelopes were printed with a reproduction of a Navy missile type
Regulus with the text ldquoFirst Official Missile Mailrdquo and above that ldquoThe Postmaster General Washingtonrdquo All
the envelopes were addressed to The President high
government officials like senators and to the Post Masters General of ninety nine other member nations of
UPU Inside was a letter from Mr Summerfield entitled ldquoThe First Official Missile Mailrdquo with the official seal of
the Post Office dept It was explained therein what had
happed to that letter and the other 2999
The special letters were loaded in two metal compartments and came aboard the guided missile USS Barbero (SSG-317) The shot was to occur during a regular training mission from Norfolk Virginia to Florida
About 350 kilometres off the coast of Florida the
Regulus missile was launched toward Airport Mayport
The missile climbed 10 km above the Atlantic and
landed within twenty minutes with all the letters intact The letters were cancelled with the hand stamp ldquoUSS
Barberordquo with the date ldquoJun 8 1959rdquo and the approximate timing of the launching ldquo930 amrdquo This
was done by post office staff part of an established
branch office on the USS Barbero The letters bore the 1957 4c American flag postage stamp Those
addressed to foreign countries carried two such stamps covering surface mail postage costs On the
reverse side is the Jacksonville Post Office cancellation with the approximate time of arrival ldquoJune 8 1030 am
1959 Floridardquo
Such flown letters are expensive to buy and a jewel in
any exhibit
But this is NOT the case with the Barbero souvenir
cover dated a month later on July 8 1959 issued in the same quantity (3000) as the originals The
inscription reads ldquoPoint of LandingmdashFirst Official Missile Mail 8 June 1959 US Naval Station Mayport Floridardquo
About 16000 () collectors had applied for such a cover
The imprint of the official Barbero cover was reproduced on a memorial cover issued and posted at
the Vienna International Airpost Exhibition Luposta on August 1959 in the Austrian capital Of course neither
of these items had been carried within the Regulus
missile
Also of interest the Postal Administration of
Paraguay issued a stamp
and a block in 1976 honouring the Barbero
Missile Mail The Gs 20 stamp shows a Regulus
missile in flight while the sheet shows the whole
addressed cover and in
miniature the complete letter inside from the US Postmaster General
as mentioned above and as illustrated below
Above a specimen envelope as described in the text and below its reverse cancel
32
ORBIT
An Invitation to Our Readers to Donate to an Innovative International Projecthellip
Kindest Sir or Madam
The municipality of Vitanje
(Slovenia) is honoured to have had a hand in the life of the
famous space architect Herman Potocnik Noordung
(1892-1929) (pictured right) who had already found a
surprising number of solutions
to space travel and troubles of living in vacuum long before
actual space flights took place His creations were used by the
renowned novelist Arthur C Clarke
in his book 2001 A Space Odyssey which was later also turned into a
movie directed by Stanley Kubrick In Noordungs honour we have
created the Memorial Centre of Herman Potocnik Noordung This
year the cultural centre of European
space technology will also get going in Vitanje This will be a place
where the European space heritage will be gathered and various events connected with the
contemporary European space technologies will be
organized
Proposed Philatelic Collection We would like to bring the project onto a higher level
where we would have the collaboration of various
countries in the world including such with a history in space travel (like USA Russia) One of the steps of this
expansion process would also include a philatelic collection of stamps with themes of outer space
(astronomy astronautics and everything connected to
outer space) We already have quite a decent collection but we would like to expand on that
Our goal is to have 6000 stamps before opening our
exhibition For this we would require the help of as many philatelists as possible
All of these philatelists would become co-creators and partners of this collection for which we hope will
become the largest collection of its kind in the world The people donating the stamps would get a great deal
of exposure at all these exhibitions and on the special
website which will be started shortly If you give us enough support and we are able to raise enough
stamps for a first-class collection we hope the first
exhibitions and various special events (like visits from
astronauts ndash philatelists) will see the light of day as early as in 2011
From a professional point of view we have an
excellent team working with us Long-time philatelist
Tone Petek is the person who initiated this project while Bojan Bracic the secretary of FEPA is one of our
counsellors and is completely behind this project
If you would be interested in such cooperation I will get the wheels in motion and send you a verifying
mail with the stamp of the municipality of Vitanje and
also of some higher organization within the Slovene political system
The collection is already underway with the help of the
Slovene Philatelic organisation (FZS) adds Rok in an email to your Editor in July This organisation has been of immense help with technical expertise and
connections It looks as if there might be an introductory exhibition next year sometime
In the hope of a successful partnership we offer our
sincere appreciation
Rok Podgrajsek
Obcina Vitanje Grajski trg 1
3205 Vitanje
Slovenia
Email address rokpodgrajsekgmailcom
But see also website httpwwwvitanjesi
(Editorrsquos Note both Wendy Buckle editor of
Themescene and our Chairman Margaret Morris commend this project to you We will be sending Rok
some recent copies of Orbit for the displays)
Some illustrations from Noordungrsquos only published text ldquoThe Problem of
Space Travel The Rocket Motorrdquo (the original German title
was ldquoDas Problem der Befahrung
des Weltraums - der Raketen-Motorrdquo) which saw the light of day
in 1928
Vitanje Local Private Post stamp
33
ORBIT
Zazzle Space Stamps Dazzle
I have noticed Zazzle Space Stamps appearing in Lollini brochures and on their web pages in recent months writes your Editor so I undertook to find out some facts about them and am grateful to The Astrophile Editor Jim Roth and the man who inspired him to create his own Zazzle designs Otto Bergman for the following infohellip Zazzle is one of half a dozen or more US companies
who facilitate the printing of non-copyrighted photos and artwork on private postage stamps which count
as postage within and outwith the USA You can
design your own Zazzle stampsmdashsee their websitemdashwhich you then purchase for your own use 20 to a
page
They are therefore a bit like British Smilers except
that the personal element of the stamp is not on a se-tenant label but actually incorporated within the
stamp itself as you can see from the examples on this page
Jim Roth was annoyed that the Kennedy Space Center Post office would not cancel his Zazzle stamps as they
consider them to be ldquometersrdquo and although he has marked STS-122 he wonrsquot be creating any others
You can see (and buy) all Jim Rothrsquos Space Zazzles on
his website m57coverscommdashclick on ldquostampsrdquo
Three of Jim Rothrsquos designs
See others on his website
An Otto Bergman space creation on
Zazzlecomottobergman
These space Zazzles and others are
available from the Lollini website or brochures
STS 128 in May 2010 section
STS 129 in June 2010
WISE and Delta 2 launch in July 2010 STS 130 in August 2010
STS 128 stamps show astronauts Christer Fuglesang (far left) and left Frank De Winne ISS Commander Expedition 21 STS 129 issues depict mission
patch and the crew led by Charles Hobaugh
Delta 2 rocket launch from Cape Canaveral of WISE Deep InfraRed telescope
34
ORBIT
Concluded on page 39
More Spaceflight Books for Sale
35
ORBIT ORBIT
SPACE HABITATS (Part Two) by John Beenen Continuing his feature from our last issue John Beenen begins by posing the questionhellip Why Should we Seek to Live
in Space
Spacecom gives ten main reasons why we should enter space for a prolonged
period
1 To secure a future for humanity
2 To build a new frontier
3 To find new energy sources
4 To build an industrial settlement on
the Moon
5 Better quality images of the
Universe
6 The SETI effort
7 Mining
8 Learning the history of our
Universe
9 Environmental benefits
Meeting the challenge
Taking for granted that it is naturally fascinating to investigate how mankind
might be able to maintain its habitat outside earth there are several further reasons to investigate why
mankind should settle themselves outside earth in the far future And More reasons mean a overall better
argument
Primarily there is the question of overpopulation and
secondly a solution for the energy problem
Next we have to consider that climate circumstances
are not under control anymore and earth eventually becomes uninhabitable
Also when for various reasons we start to kill each
other for some groups of people it may be an attractive proposition to depart this Earth in quite a different
sense And that is perhaps the most common thought
through activities in space more money can be obtained
But there are disadvantageshellip
On the other hand a prolonged stay in space is not that safe The construction must be protected against
radiation and it can be hit by large and small debris which makes space a very unsafe place
Furthermore cosmic radiation produces
a radiation of 80 mSv (millisievert) - well over the allowed maximum of 50
mSv and very much over the amount which is considered as safe for man
which is 3 mSv
Next solar flares produce a sudden
increase of soft gamma and energy rich radiation so much that without the
protection of an atmosphere half of our population could die easily
It is interesting that even without shielding most of this radiation can be
absorbed in the projected spacecraftsrsquo structure and in the air Smaller
structures can be protected with a
shield of co-rotating rocks
The construction further must be protected against sunlight which by
lack of the air shield will fall in unshielded so sun blinds and radiators
are indispensable
And as a result of the artificial gravity
there are some tiny movement problems which we will face later
Finally the created ecosystem should be fully self-supporting and that is easier said than done as
experiments with Biosphere-2 have showed
Biosphere-2 Biosphere-2 was a project built between 1987 and 1991 providing in an area of about 2frac12 football fields
a closed biological system of different composition From 1991-1993 a crew of 8 persons stayed herein A
second crew of 7 persons bridged a period of March
until September 1994 During the first period it appeared difficult to keep the atmosphere constant in
particular the carbon dioxide values changed rapidlymdashthe reason why many of the carried insects perished
Further the oxygen level decreased slowly because pf a leak
Even during the first two-year phase large differences in opinion appeared and the yield was not large
enough to deliver the calories necessary Reserve stocks had to be broken into Finally the second
experiment had to be ended prematurely because of
mismanagement
However it seems that a well-functioning stable ecosystem should not be underestimated physically
not technically
Artists impressions above Interior Stanford Torus and below Interior
OrsquoNeill Cylinder
Solar flares Czechoslovakia 1965 WB 47
36
ORBIT
It further has to be speculated on that men would resist
a regulated weather programme instead of the customary ever changing circumstances on Earth
Also we must physically resist an eternal stay outside
Earth That is not always easy as some people will show
some kind of sea sickness for ever In any case rooms with a diameter of less than 100 meters and a speed of
revolution over three per minute are insufficient At specifications of over 500 m and at less than 1 revolution
per minute fewer problems have to be expected
How do we get raw materials (Fantasy Moon Mining Yemen
Mutawakelite 1969 1343)
And still there have to be enough raw materials to sustain the
colony but as a principle the
search for raw materials is not the most difficult
From the asteroid belt enough small rocks can be
transported as a building material Also mines can be put
on the Moon Bercause of the lower gravity there transport is easier and some kind of firing mechanism
has been calculated which launch packets of ore simply into space where they can be manipulated
Air can be produced from moonstone Nitrogen nearly without loss can be recycled and eventually added to
ammonia mined from comets Large gardens and fields should start the normal photosynthesis and doing so
finally a complete sustainable society might be built up Energy from the Sun is present in superfluous quantities
What to do about gravity Most designs for a Space station start with a gravity of
1G Some designers however think that a lower level of gravity is possible But in the meantime experiments
with astronauts have showed that our physiology
changes rapidly influenced by decreased or absence of gravity Thus the calcium potassium and sodium
contents of our bone system decrease by about 10 That is not bad were we to stay in space forever but
very troublesome when occasionally we would return to
Earth
Also the quality of our muscles decreases as the blood volume does Providing effects comparable to aging
Further by lack of gravity astronauts become a little
taller with accompanying pain in the back Hence the staying with 1G gravity is not so bad
That has to be maintained by rotation of the
construction The larger the diameter of the construction is the slower it will turn to provide 1 G That is a result
of the centrifugal or centripetal force Its
magnitude has long been established thanks to the work of Dutchman Christiaan Huygens and fixed in
the formula
m v2
F = r where
F = the external force in N(ewton) m = mass in kg
v = speed in msec r = radius in m
Hence a spacecraft with a diameter of 15 meters has to carry out one revolution every 8 seconds to
produce a sensation of 1G And that is too quick for man The effect of the centrifugal force is that should
an astronaut drop an object it does not fall straight
down but partly away from himher Weird
Coriolis force But in a rotating Space station another force is at
work That is the lsquoCoriolis forcersquo named after the
French Gustave-Gaspard Coriolis (1792-1843) who described this kind of force for the first time
The most common manifestation is the second law of
Buys Ballot which says that air streams in the
atmosphere which according the first law of Boys Ballot as a principle run from high to low pressure at
the northern hemisphere are bent to the right and at the southern hemisphere to the left because of the
rotation of the Earth
Therefore air streams around depressions show a
spiral shape in opposite directions at the northern and southern hemisphere In a space station this
force can especially noticed when moving around through the spokes of the wheel
(Diagram of Coriolis F o r c e h t t p
wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm)
A s s u m e t h a t a n
astronaut on a ladder
climbs through a spoke to the axis As he climbs
along he circles around more slowly as he
describes a smaller circle
in the same time What happens with the difference in speed that he had before He will be pressed
against the ladder and that is the Coriolis force The force also acts in opposite direction when he
descends from the ladder
Also the throwing up and catching of a ball will
become a huge achievement as the ball does not
37
ORBIT
drop perpendicularly but will shift a little into the
direction of the orbit of the station and also achieves a higher speed
This also has strange effects on the astronaut As moves
quickly in the rotation direction of the station his weight
appears to increase to a noteworthy extent Then as he moves against the speed of rotation his weight
decreases apparently Mathematically this effect is explainable but very complex
Also the astronautrsquos head and feet move in different
speed to artificial gravity This is plainly noticeable when
somebody jumps up Hence avoid this practice
With these kind of effects adaptation to the changed circumstances in a space station will ask a lot of the
crew members I do hope they can stand it But in any
case the larger the space ship the lesser the problems
Inflatable stations
But therersquos more The inflatable station was considered
many years ago The first i d e a w a s p o s s i b l y
developed when on 12th August 1960 the Echo
balloon with a diameter of
30 meters was launched (Echo I balloon USA 1960
WB 3)
It is true you could not live in it as the balloon was of too frail a construction but the idea of an inflatable
spacecraft was then alive By 1958 groups within NASA
had begun to think about inflatable stations The Goett-committee has been one of the first On 25th26th May
1959 a conference started about projects after
Mercury In particular the
representative of Langley L a r r y Lo f t i n wa s
enthusiastic about his AMIS (Advanced Man in
Space) project (Hexagonal structure
Manama 1970 WB 113)
One of his first projects was a rotating hexagonal
inflatable construction with a diameter of 25 meters a cylindrical core and three lsquospokesrsquo Acting as a ferry to
and from the station the lsquoDyna Soarrsquo Space plane could
be used The Dyna Soar project (at that time still
under development) was cancelled by the American
Minister of Defense Robert
McNamara Inflatable Habitat NASA
1961 enwikipediaorg)
A Langley Space Station
team managed by Paul Hill and Emanuel lsquoMannyrsquo
Schnitzer developed the concept together with the
G o o d y e a r A i r c r a f t
Corporation
(Langleyrsquos self-inflating rotating hexagonal structure httphistorynasagov
SP-4308) Its original diameter had already been reduced to 10
meters
In the years after Langley built several experimental
modules called lsquoErectable Torus Manned Space Laboratoryrsquo a 11 model built by firms such as
Goodyear The torus was built from three layers of
nylon tissue and in between a rubber-like plastic material butyl elastomer A large problem was the
penetration by micrometeorites which as was learnt from the results of the Echo balloon finally damaged
the whole structure
Another problem was the great instability of the ring
due to movements of the astronauts the station started to wobble when they moved around Finally
the project was cancelled and at the end of the eighties the Langley Research Center started to
design inflatable constructions for a base camp on the
Moon
( A r t i s t imp r e s s i on Transhab inflatable
m o d u l e h t t p
enwikipediaorg)
Due to the development of a new series of
s t r o n g e r p l a s t i c materials such as Kevlar
these construct ions
received new interest That lead to the development of Transhab (Transit Habitat) as a resource for crews
coupled at the ISS (international Space Station) The construction is a cylinder in a diameter of 82 meters
and several storeys high
Its volume in inflatable state is 340 m3 The wall has a
thickness of 30 () cm and consists of 12 layers of which the outside layer is made from Kevlar The
layers beneath are made from Nextel a ceramic fibre Disagreements during development and the spiralling
costs finally in 2000 saw the end of NASArsquos interest
G e n e s i s 1
thespacereviewcom)
From 1999 the project was
taken up by Bigelow
38
ORBIT
Aerospace who improved the design and tested it with
successful launchings of Genesis I on 12 July 2006 and Genesis II on 28 June 2007
In their design it has once again more or less the shape
of a balloon With a thickness of 40 cm the wall is still
very thick The outside layer is still Kevlar but inside are some layers of Vectran a textile fibre Within the
structure ants and scorpions were launched along with some objects which people who paid for the privilege of
boosting into space
In this way Bigelow hopes to build a Space Hotel named
Nautilus To stimulate the development Bigelow offered a price of $50 million to everybody who succeeded in
launching a crew of 5 persons to an altitude of 400 km before 2010 So little money lost here so far
A second project which can be realized within the near future is a fixed residence on the Moon As said Langley
occupies itself with the design of such a base which partly should be build below the surface Stamp
designers have already realized the idea
What does the future hold Although we are a long way away from the kind of space station by which a large amount of earth inhabitants can
leave the planet Earth forever the first steps for doing
so are in preparation With the development of their Space Hotel Bigelow tries to make the step to space
albeit a temporary one
Also Langley literally tries to set foot on the Moon and
finally they will succeed in doing so However The cost of such projects are literally astronomical and it is not
expected that in the coming decades much money can be allocated to such projects
Of course in some thousands of years (possibly only in
hundreds of years) this will become the case but for the
time being in my opinion the true conquest of space will stay as science-fiction for at least a few hundred years
Hoorn 2009
John Beenen
NB The stamps entitled lsquoSpace Cityrsquo with a value of 0 cnt do not exist but have been made by the author by means of frames and pictures present at the Internet
Fantasy Moon
b a s e M a n a -ma1970 WB 122
Fantasy bases
ready for Mars
YAR 1971 WB 2892 and 6
Fantasy Modular
base YAR 169 WB 233
39
ORBIT
Cover Below bottom right Future space Dutch Antilles 2000
Literature references (for both parts of article) httpenwikipediaorg Space habitat Space Colonization Orbital Colony Space City Space settlement Space stations L5 Society Bernal Sphere Stanford Torus OrsquoNeil Cylinder Inflatable Space Habitat Transhab Biosphere 2 Generation Ship wwwdsenl~hklruimtehtm Wonen op groene eilanden in de Ruimte (Dutch Living on green Islands in Space) Henry Kluytmans wwworionsarmcom McKendree Cylinder Bishops Ring wwwnasnasagovAboutEducationSpaceSettlement The Colonization of Space wwwdyarstraightscommsgundamhabitatshtml Mobile Suit Gundam High Frontier Life in the Universal Century Developing sound habitats wwwartificial-gravitycomDissertation1_2htm From Tsiolkovsky to Sputnik (1878-1957) httpsciencenasagovheadlinesy2000ast26may_1mhtm Wheels in the Sky httpdiscaircraftgreyfalconus Hermann Noordung Wohnrad (Wheel for Habitation) httparticlesadsabsharvardedufull1992lbsaconf249R Inflatable habitation for the lunar base MRoberts httphistorynasagovSP-4308ch9htm lsquoAs inevitable as the Rising Sunrsquo From the inflatable Torus to the Rotating Hexagon wwwspacecomnewsbusinessmonday_040524html Bigelow Aerospace to tackle inflatable Space Habitats httpsciencehowstuffsworkcominflatable-spacecraft2htm How Inflatable Spacecraft Will Work wwwbogancaphysicscoriolishtml Rotating Space Stations Dynamics An Explanation of the Coriolis Force httpdemonstrationswolframcomRotatingSpaceStation Rotating Space Station wwwdvandomcomcoliolisspacestationhtml Frame Effects and Space Stations wwwdvandomcomcoriolisindexhtml A (hopefully) simple explanation of the Coriolis Force wwwdaviddarlinginfoencyclopedia Hale Edward Everett von Pirquet Guido Noordung Hermann Space Station wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm The Coriolis Force wwwastronautixcomcraftfamlunbaseshtm Lunar bases wwwastronautixcomgallerycspebasehtm Photo Gallery Space base wwwregererating-universeorgOn_Moon_as_Space_Basehtm On Moon as Space Base wwwspacefuturecomhabitatlivingshtml Space Habitat Introduction Living in Space wwwspacepagebevideotaak=bekijkampid=47 Living in space (Video) wwwnutricomspace The Case for Space colonization ndash Now Oscar Falconi wwwxentcompipermailfork (FoRK) Bigelowrsquos inflatable Genesis I satellite in orbit wwwrussianforcesorg Russian strategic nuclear forces (Genesis II) wwwbigelowaerospacecomgenesis Genesis I Genesis II
Thanks to Alan Tunnicliffe who came across the attached news item
complete with stamp in the eNZ Magazine the bi-monthly journal of
the Institution of Professional Engineers NZ Inc Vol 11 No 3 May-
June 2010
Vaccari Auction Sells Remarkable Space Covers April 2010
Apollo 12 cover 55 of 87 flown to the moon on Apollo 15 having been left behind by the original crew sold for euro12200 1977 Salyut
6 Soyuz 27 cover sold for euro1600
40
ORBIT ORBIT
Shuttle 1981mdash2010 Stamps Marshall
Islands 2005
United Nations 2007 Monaco and Ascension 2008
Bulgaria 1991 including stamp from souvenir sheet
USA 1981
below USA 1995 and bottom USA 1998
(two values)
St Vincent Grenadines 1983
Ascension 1989
Bulgaria 1990
and above right W Germany 1975
and USA 2000 Guyana 2006
USA 1995
41
ASSS Membership Renewal 2010
Memberrsquos Name amp Addresshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
I wish to renew my membership of the ASSS for a further year and enclose the equivalent of
pound15 (UK) euro30 (Europe) $US 45 (Rest of the World)
Please return this form with your remittance to Harvey Duncan by the
end of July Thank you
Harvey Duncan Treasurer ASSS 16 Begg Avenue
Falkirk Scotland FK1 2DL
PayPal For details of how to Pay via Paypal
please email Jeff Dugdale Email address on Page 2
42
43
44
11
ORBIT
Otto Struve (Diam 160 km Lat degN 25 Long degW 75) This is a vast lava flooded plain near the W
edge of Oceanus Procellarum close the W limb of the Moon and so appears foreshortened Named in honour of German astronomers Friedrich von Struve (Russian VY Struve) (1793-1864) and son (Otto) and grandson (Otto) (USSR 1964) Pythagoras (Diam 113 km Lat degN 65 Long degW 65)
This prominent feature lies near the NW limb just NW of the somewhat larger
Babbage It has an oval appearance due to the oblique viewing angle from Earth and only part of it can be viewed from Earth Named after Greek philosopher Pythagoras of Samos (c 570mdashc 495 BC) ( S a n M a r i n o 1982)
Babbage (Diam 143 km Lat degN 60 Long degW 57) An ancient crater located near the NW
l i m b n a m e d a f t e r B r i t i s h mathematician philosopher and computing pioneer Charles Babbage (1791mdash1871) (GB 2010)
Hevelius (Diam 122 km Lat degN 2 Long degW 67) This is a low-rimmed crater on
the W edge of the Oceanus Procellarum named after Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius (1611mdash1687) - ldquothe founder of lunar topographyrdquo (Poland
1987) Plato (Diam 97 km Lat degN 51 Long degW 9) The lava-filled remains of a crater on the NE shore of Mare Imbrium at the W
extremity of Montes Alpes named after the Classical Greek philosopher and mathematician (c 428mdashc 348 BC) (Greece 1998)
Schiaparelli (Diam 29 km Lat degN 23 Long degW 59) A small crater on the W part of Oceanus Procellarum to the W of Herodotus and named after Giovanni Schiaparelli(1835-
1910) Italian astronomer and science historian famous for his misinterpreted comments re ldquocanalirdquo on Mars (Hungary 1974)
12
ORBIT
ASTEROIDS Some Bits and Pieces
Ulugh Beigh (Diam 70 km Lat deg29 2 Long degW 85) The remnant of a crater just to the W of Oceanus Procellarum near the NW limbmdashforeshortened from the Earth Named after Ulugh Beg Persian ruler and astronomermathemat ic ian (Turkey 1983) Von Braun (Diam 60 km Lat deg41 2
Long degW 78) Named after rocket pioneer Wernher von Braun (1912-77) this is located near the NW limb on the W edge of Oceanus Procellarum and to the NE of Lavoisier (Guinea Biussau 2006)
Uncatalogued Hungarian Stamp Referenced in Spaceflight Article
The June 2010 issue of Spaceflight magazine contained
a five page article by Naacutendo
Schuminszky celebrating the first Hungarian in space whose
flight in Soyuz 36 occurred 30 years beforeon 26th May 1980
A side panel to the article
reproduced right contains
images of a pair of stamps with two subtle differencesmdashin
bottom left hand corner the date ldquo1979rdquo and ldquo1980rdquo and
rightmdashthe face value The
article goes on to explain how unexpected events delayed the
flight by a year Hungarian cosmonaut Bertalan Farkas was
due to be launched in mid-June
1979 in Soyuz 34 but his flight was cancelled following the
failure of Soyuz 33 carrying Bulgarian cosmonaut Georgi Ivanov to dock with Salyut 6 Soyuz 34 was eventually
launched unmanned to provide a fresh ferry for the resident crew to use
In anticipation of the 1979 flight a large number of associated souvenirs including posters emblems and
stamps had been prepared but had to be destroyed though evidently some escaped
However the 1979 version of the eventual SG 3320 is not listed in WEEBAU or Gibbons If any members have
any info about these unissued stamps please share it with us
More on Lunar Craters Our Chairman Margaret Morris forwarded the article opposite from the March 1989 issue of Sky amp Telescope which is of interest in the context of our new series explaining as it does how several Far Side craters have been named after astronauts and cosmonauts
Orbit for June 2010
Our last issue contained one glaring error for which your editor apologises The number on the front ldquo85rdquo was the same as the number for the March issue This will cause
problems when Harvey Duncan issues the next version of the index A lovely cover again by your Editorrsquos wife but spoiled by this typo Sorry
Flown STS-8 Covers These are referred to at the bottom of the left hand column of p 27 of this edition in Umberto Cavallarorsquos article where we learn that there were well over a quarter of a million of them
Alan Tunnicliffe editor of NZ Air Mail News advises that New Zealand stamp dealer JRMowbray has for sale at NZ $75 a piece flown STS-8 space covers date stamped 14 Aug 1983 at KSC with launch and return cancels and bearing a $935 stamp NZ$75 = US$53 or pound35 This seems a rather high price for flown STS-8 covers given the number available and members will possibly be able to obtain the item cheaper with an internet search
Solar Sails and The Sun Peter Hoffman comments on John Beenenrsquos feature on The Sun in our June 2010 issuehellip ldquoIn the Solar Sails section on page 8 mention is made of the failed launch of Cosmos-1 What is not mention is that is was a project of The Planetary Society httpwwwplanetaryorghome They are working on a new version called LightSail the first of which is planned for a launch later this year In case you are not familiar with it The Planetary Society is a privately funded space advocacy group founded in part by Carl Sagan ldquoThe Planetary Society yearly presents the Cosmos Award for Outstanding Public Presentation of Science in honour of Carl Sagan This years winner was Stephen Hawking They printed his acceptance speech Why go into space An amusing comment was a quote from a Calvin and Hobbes cartoon Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere is that none of it has tried to contact us ldquoThe Japanese Space Agency launched its solar sail spacecraft IKAROS (Interplanetary Kite-Craft Accelerated by Radiation Of the Sun) together with its Venus Climate Orbiter Akatsuki on 20 May You can read about it at httpwwwspacecommissionlaunchesjapan-venus-wrap-100520htmlrdquo
13
ORBIT
14
ORBIT
Spaceflight Books for Sale
Books about Space andor Astronomy in English
The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Space 1990 386 pages coffee table book euro 1500
Life in Space D Monchersquo 1979 ldquo 500
The Conquest of Space Willy Ley amp Chesley Bonestell+pictures 1952 RARE ldquo 2000
Star Hunters D Mammana 1990 coffee table book ldquo 1000
The Rocket David Baker 276p+490pictures 1978 coffee table book classic ldquo 2000
The History of Manned Spaceflight David Baker 576p+362pictures 1985coffeerdquo 2000
The Observerrsquos Spaceflight Directory R Turnill 384p 1978 ldquo 1000
The Observerrsquos Book of Unmanned Spaceflight+Manned Spaceflight 1974+1975 ldquo 1000
The Observerrsquos Book Of Astronomy Patrick Moore 1973 ldquo 500
Basic Astronomy Patrick Moore 1967 ldquo 300
Space a Novel James A Michener pocket Ballantine 1983 ldquo 250
Voyagers Ben Bova 1983 pocket ldquo 250
The Universe Herbert Zim 1973 ldquo 200
Exploring Other Worlds WyberampAmes 1968 ldquo 200
Tomorrowrsquos Moon Henry Little 1969 ldquo 200
Observatories of the World Marx amp Pfau 1982 ldquo 1000
Are We Alone Paul Davis Penquin 1995 ldquo 250
Moonport USA (Kennedy Space Center) 1977 ldquo 250
Living in Space (Colonies) J Trefil 1981 ldquo 500
The Cosmonauts Gordon Hooper 1977 ldquo 250
Extraterrestrials-Where Are They Zuckerman ampHart 1995 ldquo 1000
The Cosmic Connection Carl Sagan pocket 1975 ldquo 300
Exploring the Planets Ian Nicolson 1972 ldquo 250
Janersquos pocket Book 11 Space Exploration 1976 ldquo 300
Twenty-First Report Internat Telecomm Union Geneva 1982 ldquo 250
Satellites amp Space Travel Taylor ampAllward 1970 ldquo 200
Watchers of the Stars Patrick Moore 1974 ldquo 500
Robot Explorers Kenneth Garland 1972 ldquo 500
APOLLO by astronaut Alan Bean+paintings Bean in space 1998 coffeetable ldquo 2000
The World of Mars VA Firsoff 1969 ldquo 200
Missiles and Rockets Kenneth Garland ldquo 500
Stars and Planets Ian Ridpath 1978 ldquo 500
Race to Mars The ITN Mars Flight Atlas 1988 ldquo 500
Worlds Beyond Search for Life in Space Ian Ridpath 1975 ldquo 500
CETI Communication with Extraterrestrial Intelligence Stonelay 1976 ldquo 250
Horizon at the Edge of the Universe 9 chapters of astronomers 1983 ldquo 300
The New Race for Space James Oberg 1984 ldquo 500
The Hunt for Life on Mars Goldsmith 1998 ldquo 500
The High Road Ben Bova pocket 1983 ldquo 250
Operation Morning Light the True Story of Cosmos 954 Leo Heaps 1978 ldquo1000
Space Volunteers T Kay 1960 ldquo 300
Legal Aspects of Outer Space Dr C Reijnen 1976 205 pages the Worldrsquos
First Thesis of this Kind by female Dutch scholar ldquo 400
E-MAIL bertvaneijckhomenl if interested in any to discuss sale and postage
See further list on page 24
15
ORBIT
The above obituary and tribute by David Shayler
appeared in the August 2010 of Spaceflight magazine marking the passing of Rex Hall who was also one of
the longest standing members of the ASSS carrying
the membership number 88033 We extend our condolences to Rexrsquos family
16
ORBIT
Un-manned Satellites on Postage Stamps 35 By Guest Contributors Don Hillger and Garry Toth
A version of this article first appeared in The Astrophile for sic)
The Discoverer series
This is the thirty-fifth in a series of articles about un-manned satellites on postage stamps This article
features the satellites in the US Air Force (USAF) Discoverer series The first Discoverer was launched
on 21 January 1959 and the last one on 18 April 1962
There were a total of 39 launches a third (or 13) of which were failures The Discoverer series also called
Corona satellites were later declassified as the first Keyhole (KH) spy satellites
Discoverer was the public name of the Corona series
of film-return reconnaissance spy satellites whose true
mission was not officially revealed until about 35 years after the program ended The Discoverers secret
program was masked by scientific goals it was kept secret even from program staff who knew nothing
about Corona Scientific instruments were even placed
on Discoverer satellites and then covertly removed before launch
The Discoverer satellites were designed to take pictures
of target countries and then eject a film capsule
which was to de-orbit and enter the Earthrsquos atmosphere on a parachute and be recovered by a
specially-modified aircraft as it floated downward On many of the missions however the capture of the film
capsules was not successful for various reasons The first successful return of a capsule through the Earths
atmosphere occurred with Discoverer-13 though in this
case the aerial capture failed and the capsule fell into the sea Fortunately that mission carried no cameras
Discoverer-14 was the first completely successfully Corona mission in which reconnaissance photos were
taken from the spy satellite and ejected in a capsule
which was then successfully recovered in a mid-air capture carried out by a C-119 aircraft
Because of secret nature of their mission the
Discoverer satellites were not well-known and so were not featured on many postal items A set of three
stamps issued by Libya in 1966 (Scott 297-299) shows
a Discoverer capsule There is also a local post item from Batum that depicts the recovery of a Discoverer
capsule and a souvenir sheet from Chad (Michel BL247) that shows the re-entry of a Discoverer capsule
in the margin Another capsule recovery is shown in
the margin of a souvenir sheet issued by the Malagasy Republic in 1999 (Scott 1502a)
A checklist of postal items identified as showing Discoverer-
series satellites (httprammbciracolostateedudevhillgerDiscovererhtm) is available as part of the Website developed by the authors to accompany this series of articles (httprammbciracolostateedudevhillgersatelliteshtm) E-mail correspondence is welcome Don Hillger can be reached at hillgerciracolostateedu and Garry Toth at garry_tothhotmailcom
Top KH-4B Corona satellite Above Recovery of Discoverer 14 return capsule (typical for
the Corona series (ex Wikipedia)
17
ORBIT
18
ORBIT
Flight STS-130 Commander George Zamka Pilot Terry Virtis MS Kathryn Hire MS Stephen Robinson MS Nicholas Patrick MS Robert Behnken MS Koichi Wakata KSC Launch Date 822010 KSC Landing 21210 Purpose Tranquility Module Main Payload and Cupola
Shuttle Story 201011 STSndash130 -131 -132 Part One
STS-130 (ISS assembly flight 20A) via Endeavour carried as its
primary payloads the Tranquility module and the Cupola a robotic control station with six windows around its sides and
another in the centre providing a 360-degree view around the station Endeavour launched at 0414 EST (0914 UTC) on 8
February 2010 and landed at 2220 EST on 21 February 2010 on
runway 15 at the Kennedy Space Centers Shuttle Landing Facility
Tranquility was shipped from the
Thales Alenia Space facility in
Turin Italy It arrived at Kennedy Space Center on 21 May 2009 It
was formerly known as Node 3 and was named by a NASA poll
The module provides six berthing locations however three of those
locations are disabled as modules
originally planned to be attached to Tranquility were cancelled The
photo right shows Tranquility just before being installed to Unity node
STS-130 also brought the Cupola a large window
module and robotics work station to the ISS which was
to be attached to the nadir-
side of Tranquility The module also includes various
ISS systems including addit iona l l i fe support
systems This photo shows the facility being prepared at KSC whilst the photo above right
shows the module and cupola being moved into position on the
ISS
The shape of the mission patch on the launch
cover below represents the cupola over the earth in a photo taken by the unmanned
Lunar Orbiter probe in 1966 so representing a past and future designation for explorers from
Earth
For other Zazzle stamps
see page 33
19
ORBIT
Flight STS-131 Commander Alan Pointdexter Pilot James Dutton MS Rick Mastracchio MS Dorthy Metcalf- Lindenburger MS Stephanie Wilson MS Naoko Yamakazi MS Clayton Anderson KSC Launch Date 5410 KSC Landing 20410 Purpose MPLM Leonardo Main Payload
STS-131 (ISS assembly flight 19A) via Discovery launched on 5
April 2010 from Kennedy Space Centers launch pad 39A and landed at 908 AM on 20 April 2010 on runway 33 at the Kennedy
Space Centers Shuttle Landing Facility The mission marked the longest flight for space shuttle Discovery
The primary payload was a Multi-Purpose Logistics Module loaded with supplies and equipment for the ISS The mission also
removed and replaced an ammonia tank assembly outside the station on the S1 truss The mission also included several on-
board payloads this mission had the most payloads since STS-
107
The primary payload of STS-131 was MPLM Leonardo filled with food and science supplies and also carried the third and final
Minus Eighty Degree Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI) Window Orbital Research Facility (WORF) one Crew Quarters Rack the
Muscle Atrophy Resistive Exercise (MARES) rack Resupply
Stowage Racks (RSRs) as well as Resupply Stowage Platforms (RSPs) The Lightweight Multi-Purpose Equipment Support
Structure Carrier (LMC) carried a refurbished Ammonia Tank Assembly (ATA) to the ISS The refurbished ATA was removed
from the Space Station and returned for use on this mission
during STS-128 It was swapped with an empty tank which will ride home on the LMC
This mission was the second flight of the TriDAR a 3D dual-
sensing laser camera intended for potential use as an
autonomous rendezvous and docking sensor TriDAR provides guidance information that can be used to guide a vehicle during
rendezvous and docking operations in space TriDAR does not rely on any reference markers such as reflectors positioned on
the target spacecraft
This was the final Space Shuttle mission that contains one or
more rookie astronauts the missions after this will have all- veteran crews
STS-131 was only the third mission in the Space Shuttle
programme to carry three female astronauts
the others being STS-40 and STS-96
With three female crew members arriving on board Discovery and Expedition 23 Flight
Engineer Tracy Caldwell Dyson at the station
the STS-131 mission marked the first time that four women have been in space at one
time
STS-131 marked the first time that two
Japanese astronauts Naoko Yamazaki from the Shuttle crew and Soichi Noguchi on the
ISS had been in space together
Although Naoko Yamazaki is not the last non-
US astronaut Naoko was the last Japanese astronaut to fly the space shuttle
MPLM Leonardo can
be seen in the shuttle cargo bay
The seven stars either side of our
sun represent the
crew members
The shuttlersquos orientation indicates
it is performing the Rendezvous Pitch
Manoeuvre which
allows the ISS to photograph its
underbelly
20
ORBIT
Flight STS-132 Commander Kenneth Ham Pilot Dominic Antonelli MS Michael Good MS Garret Reisman MS Piers Sellars MS Stephen Bowen KSC Launch Date 1452010 KSC Landing 2652010 Purpose Delivery of Russian Main Payload Rassvet Module
STS-132 (ISS assembly flight ULF4) docked with the ISS on May
16 2010 It was launched from the Kennedy Space Center on May 14 2010 The primary payload is the Russian Rassvet Mini-
Research Module along with an Integrated Cargo Carrier-Vertical Light Deployable (ICC-VLD) STS-132 is scheduled to be the
final flight of Space Shuttle Atlantis provided that the STS-335
Launch On Need rescue mission is not flown
Rassvet means dawn in Russian The module was built
by Russian aerospace company
Energia and arrived at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC)
aboard an Antonov 124 cargo plane on 17 December 2009
After it was unloaded from the Antonov the module was
transported to an Astrotech processing bay in Cape Canaveral to
undergo preparations for launch shown in this photo
An airlock and radiation heat exchanger to be used for outfitting the Russian Nauka Module (to be launched in 2012) a spare
elbow part of the European Robotic Arm (ERA) and a portable
work platform for science hardware for performing experiments in outer space were externally mounted on Rassvet in its launch
configuration Russian and US cargo delivered was also accommodated inside the module The volume for cargo and
science inside MRM1 is 5 cubic meters] Rassvet was outfitted
with ISS standard grapple fixtures that allowed the module to be unloaded from the payload bay of Atlantis using the stations
robotic arm
The ICC pallet is constructed of aluminum It is approximately 8 feet long 13 feet wide and 10 inches thick The empty weight of
the pallet is 2645 pounds The total weight of ICCndashVLD and the ORUs is approximately 8330 pounds ICC-VLD return mass is
2933 kilograms (6470 lb)
The ICC-VLD was berthed in the centre of the
payload bay for both launch and re-entry
In the photo above Rassvet is shown centre top
The mission patch shows Atlantis flying off into the sunset as the end of the shuttle
programme approaches
21
ORBIT
By Andreacute Scheer and Margaret Morris This fascinating structure is an octagonal pentelic marble tower on the Roman agora or marketplace in Athens It was supposedly built by the astronomer Andronicus of Kyrrhos c 50 BC but according to other sources might have been constructed in the 2
nd
century BC before the rest of the forum The structure is 12 metres high with a diameter of approximately 8 metres On each of the eight sides (aligned with the eight principal points of the compass) is a sculpture featuring the wind gods and below each sculpture is engraved a sundial Thus the tower served as a solar clock but additionally in the interior was a water-clock (clepsydra) driven by water coming down from the Acropolis There were mechanical hour indicators and displays for the seasons of the year with astrological dates and periods The tower was topped in antiquity by a weather-vane in the shape of a triton with a wand which pointed at whichever of the winds was blowing The tower must have been one of the most useful structures in the agora as it showed the time for civilian purposes and indicated the wind direction for merchants awaiting the arrival of a ship The earliest philatelic items to depict this unusual building are postal stationery postcards originating from 1900 when the Greek postal authorities organised a competition for photographers and artists The best pictures were selected for issue and on 1 July 1901 the first series of 32 cards was issued In total 12 series of 32 cards each were issued between then and 20 March 1903 The cards were issued in three colours (chestnut black and green) with imprinted stamps of two values (5 lepta green for national mail and 10 lepta red for international mail) The cards additionally have an impressed stamp without colour on the left side being 10 lepta for the card itself so the cards were sold for 15 and 20 lepta The design of the imprinted stamps was based on the Hermes (Mercury) statue by Giovanni da Bologna During the war on the Balkans the cards were used by the Greek army and have an extra imprint ndash Carte Postale ndash Franchise Militaire A few examples of these postal stationery postcards are illustrated opposite and on page 23 The wording ldquoLrsquohorloge de Kyrrhestesrdquo refers to the timepiece built by Andronicus of Kyrrhos while ldquoTEMPLE DrsquoEOLErdquo translates as ldquoTemple of Aeolusrdquo (Aeolus = god of the winds) For each card 12 versions can be distinguished ndash ie 3 colours x 2 values x 2 usages For fuller information see reference no 1 Of course numerous picture postcards also feature this interesting structure
The Tower of the Winds The Oldest Planetarium on Stamps and
Postal Stationery
Front and back of postal stationery postcard
Examples of Greek postal stationery from the early 20th
century
Front and back of postal stationery postcard
22
ORBIT
The 19423 issues (SG 561-572) of Greece shown beside the 1973 Dominica souvenir sheet whose designer has
reinterpreted the divine sculptures in the margins
Boreas also on the 100d value in black and grey
Skiron
Zephyrus in two 25d vals
orange and green
Lips
Notus
Eurus
Apeliotes in two 10d vals red brown and red orange
Kaikias in two 50d vals black and grey violet and blue
Wind Direction Name of Deity Characteristics of the Sculpture North Boreas An old man wearing heavy clothing and holding a conch shell This wind was cold fierce and
stormy and in Athens made a loud hollow noise
North East Kaikias Old man with severe expression holding circular shield from which he will drop hailstones Weather characteristically cloudy wet and cold
East Apeliotes Young man with hair flowing in every direction holding a cloak full of fruit and grain ndash he brings gradual gentle rain
South East Eurus Old man with morose countenance wrapped tightly against the elements in his cloak This wind brought sultry gloomy weather with much rain
South Notus Young man emptying an urn and producing a shower of water This wind was associated with sultry very wet weather
South West Lips Boy pushing the stern of a ship promising a good sailing wind This was the wind which blew right into Piraeus harbour
West Zephyrus Beautiful lightly clad youth of happy aspect holding a cloak full of flowers In summer this wind brought very sultry weather
North West Skiron Bearded man with a bronze pot full of hot ashes and charcoal This was a dry wind extremely cold in winter but scorching and with lightning in summer
The following table gives details of the sculptures and the characteristics attributed to each of the wind gods
For fuller information see reference no 2
23
ORBIT
The sculptures of the eight winds were depicted on stamps of Greece issued in 1942 (six designs) and 1943 (again six designs ndash four as the previous issue but including the two omitted winds) Five values were surcharged in 1944 to aid victims of the Piraeus bombing of 11 January 1944 the exceptionally high face value resulted in few of these stamps being used Later in 1944 the same five values were surcharged in aid of a Childrenrsquos Convalescent Camp Fund Finally in 1946 two values of the 1942 issue were surcharged ndash the 10dr value in black and the 50dr revalued as 20dr in red See opposite for examples of the stamp designs In addition to these attractive engraved stamps the 1973 issue from Dominica commemorating the centenary of the World Meteorological Organisation included a miniature sheet incorporating the 50c and $1 values and surrounded in the margin by images of all eight wind sculptures (see page 22) More recently the cover of a booklet issued by Greece on 7 October 1988 provides an aerial view of the agora and the Tower of the Winds can be detected (see below) The booklet contains 16 stamps (4 each of 4 different values) and celebrates capitals of Greek provinces In early Christian times the building was used as the bell tower of a Byzantine Church It was partly buried in the ground until fully excavated in the 19
th century by the
Archaeological Society of Athens It is interesting to note that the design of the upper octagon of the 18th century Radcliffe Observatory in Oxford England is based on the Tower of the Winds as is the mausoleum of the founder of the Greek National Library Panayis Vagliano at West Norwood Cemetery London There is a similar tower in Sevastopol built in 1849 References
1 ldquoEntiers Postaux Illustreacutes du service des postes
helleacuteniques et leurs preacutecurseursrdquo Georges Mathas 1985
2 For finely detailed drawings and information about the sculptures you may care to see if your Library has a copy of ldquoThe Antiquities of Athensrdquo Stuart amp Revett Vol 1 published in London 1762
3 Article by Derek J de Solla Price in ldquoNational
Geographic April 1967 pp587-596 4 Much useful information may also be obtained from
sites on the internet
Examples of Overprints from left to right
1944 Piraeus Bombing Aid 1944 Childrenrsquos convalescent camp fund 1946 Surcharge
Below Cover of the 1988 stamp booklet
Front and back of postal stationery postcard
24
ORBIT
Old Photo Makes New(s) Story
A photo taken twenty-one years ago became hot international new(s) this July writes Bert van Eijck
It is a picture of your correspondent in front of the
monument on the graves of the seven astronauts killed
in the Challenger disaster The photo from November 1989 shows the national cemetery at Arlington in
Washington DC And it is this graveyard a national American field of pride and honour that was involved in
a scandal making news all over the world
What happened This became a hot story after it was leaked to the press that in 211 graves on Arlington the wrong corpse had
been buried But this disgrace grew to international
proportions when the US Senate published a report which revealed that it was not 211 but 6600 graves that
had been so dishonoured And maybe there are more the researchers stated
Consequently it meant that family members had been paying their respect at the wrong graves because many
were not marked well or the ground-plan directed to wrong places
Arlingtonrsquos director John Metzler was fired as was his
depute Thurman Higginbotham both of whom said
they knew there were made mistakes but they could not help ldquobecause of economyrdquo
Arlington cemetery was opened in 1864 Since then
300000 Americans have been buried here including
famous or well-known persons like presidents
ministers high ranked military artists judges and
astronauts
And what about some of the most recent ones Did I indeed visit and honour the seven Challenger astronauts in their last resting place on Earth in
November 1989 as shown on the photo Or are they perhaps mistakenly buried in another
unmarked grave This is hard to believe but one never knowshelliphellip
For those who wonder what was doing 21
years ago in the US capital I visited the
World Stamp Exporsquo89 at the Convention Center in Washington DC Of course I did
more sightseeing at and in the famous Smithsonian Museums (a must the
National AirampSpace Museum with 10
million visitors a year) the Capitol the metro (deepest in the world) George
Washingtonrsquos house in Vernon Arlington of course and much more
At the World Stamp Expo there was a
presentation of both USA and USSR space
stamps The American stamps were presented by astronaut Buzz Aldrin the
Soviet stamps by cosmonaut Gherman Titov
Author and the Challenger astronauts monument at Arlington seven figures in bronze (left) At right a plaque honoring US-soldiers killed in action saving
hostages in Iran
Astronaut Buzz Aldrin (left) presents the US space stamps while cosmonaut Gherman Titov (right) does the same with
Soviet space stamps In the middle officials of USPS Below the
stampshellip
25
ORBIT
The Apollo 15 Cover Scandal by Umberto Cavallaro
In a feature which first appeared in the April-June 2010 issue of Ad Astra the web journal of the Italian Astrophilatelic Association its editor reveals in considerable detail the full story of those covers which today sell for so much money The Apollo 15 flown covers are among the best known
collectibles from the Apollo Era mainly because of what Jim Irwin recalls as ldquothe problem we brought
back from the Moonrdquo
The crew of Apollo 15 carried out one of the most complete scientific explorations of the Moon the first
lunar roving vehicle was operated on the Moon to
extend the range of exploration some 180 pounds of lunar surface samples were returned for analysis Yet
Fifteen is best remembered as the crew that carried envelopes to the moon and the whole mission is
remembered for the ldquogreat postal caperrdquo
Apollo 15 was not the first mission to carry covers
dozens were carried on each flight from Apollo 11 onwards and as Commander Dave Scott recalls in his
book the whole business had probably been building since Mercury through Gemini and into Apollo People
had a fascination with objects that had been carried in space and they became more and more popular and
valuable as the programme progressed Right from
the start of the Mercury programme each astronaut had been allowed to carry on board a certain number
of personal items
NASA was in the habit of authorizing astronauts to
carry certain personal items on manned flights known as Astronautsrsquo PPK (Personal Preference Kits) All such
items had to be listed and approved by Deke Slayton the Head of the Astronaut Office prior to launch and
were intended for private use or as personal gifts
after the flight and could not be employed for commercial
Fig 1 The official USPS cover postmarked on the Moon
purposes or personal gain Astronaut kits typically
included badges jewellery coins medals flags stamps postal covers currency printed materials and
similar easily packed lightweight mementoes As the flight became more significant the number and type of
items increased
Aside from personal mementoes each crew had
carried medallions whose number had grown steadily on each mission In his book The All-American Boys astronaut Walter Cunningham reveals that it was rumoured around the Astronaut Office that Apollo 14
carried on board a personal package weighing forty-
two pounds Before that flight the Franklin Mint had even advertised the proposed sale After the flight the
commercial deal was never completed and all went quiet nothing about it being published in the media
But some members of the US Congress were unhappy
of the situation
In that context the ldquolapses of judgmentrdquo of the Apollo 15 crew became fatal Dave Scott went too far
carrying on board a total of 641 postal covers (including the two official covers) of which only 243
were listed and authorized before the flight and 398
were not -- secretly carried on board Apollo 15 by Scott in a pocket of his space suit Had they been
listed as being in Scotts PPK they would probably have been routinely approved for inclusion in the
preference kit
The 243 listed and authorized covers include
bull 2 official US Postal Service covers one of which the ldquoOfficial Coverrdquo was publicly cancelled on the
moon by Scott at the request of the US Postal
Service 10 (Fig 1) bull 1 Wright Brothers commemorative cover dated
1928 and autographed by Orville Wright which was carried by Worden for a friend
bull 1 cover bearing a First Man on the Moon stamp and a Bliss Centennial three-cent stamp carried by
Irwin for Barbara Baker (Fig 2 below)
26
ORBIT
8 Shamrock covers carried by Irwin (as below)
144 Herrickrsquos ldquoMoon Phasesrdquo covers carried by Worden
(Fig 4) printed with a cachet showing 15 phases of the moon On the USS Okinawa the Apollo 15 recovery ship
the astronauts placed two eight-cent stamps purchased
on board by Worden on each of these covers and they had the covers cancelled by the shipboard post office
The astronauts later autographed these covers while flying back from Hawaii to Houston Sixteen covers were
torn or damaged and were destroyed Because of the furore created by the Apollo 15 covers incident NASA
confiscated 61 of these 144 Moon Phases covers
87 Apollo 12 covers (Fig 5) that for unknown reason
did not fly on that mission and which were carried on
Apollo 15 for Mrs Barbara Gordon a stamp collector then wife of Richard Gordon Apollo 12 astronaut who
at was the back-up pilot for Apollo 15
The 398 unauthorized covers (initially there were
400 but 2 were damaged and discarded) are lightweight envelopes carrying as a cachet a replica
of the official Apollo 15 patch overprinted with an Air Force wing and propeller emblem
The idea of these additional covers was suggested during a cocktail party by Eiermann a salesman for
the heat-shield contractor who had frequent business and social contacts with NASA personnel and
astronauts He suggested to fly 400 lightweight covers 100 for each of the astronauts and 100 for
his friend Sieger the German stamp dealer The
cacheted covers were provided by Al Bishop a friend of many astronauts then at the Howard
Hughes organization He had already provided covers for the previous flights since Apollo 12
Above one of the 100 Sieger covers with the handwritten note ldquoLanded at Hadley Moon July 30 1971 On the
reverse is a typed and notarised inscription ldquoThis is to certify that this cover was on board the Falcon at the Hadley-
Apennine Moon July 30 ndashAug 2 1971rdquo
Below one of the 298 unauthorised covers carried to the Moon by David Scott with the inscription ldquoThis envelope was
carried to the Moon aboard the Apollo 15 of 300 to the Lunar Surface in LMrdquoFalconrdquo
The crews usually returned to Bishop a couple of
flown covers signed with gratitude ldquoTo my
knowledge ndash Cunningham reports in his well documented book ndash Bishop never sold any and never
made a dime off his relationship He was simply a fan To Al Bishop Apollo 15 was no different from any
other flight except for a phone call he received from
Hal Collins the Astronaut Office manager at the Cape
27
ORBIT
Collins told Bishop that the crew would like to know
whether he could obtain some very lightweight envelopes for them Al said that hed be happy to do so
He was unaware then that many of them would be smuggled on board the next lunar flight Al was trusted
Thats why many of us imposed on him with our
problems special requests and sometimes matters which we would rather not share with NASArdquo
This time Al was badly used he emerged as a
scapegoat and his name was dragged as though he was the Mr Big of an international stamp conspiracy
The covers were cancelled at Kennedy Space Center
several days before July 26 1971 The date of the post office machine canceller was moved forward
Additionally twin eight-cent stamps were purchased by the astronauts on the USS Okinawa the Apollo 15
recovery ship and affixed to these covers ndash as for the
Herrickrsquos covers In the shipboard post office the covers were then cancelled and date-stamped August 7 1971
The astronauts finally autographed these covers while flying from Hawaii to Houston
Soon after the flight the astronauts gave Eiermann
the 100 covers ndash after agreeing that there was to be
no commercialization or advertising of these covers and that nothing would be done with them until after
completion of the Apollo programme
But after a while news started to circulate that the
German dealer was selling in Europe covers flown on Apollo 15 for a reported average of US $1500 each
The reports infuriated Congress not least because congressmen had to read such controversial
information in the press before being informed by
NASA which is obligated to keep Congress fully informed of its activity Recollection of the Apollo 14
medallions incident must have echoed in the minds of certain members of Congress many of whom were
not fans of NASA anyway NASA started an internal investigation This was the most controversial
development of the Apollo Programme and although
most astronauts were involved to some degree NASA made an example of the Apollo 15 flight crew ldquoIt
was turning into a witch-huntrdquo recalled Scott ldquoOur bosses had abrogated their responsibilities and we
were left alone on a very wet dayrdquo
It is ironic that after addressing a joint session of
Congress as heroes in less that one year the three astronauts of Apollo 15 had to go back in front of these
same senators in disgrace because of this envelope scandal
After this ldquoincidentrdquo NASA prohibited from Apollo 17 on the flying of covers or stamps during a space
missions (they were not on time to block the covers carried on Apollo 16) The only exceptions have been
since then the items flown in cooperation with the US
Postal Service ie the 266000 covers carried in 1983 in
the payload bay of the Space Shuttle Challenger on
STS-8 and the 500000 $995 Express Mail stamp created by Paul and Chris Calle in 1994 flown on
Endeavour STS-68 in recognition of the 25th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing The huge
number of such items carried in space discourages
speculations and these items still are widely available for few dollars
So far fewer than 1000 envelopes in total have flown
to the Moon No other American covers will flow to the Moon in the foreseeable future Perhaps the next
ldquoMoon coversrdquo will bear Chinese or Indian stamps
Dave Scott was the first lunar Postmaster and had two
postmarks with him and two covers with imperforated dieproof of the US twin Decade of Space Achievements
stamps affixed (Fig 1)
He had one postmark with ldquoMoon Landing USArdquo (Fig 8 below) and another with ldquoUnited States on the
Moonrdquo (Fig 9 bottom)
The First Lunar Post Office was opened on August 2 1971 when David Scott postmarked only the official
cover (and brought back the official backup-cover uncancelled) A handful covers had however been
postmarked before launch with both postmarks Dr Matthew Radnofsky ndash who in his laboratory already
had simulated cancelling in space for Apollo 11 ndash
tested both postmarks to ensure that the cancellation devices were in working order
Especially the date could be changed easily Contrary
to Apollo 11 covers without stamps were used for
28
ORBIT
these tests Apollo 15 Lunar Cancellation Proofs are
much scarcer than Apollo 11 ones ldquoAs by now I am aware of only 17 itemsrdquo states famous astrophilatelist
Walter Hopferwieser Covers with proofs of the Apollo 15 moon postmarks have been recently sold at Regency
Superior and Aurora auctions
The official Apollo 15 cover postmarked on the Moon
(see Fig 1 repeated above ) is displayed at the US National Postal Museum It was publicly cancelled and
the video can be seen at httpwwwpostalmuseumsiedustampstakeflight
apollo15video-01html A short speech was given by
Dave Scott while cancelling the cover ldquoTo show that our good Postal Service has deliveries any place in the
universe I have the pleasant task of cancelling here on the Moon the first stamp of a new issue dedicated to
commemorate US achievements in space I have the
first one here on an envelope At the bottom it says United States in Space a decade of achievement and
Im very proud to have the opportunity here to play postman I pull out a cancellation device It says
August 2 1971 first day of issuehellip What could be a
better place to cancel this stamp than right here at Hadley Rillehelliprdquo
Immediately thereafter the Postmaster General who
was waiting at the Mission Control at Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston Texas gave the signal to start the
First- Day cancellations at post offices in Houston
Kennedy Space Center and Huntsville
Acknowledgement Thanks to Walter Hopferwieser for his comments
Some Notes About Space Mail
Commenting on Brian Vincentrsquos article in the June
2010 Orbit ASSS member Geoff Chivers writes in an
email to your Editorhellip Im sure you wont mind me commenting on Brian G Vincents Some Notes About Space Mail (page 36)
In paragraph 2 he refers to the Apollo 15 cover incident leaving the impression that Scott Worden and Irwin were guilty of some heinous crime This has been the subject of much miss-reporting over the years The full story of what actually happened is explained in depth at page 328 et seq of Two sides of the moon by David Scott and Alexei Leonov published by Simon amp Shuster The astronauts were of course exonerated
This is the quote (slightly edited to enable it to stand as an independent piece)-
During 1972 while on a trip to Washington DC George Low NASA deputy administrator asked me to stop by his
office writes David Scott I had known George in Houston while he was Apollo spacecraft programme manager and I had great respect for him We spent a short while exchanging pleasantries Then George looked me in the eye and came to the point ldquoWell Daverdquo he said ldquoI have to tell you I was not very proud of my performancerdquo His comment was the culmination of what had become known as the Apollo 15 ldquocover incidentrdquo This involved some first day postal covers which we had carried aboard Apollo 15 some of which were unfortunately sold by a German stamp dealer several months after the flight As No 2 in NASA George
had been heavily involved in NASAs handling of the incident and his comment referred to one of the poorest management performances the space agency had ever demonstrated - up to then The whole business had probably been building since Mercury through Gemini and into Apollo People had a fascination with objects that had been carried in space and they became more and more popular and valuable as the programme progressed Right from the start of the Mercury programme each astronaut had been allowed to carry on board a certain number of personal items in what were known as PPKS - Personal Preference Kits Before each flight a list of the items was prepared for Deke Slayton who
Two Sides of The Moon
by David Scott and Alexei Leonov
The text opposite from the
above book has been
referred to by Umberto Cavallaro in preparing his
above piece
29
ORBIT
had overall responsibility for approving them As the flights became more significant the number and type of items increased Aside from personal mementoes each crew had carried a certain number of medallions which they could hand out afterwards as souvenirs The number of medallions had grown steadily on each mission - eventually some crew members had been carrying several hundred each and their weight was becoming a concern And as always commercialisation began to creep in In the end on Apollo 14 commanded by Al Shepard it was alleged that the crew had carried some silver medallions on board which were to be melted down after the flight and mixed with many other commemorative medallions by the Franklin Mint to be sold to the general public The Franklin Mint had even advertised the proposed sale before the flight After the flight the deal was never consummated and all went quiet nothing about it was printed in the media But some members of Congress had heard about it and were unhappy with the situation Since we were busy training for Apollo 15 (launched 26 July 1971) we knew nothing about all this Had we known we would have been far more wary of what happened subsequently All we knew was that Deke Slayton had halved the number of medallions we could carry Shortly afterwards Deke introduced Jim (Irwin) Al (Worden) and me to a long-standing friend of his at the Cape called Walter Eiermann In retrospect this seems likely to have been more than a coincidence Deke invited us to join him at dinner at Eiermanns house one evening several months before the Apollo 15 launch Eiermann asked if we would like to make some money on the side by signing some stamps ldquoAll the guys are doing itrdquo he said We agreed We were also approached by several members of the Manned Spacecraft Centerrsquos stamp club who asked us to sign many first - day covers before the flight for their members as well as for ourselves At that time we could not buy life insurance If we signed some covers we reasoned they could be held during the flight and act as limited life insurance for our families if anything happened to us But then Eiermann proposed we carry four hundred lightweight commemorative covers a hundred of which would be passed on to a stamp dealer in Germany when we returned All the covers would be franked on the day of launch and franked on the day of our return Our understanding was that the dealer would hold his hundred covers to be sold at some future date after the Apollo programme was over In return he would set up a $6000 trust fund for each of us for the education of our children In the months of intense activity before the flight we did not give this more than a moment of thought But we agreed In retrospect we made a mistake in even considering it In the months following our mission we learnt that the German dealer had begun to sell the covers We let Eiermann know that we were opposed to the sale Forget the trust funds we said we dont want any money This is not what we had understood would happen But when senior managers at NASA learnt about the covers being sold they were furious Incomplete information was then provided to the press by NASArsquos Public Affairs Office and reports started to appear that we had smuggled the covers onto our flight This was literally impossible NASA personnel prepared us for every aspect of the flight - from our birthday suits out Everything we had carried had to be specially packaged by the flight support crew to make sure apart from anything else
that it was fireproof Everything in our PPKs was on a list which was certified before launch I was never aware of any rules about what could or could not be taken in these packs Slayton was to approve the list so as far as I was concerned it was up to management to keep us on the straight and narrow I assumed if the list was approved that was fine Usually the list was certified by Deke But before our flight for some reason he neither asked us personally for each of our lists as was customary nor signed off on the list personally He said the flight - crew support team had already logged everything Whereas we had purchased the covers ourselves the Astronaut Office at the Cape had prepared the covers for the flight and had had them stamped and franked on the day of launch Somehow however the support team had missed them when they prepared the PPK flight manifest It was also reported after the incident that we had been removed from the astronaut corps Again totally untrue Unfortunately NASA managers did nothing to dispel this false and misleading information They just tucked their heads in and let the rumours run The reports infuriated Congress not least because congressmen had to read such controversial information in the press before being informed by NASA which is obligated to keep Congress fully informed of its activities Recollections of the Apollo 14 medallion incident must have seeped into the minds of certain members of Congress many of whom were not fans of NASA anyway When NASA started an internal investigation we were told by a senior official in the agency that we were on our own We were advised to get our own legal representation A Senate hearing into the matter had been called and a justice Department investigation would follow It was turning into a witch - hunt NASA we were advised expected us to keep quiet and take the Fifth Amendment at this hearing We did not We told it like it was We had nothing to hide Eventually the Justice Department concluded that we had broken some administrative rules but had done nothing criminal NASA confiscated the remaining covers but they acted before discovering all the facts of the case Following an investigation by NASA the Justice Department and the Senate the Justice Department concluded on 6 December 1978 in a ldquoMemorandum Opinion for the Assistant Attorney Generalrdquo that NASA had no claim to the remaining covers that the covers were never intended for sale that there was no attempt at concealment by the crew of the fact that the covers were to be flown on Apollo 15 and finally that the covers would have been approved to carry aboard Apollo 15 had a request been made We were reprimanded and we took our licks But it was a very raw deal NASA had hung us out to dry Our bosses had abrogated their responsibilities and we were left alone on a very wet day I spent many years trying to get full access to NASA and congressional records on the case NASA refused to provide full disclosure We subsequently found out there had been rumblings about profitmdashmaking on previous missions A copy of a letter was released to me in which NASA admitted that ten other astronauts who were not identified had been involved in selling signed blocks of stamps and postcards for Eiermann But the wave reached the shore on Apollo 15 and we were the ones who bore the brunt of the blame for such incidents
30
ORBIT
Buckingham Cover offer Free Souvenirs for You
Brian Austin of Buckinghamrsquos Rare Cover Department writes to your Editorhellip
Over the last two or three years we have been dealing more and more in signed space covers This led us to earlier this year buying an Apollo 11 crew signed cover which had been carried to the moon which we had on display on our stand at London 2010
For this we also printed a limited edition of 800 sets of postcards one featuring the Apollo 11 cover and another
featuring an Apollo 15 cover The idea was to give away 100 sets per day to customers at the show but now the show is all finished I still have around 150 pairs left on my desk
We wondered if you would like to offer them to your readers we are happy to send them out free of charge to the first 150 readers to contact us with their details as long as we can also include one of our lists of space
covers
BrianAustinbuckinghamcoverscom
31
ORBIT
More About Missile Mail
Harvey Duncan told us in the last Orbit (page 15) about the First Official Missile Mail writes Bert van Eijck After the useful technical details about the USS Barbero he gave us I can offer you more philatelic information and show you some illustrations The missile mail experiment was a joint venture between
the Ministry of Defense and the US Post Office Dept headed by Postmaster General Mr Arthur E
Summerfield Three thousand special envelopes were printed with a reproduction of a Navy missile type
Regulus with the text ldquoFirst Official Missile Mailrdquo and above that ldquoThe Postmaster General Washingtonrdquo All
the envelopes were addressed to The President high
government officials like senators and to the Post Masters General of ninety nine other member nations of
UPU Inside was a letter from Mr Summerfield entitled ldquoThe First Official Missile Mailrdquo with the official seal of
the Post Office dept It was explained therein what had
happed to that letter and the other 2999
The special letters were loaded in two metal compartments and came aboard the guided missile USS Barbero (SSG-317) The shot was to occur during a regular training mission from Norfolk Virginia to Florida
About 350 kilometres off the coast of Florida the
Regulus missile was launched toward Airport Mayport
The missile climbed 10 km above the Atlantic and
landed within twenty minutes with all the letters intact The letters were cancelled with the hand stamp ldquoUSS
Barberordquo with the date ldquoJun 8 1959rdquo and the approximate timing of the launching ldquo930 amrdquo This
was done by post office staff part of an established
branch office on the USS Barbero The letters bore the 1957 4c American flag postage stamp Those
addressed to foreign countries carried two such stamps covering surface mail postage costs On the
reverse side is the Jacksonville Post Office cancellation with the approximate time of arrival ldquoJune 8 1030 am
1959 Floridardquo
Such flown letters are expensive to buy and a jewel in
any exhibit
But this is NOT the case with the Barbero souvenir
cover dated a month later on July 8 1959 issued in the same quantity (3000) as the originals The
inscription reads ldquoPoint of LandingmdashFirst Official Missile Mail 8 June 1959 US Naval Station Mayport Floridardquo
About 16000 () collectors had applied for such a cover
The imprint of the official Barbero cover was reproduced on a memorial cover issued and posted at
the Vienna International Airpost Exhibition Luposta on August 1959 in the Austrian capital Of course neither
of these items had been carried within the Regulus
missile
Also of interest the Postal Administration of
Paraguay issued a stamp
and a block in 1976 honouring the Barbero
Missile Mail The Gs 20 stamp shows a Regulus
missile in flight while the sheet shows the whole
addressed cover and in
miniature the complete letter inside from the US Postmaster General
as mentioned above and as illustrated below
Above a specimen envelope as described in the text and below its reverse cancel
32
ORBIT
An Invitation to Our Readers to Donate to an Innovative International Projecthellip
Kindest Sir or Madam
The municipality of Vitanje
(Slovenia) is honoured to have had a hand in the life of the
famous space architect Herman Potocnik Noordung
(1892-1929) (pictured right) who had already found a
surprising number of solutions
to space travel and troubles of living in vacuum long before
actual space flights took place His creations were used by the
renowned novelist Arthur C Clarke
in his book 2001 A Space Odyssey which was later also turned into a
movie directed by Stanley Kubrick In Noordungs honour we have
created the Memorial Centre of Herman Potocnik Noordung This
year the cultural centre of European
space technology will also get going in Vitanje This will be a place
where the European space heritage will be gathered and various events connected with the
contemporary European space technologies will be
organized
Proposed Philatelic Collection We would like to bring the project onto a higher level
where we would have the collaboration of various
countries in the world including such with a history in space travel (like USA Russia) One of the steps of this
expansion process would also include a philatelic collection of stamps with themes of outer space
(astronomy astronautics and everything connected to
outer space) We already have quite a decent collection but we would like to expand on that
Our goal is to have 6000 stamps before opening our
exhibition For this we would require the help of as many philatelists as possible
All of these philatelists would become co-creators and partners of this collection for which we hope will
become the largest collection of its kind in the world The people donating the stamps would get a great deal
of exposure at all these exhibitions and on the special
website which will be started shortly If you give us enough support and we are able to raise enough
stamps for a first-class collection we hope the first
exhibitions and various special events (like visits from
astronauts ndash philatelists) will see the light of day as early as in 2011
From a professional point of view we have an
excellent team working with us Long-time philatelist
Tone Petek is the person who initiated this project while Bojan Bracic the secretary of FEPA is one of our
counsellors and is completely behind this project
If you would be interested in such cooperation I will get the wheels in motion and send you a verifying
mail with the stamp of the municipality of Vitanje and
also of some higher organization within the Slovene political system
The collection is already underway with the help of the
Slovene Philatelic organisation (FZS) adds Rok in an email to your Editor in July This organisation has been of immense help with technical expertise and
connections It looks as if there might be an introductory exhibition next year sometime
In the hope of a successful partnership we offer our
sincere appreciation
Rok Podgrajsek
Obcina Vitanje Grajski trg 1
3205 Vitanje
Slovenia
Email address rokpodgrajsekgmailcom
But see also website httpwwwvitanjesi
(Editorrsquos Note both Wendy Buckle editor of
Themescene and our Chairman Margaret Morris commend this project to you We will be sending Rok
some recent copies of Orbit for the displays)
Some illustrations from Noordungrsquos only published text ldquoThe Problem of
Space Travel The Rocket Motorrdquo (the original German title
was ldquoDas Problem der Befahrung
des Weltraums - der Raketen-Motorrdquo) which saw the light of day
in 1928
Vitanje Local Private Post stamp
33
ORBIT
Zazzle Space Stamps Dazzle
I have noticed Zazzle Space Stamps appearing in Lollini brochures and on their web pages in recent months writes your Editor so I undertook to find out some facts about them and am grateful to The Astrophile Editor Jim Roth and the man who inspired him to create his own Zazzle designs Otto Bergman for the following infohellip Zazzle is one of half a dozen or more US companies
who facilitate the printing of non-copyrighted photos and artwork on private postage stamps which count
as postage within and outwith the USA You can
design your own Zazzle stampsmdashsee their websitemdashwhich you then purchase for your own use 20 to a
page
They are therefore a bit like British Smilers except
that the personal element of the stamp is not on a se-tenant label but actually incorporated within the
stamp itself as you can see from the examples on this page
Jim Roth was annoyed that the Kennedy Space Center Post office would not cancel his Zazzle stamps as they
consider them to be ldquometersrdquo and although he has marked STS-122 he wonrsquot be creating any others
You can see (and buy) all Jim Rothrsquos Space Zazzles on
his website m57coverscommdashclick on ldquostampsrdquo
Three of Jim Rothrsquos designs
See others on his website
An Otto Bergman space creation on
Zazzlecomottobergman
These space Zazzles and others are
available from the Lollini website or brochures
STS 128 in May 2010 section
STS 129 in June 2010
WISE and Delta 2 launch in July 2010 STS 130 in August 2010
STS 128 stamps show astronauts Christer Fuglesang (far left) and left Frank De Winne ISS Commander Expedition 21 STS 129 issues depict mission
patch and the crew led by Charles Hobaugh
Delta 2 rocket launch from Cape Canaveral of WISE Deep InfraRed telescope
34
ORBIT
Concluded on page 39
More Spaceflight Books for Sale
35
ORBIT ORBIT
SPACE HABITATS (Part Two) by John Beenen Continuing his feature from our last issue John Beenen begins by posing the questionhellip Why Should we Seek to Live
in Space
Spacecom gives ten main reasons why we should enter space for a prolonged
period
1 To secure a future for humanity
2 To build a new frontier
3 To find new energy sources
4 To build an industrial settlement on
the Moon
5 Better quality images of the
Universe
6 The SETI effort
7 Mining
8 Learning the history of our
Universe
9 Environmental benefits
Meeting the challenge
Taking for granted that it is naturally fascinating to investigate how mankind
might be able to maintain its habitat outside earth there are several further reasons to investigate why
mankind should settle themselves outside earth in the far future And More reasons mean a overall better
argument
Primarily there is the question of overpopulation and
secondly a solution for the energy problem
Next we have to consider that climate circumstances
are not under control anymore and earth eventually becomes uninhabitable
Also when for various reasons we start to kill each
other for some groups of people it may be an attractive proposition to depart this Earth in quite a different
sense And that is perhaps the most common thought
through activities in space more money can be obtained
But there are disadvantageshellip
On the other hand a prolonged stay in space is not that safe The construction must be protected against
radiation and it can be hit by large and small debris which makes space a very unsafe place
Furthermore cosmic radiation produces
a radiation of 80 mSv (millisievert) - well over the allowed maximum of 50
mSv and very much over the amount which is considered as safe for man
which is 3 mSv
Next solar flares produce a sudden
increase of soft gamma and energy rich radiation so much that without the
protection of an atmosphere half of our population could die easily
It is interesting that even without shielding most of this radiation can be
absorbed in the projected spacecraftsrsquo structure and in the air Smaller
structures can be protected with a
shield of co-rotating rocks
The construction further must be protected against sunlight which by
lack of the air shield will fall in unshielded so sun blinds and radiators
are indispensable
And as a result of the artificial gravity
there are some tiny movement problems which we will face later
Finally the created ecosystem should be fully self-supporting and that is easier said than done as
experiments with Biosphere-2 have showed
Biosphere-2 Biosphere-2 was a project built between 1987 and 1991 providing in an area of about 2frac12 football fields
a closed biological system of different composition From 1991-1993 a crew of 8 persons stayed herein A
second crew of 7 persons bridged a period of March
until September 1994 During the first period it appeared difficult to keep the atmosphere constant in
particular the carbon dioxide values changed rapidlymdashthe reason why many of the carried insects perished
Further the oxygen level decreased slowly because pf a leak
Even during the first two-year phase large differences in opinion appeared and the yield was not large
enough to deliver the calories necessary Reserve stocks had to be broken into Finally the second
experiment had to be ended prematurely because of
mismanagement
However it seems that a well-functioning stable ecosystem should not be underestimated physically
not technically
Artists impressions above Interior Stanford Torus and below Interior
OrsquoNeill Cylinder
Solar flares Czechoslovakia 1965 WB 47
36
ORBIT
It further has to be speculated on that men would resist
a regulated weather programme instead of the customary ever changing circumstances on Earth
Also we must physically resist an eternal stay outside
Earth That is not always easy as some people will show
some kind of sea sickness for ever In any case rooms with a diameter of less than 100 meters and a speed of
revolution over three per minute are insufficient At specifications of over 500 m and at less than 1 revolution
per minute fewer problems have to be expected
How do we get raw materials (Fantasy Moon Mining Yemen
Mutawakelite 1969 1343)
And still there have to be enough raw materials to sustain the
colony but as a principle the
search for raw materials is not the most difficult
From the asteroid belt enough small rocks can be
transported as a building material Also mines can be put
on the Moon Bercause of the lower gravity there transport is easier and some kind of firing mechanism
has been calculated which launch packets of ore simply into space where they can be manipulated
Air can be produced from moonstone Nitrogen nearly without loss can be recycled and eventually added to
ammonia mined from comets Large gardens and fields should start the normal photosynthesis and doing so
finally a complete sustainable society might be built up Energy from the Sun is present in superfluous quantities
What to do about gravity Most designs for a Space station start with a gravity of
1G Some designers however think that a lower level of gravity is possible But in the meantime experiments
with astronauts have showed that our physiology
changes rapidly influenced by decreased or absence of gravity Thus the calcium potassium and sodium
contents of our bone system decrease by about 10 That is not bad were we to stay in space forever but
very troublesome when occasionally we would return to
Earth
Also the quality of our muscles decreases as the blood volume does Providing effects comparable to aging
Further by lack of gravity astronauts become a little
taller with accompanying pain in the back Hence the staying with 1G gravity is not so bad
That has to be maintained by rotation of the
construction The larger the diameter of the construction is the slower it will turn to provide 1 G That is a result
of the centrifugal or centripetal force Its
magnitude has long been established thanks to the work of Dutchman Christiaan Huygens and fixed in
the formula
m v2
F = r where
F = the external force in N(ewton) m = mass in kg
v = speed in msec r = radius in m
Hence a spacecraft with a diameter of 15 meters has to carry out one revolution every 8 seconds to
produce a sensation of 1G And that is too quick for man The effect of the centrifugal force is that should
an astronaut drop an object it does not fall straight
down but partly away from himher Weird
Coriolis force But in a rotating Space station another force is at
work That is the lsquoCoriolis forcersquo named after the
French Gustave-Gaspard Coriolis (1792-1843) who described this kind of force for the first time
The most common manifestation is the second law of
Buys Ballot which says that air streams in the
atmosphere which according the first law of Boys Ballot as a principle run from high to low pressure at
the northern hemisphere are bent to the right and at the southern hemisphere to the left because of the
rotation of the Earth
Therefore air streams around depressions show a
spiral shape in opposite directions at the northern and southern hemisphere In a space station this
force can especially noticed when moving around through the spokes of the wheel
(Diagram of Coriolis F o r c e h t t p
wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm)
A s s u m e t h a t a n
astronaut on a ladder
climbs through a spoke to the axis As he climbs
along he circles around more slowly as he
describes a smaller circle
in the same time What happens with the difference in speed that he had before He will be pressed
against the ladder and that is the Coriolis force The force also acts in opposite direction when he
descends from the ladder
Also the throwing up and catching of a ball will
become a huge achievement as the ball does not
37
ORBIT
drop perpendicularly but will shift a little into the
direction of the orbit of the station and also achieves a higher speed
This also has strange effects on the astronaut As moves
quickly in the rotation direction of the station his weight
appears to increase to a noteworthy extent Then as he moves against the speed of rotation his weight
decreases apparently Mathematically this effect is explainable but very complex
Also the astronautrsquos head and feet move in different
speed to artificial gravity This is plainly noticeable when
somebody jumps up Hence avoid this practice
With these kind of effects adaptation to the changed circumstances in a space station will ask a lot of the
crew members I do hope they can stand it But in any
case the larger the space ship the lesser the problems
Inflatable stations
But therersquos more The inflatable station was considered
many years ago The first i d e a w a s p o s s i b l y
developed when on 12th August 1960 the Echo
balloon with a diameter of
30 meters was launched (Echo I balloon USA 1960
WB 3)
It is true you could not live in it as the balloon was of too frail a construction but the idea of an inflatable
spacecraft was then alive By 1958 groups within NASA
had begun to think about inflatable stations The Goett-committee has been one of the first On 25th26th May
1959 a conference started about projects after
Mercury In particular the
representative of Langley L a r r y Lo f t i n wa s
enthusiastic about his AMIS (Advanced Man in
Space) project (Hexagonal structure
Manama 1970 WB 113)
One of his first projects was a rotating hexagonal
inflatable construction with a diameter of 25 meters a cylindrical core and three lsquospokesrsquo Acting as a ferry to
and from the station the lsquoDyna Soarrsquo Space plane could
be used The Dyna Soar project (at that time still
under development) was cancelled by the American
Minister of Defense Robert
McNamara Inflatable Habitat NASA
1961 enwikipediaorg)
A Langley Space Station
team managed by Paul Hill and Emanuel lsquoMannyrsquo
Schnitzer developed the concept together with the
G o o d y e a r A i r c r a f t
Corporation
(Langleyrsquos self-inflating rotating hexagonal structure httphistorynasagov
SP-4308) Its original diameter had already been reduced to 10
meters
In the years after Langley built several experimental
modules called lsquoErectable Torus Manned Space Laboratoryrsquo a 11 model built by firms such as
Goodyear The torus was built from three layers of
nylon tissue and in between a rubber-like plastic material butyl elastomer A large problem was the
penetration by micrometeorites which as was learnt from the results of the Echo balloon finally damaged
the whole structure
Another problem was the great instability of the ring
due to movements of the astronauts the station started to wobble when they moved around Finally
the project was cancelled and at the end of the eighties the Langley Research Center started to
design inflatable constructions for a base camp on the
Moon
( A r t i s t imp r e s s i on Transhab inflatable
m o d u l e h t t p
enwikipediaorg)
Due to the development of a new series of
s t r o n g e r p l a s t i c materials such as Kevlar
these construct ions
received new interest That lead to the development of Transhab (Transit Habitat) as a resource for crews
coupled at the ISS (international Space Station) The construction is a cylinder in a diameter of 82 meters
and several storeys high
Its volume in inflatable state is 340 m3 The wall has a
thickness of 30 () cm and consists of 12 layers of which the outside layer is made from Kevlar The
layers beneath are made from Nextel a ceramic fibre Disagreements during development and the spiralling
costs finally in 2000 saw the end of NASArsquos interest
G e n e s i s 1
thespacereviewcom)
From 1999 the project was
taken up by Bigelow
38
ORBIT
Aerospace who improved the design and tested it with
successful launchings of Genesis I on 12 July 2006 and Genesis II on 28 June 2007
In their design it has once again more or less the shape
of a balloon With a thickness of 40 cm the wall is still
very thick The outside layer is still Kevlar but inside are some layers of Vectran a textile fibre Within the
structure ants and scorpions were launched along with some objects which people who paid for the privilege of
boosting into space
In this way Bigelow hopes to build a Space Hotel named
Nautilus To stimulate the development Bigelow offered a price of $50 million to everybody who succeeded in
launching a crew of 5 persons to an altitude of 400 km before 2010 So little money lost here so far
A second project which can be realized within the near future is a fixed residence on the Moon As said Langley
occupies itself with the design of such a base which partly should be build below the surface Stamp
designers have already realized the idea
What does the future hold Although we are a long way away from the kind of space station by which a large amount of earth inhabitants can
leave the planet Earth forever the first steps for doing
so are in preparation With the development of their Space Hotel Bigelow tries to make the step to space
albeit a temporary one
Also Langley literally tries to set foot on the Moon and
finally they will succeed in doing so However The cost of such projects are literally astronomical and it is not
expected that in the coming decades much money can be allocated to such projects
Of course in some thousands of years (possibly only in
hundreds of years) this will become the case but for the
time being in my opinion the true conquest of space will stay as science-fiction for at least a few hundred years
Hoorn 2009
John Beenen
NB The stamps entitled lsquoSpace Cityrsquo with a value of 0 cnt do not exist but have been made by the author by means of frames and pictures present at the Internet
Fantasy Moon
b a s e M a n a -ma1970 WB 122
Fantasy bases
ready for Mars
YAR 1971 WB 2892 and 6
Fantasy Modular
base YAR 169 WB 233
39
ORBIT
Cover Below bottom right Future space Dutch Antilles 2000
Literature references (for both parts of article) httpenwikipediaorg Space habitat Space Colonization Orbital Colony Space City Space settlement Space stations L5 Society Bernal Sphere Stanford Torus OrsquoNeil Cylinder Inflatable Space Habitat Transhab Biosphere 2 Generation Ship wwwdsenl~hklruimtehtm Wonen op groene eilanden in de Ruimte (Dutch Living on green Islands in Space) Henry Kluytmans wwworionsarmcom McKendree Cylinder Bishops Ring wwwnasnasagovAboutEducationSpaceSettlement The Colonization of Space wwwdyarstraightscommsgundamhabitatshtml Mobile Suit Gundam High Frontier Life in the Universal Century Developing sound habitats wwwartificial-gravitycomDissertation1_2htm From Tsiolkovsky to Sputnik (1878-1957) httpsciencenasagovheadlinesy2000ast26may_1mhtm Wheels in the Sky httpdiscaircraftgreyfalconus Hermann Noordung Wohnrad (Wheel for Habitation) httparticlesadsabsharvardedufull1992lbsaconf249R Inflatable habitation for the lunar base MRoberts httphistorynasagovSP-4308ch9htm lsquoAs inevitable as the Rising Sunrsquo From the inflatable Torus to the Rotating Hexagon wwwspacecomnewsbusinessmonday_040524html Bigelow Aerospace to tackle inflatable Space Habitats httpsciencehowstuffsworkcominflatable-spacecraft2htm How Inflatable Spacecraft Will Work wwwbogancaphysicscoriolishtml Rotating Space Stations Dynamics An Explanation of the Coriolis Force httpdemonstrationswolframcomRotatingSpaceStation Rotating Space Station wwwdvandomcomcoliolisspacestationhtml Frame Effects and Space Stations wwwdvandomcomcoriolisindexhtml A (hopefully) simple explanation of the Coriolis Force wwwdaviddarlinginfoencyclopedia Hale Edward Everett von Pirquet Guido Noordung Hermann Space Station wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm The Coriolis Force wwwastronautixcomcraftfamlunbaseshtm Lunar bases wwwastronautixcomgallerycspebasehtm Photo Gallery Space base wwwregererating-universeorgOn_Moon_as_Space_Basehtm On Moon as Space Base wwwspacefuturecomhabitatlivingshtml Space Habitat Introduction Living in Space wwwspacepagebevideotaak=bekijkampid=47 Living in space (Video) wwwnutricomspace The Case for Space colonization ndash Now Oscar Falconi wwwxentcompipermailfork (FoRK) Bigelowrsquos inflatable Genesis I satellite in orbit wwwrussianforcesorg Russian strategic nuclear forces (Genesis II) wwwbigelowaerospacecomgenesis Genesis I Genesis II
Thanks to Alan Tunnicliffe who came across the attached news item
complete with stamp in the eNZ Magazine the bi-monthly journal of
the Institution of Professional Engineers NZ Inc Vol 11 No 3 May-
June 2010
Vaccari Auction Sells Remarkable Space Covers April 2010
Apollo 12 cover 55 of 87 flown to the moon on Apollo 15 having been left behind by the original crew sold for euro12200 1977 Salyut
6 Soyuz 27 cover sold for euro1600
40
ORBIT ORBIT
Shuttle 1981mdash2010 Stamps Marshall
Islands 2005
United Nations 2007 Monaco and Ascension 2008
Bulgaria 1991 including stamp from souvenir sheet
USA 1981
below USA 1995 and bottom USA 1998
(two values)
St Vincent Grenadines 1983
Ascension 1989
Bulgaria 1990
and above right W Germany 1975
and USA 2000 Guyana 2006
USA 1995
41
ASSS Membership Renewal 2010
Memberrsquos Name amp Addresshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
I wish to renew my membership of the ASSS for a further year and enclose the equivalent of
pound15 (UK) euro30 (Europe) $US 45 (Rest of the World)
Please return this form with your remittance to Harvey Duncan by the
end of July Thank you
Harvey Duncan Treasurer ASSS 16 Begg Avenue
Falkirk Scotland FK1 2DL
PayPal For details of how to Pay via Paypal
please email Jeff Dugdale Email address on Page 2
42
43
44
12
ORBIT
ASTEROIDS Some Bits and Pieces
Ulugh Beigh (Diam 70 km Lat deg29 2 Long degW 85) The remnant of a crater just to the W of Oceanus Procellarum near the NW limbmdashforeshortened from the Earth Named after Ulugh Beg Persian ruler and astronomermathemat ic ian (Turkey 1983) Von Braun (Diam 60 km Lat deg41 2
Long degW 78) Named after rocket pioneer Wernher von Braun (1912-77) this is located near the NW limb on the W edge of Oceanus Procellarum and to the NE of Lavoisier (Guinea Biussau 2006)
Uncatalogued Hungarian Stamp Referenced in Spaceflight Article
The June 2010 issue of Spaceflight magazine contained
a five page article by Naacutendo
Schuminszky celebrating the first Hungarian in space whose
flight in Soyuz 36 occurred 30 years beforeon 26th May 1980
A side panel to the article
reproduced right contains
images of a pair of stamps with two subtle differencesmdashin
bottom left hand corner the date ldquo1979rdquo and ldquo1980rdquo and
rightmdashthe face value The
article goes on to explain how unexpected events delayed the
flight by a year Hungarian cosmonaut Bertalan Farkas was
due to be launched in mid-June
1979 in Soyuz 34 but his flight was cancelled following the
failure of Soyuz 33 carrying Bulgarian cosmonaut Georgi Ivanov to dock with Salyut 6 Soyuz 34 was eventually
launched unmanned to provide a fresh ferry for the resident crew to use
In anticipation of the 1979 flight a large number of associated souvenirs including posters emblems and
stamps had been prepared but had to be destroyed though evidently some escaped
However the 1979 version of the eventual SG 3320 is not listed in WEEBAU or Gibbons If any members have
any info about these unissued stamps please share it with us
More on Lunar Craters Our Chairman Margaret Morris forwarded the article opposite from the March 1989 issue of Sky amp Telescope which is of interest in the context of our new series explaining as it does how several Far Side craters have been named after astronauts and cosmonauts
Orbit for June 2010
Our last issue contained one glaring error for which your editor apologises The number on the front ldquo85rdquo was the same as the number for the March issue This will cause
problems when Harvey Duncan issues the next version of the index A lovely cover again by your Editorrsquos wife but spoiled by this typo Sorry
Flown STS-8 Covers These are referred to at the bottom of the left hand column of p 27 of this edition in Umberto Cavallarorsquos article where we learn that there were well over a quarter of a million of them
Alan Tunnicliffe editor of NZ Air Mail News advises that New Zealand stamp dealer JRMowbray has for sale at NZ $75 a piece flown STS-8 space covers date stamped 14 Aug 1983 at KSC with launch and return cancels and bearing a $935 stamp NZ$75 = US$53 or pound35 This seems a rather high price for flown STS-8 covers given the number available and members will possibly be able to obtain the item cheaper with an internet search
Solar Sails and The Sun Peter Hoffman comments on John Beenenrsquos feature on The Sun in our June 2010 issuehellip ldquoIn the Solar Sails section on page 8 mention is made of the failed launch of Cosmos-1 What is not mention is that is was a project of The Planetary Society httpwwwplanetaryorghome They are working on a new version called LightSail the first of which is planned for a launch later this year In case you are not familiar with it The Planetary Society is a privately funded space advocacy group founded in part by Carl Sagan ldquoThe Planetary Society yearly presents the Cosmos Award for Outstanding Public Presentation of Science in honour of Carl Sagan This years winner was Stephen Hawking They printed his acceptance speech Why go into space An amusing comment was a quote from a Calvin and Hobbes cartoon Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere is that none of it has tried to contact us ldquoThe Japanese Space Agency launched its solar sail spacecraft IKAROS (Interplanetary Kite-Craft Accelerated by Radiation Of the Sun) together with its Venus Climate Orbiter Akatsuki on 20 May You can read about it at httpwwwspacecommissionlaunchesjapan-venus-wrap-100520htmlrdquo
13
ORBIT
14
ORBIT
Spaceflight Books for Sale
Books about Space andor Astronomy in English
The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Space 1990 386 pages coffee table book euro 1500
Life in Space D Monchersquo 1979 ldquo 500
The Conquest of Space Willy Ley amp Chesley Bonestell+pictures 1952 RARE ldquo 2000
Star Hunters D Mammana 1990 coffee table book ldquo 1000
The Rocket David Baker 276p+490pictures 1978 coffee table book classic ldquo 2000
The History of Manned Spaceflight David Baker 576p+362pictures 1985coffeerdquo 2000
The Observerrsquos Spaceflight Directory R Turnill 384p 1978 ldquo 1000
The Observerrsquos Book of Unmanned Spaceflight+Manned Spaceflight 1974+1975 ldquo 1000
The Observerrsquos Book Of Astronomy Patrick Moore 1973 ldquo 500
Basic Astronomy Patrick Moore 1967 ldquo 300
Space a Novel James A Michener pocket Ballantine 1983 ldquo 250
Voyagers Ben Bova 1983 pocket ldquo 250
The Universe Herbert Zim 1973 ldquo 200
Exploring Other Worlds WyberampAmes 1968 ldquo 200
Tomorrowrsquos Moon Henry Little 1969 ldquo 200
Observatories of the World Marx amp Pfau 1982 ldquo 1000
Are We Alone Paul Davis Penquin 1995 ldquo 250
Moonport USA (Kennedy Space Center) 1977 ldquo 250
Living in Space (Colonies) J Trefil 1981 ldquo 500
The Cosmonauts Gordon Hooper 1977 ldquo 250
Extraterrestrials-Where Are They Zuckerman ampHart 1995 ldquo 1000
The Cosmic Connection Carl Sagan pocket 1975 ldquo 300
Exploring the Planets Ian Nicolson 1972 ldquo 250
Janersquos pocket Book 11 Space Exploration 1976 ldquo 300
Twenty-First Report Internat Telecomm Union Geneva 1982 ldquo 250
Satellites amp Space Travel Taylor ampAllward 1970 ldquo 200
Watchers of the Stars Patrick Moore 1974 ldquo 500
Robot Explorers Kenneth Garland 1972 ldquo 500
APOLLO by astronaut Alan Bean+paintings Bean in space 1998 coffeetable ldquo 2000
The World of Mars VA Firsoff 1969 ldquo 200
Missiles and Rockets Kenneth Garland ldquo 500
Stars and Planets Ian Ridpath 1978 ldquo 500
Race to Mars The ITN Mars Flight Atlas 1988 ldquo 500
Worlds Beyond Search for Life in Space Ian Ridpath 1975 ldquo 500
CETI Communication with Extraterrestrial Intelligence Stonelay 1976 ldquo 250
Horizon at the Edge of the Universe 9 chapters of astronomers 1983 ldquo 300
The New Race for Space James Oberg 1984 ldquo 500
The Hunt for Life on Mars Goldsmith 1998 ldquo 500
The High Road Ben Bova pocket 1983 ldquo 250
Operation Morning Light the True Story of Cosmos 954 Leo Heaps 1978 ldquo1000
Space Volunteers T Kay 1960 ldquo 300
Legal Aspects of Outer Space Dr C Reijnen 1976 205 pages the Worldrsquos
First Thesis of this Kind by female Dutch scholar ldquo 400
E-MAIL bertvaneijckhomenl if interested in any to discuss sale and postage
See further list on page 24
15
ORBIT
The above obituary and tribute by David Shayler
appeared in the August 2010 of Spaceflight magazine marking the passing of Rex Hall who was also one of
the longest standing members of the ASSS carrying
the membership number 88033 We extend our condolences to Rexrsquos family
16
ORBIT
Un-manned Satellites on Postage Stamps 35 By Guest Contributors Don Hillger and Garry Toth
A version of this article first appeared in The Astrophile for sic)
The Discoverer series
This is the thirty-fifth in a series of articles about un-manned satellites on postage stamps This article
features the satellites in the US Air Force (USAF) Discoverer series The first Discoverer was launched
on 21 January 1959 and the last one on 18 April 1962
There were a total of 39 launches a third (or 13) of which were failures The Discoverer series also called
Corona satellites were later declassified as the first Keyhole (KH) spy satellites
Discoverer was the public name of the Corona series
of film-return reconnaissance spy satellites whose true
mission was not officially revealed until about 35 years after the program ended The Discoverers secret
program was masked by scientific goals it was kept secret even from program staff who knew nothing
about Corona Scientific instruments were even placed
on Discoverer satellites and then covertly removed before launch
The Discoverer satellites were designed to take pictures
of target countries and then eject a film capsule
which was to de-orbit and enter the Earthrsquos atmosphere on a parachute and be recovered by a
specially-modified aircraft as it floated downward On many of the missions however the capture of the film
capsules was not successful for various reasons The first successful return of a capsule through the Earths
atmosphere occurred with Discoverer-13 though in this
case the aerial capture failed and the capsule fell into the sea Fortunately that mission carried no cameras
Discoverer-14 was the first completely successfully Corona mission in which reconnaissance photos were
taken from the spy satellite and ejected in a capsule
which was then successfully recovered in a mid-air capture carried out by a C-119 aircraft
Because of secret nature of their mission the
Discoverer satellites were not well-known and so were not featured on many postal items A set of three
stamps issued by Libya in 1966 (Scott 297-299) shows
a Discoverer capsule There is also a local post item from Batum that depicts the recovery of a Discoverer
capsule and a souvenir sheet from Chad (Michel BL247) that shows the re-entry of a Discoverer capsule
in the margin Another capsule recovery is shown in
the margin of a souvenir sheet issued by the Malagasy Republic in 1999 (Scott 1502a)
A checklist of postal items identified as showing Discoverer-
series satellites (httprammbciracolostateedudevhillgerDiscovererhtm) is available as part of the Website developed by the authors to accompany this series of articles (httprammbciracolostateedudevhillgersatelliteshtm) E-mail correspondence is welcome Don Hillger can be reached at hillgerciracolostateedu and Garry Toth at garry_tothhotmailcom
Top KH-4B Corona satellite Above Recovery of Discoverer 14 return capsule (typical for
the Corona series (ex Wikipedia)
17
ORBIT
18
ORBIT
Flight STS-130 Commander George Zamka Pilot Terry Virtis MS Kathryn Hire MS Stephen Robinson MS Nicholas Patrick MS Robert Behnken MS Koichi Wakata KSC Launch Date 822010 KSC Landing 21210 Purpose Tranquility Module Main Payload and Cupola
Shuttle Story 201011 STSndash130 -131 -132 Part One
STS-130 (ISS assembly flight 20A) via Endeavour carried as its
primary payloads the Tranquility module and the Cupola a robotic control station with six windows around its sides and
another in the centre providing a 360-degree view around the station Endeavour launched at 0414 EST (0914 UTC) on 8
February 2010 and landed at 2220 EST on 21 February 2010 on
runway 15 at the Kennedy Space Centers Shuttle Landing Facility
Tranquility was shipped from the
Thales Alenia Space facility in
Turin Italy It arrived at Kennedy Space Center on 21 May 2009 It
was formerly known as Node 3 and was named by a NASA poll
The module provides six berthing locations however three of those
locations are disabled as modules
originally planned to be attached to Tranquility were cancelled The
photo right shows Tranquility just before being installed to Unity node
STS-130 also brought the Cupola a large window
module and robotics work station to the ISS which was
to be attached to the nadir-
side of Tranquility The module also includes various
ISS systems including addit iona l l i fe support
systems This photo shows the facility being prepared at KSC whilst the photo above right
shows the module and cupola being moved into position on the
ISS
The shape of the mission patch on the launch
cover below represents the cupola over the earth in a photo taken by the unmanned
Lunar Orbiter probe in 1966 so representing a past and future designation for explorers from
Earth
For other Zazzle stamps
see page 33
19
ORBIT
Flight STS-131 Commander Alan Pointdexter Pilot James Dutton MS Rick Mastracchio MS Dorthy Metcalf- Lindenburger MS Stephanie Wilson MS Naoko Yamakazi MS Clayton Anderson KSC Launch Date 5410 KSC Landing 20410 Purpose MPLM Leonardo Main Payload
STS-131 (ISS assembly flight 19A) via Discovery launched on 5
April 2010 from Kennedy Space Centers launch pad 39A and landed at 908 AM on 20 April 2010 on runway 33 at the Kennedy
Space Centers Shuttle Landing Facility The mission marked the longest flight for space shuttle Discovery
The primary payload was a Multi-Purpose Logistics Module loaded with supplies and equipment for the ISS The mission also
removed and replaced an ammonia tank assembly outside the station on the S1 truss The mission also included several on-
board payloads this mission had the most payloads since STS-
107
The primary payload of STS-131 was MPLM Leonardo filled with food and science supplies and also carried the third and final
Minus Eighty Degree Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI) Window Orbital Research Facility (WORF) one Crew Quarters Rack the
Muscle Atrophy Resistive Exercise (MARES) rack Resupply
Stowage Racks (RSRs) as well as Resupply Stowage Platforms (RSPs) The Lightweight Multi-Purpose Equipment Support
Structure Carrier (LMC) carried a refurbished Ammonia Tank Assembly (ATA) to the ISS The refurbished ATA was removed
from the Space Station and returned for use on this mission
during STS-128 It was swapped with an empty tank which will ride home on the LMC
This mission was the second flight of the TriDAR a 3D dual-
sensing laser camera intended for potential use as an
autonomous rendezvous and docking sensor TriDAR provides guidance information that can be used to guide a vehicle during
rendezvous and docking operations in space TriDAR does not rely on any reference markers such as reflectors positioned on
the target spacecraft
This was the final Space Shuttle mission that contains one or
more rookie astronauts the missions after this will have all- veteran crews
STS-131 was only the third mission in the Space Shuttle
programme to carry three female astronauts
the others being STS-40 and STS-96
With three female crew members arriving on board Discovery and Expedition 23 Flight
Engineer Tracy Caldwell Dyson at the station
the STS-131 mission marked the first time that four women have been in space at one
time
STS-131 marked the first time that two
Japanese astronauts Naoko Yamazaki from the Shuttle crew and Soichi Noguchi on the
ISS had been in space together
Although Naoko Yamazaki is not the last non-
US astronaut Naoko was the last Japanese astronaut to fly the space shuttle
MPLM Leonardo can
be seen in the shuttle cargo bay
The seven stars either side of our
sun represent the
crew members
The shuttlersquos orientation indicates
it is performing the Rendezvous Pitch
Manoeuvre which
allows the ISS to photograph its
underbelly
20
ORBIT
Flight STS-132 Commander Kenneth Ham Pilot Dominic Antonelli MS Michael Good MS Garret Reisman MS Piers Sellars MS Stephen Bowen KSC Launch Date 1452010 KSC Landing 2652010 Purpose Delivery of Russian Main Payload Rassvet Module
STS-132 (ISS assembly flight ULF4) docked with the ISS on May
16 2010 It was launched from the Kennedy Space Center on May 14 2010 The primary payload is the Russian Rassvet Mini-
Research Module along with an Integrated Cargo Carrier-Vertical Light Deployable (ICC-VLD) STS-132 is scheduled to be the
final flight of Space Shuttle Atlantis provided that the STS-335
Launch On Need rescue mission is not flown
Rassvet means dawn in Russian The module was built
by Russian aerospace company
Energia and arrived at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC)
aboard an Antonov 124 cargo plane on 17 December 2009
After it was unloaded from the Antonov the module was
transported to an Astrotech processing bay in Cape Canaveral to
undergo preparations for launch shown in this photo
An airlock and radiation heat exchanger to be used for outfitting the Russian Nauka Module (to be launched in 2012) a spare
elbow part of the European Robotic Arm (ERA) and a portable
work platform for science hardware for performing experiments in outer space were externally mounted on Rassvet in its launch
configuration Russian and US cargo delivered was also accommodated inside the module The volume for cargo and
science inside MRM1 is 5 cubic meters] Rassvet was outfitted
with ISS standard grapple fixtures that allowed the module to be unloaded from the payload bay of Atlantis using the stations
robotic arm
The ICC pallet is constructed of aluminum It is approximately 8 feet long 13 feet wide and 10 inches thick The empty weight of
the pallet is 2645 pounds The total weight of ICCndashVLD and the ORUs is approximately 8330 pounds ICC-VLD return mass is
2933 kilograms (6470 lb)
The ICC-VLD was berthed in the centre of the
payload bay for both launch and re-entry
In the photo above Rassvet is shown centre top
The mission patch shows Atlantis flying off into the sunset as the end of the shuttle
programme approaches
21
ORBIT
By Andreacute Scheer and Margaret Morris This fascinating structure is an octagonal pentelic marble tower on the Roman agora or marketplace in Athens It was supposedly built by the astronomer Andronicus of Kyrrhos c 50 BC but according to other sources might have been constructed in the 2
nd
century BC before the rest of the forum The structure is 12 metres high with a diameter of approximately 8 metres On each of the eight sides (aligned with the eight principal points of the compass) is a sculpture featuring the wind gods and below each sculpture is engraved a sundial Thus the tower served as a solar clock but additionally in the interior was a water-clock (clepsydra) driven by water coming down from the Acropolis There were mechanical hour indicators and displays for the seasons of the year with astrological dates and periods The tower was topped in antiquity by a weather-vane in the shape of a triton with a wand which pointed at whichever of the winds was blowing The tower must have been one of the most useful structures in the agora as it showed the time for civilian purposes and indicated the wind direction for merchants awaiting the arrival of a ship The earliest philatelic items to depict this unusual building are postal stationery postcards originating from 1900 when the Greek postal authorities organised a competition for photographers and artists The best pictures were selected for issue and on 1 July 1901 the first series of 32 cards was issued In total 12 series of 32 cards each were issued between then and 20 March 1903 The cards were issued in three colours (chestnut black and green) with imprinted stamps of two values (5 lepta green for national mail and 10 lepta red for international mail) The cards additionally have an impressed stamp without colour on the left side being 10 lepta for the card itself so the cards were sold for 15 and 20 lepta The design of the imprinted stamps was based on the Hermes (Mercury) statue by Giovanni da Bologna During the war on the Balkans the cards were used by the Greek army and have an extra imprint ndash Carte Postale ndash Franchise Militaire A few examples of these postal stationery postcards are illustrated opposite and on page 23 The wording ldquoLrsquohorloge de Kyrrhestesrdquo refers to the timepiece built by Andronicus of Kyrrhos while ldquoTEMPLE DrsquoEOLErdquo translates as ldquoTemple of Aeolusrdquo (Aeolus = god of the winds) For each card 12 versions can be distinguished ndash ie 3 colours x 2 values x 2 usages For fuller information see reference no 1 Of course numerous picture postcards also feature this interesting structure
The Tower of the Winds The Oldest Planetarium on Stamps and
Postal Stationery
Front and back of postal stationery postcard
Examples of Greek postal stationery from the early 20th
century
Front and back of postal stationery postcard
22
ORBIT
The 19423 issues (SG 561-572) of Greece shown beside the 1973 Dominica souvenir sheet whose designer has
reinterpreted the divine sculptures in the margins
Boreas also on the 100d value in black and grey
Skiron
Zephyrus in two 25d vals
orange and green
Lips
Notus
Eurus
Apeliotes in two 10d vals red brown and red orange
Kaikias in two 50d vals black and grey violet and blue
Wind Direction Name of Deity Characteristics of the Sculpture North Boreas An old man wearing heavy clothing and holding a conch shell This wind was cold fierce and
stormy and in Athens made a loud hollow noise
North East Kaikias Old man with severe expression holding circular shield from which he will drop hailstones Weather characteristically cloudy wet and cold
East Apeliotes Young man with hair flowing in every direction holding a cloak full of fruit and grain ndash he brings gradual gentle rain
South East Eurus Old man with morose countenance wrapped tightly against the elements in his cloak This wind brought sultry gloomy weather with much rain
South Notus Young man emptying an urn and producing a shower of water This wind was associated with sultry very wet weather
South West Lips Boy pushing the stern of a ship promising a good sailing wind This was the wind which blew right into Piraeus harbour
West Zephyrus Beautiful lightly clad youth of happy aspect holding a cloak full of flowers In summer this wind brought very sultry weather
North West Skiron Bearded man with a bronze pot full of hot ashes and charcoal This was a dry wind extremely cold in winter but scorching and with lightning in summer
The following table gives details of the sculptures and the characteristics attributed to each of the wind gods
For fuller information see reference no 2
23
ORBIT
The sculptures of the eight winds were depicted on stamps of Greece issued in 1942 (six designs) and 1943 (again six designs ndash four as the previous issue but including the two omitted winds) Five values were surcharged in 1944 to aid victims of the Piraeus bombing of 11 January 1944 the exceptionally high face value resulted in few of these stamps being used Later in 1944 the same five values were surcharged in aid of a Childrenrsquos Convalescent Camp Fund Finally in 1946 two values of the 1942 issue were surcharged ndash the 10dr value in black and the 50dr revalued as 20dr in red See opposite for examples of the stamp designs In addition to these attractive engraved stamps the 1973 issue from Dominica commemorating the centenary of the World Meteorological Organisation included a miniature sheet incorporating the 50c and $1 values and surrounded in the margin by images of all eight wind sculptures (see page 22) More recently the cover of a booklet issued by Greece on 7 October 1988 provides an aerial view of the agora and the Tower of the Winds can be detected (see below) The booklet contains 16 stamps (4 each of 4 different values) and celebrates capitals of Greek provinces In early Christian times the building was used as the bell tower of a Byzantine Church It was partly buried in the ground until fully excavated in the 19
th century by the
Archaeological Society of Athens It is interesting to note that the design of the upper octagon of the 18th century Radcliffe Observatory in Oxford England is based on the Tower of the Winds as is the mausoleum of the founder of the Greek National Library Panayis Vagliano at West Norwood Cemetery London There is a similar tower in Sevastopol built in 1849 References
1 ldquoEntiers Postaux Illustreacutes du service des postes
helleacuteniques et leurs preacutecurseursrdquo Georges Mathas 1985
2 For finely detailed drawings and information about the sculptures you may care to see if your Library has a copy of ldquoThe Antiquities of Athensrdquo Stuart amp Revett Vol 1 published in London 1762
3 Article by Derek J de Solla Price in ldquoNational
Geographic April 1967 pp587-596 4 Much useful information may also be obtained from
sites on the internet
Examples of Overprints from left to right
1944 Piraeus Bombing Aid 1944 Childrenrsquos convalescent camp fund 1946 Surcharge
Below Cover of the 1988 stamp booklet
Front and back of postal stationery postcard
24
ORBIT
Old Photo Makes New(s) Story
A photo taken twenty-one years ago became hot international new(s) this July writes Bert van Eijck
It is a picture of your correspondent in front of the
monument on the graves of the seven astronauts killed
in the Challenger disaster The photo from November 1989 shows the national cemetery at Arlington in
Washington DC And it is this graveyard a national American field of pride and honour that was involved in
a scandal making news all over the world
What happened This became a hot story after it was leaked to the press that in 211 graves on Arlington the wrong corpse had
been buried But this disgrace grew to international
proportions when the US Senate published a report which revealed that it was not 211 but 6600 graves that
had been so dishonoured And maybe there are more the researchers stated
Consequently it meant that family members had been paying their respect at the wrong graves because many
were not marked well or the ground-plan directed to wrong places
Arlingtonrsquos director John Metzler was fired as was his
depute Thurman Higginbotham both of whom said
they knew there were made mistakes but they could not help ldquobecause of economyrdquo
Arlington cemetery was opened in 1864 Since then
300000 Americans have been buried here including
famous or well-known persons like presidents
ministers high ranked military artists judges and
astronauts
And what about some of the most recent ones Did I indeed visit and honour the seven Challenger astronauts in their last resting place on Earth in
November 1989 as shown on the photo Or are they perhaps mistakenly buried in another
unmarked grave This is hard to believe but one never knowshelliphellip
For those who wonder what was doing 21
years ago in the US capital I visited the
World Stamp Exporsquo89 at the Convention Center in Washington DC Of course I did
more sightseeing at and in the famous Smithsonian Museums (a must the
National AirampSpace Museum with 10
million visitors a year) the Capitol the metro (deepest in the world) George
Washingtonrsquos house in Vernon Arlington of course and much more
At the World Stamp Expo there was a
presentation of both USA and USSR space
stamps The American stamps were presented by astronaut Buzz Aldrin the
Soviet stamps by cosmonaut Gherman Titov
Author and the Challenger astronauts monument at Arlington seven figures in bronze (left) At right a plaque honoring US-soldiers killed in action saving
hostages in Iran
Astronaut Buzz Aldrin (left) presents the US space stamps while cosmonaut Gherman Titov (right) does the same with
Soviet space stamps In the middle officials of USPS Below the
stampshellip
25
ORBIT
The Apollo 15 Cover Scandal by Umberto Cavallaro
In a feature which first appeared in the April-June 2010 issue of Ad Astra the web journal of the Italian Astrophilatelic Association its editor reveals in considerable detail the full story of those covers which today sell for so much money The Apollo 15 flown covers are among the best known
collectibles from the Apollo Era mainly because of what Jim Irwin recalls as ldquothe problem we brought
back from the Moonrdquo
The crew of Apollo 15 carried out one of the most complete scientific explorations of the Moon the first
lunar roving vehicle was operated on the Moon to
extend the range of exploration some 180 pounds of lunar surface samples were returned for analysis Yet
Fifteen is best remembered as the crew that carried envelopes to the moon and the whole mission is
remembered for the ldquogreat postal caperrdquo
Apollo 15 was not the first mission to carry covers
dozens were carried on each flight from Apollo 11 onwards and as Commander Dave Scott recalls in his
book the whole business had probably been building since Mercury through Gemini and into Apollo People
had a fascination with objects that had been carried in space and they became more and more popular and
valuable as the programme progressed Right from
the start of the Mercury programme each astronaut had been allowed to carry on board a certain number
of personal items
NASA was in the habit of authorizing astronauts to
carry certain personal items on manned flights known as Astronautsrsquo PPK (Personal Preference Kits) All such
items had to be listed and approved by Deke Slayton the Head of the Astronaut Office prior to launch and
were intended for private use or as personal gifts
after the flight and could not be employed for commercial
Fig 1 The official USPS cover postmarked on the Moon
purposes or personal gain Astronaut kits typically
included badges jewellery coins medals flags stamps postal covers currency printed materials and
similar easily packed lightweight mementoes As the flight became more significant the number and type of
items increased
Aside from personal mementoes each crew had
carried medallions whose number had grown steadily on each mission In his book The All-American Boys astronaut Walter Cunningham reveals that it was rumoured around the Astronaut Office that Apollo 14
carried on board a personal package weighing forty-
two pounds Before that flight the Franklin Mint had even advertised the proposed sale After the flight the
commercial deal was never completed and all went quiet nothing about it being published in the media
But some members of the US Congress were unhappy
of the situation
In that context the ldquolapses of judgmentrdquo of the Apollo 15 crew became fatal Dave Scott went too far
carrying on board a total of 641 postal covers (including the two official covers) of which only 243
were listed and authorized before the flight and 398
were not -- secretly carried on board Apollo 15 by Scott in a pocket of his space suit Had they been
listed as being in Scotts PPK they would probably have been routinely approved for inclusion in the
preference kit
The 243 listed and authorized covers include
bull 2 official US Postal Service covers one of which the ldquoOfficial Coverrdquo was publicly cancelled on the
moon by Scott at the request of the US Postal
Service 10 (Fig 1) bull 1 Wright Brothers commemorative cover dated
1928 and autographed by Orville Wright which was carried by Worden for a friend
bull 1 cover bearing a First Man on the Moon stamp and a Bliss Centennial three-cent stamp carried by
Irwin for Barbara Baker (Fig 2 below)
26
ORBIT
8 Shamrock covers carried by Irwin (as below)
144 Herrickrsquos ldquoMoon Phasesrdquo covers carried by Worden
(Fig 4) printed with a cachet showing 15 phases of the moon On the USS Okinawa the Apollo 15 recovery ship
the astronauts placed two eight-cent stamps purchased
on board by Worden on each of these covers and they had the covers cancelled by the shipboard post office
The astronauts later autographed these covers while flying back from Hawaii to Houston Sixteen covers were
torn or damaged and were destroyed Because of the furore created by the Apollo 15 covers incident NASA
confiscated 61 of these 144 Moon Phases covers
87 Apollo 12 covers (Fig 5) that for unknown reason
did not fly on that mission and which were carried on
Apollo 15 for Mrs Barbara Gordon a stamp collector then wife of Richard Gordon Apollo 12 astronaut who
at was the back-up pilot for Apollo 15
The 398 unauthorized covers (initially there were
400 but 2 were damaged and discarded) are lightweight envelopes carrying as a cachet a replica
of the official Apollo 15 patch overprinted with an Air Force wing and propeller emblem
The idea of these additional covers was suggested during a cocktail party by Eiermann a salesman for
the heat-shield contractor who had frequent business and social contacts with NASA personnel and
astronauts He suggested to fly 400 lightweight covers 100 for each of the astronauts and 100 for
his friend Sieger the German stamp dealer The
cacheted covers were provided by Al Bishop a friend of many astronauts then at the Howard
Hughes organization He had already provided covers for the previous flights since Apollo 12
Above one of the 100 Sieger covers with the handwritten note ldquoLanded at Hadley Moon July 30 1971 On the
reverse is a typed and notarised inscription ldquoThis is to certify that this cover was on board the Falcon at the Hadley-
Apennine Moon July 30 ndashAug 2 1971rdquo
Below one of the 298 unauthorised covers carried to the Moon by David Scott with the inscription ldquoThis envelope was
carried to the Moon aboard the Apollo 15 of 300 to the Lunar Surface in LMrdquoFalconrdquo
The crews usually returned to Bishop a couple of
flown covers signed with gratitude ldquoTo my
knowledge ndash Cunningham reports in his well documented book ndash Bishop never sold any and never
made a dime off his relationship He was simply a fan To Al Bishop Apollo 15 was no different from any
other flight except for a phone call he received from
Hal Collins the Astronaut Office manager at the Cape
27
ORBIT
Collins told Bishop that the crew would like to know
whether he could obtain some very lightweight envelopes for them Al said that hed be happy to do so
He was unaware then that many of them would be smuggled on board the next lunar flight Al was trusted
Thats why many of us imposed on him with our
problems special requests and sometimes matters which we would rather not share with NASArdquo
This time Al was badly used he emerged as a
scapegoat and his name was dragged as though he was the Mr Big of an international stamp conspiracy
The covers were cancelled at Kennedy Space Center
several days before July 26 1971 The date of the post office machine canceller was moved forward
Additionally twin eight-cent stamps were purchased by the astronauts on the USS Okinawa the Apollo 15
recovery ship and affixed to these covers ndash as for the
Herrickrsquos covers In the shipboard post office the covers were then cancelled and date-stamped August 7 1971
The astronauts finally autographed these covers while flying from Hawaii to Houston
Soon after the flight the astronauts gave Eiermann
the 100 covers ndash after agreeing that there was to be
no commercialization or advertising of these covers and that nothing would be done with them until after
completion of the Apollo programme
But after a while news started to circulate that the
German dealer was selling in Europe covers flown on Apollo 15 for a reported average of US $1500 each
The reports infuriated Congress not least because congressmen had to read such controversial
information in the press before being informed by
NASA which is obligated to keep Congress fully informed of its activity Recollection of the Apollo 14
medallions incident must have echoed in the minds of certain members of Congress many of whom were
not fans of NASA anyway NASA started an internal investigation This was the most controversial
development of the Apollo Programme and although
most astronauts were involved to some degree NASA made an example of the Apollo 15 flight crew ldquoIt
was turning into a witch-huntrdquo recalled Scott ldquoOur bosses had abrogated their responsibilities and we
were left alone on a very wet dayrdquo
It is ironic that after addressing a joint session of
Congress as heroes in less that one year the three astronauts of Apollo 15 had to go back in front of these
same senators in disgrace because of this envelope scandal
After this ldquoincidentrdquo NASA prohibited from Apollo 17 on the flying of covers or stamps during a space
missions (they were not on time to block the covers carried on Apollo 16) The only exceptions have been
since then the items flown in cooperation with the US
Postal Service ie the 266000 covers carried in 1983 in
the payload bay of the Space Shuttle Challenger on
STS-8 and the 500000 $995 Express Mail stamp created by Paul and Chris Calle in 1994 flown on
Endeavour STS-68 in recognition of the 25th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing The huge
number of such items carried in space discourages
speculations and these items still are widely available for few dollars
So far fewer than 1000 envelopes in total have flown
to the Moon No other American covers will flow to the Moon in the foreseeable future Perhaps the next
ldquoMoon coversrdquo will bear Chinese or Indian stamps
Dave Scott was the first lunar Postmaster and had two
postmarks with him and two covers with imperforated dieproof of the US twin Decade of Space Achievements
stamps affixed (Fig 1)
He had one postmark with ldquoMoon Landing USArdquo (Fig 8 below) and another with ldquoUnited States on the
Moonrdquo (Fig 9 bottom)
The First Lunar Post Office was opened on August 2 1971 when David Scott postmarked only the official
cover (and brought back the official backup-cover uncancelled) A handful covers had however been
postmarked before launch with both postmarks Dr Matthew Radnofsky ndash who in his laboratory already
had simulated cancelling in space for Apollo 11 ndash
tested both postmarks to ensure that the cancellation devices were in working order
Especially the date could be changed easily Contrary
to Apollo 11 covers without stamps were used for
28
ORBIT
these tests Apollo 15 Lunar Cancellation Proofs are
much scarcer than Apollo 11 ones ldquoAs by now I am aware of only 17 itemsrdquo states famous astrophilatelist
Walter Hopferwieser Covers with proofs of the Apollo 15 moon postmarks have been recently sold at Regency
Superior and Aurora auctions
The official Apollo 15 cover postmarked on the Moon
(see Fig 1 repeated above ) is displayed at the US National Postal Museum It was publicly cancelled and
the video can be seen at httpwwwpostalmuseumsiedustampstakeflight
apollo15video-01html A short speech was given by
Dave Scott while cancelling the cover ldquoTo show that our good Postal Service has deliveries any place in the
universe I have the pleasant task of cancelling here on the Moon the first stamp of a new issue dedicated to
commemorate US achievements in space I have the
first one here on an envelope At the bottom it says United States in Space a decade of achievement and
Im very proud to have the opportunity here to play postman I pull out a cancellation device It says
August 2 1971 first day of issuehellip What could be a
better place to cancel this stamp than right here at Hadley Rillehelliprdquo
Immediately thereafter the Postmaster General who
was waiting at the Mission Control at Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston Texas gave the signal to start the
First- Day cancellations at post offices in Houston
Kennedy Space Center and Huntsville
Acknowledgement Thanks to Walter Hopferwieser for his comments
Some Notes About Space Mail
Commenting on Brian Vincentrsquos article in the June
2010 Orbit ASSS member Geoff Chivers writes in an
email to your Editorhellip Im sure you wont mind me commenting on Brian G Vincents Some Notes About Space Mail (page 36)
In paragraph 2 he refers to the Apollo 15 cover incident leaving the impression that Scott Worden and Irwin were guilty of some heinous crime This has been the subject of much miss-reporting over the years The full story of what actually happened is explained in depth at page 328 et seq of Two sides of the moon by David Scott and Alexei Leonov published by Simon amp Shuster The astronauts were of course exonerated
This is the quote (slightly edited to enable it to stand as an independent piece)-
During 1972 while on a trip to Washington DC George Low NASA deputy administrator asked me to stop by his
office writes David Scott I had known George in Houston while he was Apollo spacecraft programme manager and I had great respect for him We spent a short while exchanging pleasantries Then George looked me in the eye and came to the point ldquoWell Daverdquo he said ldquoI have to tell you I was not very proud of my performancerdquo His comment was the culmination of what had become known as the Apollo 15 ldquocover incidentrdquo This involved some first day postal covers which we had carried aboard Apollo 15 some of which were unfortunately sold by a German stamp dealer several months after the flight As No 2 in NASA George
had been heavily involved in NASAs handling of the incident and his comment referred to one of the poorest management performances the space agency had ever demonstrated - up to then The whole business had probably been building since Mercury through Gemini and into Apollo People had a fascination with objects that had been carried in space and they became more and more popular and valuable as the programme progressed Right from the start of the Mercury programme each astronaut had been allowed to carry on board a certain number of personal items in what were known as PPKS - Personal Preference Kits Before each flight a list of the items was prepared for Deke Slayton who
Two Sides of The Moon
by David Scott and Alexei Leonov
The text opposite from the
above book has been
referred to by Umberto Cavallaro in preparing his
above piece
29
ORBIT
had overall responsibility for approving them As the flights became more significant the number and type of items increased Aside from personal mementoes each crew had carried a certain number of medallions which they could hand out afterwards as souvenirs The number of medallions had grown steadily on each mission - eventually some crew members had been carrying several hundred each and their weight was becoming a concern And as always commercialisation began to creep in In the end on Apollo 14 commanded by Al Shepard it was alleged that the crew had carried some silver medallions on board which were to be melted down after the flight and mixed with many other commemorative medallions by the Franklin Mint to be sold to the general public The Franklin Mint had even advertised the proposed sale before the flight After the flight the deal was never consummated and all went quiet nothing about it was printed in the media But some members of Congress had heard about it and were unhappy with the situation Since we were busy training for Apollo 15 (launched 26 July 1971) we knew nothing about all this Had we known we would have been far more wary of what happened subsequently All we knew was that Deke Slayton had halved the number of medallions we could carry Shortly afterwards Deke introduced Jim (Irwin) Al (Worden) and me to a long-standing friend of his at the Cape called Walter Eiermann In retrospect this seems likely to have been more than a coincidence Deke invited us to join him at dinner at Eiermanns house one evening several months before the Apollo 15 launch Eiermann asked if we would like to make some money on the side by signing some stamps ldquoAll the guys are doing itrdquo he said We agreed We were also approached by several members of the Manned Spacecraft Centerrsquos stamp club who asked us to sign many first - day covers before the flight for their members as well as for ourselves At that time we could not buy life insurance If we signed some covers we reasoned they could be held during the flight and act as limited life insurance for our families if anything happened to us But then Eiermann proposed we carry four hundred lightweight commemorative covers a hundred of which would be passed on to a stamp dealer in Germany when we returned All the covers would be franked on the day of launch and franked on the day of our return Our understanding was that the dealer would hold his hundred covers to be sold at some future date after the Apollo programme was over In return he would set up a $6000 trust fund for each of us for the education of our children In the months of intense activity before the flight we did not give this more than a moment of thought But we agreed In retrospect we made a mistake in even considering it In the months following our mission we learnt that the German dealer had begun to sell the covers We let Eiermann know that we were opposed to the sale Forget the trust funds we said we dont want any money This is not what we had understood would happen But when senior managers at NASA learnt about the covers being sold they were furious Incomplete information was then provided to the press by NASArsquos Public Affairs Office and reports started to appear that we had smuggled the covers onto our flight This was literally impossible NASA personnel prepared us for every aspect of the flight - from our birthday suits out Everything we had carried had to be specially packaged by the flight support crew to make sure apart from anything else
that it was fireproof Everything in our PPKs was on a list which was certified before launch I was never aware of any rules about what could or could not be taken in these packs Slayton was to approve the list so as far as I was concerned it was up to management to keep us on the straight and narrow I assumed if the list was approved that was fine Usually the list was certified by Deke But before our flight for some reason he neither asked us personally for each of our lists as was customary nor signed off on the list personally He said the flight - crew support team had already logged everything Whereas we had purchased the covers ourselves the Astronaut Office at the Cape had prepared the covers for the flight and had had them stamped and franked on the day of launch Somehow however the support team had missed them when they prepared the PPK flight manifest It was also reported after the incident that we had been removed from the astronaut corps Again totally untrue Unfortunately NASA managers did nothing to dispel this false and misleading information They just tucked their heads in and let the rumours run The reports infuriated Congress not least because congressmen had to read such controversial information in the press before being informed by NASA which is obligated to keep Congress fully informed of its activities Recollections of the Apollo 14 medallion incident must have seeped into the minds of certain members of Congress many of whom were not fans of NASA anyway When NASA started an internal investigation we were told by a senior official in the agency that we were on our own We were advised to get our own legal representation A Senate hearing into the matter had been called and a justice Department investigation would follow It was turning into a witch - hunt NASA we were advised expected us to keep quiet and take the Fifth Amendment at this hearing We did not We told it like it was We had nothing to hide Eventually the Justice Department concluded that we had broken some administrative rules but had done nothing criminal NASA confiscated the remaining covers but they acted before discovering all the facts of the case Following an investigation by NASA the Justice Department and the Senate the Justice Department concluded on 6 December 1978 in a ldquoMemorandum Opinion for the Assistant Attorney Generalrdquo that NASA had no claim to the remaining covers that the covers were never intended for sale that there was no attempt at concealment by the crew of the fact that the covers were to be flown on Apollo 15 and finally that the covers would have been approved to carry aboard Apollo 15 had a request been made We were reprimanded and we took our licks But it was a very raw deal NASA had hung us out to dry Our bosses had abrogated their responsibilities and we were left alone on a very wet day I spent many years trying to get full access to NASA and congressional records on the case NASA refused to provide full disclosure We subsequently found out there had been rumblings about profitmdashmaking on previous missions A copy of a letter was released to me in which NASA admitted that ten other astronauts who were not identified had been involved in selling signed blocks of stamps and postcards for Eiermann But the wave reached the shore on Apollo 15 and we were the ones who bore the brunt of the blame for such incidents
30
ORBIT
Buckingham Cover offer Free Souvenirs for You
Brian Austin of Buckinghamrsquos Rare Cover Department writes to your Editorhellip
Over the last two or three years we have been dealing more and more in signed space covers This led us to earlier this year buying an Apollo 11 crew signed cover which had been carried to the moon which we had on display on our stand at London 2010
For this we also printed a limited edition of 800 sets of postcards one featuring the Apollo 11 cover and another
featuring an Apollo 15 cover The idea was to give away 100 sets per day to customers at the show but now the show is all finished I still have around 150 pairs left on my desk
We wondered if you would like to offer them to your readers we are happy to send them out free of charge to the first 150 readers to contact us with their details as long as we can also include one of our lists of space
covers
BrianAustinbuckinghamcoverscom
31
ORBIT
More About Missile Mail
Harvey Duncan told us in the last Orbit (page 15) about the First Official Missile Mail writes Bert van Eijck After the useful technical details about the USS Barbero he gave us I can offer you more philatelic information and show you some illustrations The missile mail experiment was a joint venture between
the Ministry of Defense and the US Post Office Dept headed by Postmaster General Mr Arthur E
Summerfield Three thousand special envelopes were printed with a reproduction of a Navy missile type
Regulus with the text ldquoFirst Official Missile Mailrdquo and above that ldquoThe Postmaster General Washingtonrdquo All
the envelopes were addressed to The President high
government officials like senators and to the Post Masters General of ninety nine other member nations of
UPU Inside was a letter from Mr Summerfield entitled ldquoThe First Official Missile Mailrdquo with the official seal of
the Post Office dept It was explained therein what had
happed to that letter and the other 2999
The special letters were loaded in two metal compartments and came aboard the guided missile USS Barbero (SSG-317) The shot was to occur during a regular training mission from Norfolk Virginia to Florida
About 350 kilometres off the coast of Florida the
Regulus missile was launched toward Airport Mayport
The missile climbed 10 km above the Atlantic and
landed within twenty minutes with all the letters intact The letters were cancelled with the hand stamp ldquoUSS
Barberordquo with the date ldquoJun 8 1959rdquo and the approximate timing of the launching ldquo930 amrdquo This
was done by post office staff part of an established
branch office on the USS Barbero The letters bore the 1957 4c American flag postage stamp Those
addressed to foreign countries carried two such stamps covering surface mail postage costs On the
reverse side is the Jacksonville Post Office cancellation with the approximate time of arrival ldquoJune 8 1030 am
1959 Floridardquo
Such flown letters are expensive to buy and a jewel in
any exhibit
But this is NOT the case with the Barbero souvenir
cover dated a month later on July 8 1959 issued in the same quantity (3000) as the originals The
inscription reads ldquoPoint of LandingmdashFirst Official Missile Mail 8 June 1959 US Naval Station Mayport Floridardquo
About 16000 () collectors had applied for such a cover
The imprint of the official Barbero cover was reproduced on a memorial cover issued and posted at
the Vienna International Airpost Exhibition Luposta on August 1959 in the Austrian capital Of course neither
of these items had been carried within the Regulus
missile
Also of interest the Postal Administration of
Paraguay issued a stamp
and a block in 1976 honouring the Barbero
Missile Mail The Gs 20 stamp shows a Regulus
missile in flight while the sheet shows the whole
addressed cover and in
miniature the complete letter inside from the US Postmaster General
as mentioned above and as illustrated below
Above a specimen envelope as described in the text and below its reverse cancel
32
ORBIT
An Invitation to Our Readers to Donate to an Innovative International Projecthellip
Kindest Sir or Madam
The municipality of Vitanje
(Slovenia) is honoured to have had a hand in the life of the
famous space architect Herman Potocnik Noordung
(1892-1929) (pictured right) who had already found a
surprising number of solutions
to space travel and troubles of living in vacuum long before
actual space flights took place His creations were used by the
renowned novelist Arthur C Clarke
in his book 2001 A Space Odyssey which was later also turned into a
movie directed by Stanley Kubrick In Noordungs honour we have
created the Memorial Centre of Herman Potocnik Noordung This
year the cultural centre of European
space technology will also get going in Vitanje This will be a place
where the European space heritage will be gathered and various events connected with the
contemporary European space technologies will be
organized
Proposed Philatelic Collection We would like to bring the project onto a higher level
where we would have the collaboration of various
countries in the world including such with a history in space travel (like USA Russia) One of the steps of this
expansion process would also include a philatelic collection of stamps with themes of outer space
(astronomy astronautics and everything connected to
outer space) We already have quite a decent collection but we would like to expand on that
Our goal is to have 6000 stamps before opening our
exhibition For this we would require the help of as many philatelists as possible
All of these philatelists would become co-creators and partners of this collection for which we hope will
become the largest collection of its kind in the world The people donating the stamps would get a great deal
of exposure at all these exhibitions and on the special
website which will be started shortly If you give us enough support and we are able to raise enough
stamps for a first-class collection we hope the first
exhibitions and various special events (like visits from
astronauts ndash philatelists) will see the light of day as early as in 2011
From a professional point of view we have an
excellent team working with us Long-time philatelist
Tone Petek is the person who initiated this project while Bojan Bracic the secretary of FEPA is one of our
counsellors and is completely behind this project
If you would be interested in such cooperation I will get the wheels in motion and send you a verifying
mail with the stamp of the municipality of Vitanje and
also of some higher organization within the Slovene political system
The collection is already underway with the help of the
Slovene Philatelic organisation (FZS) adds Rok in an email to your Editor in July This organisation has been of immense help with technical expertise and
connections It looks as if there might be an introductory exhibition next year sometime
In the hope of a successful partnership we offer our
sincere appreciation
Rok Podgrajsek
Obcina Vitanje Grajski trg 1
3205 Vitanje
Slovenia
Email address rokpodgrajsekgmailcom
But see also website httpwwwvitanjesi
(Editorrsquos Note both Wendy Buckle editor of
Themescene and our Chairman Margaret Morris commend this project to you We will be sending Rok
some recent copies of Orbit for the displays)
Some illustrations from Noordungrsquos only published text ldquoThe Problem of
Space Travel The Rocket Motorrdquo (the original German title
was ldquoDas Problem der Befahrung
des Weltraums - der Raketen-Motorrdquo) which saw the light of day
in 1928
Vitanje Local Private Post stamp
33
ORBIT
Zazzle Space Stamps Dazzle
I have noticed Zazzle Space Stamps appearing in Lollini brochures and on their web pages in recent months writes your Editor so I undertook to find out some facts about them and am grateful to The Astrophile Editor Jim Roth and the man who inspired him to create his own Zazzle designs Otto Bergman for the following infohellip Zazzle is one of half a dozen or more US companies
who facilitate the printing of non-copyrighted photos and artwork on private postage stamps which count
as postage within and outwith the USA You can
design your own Zazzle stampsmdashsee their websitemdashwhich you then purchase for your own use 20 to a
page
They are therefore a bit like British Smilers except
that the personal element of the stamp is not on a se-tenant label but actually incorporated within the
stamp itself as you can see from the examples on this page
Jim Roth was annoyed that the Kennedy Space Center Post office would not cancel his Zazzle stamps as they
consider them to be ldquometersrdquo and although he has marked STS-122 he wonrsquot be creating any others
You can see (and buy) all Jim Rothrsquos Space Zazzles on
his website m57coverscommdashclick on ldquostampsrdquo
Three of Jim Rothrsquos designs
See others on his website
An Otto Bergman space creation on
Zazzlecomottobergman
These space Zazzles and others are
available from the Lollini website or brochures
STS 128 in May 2010 section
STS 129 in June 2010
WISE and Delta 2 launch in July 2010 STS 130 in August 2010
STS 128 stamps show astronauts Christer Fuglesang (far left) and left Frank De Winne ISS Commander Expedition 21 STS 129 issues depict mission
patch and the crew led by Charles Hobaugh
Delta 2 rocket launch from Cape Canaveral of WISE Deep InfraRed telescope
34
ORBIT
Concluded on page 39
More Spaceflight Books for Sale
35
ORBIT ORBIT
SPACE HABITATS (Part Two) by John Beenen Continuing his feature from our last issue John Beenen begins by posing the questionhellip Why Should we Seek to Live
in Space
Spacecom gives ten main reasons why we should enter space for a prolonged
period
1 To secure a future for humanity
2 To build a new frontier
3 To find new energy sources
4 To build an industrial settlement on
the Moon
5 Better quality images of the
Universe
6 The SETI effort
7 Mining
8 Learning the history of our
Universe
9 Environmental benefits
Meeting the challenge
Taking for granted that it is naturally fascinating to investigate how mankind
might be able to maintain its habitat outside earth there are several further reasons to investigate why
mankind should settle themselves outside earth in the far future And More reasons mean a overall better
argument
Primarily there is the question of overpopulation and
secondly a solution for the energy problem
Next we have to consider that climate circumstances
are not under control anymore and earth eventually becomes uninhabitable
Also when for various reasons we start to kill each
other for some groups of people it may be an attractive proposition to depart this Earth in quite a different
sense And that is perhaps the most common thought
through activities in space more money can be obtained
But there are disadvantageshellip
On the other hand a prolonged stay in space is not that safe The construction must be protected against
radiation and it can be hit by large and small debris which makes space a very unsafe place
Furthermore cosmic radiation produces
a radiation of 80 mSv (millisievert) - well over the allowed maximum of 50
mSv and very much over the amount which is considered as safe for man
which is 3 mSv
Next solar flares produce a sudden
increase of soft gamma and energy rich radiation so much that without the
protection of an atmosphere half of our population could die easily
It is interesting that even without shielding most of this radiation can be
absorbed in the projected spacecraftsrsquo structure and in the air Smaller
structures can be protected with a
shield of co-rotating rocks
The construction further must be protected against sunlight which by
lack of the air shield will fall in unshielded so sun blinds and radiators
are indispensable
And as a result of the artificial gravity
there are some tiny movement problems which we will face later
Finally the created ecosystem should be fully self-supporting and that is easier said than done as
experiments with Biosphere-2 have showed
Biosphere-2 Biosphere-2 was a project built between 1987 and 1991 providing in an area of about 2frac12 football fields
a closed biological system of different composition From 1991-1993 a crew of 8 persons stayed herein A
second crew of 7 persons bridged a period of March
until September 1994 During the first period it appeared difficult to keep the atmosphere constant in
particular the carbon dioxide values changed rapidlymdashthe reason why many of the carried insects perished
Further the oxygen level decreased slowly because pf a leak
Even during the first two-year phase large differences in opinion appeared and the yield was not large
enough to deliver the calories necessary Reserve stocks had to be broken into Finally the second
experiment had to be ended prematurely because of
mismanagement
However it seems that a well-functioning stable ecosystem should not be underestimated physically
not technically
Artists impressions above Interior Stanford Torus and below Interior
OrsquoNeill Cylinder
Solar flares Czechoslovakia 1965 WB 47
36
ORBIT
It further has to be speculated on that men would resist
a regulated weather programme instead of the customary ever changing circumstances on Earth
Also we must physically resist an eternal stay outside
Earth That is not always easy as some people will show
some kind of sea sickness for ever In any case rooms with a diameter of less than 100 meters and a speed of
revolution over three per minute are insufficient At specifications of over 500 m and at less than 1 revolution
per minute fewer problems have to be expected
How do we get raw materials (Fantasy Moon Mining Yemen
Mutawakelite 1969 1343)
And still there have to be enough raw materials to sustain the
colony but as a principle the
search for raw materials is not the most difficult
From the asteroid belt enough small rocks can be
transported as a building material Also mines can be put
on the Moon Bercause of the lower gravity there transport is easier and some kind of firing mechanism
has been calculated which launch packets of ore simply into space where they can be manipulated
Air can be produced from moonstone Nitrogen nearly without loss can be recycled and eventually added to
ammonia mined from comets Large gardens and fields should start the normal photosynthesis and doing so
finally a complete sustainable society might be built up Energy from the Sun is present in superfluous quantities
What to do about gravity Most designs for a Space station start with a gravity of
1G Some designers however think that a lower level of gravity is possible But in the meantime experiments
with astronauts have showed that our physiology
changes rapidly influenced by decreased or absence of gravity Thus the calcium potassium and sodium
contents of our bone system decrease by about 10 That is not bad were we to stay in space forever but
very troublesome when occasionally we would return to
Earth
Also the quality of our muscles decreases as the blood volume does Providing effects comparable to aging
Further by lack of gravity astronauts become a little
taller with accompanying pain in the back Hence the staying with 1G gravity is not so bad
That has to be maintained by rotation of the
construction The larger the diameter of the construction is the slower it will turn to provide 1 G That is a result
of the centrifugal or centripetal force Its
magnitude has long been established thanks to the work of Dutchman Christiaan Huygens and fixed in
the formula
m v2
F = r where
F = the external force in N(ewton) m = mass in kg
v = speed in msec r = radius in m
Hence a spacecraft with a diameter of 15 meters has to carry out one revolution every 8 seconds to
produce a sensation of 1G And that is too quick for man The effect of the centrifugal force is that should
an astronaut drop an object it does not fall straight
down but partly away from himher Weird
Coriolis force But in a rotating Space station another force is at
work That is the lsquoCoriolis forcersquo named after the
French Gustave-Gaspard Coriolis (1792-1843) who described this kind of force for the first time
The most common manifestation is the second law of
Buys Ballot which says that air streams in the
atmosphere which according the first law of Boys Ballot as a principle run from high to low pressure at
the northern hemisphere are bent to the right and at the southern hemisphere to the left because of the
rotation of the Earth
Therefore air streams around depressions show a
spiral shape in opposite directions at the northern and southern hemisphere In a space station this
force can especially noticed when moving around through the spokes of the wheel
(Diagram of Coriolis F o r c e h t t p
wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm)
A s s u m e t h a t a n
astronaut on a ladder
climbs through a spoke to the axis As he climbs
along he circles around more slowly as he
describes a smaller circle
in the same time What happens with the difference in speed that he had before He will be pressed
against the ladder and that is the Coriolis force The force also acts in opposite direction when he
descends from the ladder
Also the throwing up and catching of a ball will
become a huge achievement as the ball does not
37
ORBIT
drop perpendicularly but will shift a little into the
direction of the orbit of the station and also achieves a higher speed
This also has strange effects on the astronaut As moves
quickly in the rotation direction of the station his weight
appears to increase to a noteworthy extent Then as he moves against the speed of rotation his weight
decreases apparently Mathematically this effect is explainable but very complex
Also the astronautrsquos head and feet move in different
speed to artificial gravity This is plainly noticeable when
somebody jumps up Hence avoid this practice
With these kind of effects adaptation to the changed circumstances in a space station will ask a lot of the
crew members I do hope they can stand it But in any
case the larger the space ship the lesser the problems
Inflatable stations
But therersquos more The inflatable station was considered
many years ago The first i d e a w a s p o s s i b l y
developed when on 12th August 1960 the Echo
balloon with a diameter of
30 meters was launched (Echo I balloon USA 1960
WB 3)
It is true you could not live in it as the balloon was of too frail a construction but the idea of an inflatable
spacecraft was then alive By 1958 groups within NASA
had begun to think about inflatable stations The Goett-committee has been one of the first On 25th26th May
1959 a conference started about projects after
Mercury In particular the
representative of Langley L a r r y Lo f t i n wa s
enthusiastic about his AMIS (Advanced Man in
Space) project (Hexagonal structure
Manama 1970 WB 113)
One of his first projects was a rotating hexagonal
inflatable construction with a diameter of 25 meters a cylindrical core and three lsquospokesrsquo Acting as a ferry to
and from the station the lsquoDyna Soarrsquo Space plane could
be used The Dyna Soar project (at that time still
under development) was cancelled by the American
Minister of Defense Robert
McNamara Inflatable Habitat NASA
1961 enwikipediaorg)
A Langley Space Station
team managed by Paul Hill and Emanuel lsquoMannyrsquo
Schnitzer developed the concept together with the
G o o d y e a r A i r c r a f t
Corporation
(Langleyrsquos self-inflating rotating hexagonal structure httphistorynasagov
SP-4308) Its original diameter had already been reduced to 10
meters
In the years after Langley built several experimental
modules called lsquoErectable Torus Manned Space Laboratoryrsquo a 11 model built by firms such as
Goodyear The torus was built from three layers of
nylon tissue and in between a rubber-like plastic material butyl elastomer A large problem was the
penetration by micrometeorites which as was learnt from the results of the Echo balloon finally damaged
the whole structure
Another problem was the great instability of the ring
due to movements of the astronauts the station started to wobble when they moved around Finally
the project was cancelled and at the end of the eighties the Langley Research Center started to
design inflatable constructions for a base camp on the
Moon
( A r t i s t imp r e s s i on Transhab inflatable
m o d u l e h t t p
enwikipediaorg)
Due to the development of a new series of
s t r o n g e r p l a s t i c materials such as Kevlar
these construct ions
received new interest That lead to the development of Transhab (Transit Habitat) as a resource for crews
coupled at the ISS (international Space Station) The construction is a cylinder in a diameter of 82 meters
and several storeys high
Its volume in inflatable state is 340 m3 The wall has a
thickness of 30 () cm and consists of 12 layers of which the outside layer is made from Kevlar The
layers beneath are made from Nextel a ceramic fibre Disagreements during development and the spiralling
costs finally in 2000 saw the end of NASArsquos interest
G e n e s i s 1
thespacereviewcom)
From 1999 the project was
taken up by Bigelow
38
ORBIT
Aerospace who improved the design and tested it with
successful launchings of Genesis I on 12 July 2006 and Genesis II on 28 June 2007
In their design it has once again more or less the shape
of a balloon With a thickness of 40 cm the wall is still
very thick The outside layer is still Kevlar but inside are some layers of Vectran a textile fibre Within the
structure ants and scorpions were launched along with some objects which people who paid for the privilege of
boosting into space
In this way Bigelow hopes to build a Space Hotel named
Nautilus To stimulate the development Bigelow offered a price of $50 million to everybody who succeeded in
launching a crew of 5 persons to an altitude of 400 km before 2010 So little money lost here so far
A second project which can be realized within the near future is a fixed residence on the Moon As said Langley
occupies itself with the design of such a base which partly should be build below the surface Stamp
designers have already realized the idea
What does the future hold Although we are a long way away from the kind of space station by which a large amount of earth inhabitants can
leave the planet Earth forever the first steps for doing
so are in preparation With the development of their Space Hotel Bigelow tries to make the step to space
albeit a temporary one
Also Langley literally tries to set foot on the Moon and
finally they will succeed in doing so However The cost of such projects are literally astronomical and it is not
expected that in the coming decades much money can be allocated to such projects
Of course in some thousands of years (possibly only in
hundreds of years) this will become the case but for the
time being in my opinion the true conquest of space will stay as science-fiction for at least a few hundred years
Hoorn 2009
John Beenen
NB The stamps entitled lsquoSpace Cityrsquo with a value of 0 cnt do not exist but have been made by the author by means of frames and pictures present at the Internet
Fantasy Moon
b a s e M a n a -ma1970 WB 122
Fantasy bases
ready for Mars
YAR 1971 WB 2892 and 6
Fantasy Modular
base YAR 169 WB 233
39
ORBIT
Cover Below bottom right Future space Dutch Antilles 2000
Literature references (for both parts of article) httpenwikipediaorg Space habitat Space Colonization Orbital Colony Space City Space settlement Space stations L5 Society Bernal Sphere Stanford Torus OrsquoNeil Cylinder Inflatable Space Habitat Transhab Biosphere 2 Generation Ship wwwdsenl~hklruimtehtm Wonen op groene eilanden in de Ruimte (Dutch Living on green Islands in Space) Henry Kluytmans wwworionsarmcom McKendree Cylinder Bishops Ring wwwnasnasagovAboutEducationSpaceSettlement The Colonization of Space wwwdyarstraightscommsgundamhabitatshtml Mobile Suit Gundam High Frontier Life in the Universal Century Developing sound habitats wwwartificial-gravitycomDissertation1_2htm From Tsiolkovsky to Sputnik (1878-1957) httpsciencenasagovheadlinesy2000ast26may_1mhtm Wheels in the Sky httpdiscaircraftgreyfalconus Hermann Noordung Wohnrad (Wheel for Habitation) httparticlesadsabsharvardedufull1992lbsaconf249R Inflatable habitation for the lunar base MRoberts httphistorynasagovSP-4308ch9htm lsquoAs inevitable as the Rising Sunrsquo From the inflatable Torus to the Rotating Hexagon wwwspacecomnewsbusinessmonday_040524html Bigelow Aerospace to tackle inflatable Space Habitats httpsciencehowstuffsworkcominflatable-spacecraft2htm How Inflatable Spacecraft Will Work wwwbogancaphysicscoriolishtml Rotating Space Stations Dynamics An Explanation of the Coriolis Force httpdemonstrationswolframcomRotatingSpaceStation Rotating Space Station wwwdvandomcomcoliolisspacestationhtml Frame Effects and Space Stations wwwdvandomcomcoriolisindexhtml A (hopefully) simple explanation of the Coriolis Force wwwdaviddarlinginfoencyclopedia Hale Edward Everett von Pirquet Guido Noordung Hermann Space Station wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm The Coriolis Force wwwastronautixcomcraftfamlunbaseshtm Lunar bases wwwastronautixcomgallerycspebasehtm Photo Gallery Space base wwwregererating-universeorgOn_Moon_as_Space_Basehtm On Moon as Space Base wwwspacefuturecomhabitatlivingshtml Space Habitat Introduction Living in Space wwwspacepagebevideotaak=bekijkampid=47 Living in space (Video) wwwnutricomspace The Case for Space colonization ndash Now Oscar Falconi wwwxentcompipermailfork (FoRK) Bigelowrsquos inflatable Genesis I satellite in orbit wwwrussianforcesorg Russian strategic nuclear forces (Genesis II) wwwbigelowaerospacecomgenesis Genesis I Genesis II
Thanks to Alan Tunnicliffe who came across the attached news item
complete with stamp in the eNZ Magazine the bi-monthly journal of
the Institution of Professional Engineers NZ Inc Vol 11 No 3 May-
June 2010
Vaccari Auction Sells Remarkable Space Covers April 2010
Apollo 12 cover 55 of 87 flown to the moon on Apollo 15 having been left behind by the original crew sold for euro12200 1977 Salyut
6 Soyuz 27 cover sold for euro1600
40
ORBIT ORBIT
Shuttle 1981mdash2010 Stamps Marshall
Islands 2005
United Nations 2007 Monaco and Ascension 2008
Bulgaria 1991 including stamp from souvenir sheet
USA 1981
below USA 1995 and bottom USA 1998
(two values)
St Vincent Grenadines 1983
Ascension 1989
Bulgaria 1990
and above right W Germany 1975
and USA 2000 Guyana 2006
USA 1995
41
ASSS Membership Renewal 2010
Memberrsquos Name amp Addresshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
I wish to renew my membership of the ASSS for a further year and enclose the equivalent of
pound15 (UK) euro30 (Europe) $US 45 (Rest of the World)
Please return this form with your remittance to Harvey Duncan by the
end of July Thank you
Harvey Duncan Treasurer ASSS 16 Begg Avenue
Falkirk Scotland FK1 2DL
PayPal For details of how to Pay via Paypal
please email Jeff Dugdale Email address on Page 2
42
43
44
13
ORBIT
14
ORBIT
Spaceflight Books for Sale
Books about Space andor Astronomy in English
The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Space 1990 386 pages coffee table book euro 1500
Life in Space D Monchersquo 1979 ldquo 500
The Conquest of Space Willy Ley amp Chesley Bonestell+pictures 1952 RARE ldquo 2000
Star Hunters D Mammana 1990 coffee table book ldquo 1000
The Rocket David Baker 276p+490pictures 1978 coffee table book classic ldquo 2000
The History of Manned Spaceflight David Baker 576p+362pictures 1985coffeerdquo 2000
The Observerrsquos Spaceflight Directory R Turnill 384p 1978 ldquo 1000
The Observerrsquos Book of Unmanned Spaceflight+Manned Spaceflight 1974+1975 ldquo 1000
The Observerrsquos Book Of Astronomy Patrick Moore 1973 ldquo 500
Basic Astronomy Patrick Moore 1967 ldquo 300
Space a Novel James A Michener pocket Ballantine 1983 ldquo 250
Voyagers Ben Bova 1983 pocket ldquo 250
The Universe Herbert Zim 1973 ldquo 200
Exploring Other Worlds WyberampAmes 1968 ldquo 200
Tomorrowrsquos Moon Henry Little 1969 ldquo 200
Observatories of the World Marx amp Pfau 1982 ldquo 1000
Are We Alone Paul Davis Penquin 1995 ldquo 250
Moonport USA (Kennedy Space Center) 1977 ldquo 250
Living in Space (Colonies) J Trefil 1981 ldquo 500
The Cosmonauts Gordon Hooper 1977 ldquo 250
Extraterrestrials-Where Are They Zuckerman ampHart 1995 ldquo 1000
The Cosmic Connection Carl Sagan pocket 1975 ldquo 300
Exploring the Planets Ian Nicolson 1972 ldquo 250
Janersquos pocket Book 11 Space Exploration 1976 ldquo 300
Twenty-First Report Internat Telecomm Union Geneva 1982 ldquo 250
Satellites amp Space Travel Taylor ampAllward 1970 ldquo 200
Watchers of the Stars Patrick Moore 1974 ldquo 500
Robot Explorers Kenneth Garland 1972 ldquo 500
APOLLO by astronaut Alan Bean+paintings Bean in space 1998 coffeetable ldquo 2000
The World of Mars VA Firsoff 1969 ldquo 200
Missiles and Rockets Kenneth Garland ldquo 500
Stars and Planets Ian Ridpath 1978 ldquo 500
Race to Mars The ITN Mars Flight Atlas 1988 ldquo 500
Worlds Beyond Search for Life in Space Ian Ridpath 1975 ldquo 500
CETI Communication with Extraterrestrial Intelligence Stonelay 1976 ldquo 250
Horizon at the Edge of the Universe 9 chapters of astronomers 1983 ldquo 300
The New Race for Space James Oberg 1984 ldquo 500
The Hunt for Life on Mars Goldsmith 1998 ldquo 500
The High Road Ben Bova pocket 1983 ldquo 250
Operation Morning Light the True Story of Cosmos 954 Leo Heaps 1978 ldquo1000
Space Volunteers T Kay 1960 ldquo 300
Legal Aspects of Outer Space Dr C Reijnen 1976 205 pages the Worldrsquos
First Thesis of this Kind by female Dutch scholar ldquo 400
E-MAIL bertvaneijckhomenl if interested in any to discuss sale and postage
See further list on page 24
15
ORBIT
The above obituary and tribute by David Shayler
appeared in the August 2010 of Spaceflight magazine marking the passing of Rex Hall who was also one of
the longest standing members of the ASSS carrying
the membership number 88033 We extend our condolences to Rexrsquos family
16
ORBIT
Un-manned Satellites on Postage Stamps 35 By Guest Contributors Don Hillger and Garry Toth
A version of this article first appeared in The Astrophile for sic)
The Discoverer series
This is the thirty-fifth in a series of articles about un-manned satellites on postage stamps This article
features the satellites in the US Air Force (USAF) Discoverer series The first Discoverer was launched
on 21 January 1959 and the last one on 18 April 1962
There were a total of 39 launches a third (or 13) of which were failures The Discoverer series also called
Corona satellites were later declassified as the first Keyhole (KH) spy satellites
Discoverer was the public name of the Corona series
of film-return reconnaissance spy satellites whose true
mission was not officially revealed until about 35 years after the program ended The Discoverers secret
program was masked by scientific goals it was kept secret even from program staff who knew nothing
about Corona Scientific instruments were even placed
on Discoverer satellites and then covertly removed before launch
The Discoverer satellites were designed to take pictures
of target countries and then eject a film capsule
which was to de-orbit and enter the Earthrsquos atmosphere on a parachute and be recovered by a
specially-modified aircraft as it floated downward On many of the missions however the capture of the film
capsules was not successful for various reasons The first successful return of a capsule through the Earths
atmosphere occurred with Discoverer-13 though in this
case the aerial capture failed and the capsule fell into the sea Fortunately that mission carried no cameras
Discoverer-14 was the first completely successfully Corona mission in which reconnaissance photos were
taken from the spy satellite and ejected in a capsule
which was then successfully recovered in a mid-air capture carried out by a C-119 aircraft
Because of secret nature of their mission the
Discoverer satellites were not well-known and so were not featured on many postal items A set of three
stamps issued by Libya in 1966 (Scott 297-299) shows
a Discoverer capsule There is also a local post item from Batum that depicts the recovery of a Discoverer
capsule and a souvenir sheet from Chad (Michel BL247) that shows the re-entry of a Discoverer capsule
in the margin Another capsule recovery is shown in
the margin of a souvenir sheet issued by the Malagasy Republic in 1999 (Scott 1502a)
A checklist of postal items identified as showing Discoverer-
series satellites (httprammbciracolostateedudevhillgerDiscovererhtm) is available as part of the Website developed by the authors to accompany this series of articles (httprammbciracolostateedudevhillgersatelliteshtm) E-mail correspondence is welcome Don Hillger can be reached at hillgerciracolostateedu and Garry Toth at garry_tothhotmailcom
Top KH-4B Corona satellite Above Recovery of Discoverer 14 return capsule (typical for
the Corona series (ex Wikipedia)
17
ORBIT
18
ORBIT
Flight STS-130 Commander George Zamka Pilot Terry Virtis MS Kathryn Hire MS Stephen Robinson MS Nicholas Patrick MS Robert Behnken MS Koichi Wakata KSC Launch Date 822010 KSC Landing 21210 Purpose Tranquility Module Main Payload and Cupola
Shuttle Story 201011 STSndash130 -131 -132 Part One
STS-130 (ISS assembly flight 20A) via Endeavour carried as its
primary payloads the Tranquility module and the Cupola a robotic control station with six windows around its sides and
another in the centre providing a 360-degree view around the station Endeavour launched at 0414 EST (0914 UTC) on 8
February 2010 and landed at 2220 EST on 21 February 2010 on
runway 15 at the Kennedy Space Centers Shuttle Landing Facility
Tranquility was shipped from the
Thales Alenia Space facility in
Turin Italy It arrived at Kennedy Space Center on 21 May 2009 It
was formerly known as Node 3 and was named by a NASA poll
The module provides six berthing locations however three of those
locations are disabled as modules
originally planned to be attached to Tranquility were cancelled The
photo right shows Tranquility just before being installed to Unity node
STS-130 also brought the Cupola a large window
module and robotics work station to the ISS which was
to be attached to the nadir-
side of Tranquility The module also includes various
ISS systems including addit iona l l i fe support
systems This photo shows the facility being prepared at KSC whilst the photo above right
shows the module and cupola being moved into position on the
ISS
The shape of the mission patch on the launch
cover below represents the cupola over the earth in a photo taken by the unmanned
Lunar Orbiter probe in 1966 so representing a past and future designation for explorers from
Earth
For other Zazzle stamps
see page 33
19
ORBIT
Flight STS-131 Commander Alan Pointdexter Pilot James Dutton MS Rick Mastracchio MS Dorthy Metcalf- Lindenburger MS Stephanie Wilson MS Naoko Yamakazi MS Clayton Anderson KSC Launch Date 5410 KSC Landing 20410 Purpose MPLM Leonardo Main Payload
STS-131 (ISS assembly flight 19A) via Discovery launched on 5
April 2010 from Kennedy Space Centers launch pad 39A and landed at 908 AM on 20 April 2010 on runway 33 at the Kennedy
Space Centers Shuttle Landing Facility The mission marked the longest flight for space shuttle Discovery
The primary payload was a Multi-Purpose Logistics Module loaded with supplies and equipment for the ISS The mission also
removed and replaced an ammonia tank assembly outside the station on the S1 truss The mission also included several on-
board payloads this mission had the most payloads since STS-
107
The primary payload of STS-131 was MPLM Leonardo filled with food and science supplies and also carried the third and final
Minus Eighty Degree Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI) Window Orbital Research Facility (WORF) one Crew Quarters Rack the
Muscle Atrophy Resistive Exercise (MARES) rack Resupply
Stowage Racks (RSRs) as well as Resupply Stowage Platforms (RSPs) The Lightweight Multi-Purpose Equipment Support
Structure Carrier (LMC) carried a refurbished Ammonia Tank Assembly (ATA) to the ISS The refurbished ATA was removed
from the Space Station and returned for use on this mission
during STS-128 It was swapped with an empty tank which will ride home on the LMC
This mission was the second flight of the TriDAR a 3D dual-
sensing laser camera intended for potential use as an
autonomous rendezvous and docking sensor TriDAR provides guidance information that can be used to guide a vehicle during
rendezvous and docking operations in space TriDAR does not rely on any reference markers such as reflectors positioned on
the target spacecraft
This was the final Space Shuttle mission that contains one or
more rookie astronauts the missions after this will have all- veteran crews
STS-131 was only the third mission in the Space Shuttle
programme to carry three female astronauts
the others being STS-40 and STS-96
With three female crew members arriving on board Discovery and Expedition 23 Flight
Engineer Tracy Caldwell Dyson at the station
the STS-131 mission marked the first time that four women have been in space at one
time
STS-131 marked the first time that two
Japanese astronauts Naoko Yamazaki from the Shuttle crew and Soichi Noguchi on the
ISS had been in space together
Although Naoko Yamazaki is not the last non-
US astronaut Naoko was the last Japanese astronaut to fly the space shuttle
MPLM Leonardo can
be seen in the shuttle cargo bay
The seven stars either side of our
sun represent the
crew members
The shuttlersquos orientation indicates
it is performing the Rendezvous Pitch
Manoeuvre which
allows the ISS to photograph its
underbelly
20
ORBIT
Flight STS-132 Commander Kenneth Ham Pilot Dominic Antonelli MS Michael Good MS Garret Reisman MS Piers Sellars MS Stephen Bowen KSC Launch Date 1452010 KSC Landing 2652010 Purpose Delivery of Russian Main Payload Rassvet Module
STS-132 (ISS assembly flight ULF4) docked with the ISS on May
16 2010 It was launched from the Kennedy Space Center on May 14 2010 The primary payload is the Russian Rassvet Mini-
Research Module along with an Integrated Cargo Carrier-Vertical Light Deployable (ICC-VLD) STS-132 is scheduled to be the
final flight of Space Shuttle Atlantis provided that the STS-335
Launch On Need rescue mission is not flown
Rassvet means dawn in Russian The module was built
by Russian aerospace company
Energia and arrived at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC)
aboard an Antonov 124 cargo plane on 17 December 2009
After it was unloaded from the Antonov the module was
transported to an Astrotech processing bay in Cape Canaveral to
undergo preparations for launch shown in this photo
An airlock and radiation heat exchanger to be used for outfitting the Russian Nauka Module (to be launched in 2012) a spare
elbow part of the European Robotic Arm (ERA) and a portable
work platform for science hardware for performing experiments in outer space were externally mounted on Rassvet in its launch
configuration Russian and US cargo delivered was also accommodated inside the module The volume for cargo and
science inside MRM1 is 5 cubic meters] Rassvet was outfitted
with ISS standard grapple fixtures that allowed the module to be unloaded from the payload bay of Atlantis using the stations
robotic arm
The ICC pallet is constructed of aluminum It is approximately 8 feet long 13 feet wide and 10 inches thick The empty weight of
the pallet is 2645 pounds The total weight of ICCndashVLD and the ORUs is approximately 8330 pounds ICC-VLD return mass is
2933 kilograms (6470 lb)
The ICC-VLD was berthed in the centre of the
payload bay for both launch and re-entry
In the photo above Rassvet is shown centre top
The mission patch shows Atlantis flying off into the sunset as the end of the shuttle
programme approaches
21
ORBIT
By Andreacute Scheer and Margaret Morris This fascinating structure is an octagonal pentelic marble tower on the Roman agora or marketplace in Athens It was supposedly built by the astronomer Andronicus of Kyrrhos c 50 BC but according to other sources might have been constructed in the 2
nd
century BC before the rest of the forum The structure is 12 metres high with a diameter of approximately 8 metres On each of the eight sides (aligned with the eight principal points of the compass) is a sculpture featuring the wind gods and below each sculpture is engraved a sundial Thus the tower served as a solar clock but additionally in the interior was a water-clock (clepsydra) driven by water coming down from the Acropolis There were mechanical hour indicators and displays for the seasons of the year with astrological dates and periods The tower was topped in antiquity by a weather-vane in the shape of a triton with a wand which pointed at whichever of the winds was blowing The tower must have been one of the most useful structures in the agora as it showed the time for civilian purposes and indicated the wind direction for merchants awaiting the arrival of a ship The earliest philatelic items to depict this unusual building are postal stationery postcards originating from 1900 when the Greek postal authorities organised a competition for photographers and artists The best pictures were selected for issue and on 1 July 1901 the first series of 32 cards was issued In total 12 series of 32 cards each were issued between then and 20 March 1903 The cards were issued in three colours (chestnut black and green) with imprinted stamps of two values (5 lepta green for national mail and 10 lepta red for international mail) The cards additionally have an impressed stamp without colour on the left side being 10 lepta for the card itself so the cards were sold for 15 and 20 lepta The design of the imprinted stamps was based on the Hermes (Mercury) statue by Giovanni da Bologna During the war on the Balkans the cards were used by the Greek army and have an extra imprint ndash Carte Postale ndash Franchise Militaire A few examples of these postal stationery postcards are illustrated opposite and on page 23 The wording ldquoLrsquohorloge de Kyrrhestesrdquo refers to the timepiece built by Andronicus of Kyrrhos while ldquoTEMPLE DrsquoEOLErdquo translates as ldquoTemple of Aeolusrdquo (Aeolus = god of the winds) For each card 12 versions can be distinguished ndash ie 3 colours x 2 values x 2 usages For fuller information see reference no 1 Of course numerous picture postcards also feature this interesting structure
The Tower of the Winds The Oldest Planetarium on Stamps and
Postal Stationery
Front and back of postal stationery postcard
Examples of Greek postal stationery from the early 20th
century
Front and back of postal stationery postcard
22
ORBIT
The 19423 issues (SG 561-572) of Greece shown beside the 1973 Dominica souvenir sheet whose designer has
reinterpreted the divine sculptures in the margins
Boreas also on the 100d value in black and grey
Skiron
Zephyrus in two 25d vals
orange and green
Lips
Notus
Eurus
Apeliotes in two 10d vals red brown and red orange
Kaikias in two 50d vals black and grey violet and blue
Wind Direction Name of Deity Characteristics of the Sculpture North Boreas An old man wearing heavy clothing and holding a conch shell This wind was cold fierce and
stormy and in Athens made a loud hollow noise
North East Kaikias Old man with severe expression holding circular shield from which he will drop hailstones Weather characteristically cloudy wet and cold
East Apeliotes Young man with hair flowing in every direction holding a cloak full of fruit and grain ndash he brings gradual gentle rain
South East Eurus Old man with morose countenance wrapped tightly against the elements in his cloak This wind brought sultry gloomy weather with much rain
South Notus Young man emptying an urn and producing a shower of water This wind was associated with sultry very wet weather
South West Lips Boy pushing the stern of a ship promising a good sailing wind This was the wind which blew right into Piraeus harbour
West Zephyrus Beautiful lightly clad youth of happy aspect holding a cloak full of flowers In summer this wind brought very sultry weather
North West Skiron Bearded man with a bronze pot full of hot ashes and charcoal This was a dry wind extremely cold in winter but scorching and with lightning in summer
The following table gives details of the sculptures and the characteristics attributed to each of the wind gods
For fuller information see reference no 2
23
ORBIT
The sculptures of the eight winds were depicted on stamps of Greece issued in 1942 (six designs) and 1943 (again six designs ndash four as the previous issue but including the two omitted winds) Five values were surcharged in 1944 to aid victims of the Piraeus bombing of 11 January 1944 the exceptionally high face value resulted in few of these stamps being used Later in 1944 the same five values were surcharged in aid of a Childrenrsquos Convalescent Camp Fund Finally in 1946 two values of the 1942 issue were surcharged ndash the 10dr value in black and the 50dr revalued as 20dr in red See opposite for examples of the stamp designs In addition to these attractive engraved stamps the 1973 issue from Dominica commemorating the centenary of the World Meteorological Organisation included a miniature sheet incorporating the 50c and $1 values and surrounded in the margin by images of all eight wind sculptures (see page 22) More recently the cover of a booklet issued by Greece on 7 October 1988 provides an aerial view of the agora and the Tower of the Winds can be detected (see below) The booklet contains 16 stamps (4 each of 4 different values) and celebrates capitals of Greek provinces In early Christian times the building was used as the bell tower of a Byzantine Church It was partly buried in the ground until fully excavated in the 19
th century by the
Archaeological Society of Athens It is interesting to note that the design of the upper octagon of the 18th century Radcliffe Observatory in Oxford England is based on the Tower of the Winds as is the mausoleum of the founder of the Greek National Library Panayis Vagliano at West Norwood Cemetery London There is a similar tower in Sevastopol built in 1849 References
1 ldquoEntiers Postaux Illustreacutes du service des postes
helleacuteniques et leurs preacutecurseursrdquo Georges Mathas 1985
2 For finely detailed drawings and information about the sculptures you may care to see if your Library has a copy of ldquoThe Antiquities of Athensrdquo Stuart amp Revett Vol 1 published in London 1762
3 Article by Derek J de Solla Price in ldquoNational
Geographic April 1967 pp587-596 4 Much useful information may also be obtained from
sites on the internet
Examples of Overprints from left to right
1944 Piraeus Bombing Aid 1944 Childrenrsquos convalescent camp fund 1946 Surcharge
Below Cover of the 1988 stamp booklet
Front and back of postal stationery postcard
24
ORBIT
Old Photo Makes New(s) Story
A photo taken twenty-one years ago became hot international new(s) this July writes Bert van Eijck
It is a picture of your correspondent in front of the
monument on the graves of the seven astronauts killed
in the Challenger disaster The photo from November 1989 shows the national cemetery at Arlington in
Washington DC And it is this graveyard a national American field of pride and honour that was involved in
a scandal making news all over the world
What happened This became a hot story after it was leaked to the press that in 211 graves on Arlington the wrong corpse had
been buried But this disgrace grew to international
proportions when the US Senate published a report which revealed that it was not 211 but 6600 graves that
had been so dishonoured And maybe there are more the researchers stated
Consequently it meant that family members had been paying their respect at the wrong graves because many
were not marked well or the ground-plan directed to wrong places
Arlingtonrsquos director John Metzler was fired as was his
depute Thurman Higginbotham both of whom said
they knew there were made mistakes but they could not help ldquobecause of economyrdquo
Arlington cemetery was opened in 1864 Since then
300000 Americans have been buried here including
famous or well-known persons like presidents
ministers high ranked military artists judges and
astronauts
And what about some of the most recent ones Did I indeed visit and honour the seven Challenger astronauts in their last resting place on Earth in
November 1989 as shown on the photo Or are they perhaps mistakenly buried in another
unmarked grave This is hard to believe but one never knowshelliphellip
For those who wonder what was doing 21
years ago in the US capital I visited the
World Stamp Exporsquo89 at the Convention Center in Washington DC Of course I did
more sightseeing at and in the famous Smithsonian Museums (a must the
National AirampSpace Museum with 10
million visitors a year) the Capitol the metro (deepest in the world) George
Washingtonrsquos house in Vernon Arlington of course and much more
At the World Stamp Expo there was a
presentation of both USA and USSR space
stamps The American stamps were presented by astronaut Buzz Aldrin the
Soviet stamps by cosmonaut Gherman Titov
Author and the Challenger astronauts monument at Arlington seven figures in bronze (left) At right a plaque honoring US-soldiers killed in action saving
hostages in Iran
Astronaut Buzz Aldrin (left) presents the US space stamps while cosmonaut Gherman Titov (right) does the same with
Soviet space stamps In the middle officials of USPS Below the
stampshellip
25
ORBIT
The Apollo 15 Cover Scandal by Umberto Cavallaro
In a feature which first appeared in the April-June 2010 issue of Ad Astra the web journal of the Italian Astrophilatelic Association its editor reveals in considerable detail the full story of those covers which today sell for so much money The Apollo 15 flown covers are among the best known
collectibles from the Apollo Era mainly because of what Jim Irwin recalls as ldquothe problem we brought
back from the Moonrdquo
The crew of Apollo 15 carried out one of the most complete scientific explorations of the Moon the first
lunar roving vehicle was operated on the Moon to
extend the range of exploration some 180 pounds of lunar surface samples were returned for analysis Yet
Fifteen is best remembered as the crew that carried envelopes to the moon and the whole mission is
remembered for the ldquogreat postal caperrdquo
Apollo 15 was not the first mission to carry covers
dozens were carried on each flight from Apollo 11 onwards and as Commander Dave Scott recalls in his
book the whole business had probably been building since Mercury through Gemini and into Apollo People
had a fascination with objects that had been carried in space and they became more and more popular and
valuable as the programme progressed Right from
the start of the Mercury programme each astronaut had been allowed to carry on board a certain number
of personal items
NASA was in the habit of authorizing astronauts to
carry certain personal items on manned flights known as Astronautsrsquo PPK (Personal Preference Kits) All such
items had to be listed and approved by Deke Slayton the Head of the Astronaut Office prior to launch and
were intended for private use or as personal gifts
after the flight and could not be employed for commercial
Fig 1 The official USPS cover postmarked on the Moon
purposes or personal gain Astronaut kits typically
included badges jewellery coins medals flags stamps postal covers currency printed materials and
similar easily packed lightweight mementoes As the flight became more significant the number and type of
items increased
Aside from personal mementoes each crew had
carried medallions whose number had grown steadily on each mission In his book The All-American Boys astronaut Walter Cunningham reveals that it was rumoured around the Astronaut Office that Apollo 14
carried on board a personal package weighing forty-
two pounds Before that flight the Franklin Mint had even advertised the proposed sale After the flight the
commercial deal was never completed and all went quiet nothing about it being published in the media
But some members of the US Congress were unhappy
of the situation
In that context the ldquolapses of judgmentrdquo of the Apollo 15 crew became fatal Dave Scott went too far
carrying on board a total of 641 postal covers (including the two official covers) of which only 243
were listed and authorized before the flight and 398
were not -- secretly carried on board Apollo 15 by Scott in a pocket of his space suit Had they been
listed as being in Scotts PPK they would probably have been routinely approved for inclusion in the
preference kit
The 243 listed and authorized covers include
bull 2 official US Postal Service covers one of which the ldquoOfficial Coverrdquo was publicly cancelled on the
moon by Scott at the request of the US Postal
Service 10 (Fig 1) bull 1 Wright Brothers commemorative cover dated
1928 and autographed by Orville Wright which was carried by Worden for a friend
bull 1 cover bearing a First Man on the Moon stamp and a Bliss Centennial three-cent stamp carried by
Irwin for Barbara Baker (Fig 2 below)
26
ORBIT
8 Shamrock covers carried by Irwin (as below)
144 Herrickrsquos ldquoMoon Phasesrdquo covers carried by Worden
(Fig 4) printed with a cachet showing 15 phases of the moon On the USS Okinawa the Apollo 15 recovery ship
the astronauts placed two eight-cent stamps purchased
on board by Worden on each of these covers and they had the covers cancelled by the shipboard post office
The astronauts later autographed these covers while flying back from Hawaii to Houston Sixteen covers were
torn or damaged and were destroyed Because of the furore created by the Apollo 15 covers incident NASA
confiscated 61 of these 144 Moon Phases covers
87 Apollo 12 covers (Fig 5) that for unknown reason
did not fly on that mission and which were carried on
Apollo 15 for Mrs Barbara Gordon a stamp collector then wife of Richard Gordon Apollo 12 astronaut who
at was the back-up pilot for Apollo 15
The 398 unauthorized covers (initially there were
400 but 2 were damaged and discarded) are lightweight envelopes carrying as a cachet a replica
of the official Apollo 15 patch overprinted with an Air Force wing and propeller emblem
The idea of these additional covers was suggested during a cocktail party by Eiermann a salesman for
the heat-shield contractor who had frequent business and social contacts with NASA personnel and
astronauts He suggested to fly 400 lightweight covers 100 for each of the astronauts and 100 for
his friend Sieger the German stamp dealer The
cacheted covers were provided by Al Bishop a friend of many astronauts then at the Howard
Hughes organization He had already provided covers for the previous flights since Apollo 12
Above one of the 100 Sieger covers with the handwritten note ldquoLanded at Hadley Moon July 30 1971 On the
reverse is a typed and notarised inscription ldquoThis is to certify that this cover was on board the Falcon at the Hadley-
Apennine Moon July 30 ndashAug 2 1971rdquo
Below one of the 298 unauthorised covers carried to the Moon by David Scott with the inscription ldquoThis envelope was
carried to the Moon aboard the Apollo 15 of 300 to the Lunar Surface in LMrdquoFalconrdquo
The crews usually returned to Bishop a couple of
flown covers signed with gratitude ldquoTo my
knowledge ndash Cunningham reports in his well documented book ndash Bishop never sold any and never
made a dime off his relationship He was simply a fan To Al Bishop Apollo 15 was no different from any
other flight except for a phone call he received from
Hal Collins the Astronaut Office manager at the Cape
27
ORBIT
Collins told Bishop that the crew would like to know
whether he could obtain some very lightweight envelopes for them Al said that hed be happy to do so
He was unaware then that many of them would be smuggled on board the next lunar flight Al was trusted
Thats why many of us imposed on him with our
problems special requests and sometimes matters which we would rather not share with NASArdquo
This time Al was badly used he emerged as a
scapegoat and his name was dragged as though he was the Mr Big of an international stamp conspiracy
The covers were cancelled at Kennedy Space Center
several days before July 26 1971 The date of the post office machine canceller was moved forward
Additionally twin eight-cent stamps were purchased by the astronauts on the USS Okinawa the Apollo 15
recovery ship and affixed to these covers ndash as for the
Herrickrsquos covers In the shipboard post office the covers were then cancelled and date-stamped August 7 1971
The astronauts finally autographed these covers while flying from Hawaii to Houston
Soon after the flight the astronauts gave Eiermann
the 100 covers ndash after agreeing that there was to be
no commercialization or advertising of these covers and that nothing would be done with them until after
completion of the Apollo programme
But after a while news started to circulate that the
German dealer was selling in Europe covers flown on Apollo 15 for a reported average of US $1500 each
The reports infuriated Congress not least because congressmen had to read such controversial
information in the press before being informed by
NASA which is obligated to keep Congress fully informed of its activity Recollection of the Apollo 14
medallions incident must have echoed in the minds of certain members of Congress many of whom were
not fans of NASA anyway NASA started an internal investigation This was the most controversial
development of the Apollo Programme and although
most astronauts were involved to some degree NASA made an example of the Apollo 15 flight crew ldquoIt
was turning into a witch-huntrdquo recalled Scott ldquoOur bosses had abrogated their responsibilities and we
were left alone on a very wet dayrdquo
It is ironic that after addressing a joint session of
Congress as heroes in less that one year the three astronauts of Apollo 15 had to go back in front of these
same senators in disgrace because of this envelope scandal
After this ldquoincidentrdquo NASA prohibited from Apollo 17 on the flying of covers or stamps during a space
missions (they were not on time to block the covers carried on Apollo 16) The only exceptions have been
since then the items flown in cooperation with the US
Postal Service ie the 266000 covers carried in 1983 in
the payload bay of the Space Shuttle Challenger on
STS-8 and the 500000 $995 Express Mail stamp created by Paul and Chris Calle in 1994 flown on
Endeavour STS-68 in recognition of the 25th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing The huge
number of such items carried in space discourages
speculations and these items still are widely available for few dollars
So far fewer than 1000 envelopes in total have flown
to the Moon No other American covers will flow to the Moon in the foreseeable future Perhaps the next
ldquoMoon coversrdquo will bear Chinese or Indian stamps
Dave Scott was the first lunar Postmaster and had two
postmarks with him and two covers with imperforated dieproof of the US twin Decade of Space Achievements
stamps affixed (Fig 1)
He had one postmark with ldquoMoon Landing USArdquo (Fig 8 below) and another with ldquoUnited States on the
Moonrdquo (Fig 9 bottom)
The First Lunar Post Office was opened on August 2 1971 when David Scott postmarked only the official
cover (and brought back the official backup-cover uncancelled) A handful covers had however been
postmarked before launch with both postmarks Dr Matthew Radnofsky ndash who in his laboratory already
had simulated cancelling in space for Apollo 11 ndash
tested both postmarks to ensure that the cancellation devices were in working order
Especially the date could be changed easily Contrary
to Apollo 11 covers without stamps were used for
28
ORBIT
these tests Apollo 15 Lunar Cancellation Proofs are
much scarcer than Apollo 11 ones ldquoAs by now I am aware of only 17 itemsrdquo states famous astrophilatelist
Walter Hopferwieser Covers with proofs of the Apollo 15 moon postmarks have been recently sold at Regency
Superior and Aurora auctions
The official Apollo 15 cover postmarked on the Moon
(see Fig 1 repeated above ) is displayed at the US National Postal Museum It was publicly cancelled and
the video can be seen at httpwwwpostalmuseumsiedustampstakeflight
apollo15video-01html A short speech was given by
Dave Scott while cancelling the cover ldquoTo show that our good Postal Service has deliveries any place in the
universe I have the pleasant task of cancelling here on the Moon the first stamp of a new issue dedicated to
commemorate US achievements in space I have the
first one here on an envelope At the bottom it says United States in Space a decade of achievement and
Im very proud to have the opportunity here to play postman I pull out a cancellation device It says
August 2 1971 first day of issuehellip What could be a
better place to cancel this stamp than right here at Hadley Rillehelliprdquo
Immediately thereafter the Postmaster General who
was waiting at the Mission Control at Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston Texas gave the signal to start the
First- Day cancellations at post offices in Houston
Kennedy Space Center and Huntsville
Acknowledgement Thanks to Walter Hopferwieser for his comments
Some Notes About Space Mail
Commenting on Brian Vincentrsquos article in the June
2010 Orbit ASSS member Geoff Chivers writes in an
email to your Editorhellip Im sure you wont mind me commenting on Brian G Vincents Some Notes About Space Mail (page 36)
In paragraph 2 he refers to the Apollo 15 cover incident leaving the impression that Scott Worden and Irwin were guilty of some heinous crime This has been the subject of much miss-reporting over the years The full story of what actually happened is explained in depth at page 328 et seq of Two sides of the moon by David Scott and Alexei Leonov published by Simon amp Shuster The astronauts were of course exonerated
This is the quote (slightly edited to enable it to stand as an independent piece)-
During 1972 while on a trip to Washington DC George Low NASA deputy administrator asked me to stop by his
office writes David Scott I had known George in Houston while he was Apollo spacecraft programme manager and I had great respect for him We spent a short while exchanging pleasantries Then George looked me in the eye and came to the point ldquoWell Daverdquo he said ldquoI have to tell you I was not very proud of my performancerdquo His comment was the culmination of what had become known as the Apollo 15 ldquocover incidentrdquo This involved some first day postal covers which we had carried aboard Apollo 15 some of which were unfortunately sold by a German stamp dealer several months after the flight As No 2 in NASA George
had been heavily involved in NASAs handling of the incident and his comment referred to one of the poorest management performances the space agency had ever demonstrated - up to then The whole business had probably been building since Mercury through Gemini and into Apollo People had a fascination with objects that had been carried in space and they became more and more popular and valuable as the programme progressed Right from the start of the Mercury programme each astronaut had been allowed to carry on board a certain number of personal items in what were known as PPKS - Personal Preference Kits Before each flight a list of the items was prepared for Deke Slayton who
Two Sides of The Moon
by David Scott and Alexei Leonov
The text opposite from the
above book has been
referred to by Umberto Cavallaro in preparing his
above piece
29
ORBIT
had overall responsibility for approving them As the flights became more significant the number and type of items increased Aside from personal mementoes each crew had carried a certain number of medallions which they could hand out afterwards as souvenirs The number of medallions had grown steadily on each mission - eventually some crew members had been carrying several hundred each and their weight was becoming a concern And as always commercialisation began to creep in In the end on Apollo 14 commanded by Al Shepard it was alleged that the crew had carried some silver medallions on board which were to be melted down after the flight and mixed with many other commemorative medallions by the Franklin Mint to be sold to the general public The Franklin Mint had even advertised the proposed sale before the flight After the flight the deal was never consummated and all went quiet nothing about it was printed in the media But some members of Congress had heard about it and were unhappy with the situation Since we were busy training for Apollo 15 (launched 26 July 1971) we knew nothing about all this Had we known we would have been far more wary of what happened subsequently All we knew was that Deke Slayton had halved the number of medallions we could carry Shortly afterwards Deke introduced Jim (Irwin) Al (Worden) and me to a long-standing friend of his at the Cape called Walter Eiermann In retrospect this seems likely to have been more than a coincidence Deke invited us to join him at dinner at Eiermanns house one evening several months before the Apollo 15 launch Eiermann asked if we would like to make some money on the side by signing some stamps ldquoAll the guys are doing itrdquo he said We agreed We were also approached by several members of the Manned Spacecraft Centerrsquos stamp club who asked us to sign many first - day covers before the flight for their members as well as for ourselves At that time we could not buy life insurance If we signed some covers we reasoned they could be held during the flight and act as limited life insurance for our families if anything happened to us But then Eiermann proposed we carry four hundred lightweight commemorative covers a hundred of which would be passed on to a stamp dealer in Germany when we returned All the covers would be franked on the day of launch and franked on the day of our return Our understanding was that the dealer would hold his hundred covers to be sold at some future date after the Apollo programme was over In return he would set up a $6000 trust fund for each of us for the education of our children In the months of intense activity before the flight we did not give this more than a moment of thought But we agreed In retrospect we made a mistake in even considering it In the months following our mission we learnt that the German dealer had begun to sell the covers We let Eiermann know that we were opposed to the sale Forget the trust funds we said we dont want any money This is not what we had understood would happen But when senior managers at NASA learnt about the covers being sold they were furious Incomplete information was then provided to the press by NASArsquos Public Affairs Office and reports started to appear that we had smuggled the covers onto our flight This was literally impossible NASA personnel prepared us for every aspect of the flight - from our birthday suits out Everything we had carried had to be specially packaged by the flight support crew to make sure apart from anything else
that it was fireproof Everything in our PPKs was on a list which was certified before launch I was never aware of any rules about what could or could not be taken in these packs Slayton was to approve the list so as far as I was concerned it was up to management to keep us on the straight and narrow I assumed if the list was approved that was fine Usually the list was certified by Deke But before our flight for some reason he neither asked us personally for each of our lists as was customary nor signed off on the list personally He said the flight - crew support team had already logged everything Whereas we had purchased the covers ourselves the Astronaut Office at the Cape had prepared the covers for the flight and had had them stamped and franked on the day of launch Somehow however the support team had missed them when they prepared the PPK flight manifest It was also reported after the incident that we had been removed from the astronaut corps Again totally untrue Unfortunately NASA managers did nothing to dispel this false and misleading information They just tucked their heads in and let the rumours run The reports infuriated Congress not least because congressmen had to read such controversial information in the press before being informed by NASA which is obligated to keep Congress fully informed of its activities Recollections of the Apollo 14 medallion incident must have seeped into the minds of certain members of Congress many of whom were not fans of NASA anyway When NASA started an internal investigation we were told by a senior official in the agency that we were on our own We were advised to get our own legal representation A Senate hearing into the matter had been called and a justice Department investigation would follow It was turning into a witch - hunt NASA we were advised expected us to keep quiet and take the Fifth Amendment at this hearing We did not We told it like it was We had nothing to hide Eventually the Justice Department concluded that we had broken some administrative rules but had done nothing criminal NASA confiscated the remaining covers but they acted before discovering all the facts of the case Following an investigation by NASA the Justice Department and the Senate the Justice Department concluded on 6 December 1978 in a ldquoMemorandum Opinion for the Assistant Attorney Generalrdquo that NASA had no claim to the remaining covers that the covers were never intended for sale that there was no attempt at concealment by the crew of the fact that the covers were to be flown on Apollo 15 and finally that the covers would have been approved to carry aboard Apollo 15 had a request been made We were reprimanded and we took our licks But it was a very raw deal NASA had hung us out to dry Our bosses had abrogated their responsibilities and we were left alone on a very wet day I spent many years trying to get full access to NASA and congressional records on the case NASA refused to provide full disclosure We subsequently found out there had been rumblings about profitmdashmaking on previous missions A copy of a letter was released to me in which NASA admitted that ten other astronauts who were not identified had been involved in selling signed blocks of stamps and postcards for Eiermann But the wave reached the shore on Apollo 15 and we were the ones who bore the brunt of the blame for such incidents
30
ORBIT
Buckingham Cover offer Free Souvenirs for You
Brian Austin of Buckinghamrsquos Rare Cover Department writes to your Editorhellip
Over the last two or three years we have been dealing more and more in signed space covers This led us to earlier this year buying an Apollo 11 crew signed cover which had been carried to the moon which we had on display on our stand at London 2010
For this we also printed a limited edition of 800 sets of postcards one featuring the Apollo 11 cover and another
featuring an Apollo 15 cover The idea was to give away 100 sets per day to customers at the show but now the show is all finished I still have around 150 pairs left on my desk
We wondered if you would like to offer them to your readers we are happy to send them out free of charge to the first 150 readers to contact us with their details as long as we can also include one of our lists of space
covers
BrianAustinbuckinghamcoverscom
31
ORBIT
More About Missile Mail
Harvey Duncan told us in the last Orbit (page 15) about the First Official Missile Mail writes Bert van Eijck After the useful technical details about the USS Barbero he gave us I can offer you more philatelic information and show you some illustrations The missile mail experiment was a joint venture between
the Ministry of Defense and the US Post Office Dept headed by Postmaster General Mr Arthur E
Summerfield Three thousand special envelopes were printed with a reproduction of a Navy missile type
Regulus with the text ldquoFirst Official Missile Mailrdquo and above that ldquoThe Postmaster General Washingtonrdquo All
the envelopes were addressed to The President high
government officials like senators and to the Post Masters General of ninety nine other member nations of
UPU Inside was a letter from Mr Summerfield entitled ldquoThe First Official Missile Mailrdquo with the official seal of
the Post Office dept It was explained therein what had
happed to that letter and the other 2999
The special letters were loaded in two metal compartments and came aboard the guided missile USS Barbero (SSG-317) The shot was to occur during a regular training mission from Norfolk Virginia to Florida
About 350 kilometres off the coast of Florida the
Regulus missile was launched toward Airport Mayport
The missile climbed 10 km above the Atlantic and
landed within twenty minutes with all the letters intact The letters were cancelled with the hand stamp ldquoUSS
Barberordquo with the date ldquoJun 8 1959rdquo and the approximate timing of the launching ldquo930 amrdquo This
was done by post office staff part of an established
branch office on the USS Barbero The letters bore the 1957 4c American flag postage stamp Those
addressed to foreign countries carried two such stamps covering surface mail postage costs On the
reverse side is the Jacksonville Post Office cancellation with the approximate time of arrival ldquoJune 8 1030 am
1959 Floridardquo
Such flown letters are expensive to buy and a jewel in
any exhibit
But this is NOT the case with the Barbero souvenir
cover dated a month later on July 8 1959 issued in the same quantity (3000) as the originals The
inscription reads ldquoPoint of LandingmdashFirst Official Missile Mail 8 June 1959 US Naval Station Mayport Floridardquo
About 16000 () collectors had applied for such a cover
The imprint of the official Barbero cover was reproduced on a memorial cover issued and posted at
the Vienna International Airpost Exhibition Luposta on August 1959 in the Austrian capital Of course neither
of these items had been carried within the Regulus
missile
Also of interest the Postal Administration of
Paraguay issued a stamp
and a block in 1976 honouring the Barbero
Missile Mail The Gs 20 stamp shows a Regulus
missile in flight while the sheet shows the whole
addressed cover and in
miniature the complete letter inside from the US Postmaster General
as mentioned above and as illustrated below
Above a specimen envelope as described in the text and below its reverse cancel
32
ORBIT
An Invitation to Our Readers to Donate to an Innovative International Projecthellip
Kindest Sir or Madam
The municipality of Vitanje
(Slovenia) is honoured to have had a hand in the life of the
famous space architect Herman Potocnik Noordung
(1892-1929) (pictured right) who had already found a
surprising number of solutions
to space travel and troubles of living in vacuum long before
actual space flights took place His creations were used by the
renowned novelist Arthur C Clarke
in his book 2001 A Space Odyssey which was later also turned into a
movie directed by Stanley Kubrick In Noordungs honour we have
created the Memorial Centre of Herman Potocnik Noordung This
year the cultural centre of European
space technology will also get going in Vitanje This will be a place
where the European space heritage will be gathered and various events connected with the
contemporary European space technologies will be
organized
Proposed Philatelic Collection We would like to bring the project onto a higher level
where we would have the collaboration of various
countries in the world including such with a history in space travel (like USA Russia) One of the steps of this
expansion process would also include a philatelic collection of stamps with themes of outer space
(astronomy astronautics and everything connected to
outer space) We already have quite a decent collection but we would like to expand on that
Our goal is to have 6000 stamps before opening our
exhibition For this we would require the help of as many philatelists as possible
All of these philatelists would become co-creators and partners of this collection for which we hope will
become the largest collection of its kind in the world The people donating the stamps would get a great deal
of exposure at all these exhibitions and on the special
website which will be started shortly If you give us enough support and we are able to raise enough
stamps for a first-class collection we hope the first
exhibitions and various special events (like visits from
astronauts ndash philatelists) will see the light of day as early as in 2011
From a professional point of view we have an
excellent team working with us Long-time philatelist
Tone Petek is the person who initiated this project while Bojan Bracic the secretary of FEPA is one of our
counsellors and is completely behind this project
If you would be interested in such cooperation I will get the wheels in motion and send you a verifying
mail with the stamp of the municipality of Vitanje and
also of some higher organization within the Slovene political system
The collection is already underway with the help of the
Slovene Philatelic organisation (FZS) adds Rok in an email to your Editor in July This organisation has been of immense help with technical expertise and
connections It looks as if there might be an introductory exhibition next year sometime
In the hope of a successful partnership we offer our
sincere appreciation
Rok Podgrajsek
Obcina Vitanje Grajski trg 1
3205 Vitanje
Slovenia
Email address rokpodgrajsekgmailcom
But see also website httpwwwvitanjesi
(Editorrsquos Note both Wendy Buckle editor of
Themescene and our Chairman Margaret Morris commend this project to you We will be sending Rok
some recent copies of Orbit for the displays)
Some illustrations from Noordungrsquos only published text ldquoThe Problem of
Space Travel The Rocket Motorrdquo (the original German title
was ldquoDas Problem der Befahrung
des Weltraums - der Raketen-Motorrdquo) which saw the light of day
in 1928
Vitanje Local Private Post stamp
33
ORBIT
Zazzle Space Stamps Dazzle
I have noticed Zazzle Space Stamps appearing in Lollini brochures and on their web pages in recent months writes your Editor so I undertook to find out some facts about them and am grateful to The Astrophile Editor Jim Roth and the man who inspired him to create his own Zazzle designs Otto Bergman for the following infohellip Zazzle is one of half a dozen or more US companies
who facilitate the printing of non-copyrighted photos and artwork on private postage stamps which count
as postage within and outwith the USA You can
design your own Zazzle stampsmdashsee their websitemdashwhich you then purchase for your own use 20 to a
page
They are therefore a bit like British Smilers except
that the personal element of the stamp is not on a se-tenant label but actually incorporated within the
stamp itself as you can see from the examples on this page
Jim Roth was annoyed that the Kennedy Space Center Post office would not cancel his Zazzle stamps as they
consider them to be ldquometersrdquo and although he has marked STS-122 he wonrsquot be creating any others
You can see (and buy) all Jim Rothrsquos Space Zazzles on
his website m57coverscommdashclick on ldquostampsrdquo
Three of Jim Rothrsquos designs
See others on his website
An Otto Bergman space creation on
Zazzlecomottobergman
These space Zazzles and others are
available from the Lollini website or brochures
STS 128 in May 2010 section
STS 129 in June 2010
WISE and Delta 2 launch in July 2010 STS 130 in August 2010
STS 128 stamps show astronauts Christer Fuglesang (far left) and left Frank De Winne ISS Commander Expedition 21 STS 129 issues depict mission
patch and the crew led by Charles Hobaugh
Delta 2 rocket launch from Cape Canaveral of WISE Deep InfraRed telescope
34
ORBIT
Concluded on page 39
More Spaceflight Books for Sale
35
ORBIT ORBIT
SPACE HABITATS (Part Two) by John Beenen Continuing his feature from our last issue John Beenen begins by posing the questionhellip Why Should we Seek to Live
in Space
Spacecom gives ten main reasons why we should enter space for a prolonged
period
1 To secure a future for humanity
2 To build a new frontier
3 To find new energy sources
4 To build an industrial settlement on
the Moon
5 Better quality images of the
Universe
6 The SETI effort
7 Mining
8 Learning the history of our
Universe
9 Environmental benefits
Meeting the challenge
Taking for granted that it is naturally fascinating to investigate how mankind
might be able to maintain its habitat outside earth there are several further reasons to investigate why
mankind should settle themselves outside earth in the far future And More reasons mean a overall better
argument
Primarily there is the question of overpopulation and
secondly a solution for the energy problem
Next we have to consider that climate circumstances
are not under control anymore and earth eventually becomes uninhabitable
Also when for various reasons we start to kill each
other for some groups of people it may be an attractive proposition to depart this Earth in quite a different
sense And that is perhaps the most common thought
through activities in space more money can be obtained
But there are disadvantageshellip
On the other hand a prolonged stay in space is not that safe The construction must be protected against
radiation and it can be hit by large and small debris which makes space a very unsafe place
Furthermore cosmic radiation produces
a radiation of 80 mSv (millisievert) - well over the allowed maximum of 50
mSv and very much over the amount which is considered as safe for man
which is 3 mSv
Next solar flares produce a sudden
increase of soft gamma and energy rich radiation so much that without the
protection of an atmosphere half of our population could die easily
It is interesting that even without shielding most of this radiation can be
absorbed in the projected spacecraftsrsquo structure and in the air Smaller
structures can be protected with a
shield of co-rotating rocks
The construction further must be protected against sunlight which by
lack of the air shield will fall in unshielded so sun blinds and radiators
are indispensable
And as a result of the artificial gravity
there are some tiny movement problems which we will face later
Finally the created ecosystem should be fully self-supporting and that is easier said than done as
experiments with Biosphere-2 have showed
Biosphere-2 Biosphere-2 was a project built between 1987 and 1991 providing in an area of about 2frac12 football fields
a closed biological system of different composition From 1991-1993 a crew of 8 persons stayed herein A
second crew of 7 persons bridged a period of March
until September 1994 During the first period it appeared difficult to keep the atmosphere constant in
particular the carbon dioxide values changed rapidlymdashthe reason why many of the carried insects perished
Further the oxygen level decreased slowly because pf a leak
Even during the first two-year phase large differences in opinion appeared and the yield was not large
enough to deliver the calories necessary Reserve stocks had to be broken into Finally the second
experiment had to be ended prematurely because of
mismanagement
However it seems that a well-functioning stable ecosystem should not be underestimated physically
not technically
Artists impressions above Interior Stanford Torus and below Interior
OrsquoNeill Cylinder
Solar flares Czechoslovakia 1965 WB 47
36
ORBIT
It further has to be speculated on that men would resist
a regulated weather programme instead of the customary ever changing circumstances on Earth
Also we must physically resist an eternal stay outside
Earth That is not always easy as some people will show
some kind of sea sickness for ever In any case rooms with a diameter of less than 100 meters and a speed of
revolution over three per minute are insufficient At specifications of over 500 m and at less than 1 revolution
per minute fewer problems have to be expected
How do we get raw materials (Fantasy Moon Mining Yemen
Mutawakelite 1969 1343)
And still there have to be enough raw materials to sustain the
colony but as a principle the
search for raw materials is not the most difficult
From the asteroid belt enough small rocks can be
transported as a building material Also mines can be put
on the Moon Bercause of the lower gravity there transport is easier and some kind of firing mechanism
has been calculated which launch packets of ore simply into space where they can be manipulated
Air can be produced from moonstone Nitrogen nearly without loss can be recycled and eventually added to
ammonia mined from comets Large gardens and fields should start the normal photosynthesis and doing so
finally a complete sustainable society might be built up Energy from the Sun is present in superfluous quantities
What to do about gravity Most designs for a Space station start with a gravity of
1G Some designers however think that a lower level of gravity is possible But in the meantime experiments
with astronauts have showed that our physiology
changes rapidly influenced by decreased or absence of gravity Thus the calcium potassium and sodium
contents of our bone system decrease by about 10 That is not bad were we to stay in space forever but
very troublesome when occasionally we would return to
Earth
Also the quality of our muscles decreases as the blood volume does Providing effects comparable to aging
Further by lack of gravity astronauts become a little
taller with accompanying pain in the back Hence the staying with 1G gravity is not so bad
That has to be maintained by rotation of the
construction The larger the diameter of the construction is the slower it will turn to provide 1 G That is a result
of the centrifugal or centripetal force Its
magnitude has long been established thanks to the work of Dutchman Christiaan Huygens and fixed in
the formula
m v2
F = r where
F = the external force in N(ewton) m = mass in kg
v = speed in msec r = radius in m
Hence a spacecraft with a diameter of 15 meters has to carry out one revolution every 8 seconds to
produce a sensation of 1G And that is too quick for man The effect of the centrifugal force is that should
an astronaut drop an object it does not fall straight
down but partly away from himher Weird
Coriolis force But in a rotating Space station another force is at
work That is the lsquoCoriolis forcersquo named after the
French Gustave-Gaspard Coriolis (1792-1843) who described this kind of force for the first time
The most common manifestation is the second law of
Buys Ballot which says that air streams in the
atmosphere which according the first law of Boys Ballot as a principle run from high to low pressure at
the northern hemisphere are bent to the right and at the southern hemisphere to the left because of the
rotation of the Earth
Therefore air streams around depressions show a
spiral shape in opposite directions at the northern and southern hemisphere In a space station this
force can especially noticed when moving around through the spokes of the wheel
(Diagram of Coriolis F o r c e h t t p
wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm)
A s s u m e t h a t a n
astronaut on a ladder
climbs through a spoke to the axis As he climbs
along he circles around more slowly as he
describes a smaller circle
in the same time What happens with the difference in speed that he had before He will be pressed
against the ladder and that is the Coriolis force The force also acts in opposite direction when he
descends from the ladder
Also the throwing up and catching of a ball will
become a huge achievement as the ball does not
37
ORBIT
drop perpendicularly but will shift a little into the
direction of the orbit of the station and also achieves a higher speed
This also has strange effects on the astronaut As moves
quickly in the rotation direction of the station his weight
appears to increase to a noteworthy extent Then as he moves against the speed of rotation his weight
decreases apparently Mathematically this effect is explainable but very complex
Also the astronautrsquos head and feet move in different
speed to artificial gravity This is plainly noticeable when
somebody jumps up Hence avoid this practice
With these kind of effects adaptation to the changed circumstances in a space station will ask a lot of the
crew members I do hope they can stand it But in any
case the larger the space ship the lesser the problems
Inflatable stations
But therersquos more The inflatable station was considered
many years ago The first i d e a w a s p o s s i b l y
developed when on 12th August 1960 the Echo
balloon with a diameter of
30 meters was launched (Echo I balloon USA 1960
WB 3)
It is true you could not live in it as the balloon was of too frail a construction but the idea of an inflatable
spacecraft was then alive By 1958 groups within NASA
had begun to think about inflatable stations The Goett-committee has been one of the first On 25th26th May
1959 a conference started about projects after
Mercury In particular the
representative of Langley L a r r y Lo f t i n wa s
enthusiastic about his AMIS (Advanced Man in
Space) project (Hexagonal structure
Manama 1970 WB 113)
One of his first projects was a rotating hexagonal
inflatable construction with a diameter of 25 meters a cylindrical core and three lsquospokesrsquo Acting as a ferry to
and from the station the lsquoDyna Soarrsquo Space plane could
be used The Dyna Soar project (at that time still
under development) was cancelled by the American
Minister of Defense Robert
McNamara Inflatable Habitat NASA
1961 enwikipediaorg)
A Langley Space Station
team managed by Paul Hill and Emanuel lsquoMannyrsquo
Schnitzer developed the concept together with the
G o o d y e a r A i r c r a f t
Corporation
(Langleyrsquos self-inflating rotating hexagonal structure httphistorynasagov
SP-4308) Its original diameter had already been reduced to 10
meters
In the years after Langley built several experimental
modules called lsquoErectable Torus Manned Space Laboratoryrsquo a 11 model built by firms such as
Goodyear The torus was built from three layers of
nylon tissue and in between a rubber-like plastic material butyl elastomer A large problem was the
penetration by micrometeorites which as was learnt from the results of the Echo balloon finally damaged
the whole structure
Another problem was the great instability of the ring
due to movements of the astronauts the station started to wobble when they moved around Finally
the project was cancelled and at the end of the eighties the Langley Research Center started to
design inflatable constructions for a base camp on the
Moon
( A r t i s t imp r e s s i on Transhab inflatable
m o d u l e h t t p
enwikipediaorg)
Due to the development of a new series of
s t r o n g e r p l a s t i c materials such as Kevlar
these construct ions
received new interest That lead to the development of Transhab (Transit Habitat) as a resource for crews
coupled at the ISS (international Space Station) The construction is a cylinder in a diameter of 82 meters
and several storeys high
Its volume in inflatable state is 340 m3 The wall has a
thickness of 30 () cm and consists of 12 layers of which the outside layer is made from Kevlar The
layers beneath are made from Nextel a ceramic fibre Disagreements during development and the spiralling
costs finally in 2000 saw the end of NASArsquos interest
G e n e s i s 1
thespacereviewcom)
From 1999 the project was
taken up by Bigelow
38
ORBIT
Aerospace who improved the design and tested it with
successful launchings of Genesis I on 12 July 2006 and Genesis II on 28 June 2007
In their design it has once again more or less the shape
of a balloon With a thickness of 40 cm the wall is still
very thick The outside layer is still Kevlar but inside are some layers of Vectran a textile fibre Within the
structure ants and scorpions were launched along with some objects which people who paid for the privilege of
boosting into space
In this way Bigelow hopes to build a Space Hotel named
Nautilus To stimulate the development Bigelow offered a price of $50 million to everybody who succeeded in
launching a crew of 5 persons to an altitude of 400 km before 2010 So little money lost here so far
A second project which can be realized within the near future is a fixed residence on the Moon As said Langley
occupies itself with the design of such a base which partly should be build below the surface Stamp
designers have already realized the idea
What does the future hold Although we are a long way away from the kind of space station by which a large amount of earth inhabitants can
leave the planet Earth forever the first steps for doing
so are in preparation With the development of their Space Hotel Bigelow tries to make the step to space
albeit a temporary one
Also Langley literally tries to set foot on the Moon and
finally they will succeed in doing so However The cost of such projects are literally astronomical and it is not
expected that in the coming decades much money can be allocated to such projects
Of course in some thousands of years (possibly only in
hundreds of years) this will become the case but for the
time being in my opinion the true conquest of space will stay as science-fiction for at least a few hundred years
Hoorn 2009
John Beenen
NB The stamps entitled lsquoSpace Cityrsquo with a value of 0 cnt do not exist but have been made by the author by means of frames and pictures present at the Internet
Fantasy Moon
b a s e M a n a -ma1970 WB 122
Fantasy bases
ready for Mars
YAR 1971 WB 2892 and 6
Fantasy Modular
base YAR 169 WB 233
39
ORBIT
Cover Below bottom right Future space Dutch Antilles 2000
Literature references (for both parts of article) httpenwikipediaorg Space habitat Space Colonization Orbital Colony Space City Space settlement Space stations L5 Society Bernal Sphere Stanford Torus OrsquoNeil Cylinder Inflatable Space Habitat Transhab Biosphere 2 Generation Ship wwwdsenl~hklruimtehtm Wonen op groene eilanden in de Ruimte (Dutch Living on green Islands in Space) Henry Kluytmans wwworionsarmcom McKendree Cylinder Bishops Ring wwwnasnasagovAboutEducationSpaceSettlement The Colonization of Space wwwdyarstraightscommsgundamhabitatshtml Mobile Suit Gundam High Frontier Life in the Universal Century Developing sound habitats wwwartificial-gravitycomDissertation1_2htm From Tsiolkovsky to Sputnik (1878-1957) httpsciencenasagovheadlinesy2000ast26may_1mhtm Wheels in the Sky httpdiscaircraftgreyfalconus Hermann Noordung Wohnrad (Wheel for Habitation) httparticlesadsabsharvardedufull1992lbsaconf249R Inflatable habitation for the lunar base MRoberts httphistorynasagovSP-4308ch9htm lsquoAs inevitable as the Rising Sunrsquo From the inflatable Torus to the Rotating Hexagon wwwspacecomnewsbusinessmonday_040524html Bigelow Aerospace to tackle inflatable Space Habitats httpsciencehowstuffsworkcominflatable-spacecraft2htm How Inflatable Spacecraft Will Work wwwbogancaphysicscoriolishtml Rotating Space Stations Dynamics An Explanation of the Coriolis Force httpdemonstrationswolframcomRotatingSpaceStation Rotating Space Station wwwdvandomcomcoliolisspacestationhtml Frame Effects and Space Stations wwwdvandomcomcoriolisindexhtml A (hopefully) simple explanation of the Coriolis Force wwwdaviddarlinginfoencyclopedia Hale Edward Everett von Pirquet Guido Noordung Hermann Space Station wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm The Coriolis Force wwwastronautixcomcraftfamlunbaseshtm Lunar bases wwwastronautixcomgallerycspebasehtm Photo Gallery Space base wwwregererating-universeorgOn_Moon_as_Space_Basehtm On Moon as Space Base wwwspacefuturecomhabitatlivingshtml Space Habitat Introduction Living in Space wwwspacepagebevideotaak=bekijkampid=47 Living in space (Video) wwwnutricomspace The Case for Space colonization ndash Now Oscar Falconi wwwxentcompipermailfork (FoRK) Bigelowrsquos inflatable Genesis I satellite in orbit wwwrussianforcesorg Russian strategic nuclear forces (Genesis II) wwwbigelowaerospacecomgenesis Genesis I Genesis II
Thanks to Alan Tunnicliffe who came across the attached news item
complete with stamp in the eNZ Magazine the bi-monthly journal of
the Institution of Professional Engineers NZ Inc Vol 11 No 3 May-
June 2010
Vaccari Auction Sells Remarkable Space Covers April 2010
Apollo 12 cover 55 of 87 flown to the moon on Apollo 15 having been left behind by the original crew sold for euro12200 1977 Salyut
6 Soyuz 27 cover sold for euro1600
40
ORBIT ORBIT
Shuttle 1981mdash2010 Stamps Marshall
Islands 2005
United Nations 2007 Monaco and Ascension 2008
Bulgaria 1991 including stamp from souvenir sheet
USA 1981
below USA 1995 and bottom USA 1998
(two values)
St Vincent Grenadines 1983
Ascension 1989
Bulgaria 1990
and above right W Germany 1975
and USA 2000 Guyana 2006
USA 1995
41
ASSS Membership Renewal 2010
Memberrsquos Name amp Addresshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
I wish to renew my membership of the ASSS for a further year and enclose the equivalent of
pound15 (UK) euro30 (Europe) $US 45 (Rest of the World)
Please return this form with your remittance to Harvey Duncan by the
end of July Thank you
Harvey Duncan Treasurer ASSS 16 Begg Avenue
Falkirk Scotland FK1 2DL
PayPal For details of how to Pay via Paypal
please email Jeff Dugdale Email address on Page 2
42
43
44
14
ORBIT
Spaceflight Books for Sale
Books about Space andor Astronomy in English
The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Space 1990 386 pages coffee table book euro 1500
Life in Space D Monchersquo 1979 ldquo 500
The Conquest of Space Willy Ley amp Chesley Bonestell+pictures 1952 RARE ldquo 2000
Star Hunters D Mammana 1990 coffee table book ldquo 1000
The Rocket David Baker 276p+490pictures 1978 coffee table book classic ldquo 2000
The History of Manned Spaceflight David Baker 576p+362pictures 1985coffeerdquo 2000
The Observerrsquos Spaceflight Directory R Turnill 384p 1978 ldquo 1000
The Observerrsquos Book of Unmanned Spaceflight+Manned Spaceflight 1974+1975 ldquo 1000
The Observerrsquos Book Of Astronomy Patrick Moore 1973 ldquo 500
Basic Astronomy Patrick Moore 1967 ldquo 300
Space a Novel James A Michener pocket Ballantine 1983 ldquo 250
Voyagers Ben Bova 1983 pocket ldquo 250
The Universe Herbert Zim 1973 ldquo 200
Exploring Other Worlds WyberampAmes 1968 ldquo 200
Tomorrowrsquos Moon Henry Little 1969 ldquo 200
Observatories of the World Marx amp Pfau 1982 ldquo 1000
Are We Alone Paul Davis Penquin 1995 ldquo 250
Moonport USA (Kennedy Space Center) 1977 ldquo 250
Living in Space (Colonies) J Trefil 1981 ldquo 500
The Cosmonauts Gordon Hooper 1977 ldquo 250
Extraterrestrials-Where Are They Zuckerman ampHart 1995 ldquo 1000
The Cosmic Connection Carl Sagan pocket 1975 ldquo 300
Exploring the Planets Ian Nicolson 1972 ldquo 250
Janersquos pocket Book 11 Space Exploration 1976 ldquo 300
Twenty-First Report Internat Telecomm Union Geneva 1982 ldquo 250
Satellites amp Space Travel Taylor ampAllward 1970 ldquo 200
Watchers of the Stars Patrick Moore 1974 ldquo 500
Robot Explorers Kenneth Garland 1972 ldquo 500
APOLLO by astronaut Alan Bean+paintings Bean in space 1998 coffeetable ldquo 2000
The World of Mars VA Firsoff 1969 ldquo 200
Missiles and Rockets Kenneth Garland ldquo 500
Stars and Planets Ian Ridpath 1978 ldquo 500
Race to Mars The ITN Mars Flight Atlas 1988 ldquo 500
Worlds Beyond Search for Life in Space Ian Ridpath 1975 ldquo 500
CETI Communication with Extraterrestrial Intelligence Stonelay 1976 ldquo 250
Horizon at the Edge of the Universe 9 chapters of astronomers 1983 ldquo 300
The New Race for Space James Oberg 1984 ldquo 500
The Hunt for Life on Mars Goldsmith 1998 ldquo 500
The High Road Ben Bova pocket 1983 ldquo 250
Operation Morning Light the True Story of Cosmos 954 Leo Heaps 1978 ldquo1000
Space Volunteers T Kay 1960 ldquo 300
Legal Aspects of Outer Space Dr C Reijnen 1976 205 pages the Worldrsquos
First Thesis of this Kind by female Dutch scholar ldquo 400
E-MAIL bertvaneijckhomenl if interested in any to discuss sale and postage
See further list on page 24
15
ORBIT
The above obituary and tribute by David Shayler
appeared in the August 2010 of Spaceflight magazine marking the passing of Rex Hall who was also one of
the longest standing members of the ASSS carrying
the membership number 88033 We extend our condolences to Rexrsquos family
16
ORBIT
Un-manned Satellites on Postage Stamps 35 By Guest Contributors Don Hillger and Garry Toth
A version of this article first appeared in The Astrophile for sic)
The Discoverer series
This is the thirty-fifth in a series of articles about un-manned satellites on postage stamps This article
features the satellites in the US Air Force (USAF) Discoverer series The first Discoverer was launched
on 21 January 1959 and the last one on 18 April 1962
There were a total of 39 launches a third (or 13) of which were failures The Discoverer series also called
Corona satellites were later declassified as the first Keyhole (KH) spy satellites
Discoverer was the public name of the Corona series
of film-return reconnaissance spy satellites whose true
mission was not officially revealed until about 35 years after the program ended The Discoverers secret
program was masked by scientific goals it was kept secret even from program staff who knew nothing
about Corona Scientific instruments were even placed
on Discoverer satellites and then covertly removed before launch
The Discoverer satellites were designed to take pictures
of target countries and then eject a film capsule
which was to de-orbit and enter the Earthrsquos atmosphere on a parachute and be recovered by a
specially-modified aircraft as it floated downward On many of the missions however the capture of the film
capsules was not successful for various reasons The first successful return of a capsule through the Earths
atmosphere occurred with Discoverer-13 though in this
case the aerial capture failed and the capsule fell into the sea Fortunately that mission carried no cameras
Discoverer-14 was the first completely successfully Corona mission in which reconnaissance photos were
taken from the spy satellite and ejected in a capsule
which was then successfully recovered in a mid-air capture carried out by a C-119 aircraft
Because of secret nature of their mission the
Discoverer satellites were not well-known and so were not featured on many postal items A set of three
stamps issued by Libya in 1966 (Scott 297-299) shows
a Discoverer capsule There is also a local post item from Batum that depicts the recovery of a Discoverer
capsule and a souvenir sheet from Chad (Michel BL247) that shows the re-entry of a Discoverer capsule
in the margin Another capsule recovery is shown in
the margin of a souvenir sheet issued by the Malagasy Republic in 1999 (Scott 1502a)
A checklist of postal items identified as showing Discoverer-
series satellites (httprammbciracolostateedudevhillgerDiscovererhtm) is available as part of the Website developed by the authors to accompany this series of articles (httprammbciracolostateedudevhillgersatelliteshtm) E-mail correspondence is welcome Don Hillger can be reached at hillgerciracolostateedu and Garry Toth at garry_tothhotmailcom
Top KH-4B Corona satellite Above Recovery of Discoverer 14 return capsule (typical for
the Corona series (ex Wikipedia)
17
ORBIT
18
ORBIT
Flight STS-130 Commander George Zamka Pilot Terry Virtis MS Kathryn Hire MS Stephen Robinson MS Nicholas Patrick MS Robert Behnken MS Koichi Wakata KSC Launch Date 822010 KSC Landing 21210 Purpose Tranquility Module Main Payload and Cupola
Shuttle Story 201011 STSndash130 -131 -132 Part One
STS-130 (ISS assembly flight 20A) via Endeavour carried as its
primary payloads the Tranquility module and the Cupola a robotic control station with six windows around its sides and
another in the centre providing a 360-degree view around the station Endeavour launched at 0414 EST (0914 UTC) on 8
February 2010 and landed at 2220 EST on 21 February 2010 on
runway 15 at the Kennedy Space Centers Shuttle Landing Facility
Tranquility was shipped from the
Thales Alenia Space facility in
Turin Italy It arrived at Kennedy Space Center on 21 May 2009 It
was formerly known as Node 3 and was named by a NASA poll
The module provides six berthing locations however three of those
locations are disabled as modules
originally planned to be attached to Tranquility were cancelled The
photo right shows Tranquility just before being installed to Unity node
STS-130 also brought the Cupola a large window
module and robotics work station to the ISS which was
to be attached to the nadir-
side of Tranquility The module also includes various
ISS systems including addit iona l l i fe support
systems This photo shows the facility being prepared at KSC whilst the photo above right
shows the module and cupola being moved into position on the
ISS
The shape of the mission patch on the launch
cover below represents the cupola over the earth in a photo taken by the unmanned
Lunar Orbiter probe in 1966 so representing a past and future designation for explorers from
Earth
For other Zazzle stamps
see page 33
19
ORBIT
Flight STS-131 Commander Alan Pointdexter Pilot James Dutton MS Rick Mastracchio MS Dorthy Metcalf- Lindenburger MS Stephanie Wilson MS Naoko Yamakazi MS Clayton Anderson KSC Launch Date 5410 KSC Landing 20410 Purpose MPLM Leonardo Main Payload
STS-131 (ISS assembly flight 19A) via Discovery launched on 5
April 2010 from Kennedy Space Centers launch pad 39A and landed at 908 AM on 20 April 2010 on runway 33 at the Kennedy
Space Centers Shuttle Landing Facility The mission marked the longest flight for space shuttle Discovery
The primary payload was a Multi-Purpose Logistics Module loaded with supplies and equipment for the ISS The mission also
removed and replaced an ammonia tank assembly outside the station on the S1 truss The mission also included several on-
board payloads this mission had the most payloads since STS-
107
The primary payload of STS-131 was MPLM Leonardo filled with food and science supplies and also carried the third and final
Minus Eighty Degree Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI) Window Orbital Research Facility (WORF) one Crew Quarters Rack the
Muscle Atrophy Resistive Exercise (MARES) rack Resupply
Stowage Racks (RSRs) as well as Resupply Stowage Platforms (RSPs) The Lightweight Multi-Purpose Equipment Support
Structure Carrier (LMC) carried a refurbished Ammonia Tank Assembly (ATA) to the ISS The refurbished ATA was removed
from the Space Station and returned for use on this mission
during STS-128 It was swapped with an empty tank which will ride home on the LMC
This mission was the second flight of the TriDAR a 3D dual-
sensing laser camera intended for potential use as an
autonomous rendezvous and docking sensor TriDAR provides guidance information that can be used to guide a vehicle during
rendezvous and docking operations in space TriDAR does not rely on any reference markers such as reflectors positioned on
the target spacecraft
This was the final Space Shuttle mission that contains one or
more rookie astronauts the missions after this will have all- veteran crews
STS-131 was only the third mission in the Space Shuttle
programme to carry three female astronauts
the others being STS-40 and STS-96
With three female crew members arriving on board Discovery and Expedition 23 Flight
Engineer Tracy Caldwell Dyson at the station
the STS-131 mission marked the first time that four women have been in space at one
time
STS-131 marked the first time that two
Japanese astronauts Naoko Yamazaki from the Shuttle crew and Soichi Noguchi on the
ISS had been in space together
Although Naoko Yamazaki is not the last non-
US astronaut Naoko was the last Japanese astronaut to fly the space shuttle
MPLM Leonardo can
be seen in the shuttle cargo bay
The seven stars either side of our
sun represent the
crew members
The shuttlersquos orientation indicates
it is performing the Rendezvous Pitch
Manoeuvre which
allows the ISS to photograph its
underbelly
20
ORBIT
Flight STS-132 Commander Kenneth Ham Pilot Dominic Antonelli MS Michael Good MS Garret Reisman MS Piers Sellars MS Stephen Bowen KSC Launch Date 1452010 KSC Landing 2652010 Purpose Delivery of Russian Main Payload Rassvet Module
STS-132 (ISS assembly flight ULF4) docked with the ISS on May
16 2010 It was launched from the Kennedy Space Center on May 14 2010 The primary payload is the Russian Rassvet Mini-
Research Module along with an Integrated Cargo Carrier-Vertical Light Deployable (ICC-VLD) STS-132 is scheduled to be the
final flight of Space Shuttle Atlantis provided that the STS-335
Launch On Need rescue mission is not flown
Rassvet means dawn in Russian The module was built
by Russian aerospace company
Energia and arrived at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC)
aboard an Antonov 124 cargo plane on 17 December 2009
After it was unloaded from the Antonov the module was
transported to an Astrotech processing bay in Cape Canaveral to
undergo preparations for launch shown in this photo
An airlock and radiation heat exchanger to be used for outfitting the Russian Nauka Module (to be launched in 2012) a spare
elbow part of the European Robotic Arm (ERA) and a portable
work platform for science hardware for performing experiments in outer space were externally mounted on Rassvet in its launch
configuration Russian and US cargo delivered was also accommodated inside the module The volume for cargo and
science inside MRM1 is 5 cubic meters] Rassvet was outfitted
with ISS standard grapple fixtures that allowed the module to be unloaded from the payload bay of Atlantis using the stations
robotic arm
The ICC pallet is constructed of aluminum It is approximately 8 feet long 13 feet wide and 10 inches thick The empty weight of
the pallet is 2645 pounds The total weight of ICCndashVLD and the ORUs is approximately 8330 pounds ICC-VLD return mass is
2933 kilograms (6470 lb)
The ICC-VLD was berthed in the centre of the
payload bay for both launch and re-entry
In the photo above Rassvet is shown centre top
The mission patch shows Atlantis flying off into the sunset as the end of the shuttle
programme approaches
21
ORBIT
By Andreacute Scheer and Margaret Morris This fascinating structure is an octagonal pentelic marble tower on the Roman agora or marketplace in Athens It was supposedly built by the astronomer Andronicus of Kyrrhos c 50 BC but according to other sources might have been constructed in the 2
nd
century BC before the rest of the forum The structure is 12 metres high with a diameter of approximately 8 metres On each of the eight sides (aligned with the eight principal points of the compass) is a sculpture featuring the wind gods and below each sculpture is engraved a sundial Thus the tower served as a solar clock but additionally in the interior was a water-clock (clepsydra) driven by water coming down from the Acropolis There were mechanical hour indicators and displays for the seasons of the year with astrological dates and periods The tower was topped in antiquity by a weather-vane in the shape of a triton with a wand which pointed at whichever of the winds was blowing The tower must have been one of the most useful structures in the agora as it showed the time for civilian purposes and indicated the wind direction for merchants awaiting the arrival of a ship The earliest philatelic items to depict this unusual building are postal stationery postcards originating from 1900 when the Greek postal authorities organised a competition for photographers and artists The best pictures were selected for issue and on 1 July 1901 the first series of 32 cards was issued In total 12 series of 32 cards each were issued between then and 20 March 1903 The cards were issued in three colours (chestnut black and green) with imprinted stamps of two values (5 lepta green for national mail and 10 lepta red for international mail) The cards additionally have an impressed stamp without colour on the left side being 10 lepta for the card itself so the cards were sold for 15 and 20 lepta The design of the imprinted stamps was based on the Hermes (Mercury) statue by Giovanni da Bologna During the war on the Balkans the cards were used by the Greek army and have an extra imprint ndash Carte Postale ndash Franchise Militaire A few examples of these postal stationery postcards are illustrated opposite and on page 23 The wording ldquoLrsquohorloge de Kyrrhestesrdquo refers to the timepiece built by Andronicus of Kyrrhos while ldquoTEMPLE DrsquoEOLErdquo translates as ldquoTemple of Aeolusrdquo (Aeolus = god of the winds) For each card 12 versions can be distinguished ndash ie 3 colours x 2 values x 2 usages For fuller information see reference no 1 Of course numerous picture postcards also feature this interesting structure
The Tower of the Winds The Oldest Planetarium on Stamps and
Postal Stationery
Front and back of postal stationery postcard
Examples of Greek postal stationery from the early 20th
century
Front and back of postal stationery postcard
22
ORBIT
The 19423 issues (SG 561-572) of Greece shown beside the 1973 Dominica souvenir sheet whose designer has
reinterpreted the divine sculptures in the margins
Boreas also on the 100d value in black and grey
Skiron
Zephyrus in two 25d vals
orange and green
Lips
Notus
Eurus
Apeliotes in two 10d vals red brown and red orange
Kaikias in two 50d vals black and grey violet and blue
Wind Direction Name of Deity Characteristics of the Sculpture North Boreas An old man wearing heavy clothing and holding a conch shell This wind was cold fierce and
stormy and in Athens made a loud hollow noise
North East Kaikias Old man with severe expression holding circular shield from which he will drop hailstones Weather characteristically cloudy wet and cold
East Apeliotes Young man with hair flowing in every direction holding a cloak full of fruit and grain ndash he brings gradual gentle rain
South East Eurus Old man with morose countenance wrapped tightly against the elements in his cloak This wind brought sultry gloomy weather with much rain
South Notus Young man emptying an urn and producing a shower of water This wind was associated with sultry very wet weather
South West Lips Boy pushing the stern of a ship promising a good sailing wind This was the wind which blew right into Piraeus harbour
West Zephyrus Beautiful lightly clad youth of happy aspect holding a cloak full of flowers In summer this wind brought very sultry weather
North West Skiron Bearded man with a bronze pot full of hot ashes and charcoal This was a dry wind extremely cold in winter but scorching and with lightning in summer
The following table gives details of the sculptures and the characteristics attributed to each of the wind gods
For fuller information see reference no 2
23
ORBIT
The sculptures of the eight winds were depicted on stamps of Greece issued in 1942 (six designs) and 1943 (again six designs ndash four as the previous issue but including the two omitted winds) Five values were surcharged in 1944 to aid victims of the Piraeus bombing of 11 January 1944 the exceptionally high face value resulted in few of these stamps being used Later in 1944 the same five values were surcharged in aid of a Childrenrsquos Convalescent Camp Fund Finally in 1946 two values of the 1942 issue were surcharged ndash the 10dr value in black and the 50dr revalued as 20dr in red See opposite for examples of the stamp designs In addition to these attractive engraved stamps the 1973 issue from Dominica commemorating the centenary of the World Meteorological Organisation included a miniature sheet incorporating the 50c and $1 values and surrounded in the margin by images of all eight wind sculptures (see page 22) More recently the cover of a booklet issued by Greece on 7 October 1988 provides an aerial view of the agora and the Tower of the Winds can be detected (see below) The booklet contains 16 stamps (4 each of 4 different values) and celebrates capitals of Greek provinces In early Christian times the building was used as the bell tower of a Byzantine Church It was partly buried in the ground until fully excavated in the 19
th century by the
Archaeological Society of Athens It is interesting to note that the design of the upper octagon of the 18th century Radcliffe Observatory in Oxford England is based on the Tower of the Winds as is the mausoleum of the founder of the Greek National Library Panayis Vagliano at West Norwood Cemetery London There is a similar tower in Sevastopol built in 1849 References
1 ldquoEntiers Postaux Illustreacutes du service des postes
helleacuteniques et leurs preacutecurseursrdquo Georges Mathas 1985
2 For finely detailed drawings and information about the sculptures you may care to see if your Library has a copy of ldquoThe Antiquities of Athensrdquo Stuart amp Revett Vol 1 published in London 1762
3 Article by Derek J de Solla Price in ldquoNational
Geographic April 1967 pp587-596 4 Much useful information may also be obtained from
sites on the internet
Examples of Overprints from left to right
1944 Piraeus Bombing Aid 1944 Childrenrsquos convalescent camp fund 1946 Surcharge
Below Cover of the 1988 stamp booklet
Front and back of postal stationery postcard
24
ORBIT
Old Photo Makes New(s) Story
A photo taken twenty-one years ago became hot international new(s) this July writes Bert van Eijck
It is a picture of your correspondent in front of the
monument on the graves of the seven astronauts killed
in the Challenger disaster The photo from November 1989 shows the national cemetery at Arlington in
Washington DC And it is this graveyard a national American field of pride and honour that was involved in
a scandal making news all over the world
What happened This became a hot story after it was leaked to the press that in 211 graves on Arlington the wrong corpse had
been buried But this disgrace grew to international
proportions when the US Senate published a report which revealed that it was not 211 but 6600 graves that
had been so dishonoured And maybe there are more the researchers stated
Consequently it meant that family members had been paying their respect at the wrong graves because many
were not marked well or the ground-plan directed to wrong places
Arlingtonrsquos director John Metzler was fired as was his
depute Thurman Higginbotham both of whom said
they knew there were made mistakes but they could not help ldquobecause of economyrdquo
Arlington cemetery was opened in 1864 Since then
300000 Americans have been buried here including
famous or well-known persons like presidents
ministers high ranked military artists judges and
astronauts
And what about some of the most recent ones Did I indeed visit and honour the seven Challenger astronauts in their last resting place on Earth in
November 1989 as shown on the photo Or are they perhaps mistakenly buried in another
unmarked grave This is hard to believe but one never knowshelliphellip
For those who wonder what was doing 21
years ago in the US capital I visited the
World Stamp Exporsquo89 at the Convention Center in Washington DC Of course I did
more sightseeing at and in the famous Smithsonian Museums (a must the
National AirampSpace Museum with 10
million visitors a year) the Capitol the metro (deepest in the world) George
Washingtonrsquos house in Vernon Arlington of course and much more
At the World Stamp Expo there was a
presentation of both USA and USSR space
stamps The American stamps were presented by astronaut Buzz Aldrin the
Soviet stamps by cosmonaut Gherman Titov
Author and the Challenger astronauts monument at Arlington seven figures in bronze (left) At right a plaque honoring US-soldiers killed in action saving
hostages in Iran
Astronaut Buzz Aldrin (left) presents the US space stamps while cosmonaut Gherman Titov (right) does the same with
Soviet space stamps In the middle officials of USPS Below the
stampshellip
25
ORBIT
The Apollo 15 Cover Scandal by Umberto Cavallaro
In a feature which first appeared in the April-June 2010 issue of Ad Astra the web journal of the Italian Astrophilatelic Association its editor reveals in considerable detail the full story of those covers which today sell for so much money The Apollo 15 flown covers are among the best known
collectibles from the Apollo Era mainly because of what Jim Irwin recalls as ldquothe problem we brought
back from the Moonrdquo
The crew of Apollo 15 carried out one of the most complete scientific explorations of the Moon the first
lunar roving vehicle was operated on the Moon to
extend the range of exploration some 180 pounds of lunar surface samples were returned for analysis Yet
Fifteen is best remembered as the crew that carried envelopes to the moon and the whole mission is
remembered for the ldquogreat postal caperrdquo
Apollo 15 was not the first mission to carry covers
dozens were carried on each flight from Apollo 11 onwards and as Commander Dave Scott recalls in his
book the whole business had probably been building since Mercury through Gemini and into Apollo People
had a fascination with objects that had been carried in space and they became more and more popular and
valuable as the programme progressed Right from
the start of the Mercury programme each astronaut had been allowed to carry on board a certain number
of personal items
NASA was in the habit of authorizing astronauts to
carry certain personal items on manned flights known as Astronautsrsquo PPK (Personal Preference Kits) All such
items had to be listed and approved by Deke Slayton the Head of the Astronaut Office prior to launch and
were intended for private use or as personal gifts
after the flight and could not be employed for commercial
Fig 1 The official USPS cover postmarked on the Moon
purposes or personal gain Astronaut kits typically
included badges jewellery coins medals flags stamps postal covers currency printed materials and
similar easily packed lightweight mementoes As the flight became more significant the number and type of
items increased
Aside from personal mementoes each crew had
carried medallions whose number had grown steadily on each mission In his book The All-American Boys astronaut Walter Cunningham reveals that it was rumoured around the Astronaut Office that Apollo 14
carried on board a personal package weighing forty-
two pounds Before that flight the Franklin Mint had even advertised the proposed sale After the flight the
commercial deal was never completed and all went quiet nothing about it being published in the media
But some members of the US Congress were unhappy
of the situation
In that context the ldquolapses of judgmentrdquo of the Apollo 15 crew became fatal Dave Scott went too far
carrying on board a total of 641 postal covers (including the two official covers) of which only 243
were listed and authorized before the flight and 398
were not -- secretly carried on board Apollo 15 by Scott in a pocket of his space suit Had they been
listed as being in Scotts PPK they would probably have been routinely approved for inclusion in the
preference kit
The 243 listed and authorized covers include
bull 2 official US Postal Service covers one of which the ldquoOfficial Coverrdquo was publicly cancelled on the
moon by Scott at the request of the US Postal
Service 10 (Fig 1) bull 1 Wright Brothers commemorative cover dated
1928 and autographed by Orville Wright which was carried by Worden for a friend
bull 1 cover bearing a First Man on the Moon stamp and a Bliss Centennial three-cent stamp carried by
Irwin for Barbara Baker (Fig 2 below)
26
ORBIT
8 Shamrock covers carried by Irwin (as below)
144 Herrickrsquos ldquoMoon Phasesrdquo covers carried by Worden
(Fig 4) printed with a cachet showing 15 phases of the moon On the USS Okinawa the Apollo 15 recovery ship
the astronauts placed two eight-cent stamps purchased
on board by Worden on each of these covers and they had the covers cancelled by the shipboard post office
The astronauts later autographed these covers while flying back from Hawaii to Houston Sixteen covers were
torn or damaged and were destroyed Because of the furore created by the Apollo 15 covers incident NASA
confiscated 61 of these 144 Moon Phases covers
87 Apollo 12 covers (Fig 5) that for unknown reason
did not fly on that mission and which were carried on
Apollo 15 for Mrs Barbara Gordon a stamp collector then wife of Richard Gordon Apollo 12 astronaut who
at was the back-up pilot for Apollo 15
The 398 unauthorized covers (initially there were
400 but 2 were damaged and discarded) are lightweight envelopes carrying as a cachet a replica
of the official Apollo 15 patch overprinted with an Air Force wing and propeller emblem
The idea of these additional covers was suggested during a cocktail party by Eiermann a salesman for
the heat-shield contractor who had frequent business and social contacts with NASA personnel and
astronauts He suggested to fly 400 lightweight covers 100 for each of the astronauts and 100 for
his friend Sieger the German stamp dealer The
cacheted covers were provided by Al Bishop a friend of many astronauts then at the Howard
Hughes organization He had already provided covers for the previous flights since Apollo 12
Above one of the 100 Sieger covers with the handwritten note ldquoLanded at Hadley Moon July 30 1971 On the
reverse is a typed and notarised inscription ldquoThis is to certify that this cover was on board the Falcon at the Hadley-
Apennine Moon July 30 ndashAug 2 1971rdquo
Below one of the 298 unauthorised covers carried to the Moon by David Scott with the inscription ldquoThis envelope was
carried to the Moon aboard the Apollo 15 of 300 to the Lunar Surface in LMrdquoFalconrdquo
The crews usually returned to Bishop a couple of
flown covers signed with gratitude ldquoTo my
knowledge ndash Cunningham reports in his well documented book ndash Bishop never sold any and never
made a dime off his relationship He was simply a fan To Al Bishop Apollo 15 was no different from any
other flight except for a phone call he received from
Hal Collins the Astronaut Office manager at the Cape
27
ORBIT
Collins told Bishop that the crew would like to know
whether he could obtain some very lightweight envelopes for them Al said that hed be happy to do so
He was unaware then that many of them would be smuggled on board the next lunar flight Al was trusted
Thats why many of us imposed on him with our
problems special requests and sometimes matters which we would rather not share with NASArdquo
This time Al was badly used he emerged as a
scapegoat and his name was dragged as though he was the Mr Big of an international stamp conspiracy
The covers were cancelled at Kennedy Space Center
several days before July 26 1971 The date of the post office machine canceller was moved forward
Additionally twin eight-cent stamps were purchased by the astronauts on the USS Okinawa the Apollo 15
recovery ship and affixed to these covers ndash as for the
Herrickrsquos covers In the shipboard post office the covers were then cancelled and date-stamped August 7 1971
The astronauts finally autographed these covers while flying from Hawaii to Houston
Soon after the flight the astronauts gave Eiermann
the 100 covers ndash after agreeing that there was to be
no commercialization or advertising of these covers and that nothing would be done with them until after
completion of the Apollo programme
But after a while news started to circulate that the
German dealer was selling in Europe covers flown on Apollo 15 for a reported average of US $1500 each
The reports infuriated Congress not least because congressmen had to read such controversial
information in the press before being informed by
NASA which is obligated to keep Congress fully informed of its activity Recollection of the Apollo 14
medallions incident must have echoed in the minds of certain members of Congress many of whom were
not fans of NASA anyway NASA started an internal investigation This was the most controversial
development of the Apollo Programme and although
most astronauts were involved to some degree NASA made an example of the Apollo 15 flight crew ldquoIt
was turning into a witch-huntrdquo recalled Scott ldquoOur bosses had abrogated their responsibilities and we
were left alone on a very wet dayrdquo
It is ironic that after addressing a joint session of
Congress as heroes in less that one year the three astronauts of Apollo 15 had to go back in front of these
same senators in disgrace because of this envelope scandal
After this ldquoincidentrdquo NASA prohibited from Apollo 17 on the flying of covers or stamps during a space
missions (they were not on time to block the covers carried on Apollo 16) The only exceptions have been
since then the items flown in cooperation with the US
Postal Service ie the 266000 covers carried in 1983 in
the payload bay of the Space Shuttle Challenger on
STS-8 and the 500000 $995 Express Mail stamp created by Paul and Chris Calle in 1994 flown on
Endeavour STS-68 in recognition of the 25th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing The huge
number of such items carried in space discourages
speculations and these items still are widely available for few dollars
So far fewer than 1000 envelopes in total have flown
to the Moon No other American covers will flow to the Moon in the foreseeable future Perhaps the next
ldquoMoon coversrdquo will bear Chinese or Indian stamps
Dave Scott was the first lunar Postmaster and had two
postmarks with him and two covers with imperforated dieproof of the US twin Decade of Space Achievements
stamps affixed (Fig 1)
He had one postmark with ldquoMoon Landing USArdquo (Fig 8 below) and another with ldquoUnited States on the
Moonrdquo (Fig 9 bottom)
The First Lunar Post Office was opened on August 2 1971 when David Scott postmarked only the official
cover (and brought back the official backup-cover uncancelled) A handful covers had however been
postmarked before launch with both postmarks Dr Matthew Radnofsky ndash who in his laboratory already
had simulated cancelling in space for Apollo 11 ndash
tested both postmarks to ensure that the cancellation devices were in working order
Especially the date could be changed easily Contrary
to Apollo 11 covers without stamps were used for
28
ORBIT
these tests Apollo 15 Lunar Cancellation Proofs are
much scarcer than Apollo 11 ones ldquoAs by now I am aware of only 17 itemsrdquo states famous astrophilatelist
Walter Hopferwieser Covers with proofs of the Apollo 15 moon postmarks have been recently sold at Regency
Superior and Aurora auctions
The official Apollo 15 cover postmarked on the Moon
(see Fig 1 repeated above ) is displayed at the US National Postal Museum It was publicly cancelled and
the video can be seen at httpwwwpostalmuseumsiedustampstakeflight
apollo15video-01html A short speech was given by
Dave Scott while cancelling the cover ldquoTo show that our good Postal Service has deliveries any place in the
universe I have the pleasant task of cancelling here on the Moon the first stamp of a new issue dedicated to
commemorate US achievements in space I have the
first one here on an envelope At the bottom it says United States in Space a decade of achievement and
Im very proud to have the opportunity here to play postman I pull out a cancellation device It says
August 2 1971 first day of issuehellip What could be a
better place to cancel this stamp than right here at Hadley Rillehelliprdquo
Immediately thereafter the Postmaster General who
was waiting at the Mission Control at Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston Texas gave the signal to start the
First- Day cancellations at post offices in Houston
Kennedy Space Center and Huntsville
Acknowledgement Thanks to Walter Hopferwieser for his comments
Some Notes About Space Mail
Commenting on Brian Vincentrsquos article in the June
2010 Orbit ASSS member Geoff Chivers writes in an
email to your Editorhellip Im sure you wont mind me commenting on Brian G Vincents Some Notes About Space Mail (page 36)
In paragraph 2 he refers to the Apollo 15 cover incident leaving the impression that Scott Worden and Irwin were guilty of some heinous crime This has been the subject of much miss-reporting over the years The full story of what actually happened is explained in depth at page 328 et seq of Two sides of the moon by David Scott and Alexei Leonov published by Simon amp Shuster The astronauts were of course exonerated
This is the quote (slightly edited to enable it to stand as an independent piece)-
During 1972 while on a trip to Washington DC George Low NASA deputy administrator asked me to stop by his
office writes David Scott I had known George in Houston while he was Apollo spacecraft programme manager and I had great respect for him We spent a short while exchanging pleasantries Then George looked me in the eye and came to the point ldquoWell Daverdquo he said ldquoI have to tell you I was not very proud of my performancerdquo His comment was the culmination of what had become known as the Apollo 15 ldquocover incidentrdquo This involved some first day postal covers which we had carried aboard Apollo 15 some of which were unfortunately sold by a German stamp dealer several months after the flight As No 2 in NASA George
had been heavily involved in NASAs handling of the incident and his comment referred to one of the poorest management performances the space agency had ever demonstrated - up to then The whole business had probably been building since Mercury through Gemini and into Apollo People had a fascination with objects that had been carried in space and they became more and more popular and valuable as the programme progressed Right from the start of the Mercury programme each astronaut had been allowed to carry on board a certain number of personal items in what were known as PPKS - Personal Preference Kits Before each flight a list of the items was prepared for Deke Slayton who
Two Sides of The Moon
by David Scott and Alexei Leonov
The text opposite from the
above book has been
referred to by Umberto Cavallaro in preparing his
above piece
29
ORBIT
had overall responsibility for approving them As the flights became more significant the number and type of items increased Aside from personal mementoes each crew had carried a certain number of medallions which they could hand out afterwards as souvenirs The number of medallions had grown steadily on each mission - eventually some crew members had been carrying several hundred each and their weight was becoming a concern And as always commercialisation began to creep in In the end on Apollo 14 commanded by Al Shepard it was alleged that the crew had carried some silver medallions on board which were to be melted down after the flight and mixed with many other commemorative medallions by the Franklin Mint to be sold to the general public The Franklin Mint had even advertised the proposed sale before the flight After the flight the deal was never consummated and all went quiet nothing about it was printed in the media But some members of Congress had heard about it and were unhappy with the situation Since we were busy training for Apollo 15 (launched 26 July 1971) we knew nothing about all this Had we known we would have been far more wary of what happened subsequently All we knew was that Deke Slayton had halved the number of medallions we could carry Shortly afterwards Deke introduced Jim (Irwin) Al (Worden) and me to a long-standing friend of his at the Cape called Walter Eiermann In retrospect this seems likely to have been more than a coincidence Deke invited us to join him at dinner at Eiermanns house one evening several months before the Apollo 15 launch Eiermann asked if we would like to make some money on the side by signing some stamps ldquoAll the guys are doing itrdquo he said We agreed We were also approached by several members of the Manned Spacecraft Centerrsquos stamp club who asked us to sign many first - day covers before the flight for their members as well as for ourselves At that time we could not buy life insurance If we signed some covers we reasoned they could be held during the flight and act as limited life insurance for our families if anything happened to us But then Eiermann proposed we carry four hundred lightweight commemorative covers a hundred of which would be passed on to a stamp dealer in Germany when we returned All the covers would be franked on the day of launch and franked on the day of our return Our understanding was that the dealer would hold his hundred covers to be sold at some future date after the Apollo programme was over In return he would set up a $6000 trust fund for each of us for the education of our children In the months of intense activity before the flight we did not give this more than a moment of thought But we agreed In retrospect we made a mistake in even considering it In the months following our mission we learnt that the German dealer had begun to sell the covers We let Eiermann know that we were opposed to the sale Forget the trust funds we said we dont want any money This is not what we had understood would happen But when senior managers at NASA learnt about the covers being sold they were furious Incomplete information was then provided to the press by NASArsquos Public Affairs Office and reports started to appear that we had smuggled the covers onto our flight This was literally impossible NASA personnel prepared us for every aspect of the flight - from our birthday suits out Everything we had carried had to be specially packaged by the flight support crew to make sure apart from anything else
that it was fireproof Everything in our PPKs was on a list which was certified before launch I was never aware of any rules about what could or could not be taken in these packs Slayton was to approve the list so as far as I was concerned it was up to management to keep us on the straight and narrow I assumed if the list was approved that was fine Usually the list was certified by Deke But before our flight for some reason he neither asked us personally for each of our lists as was customary nor signed off on the list personally He said the flight - crew support team had already logged everything Whereas we had purchased the covers ourselves the Astronaut Office at the Cape had prepared the covers for the flight and had had them stamped and franked on the day of launch Somehow however the support team had missed them when they prepared the PPK flight manifest It was also reported after the incident that we had been removed from the astronaut corps Again totally untrue Unfortunately NASA managers did nothing to dispel this false and misleading information They just tucked their heads in and let the rumours run The reports infuriated Congress not least because congressmen had to read such controversial information in the press before being informed by NASA which is obligated to keep Congress fully informed of its activities Recollections of the Apollo 14 medallion incident must have seeped into the minds of certain members of Congress many of whom were not fans of NASA anyway When NASA started an internal investigation we were told by a senior official in the agency that we were on our own We were advised to get our own legal representation A Senate hearing into the matter had been called and a justice Department investigation would follow It was turning into a witch - hunt NASA we were advised expected us to keep quiet and take the Fifth Amendment at this hearing We did not We told it like it was We had nothing to hide Eventually the Justice Department concluded that we had broken some administrative rules but had done nothing criminal NASA confiscated the remaining covers but they acted before discovering all the facts of the case Following an investigation by NASA the Justice Department and the Senate the Justice Department concluded on 6 December 1978 in a ldquoMemorandum Opinion for the Assistant Attorney Generalrdquo that NASA had no claim to the remaining covers that the covers were never intended for sale that there was no attempt at concealment by the crew of the fact that the covers were to be flown on Apollo 15 and finally that the covers would have been approved to carry aboard Apollo 15 had a request been made We were reprimanded and we took our licks But it was a very raw deal NASA had hung us out to dry Our bosses had abrogated their responsibilities and we were left alone on a very wet day I spent many years trying to get full access to NASA and congressional records on the case NASA refused to provide full disclosure We subsequently found out there had been rumblings about profitmdashmaking on previous missions A copy of a letter was released to me in which NASA admitted that ten other astronauts who were not identified had been involved in selling signed blocks of stamps and postcards for Eiermann But the wave reached the shore on Apollo 15 and we were the ones who bore the brunt of the blame for such incidents
30
ORBIT
Buckingham Cover offer Free Souvenirs for You
Brian Austin of Buckinghamrsquos Rare Cover Department writes to your Editorhellip
Over the last two or three years we have been dealing more and more in signed space covers This led us to earlier this year buying an Apollo 11 crew signed cover which had been carried to the moon which we had on display on our stand at London 2010
For this we also printed a limited edition of 800 sets of postcards one featuring the Apollo 11 cover and another
featuring an Apollo 15 cover The idea was to give away 100 sets per day to customers at the show but now the show is all finished I still have around 150 pairs left on my desk
We wondered if you would like to offer them to your readers we are happy to send them out free of charge to the first 150 readers to contact us with their details as long as we can also include one of our lists of space
covers
BrianAustinbuckinghamcoverscom
31
ORBIT
More About Missile Mail
Harvey Duncan told us in the last Orbit (page 15) about the First Official Missile Mail writes Bert van Eijck After the useful technical details about the USS Barbero he gave us I can offer you more philatelic information and show you some illustrations The missile mail experiment was a joint venture between
the Ministry of Defense and the US Post Office Dept headed by Postmaster General Mr Arthur E
Summerfield Three thousand special envelopes were printed with a reproduction of a Navy missile type
Regulus with the text ldquoFirst Official Missile Mailrdquo and above that ldquoThe Postmaster General Washingtonrdquo All
the envelopes were addressed to The President high
government officials like senators and to the Post Masters General of ninety nine other member nations of
UPU Inside was a letter from Mr Summerfield entitled ldquoThe First Official Missile Mailrdquo with the official seal of
the Post Office dept It was explained therein what had
happed to that letter and the other 2999
The special letters were loaded in two metal compartments and came aboard the guided missile USS Barbero (SSG-317) The shot was to occur during a regular training mission from Norfolk Virginia to Florida
About 350 kilometres off the coast of Florida the
Regulus missile was launched toward Airport Mayport
The missile climbed 10 km above the Atlantic and
landed within twenty minutes with all the letters intact The letters were cancelled with the hand stamp ldquoUSS
Barberordquo with the date ldquoJun 8 1959rdquo and the approximate timing of the launching ldquo930 amrdquo This
was done by post office staff part of an established
branch office on the USS Barbero The letters bore the 1957 4c American flag postage stamp Those
addressed to foreign countries carried two such stamps covering surface mail postage costs On the
reverse side is the Jacksonville Post Office cancellation with the approximate time of arrival ldquoJune 8 1030 am
1959 Floridardquo
Such flown letters are expensive to buy and a jewel in
any exhibit
But this is NOT the case with the Barbero souvenir
cover dated a month later on July 8 1959 issued in the same quantity (3000) as the originals The
inscription reads ldquoPoint of LandingmdashFirst Official Missile Mail 8 June 1959 US Naval Station Mayport Floridardquo
About 16000 () collectors had applied for such a cover
The imprint of the official Barbero cover was reproduced on a memorial cover issued and posted at
the Vienna International Airpost Exhibition Luposta on August 1959 in the Austrian capital Of course neither
of these items had been carried within the Regulus
missile
Also of interest the Postal Administration of
Paraguay issued a stamp
and a block in 1976 honouring the Barbero
Missile Mail The Gs 20 stamp shows a Regulus
missile in flight while the sheet shows the whole
addressed cover and in
miniature the complete letter inside from the US Postmaster General
as mentioned above and as illustrated below
Above a specimen envelope as described in the text and below its reverse cancel
32
ORBIT
An Invitation to Our Readers to Donate to an Innovative International Projecthellip
Kindest Sir or Madam
The municipality of Vitanje
(Slovenia) is honoured to have had a hand in the life of the
famous space architect Herman Potocnik Noordung
(1892-1929) (pictured right) who had already found a
surprising number of solutions
to space travel and troubles of living in vacuum long before
actual space flights took place His creations were used by the
renowned novelist Arthur C Clarke
in his book 2001 A Space Odyssey which was later also turned into a
movie directed by Stanley Kubrick In Noordungs honour we have
created the Memorial Centre of Herman Potocnik Noordung This
year the cultural centre of European
space technology will also get going in Vitanje This will be a place
where the European space heritage will be gathered and various events connected with the
contemporary European space technologies will be
organized
Proposed Philatelic Collection We would like to bring the project onto a higher level
where we would have the collaboration of various
countries in the world including such with a history in space travel (like USA Russia) One of the steps of this
expansion process would also include a philatelic collection of stamps with themes of outer space
(astronomy astronautics and everything connected to
outer space) We already have quite a decent collection but we would like to expand on that
Our goal is to have 6000 stamps before opening our
exhibition For this we would require the help of as many philatelists as possible
All of these philatelists would become co-creators and partners of this collection for which we hope will
become the largest collection of its kind in the world The people donating the stamps would get a great deal
of exposure at all these exhibitions and on the special
website which will be started shortly If you give us enough support and we are able to raise enough
stamps for a first-class collection we hope the first
exhibitions and various special events (like visits from
astronauts ndash philatelists) will see the light of day as early as in 2011
From a professional point of view we have an
excellent team working with us Long-time philatelist
Tone Petek is the person who initiated this project while Bojan Bracic the secretary of FEPA is one of our
counsellors and is completely behind this project
If you would be interested in such cooperation I will get the wheels in motion and send you a verifying
mail with the stamp of the municipality of Vitanje and
also of some higher organization within the Slovene political system
The collection is already underway with the help of the
Slovene Philatelic organisation (FZS) adds Rok in an email to your Editor in July This organisation has been of immense help with technical expertise and
connections It looks as if there might be an introductory exhibition next year sometime
In the hope of a successful partnership we offer our
sincere appreciation
Rok Podgrajsek
Obcina Vitanje Grajski trg 1
3205 Vitanje
Slovenia
Email address rokpodgrajsekgmailcom
But see also website httpwwwvitanjesi
(Editorrsquos Note both Wendy Buckle editor of
Themescene and our Chairman Margaret Morris commend this project to you We will be sending Rok
some recent copies of Orbit for the displays)
Some illustrations from Noordungrsquos only published text ldquoThe Problem of
Space Travel The Rocket Motorrdquo (the original German title
was ldquoDas Problem der Befahrung
des Weltraums - der Raketen-Motorrdquo) which saw the light of day
in 1928
Vitanje Local Private Post stamp
33
ORBIT
Zazzle Space Stamps Dazzle
I have noticed Zazzle Space Stamps appearing in Lollini brochures and on their web pages in recent months writes your Editor so I undertook to find out some facts about them and am grateful to The Astrophile Editor Jim Roth and the man who inspired him to create his own Zazzle designs Otto Bergman for the following infohellip Zazzle is one of half a dozen or more US companies
who facilitate the printing of non-copyrighted photos and artwork on private postage stamps which count
as postage within and outwith the USA You can
design your own Zazzle stampsmdashsee their websitemdashwhich you then purchase for your own use 20 to a
page
They are therefore a bit like British Smilers except
that the personal element of the stamp is not on a se-tenant label but actually incorporated within the
stamp itself as you can see from the examples on this page
Jim Roth was annoyed that the Kennedy Space Center Post office would not cancel his Zazzle stamps as they
consider them to be ldquometersrdquo and although he has marked STS-122 he wonrsquot be creating any others
You can see (and buy) all Jim Rothrsquos Space Zazzles on
his website m57coverscommdashclick on ldquostampsrdquo
Three of Jim Rothrsquos designs
See others on his website
An Otto Bergman space creation on
Zazzlecomottobergman
These space Zazzles and others are
available from the Lollini website or brochures
STS 128 in May 2010 section
STS 129 in June 2010
WISE and Delta 2 launch in July 2010 STS 130 in August 2010
STS 128 stamps show astronauts Christer Fuglesang (far left) and left Frank De Winne ISS Commander Expedition 21 STS 129 issues depict mission
patch and the crew led by Charles Hobaugh
Delta 2 rocket launch from Cape Canaveral of WISE Deep InfraRed telescope
34
ORBIT
Concluded on page 39
More Spaceflight Books for Sale
35
ORBIT ORBIT
SPACE HABITATS (Part Two) by John Beenen Continuing his feature from our last issue John Beenen begins by posing the questionhellip Why Should we Seek to Live
in Space
Spacecom gives ten main reasons why we should enter space for a prolonged
period
1 To secure a future for humanity
2 To build a new frontier
3 To find new energy sources
4 To build an industrial settlement on
the Moon
5 Better quality images of the
Universe
6 The SETI effort
7 Mining
8 Learning the history of our
Universe
9 Environmental benefits
Meeting the challenge
Taking for granted that it is naturally fascinating to investigate how mankind
might be able to maintain its habitat outside earth there are several further reasons to investigate why
mankind should settle themselves outside earth in the far future And More reasons mean a overall better
argument
Primarily there is the question of overpopulation and
secondly a solution for the energy problem
Next we have to consider that climate circumstances
are not under control anymore and earth eventually becomes uninhabitable
Also when for various reasons we start to kill each
other for some groups of people it may be an attractive proposition to depart this Earth in quite a different
sense And that is perhaps the most common thought
through activities in space more money can be obtained
But there are disadvantageshellip
On the other hand a prolonged stay in space is not that safe The construction must be protected against
radiation and it can be hit by large and small debris which makes space a very unsafe place
Furthermore cosmic radiation produces
a radiation of 80 mSv (millisievert) - well over the allowed maximum of 50
mSv and very much over the amount which is considered as safe for man
which is 3 mSv
Next solar flares produce a sudden
increase of soft gamma and energy rich radiation so much that without the
protection of an atmosphere half of our population could die easily
It is interesting that even without shielding most of this radiation can be
absorbed in the projected spacecraftsrsquo structure and in the air Smaller
structures can be protected with a
shield of co-rotating rocks
The construction further must be protected against sunlight which by
lack of the air shield will fall in unshielded so sun blinds and radiators
are indispensable
And as a result of the artificial gravity
there are some tiny movement problems which we will face later
Finally the created ecosystem should be fully self-supporting and that is easier said than done as
experiments with Biosphere-2 have showed
Biosphere-2 Biosphere-2 was a project built between 1987 and 1991 providing in an area of about 2frac12 football fields
a closed biological system of different composition From 1991-1993 a crew of 8 persons stayed herein A
second crew of 7 persons bridged a period of March
until September 1994 During the first period it appeared difficult to keep the atmosphere constant in
particular the carbon dioxide values changed rapidlymdashthe reason why many of the carried insects perished
Further the oxygen level decreased slowly because pf a leak
Even during the first two-year phase large differences in opinion appeared and the yield was not large
enough to deliver the calories necessary Reserve stocks had to be broken into Finally the second
experiment had to be ended prematurely because of
mismanagement
However it seems that a well-functioning stable ecosystem should not be underestimated physically
not technically
Artists impressions above Interior Stanford Torus and below Interior
OrsquoNeill Cylinder
Solar flares Czechoslovakia 1965 WB 47
36
ORBIT
It further has to be speculated on that men would resist
a regulated weather programme instead of the customary ever changing circumstances on Earth
Also we must physically resist an eternal stay outside
Earth That is not always easy as some people will show
some kind of sea sickness for ever In any case rooms with a diameter of less than 100 meters and a speed of
revolution over three per minute are insufficient At specifications of over 500 m and at less than 1 revolution
per minute fewer problems have to be expected
How do we get raw materials (Fantasy Moon Mining Yemen
Mutawakelite 1969 1343)
And still there have to be enough raw materials to sustain the
colony but as a principle the
search for raw materials is not the most difficult
From the asteroid belt enough small rocks can be
transported as a building material Also mines can be put
on the Moon Bercause of the lower gravity there transport is easier and some kind of firing mechanism
has been calculated which launch packets of ore simply into space where they can be manipulated
Air can be produced from moonstone Nitrogen nearly without loss can be recycled and eventually added to
ammonia mined from comets Large gardens and fields should start the normal photosynthesis and doing so
finally a complete sustainable society might be built up Energy from the Sun is present in superfluous quantities
What to do about gravity Most designs for a Space station start with a gravity of
1G Some designers however think that a lower level of gravity is possible But in the meantime experiments
with astronauts have showed that our physiology
changes rapidly influenced by decreased or absence of gravity Thus the calcium potassium and sodium
contents of our bone system decrease by about 10 That is not bad were we to stay in space forever but
very troublesome when occasionally we would return to
Earth
Also the quality of our muscles decreases as the blood volume does Providing effects comparable to aging
Further by lack of gravity astronauts become a little
taller with accompanying pain in the back Hence the staying with 1G gravity is not so bad
That has to be maintained by rotation of the
construction The larger the diameter of the construction is the slower it will turn to provide 1 G That is a result
of the centrifugal or centripetal force Its
magnitude has long been established thanks to the work of Dutchman Christiaan Huygens and fixed in
the formula
m v2
F = r where
F = the external force in N(ewton) m = mass in kg
v = speed in msec r = radius in m
Hence a spacecraft with a diameter of 15 meters has to carry out one revolution every 8 seconds to
produce a sensation of 1G And that is too quick for man The effect of the centrifugal force is that should
an astronaut drop an object it does not fall straight
down but partly away from himher Weird
Coriolis force But in a rotating Space station another force is at
work That is the lsquoCoriolis forcersquo named after the
French Gustave-Gaspard Coriolis (1792-1843) who described this kind of force for the first time
The most common manifestation is the second law of
Buys Ballot which says that air streams in the
atmosphere which according the first law of Boys Ballot as a principle run from high to low pressure at
the northern hemisphere are bent to the right and at the southern hemisphere to the left because of the
rotation of the Earth
Therefore air streams around depressions show a
spiral shape in opposite directions at the northern and southern hemisphere In a space station this
force can especially noticed when moving around through the spokes of the wheel
(Diagram of Coriolis F o r c e h t t p
wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm)
A s s u m e t h a t a n
astronaut on a ladder
climbs through a spoke to the axis As he climbs
along he circles around more slowly as he
describes a smaller circle
in the same time What happens with the difference in speed that he had before He will be pressed
against the ladder and that is the Coriolis force The force also acts in opposite direction when he
descends from the ladder
Also the throwing up and catching of a ball will
become a huge achievement as the ball does not
37
ORBIT
drop perpendicularly but will shift a little into the
direction of the orbit of the station and also achieves a higher speed
This also has strange effects on the astronaut As moves
quickly in the rotation direction of the station his weight
appears to increase to a noteworthy extent Then as he moves against the speed of rotation his weight
decreases apparently Mathematically this effect is explainable but very complex
Also the astronautrsquos head and feet move in different
speed to artificial gravity This is plainly noticeable when
somebody jumps up Hence avoid this practice
With these kind of effects adaptation to the changed circumstances in a space station will ask a lot of the
crew members I do hope they can stand it But in any
case the larger the space ship the lesser the problems
Inflatable stations
But therersquos more The inflatable station was considered
many years ago The first i d e a w a s p o s s i b l y
developed when on 12th August 1960 the Echo
balloon with a diameter of
30 meters was launched (Echo I balloon USA 1960
WB 3)
It is true you could not live in it as the balloon was of too frail a construction but the idea of an inflatable
spacecraft was then alive By 1958 groups within NASA
had begun to think about inflatable stations The Goett-committee has been one of the first On 25th26th May
1959 a conference started about projects after
Mercury In particular the
representative of Langley L a r r y Lo f t i n wa s
enthusiastic about his AMIS (Advanced Man in
Space) project (Hexagonal structure
Manama 1970 WB 113)
One of his first projects was a rotating hexagonal
inflatable construction with a diameter of 25 meters a cylindrical core and three lsquospokesrsquo Acting as a ferry to
and from the station the lsquoDyna Soarrsquo Space plane could
be used The Dyna Soar project (at that time still
under development) was cancelled by the American
Minister of Defense Robert
McNamara Inflatable Habitat NASA
1961 enwikipediaorg)
A Langley Space Station
team managed by Paul Hill and Emanuel lsquoMannyrsquo
Schnitzer developed the concept together with the
G o o d y e a r A i r c r a f t
Corporation
(Langleyrsquos self-inflating rotating hexagonal structure httphistorynasagov
SP-4308) Its original diameter had already been reduced to 10
meters
In the years after Langley built several experimental
modules called lsquoErectable Torus Manned Space Laboratoryrsquo a 11 model built by firms such as
Goodyear The torus was built from three layers of
nylon tissue and in between a rubber-like plastic material butyl elastomer A large problem was the
penetration by micrometeorites which as was learnt from the results of the Echo balloon finally damaged
the whole structure
Another problem was the great instability of the ring
due to movements of the astronauts the station started to wobble when they moved around Finally
the project was cancelled and at the end of the eighties the Langley Research Center started to
design inflatable constructions for a base camp on the
Moon
( A r t i s t imp r e s s i on Transhab inflatable
m o d u l e h t t p
enwikipediaorg)
Due to the development of a new series of
s t r o n g e r p l a s t i c materials such as Kevlar
these construct ions
received new interest That lead to the development of Transhab (Transit Habitat) as a resource for crews
coupled at the ISS (international Space Station) The construction is a cylinder in a diameter of 82 meters
and several storeys high
Its volume in inflatable state is 340 m3 The wall has a
thickness of 30 () cm and consists of 12 layers of which the outside layer is made from Kevlar The
layers beneath are made from Nextel a ceramic fibre Disagreements during development and the spiralling
costs finally in 2000 saw the end of NASArsquos interest
G e n e s i s 1
thespacereviewcom)
From 1999 the project was
taken up by Bigelow
38
ORBIT
Aerospace who improved the design and tested it with
successful launchings of Genesis I on 12 July 2006 and Genesis II on 28 June 2007
In their design it has once again more or less the shape
of a balloon With a thickness of 40 cm the wall is still
very thick The outside layer is still Kevlar but inside are some layers of Vectran a textile fibre Within the
structure ants and scorpions were launched along with some objects which people who paid for the privilege of
boosting into space
In this way Bigelow hopes to build a Space Hotel named
Nautilus To stimulate the development Bigelow offered a price of $50 million to everybody who succeeded in
launching a crew of 5 persons to an altitude of 400 km before 2010 So little money lost here so far
A second project which can be realized within the near future is a fixed residence on the Moon As said Langley
occupies itself with the design of such a base which partly should be build below the surface Stamp
designers have already realized the idea
What does the future hold Although we are a long way away from the kind of space station by which a large amount of earth inhabitants can
leave the planet Earth forever the first steps for doing
so are in preparation With the development of their Space Hotel Bigelow tries to make the step to space
albeit a temporary one
Also Langley literally tries to set foot on the Moon and
finally they will succeed in doing so However The cost of such projects are literally astronomical and it is not
expected that in the coming decades much money can be allocated to such projects
Of course in some thousands of years (possibly only in
hundreds of years) this will become the case but for the
time being in my opinion the true conquest of space will stay as science-fiction for at least a few hundred years
Hoorn 2009
John Beenen
NB The stamps entitled lsquoSpace Cityrsquo with a value of 0 cnt do not exist but have been made by the author by means of frames and pictures present at the Internet
Fantasy Moon
b a s e M a n a -ma1970 WB 122
Fantasy bases
ready for Mars
YAR 1971 WB 2892 and 6
Fantasy Modular
base YAR 169 WB 233
39
ORBIT
Cover Below bottom right Future space Dutch Antilles 2000
Literature references (for both parts of article) httpenwikipediaorg Space habitat Space Colonization Orbital Colony Space City Space settlement Space stations L5 Society Bernal Sphere Stanford Torus OrsquoNeil Cylinder Inflatable Space Habitat Transhab Biosphere 2 Generation Ship wwwdsenl~hklruimtehtm Wonen op groene eilanden in de Ruimte (Dutch Living on green Islands in Space) Henry Kluytmans wwworionsarmcom McKendree Cylinder Bishops Ring wwwnasnasagovAboutEducationSpaceSettlement The Colonization of Space wwwdyarstraightscommsgundamhabitatshtml Mobile Suit Gundam High Frontier Life in the Universal Century Developing sound habitats wwwartificial-gravitycomDissertation1_2htm From Tsiolkovsky to Sputnik (1878-1957) httpsciencenasagovheadlinesy2000ast26may_1mhtm Wheels in the Sky httpdiscaircraftgreyfalconus Hermann Noordung Wohnrad (Wheel for Habitation) httparticlesadsabsharvardedufull1992lbsaconf249R Inflatable habitation for the lunar base MRoberts httphistorynasagovSP-4308ch9htm lsquoAs inevitable as the Rising Sunrsquo From the inflatable Torus to the Rotating Hexagon wwwspacecomnewsbusinessmonday_040524html Bigelow Aerospace to tackle inflatable Space Habitats httpsciencehowstuffsworkcominflatable-spacecraft2htm How Inflatable Spacecraft Will Work wwwbogancaphysicscoriolishtml Rotating Space Stations Dynamics An Explanation of the Coriolis Force httpdemonstrationswolframcomRotatingSpaceStation Rotating Space Station wwwdvandomcomcoliolisspacestationhtml Frame Effects and Space Stations wwwdvandomcomcoriolisindexhtml A (hopefully) simple explanation of the Coriolis Force wwwdaviddarlinginfoencyclopedia Hale Edward Everett von Pirquet Guido Noordung Hermann Space Station wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm The Coriolis Force wwwastronautixcomcraftfamlunbaseshtm Lunar bases wwwastronautixcomgallerycspebasehtm Photo Gallery Space base wwwregererating-universeorgOn_Moon_as_Space_Basehtm On Moon as Space Base wwwspacefuturecomhabitatlivingshtml Space Habitat Introduction Living in Space wwwspacepagebevideotaak=bekijkampid=47 Living in space (Video) wwwnutricomspace The Case for Space colonization ndash Now Oscar Falconi wwwxentcompipermailfork (FoRK) Bigelowrsquos inflatable Genesis I satellite in orbit wwwrussianforcesorg Russian strategic nuclear forces (Genesis II) wwwbigelowaerospacecomgenesis Genesis I Genesis II
Thanks to Alan Tunnicliffe who came across the attached news item
complete with stamp in the eNZ Magazine the bi-monthly journal of
the Institution of Professional Engineers NZ Inc Vol 11 No 3 May-
June 2010
Vaccari Auction Sells Remarkable Space Covers April 2010
Apollo 12 cover 55 of 87 flown to the moon on Apollo 15 having been left behind by the original crew sold for euro12200 1977 Salyut
6 Soyuz 27 cover sold for euro1600
40
ORBIT ORBIT
Shuttle 1981mdash2010 Stamps Marshall
Islands 2005
United Nations 2007 Monaco and Ascension 2008
Bulgaria 1991 including stamp from souvenir sheet
USA 1981
below USA 1995 and bottom USA 1998
(two values)
St Vincent Grenadines 1983
Ascension 1989
Bulgaria 1990
and above right W Germany 1975
and USA 2000 Guyana 2006
USA 1995
41
ASSS Membership Renewal 2010
Memberrsquos Name amp Addresshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
I wish to renew my membership of the ASSS for a further year and enclose the equivalent of
pound15 (UK) euro30 (Europe) $US 45 (Rest of the World)
Please return this form with your remittance to Harvey Duncan by the
end of July Thank you
Harvey Duncan Treasurer ASSS 16 Begg Avenue
Falkirk Scotland FK1 2DL
PayPal For details of how to Pay via Paypal
please email Jeff Dugdale Email address on Page 2
42
43
44
15
ORBIT
The above obituary and tribute by David Shayler
appeared in the August 2010 of Spaceflight magazine marking the passing of Rex Hall who was also one of
the longest standing members of the ASSS carrying
the membership number 88033 We extend our condolences to Rexrsquos family
16
ORBIT
Un-manned Satellites on Postage Stamps 35 By Guest Contributors Don Hillger and Garry Toth
A version of this article first appeared in The Astrophile for sic)
The Discoverer series
This is the thirty-fifth in a series of articles about un-manned satellites on postage stamps This article
features the satellites in the US Air Force (USAF) Discoverer series The first Discoverer was launched
on 21 January 1959 and the last one on 18 April 1962
There were a total of 39 launches a third (or 13) of which were failures The Discoverer series also called
Corona satellites were later declassified as the first Keyhole (KH) spy satellites
Discoverer was the public name of the Corona series
of film-return reconnaissance spy satellites whose true
mission was not officially revealed until about 35 years after the program ended The Discoverers secret
program was masked by scientific goals it was kept secret even from program staff who knew nothing
about Corona Scientific instruments were even placed
on Discoverer satellites and then covertly removed before launch
The Discoverer satellites were designed to take pictures
of target countries and then eject a film capsule
which was to de-orbit and enter the Earthrsquos atmosphere on a parachute and be recovered by a
specially-modified aircraft as it floated downward On many of the missions however the capture of the film
capsules was not successful for various reasons The first successful return of a capsule through the Earths
atmosphere occurred with Discoverer-13 though in this
case the aerial capture failed and the capsule fell into the sea Fortunately that mission carried no cameras
Discoverer-14 was the first completely successfully Corona mission in which reconnaissance photos were
taken from the spy satellite and ejected in a capsule
which was then successfully recovered in a mid-air capture carried out by a C-119 aircraft
Because of secret nature of their mission the
Discoverer satellites were not well-known and so were not featured on many postal items A set of three
stamps issued by Libya in 1966 (Scott 297-299) shows
a Discoverer capsule There is also a local post item from Batum that depicts the recovery of a Discoverer
capsule and a souvenir sheet from Chad (Michel BL247) that shows the re-entry of a Discoverer capsule
in the margin Another capsule recovery is shown in
the margin of a souvenir sheet issued by the Malagasy Republic in 1999 (Scott 1502a)
A checklist of postal items identified as showing Discoverer-
series satellites (httprammbciracolostateedudevhillgerDiscovererhtm) is available as part of the Website developed by the authors to accompany this series of articles (httprammbciracolostateedudevhillgersatelliteshtm) E-mail correspondence is welcome Don Hillger can be reached at hillgerciracolostateedu and Garry Toth at garry_tothhotmailcom
Top KH-4B Corona satellite Above Recovery of Discoverer 14 return capsule (typical for
the Corona series (ex Wikipedia)
17
ORBIT
18
ORBIT
Flight STS-130 Commander George Zamka Pilot Terry Virtis MS Kathryn Hire MS Stephen Robinson MS Nicholas Patrick MS Robert Behnken MS Koichi Wakata KSC Launch Date 822010 KSC Landing 21210 Purpose Tranquility Module Main Payload and Cupola
Shuttle Story 201011 STSndash130 -131 -132 Part One
STS-130 (ISS assembly flight 20A) via Endeavour carried as its
primary payloads the Tranquility module and the Cupola a robotic control station with six windows around its sides and
another in the centre providing a 360-degree view around the station Endeavour launched at 0414 EST (0914 UTC) on 8
February 2010 and landed at 2220 EST on 21 February 2010 on
runway 15 at the Kennedy Space Centers Shuttle Landing Facility
Tranquility was shipped from the
Thales Alenia Space facility in
Turin Italy It arrived at Kennedy Space Center on 21 May 2009 It
was formerly known as Node 3 and was named by a NASA poll
The module provides six berthing locations however three of those
locations are disabled as modules
originally planned to be attached to Tranquility were cancelled The
photo right shows Tranquility just before being installed to Unity node
STS-130 also brought the Cupola a large window
module and robotics work station to the ISS which was
to be attached to the nadir-
side of Tranquility The module also includes various
ISS systems including addit iona l l i fe support
systems This photo shows the facility being prepared at KSC whilst the photo above right
shows the module and cupola being moved into position on the
ISS
The shape of the mission patch on the launch
cover below represents the cupola over the earth in a photo taken by the unmanned
Lunar Orbiter probe in 1966 so representing a past and future designation for explorers from
Earth
For other Zazzle stamps
see page 33
19
ORBIT
Flight STS-131 Commander Alan Pointdexter Pilot James Dutton MS Rick Mastracchio MS Dorthy Metcalf- Lindenburger MS Stephanie Wilson MS Naoko Yamakazi MS Clayton Anderson KSC Launch Date 5410 KSC Landing 20410 Purpose MPLM Leonardo Main Payload
STS-131 (ISS assembly flight 19A) via Discovery launched on 5
April 2010 from Kennedy Space Centers launch pad 39A and landed at 908 AM on 20 April 2010 on runway 33 at the Kennedy
Space Centers Shuttle Landing Facility The mission marked the longest flight for space shuttle Discovery
The primary payload was a Multi-Purpose Logistics Module loaded with supplies and equipment for the ISS The mission also
removed and replaced an ammonia tank assembly outside the station on the S1 truss The mission also included several on-
board payloads this mission had the most payloads since STS-
107
The primary payload of STS-131 was MPLM Leonardo filled with food and science supplies and also carried the third and final
Minus Eighty Degree Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI) Window Orbital Research Facility (WORF) one Crew Quarters Rack the
Muscle Atrophy Resistive Exercise (MARES) rack Resupply
Stowage Racks (RSRs) as well as Resupply Stowage Platforms (RSPs) The Lightweight Multi-Purpose Equipment Support
Structure Carrier (LMC) carried a refurbished Ammonia Tank Assembly (ATA) to the ISS The refurbished ATA was removed
from the Space Station and returned for use on this mission
during STS-128 It was swapped with an empty tank which will ride home on the LMC
This mission was the second flight of the TriDAR a 3D dual-
sensing laser camera intended for potential use as an
autonomous rendezvous and docking sensor TriDAR provides guidance information that can be used to guide a vehicle during
rendezvous and docking operations in space TriDAR does not rely on any reference markers such as reflectors positioned on
the target spacecraft
This was the final Space Shuttle mission that contains one or
more rookie astronauts the missions after this will have all- veteran crews
STS-131 was only the third mission in the Space Shuttle
programme to carry three female astronauts
the others being STS-40 and STS-96
With three female crew members arriving on board Discovery and Expedition 23 Flight
Engineer Tracy Caldwell Dyson at the station
the STS-131 mission marked the first time that four women have been in space at one
time
STS-131 marked the first time that two
Japanese astronauts Naoko Yamazaki from the Shuttle crew and Soichi Noguchi on the
ISS had been in space together
Although Naoko Yamazaki is not the last non-
US astronaut Naoko was the last Japanese astronaut to fly the space shuttle
MPLM Leonardo can
be seen in the shuttle cargo bay
The seven stars either side of our
sun represent the
crew members
The shuttlersquos orientation indicates
it is performing the Rendezvous Pitch
Manoeuvre which
allows the ISS to photograph its
underbelly
20
ORBIT
Flight STS-132 Commander Kenneth Ham Pilot Dominic Antonelli MS Michael Good MS Garret Reisman MS Piers Sellars MS Stephen Bowen KSC Launch Date 1452010 KSC Landing 2652010 Purpose Delivery of Russian Main Payload Rassvet Module
STS-132 (ISS assembly flight ULF4) docked with the ISS on May
16 2010 It was launched from the Kennedy Space Center on May 14 2010 The primary payload is the Russian Rassvet Mini-
Research Module along with an Integrated Cargo Carrier-Vertical Light Deployable (ICC-VLD) STS-132 is scheduled to be the
final flight of Space Shuttle Atlantis provided that the STS-335
Launch On Need rescue mission is not flown
Rassvet means dawn in Russian The module was built
by Russian aerospace company
Energia and arrived at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC)
aboard an Antonov 124 cargo plane on 17 December 2009
After it was unloaded from the Antonov the module was
transported to an Astrotech processing bay in Cape Canaveral to
undergo preparations for launch shown in this photo
An airlock and radiation heat exchanger to be used for outfitting the Russian Nauka Module (to be launched in 2012) a spare
elbow part of the European Robotic Arm (ERA) and a portable
work platform for science hardware for performing experiments in outer space were externally mounted on Rassvet in its launch
configuration Russian and US cargo delivered was also accommodated inside the module The volume for cargo and
science inside MRM1 is 5 cubic meters] Rassvet was outfitted
with ISS standard grapple fixtures that allowed the module to be unloaded from the payload bay of Atlantis using the stations
robotic arm
The ICC pallet is constructed of aluminum It is approximately 8 feet long 13 feet wide and 10 inches thick The empty weight of
the pallet is 2645 pounds The total weight of ICCndashVLD and the ORUs is approximately 8330 pounds ICC-VLD return mass is
2933 kilograms (6470 lb)
The ICC-VLD was berthed in the centre of the
payload bay for both launch and re-entry
In the photo above Rassvet is shown centre top
The mission patch shows Atlantis flying off into the sunset as the end of the shuttle
programme approaches
21
ORBIT
By Andreacute Scheer and Margaret Morris This fascinating structure is an octagonal pentelic marble tower on the Roman agora or marketplace in Athens It was supposedly built by the astronomer Andronicus of Kyrrhos c 50 BC but according to other sources might have been constructed in the 2
nd
century BC before the rest of the forum The structure is 12 metres high with a diameter of approximately 8 metres On each of the eight sides (aligned with the eight principal points of the compass) is a sculpture featuring the wind gods and below each sculpture is engraved a sundial Thus the tower served as a solar clock but additionally in the interior was a water-clock (clepsydra) driven by water coming down from the Acropolis There were mechanical hour indicators and displays for the seasons of the year with astrological dates and periods The tower was topped in antiquity by a weather-vane in the shape of a triton with a wand which pointed at whichever of the winds was blowing The tower must have been one of the most useful structures in the agora as it showed the time for civilian purposes and indicated the wind direction for merchants awaiting the arrival of a ship The earliest philatelic items to depict this unusual building are postal stationery postcards originating from 1900 when the Greek postal authorities organised a competition for photographers and artists The best pictures were selected for issue and on 1 July 1901 the first series of 32 cards was issued In total 12 series of 32 cards each were issued between then and 20 March 1903 The cards were issued in three colours (chestnut black and green) with imprinted stamps of two values (5 lepta green for national mail and 10 lepta red for international mail) The cards additionally have an impressed stamp without colour on the left side being 10 lepta for the card itself so the cards were sold for 15 and 20 lepta The design of the imprinted stamps was based on the Hermes (Mercury) statue by Giovanni da Bologna During the war on the Balkans the cards were used by the Greek army and have an extra imprint ndash Carte Postale ndash Franchise Militaire A few examples of these postal stationery postcards are illustrated opposite and on page 23 The wording ldquoLrsquohorloge de Kyrrhestesrdquo refers to the timepiece built by Andronicus of Kyrrhos while ldquoTEMPLE DrsquoEOLErdquo translates as ldquoTemple of Aeolusrdquo (Aeolus = god of the winds) For each card 12 versions can be distinguished ndash ie 3 colours x 2 values x 2 usages For fuller information see reference no 1 Of course numerous picture postcards also feature this interesting structure
The Tower of the Winds The Oldest Planetarium on Stamps and
Postal Stationery
Front and back of postal stationery postcard
Examples of Greek postal stationery from the early 20th
century
Front and back of postal stationery postcard
22
ORBIT
The 19423 issues (SG 561-572) of Greece shown beside the 1973 Dominica souvenir sheet whose designer has
reinterpreted the divine sculptures in the margins
Boreas also on the 100d value in black and grey
Skiron
Zephyrus in two 25d vals
orange and green
Lips
Notus
Eurus
Apeliotes in two 10d vals red brown and red orange
Kaikias in two 50d vals black and grey violet and blue
Wind Direction Name of Deity Characteristics of the Sculpture North Boreas An old man wearing heavy clothing and holding a conch shell This wind was cold fierce and
stormy and in Athens made a loud hollow noise
North East Kaikias Old man with severe expression holding circular shield from which he will drop hailstones Weather characteristically cloudy wet and cold
East Apeliotes Young man with hair flowing in every direction holding a cloak full of fruit and grain ndash he brings gradual gentle rain
South East Eurus Old man with morose countenance wrapped tightly against the elements in his cloak This wind brought sultry gloomy weather with much rain
South Notus Young man emptying an urn and producing a shower of water This wind was associated with sultry very wet weather
South West Lips Boy pushing the stern of a ship promising a good sailing wind This was the wind which blew right into Piraeus harbour
West Zephyrus Beautiful lightly clad youth of happy aspect holding a cloak full of flowers In summer this wind brought very sultry weather
North West Skiron Bearded man with a bronze pot full of hot ashes and charcoal This was a dry wind extremely cold in winter but scorching and with lightning in summer
The following table gives details of the sculptures and the characteristics attributed to each of the wind gods
For fuller information see reference no 2
23
ORBIT
The sculptures of the eight winds were depicted on stamps of Greece issued in 1942 (six designs) and 1943 (again six designs ndash four as the previous issue but including the two omitted winds) Five values were surcharged in 1944 to aid victims of the Piraeus bombing of 11 January 1944 the exceptionally high face value resulted in few of these stamps being used Later in 1944 the same five values were surcharged in aid of a Childrenrsquos Convalescent Camp Fund Finally in 1946 two values of the 1942 issue were surcharged ndash the 10dr value in black and the 50dr revalued as 20dr in red See opposite for examples of the stamp designs In addition to these attractive engraved stamps the 1973 issue from Dominica commemorating the centenary of the World Meteorological Organisation included a miniature sheet incorporating the 50c and $1 values and surrounded in the margin by images of all eight wind sculptures (see page 22) More recently the cover of a booklet issued by Greece on 7 October 1988 provides an aerial view of the agora and the Tower of the Winds can be detected (see below) The booklet contains 16 stamps (4 each of 4 different values) and celebrates capitals of Greek provinces In early Christian times the building was used as the bell tower of a Byzantine Church It was partly buried in the ground until fully excavated in the 19
th century by the
Archaeological Society of Athens It is interesting to note that the design of the upper octagon of the 18th century Radcliffe Observatory in Oxford England is based on the Tower of the Winds as is the mausoleum of the founder of the Greek National Library Panayis Vagliano at West Norwood Cemetery London There is a similar tower in Sevastopol built in 1849 References
1 ldquoEntiers Postaux Illustreacutes du service des postes
helleacuteniques et leurs preacutecurseursrdquo Georges Mathas 1985
2 For finely detailed drawings and information about the sculptures you may care to see if your Library has a copy of ldquoThe Antiquities of Athensrdquo Stuart amp Revett Vol 1 published in London 1762
3 Article by Derek J de Solla Price in ldquoNational
Geographic April 1967 pp587-596 4 Much useful information may also be obtained from
sites on the internet
Examples of Overprints from left to right
1944 Piraeus Bombing Aid 1944 Childrenrsquos convalescent camp fund 1946 Surcharge
Below Cover of the 1988 stamp booklet
Front and back of postal stationery postcard
24
ORBIT
Old Photo Makes New(s) Story
A photo taken twenty-one years ago became hot international new(s) this July writes Bert van Eijck
It is a picture of your correspondent in front of the
monument on the graves of the seven astronauts killed
in the Challenger disaster The photo from November 1989 shows the national cemetery at Arlington in
Washington DC And it is this graveyard a national American field of pride and honour that was involved in
a scandal making news all over the world
What happened This became a hot story after it was leaked to the press that in 211 graves on Arlington the wrong corpse had
been buried But this disgrace grew to international
proportions when the US Senate published a report which revealed that it was not 211 but 6600 graves that
had been so dishonoured And maybe there are more the researchers stated
Consequently it meant that family members had been paying their respect at the wrong graves because many
were not marked well or the ground-plan directed to wrong places
Arlingtonrsquos director John Metzler was fired as was his
depute Thurman Higginbotham both of whom said
they knew there were made mistakes but they could not help ldquobecause of economyrdquo
Arlington cemetery was opened in 1864 Since then
300000 Americans have been buried here including
famous or well-known persons like presidents
ministers high ranked military artists judges and
astronauts
And what about some of the most recent ones Did I indeed visit and honour the seven Challenger astronauts in their last resting place on Earth in
November 1989 as shown on the photo Or are they perhaps mistakenly buried in another
unmarked grave This is hard to believe but one never knowshelliphellip
For those who wonder what was doing 21
years ago in the US capital I visited the
World Stamp Exporsquo89 at the Convention Center in Washington DC Of course I did
more sightseeing at and in the famous Smithsonian Museums (a must the
National AirampSpace Museum with 10
million visitors a year) the Capitol the metro (deepest in the world) George
Washingtonrsquos house in Vernon Arlington of course and much more
At the World Stamp Expo there was a
presentation of both USA and USSR space
stamps The American stamps were presented by astronaut Buzz Aldrin the
Soviet stamps by cosmonaut Gherman Titov
Author and the Challenger astronauts monument at Arlington seven figures in bronze (left) At right a plaque honoring US-soldiers killed in action saving
hostages in Iran
Astronaut Buzz Aldrin (left) presents the US space stamps while cosmonaut Gherman Titov (right) does the same with
Soviet space stamps In the middle officials of USPS Below the
stampshellip
25
ORBIT
The Apollo 15 Cover Scandal by Umberto Cavallaro
In a feature which first appeared in the April-June 2010 issue of Ad Astra the web journal of the Italian Astrophilatelic Association its editor reveals in considerable detail the full story of those covers which today sell for so much money The Apollo 15 flown covers are among the best known
collectibles from the Apollo Era mainly because of what Jim Irwin recalls as ldquothe problem we brought
back from the Moonrdquo
The crew of Apollo 15 carried out one of the most complete scientific explorations of the Moon the first
lunar roving vehicle was operated on the Moon to
extend the range of exploration some 180 pounds of lunar surface samples were returned for analysis Yet
Fifteen is best remembered as the crew that carried envelopes to the moon and the whole mission is
remembered for the ldquogreat postal caperrdquo
Apollo 15 was not the first mission to carry covers
dozens were carried on each flight from Apollo 11 onwards and as Commander Dave Scott recalls in his
book the whole business had probably been building since Mercury through Gemini and into Apollo People
had a fascination with objects that had been carried in space and they became more and more popular and
valuable as the programme progressed Right from
the start of the Mercury programme each astronaut had been allowed to carry on board a certain number
of personal items
NASA was in the habit of authorizing astronauts to
carry certain personal items on manned flights known as Astronautsrsquo PPK (Personal Preference Kits) All such
items had to be listed and approved by Deke Slayton the Head of the Astronaut Office prior to launch and
were intended for private use or as personal gifts
after the flight and could not be employed for commercial
Fig 1 The official USPS cover postmarked on the Moon
purposes or personal gain Astronaut kits typically
included badges jewellery coins medals flags stamps postal covers currency printed materials and
similar easily packed lightweight mementoes As the flight became more significant the number and type of
items increased
Aside from personal mementoes each crew had
carried medallions whose number had grown steadily on each mission In his book The All-American Boys astronaut Walter Cunningham reveals that it was rumoured around the Astronaut Office that Apollo 14
carried on board a personal package weighing forty-
two pounds Before that flight the Franklin Mint had even advertised the proposed sale After the flight the
commercial deal was never completed and all went quiet nothing about it being published in the media
But some members of the US Congress were unhappy
of the situation
In that context the ldquolapses of judgmentrdquo of the Apollo 15 crew became fatal Dave Scott went too far
carrying on board a total of 641 postal covers (including the two official covers) of which only 243
were listed and authorized before the flight and 398
were not -- secretly carried on board Apollo 15 by Scott in a pocket of his space suit Had they been
listed as being in Scotts PPK they would probably have been routinely approved for inclusion in the
preference kit
The 243 listed and authorized covers include
bull 2 official US Postal Service covers one of which the ldquoOfficial Coverrdquo was publicly cancelled on the
moon by Scott at the request of the US Postal
Service 10 (Fig 1) bull 1 Wright Brothers commemorative cover dated
1928 and autographed by Orville Wright which was carried by Worden for a friend
bull 1 cover bearing a First Man on the Moon stamp and a Bliss Centennial three-cent stamp carried by
Irwin for Barbara Baker (Fig 2 below)
26
ORBIT
8 Shamrock covers carried by Irwin (as below)
144 Herrickrsquos ldquoMoon Phasesrdquo covers carried by Worden
(Fig 4) printed with a cachet showing 15 phases of the moon On the USS Okinawa the Apollo 15 recovery ship
the astronauts placed two eight-cent stamps purchased
on board by Worden on each of these covers and they had the covers cancelled by the shipboard post office
The astronauts later autographed these covers while flying back from Hawaii to Houston Sixteen covers were
torn or damaged and were destroyed Because of the furore created by the Apollo 15 covers incident NASA
confiscated 61 of these 144 Moon Phases covers
87 Apollo 12 covers (Fig 5) that for unknown reason
did not fly on that mission and which were carried on
Apollo 15 for Mrs Barbara Gordon a stamp collector then wife of Richard Gordon Apollo 12 astronaut who
at was the back-up pilot for Apollo 15
The 398 unauthorized covers (initially there were
400 but 2 were damaged and discarded) are lightweight envelopes carrying as a cachet a replica
of the official Apollo 15 patch overprinted with an Air Force wing and propeller emblem
The idea of these additional covers was suggested during a cocktail party by Eiermann a salesman for
the heat-shield contractor who had frequent business and social contacts with NASA personnel and
astronauts He suggested to fly 400 lightweight covers 100 for each of the astronauts and 100 for
his friend Sieger the German stamp dealer The
cacheted covers were provided by Al Bishop a friend of many astronauts then at the Howard
Hughes organization He had already provided covers for the previous flights since Apollo 12
Above one of the 100 Sieger covers with the handwritten note ldquoLanded at Hadley Moon July 30 1971 On the
reverse is a typed and notarised inscription ldquoThis is to certify that this cover was on board the Falcon at the Hadley-
Apennine Moon July 30 ndashAug 2 1971rdquo
Below one of the 298 unauthorised covers carried to the Moon by David Scott with the inscription ldquoThis envelope was
carried to the Moon aboard the Apollo 15 of 300 to the Lunar Surface in LMrdquoFalconrdquo
The crews usually returned to Bishop a couple of
flown covers signed with gratitude ldquoTo my
knowledge ndash Cunningham reports in his well documented book ndash Bishop never sold any and never
made a dime off his relationship He was simply a fan To Al Bishop Apollo 15 was no different from any
other flight except for a phone call he received from
Hal Collins the Astronaut Office manager at the Cape
27
ORBIT
Collins told Bishop that the crew would like to know
whether he could obtain some very lightweight envelopes for them Al said that hed be happy to do so
He was unaware then that many of them would be smuggled on board the next lunar flight Al was trusted
Thats why many of us imposed on him with our
problems special requests and sometimes matters which we would rather not share with NASArdquo
This time Al was badly used he emerged as a
scapegoat and his name was dragged as though he was the Mr Big of an international stamp conspiracy
The covers were cancelled at Kennedy Space Center
several days before July 26 1971 The date of the post office machine canceller was moved forward
Additionally twin eight-cent stamps were purchased by the astronauts on the USS Okinawa the Apollo 15
recovery ship and affixed to these covers ndash as for the
Herrickrsquos covers In the shipboard post office the covers were then cancelled and date-stamped August 7 1971
The astronauts finally autographed these covers while flying from Hawaii to Houston
Soon after the flight the astronauts gave Eiermann
the 100 covers ndash after agreeing that there was to be
no commercialization or advertising of these covers and that nothing would be done with them until after
completion of the Apollo programme
But after a while news started to circulate that the
German dealer was selling in Europe covers flown on Apollo 15 for a reported average of US $1500 each
The reports infuriated Congress not least because congressmen had to read such controversial
information in the press before being informed by
NASA which is obligated to keep Congress fully informed of its activity Recollection of the Apollo 14
medallions incident must have echoed in the minds of certain members of Congress many of whom were
not fans of NASA anyway NASA started an internal investigation This was the most controversial
development of the Apollo Programme and although
most astronauts were involved to some degree NASA made an example of the Apollo 15 flight crew ldquoIt
was turning into a witch-huntrdquo recalled Scott ldquoOur bosses had abrogated their responsibilities and we
were left alone on a very wet dayrdquo
It is ironic that after addressing a joint session of
Congress as heroes in less that one year the three astronauts of Apollo 15 had to go back in front of these
same senators in disgrace because of this envelope scandal
After this ldquoincidentrdquo NASA prohibited from Apollo 17 on the flying of covers or stamps during a space
missions (they were not on time to block the covers carried on Apollo 16) The only exceptions have been
since then the items flown in cooperation with the US
Postal Service ie the 266000 covers carried in 1983 in
the payload bay of the Space Shuttle Challenger on
STS-8 and the 500000 $995 Express Mail stamp created by Paul and Chris Calle in 1994 flown on
Endeavour STS-68 in recognition of the 25th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing The huge
number of such items carried in space discourages
speculations and these items still are widely available for few dollars
So far fewer than 1000 envelopes in total have flown
to the Moon No other American covers will flow to the Moon in the foreseeable future Perhaps the next
ldquoMoon coversrdquo will bear Chinese or Indian stamps
Dave Scott was the first lunar Postmaster and had two
postmarks with him and two covers with imperforated dieproof of the US twin Decade of Space Achievements
stamps affixed (Fig 1)
He had one postmark with ldquoMoon Landing USArdquo (Fig 8 below) and another with ldquoUnited States on the
Moonrdquo (Fig 9 bottom)
The First Lunar Post Office was opened on August 2 1971 when David Scott postmarked only the official
cover (and brought back the official backup-cover uncancelled) A handful covers had however been
postmarked before launch with both postmarks Dr Matthew Radnofsky ndash who in his laboratory already
had simulated cancelling in space for Apollo 11 ndash
tested both postmarks to ensure that the cancellation devices were in working order
Especially the date could be changed easily Contrary
to Apollo 11 covers without stamps were used for
28
ORBIT
these tests Apollo 15 Lunar Cancellation Proofs are
much scarcer than Apollo 11 ones ldquoAs by now I am aware of only 17 itemsrdquo states famous astrophilatelist
Walter Hopferwieser Covers with proofs of the Apollo 15 moon postmarks have been recently sold at Regency
Superior and Aurora auctions
The official Apollo 15 cover postmarked on the Moon
(see Fig 1 repeated above ) is displayed at the US National Postal Museum It was publicly cancelled and
the video can be seen at httpwwwpostalmuseumsiedustampstakeflight
apollo15video-01html A short speech was given by
Dave Scott while cancelling the cover ldquoTo show that our good Postal Service has deliveries any place in the
universe I have the pleasant task of cancelling here on the Moon the first stamp of a new issue dedicated to
commemorate US achievements in space I have the
first one here on an envelope At the bottom it says United States in Space a decade of achievement and
Im very proud to have the opportunity here to play postman I pull out a cancellation device It says
August 2 1971 first day of issuehellip What could be a
better place to cancel this stamp than right here at Hadley Rillehelliprdquo
Immediately thereafter the Postmaster General who
was waiting at the Mission Control at Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston Texas gave the signal to start the
First- Day cancellations at post offices in Houston
Kennedy Space Center and Huntsville
Acknowledgement Thanks to Walter Hopferwieser for his comments
Some Notes About Space Mail
Commenting on Brian Vincentrsquos article in the June
2010 Orbit ASSS member Geoff Chivers writes in an
email to your Editorhellip Im sure you wont mind me commenting on Brian G Vincents Some Notes About Space Mail (page 36)
In paragraph 2 he refers to the Apollo 15 cover incident leaving the impression that Scott Worden and Irwin were guilty of some heinous crime This has been the subject of much miss-reporting over the years The full story of what actually happened is explained in depth at page 328 et seq of Two sides of the moon by David Scott and Alexei Leonov published by Simon amp Shuster The astronauts were of course exonerated
This is the quote (slightly edited to enable it to stand as an independent piece)-
During 1972 while on a trip to Washington DC George Low NASA deputy administrator asked me to stop by his
office writes David Scott I had known George in Houston while he was Apollo spacecraft programme manager and I had great respect for him We spent a short while exchanging pleasantries Then George looked me in the eye and came to the point ldquoWell Daverdquo he said ldquoI have to tell you I was not very proud of my performancerdquo His comment was the culmination of what had become known as the Apollo 15 ldquocover incidentrdquo This involved some first day postal covers which we had carried aboard Apollo 15 some of which were unfortunately sold by a German stamp dealer several months after the flight As No 2 in NASA George
had been heavily involved in NASAs handling of the incident and his comment referred to one of the poorest management performances the space agency had ever demonstrated - up to then The whole business had probably been building since Mercury through Gemini and into Apollo People had a fascination with objects that had been carried in space and they became more and more popular and valuable as the programme progressed Right from the start of the Mercury programme each astronaut had been allowed to carry on board a certain number of personal items in what were known as PPKS - Personal Preference Kits Before each flight a list of the items was prepared for Deke Slayton who
Two Sides of The Moon
by David Scott and Alexei Leonov
The text opposite from the
above book has been
referred to by Umberto Cavallaro in preparing his
above piece
29
ORBIT
had overall responsibility for approving them As the flights became more significant the number and type of items increased Aside from personal mementoes each crew had carried a certain number of medallions which they could hand out afterwards as souvenirs The number of medallions had grown steadily on each mission - eventually some crew members had been carrying several hundred each and their weight was becoming a concern And as always commercialisation began to creep in In the end on Apollo 14 commanded by Al Shepard it was alleged that the crew had carried some silver medallions on board which were to be melted down after the flight and mixed with many other commemorative medallions by the Franklin Mint to be sold to the general public The Franklin Mint had even advertised the proposed sale before the flight After the flight the deal was never consummated and all went quiet nothing about it was printed in the media But some members of Congress had heard about it and were unhappy with the situation Since we were busy training for Apollo 15 (launched 26 July 1971) we knew nothing about all this Had we known we would have been far more wary of what happened subsequently All we knew was that Deke Slayton had halved the number of medallions we could carry Shortly afterwards Deke introduced Jim (Irwin) Al (Worden) and me to a long-standing friend of his at the Cape called Walter Eiermann In retrospect this seems likely to have been more than a coincidence Deke invited us to join him at dinner at Eiermanns house one evening several months before the Apollo 15 launch Eiermann asked if we would like to make some money on the side by signing some stamps ldquoAll the guys are doing itrdquo he said We agreed We were also approached by several members of the Manned Spacecraft Centerrsquos stamp club who asked us to sign many first - day covers before the flight for their members as well as for ourselves At that time we could not buy life insurance If we signed some covers we reasoned they could be held during the flight and act as limited life insurance for our families if anything happened to us But then Eiermann proposed we carry four hundred lightweight commemorative covers a hundred of which would be passed on to a stamp dealer in Germany when we returned All the covers would be franked on the day of launch and franked on the day of our return Our understanding was that the dealer would hold his hundred covers to be sold at some future date after the Apollo programme was over In return he would set up a $6000 trust fund for each of us for the education of our children In the months of intense activity before the flight we did not give this more than a moment of thought But we agreed In retrospect we made a mistake in even considering it In the months following our mission we learnt that the German dealer had begun to sell the covers We let Eiermann know that we were opposed to the sale Forget the trust funds we said we dont want any money This is not what we had understood would happen But when senior managers at NASA learnt about the covers being sold they were furious Incomplete information was then provided to the press by NASArsquos Public Affairs Office and reports started to appear that we had smuggled the covers onto our flight This was literally impossible NASA personnel prepared us for every aspect of the flight - from our birthday suits out Everything we had carried had to be specially packaged by the flight support crew to make sure apart from anything else
that it was fireproof Everything in our PPKs was on a list which was certified before launch I was never aware of any rules about what could or could not be taken in these packs Slayton was to approve the list so as far as I was concerned it was up to management to keep us on the straight and narrow I assumed if the list was approved that was fine Usually the list was certified by Deke But before our flight for some reason he neither asked us personally for each of our lists as was customary nor signed off on the list personally He said the flight - crew support team had already logged everything Whereas we had purchased the covers ourselves the Astronaut Office at the Cape had prepared the covers for the flight and had had them stamped and franked on the day of launch Somehow however the support team had missed them when they prepared the PPK flight manifest It was also reported after the incident that we had been removed from the astronaut corps Again totally untrue Unfortunately NASA managers did nothing to dispel this false and misleading information They just tucked their heads in and let the rumours run The reports infuriated Congress not least because congressmen had to read such controversial information in the press before being informed by NASA which is obligated to keep Congress fully informed of its activities Recollections of the Apollo 14 medallion incident must have seeped into the minds of certain members of Congress many of whom were not fans of NASA anyway When NASA started an internal investigation we were told by a senior official in the agency that we were on our own We were advised to get our own legal representation A Senate hearing into the matter had been called and a justice Department investigation would follow It was turning into a witch - hunt NASA we were advised expected us to keep quiet and take the Fifth Amendment at this hearing We did not We told it like it was We had nothing to hide Eventually the Justice Department concluded that we had broken some administrative rules but had done nothing criminal NASA confiscated the remaining covers but they acted before discovering all the facts of the case Following an investigation by NASA the Justice Department and the Senate the Justice Department concluded on 6 December 1978 in a ldquoMemorandum Opinion for the Assistant Attorney Generalrdquo that NASA had no claim to the remaining covers that the covers were never intended for sale that there was no attempt at concealment by the crew of the fact that the covers were to be flown on Apollo 15 and finally that the covers would have been approved to carry aboard Apollo 15 had a request been made We were reprimanded and we took our licks But it was a very raw deal NASA had hung us out to dry Our bosses had abrogated their responsibilities and we were left alone on a very wet day I spent many years trying to get full access to NASA and congressional records on the case NASA refused to provide full disclosure We subsequently found out there had been rumblings about profitmdashmaking on previous missions A copy of a letter was released to me in which NASA admitted that ten other astronauts who were not identified had been involved in selling signed blocks of stamps and postcards for Eiermann But the wave reached the shore on Apollo 15 and we were the ones who bore the brunt of the blame for such incidents
30
ORBIT
Buckingham Cover offer Free Souvenirs for You
Brian Austin of Buckinghamrsquos Rare Cover Department writes to your Editorhellip
Over the last two or three years we have been dealing more and more in signed space covers This led us to earlier this year buying an Apollo 11 crew signed cover which had been carried to the moon which we had on display on our stand at London 2010
For this we also printed a limited edition of 800 sets of postcards one featuring the Apollo 11 cover and another
featuring an Apollo 15 cover The idea was to give away 100 sets per day to customers at the show but now the show is all finished I still have around 150 pairs left on my desk
We wondered if you would like to offer them to your readers we are happy to send them out free of charge to the first 150 readers to contact us with their details as long as we can also include one of our lists of space
covers
BrianAustinbuckinghamcoverscom
31
ORBIT
More About Missile Mail
Harvey Duncan told us in the last Orbit (page 15) about the First Official Missile Mail writes Bert van Eijck After the useful technical details about the USS Barbero he gave us I can offer you more philatelic information and show you some illustrations The missile mail experiment was a joint venture between
the Ministry of Defense and the US Post Office Dept headed by Postmaster General Mr Arthur E
Summerfield Three thousand special envelopes were printed with a reproduction of a Navy missile type
Regulus with the text ldquoFirst Official Missile Mailrdquo and above that ldquoThe Postmaster General Washingtonrdquo All
the envelopes were addressed to The President high
government officials like senators and to the Post Masters General of ninety nine other member nations of
UPU Inside was a letter from Mr Summerfield entitled ldquoThe First Official Missile Mailrdquo with the official seal of
the Post Office dept It was explained therein what had
happed to that letter and the other 2999
The special letters were loaded in two metal compartments and came aboard the guided missile USS Barbero (SSG-317) The shot was to occur during a regular training mission from Norfolk Virginia to Florida
About 350 kilometres off the coast of Florida the
Regulus missile was launched toward Airport Mayport
The missile climbed 10 km above the Atlantic and
landed within twenty minutes with all the letters intact The letters were cancelled with the hand stamp ldquoUSS
Barberordquo with the date ldquoJun 8 1959rdquo and the approximate timing of the launching ldquo930 amrdquo This
was done by post office staff part of an established
branch office on the USS Barbero The letters bore the 1957 4c American flag postage stamp Those
addressed to foreign countries carried two such stamps covering surface mail postage costs On the
reverse side is the Jacksonville Post Office cancellation with the approximate time of arrival ldquoJune 8 1030 am
1959 Floridardquo
Such flown letters are expensive to buy and a jewel in
any exhibit
But this is NOT the case with the Barbero souvenir
cover dated a month later on July 8 1959 issued in the same quantity (3000) as the originals The
inscription reads ldquoPoint of LandingmdashFirst Official Missile Mail 8 June 1959 US Naval Station Mayport Floridardquo
About 16000 () collectors had applied for such a cover
The imprint of the official Barbero cover was reproduced on a memorial cover issued and posted at
the Vienna International Airpost Exhibition Luposta on August 1959 in the Austrian capital Of course neither
of these items had been carried within the Regulus
missile
Also of interest the Postal Administration of
Paraguay issued a stamp
and a block in 1976 honouring the Barbero
Missile Mail The Gs 20 stamp shows a Regulus
missile in flight while the sheet shows the whole
addressed cover and in
miniature the complete letter inside from the US Postmaster General
as mentioned above and as illustrated below
Above a specimen envelope as described in the text and below its reverse cancel
32
ORBIT
An Invitation to Our Readers to Donate to an Innovative International Projecthellip
Kindest Sir or Madam
The municipality of Vitanje
(Slovenia) is honoured to have had a hand in the life of the
famous space architect Herman Potocnik Noordung
(1892-1929) (pictured right) who had already found a
surprising number of solutions
to space travel and troubles of living in vacuum long before
actual space flights took place His creations were used by the
renowned novelist Arthur C Clarke
in his book 2001 A Space Odyssey which was later also turned into a
movie directed by Stanley Kubrick In Noordungs honour we have
created the Memorial Centre of Herman Potocnik Noordung This
year the cultural centre of European
space technology will also get going in Vitanje This will be a place
where the European space heritage will be gathered and various events connected with the
contemporary European space technologies will be
organized
Proposed Philatelic Collection We would like to bring the project onto a higher level
where we would have the collaboration of various
countries in the world including such with a history in space travel (like USA Russia) One of the steps of this
expansion process would also include a philatelic collection of stamps with themes of outer space
(astronomy astronautics and everything connected to
outer space) We already have quite a decent collection but we would like to expand on that
Our goal is to have 6000 stamps before opening our
exhibition For this we would require the help of as many philatelists as possible
All of these philatelists would become co-creators and partners of this collection for which we hope will
become the largest collection of its kind in the world The people donating the stamps would get a great deal
of exposure at all these exhibitions and on the special
website which will be started shortly If you give us enough support and we are able to raise enough
stamps for a first-class collection we hope the first
exhibitions and various special events (like visits from
astronauts ndash philatelists) will see the light of day as early as in 2011
From a professional point of view we have an
excellent team working with us Long-time philatelist
Tone Petek is the person who initiated this project while Bojan Bracic the secretary of FEPA is one of our
counsellors and is completely behind this project
If you would be interested in such cooperation I will get the wheels in motion and send you a verifying
mail with the stamp of the municipality of Vitanje and
also of some higher organization within the Slovene political system
The collection is already underway with the help of the
Slovene Philatelic organisation (FZS) adds Rok in an email to your Editor in July This organisation has been of immense help with technical expertise and
connections It looks as if there might be an introductory exhibition next year sometime
In the hope of a successful partnership we offer our
sincere appreciation
Rok Podgrajsek
Obcina Vitanje Grajski trg 1
3205 Vitanje
Slovenia
Email address rokpodgrajsekgmailcom
But see also website httpwwwvitanjesi
(Editorrsquos Note both Wendy Buckle editor of
Themescene and our Chairman Margaret Morris commend this project to you We will be sending Rok
some recent copies of Orbit for the displays)
Some illustrations from Noordungrsquos only published text ldquoThe Problem of
Space Travel The Rocket Motorrdquo (the original German title
was ldquoDas Problem der Befahrung
des Weltraums - der Raketen-Motorrdquo) which saw the light of day
in 1928
Vitanje Local Private Post stamp
33
ORBIT
Zazzle Space Stamps Dazzle
I have noticed Zazzle Space Stamps appearing in Lollini brochures and on their web pages in recent months writes your Editor so I undertook to find out some facts about them and am grateful to The Astrophile Editor Jim Roth and the man who inspired him to create his own Zazzle designs Otto Bergman for the following infohellip Zazzle is one of half a dozen or more US companies
who facilitate the printing of non-copyrighted photos and artwork on private postage stamps which count
as postage within and outwith the USA You can
design your own Zazzle stampsmdashsee their websitemdashwhich you then purchase for your own use 20 to a
page
They are therefore a bit like British Smilers except
that the personal element of the stamp is not on a se-tenant label but actually incorporated within the
stamp itself as you can see from the examples on this page
Jim Roth was annoyed that the Kennedy Space Center Post office would not cancel his Zazzle stamps as they
consider them to be ldquometersrdquo and although he has marked STS-122 he wonrsquot be creating any others
You can see (and buy) all Jim Rothrsquos Space Zazzles on
his website m57coverscommdashclick on ldquostampsrdquo
Three of Jim Rothrsquos designs
See others on his website
An Otto Bergman space creation on
Zazzlecomottobergman
These space Zazzles and others are
available from the Lollini website or brochures
STS 128 in May 2010 section
STS 129 in June 2010
WISE and Delta 2 launch in July 2010 STS 130 in August 2010
STS 128 stamps show astronauts Christer Fuglesang (far left) and left Frank De Winne ISS Commander Expedition 21 STS 129 issues depict mission
patch and the crew led by Charles Hobaugh
Delta 2 rocket launch from Cape Canaveral of WISE Deep InfraRed telescope
34
ORBIT
Concluded on page 39
More Spaceflight Books for Sale
35
ORBIT ORBIT
SPACE HABITATS (Part Two) by John Beenen Continuing his feature from our last issue John Beenen begins by posing the questionhellip Why Should we Seek to Live
in Space
Spacecom gives ten main reasons why we should enter space for a prolonged
period
1 To secure a future for humanity
2 To build a new frontier
3 To find new energy sources
4 To build an industrial settlement on
the Moon
5 Better quality images of the
Universe
6 The SETI effort
7 Mining
8 Learning the history of our
Universe
9 Environmental benefits
Meeting the challenge
Taking for granted that it is naturally fascinating to investigate how mankind
might be able to maintain its habitat outside earth there are several further reasons to investigate why
mankind should settle themselves outside earth in the far future And More reasons mean a overall better
argument
Primarily there is the question of overpopulation and
secondly a solution for the energy problem
Next we have to consider that climate circumstances
are not under control anymore and earth eventually becomes uninhabitable
Also when for various reasons we start to kill each
other for some groups of people it may be an attractive proposition to depart this Earth in quite a different
sense And that is perhaps the most common thought
through activities in space more money can be obtained
But there are disadvantageshellip
On the other hand a prolonged stay in space is not that safe The construction must be protected against
radiation and it can be hit by large and small debris which makes space a very unsafe place
Furthermore cosmic radiation produces
a radiation of 80 mSv (millisievert) - well over the allowed maximum of 50
mSv and very much over the amount which is considered as safe for man
which is 3 mSv
Next solar flares produce a sudden
increase of soft gamma and energy rich radiation so much that without the
protection of an atmosphere half of our population could die easily
It is interesting that even without shielding most of this radiation can be
absorbed in the projected spacecraftsrsquo structure and in the air Smaller
structures can be protected with a
shield of co-rotating rocks
The construction further must be protected against sunlight which by
lack of the air shield will fall in unshielded so sun blinds and radiators
are indispensable
And as a result of the artificial gravity
there are some tiny movement problems which we will face later
Finally the created ecosystem should be fully self-supporting and that is easier said than done as
experiments with Biosphere-2 have showed
Biosphere-2 Biosphere-2 was a project built between 1987 and 1991 providing in an area of about 2frac12 football fields
a closed biological system of different composition From 1991-1993 a crew of 8 persons stayed herein A
second crew of 7 persons bridged a period of March
until September 1994 During the first period it appeared difficult to keep the atmosphere constant in
particular the carbon dioxide values changed rapidlymdashthe reason why many of the carried insects perished
Further the oxygen level decreased slowly because pf a leak
Even during the first two-year phase large differences in opinion appeared and the yield was not large
enough to deliver the calories necessary Reserve stocks had to be broken into Finally the second
experiment had to be ended prematurely because of
mismanagement
However it seems that a well-functioning stable ecosystem should not be underestimated physically
not technically
Artists impressions above Interior Stanford Torus and below Interior
OrsquoNeill Cylinder
Solar flares Czechoslovakia 1965 WB 47
36
ORBIT
It further has to be speculated on that men would resist
a regulated weather programme instead of the customary ever changing circumstances on Earth
Also we must physically resist an eternal stay outside
Earth That is not always easy as some people will show
some kind of sea sickness for ever In any case rooms with a diameter of less than 100 meters and a speed of
revolution over three per minute are insufficient At specifications of over 500 m and at less than 1 revolution
per minute fewer problems have to be expected
How do we get raw materials (Fantasy Moon Mining Yemen
Mutawakelite 1969 1343)
And still there have to be enough raw materials to sustain the
colony but as a principle the
search for raw materials is not the most difficult
From the asteroid belt enough small rocks can be
transported as a building material Also mines can be put
on the Moon Bercause of the lower gravity there transport is easier and some kind of firing mechanism
has been calculated which launch packets of ore simply into space where they can be manipulated
Air can be produced from moonstone Nitrogen nearly without loss can be recycled and eventually added to
ammonia mined from comets Large gardens and fields should start the normal photosynthesis and doing so
finally a complete sustainable society might be built up Energy from the Sun is present in superfluous quantities
What to do about gravity Most designs for a Space station start with a gravity of
1G Some designers however think that a lower level of gravity is possible But in the meantime experiments
with astronauts have showed that our physiology
changes rapidly influenced by decreased or absence of gravity Thus the calcium potassium and sodium
contents of our bone system decrease by about 10 That is not bad were we to stay in space forever but
very troublesome when occasionally we would return to
Earth
Also the quality of our muscles decreases as the blood volume does Providing effects comparable to aging
Further by lack of gravity astronauts become a little
taller with accompanying pain in the back Hence the staying with 1G gravity is not so bad
That has to be maintained by rotation of the
construction The larger the diameter of the construction is the slower it will turn to provide 1 G That is a result
of the centrifugal or centripetal force Its
magnitude has long been established thanks to the work of Dutchman Christiaan Huygens and fixed in
the formula
m v2
F = r where
F = the external force in N(ewton) m = mass in kg
v = speed in msec r = radius in m
Hence a spacecraft with a diameter of 15 meters has to carry out one revolution every 8 seconds to
produce a sensation of 1G And that is too quick for man The effect of the centrifugal force is that should
an astronaut drop an object it does not fall straight
down but partly away from himher Weird
Coriolis force But in a rotating Space station another force is at
work That is the lsquoCoriolis forcersquo named after the
French Gustave-Gaspard Coriolis (1792-1843) who described this kind of force for the first time
The most common manifestation is the second law of
Buys Ballot which says that air streams in the
atmosphere which according the first law of Boys Ballot as a principle run from high to low pressure at
the northern hemisphere are bent to the right and at the southern hemisphere to the left because of the
rotation of the Earth
Therefore air streams around depressions show a
spiral shape in opposite directions at the northern and southern hemisphere In a space station this
force can especially noticed when moving around through the spokes of the wheel
(Diagram of Coriolis F o r c e h t t p
wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm)
A s s u m e t h a t a n
astronaut on a ladder
climbs through a spoke to the axis As he climbs
along he circles around more slowly as he
describes a smaller circle
in the same time What happens with the difference in speed that he had before He will be pressed
against the ladder and that is the Coriolis force The force also acts in opposite direction when he
descends from the ladder
Also the throwing up and catching of a ball will
become a huge achievement as the ball does not
37
ORBIT
drop perpendicularly but will shift a little into the
direction of the orbit of the station and also achieves a higher speed
This also has strange effects on the astronaut As moves
quickly in the rotation direction of the station his weight
appears to increase to a noteworthy extent Then as he moves against the speed of rotation his weight
decreases apparently Mathematically this effect is explainable but very complex
Also the astronautrsquos head and feet move in different
speed to artificial gravity This is plainly noticeable when
somebody jumps up Hence avoid this practice
With these kind of effects adaptation to the changed circumstances in a space station will ask a lot of the
crew members I do hope they can stand it But in any
case the larger the space ship the lesser the problems
Inflatable stations
But therersquos more The inflatable station was considered
many years ago The first i d e a w a s p o s s i b l y
developed when on 12th August 1960 the Echo
balloon with a diameter of
30 meters was launched (Echo I balloon USA 1960
WB 3)
It is true you could not live in it as the balloon was of too frail a construction but the idea of an inflatable
spacecraft was then alive By 1958 groups within NASA
had begun to think about inflatable stations The Goett-committee has been one of the first On 25th26th May
1959 a conference started about projects after
Mercury In particular the
representative of Langley L a r r y Lo f t i n wa s
enthusiastic about his AMIS (Advanced Man in
Space) project (Hexagonal structure
Manama 1970 WB 113)
One of his first projects was a rotating hexagonal
inflatable construction with a diameter of 25 meters a cylindrical core and three lsquospokesrsquo Acting as a ferry to
and from the station the lsquoDyna Soarrsquo Space plane could
be used The Dyna Soar project (at that time still
under development) was cancelled by the American
Minister of Defense Robert
McNamara Inflatable Habitat NASA
1961 enwikipediaorg)
A Langley Space Station
team managed by Paul Hill and Emanuel lsquoMannyrsquo
Schnitzer developed the concept together with the
G o o d y e a r A i r c r a f t
Corporation
(Langleyrsquos self-inflating rotating hexagonal structure httphistorynasagov
SP-4308) Its original diameter had already been reduced to 10
meters
In the years after Langley built several experimental
modules called lsquoErectable Torus Manned Space Laboratoryrsquo a 11 model built by firms such as
Goodyear The torus was built from three layers of
nylon tissue and in between a rubber-like plastic material butyl elastomer A large problem was the
penetration by micrometeorites which as was learnt from the results of the Echo balloon finally damaged
the whole structure
Another problem was the great instability of the ring
due to movements of the astronauts the station started to wobble when they moved around Finally
the project was cancelled and at the end of the eighties the Langley Research Center started to
design inflatable constructions for a base camp on the
Moon
( A r t i s t imp r e s s i on Transhab inflatable
m o d u l e h t t p
enwikipediaorg)
Due to the development of a new series of
s t r o n g e r p l a s t i c materials such as Kevlar
these construct ions
received new interest That lead to the development of Transhab (Transit Habitat) as a resource for crews
coupled at the ISS (international Space Station) The construction is a cylinder in a diameter of 82 meters
and several storeys high
Its volume in inflatable state is 340 m3 The wall has a
thickness of 30 () cm and consists of 12 layers of which the outside layer is made from Kevlar The
layers beneath are made from Nextel a ceramic fibre Disagreements during development and the spiralling
costs finally in 2000 saw the end of NASArsquos interest
G e n e s i s 1
thespacereviewcom)
From 1999 the project was
taken up by Bigelow
38
ORBIT
Aerospace who improved the design and tested it with
successful launchings of Genesis I on 12 July 2006 and Genesis II on 28 June 2007
In their design it has once again more or less the shape
of a balloon With a thickness of 40 cm the wall is still
very thick The outside layer is still Kevlar but inside are some layers of Vectran a textile fibre Within the
structure ants and scorpions were launched along with some objects which people who paid for the privilege of
boosting into space
In this way Bigelow hopes to build a Space Hotel named
Nautilus To stimulate the development Bigelow offered a price of $50 million to everybody who succeeded in
launching a crew of 5 persons to an altitude of 400 km before 2010 So little money lost here so far
A second project which can be realized within the near future is a fixed residence on the Moon As said Langley
occupies itself with the design of such a base which partly should be build below the surface Stamp
designers have already realized the idea
What does the future hold Although we are a long way away from the kind of space station by which a large amount of earth inhabitants can
leave the planet Earth forever the first steps for doing
so are in preparation With the development of their Space Hotel Bigelow tries to make the step to space
albeit a temporary one
Also Langley literally tries to set foot on the Moon and
finally they will succeed in doing so However The cost of such projects are literally astronomical and it is not
expected that in the coming decades much money can be allocated to such projects
Of course in some thousands of years (possibly only in
hundreds of years) this will become the case but for the
time being in my opinion the true conquest of space will stay as science-fiction for at least a few hundred years
Hoorn 2009
John Beenen
NB The stamps entitled lsquoSpace Cityrsquo with a value of 0 cnt do not exist but have been made by the author by means of frames and pictures present at the Internet
Fantasy Moon
b a s e M a n a -ma1970 WB 122
Fantasy bases
ready for Mars
YAR 1971 WB 2892 and 6
Fantasy Modular
base YAR 169 WB 233
39
ORBIT
Cover Below bottom right Future space Dutch Antilles 2000
Literature references (for both parts of article) httpenwikipediaorg Space habitat Space Colonization Orbital Colony Space City Space settlement Space stations L5 Society Bernal Sphere Stanford Torus OrsquoNeil Cylinder Inflatable Space Habitat Transhab Biosphere 2 Generation Ship wwwdsenl~hklruimtehtm Wonen op groene eilanden in de Ruimte (Dutch Living on green Islands in Space) Henry Kluytmans wwworionsarmcom McKendree Cylinder Bishops Ring wwwnasnasagovAboutEducationSpaceSettlement The Colonization of Space wwwdyarstraightscommsgundamhabitatshtml Mobile Suit Gundam High Frontier Life in the Universal Century Developing sound habitats wwwartificial-gravitycomDissertation1_2htm From Tsiolkovsky to Sputnik (1878-1957) httpsciencenasagovheadlinesy2000ast26may_1mhtm Wheels in the Sky httpdiscaircraftgreyfalconus Hermann Noordung Wohnrad (Wheel for Habitation) httparticlesadsabsharvardedufull1992lbsaconf249R Inflatable habitation for the lunar base MRoberts httphistorynasagovSP-4308ch9htm lsquoAs inevitable as the Rising Sunrsquo From the inflatable Torus to the Rotating Hexagon wwwspacecomnewsbusinessmonday_040524html Bigelow Aerospace to tackle inflatable Space Habitats httpsciencehowstuffsworkcominflatable-spacecraft2htm How Inflatable Spacecraft Will Work wwwbogancaphysicscoriolishtml Rotating Space Stations Dynamics An Explanation of the Coriolis Force httpdemonstrationswolframcomRotatingSpaceStation Rotating Space Station wwwdvandomcomcoliolisspacestationhtml Frame Effects and Space Stations wwwdvandomcomcoriolisindexhtml A (hopefully) simple explanation of the Coriolis Force wwwdaviddarlinginfoencyclopedia Hale Edward Everett von Pirquet Guido Noordung Hermann Space Station wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm The Coriolis Force wwwastronautixcomcraftfamlunbaseshtm Lunar bases wwwastronautixcomgallerycspebasehtm Photo Gallery Space base wwwregererating-universeorgOn_Moon_as_Space_Basehtm On Moon as Space Base wwwspacefuturecomhabitatlivingshtml Space Habitat Introduction Living in Space wwwspacepagebevideotaak=bekijkampid=47 Living in space (Video) wwwnutricomspace The Case for Space colonization ndash Now Oscar Falconi wwwxentcompipermailfork (FoRK) Bigelowrsquos inflatable Genesis I satellite in orbit wwwrussianforcesorg Russian strategic nuclear forces (Genesis II) wwwbigelowaerospacecomgenesis Genesis I Genesis II
Thanks to Alan Tunnicliffe who came across the attached news item
complete with stamp in the eNZ Magazine the bi-monthly journal of
the Institution of Professional Engineers NZ Inc Vol 11 No 3 May-
June 2010
Vaccari Auction Sells Remarkable Space Covers April 2010
Apollo 12 cover 55 of 87 flown to the moon on Apollo 15 having been left behind by the original crew sold for euro12200 1977 Salyut
6 Soyuz 27 cover sold for euro1600
40
ORBIT ORBIT
Shuttle 1981mdash2010 Stamps Marshall
Islands 2005
United Nations 2007 Monaco and Ascension 2008
Bulgaria 1991 including stamp from souvenir sheet
USA 1981
below USA 1995 and bottom USA 1998
(two values)
St Vincent Grenadines 1983
Ascension 1989
Bulgaria 1990
and above right W Germany 1975
and USA 2000 Guyana 2006
USA 1995
41
ASSS Membership Renewal 2010
Memberrsquos Name amp Addresshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
I wish to renew my membership of the ASSS for a further year and enclose the equivalent of
pound15 (UK) euro30 (Europe) $US 45 (Rest of the World)
Please return this form with your remittance to Harvey Duncan by the
end of July Thank you
Harvey Duncan Treasurer ASSS 16 Begg Avenue
Falkirk Scotland FK1 2DL
PayPal For details of how to Pay via Paypal
please email Jeff Dugdale Email address on Page 2
42
43
44
16
ORBIT
Un-manned Satellites on Postage Stamps 35 By Guest Contributors Don Hillger and Garry Toth
A version of this article first appeared in The Astrophile for sic)
The Discoverer series
This is the thirty-fifth in a series of articles about un-manned satellites on postage stamps This article
features the satellites in the US Air Force (USAF) Discoverer series The first Discoverer was launched
on 21 January 1959 and the last one on 18 April 1962
There were a total of 39 launches a third (or 13) of which were failures The Discoverer series also called
Corona satellites were later declassified as the first Keyhole (KH) spy satellites
Discoverer was the public name of the Corona series
of film-return reconnaissance spy satellites whose true
mission was not officially revealed until about 35 years after the program ended The Discoverers secret
program was masked by scientific goals it was kept secret even from program staff who knew nothing
about Corona Scientific instruments were even placed
on Discoverer satellites and then covertly removed before launch
The Discoverer satellites were designed to take pictures
of target countries and then eject a film capsule
which was to de-orbit and enter the Earthrsquos atmosphere on a parachute and be recovered by a
specially-modified aircraft as it floated downward On many of the missions however the capture of the film
capsules was not successful for various reasons The first successful return of a capsule through the Earths
atmosphere occurred with Discoverer-13 though in this
case the aerial capture failed and the capsule fell into the sea Fortunately that mission carried no cameras
Discoverer-14 was the first completely successfully Corona mission in which reconnaissance photos were
taken from the spy satellite and ejected in a capsule
which was then successfully recovered in a mid-air capture carried out by a C-119 aircraft
Because of secret nature of their mission the
Discoverer satellites were not well-known and so were not featured on many postal items A set of three
stamps issued by Libya in 1966 (Scott 297-299) shows
a Discoverer capsule There is also a local post item from Batum that depicts the recovery of a Discoverer
capsule and a souvenir sheet from Chad (Michel BL247) that shows the re-entry of a Discoverer capsule
in the margin Another capsule recovery is shown in
the margin of a souvenir sheet issued by the Malagasy Republic in 1999 (Scott 1502a)
A checklist of postal items identified as showing Discoverer-
series satellites (httprammbciracolostateedudevhillgerDiscovererhtm) is available as part of the Website developed by the authors to accompany this series of articles (httprammbciracolostateedudevhillgersatelliteshtm) E-mail correspondence is welcome Don Hillger can be reached at hillgerciracolostateedu and Garry Toth at garry_tothhotmailcom
Top KH-4B Corona satellite Above Recovery of Discoverer 14 return capsule (typical for
the Corona series (ex Wikipedia)
17
ORBIT
18
ORBIT
Flight STS-130 Commander George Zamka Pilot Terry Virtis MS Kathryn Hire MS Stephen Robinson MS Nicholas Patrick MS Robert Behnken MS Koichi Wakata KSC Launch Date 822010 KSC Landing 21210 Purpose Tranquility Module Main Payload and Cupola
Shuttle Story 201011 STSndash130 -131 -132 Part One
STS-130 (ISS assembly flight 20A) via Endeavour carried as its
primary payloads the Tranquility module and the Cupola a robotic control station with six windows around its sides and
another in the centre providing a 360-degree view around the station Endeavour launched at 0414 EST (0914 UTC) on 8
February 2010 and landed at 2220 EST on 21 February 2010 on
runway 15 at the Kennedy Space Centers Shuttle Landing Facility
Tranquility was shipped from the
Thales Alenia Space facility in
Turin Italy It arrived at Kennedy Space Center on 21 May 2009 It
was formerly known as Node 3 and was named by a NASA poll
The module provides six berthing locations however three of those
locations are disabled as modules
originally planned to be attached to Tranquility were cancelled The
photo right shows Tranquility just before being installed to Unity node
STS-130 also brought the Cupola a large window
module and robotics work station to the ISS which was
to be attached to the nadir-
side of Tranquility The module also includes various
ISS systems including addit iona l l i fe support
systems This photo shows the facility being prepared at KSC whilst the photo above right
shows the module and cupola being moved into position on the
ISS
The shape of the mission patch on the launch
cover below represents the cupola over the earth in a photo taken by the unmanned
Lunar Orbiter probe in 1966 so representing a past and future designation for explorers from
Earth
For other Zazzle stamps
see page 33
19
ORBIT
Flight STS-131 Commander Alan Pointdexter Pilot James Dutton MS Rick Mastracchio MS Dorthy Metcalf- Lindenburger MS Stephanie Wilson MS Naoko Yamakazi MS Clayton Anderson KSC Launch Date 5410 KSC Landing 20410 Purpose MPLM Leonardo Main Payload
STS-131 (ISS assembly flight 19A) via Discovery launched on 5
April 2010 from Kennedy Space Centers launch pad 39A and landed at 908 AM on 20 April 2010 on runway 33 at the Kennedy
Space Centers Shuttle Landing Facility The mission marked the longest flight for space shuttle Discovery
The primary payload was a Multi-Purpose Logistics Module loaded with supplies and equipment for the ISS The mission also
removed and replaced an ammonia tank assembly outside the station on the S1 truss The mission also included several on-
board payloads this mission had the most payloads since STS-
107
The primary payload of STS-131 was MPLM Leonardo filled with food and science supplies and also carried the third and final
Minus Eighty Degree Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI) Window Orbital Research Facility (WORF) one Crew Quarters Rack the
Muscle Atrophy Resistive Exercise (MARES) rack Resupply
Stowage Racks (RSRs) as well as Resupply Stowage Platforms (RSPs) The Lightweight Multi-Purpose Equipment Support
Structure Carrier (LMC) carried a refurbished Ammonia Tank Assembly (ATA) to the ISS The refurbished ATA was removed
from the Space Station and returned for use on this mission
during STS-128 It was swapped with an empty tank which will ride home on the LMC
This mission was the second flight of the TriDAR a 3D dual-
sensing laser camera intended for potential use as an
autonomous rendezvous and docking sensor TriDAR provides guidance information that can be used to guide a vehicle during
rendezvous and docking operations in space TriDAR does not rely on any reference markers such as reflectors positioned on
the target spacecraft
This was the final Space Shuttle mission that contains one or
more rookie astronauts the missions after this will have all- veteran crews
STS-131 was only the third mission in the Space Shuttle
programme to carry three female astronauts
the others being STS-40 and STS-96
With three female crew members arriving on board Discovery and Expedition 23 Flight
Engineer Tracy Caldwell Dyson at the station
the STS-131 mission marked the first time that four women have been in space at one
time
STS-131 marked the first time that two
Japanese astronauts Naoko Yamazaki from the Shuttle crew and Soichi Noguchi on the
ISS had been in space together
Although Naoko Yamazaki is not the last non-
US astronaut Naoko was the last Japanese astronaut to fly the space shuttle
MPLM Leonardo can
be seen in the shuttle cargo bay
The seven stars either side of our
sun represent the
crew members
The shuttlersquos orientation indicates
it is performing the Rendezvous Pitch
Manoeuvre which
allows the ISS to photograph its
underbelly
20
ORBIT
Flight STS-132 Commander Kenneth Ham Pilot Dominic Antonelli MS Michael Good MS Garret Reisman MS Piers Sellars MS Stephen Bowen KSC Launch Date 1452010 KSC Landing 2652010 Purpose Delivery of Russian Main Payload Rassvet Module
STS-132 (ISS assembly flight ULF4) docked with the ISS on May
16 2010 It was launched from the Kennedy Space Center on May 14 2010 The primary payload is the Russian Rassvet Mini-
Research Module along with an Integrated Cargo Carrier-Vertical Light Deployable (ICC-VLD) STS-132 is scheduled to be the
final flight of Space Shuttle Atlantis provided that the STS-335
Launch On Need rescue mission is not flown
Rassvet means dawn in Russian The module was built
by Russian aerospace company
Energia and arrived at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC)
aboard an Antonov 124 cargo plane on 17 December 2009
After it was unloaded from the Antonov the module was
transported to an Astrotech processing bay in Cape Canaveral to
undergo preparations for launch shown in this photo
An airlock and radiation heat exchanger to be used for outfitting the Russian Nauka Module (to be launched in 2012) a spare
elbow part of the European Robotic Arm (ERA) and a portable
work platform for science hardware for performing experiments in outer space were externally mounted on Rassvet in its launch
configuration Russian and US cargo delivered was also accommodated inside the module The volume for cargo and
science inside MRM1 is 5 cubic meters] Rassvet was outfitted
with ISS standard grapple fixtures that allowed the module to be unloaded from the payload bay of Atlantis using the stations
robotic arm
The ICC pallet is constructed of aluminum It is approximately 8 feet long 13 feet wide and 10 inches thick The empty weight of
the pallet is 2645 pounds The total weight of ICCndashVLD and the ORUs is approximately 8330 pounds ICC-VLD return mass is
2933 kilograms (6470 lb)
The ICC-VLD was berthed in the centre of the
payload bay for both launch and re-entry
In the photo above Rassvet is shown centre top
The mission patch shows Atlantis flying off into the sunset as the end of the shuttle
programme approaches
21
ORBIT
By Andreacute Scheer and Margaret Morris This fascinating structure is an octagonal pentelic marble tower on the Roman agora or marketplace in Athens It was supposedly built by the astronomer Andronicus of Kyrrhos c 50 BC but according to other sources might have been constructed in the 2
nd
century BC before the rest of the forum The structure is 12 metres high with a diameter of approximately 8 metres On each of the eight sides (aligned with the eight principal points of the compass) is a sculpture featuring the wind gods and below each sculpture is engraved a sundial Thus the tower served as a solar clock but additionally in the interior was a water-clock (clepsydra) driven by water coming down from the Acropolis There were mechanical hour indicators and displays for the seasons of the year with astrological dates and periods The tower was topped in antiquity by a weather-vane in the shape of a triton with a wand which pointed at whichever of the winds was blowing The tower must have been one of the most useful structures in the agora as it showed the time for civilian purposes and indicated the wind direction for merchants awaiting the arrival of a ship The earliest philatelic items to depict this unusual building are postal stationery postcards originating from 1900 when the Greek postal authorities organised a competition for photographers and artists The best pictures were selected for issue and on 1 July 1901 the first series of 32 cards was issued In total 12 series of 32 cards each were issued between then and 20 March 1903 The cards were issued in three colours (chestnut black and green) with imprinted stamps of two values (5 lepta green for national mail and 10 lepta red for international mail) The cards additionally have an impressed stamp without colour on the left side being 10 lepta for the card itself so the cards were sold for 15 and 20 lepta The design of the imprinted stamps was based on the Hermes (Mercury) statue by Giovanni da Bologna During the war on the Balkans the cards were used by the Greek army and have an extra imprint ndash Carte Postale ndash Franchise Militaire A few examples of these postal stationery postcards are illustrated opposite and on page 23 The wording ldquoLrsquohorloge de Kyrrhestesrdquo refers to the timepiece built by Andronicus of Kyrrhos while ldquoTEMPLE DrsquoEOLErdquo translates as ldquoTemple of Aeolusrdquo (Aeolus = god of the winds) For each card 12 versions can be distinguished ndash ie 3 colours x 2 values x 2 usages For fuller information see reference no 1 Of course numerous picture postcards also feature this interesting structure
The Tower of the Winds The Oldest Planetarium on Stamps and
Postal Stationery
Front and back of postal stationery postcard
Examples of Greek postal stationery from the early 20th
century
Front and back of postal stationery postcard
22
ORBIT
The 19423 issues (SG 561-572) of Greece shown beside the 1973 Dominica souvenir sheet whose designer has
reinterpreted the divine sculptures in the margins
Boreas also on the 100d value in black and grey
Skiron
Zephyrus in two 25d vals
orange and green
Lips
Notus
Eurus
Apeliotes in two 10d vals red brown and red orange
Kaikias in two 50d vals black and grey violet and blue
Wind Direction Name of Deity Characteristics of the Sculpture North Boreas An old man wearing heavy clothing and holding a conch shell This wind was cold fierce and
stormy and in Athens made a loud hollow noise
North East Kaikias Old man with severe expression holding circular shield from which he will drop hailstones Weather characteristically cloudy wet and cold
East Apeliotes Young man with hair flowing in every direction holding a cloak full of fruit and grain ndash he brings gradual gentle rain
South East Eurus Old man with morose countenance wrapped tightly against the elements in his cloak This wind brought sultry gloomy weather with much rain
South Notus Young man emptying an urn and producing a shower of water This wind was associated with sultry very wet weather
South West Lips Boy pushing the stern of a ship promising a good sailing wind This was the wind which blew right into Piraeus harbour
West Zephyrus Beautiful lightly clad youth of happy aspect holding a cloak full of flowers In summer this wind brought very sultry weather
North West Skiron Bearded man with a bronze pot full of hot ashes and charcoal This was a dry wind extremely cold in winter but scorching and with lightning in summer
The following table gives details of the sculptures and the characteristics attributed to each of the wind gods
For fuller information see reference no 2
23
ORBIT
The sculptures of the eight winds were depicted on stamps of Greece issued in 1942 (six designs) and 1943 (again six designs ndash four as the previous issue but including the two omitted winds) Five values were surcharged in 1944 to aid victims of the Piraeus bombing of 11 January 1944 the exceptionally high face value resulted in few of these stamps being used Later in 1944 the same five values were surcharged in aid of a Childrenrsquos Convalescent Camp Fund Finally in 1946 two values of the 1942 issue were surcharged ndash the 10dr value in black and the 50dr revalued as 20dr in red See opposite for examples of the stamp designs In addition to these attractive engraved stamps the 1973 issue from Dominica commemorating the centenary of the World Meteorological Organisation included a miniature sheet incorporating the 50c and $1 values and surrounded in the margin by images of all eight wind sculptures (see page 22) More recently the cover of a booklet issued by Greece on 7 October 1988 provides an aerial view of the agora and the Tower of the Winds can be detected (see below) The booklet contains 16 stamps (4 each of 4 different values) and celebrates capitals of Greek provinces In early Christian times the building was used as the bell tower of a Byzantine Church It was partly buried in the ground until fully excavated in the 19
th century by the
Archaeological Society of Athens It is interesting to note that the design of the upper octagon of the 18th century Radcliffe Observatory in Oxford England is based on the Tower of the Winds as is the mausoleum of the founder of the Greek National Library Panayis Vagliano at West Norwood Cemetery London There is a similar tower in Sevastopol built in 1849 References
1 ldquoEntiers Postaux Illustreacutes du service des postes
helleacuteniques et leurs preacutecurseursrdquo Georges Mathas 1985
2 For finely detailed drawings and information about the sculptures you may care to see if your Library has a copy of ldquoThe Antiquities of Athensrdquo Stuart amp Revett Vol 1 published in London 1762
3 Article by Derek J de Solla Price in ldquoNational
Geographic April 1967 pp587-596 4 Much useful information may also be obtained from
sites on the internet
Examples of Overprints from left to right
1944 Piraeus Bombing Aid 1944 Childrenrsquos convalescent camp fund 1946 Surcharge
Below Cover of the 1988 stamp booklet
Front and back of postal stationery postcard
24
ORBIT
Old Photo Makes New(s) Story
A photo taken twenty-one years ago became hot international new(s) this July writes Bert van Eijck
It is a picture of your correspondent in front of the
monument on the graves of the seven astronauts killed
in the Challenger disaster The photo from November 1989 shows the national cemetery at Arlington in
Washington DC And it is this graveyard a national American field of pride and honour that was involved in
a scandal making news all over the world
What happened This became a hot story after it was leaked to the press that in 211 graves on Arlington the wrong corpse had
been buried But this disgrace grew to international
proportions when the US Senate published a report which revealed that it was not 211 but 6600 graves that
had been so dishonoured And maybe there are more the researchers stated
Consequently it meant that family members had been paying their respect at the wrong graves because many
were not marked well or the ground-plan directed to wrong places
Arlingtonrsquos director John Metzler was fired as was his
depute Thurman Higginbotham both of whom said
they knew there were made mistakes but they could not help ldquobecause of economyrdquo
Arlington cemetery was opened in 1864 Since then
300000 Americans have been buried here including
famous or well-known persons like presidents
ministers high ranked military artists judges and
astronauts
And what about some of the most recent ones Did I indeed visit and honour the seven Challenger astronauts in their last resting place on Earth in
November 1989 as shown on the photo Or are they perhaps mistakenly buried in another
unmarked grave This is hard to believe but one never knowshelliphellip
For those who wonder what was doing 21
years ago in the US capital I visited the
World Stamp Exporsquo89 at the Convention Center in Washington DC Of course I did
more sightseeing at and in the famous Smithsonian Museums (a must the
National AirampSpace Museum with 10
million visitors a year) the Capitol the metro (deepest in the world) George
Washingtonrsquos house in Vernon Arlington of course and much more
At the World Stamp Expo there was a
presentation of both USA and USSR space
stamps The American stamps were presented by astronaut Buzz Aldrin the
Soviet stamps by cosmonaut Gherman Titov
Author and the Challenger astronauts monument at Arlington seven figures in bronze (left) At right a plaque honoring US-soldiers killed in action saving
hostages in Iran
Astronaut Buzz Aldrin (left) presents the US space stamps while cosmonaut Gherman Titov (right) does the same with
Soviet space stamps In the middle officials of USPS Below the
stampshellip
25
ORBIT
The Apollo 15 Cover Scandal by Umberto Cavallaro
In a feature which first appeared in the April-June 2010 issue of Ad Astra the web journal of the Italian Astrophilatelic Association its editor reveals in considerable detail the full story of those covers which today sell for so much money The Apollo 15 flown covers are among the best known
collectibles from the Apollo Era mainly because of what Jim Irwin recalls as ldquothe problem we brought
back from the Moonrdquo
The crew of Apollo 15 carried out one of the most complete scientific explorations of the Moon the first
lunar roving vehicle was operated on the Moon to
extend the range of exploration some 180 pounds of lunar surface samples were returned for analysis Yet
Fifteen is best remembered as the crew that carried envelopes to the moon and the whole mission is
remembered for the ldquogreat postal caperrdquo
Apollo 15 was not the first mission to carry covers
dozens were carried on each flight from Apollo 11 onwards and as Commander Dave Scott recalls in his
book the whole business had probably been building since Mercury through Gemini and into Apollo People
had a fascination with objects that had been carried in space and they became more and more popular and
valuable as the programme progressed Right from
the start of the Mercury programme each astronaut had been allowed to carry on board a certain number
of personal items
NASA was in the habit of authorizing astronauts to
carry certain personal items on manned flights known as Astronautsrsquo PPK (Personal Preference Kits) All such
items had to be listed and approved by Deke Slayton the Head of the Astronaut Office prior to launch and
were intended for private use or as personal gifts
after the flight and could not be employed for commercial
Fig 1 The official USPS cover postmarked on the Moon
purposes or personal gain Astronaut kits typically
included badges jewellery coins medals flags stamps postal covers currency printed materials and
similar easily packed lightweight mementoes As the flight became more significant the number and type of
items increased
Aside from personal mementoes each crew had
carried medallions whose number had grown steadily on each mission In his book The All-American Boys astronaut Walter Cunningham reveals that it was rumoured around the Astronaut Office that Apollo 14
carried on board a personal package weighing forty-
two pounds Before that flight the Franklin Mint had even advertised the proposed sale After the flight the
commercial deal was never completed and all went quiet nothing about it being published in the media
But some members of the US Congress were unhappy
of the situation
In that context the ldquolapses of judgmentrdquo of the Apollo 15 crew became fatal Dave Scott went too far
carrying on board a total of 641 postal covers (including the two official covers) of which only 243
were listed and authorized before the flight and 398
were not -- secretly carried on board Apollo 15 by Scott in a pocket of his space suit Had they been
listed as being in Scotts PPK they would probably have been routinely approved for inclusion in the
preference kit
The 243 listed and authorized covers include
bull 2 official US Postal Service covers one of which the ldquoOfficial Coverrdquo was publicly cancelled on the
moon by Scott at the request of the US Postal
Service 10 (Fig 1) bull 1 Wright Brothers commemorative cover dated
1928 and autographed by Orville Wright which was carried by Worden for a friend
bull 1 cover bearing a First Man on the Moon stamp and a Bliss Centennial three-cent stamp carried by
Irwin for Barbara Baker (Fig 2 below)
26
ORBIT
8 Shamrock covers carried by Irwin (as below)
144 Herrickrsquos ldquoMoon Phasesrdquo covers carried by Worden
(Fig 4) printed with a cachet showing 15 phases of the moon On the USS Okinawa the Apollo 15 recovery ship
the astronauts placed two eight-cent stamps purchased
on board by Worden on each of these covers and they had the covers cancelled by the shipboard post office
The astronauts later autographed these covers while flying back from Hawaii to Houston Sixteen covers were
torn or damaged and were destroyed Because of the furore created by the Apollo 15 covers incident NASA
confiscated 61 of these 144 Moon Phases covers
87 Apollo 12 covers (Fig 5) that for unknown reason
did not fly on that mission and which were carried on
Apollo 15 for Mrs Barbara Gordon a stamp collector then wife of Richard Gordon Apollo 12 astronaut who
at was the back-up pilot for Apollo 15
The 398 unauthorized covers (initially there were
400 but 2 were damaged and discarded) are lightweight envelopes carrying as a cachet a replica
of the official Apollo 15 patch overprinted with an Air Force wing and propeller emblem
The idea of these additional covers was suggested during a cocktail party by Eiermann a salesman for
the heat-shield contractor who had frequent business and social contacts with NASA personnel and
astronauts He suggested to fly 400 lightweight covers 100 for each of the astronauts and 100 for
his friend Sieger the German stamp dealer The
cacheted covers were provided by Al Bishop a friend of many astronauts then at the Howard
Hughes organization He had already provided covers for the previous flights since Apollo 12
Above one of the 100 Sieger covers with the handwritten note ldquoLanded at Hadley Moon July 30 1971 On the
reverse is a typed and notarised inscription ldquoThis is to certify that this cover was on board the Falcon at the Hadley-
Apennine Moon July 30 ndashAug 2 1971rdquo
Below one of the 298 unauthorised covers carried to the Moon by David Scott with the inscription ldquoThis envelope was
carried to the Moon aboard the Apollo 15 of 300 to the Lunar Surface in LMrdquoFalconrdquo
The crews usually returned to Bishop a couple of
flown covers signed with gratitude ldquoTo my
knowledge ndash Cunningham reports in his well documented book ndash Bishop never sold any and never
made a dime off his relationship He was simply a fan To Al Bishop Apollo 15 was no different from any
other flight except for a phone call he received from
Hal Collins the Astronaut Office manager at the Cape
27
ORBIT
Collins told Bishop that the crew would like to know
whether he could obtain some very lightweight envelopes for them Al said that hed be happy to do so
He was unaware then that many of them would be smuggled on board the next lunar flight Al was trusted
Thats why many of us imposed on him with our
problems special requests and sometimes matters which we would rather not share with NASArdquo
This time Al was badly used he emerged as a
scapegoat and his name was dragged as though he was the Mr Big of an international stamp conspiracy
The covers were cancelled at Kennedy Space Center
several days before July 26 1971 The date of the post office machine canceller was moved forward
Additionally twin eight-cent stamps were purchased by the astronauts on the USS Okinawa the Apollo 15
recovery ship and affixed to these covers ndash as for the
Herrickrsquos covers In the shipboard post office the covers were then cancelled and date-stamped August 7 1971
The astronauts finally autographed these covers while flying from Hawaii to Houston
Soon after the flight the astronauts gave Eiermann
the 100 covers ndash after agreeing that there was to be
no commercialization or advertising of these covers and that nothing would be done with them until after
completion of the Apollo programme
But after a while news started to circulate that the
German dealer was selling in Europe covers flown on Apollo 15 for a reported average of US $1500 each
The reports infuriated Congress not least because congressmen had to read such controversial
information in the press before being informed by
NASA which is obligated to keep Congress fully informed of its activity Recollection of the Apollo 14
medallions incident must have echoed in the minds of certain members of Congress many of whom were
not fans of NASA anyway NASA started an internal investigation This was the most controversial
development of the Apollo Programme and although
most astronauts were involved to some degree NASA made an example of the Apollo 15 flight crew ldquoIt
was turning into a witch-huntrdquo recalled Scott ldquoOur bosses had abrogated their responsibilities and we
were left alone on a very wet dayrdquo
It is ironic that after addressing a joint session of
Congress as heroes in less that one year the three astronauts of Apollo 15 had to go back in front of these
same senators in disgrace because of this envelope scandal
After this ldquoincidentrdquo NASA prohibited from Apollo 17 on the flying of covers or stamps during a space
missions (they were not on time to block the covers carried on Apollo 16) The only exceptions have been
since then the items flown in cooperation with the US
Postal Service ie the 266000 covers carried in 1983 in
the payload bay of the Space Shuttle Challenger on
STS-8 and the 500000 $995 Express Mail stamp created by Paul and Chris Calle in 1994 flown on
Endeavour STS-68 in recognition of the 25th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing The huge
number of such items carried in space discourages
speculations and these items still are widely available for few dollars
So far fewer than 1000 envelopes in total have flown
to the Moon No other American covers will flow to the Moon in the foreseeable future Perhaps the next
ldquoMoon coversrdquo will bear Chinese or Indian stamps
Dave Scott was the first lunar Postmaster and had two
postmarks with him and two covers with imperforated dieproof of the US twin Decade of Space Achievements
stamps affixed (Fig 1)
He had one postmark with ldquoMoon Landing USArdquo (Fig 8 below) and another with ldquoUnited States on the
Moonrdquo (Fig 9 bottom)
The First Lunar Post Office was opened on August 2 1971 when David Scott postmarked only the official
cover (and brought back the official backup-cover uncancelled) A handful covers had however been
postmarked before launch with both postmarks Dr Matthew Radnofsky ndash who in his laboratory already
had simulated cancelling in space for Apollo 11 ndash
tested both postmarks to ensure that the cancellation devices were in working order
Especially the date could be changed easily Contrary
to Apollo 11 covers without stamps were used for
28
ORBIT
these tests Apollo 15 Lunar Cancellation Proofs are
much scarcer than Apollo 11 ones ldquoAs by now I am aware of only 17 itemsrdquo states famous astrophilatelist
Walter Hopferwieser Covers with proofs of the Apollo 15 moon postmarks have been recently sold at Regency
Superior and Aurora auctions
The official Apollo 15 cover postmarked on the Moon
(see Fig 1 repeated above ) is displayed at the US National Postal Museum It was publicly cancelled and
the video can be seen at httpwwwpostalmuseumsiedustampstakeflight
apollo15video-01html A short speech was given by
Dave Scott while cancelling the cover ldquoTo show that our good Postal Service has deliveries any place in the
universe I have the pleasant task of cancelling here on the Moon the first stamp of a new issue dedicated to
commemorate US achievements in space I have the
first one here on an envelope At the bottom it says United States in Space a decade of achievement and
Im very proud to have the opportunity here to play postman I pull out a cancellation device It says
August 2 1971 first day of issuehellip What could be a
better place to cancel this stamp than right here at Hadley Rillehelliprdquo
Immediately thereafter the Postmaster General who
was waiting at the Mission Control at Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston Texas gave the signal to start the
First- Day cancellations at post offices in Houston
Kennedy Space Center and Huntsville
Acknowledgement Thanks to Walter Hopferwieser for his comments
Some Notes About Space Mail
Commenting on Brian Vincentrsquos article in the June
2010 Orbit ASSS member Geoff Chivers writes in an
email to your Editorhellip Im sure you wont mind me commenting on Brian G Vincents Some Notes About Space Mail (page 36)
In paragraph 2 he refers to the Apollo 15 cover incident leaving the impression that Scott Worden and Irwin were guilty of some heinous crime This has been the subject of much miss-reporting over the years The full story of what actually happened is explained in depth at page 328 et seq of Two sides of the moon by David Scott and Alexei Leonov published by Simon amp Shuster The astronauts were of course exonerated
This is the quote (slightly edited to enable it to stand as an independent piece)-
During 1972 while on a trip to Washington DC George Low NASA deputy administrator asked me to stop by his
office writes David Scott I had known George in Houston while he was Apollo spacecraft programme manager and I had great respect for him We spent a short while exchanging pleasantries Then George looked me in the eye and came to the point ldquoWell Daverdquo he said ldquoI have to tell you I was not very proud of my performancerdquo His comment was the culmination of what had become known as the Apollo 15 ldquocover incidentrdquo This involved some first day postal covers which we had carried aboard Apollo 15 some of which were unfortunately sold by a German stamp dealer several months after the flight As No 2 in NASA George
had been heavily involved in NASAs handling of the incident and his comment referred to one of the poorest management performances the space agency had ever demonstrated - up to then The whole business had probably been building since Mercury through Gemini and into Apollo People had a fascination with objects that had been carried in space and they became more and more popular and valuable as the programme progressed Right from the start of the Mercury programme each astronaut had been allowed to carry on board a certain number of personal items in what were known as PPKS - Personal Preference Kits Before each flight a list of the items was prepared for Deke Slayton who
Two Sides of The Moon
by David Scott and Alexei Leonov
The text opposite from the
above book has been
referred to by Umberto Cavallaro in preparing his
above piece
29
ORBIT
had overall responsibility for approving them As the flights became more significant the number and type of items increased Aside from personal mementoes each crew had carried a certain number of medallions which they could hand out afterwards as souvenirs The number of medallions had grown steadily on each mission - eventually some crew members had been carrying several hundred each and their weight was becoming a concern And as always commercialisation began to creep in In the end on Apollo 14 commanded by Al Shepard it was alleged that the crew had carried some silver medallions on board which were to be melted down after the flight and mixed with many other commemorative medallions by the Franklin Mint to be sold to the general public The Franklin Mint had even advertised the proposed sale before the flight After the flight the deal was never consummated and all went quiet nothing about it was printed in the media But some members of Congress had heard about it and were unhappy with the situation Since we were busy training for Apollo 15 (launched 26 July 1971) we knew nothing about all this Had we known we would have been far more wary of what happened subsequently All we knew was that Deke Slayton had halved the number of medallions we could carry Shortly afterwards Deke introduced Jim (Irwin) Al (Worden) and me to a long-standing friend of his at the Cape called Walter Eiermann In retrospect this seems likely to have been more than a coincidence Deke invited us to join him at dinner at Eiermanns house one evening several months before the Apollo 15 launch Eiermann asked if we would like to make some money on the side by signing some stamps ldquoAll the guys are doing itrdquo he said We agreed We were also approached by several members of the Manned Spacecraft Centerrsquos stamp club who asked us to sign many first - day covers before the flight for their members as well as for ourselves At that time we could not buy life insurance If we signed some covers we reasoned they could be held during the flight and act as limited life insurance for our families if anything happened to us But then Eiermann proposed we carry four hundred lightweight commemorative covers a hundred of which would be passed on to a stamp dealer in Germany when we returned All the covers would be franked on the day of launch and franked on the day of our return Our understanding was that the dealer would hold his hundred covers to be sold at some future date after the Apollo programme was over In return he would set up a $6000 trust fund for each of us for the education of our children In the months of intense activity before the flight we did not give this more than a moment of thought But we agreed In retrospect we made a mistake in even considering it In the months following our mission we learnt that the German dealer had begun to sell the covers We let Eiermann know that we were opposed to the sale Forget the trust funds we said we dont want any money This is not what we had understood would happen But when senior managers at NASA learnt about the covers being sold they were furious Incomplete information was then provided to the press by NASArsquos Public Affairs Office and reports started to appear that we had smuggled the covers onto our flight This was literally impossible NASA personnel prepared us for every aspect of the flight - from our birthday suits out Everything we had carried had to be specially packaged by the flight support crew to make sure apart from anything else
that it was fireproof Everything in our PPKs was on a list which was certified before launch I was never aware of any rules about what could or could not be taken in these packs Slayton was to approve the list so as far as I was concerned it was up to management to keep us on the straight and narrow I assumed if the list was approved that was fine Usually the list was certified by Deke But before our flight for some reason he neither asked us personally for each of our lists as was customary nor signed off on the list personally He said the flight - crew support team had already logged everything Whereas we had purchased the covers ourselves the Astronaut Office at the Cape had prepared the covers for the flight and had had them stamped and franked on the day of launch Somehow however the support team had missed them when they prepared the PPK flight manifest It was also reported after the incident that we had been removed from the astronaut corps Again totally untrue Unfortunately NASA managers did nothing to dispel this false and misleading information They just tucked their heads in and let the rumours run The reports infuriated Congress not least because congressmen had to read such controversial information in the press before being informed by NASA which is obligated to keep Congress fully informed of its activities Recollections of the Apollo 14 medallion incident must have seeped into the minds of certain members of Congress many of whom were not fans of NASA anyway When NASA started an internal investigation we were told by a senior official in the agency that we were on our own We were advised to get our own legal representation A Senate hearing into the matter had been called and a justice Department investigation would follow It was turning into a witch - hunt NASA we were advised expected us to keep quiet and take the Fifth Amendment at this hearing We did not We told it like it was We had nothing to hide Eventually the Justice Department concluded that we had broken some administrative rules but had done nothing criminal NASA confiscated the remaining covers but they acted before discovering all the facts of the case Following an investigation by NASA the Justice Department and the Senate the Justice Department concluded on 6 December 1978 in a ldquoMemorandum Opinion for the Assistant Attorney Generalrdquo that NASA had no claim to the remaining covers that the covers were never intended for sale that there was no attempt at concealment by the crew of the fact that the covers were to be flown on Apollo 15 and finally that the covers would have been approved to carry aboard Apollo 15 had a request been made We were reprimanded and we took our licks But it was a very raw deal NASA had hung us out to dry Our bosses had abrogated their responsibilities and we were left alone on a very wet day I spent many years trying to get full access to NASA and congressional records on the case NASA refused to provide full disclosure We subsequently found out there had been rumblings about profitmdashmaking on previous missions A copy of a letter was released to me in which NASA admitted that ten other astronauts who were not identified had been involved in selling signed blocks of stamps and postcards for Eiermann But the wave reached the shore on Apollo 15 and we were the ones who bore the brunt of the blame for such incidents
30
ORBIT
Buckingham Cover offer Free Souvenirs for You
Brian Austin of Buckinghamrsquos Rare Cover Department writes to your Editorhellip
Over the last two or three years we have been dealing more and more in signed space covers This led us to earlier this year buying an Apollo 11 crew signed cover which had been carried to the moon which we had on display on our stand at London 2010
For this we also printed a limited edition of 800 sets of postcards one featuring the Apollo 11 cover and another
featuring an Apollo 15 cover The idea was to give away 100 sets per day to customers at the show but now the show is all finished I still have around 150 pairs left on my desk
We wondered if you would like to offer them to your readers we are happy to send them out free of charge to the first 150 readers to contact us with their details as long as we can also include one of our lists of space
covers
BrianAustinbuckinghamcoverscom
31
ORBIT
More About Missile Mail
Harvey Duncan told us in the last Orbit (page 15) about the First Official Missile Mail writes Bert van Eijck After the useful technical details about the USS Barbero he gave us I can offer you more philatelic information and show you some illustrations The missile mail experiment was a joint venture between
the Ministry of Defense and the US Post Office Dept headed by Postmaster General Mr Arthur E
Summerfield Three thousand special envelopes were printed with a reproduction of a Navy missile type
Regulus with the text ldquoFirst Official Missile Mailrdquo and above that ldquoThe Postmaster General Washingtonrdquo All
the envelopes were addressed to The President high
government officials like senators and to the Post Masters General of ninety nine other member nations of
UPU Inside was a letter from Mr Summerfield entitled ldquoThe First Official Missile Mailrdquo with the official seal of
the Post Office dept It was explained therein what had
happed to that letter and the other 2999
The special letters were loaded in two metal compartments and came aboard the guided missile USS Barbero (SSG-317) The shot was to occur during a regular training mission from Norfolk Virginia to Florida
About 350 kilometres off the coast of Florida the
Regulus missile was launched toward Airport Mayport
The missile climbed 10 km above the Atlantic and
landed within twenty minutes with all the letters intact The letters were cancelled with the hand stamp ldquoUSS
Barberordquo with the date ldquoJun 8 1959rdquo and the approximate timing of the launching ldquo930 amrdquo This
was done by post office staff part of an established
branch office on the USS Barbero The letters bore the 1957 4c American flag postage stamp Those
addressed to foreign countries carried two such stamps covering surface mail postage costs On the
reverse side is the Jacksonville Post Office cancellation with the approximate time of arrival ldquoJune 8 1030 am
1959 Floridardquo
Such flown letters are expensive to buy and a jewel in
any exhibit
But this is NOT the case with the Barbero souvenir
cover dated a month later on July 8 1959 issued in the same quantity (3000) as the originals The
inscription reads ldquoPoint of LandingmdashFirst Official Missile Mail 8 June 1959 US Naval Station Mayport Floridardquo
About 16000 () collectors had applied for such a cover
The imprint of the official Barbero cover was reproduced on a memorial cover issued and posted at
the Vienna International Airpost Exhibition Luposta on August 1959 in the Austrian capital Of course neither
of these items had been carried within the Regulus
missile
Also of interest the Postal Administration of
Paraguay issued a stamp
and a block in 1976 honouring the Barbero
Missile Mail The Gs 20 stamp shows a Regulus
missile in flight while the sheet shows the whole
addressed cover and in
miniature the complete letter inside from the US Postmaster General
as mentioned above and as illustrated below
Above a specimen envelope as described in the text and below its reverse cancel
32
ORBIT
An Invitation to Our Readers to Donate to an Innovative International Projecthellip
Kindest Sir or Madam
The municipality of Vitanje
(Slovenia) is honoured to have had a hand in the life of the
famous space architect Herman Potocnik Noordung
(1892-1929) (pictured right) who had already found a
surprising number of solutions
to space travel and troubles of living in vacuum long before
actual space flights took place His creations were used by the
renowned novelist Arthur C Clarke
in his book 2001 A Space Odyssey which was later also turned into a
movie directed by Stanley Kubrick In Noordungs honour we have
created the Memorial Centre of Herman Potocnik Noordung This
year the cultural centre of European
space technology will also get going in Vitanje This will be a place
where the European space heritage will be gathered and various events connected with the
contemporary European space technologies will be
organized
Proposed Philatelic Collection We would like to bring the project onto a higher level
where we would have the collaboration of various
countries in the world including such with a history in space travel (like USA Russia) One of the steps of this
expansion process would also include a philatelic collection of stamps with themes of outer space
(astronomy astronautics and everything connected to
outer space) We already have quite a decent collection but we would like to expand on that
Our goal is to have 6000 stamps before opening our
exhibition For this we would require the help of as many philatelists as possible
All of these philatelists would become co-creators and partners of this collection for which we hope will
become the largest collection of its kind in the world The people donating the stamps would get a great deal
of exposure at all these exhibitions and on the special
website which will be started shortly If you give us enough support and we are able to raise enough
stamps for a first-class collection we hope the first
exhibitions and various special events (like visits from
astronauts ndash philatelists) will see the light of day as early as in 2011
From a professional point of view we have an
excellent team working with us Long-time philatelist
Tone Petek is the person who initiated this project while Bojan Bracic the secretary of FEPA is one of our
counsellors and is completely behind this project
If you would be interested in such cooperation I will get the wheels in motion and send you a verifying
mail with the stamp of the municipality of Vitanje and
also of some higher organization within the Slovene political system
The collection is already underway with the help of the
Slovene Philatelic organisation (FZS) adds Rok in an email to your Editor in July This organisation has been of immense help with technical expertise and
connections It looks as if there might be an introductory exhibition next year sometime
In the hope of a successful partnership we offer our
sincere appreciation
Rok Podgrajsek
Obcina Vitanje Grajski trg 1
3205 Vitanje
Slovenia
Email address rokpodgrajsekgmailcom
But see also website httpwwwvitanjesi
(Editorrsquos Note both Wendy Buckle editor of
Themescene and our Chairman Margaret Morris commend this project to you We will be sending Rok
some recent copies of Orbit for the displays)
Some illustrations from Noordungrsquos only published text ldquoThe Problem of
Space Travel The Rocket Motorrdquo (the original German title
was ldquoDas Problem der Befahrung
des Weltraums - der Raketen-Motorrdquo) which saw the light of day
in 1928
Vitanje Local Private Post stamp
33
ORBIT
Zazzle Space Stamps Dazzle
I have noticed Zazzle Space Stamps appearing in Lollini brochures and on their web pages in recent months writes your Editor so I undertook to find out some facts about them and am grateful to The Astrophile Editor Jim Roth and the man who inspired him to create his own Zazzle designs Otto Bergman for the following infohellip Zazzle is one of half a dozen or more US companies
who facilitate the printing of non-copyrighted photos and artwork on private postage stamps which count
as postage within and outwith the USA You can
design your own Zazzle stampsmdashsee their websitemdashwhich you then purchase for your own use 20 to a
page
They are therefore a bit like British Smilers except
that the personal element of the stamp is not on a se-tenant label but actually incorporated within the
stamp itself as you can see from the examples on this page
Jim Roth was annoyed that the Kennedy Space Center Post office would not cancel his Zazzle stamps as they
consider them to be ldquometersrdquo and although he has marked STS-122 he wonrsquot be creating any others
You can see (and buy) all Jim Rothrsquos Space Zazzles on
his website m57coverscommdashclick on ldquostampsrdquo
Three of Jim Rothrsquos designs
See others on his website
An Otto Bergman space creation on
Zazzlecomottobergman
These space Zazzles and others are
available from the Lollini website or brochures
STS 128 in May 2010 section
STS 129 in June 2010
WISE and Delta 2 launch in July 2010 STS 130 in August 2010
STS 128 stamps show astronauts Christer Fuglesang (far left) and left Frank De Winne ISS Commander Expedition 21 STS 129 issues depict mission
patch and the crew led by Charles Hobaugh
Delta 2 rocket launch from Cape Canaveral of WISE Deep InfraRed telescope
34
ORBIT
Concluded on page 39
More Spaceflight Books for Sale
35
ORBIT ORBIT
SPACE HABITATS (Part Two) by John Beenen Continuing his feature from our last issue John Beenen begins by posing the questionhellip Why Should we Seek to Live
in Space
Spacecom gives ten main reasons why we should enter space for a prolonged
period
1 To secure a future for humanity
2 To build a new frontier
3 To find new energy sources
4 To build an industrial settlement on
the Moon
5 Better quality images of the
Universe
6 The SETI effort
7 Mining
8 Learning the history of our
Universe
9 Environmental benefits
Meeting the challenge
Taking for granted that it is naturally fascinating to investigate how mankind
might be able to maintain its habitat outside earth there are several further reasons to investigate why
mankind should settle themselves outside earth in the far future And More reasons mean a overall better
argument
Primarily there is the question of overpopulation and
secondly a solution for the energy problem
Next we have to consider that climate circumstances
are not under control anymore and earth eventually becomes uninhabitable
Also when for various reasons we start to kill each
other for some groups of people it may be an attractive proposition to depart this Earth in quite a different
sense And that is perhaps the most common thought
through activities in space more money can be obtained
But there are disadvantageshellip
On the other hand a prolonged stay in space is not that safe The construction must be protected against
radiation and it can be hit by large and small debris which makes space a very unsafe place
Furthermore cosmic radiation produces
a radiation of 80 mSv (millisievert) - well over the allowed maximum of 50
mSv and very much over the amount which is considered as safe for man
which is 3 mSv
Next solar flares produce a sudden
increase of soft gamma and energy rich radiation so much that without the
protection of an atmosphere half of our population could die easily
It is interesting that even without shielding most of this radiation can be
absorbed in the projected spacecraftsrsquo structure and in the air Smaller
structures can be protected with a
shield of co-rotating rocks
The construction further must be protected against sunlight which by
lack of the air shield will fall in unshielded so sun blinds and radiators
are indispensable
And as a result of the artificial gravity
there are some tiny movement problems which we will face later
Finally the created ecosystem should be fully self-supporting and that is easier said than done as
experiments with Biosphere-2 have showed
Biosphere-2 Biosphere-2 was a project built between 1987 and 1991 providing in an area of about 2frac12 football fields
a closed biological system of different composition From 1991-1993 a crew of 8 persons stayed herein A
second crew of 7 persons bridged a period of March
until September 1994 During the first period it appeared difficult to keep the atmosphere constant in
particular the carbon dioxide values changed rapidlymdashthe reason why many of the carried insects perished
Further the oxygen level decreased slowly because pf a leak
Even during the first two-year phase large differences in opinion appeared and the yield was not large
enough to deliver the calories necessary Reserve stocks had to be broken into Finally the second
experiment had to be ended prematurely because of
mismanagement
However it seems that a well-functioning stable ecosystem should not be underestimated physically
not technically
Artists impressions above Interior Stanford Torus and below Interior
OrsquoNeill Cylinder
Solar flares Czechoslovakia 1965 WB 47
36
ORBIT
It further has to be speculated on that men would resist
a regulated weather programme instead of the customary ever changing circumstances on Earth
Also we must physically resist an eternal stay outside
Earth That is not always easy as some people will show
some kind of sea sickness for ever In any case rooms with a diameter of less than 100 meters and a speed of
revolution over three per minute are insufficient At specifications of over 500 m and at less than 1 revolution
per minute fewer problems have to be expected
How do we get raw materials (Fantasy Moon Mining Yemen
Mutawakelite 1969 1343)
And still there have to be enough raw materials to sustain the
colony but as a principle the
search for raw materials is not the most difficult
From the asteroid belt enough small rocks can be
transported as a building material Also mines can be put
on the Moon Bercause of the lower gravity there transport is easier and some kind of firing mechanism
has been calculated which launch packets of ore simply into space where they can be manipulated
Air can be produced from moonstone Nitrogen nearly without loss can be recycled and eventually added to
ammonia mined from comets Large gardens and fields should start the normal photosynthesis and doing so
finally a complete sustainable society might be built up Energy from the Sun is present in superfluous quantities
What to do about gravity Most designs for a Space station start with a gravity of
1G Some designers however think that a lower level of gravity is possible But in the meantime experiments
with astronauts have showed that our physiology
changes rapidly influenced by decreased or absence of gravity Thus the calcium potassium and sodium
contents of our bone system decrease by about 10 That is not bad were we to stay in space forever but
very troublesome when occasionally we would return to
Earth
Also the quality of our muscles decreases as the blood volume does Providing effects comparable to aging
Further by lack of gravity astronauts become a little
taller with accompanying pain in the back Hence the staying with 1G gravity is not so bad
That has to be maintained by rotation of the
construction The larger the diameter of the construction is the slower it will turn to provide 1 G That is a result
of the centrifugal or centripetal force Its
magnitude has long been established thanks to the work of Dutchman Christiaan Huygens and fixed in
the formula
m v2
F = r where
F = the external force in N(ewton) m = mass in kg
v = speed in msec r = radius in m
Hence a spacecraft with a diameter of 15 meters has to carry out one revolution every 8 seconds to
produce a sensation of 1G And that is too quick for man The effect of the centrifugal force is that should
an astronaut drop an object it does not fall straight
down but partly away from himher Weird
Coriolis force But in a rotating Space station another force is at
work That is the lsquoCoriolis forcersquo named after the
French Gustave-Gaspard Coriolis (1792-1843) who described this kind of force for the first time
The most common manifestation is the second law of
Buys Ballot which says that air streams in the
atmosphere which according the first law of Boys Ballot as a principle run from high to low pressure at
the northern hemisphere are bent to the right and at the southern hemisphere to the left because of the
rotation of the Earth
Therefore air streams around depressions show a
spiral shape in opposite directions at the northern and southern hemisphere In a space station this
force can especially noticed when moving around through the spokes of the wheel
(Diagram of Coriolis F o r c e h t t p
wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm)
A s s u m e t h a t a n
astronaut on a ladder
climbs through a spoke to the axis As he climbs
along he circles around more slowly as he
describes a smaller circle
in the same time What happens with the difference in speed that he had before He will be pressed
against the ladder and that is the Coriolis force The force also acts in opposite direction when he
descends from the ladder
Also the throwing up and catching of a ball will
become a huge achievement as the ball does not
37
ORBIT
drop perpendicularly but will shift a little into the
direction of the orbit of the station and also achieves a higher speed
This also has strange effects on the astronaut As moves
quickly in the rotation direction of the station his weight
appears to increase to a noteworthy extent Then as he moves against the speed of rotation his weight
decreases apparently Mathematically this effect is explainable but very complex
Also the astronautrsquos head and feet move in different
speed to artificial gravity This is plainly noticeable when
somebody jumps up Hence avoid this practice
With these kind of effects adaptation to the changed circumstances in a space station will ask a lot of the
crew members I do hope they can stand it But in any
case the larger the space ship the lesser the problems
Inflatable stations
But therersquos more The inflatable station was considered
many years ago The first i d e a w a s p o s s i b l y
developed when on 12th August 1960 the Echo
balloon with a diameter of
30 meters was launched (Echo I balloon USA 1960
WB 3)
It is true you could not live in it as the balloon was of too frail a construction but the idea of an inflatable
spacecraft was then alive By 1958 groups within NASA
had begun to think about inflatable stations The Goett-committee has been one of the first On 25th26th May
1959 a conference started about projects after
Mercury In particular the
representative of Langley L a r r y Lo f t i n wa s
enthusiastic about his AMIS (Advanced Man in
Space) project (Hexagonal structure
Manama 1970 WB 113)
One of his first projects was a rotating hexagonal
inflatable construction with a diameter of 25 meters a cylindrical core and three lsquospokesrsquo Acting as a ferry to
and from the station the lsquoDyna Soarrsquo Space plane could
be used The Dyna Soar project (at that time still
under development) was cancelled by the American
Minister of Defense Robert
McNamara Inflatable Habitat NASA
1961 enwikipediaorg)
A Langley Space Station
team managed by Paul Hill and Emanuel lsquoMannyrsquo
Schnitzer developed the concept together with the
G o o d y e a r A i r c r a f t
Corporation
(Langleyrsquos self-inflating rotating hexagonal structure httphistorynasagov
SP-4308) Its original diameter had already been reduced to 10
meters
In the years after Langley built several experimental
modules called lsquoErectable Torus Manned Space Laboratoryrsquo a 11 model built by firms such as
Goodyear The torus was built from three layers of
nylon tissue and in between a rubber-like plastic material butyl elastomer A large problem was the
penetration by micrometeorites which as was learnt from the results of the Echo balloon finally damaged
the whole structure
Another problem was the great instability of the ring
due to movements of the astronauts the station started to wobble when they moved around Finally
the project was cancelled and at the end of the eighties the Langley Research Center started to
design inflatable constructions for a base camp on the
Moon
( A r t i s t imp r e s s i on Transhab inflatable
m o d u l e h t t p
enwikipediaorg)
Due to the development of a new series of
s t r o n g e r p l a s t i c materials such as Kevlar
these construct ions
received new interest That lead to the development of Transhab (Transit Habitat) as a resource for crews
coupled at the ISS (international Space Station) The construction is a cylinder in a diameter of 82 meters
and several storeys high
Its volume in inflatable state is 340 m3 The wall has a
thickness of 30 () cm and consists of 12 layers of which the outside layer is made from Kevlar The
layers beneath are made from Nextel a ceramic fibre Disagreements during development and the spiralling
costs finally in 2000 saw the end of NASArsquos interest
G e n e s i s 1
thespacereviewcom)
From 1999 the project was
taken up by Bigelow
38
ORBIT
Aerospace who improved the design and tested it with
successful launchings of Genesis I on 12 July 2006 and Genesis II on 28 June 2007
In their design it has once again more or less the shape
of a balloon With a thickness of 40 cm the wall is still
very thick The outside layer is still Kevlar but inside are some layers of Vectran a textile fibre Within the
structure ants and scorpions were launched along with some objects which people who paid for the privilege of
boosting into space
In this way Bigelow hopes to build a Space Hotel named
Nautilus To stimulate the development Bigelow offered a price of $50 million to everybody who succeeded in
launching a crew of 5 persons to an altitude of 400 km before 2010 So little money lost here so far
A second project which can be realized within the near future is a fixed residence on the Moon As said Langley
occupies itself with the design of such a base which partly should be build below the surface Stamp
designers have already realized the idea
What does the future hold Although we are a long way away from the kind of space station by which a large amount of earth inhabitants can
leave the planet Earth forever the first steps for doing
so are in preparation With the development of their Space Hotel Bigelow tries to make the step to space
albeit a temporary one
Also Langley literally tries to set foot on the Moon and
finally they will succeed in doing so However The cost of such projects are literally astronomical and it is not
expected that in the coming decades much money can be allocated to such projects
Of course in some thousands of years (possibly only in
hundreds of years) this will become the case but for the
time being in my opinion the true conquest of space will stay as science-fiction for at least a few hundred years
Hoorn 2009
John Beenen
NB The stamps entitled lsquoSpace Cityrsquo with a value of 0 cnt do not exist but have been made by the author by means of frames and pictures present at the Internet
Fantasy Moon
b a s e M a n a -ma1970 WB 122
Fantasy bases
ready for Mars
YAR 1971 WB 2892 and 6
Fantasy Modular
base YAR 169 WB 233
39
ORBIT
Cover Below bottom right Future space Dutch Antilles 2000
Literature references (for both parts of article) httpenwikipediaorg Space habitat Space Colonization Orbital Colony Space City Space settlement Space stations L5 Society Bernal Sphere Stanford Torus OrsquoNeil Cylinder Inflatable Space Habitat Transhab Biosphere 2 Generation Ship wwwdsenl~hklruimtehtm Wonen op groene eilanden in de Ruimte (Dutch Living on green Islands in Space) Henry Kluytmans wwworionsarmcom McKendree Cylinder Bishops Ring wwwnasnasagovAboutEducationSpaceSettlement The Colonization of Space wwwdyarstraightscommsgundamhabitatshtml Mobile Suit Gundam High Frontier Life in the Universal Century Developing sound habitats wwwartificial-gravitycomDissertation1_2htm From Tsiolkovsky to Sputnik (1878-1957) httpsciencenasagovheadlinesy2000ast26may_1mhtm Wheels in the Sky httpdiscaircraftgreyfalconus Hermann Noordung Wohnrad (Wheel for Habitation) httparticlesadsabsharvardedufull1992lbsaconf249R Inflatable habitation for the lunar base MRoberts httphistorynasagovSP-4308ch9htm lsquoAs inevitable as the Rising Sunrsquo From the inflatable Torus to the Rotating Hexagon wwwspacecomnewsbusinessmonday_040524html Bigelow Aerospace to tackle inflatable Space Habitats httpsciencehowstuffsworkcominflatable-spacecraft2htm How Inflatable Spacecraft Will Work wwwbogancaphysicscoriolishtml Rotating Space Stations Dynamics An Explanation of the Coriolis Force httpdemonstrationswolframcomRotatingSpaceStation Rotating Space Station wwwdvandomcomcoliolisspacestationhtml Frame Effects and Space Stations wwwdvandomcomcoriolisindexhtml A (hopefully) simple explanation of the Coriolis Force wwwdaviddarlinginfoencyclopedia Hale Edward Everett von Pirquet Guido Noordung Hermann Space Station wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm The Coriolis Force wwwastronautixcomcraftfamlunbaseshtm Lunar bases wwwastronautixcomgallerycspebasehtm Photo Gallery Space base wwwregererating-universeorgOn_Moon_as_Space_Basehtm On Moon as Space Base wwwspacefuturecomhabitatlivingshtml Space Habitat Introduction Living in Space wwwspacepagebevideotaak=bekijkampid=47 Living in space (Video) wwwnutricomspace The Case for Space colonization ndash Now Oscar Falconi wwwxentcompipermailfork (FoRK) Bigelowrsquos inflatable Genesis I satellite in orbit wwwrussianforcesorg Russian strategic nuclear forces (Genesis II) wwwbigelowaerospacecomgenesis Genesis I Genesis II
Thanks to Alan Tunnicliffe who came across the attached news item
complete with stamp in the eNZ Magazine the bi-monthly journal of
the Institution of Professional Engineers NZ Inc Vol 11 No 3 May-
June 2010
Vaccari Auction Sells Remarkable Space Covers April 2010
Apollo 12 cover 55 of 87 flown to the moon on Apollo 15 having been left behind by the original crew sold for euro12200 1977 Salyut
6 Soyuz 27 cover sold for euro1600
40
ORBIT ORBIT
Shuttle 1981mdash2010 Stamps Marshall
Islands 2005
United Nations 2007 Monaco and Ascension 2008
Bulgaria 1991 including stamp from souvenir sheet
USA 1981
below USA 1995 and bottom USA 1998
(two values)
St Vincent Grenadines 1983
Ascension 1989
Bulgaria 1990
and above right W Germany 1975
and USA 2000 Guyana 2006
USA 1995
41
ASSS Membership Renewal 2010
Memberrsquos Name amp Addresshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
I wish to renew my membership of the ASSS for a further year and enclose the equivalent of
pound15 (UK) euro30 (Europe) $US 45 (Rest of the World)
Please return this form with your remittance to Harvey Duncan by the
end of July Thank you
Harvey Duncan Treasurer ASSS 16 Begg Avenue
Falkirk Scotland FK1 2DL
PayPal For details of how to Pay via Paypal
please email Jeff Dugdale Email address on Page 2
42
43
44
17
ORBIT
18
ORBIT
Flight STS-130 Commander George Zamka Pilot Terry Virtis MS Kathryn Hire MS Stephen Robinson MS Nicholas Patrick MS Robert Behnken MS Koichi Wakata KSC Launch Date 822010 KSC Landing 21210 Purpose Tranquility Module Main Payload and Cupola
Shuttle Story 201011 STSndash130 -131 -132 Part One
STS-130 (ISS assembly flight 20A) via Endeavour carried as its
primary payloads the Tranquility module and the Cupola a robotic control station with six windows around its sides and
another in the centre providing a 360-degree view around the station Endeavour launched at 0414 EST (0914 UTC) on 8
February 2010 and landed at 2220 EST on 21 February 2010 on
runway 15 at the Kennedy Space Centers Shuttle Landing Facility
Tranquility was shipped from the
Thales Alenia Space facility in
Turin Italy It arrived at Kennedy Space Center on 21 May 2009 It
was formerly known as Node 3 and was named by a NASA poll
The module provides six berthing locations however three of those
locations are disabled as modules
originally planned to be attached to Tranquility were cancelled The
photo right shows Tranquility just before being installed to Unity node
STS-130 also brought the Cupola a large window
module and robotics work station to the ISS which was
to be attached to the nadir-
side of Tranquility The module also includes various
ISS systems including addit iona l l i fe support
systems This photo shows the facility being prepared at KSC whilst the photo above right
shows the module and cupola being moved into position on the
ISS
The shape of the mission patch on the launch
cover below represents the cupola over the earth in a photo taken by the unmanned
Lunar Orbiter probe in 1966 so representing a past and future designation for explorers from
Earth
For other Zazzle stamps
see page 33
19
ORBIT
Flight STS-131 Commander Alan Pointdexter Pilot James Dutton MS Rick Mastracchio MS Dorthy Metcalf- Lindenburger MS Stephanie Wilson MS Naoko Yamakazi MS Clayton Anderson KSC Launch Date 5410 KSC Landing 20410 Purpose MPLM Leonardo Main Payload
STS-131 (ISS assembly flight 19A) via Discovery launched on 5
April 2010 from Kennedy Space Centers launch pad 39A and landed at 908 AM on 20 April 2010 on runway 33 at the Kennedy
Space Centers Shuttle Landing Facility The mission marked the longest flight for space shuttle Discovery
The primary payload was a Multi-Purpose Logistics Module loaded with supplies and equipment for the ISS The mission also
removed and replaced an ammonia tank assembly outside the station on the S1 truss The mission also included several on-
board payloads this mission had the most payloads since STS-
107
The primary payload of STS-131 was MPLM Leonardo filled with food and science supplies and also carried the third and final
Minus Eighty Degree Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI) Window Orbital Research Facility (WORF) one Crew Quarters Rack the
Muscle Atrophy Resistive Exercise (MARES) rack Resupply
Stowage Racks (RSRs) as well as Resupply Stowage Platforms (RSPs) The Lightweight Multi-Purpose Equipment Support
Structure Carrier (LMC) carried a refurbished Ammonia Tank Assembly (ATA) to the ISS The refurbished ATA was removed
from the Space Station and returned for use on this mission
during STS-128 It was swapped with an empty tank which will ride home on the LMC
This mission was the second flight of the TriDAR a 3D dual-
sensing laser camera intended for potential use as an
autonomous rendezvous and docking sensor TriDAR provides guidance information that can be used to guide a vehicle during
rendezvous and docking operations in space TriDAR does not rely on any reference markers such as reflectors positioned on
the target spacecraft
This was the final Space Shuttle mission that contains one or
more rookie astronauts the missions after this will have all- veteran crews
STS-131 was only the third mission in the Space Shuttle
programme to carry three female astronauts
the others being STS-40 and STS-96
With three female crew members arriving on board Discovery and Expedition 23 Flight
Engineer Tracy Caldwell Dyson at the station
the STS-131 mission marked the first time that four women have been in space at one
time
STS-131 marked the first time that two
Japanese astronauts Naoko Yamazaki from the Shuttle crew and Soichi Noguchi on the
ISS had been in space together
Although Naoko Yamazaki is not the last non-
US astronaut Naoko was the last Japanese astronaut to fly the space shuttle
MPLM Leonardo can
be seen in the shuttle cargo bay
The seven stars either side of our
sun represent the
crew members
The shuttlersquos orientation indicates
it is performing the Rendezvous Pitch
Manoeuvre which
allows the ISS to photograph its
underbelly
20
ORBIT
Flight STS-132 Commander Kenneth Ham Pilot Dominic Antonelli MS Michael Good MS Garret Reisman MS Piers Sellars MS Stephen Bowen KSC Launch Date 1452010 KSC Landing 2652010 Purpose Delivery of Russian Main Payload Rassvet Module
STS-132 (ISS assembly flight ULF4) docked with the ISS on May
16 2010 It was launched from the Kennedy Space Center on May 14 2010 The primary payload is the Russian Rassvet Mini-
Research Module along with an Integrated Cargo Carrier-Vertical Light Deployable (ICC-VLD) STS-132 is scheduled to be the
final flight of Space Shuttle Atlantis provided that the STS-335
Launch On Need rescue mission is not flown
Rassvet means dawn in Russian The module was built
by Russian aerospace company
Energia and arrived at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC)
aboard an Antonov 124 cargo plane on 17 December 2009
After it was unloaded from the Antonov the module was
transported to an Astrotech processing bay in Cape Canaveral to
undergo preparations for launch shown in this photo
An airlock and radiation heat exchanger to be used for outfitting the Russian Nauka Module (to be launched in 2012) a spare
elbow part of the European Robotic Arm (ERA) and a portable
work platform for science hardware for performing experiments in outer space were externally mounted on Rassvet in its launch
configuration Russian and US cargo delivered was also accommodated inside the module The volume for cargo and
science inside MRM1 is 5 cubic meters] Rassvet was outfitted
with ISS standard grapple fixtures that allowed the module to be unloaded from the payload bay of Atlantis using the stations
robotic arm
The ICC pallet is constructed of aluminum It is approximately 8 feet long 13 feet wide and 10 inches thick The empty weight of
the pallet is 2645 pounds The total weight of ICCndashVLD and the ORUs is approximately 8330 pounds ICC-VLD return mass is
2933 kilograms (6470 lb)
The ICC-VLD was berthed in the centre of the
payload bay for both launch and re-entry
In the photo above Rassvet is shown centre top
The mission patch shows Atlantis flying off into the sunset as the end of the shuttle
programme approaches
21
ORBIT
By Andreacute Scheer and Margaret Morris This fascinating structure is an octagonal pentelic marble tower on the Roman agora or marketplace in Athens It was supposedly built by the astronomer Andronicus of Kyrrhos c 50 BC but according to other sources might have been constructed in the 2
nd
century BC before the rest of the forum The structure is 12 metres high with a diameter of approximately 8 metres On each of the eight sides (aligned with the eight principal points of the compass) is a sculpture featuring the wind gods and below each sculpture is engraved a sundial Thus the tower served as a solar clock but additionally in the interior was a water-clock (clepsydra) driven by water coming down from the Acropolis There were mechanical hour indicators and displays for the seasons of the year with astrological dates and periods The tower was topped in antiquity by a weather-vane in the shape of a triton with a wand which pointed at whichever of the winds was blowing The tower must have been one of the most useful structures in the agora as it showed the time for civilian purposes and indicated the wind direction for merchants awaiting the arrival of a ship The earliest philatelic items to depict this unusual building are postal stationery postcards originating from 1900 when the Greek postal authorities organised a competition for photographers and artists The best pictures were selected for issue and on 1 July 1901 the first series of 32 cards was issued In total 12 series of 32 cards each were issued between then and 20 March 1903 The cards were issued in three colours (chestnut black and green) with imprinted stamps of two values (5 lepta green for national mail and 10 lepta red for international mail) The cards additionally have an impressed stamp without colour on the left side being 10 lepta for the card itself so the cards were sold for 15 and 20 lepta The design of the imprinted stamps was based on the Hermes (Mercury) statue by Giovanni da Bologna During the war on the Balkans the cards were used by the Greek army and have an extra imprint ndash Carte Postale ndash Franchise Militaire A few examples of these postal stationery postcards are illustrated opposite and on page 23 The wording ldquoLrsquohorloge de Kyrrhestesrdquo refers to the timepiece built by Andronicus of Kyrrhos while ldquoTEMPLE DrsquoEOLErdquo translates as ldquoTemple of Aeolusrdquo (Aeolus = god of the winds) For each card 12 versions can be distinguished ndash ie 3 colours x 2 values x 2 usages For fuller information see reference no 1 Of course numerous picture postcards also feature this interesting structure
The Tower of the Winds The Oldest Planetarium on Stamps and
Postal Stationery
Front and back of postal stationery postcard
Examples of Greek postal stationery from the early 20th
century
Front and back of postal stationery postcard
22
ORBIT
The 19423 issues (SG 561-572) of Greece shown beside the 1973 Dominica souvenir sheet whose designer has
reinterpreted the divine sculptures in the margins
Boreas also on the 100d value in black and grey
Skiron
Zephyrus in two 25d vals
orange and green
Lips
Notus
Eurus
Apeliotes in two 10d vals red brown and red orange
Kaikias in two 50d vals black and grey violet and blue
Wind Direction Name of Deity Characteristics of the Sculpture North Boreas An old man wearing heavy clothing and holding a conch shell This wind was cold fierce and
stormy and in Athens made a loud hollow noise
North East Kaikias Old man with severe expression holding circular shield from which he will drop hailstones Weather characteristically cloudy wet and cold
East Apeliotes Young man with hair flowing in every direction holding a cloak full of fruit and grain ndash he brings gradual gentle rain
South East Eurus Old man with morose countenance wrapped tightly against the elements in his cloak This wind brought sultry gloomy weather with much rain
South Notus Young man emptying an urn and producing a shower of water This wind was associated with sultry very wet weather
South West Lips Boy pushing the stern of a ship promising a good sailing wind This was the wind which blew right into Piraeus harbour
West Zephyrus Beautiful lightly clad youth of happy aspect holding a cloak full of flowers In summer this wind brought very sultry weather
North West Skiron Bearded man with a bronze pot full of hot ashes and charcoal This was a dry wind extremely cold in winter but scorching and with lightning in summer
The following table gives details of the sculptures and the characteristics attributed to each of the wind gods
For fuller information see reference no 2
23
ORBIT
The sculptures of the eight winds were depicted on stamps of Greece issued in 1942 (six designs) and 1943 (again six designs ndash four as the previous issue but including the two omitted winds) Five values were surcharged in 1944 to aid victims of the Piraeus bombing of 11 January 1944 the exceptionally high face value resulted in few of these stamps being used Later in 1944 the same five values were surcharged in aid of a Childrenrsquos Convalescent Camp Fund Finally in 1946 two values of the 1942 issue were surcharged ndash the 10dr value in black and the 50dr revalued as 20dr in red See opposite for examples of the stamp designs In addition to these attractive engraved stamps the 1973 issue from Dominica commemorating the centenary of the World Meteorological Organisation included a miniature sheet incorporating the 50c and $1 values and surrounded in the margin by images of all eight wind sculptures (see page 22) More recently the cover of a booklet issued by Greece on 7 October 1988 provides an aerial view of the agora and the Tower of the Winds can be detected (see below) The booklet contains 16 stamps (4 each of 4 different values) and celebrates capitals of Greek provinces In early Christian times the building was used as the bell tower of a Byzantine Church It was partly buried in the ground until fully excavated in the 19
th century by the
Archaeological Society of Athens It is interesting to note that the design of the upper octagon of the 18th century Radcliffe Observatory in Oxford England is based on the Tower of the Winds as is the mausoleum of the founder of the Greek National Library Panayis Vagliano at West Norwood Cemetery London There is a similar tower in Sevastopol built in 1849 References
1 ldquoEntiers Postaux Illustreacutes du service des postes
helleacuteniques et leurs preacutecurseursrdquo Georges Mathas 1985
2 For finely detailed drawings and information about the sculptures you may care to see if your Library has a copy of ldquoThe Antiquities of Athensrdquo Stuart amp Revett Vol 1 published in London 1762
3 Article by Derek J de Solla Price in ldquoNational
Geographic April 1967 pp587-596 4 Much useful information may also be obtained from
sites on the internet
Examples of Overprints from left to right
1944 Piraeus Bombing Aid 1944 Childrenrsquos convalescent camp fund 1946 Surcharge
Below Cover of the 1988 stamp booklet
Front and back of postal stationery postcard
24
ORBIT
Old Photo Makes New(s) Story
A photo taken twenty-one years ago became hot international new(s) this July writes Bert van Eijck
It is a picture of your correspondent in front of the
monument on the graves of the seven astronauts killed
in the Challenger disaster The photo from November 1989 shows the national cemetery at Arlington in
Washington DC And it is this graveyard a national American field of pride and honour that was involved in
a scandal making news all over the world
What happened This became a hot story after it was leaked to the press that in 211 graves on Arlington the wrong corpse had
been buried But this disgrace grew to international
proportions when the US Senate published a report which revealed that it was not 211 but 6600 graves that
had been so dishonoured And maybe there are more the researchers stated
Consequently it meant that family members had been paying their respect at the wrong graves because many
were not marked well or the ground-plan directed to wrong places
Arlingtonrsquos director John Metzler was fired as was his
depute Thurman Higginbotham both of whom said
they knew there were made mistakes but they could not help ldquobecause of economyrdquo
Arlington cemetery was opened in 1864 Since then
300000 Americans have been buried here including
famous or well-known persons like presidents
ministers high ranked military artists judges and
astronauts
And what about some of the most recent ones Did I indeed visit and honour the seven Challenger astronauts in their last resting place on Earth in
November 1989 as shown on the photo Or are they perhaps mistakenly buried in another
unmarked grave This is hard to believe but one never knowshelliphellip
For those who wonder what was doing 21
years ago in the US capital I visited the
World Stamp Exporsquo89 at the Convention Center in Washington DC Of course I did
more sightseeing at and in the famous Smithsonian Museums (a must the
National AirampSpace Museum with 10
million visitors a year) the Capitol the metro (deepest in the world) George
Washingtonrsquos house in Vernon Arlington of course and much more
At the World Stamp Expo there was a
presentation of both USA and USSR space
stamps The American stamps were presented by astronaut Buzz Aldrin the
Soviet stamps by cosmonaut Gherman Titov
Author and the Challenger astronauts monument at Arlington seven figures in bronze (left) At right a plaque honoring US-soldiers killed in action saving
hostages in Iran
Astronaut Buzz Aldrin (left) presents the US space stamps while cosmonaut Gherman Titov (right) does the same with
Soviet space stamps In the middle officials of USPS Below the
stampshellip
25
ORBIT
The Apollo 15 Cover Scandal by Umberto Cavallaro
In a feature which first appeared in the April-June 2010 issue of Ad Astra the web journal of the Italian Astrophilatelic Association its editor reveals in considerable detail the full story of those covers which today sell for so much money The Apollo 15 flown covers are among the best known
collectibles from the Apollo Era mainly because of what Jim Irwin recalls as ldquothe problem we brought
back from the Moonrdquo
The crew of Apollo 15 carried out one of the most complete scientific explorations of the Moon the first
lunar roving vehicle was operated on the Moon to
extend the range of exploration some 180 pounds of lunar surface samples were returned for analysis Yet
Fifteen is best remembered as the crew that carried envelopes to the moon and the whole mission is
remembered for the ldquogreat postal caperrdquo
Apollo 15 was not the first mission to carry covers
dozens were carried on each flight from Apollo 11 onwards and as Commander Dave Scott recalls in his
book the whole business had probably been building since Mercury through Gemini and into Apollo People
had a fascination with objects that had been carried in space and they became more and more popular and
valuable as the programme progressed Right from
the start of the Mercury programme each astronaut had been allowed to carry on board a certain number
of personal items
NASA was in the habit of authorizing astronauts to
carry certain personal items on manned flights known as Astronautsrsquo PPK (Personal Preference Kits) All such
items had to be listed and approved by Deke Slayton the Head of the Astronaut Office prior to launch and
were intended for private use or as personal gifts
after the flight and could not be employed for commercial
Fig 1 The official USPS cover postmarked on the Moon
purposes or personal gain Astronaut kits typically
included badges jewellery coins medals flags stamps postal covers currency printed materials and
similar easily packed lightweight mementoes As the flight became more significant the number and type of
items increased
Aside from personal mementoes each crew had
carried medallions whose number had grown steadily on each mission In his book The All-American Boys astronaut Walter Cunningham reveals that it was rumoured around the Astronaut Office that Apollo 14
carried on board a personal package weighing forty-
two pounds Before that flight the Franklin Mint had even advertised the proposed sale After the flight the
commercial deal was never completed and all went quiet nothing about it being published in the media
But some members of the US Congress were unhappy
of the situation
In that context the ldquolapses of judgmentrdquo of the Apollo 15 crew became fatal Dave Scott went too far
carrying on board a total of 641 postal covers (including the two official covers) of which only 243
were listed and authorized before the flight and 398
were not -- secretly carried on board Apollo 15 by Scott in a pocket of his space suit Had they been
listed as being in Scotts PPK they would probably have been routinely approved for inclusion in the
preference kit
The 243 listed and authorized covers include
bull 2 official US Postal Service covers one of which the ldquoOfficial Coverrdquo was publicly cancelled on the
moon by Scott at the request of the US Postal
Service 10 (Fig 1) bull 1 Wright Brothers commemorative cover dated
1928 and autographed by Orville Wright which was carried by Worden for a friend
bull 1 cover bearing a First Man on the Moon stamp and a Bliss Centennial three-cent stamp carried by
Irwin for Barbara Baker (Fig 2 below)
26
ORBIT
8 Shamrock covers carried by Irwin (as below)
144 Herrickrsquos ldquoMoon Phasesrdquo covers carried by Worden
(Fig 4) printed with a cachet showing 15 phases of the moon On the USS Okinawa the Apollo 15 recovery ship
the astronauts placed two eight-cent stamps purchased
on board by Worden on each of these covers and they had the covers cancelled by the shipboard post office
The astronauts later autographed these covers while flying back from Hawaii to Houston Sixteen covers were
torn or damaged and were destroyed Because of the furore created by the Apollo 15 covers incident NASA
confiscated 61 of these 144 Moon Phases covers
87 Apollo 12 covers (Fig 5) that for unknown reason
did not fly on that mission and which were carried on
Apollo 15 for Mrs Barbara Gordon a stamp collector then wife of Richard Gordon Apollo 12 astronaut who
at was the back-up pilot for Apollo 15
The 398 unauthorized covers (initially there were
400 but 2 were damaged and discarded) are lightweight envelopes carrying as a cachet a replica
of the official Apollo 15 patch overprinted with an Air Force wing and propeller emblem
The idea of these additional covers was suggested during a cocktail party by Eiermann a salesman for
the heat-shield contractor who had frequent business and social contacts with NASA personnel and
astronauts He suggested to fly 400 lightweight covers 100 for each of the astronauts and 100 for
his friend Sieger the German stamp dealer The
cacheted covers were provided by Al Bishop a friend of many astronauts then at the Howard
Hughes organization He had already provided covers for the previous flights since Apollo 12
Above one of the 100 Sieger covers with the handwritten note ldquoLanded at Hadley Moon July 30 1971 On the
reverse is a typed and notarised inscription ldquoThis is to certify that this cover was on board the Falcon at the Hadley-
Apennine Moon July 30 ndashAug 2 1971rdquo
Below one of the 298 unauthorised covers carried to the Moon by David Scott with the inscription ldquoThis envelope was
carried to the Moon aboard the Apollo 15 of 300 to the Lunar Surface in LMrdquoFalconrdquo
The crews usually returned to Bishop a couple of
flown covers signed with gratitude ldquoTo my
knowledge ndash Cunningham reports in his well documented book ndash Bishop never sold any and never
made a dime off his relationship He was simply a fan To Al Bishop Apollo 15 was no different from any
other flight except for a phone call he received from
Hal Collins the Astronaut Office manager at the Cape
27
ORBIT
Collins told Bishop that the crew would like to know
whether he could obtain some very lightweight envelopes for them Al said that hed be happy to do so
He was unaware then that many of them would be smuggled on board the next lunar flight Al was trusted
Thats why many of us imposed on him with our
problems special requests and sometimes matters which we would rather not share with NASArdquo
This time Al was badly used he emerged as a
scapegoat and his name was dragged as though he was the Mr Big of an international stamp conspiracy
The covers were cancelled at Kennedy Space Center
several days before July 26 1971 The date of the post office machine canceller was moved forward
Additionally twin eight-cent stamps were purchased by the astronauts on the USS Okinawa the Apollo 15
recovery ship and affixed to these covers ndash as for the
Herrickrsquos covers In the shipboard post office the covers were then cancelled and date-stamped August 7 1971
The astronauts finally autographed these covers while flying from Hawaii to Houston
Soon after the flight the astronauts gave Eiermann
the 100 covers ndash after agreeing that there was to be
no commercialization or advertising of these covers and that nothing would be done with them until after
completion of the Apollo programme
But after a while news started to circulate that the
German dealer was selling in Europe covers flown on Apollo 15 for a reported average of US $1500 each
The reports infuriated Congress not least because congressmen had to read such controversial
information in the press before being informed by
NASA which is obligated to keep Congress fully informed of its activity Recollection of the Apollo 14
medallions incident must have echoed in the minds of certain members of Congress many of whom were
not fans of NASA anyway NASA started an internal investigation This was the most controversial
development of the Apollo Programme and although
most astronauts were involved to some degree NASA made an example of the Apollo 15 flight crew ldquoIt
was turning into a witch-huntrdquo recalled Scott ldquoOur bosses had abrogated their responsibilities and we
were left alone on a very wet dayrdquo
It is ironic that after addressing a joint session of
Congress as heroes in less that one year the three astronauts of Apollo 15 had to go back in front of these
same senators in disgrace because of this envelope scandal
After this ldquoincidentrdquo NASA prohibited from Apollo 17 on the flying of covers or stamps during a space
missions (they were not on time to block the covers carried on Apollo 16) The only exceptions have been
since then the items flown in cooperation with the US
Postal Service ie the 266000 covers carried in 1983 in
the payload bay of the Space Shuttle Challenger on
STS-8 and the 500000 $995 Express Mail stamp created by Paul and Chris Calle in 1994 flown on
Endeavour STS-68 in recognition of the 25th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing The huge
number of such items carried in space discourages
speculations and these items still are widely available for few dollars
So far fewer than 1000 envelopes in total have flown
to the Moon No other American covers will flow to the Moon in the foreseeable future Perhaps the next
ldquoMoon coversrdquo will bear Chinese or Indian stamps
Dave Scott was the first lunar Postmaster and had two
postmarks with him and two covers with imperforated dieproof of the US twin Decade of Space Achievements
stamps affixed (Fig 1)
He had one postmark with ldquoMoon Landing USArdquo (Fig 8 below) and another with ldquoUnited States on the
Moonrdquo (Fig 9 bottom)
The First Lunar Post Office was opened on August 2 1971 when David Scott postmarked only the official
cover (and brought back the official backup-cover uncancelled) A handful covers had however been
postmarked before launch with both postmarks Dr Matthew Radnofsky ndash who in his laboratory already
had simulated cancelling in space for Apollo 11 ndash
tested both postmarks to ensure that the cancellation devices were in working order
Especially the date could be changed easily Contrary
to Apollo 11 covers without stamps were used for
28
ORBIT
these tests Apollo 15 Lunar Cancellation Proofs are
much scarcer than Apollo 11 ones ldquoAs by now I am aware of only 17 itemsrdquo states famous astrophilatelist
Walter Hopferwieser Covers with proofs of the Apollo 15 moon postmarks have been recently sold at Regency
Superior and Aurora auctions
The official Apollo 15 cover postmarked on the Moon
(see Fig 1 repeated above ) is displayed at the US National Postal Museum It was publicly cancelled and
the video can be seen at httpwwwpostalmuseumsiedustampstakeflight
apollo15video-01html A short speech was given by
Dave Scott while cancelling the cover ldquoTo show that our good Postal Service has deliveries any place in the
universe I have the pleasant task of cancelling here on the Moon the first stamp of a new issue dedicated to
commemorate US achievements in space I have the
first one here on an envelope At the bottom it says United States in Space a decade of achievement and
Im very proud to have the opportunity here to play postman I pull out a cancellation device It says
August 2 1971 first day of issuehellip What could be a
better place to cancel this stamp than right here at Hadley Rillehelliprdquo
Immediately thereafter the Postmaster General who
was waiting at the Mission Control at Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston Texas gave the signal to start the
First- Day cancellations at post offices in Houston
Kennedy Space Center and Huntsville
Acknowledgement Thanks to Walter Hopferwieser for his comments
Some Notes About Space Mail
Commenting on Brian Vincentrsquos article in the June
2010 Orbit ASSS member Geoff Chivers writes in an
email to your Editorhellip Im sure you wont mind me commenting on Brian G Vincents Some Notes About Space Mail (page 36)
In paragraph 2 he refers to the Apollo 15 cover incident leaving the impression that Scott Worden and Irwin were guilty of some heinous crime This has been the subject of much miss-reporting over the years The full story of what actually happened is explained in depth at page 328 et seq of Two sides of the moon by David Scott and Alexei Leonov published by Simon amp Shuster The astronauts were of course exonerated
This is the quote (slightly edited to enable it to stand as an independent piece)-
During 1972 while on a trip to Washington DC George Low NASA deputy administrator asked me to stop by his
office writes David Scott I had known George in Houston while he was Apollo spacecraft programme manager and I had great respect for him We spent a short while exchanging pleasantries Then George looked me in the eye and came to the point ldquoWell Daverdquo he said ldquoI have to tell you I was not very proud of my performancerdquo His comment was the culmination of what had become known as the Apollo 15 ldquocover incidentrdquo This involved some first day postal covers which we had carried aboard Apollo 15 some of which were unfortunately sold by a German stamp dealer several months after the flight As No 2 in NASA George
had been heavily involved in NASAs handling of the incident and his comment referred to one of the poorest management performances the space agency had ever demonstrated - up to then The whole business had probably been building since Mercury through Gemini and into Apollo People had a fascination with objects that had been carried in space and they became more and more popular and valuable as the programme progressed Right from the start of the Mercury programme each astronaut had been allowed to carry on board a certain number of personal items in what were known as PPKS - Personal Preference Kits Before each flight a list of the items was prepared for Deke Slayton who
Two Sides of The Moon
by David Scott and Alexei Leonov
The text opposite from the
above book has been
referred to by Umberto Cavallaro in preparing his
above piece
29
ORBIT
had overall responsibility for approving them As the flights became more significant the number and type of items increased Aside from personal mementoes each crew had carried a certain number of medallions which they could hand out afterwards as souvenirs The number of medallions had grown steadily on each mission - eventually some crew members had been carrying several hundred each and their weight was becoming a concern And as always commercialisation began to creep in In the end on Apollo 14 commanded by Al Shepard it was alleged that the crew had carried some silver medallions on board which were to be melted down after the flight and mixed with many other commemorative medallions by the Franklin Mint to be sold to the general public The Franklin Mint had even advertised the proposed sale before the flight After the flight the deal was never consummated and all went quiet nothing about it was printed in the media But some members of Congress had heard about it and were unhappy with the situation Since we were busy training for Apollo 15 (launched 26 July 1971) we knew nothing about all this Had we known we would have been far more wary of what happened subsequently All we knew was that Deke Slayton had halved the number of medallions we could carry Shortly afterwards Deke introduced Jim (Irwin) Al (Worden) and me to a long-standing friend of his at the Cape called Walter Eiermann In retrospect this seems likely to have been more than a coincidence Deke invited us to join him at dinner at Eiermanns house one evening several months before the Apollo 15 launch Eiermann asked if we would like to make some money on the side by signing some stamps ldquoAll the guys are doing itrdquo he said We agreed We were also approached by several members of the Manned Spacecraft Centerrsquos stamp club who asked us to sign many first - day covers before the flight for their members as well as for ourselves At that time we could not buy life insurance If we signed some covers we reasoned they could be held during the flight and act as limited life insurance for our families if anything happened to us But then Eiermann proposed we carry four hundred lightweight commemorative covers a hundred of which would be passed on to a stamp dealer in Germany when we returned All the covers would be franked on the day of launch and franked on the day of our return Our understanding was that the dealer would hold his hundred covers to be sold at some future date after the Apollo programme was over In return he would set up a $6000 trust fund for each of us for the education of our children In the months of intense activity before the flight we did not give this more than a moment of thought But we agreed In retrospect we made a mistake in even considering it In the months following our mission we learnt that the German dealer had begun to sell the covers We let Eiermann know that we were opposed to the sale Forget the trust funds we said we dont want any money This is not what we had understood would happen But when senior managers at NASA learnt about the covers being sold they were furious Incomplete information was then provided to the press by NASArsquos Public Affairs Office and reports started to appear that we had smuggled the covers onto our flight This was literally impossible NASA personnel prepared us for every aspect of the flight - from our birthday suits out Everything we had carried had to be specially packaged by the flight support crew to make sure apart from anything else
that it was fireproof Everything in our PPKs was on a list which was certified before launch I was never aware of any rules about what could or could not be taken in these packs Slayton was to approve the list so as far as I was concerned it was up to management to keep us on the straight and narrow I assumed if the list was approved that was fine Usually the list was certified by Deke But before our flight for some reason he neither asked us personally for each of our lists as was customary nor signed off on the list personally He said the flight - crew support team had already logged everything Whereas we had purchased the covers ourselves the Astronaut Office at the Cape had prepared the covers for the flight and had had them stamped and franked on the day of launch Somehow however the support team had missed them when they prepared the PPK flight manifest It was also reported after the incident that we had been removed from the astronaut corps Again totally untrue Unfortunately NASA managers did nothing to dispel this false and misleading information They just tucked their heads in and let the rumours run The reports infuriated Congress not least because congressmen had to read such controversial information in the press before being informed by NASA which is obligated to keep Congress fully informed of its activities Recollections of the Apollo 14 medallion incident must have seeped into the minds of certain members of Congress many of whom were not fans of NASA anyway When NASA started an internal investigation we were told by a senior official in the agency that we were on our own We were advised to get our own legal representation A Senate hearing into the matter had been called and a justice Department investigation would follow It was turning into a witch - hunt NASA we were advised expected us to keep quiet and take the Fifth Amendment at this hearing We did not We told it like it was We had nothing to hide Eventually the Justice Department concluded that we had broken some administrative rules but had done nothing criminal NASA confiscated the remaining covers but they acted before discovering all the facts of the case Following an investigation by NASA the Justice Department and the Senate the Justice Department concluded on 6 December 1978 in a ldquoMemorandum Opinion for the Assistant Attorney Generalrdquo that NASA had no claim to the remaining covers that the covers were never intended for sale that there was no attempt at concealment by the crew of the fact that the covers were to be flown on Apollo 15 and finally that the covers would have been approved to carry aboard Apollo 15 had a request been made We were reprimanded and we took our licks But it was a very raw deal NASA had hung us out to dry Our bosses had abrogated their responsibilities and we were left alone on a very wet day I spent many years trying to get full access to NASA and congressional records on the case NASA refused to provide full disclosure We subsequently found out there had been rumblings about profitmdashmaking on previous missions A copy of a letter was released to me in which NASA admitted that ten other astronauts who were not identified had been involved in selling signed blocks of stamps and postcards for Eiermann But the wave reached the shore on Apollo 15 and we were the ones who bore the brunt of the blame for such incidents
30
ORBIT
Buckingham Cover offer Free Souvenirs for You
Brian Austin of Buckinghamrsquos Rare Cover Department writes to your Editorhellip
Over the last two or three years we have been dealing more and more in signed space covers This led us to earlier this year buying an Apollo 11 crew signed cover which had been carried to the moon which we had on display on our stand at London 2010
For this we also printed a limited edition of 800 sets of postcards one featuring the Apollo 11 cover and another
featuring an Apollo 15 cover The idea was to give away 100 sets per day to customers at the show but now the show is all finished I still have around 150 pairs left on my desk
We wondered if you would like to offer them to your readers we are happy to send them out free of charge to the first 150 readers to contact us with their details as long as we can also include one of our lists of space
covers
BrianAustinbuckinghamcoverscom
31
ORBIT
More About Missile Mail
Harvey Duncan told us in the last Orbit (page 15) about the First Official Missile Mail writes Bert van Eijck After the useful technical details about the USS Barbero he gave us I can offer you more philatelic information and show you some illustrations The missile mail experiment was a joint venture between
the Ministry of Defense and the US Post Office Dept headed by Postmaster General Mr Arthur E
Summerfield Three thousand special envelopes were printed with a reproduction of a Navy missile type
Regulus with the text ldquoFirst Official Missile Mailrdquo and above that ldquoThe Postmaster General Washingtonrdquo All
the envelopes were addressed to The President high
government officials like senators and to the Post Masters General of ninety nine other member nations of
UPU Inside was a letter from Mr Summerfield entitled ldquoThe First Official Missile Mailrdquo with the official seal of
the Post Office dept It was explained therein what had
happed to that letter and the other 2999
The special letters were loaded in two metal compartments and came aboard the guided missile USS Barbero (SSG-317) The shot was to occur during a regular training mission from Norfolk Virginia to Florida
About 350 kilometres off the coast of Florida the
Regulus missile was launched toward Airport Mayport
The missile climbed 10 km above the Atlantic and
landed within twenty minutes with all the letters intact The letters were cancelled with the hand stamp ldquoUSS
Barberordquo with the date ldquoJun 8 1959rdquo and the approximate timing of the launching ldquo930 amrdquo This
was done by post office staff part of an established
branch office on the USS Barbero The letters bore the 1957 4c American flag postage stamp Those
addressed to foreign countries carried two such stamps covering surface mail postage costs On the
reverse side is the Jacksonville Post Office cancellation with the approximate time of arrival ldquoJune 8 1030 am
1959 Floridardquo
Such flown letters are expensive to buy and a jewel in
any exhibit
But this is NOT the case with the Barbero souvenir
cover dated a month later on July 8 1959 issued in the same quantity (3000) as the originals The
inscription reads ldquoPoint of LandingmdashFirst Official Missile Mail 8 June 1959 US Naval Station Mayport Floridardquo
About 16000 () collectors had applied for such a cover
The imprint of the official Barbero cover was reproduced on a memorial cover issued and posted at
the Vienna International Airpost Exhibition Luposta on August 1959 in the Austrian capital Of course neither
of these items had been carried within the Regulus
missile
Also of interest the Postal Administration of
Paraguay issued a stamp
and a block in 1976 honouring the Barbero
Missile Mail The Gs 20 stamp shows a Regulus
missile in flight while the sheet shows the whole
addressed cover and in
miniature the complete letter inside from the US Postmaster General
as mentioned above and as illustrated below
Above a specimen envelope as described in the text and below its reverse cancel
32
ORBIT
An Invitation to Our Readers to Donate to an Innovative International Projecthellip
Kindest Sir or Madam
The municipality of Vitanje
(Slovenia) is honoured to have had a hand in the life of the
famous space architect Herman Potocnik Noordung
(1892-1929) (pictured right) who had already found a
surprising number of solutions
to space travel and troubles of living in vacuum long before
actual space flights took place His creations were used by the
renowned novelist Arthur C Clarke
in his book 2001 A Space Odyssey which was later also turned into a
movie directed by Stanley Kubrick In Noordungs honour we have
created the Memorial Centre of Herman Potocnik Noordung This
year the cultural centre of European
space technology will also get going in Vitanje This will be a place
where the European space heritage will be gathered and various events connected with the
contemporary European space technologies will be
organized
Proposed Philatelic Collection We would like to bring the project onto a higher level
where we would have the collaboration of various
countries in the world including such with a history in space travel (like USA Russia) One of the steps of this
expansion process would also include a philatelic collection of stamps with themes of outer space
(astronomy astronautics and everything connected to
outer space) We already have quite a decent collection but we would like to expand on that
Our goal is to have 6000 stamps before opening our
exhibition For this we would require the help of as many philatelists as possible
All of these philatelists would become co-creators and partners of this collection for which we hope will
become the largest collection of its kind in the world The people donating the stamps would get a great deal
of exposure at all these exhibitions and on the special
website which will be started shortly If you give us enough support and we are able to raise enough
stamps for a first-class collection we hope the first
exhibitions and various special events (like visits from
astronauts ndash philatelists) will see the light of day as early as in 2011
From a professional point of view we have an
excellent team working with us Long-time philatelist
Tone Petek is the person who initiated this project while Bojan Bracic the secretary of FEPA is one of our
counsellors and is completely behind this project
If you would be interested in such cooperation I will get the wheels in motion and send you a verifying
mail with the stamp of the municipality of Vitanje and
also of some higher organization within the Slovene political system
The collection is already underway with the help of the
Slovene Philatelic organisation (FZS) adds Rok in an email to your Editor in July This organisation has been of immense help with technical expertise and
connections It looks as if there might be an introductory exhibition next year sometime
In the hope of a successful partnership we offer our
sincere appreciation
Rok Podgrajsek
Obcina Vitanje Grajski trg 1
3205 Vitanje
Slovenia
Email address rokpodgrajsekgmailcom
But see also website httpwwwvitanjesi
(Editorrsquos Note both Wendy Buckle editor of
Themescene and our Chairman Margaret Morris commend this project to you We will be sending Rok
some recent copies of Orbit for the displays)
Some illustrations from Noordungrsquos only published text ldquoThe Problem of
Space Travel The Rocket Motorrdquo (the original German title
was ldquoDas Problem der Befahrung
des Weltraums - der Raketen-Motorrdquo) which saw the light of day
in 1928
Vitanje Local Private Post stamp
33
ORBIT
Zazzle Space Stamps Dazzle
I have noticed Zazzle Space Stamps appearing in Lollini brochures and on their web pages in recent months writes your Editor so I undertook to find out some facts about them and am grateful to The Astrophile Editor Jim Roth and the man who inspired him to create his own Zazzle designs Otto Bergman for the following infohellip Zazzle is one of half a dozen or more US companies
who facilitate the printing of non-copyrighted photos and artwork on private postage stamps which count
as postage within and outwith the USA You can
design your own Zazzle stampsmdashsee their websitemdashwhich you then purchase for your own use 20 to a
page
They are therefore a bit like British Smilers except
that the personal element of the stamp is not on a se-tenant label but actually incorporated within the
stamp itself as you can see from the examples on this page
Jim Roth was annoyed that the Kennedy Space Center Post office would not cancel his Zazzle stamps as they
consider them to be ldquometersrdquo and although he has marked STS-122 he wonrsquot be creating any others
You can see (and buy) all Jim Rothrsquos Space Zazzles on
his website m57coverscommdashclick on ldquostampsrdquo
Three of Jim Rothrsquos designs
See others on his website
An Otto Bergman space creation on
Zazzlecomottobergman
These space Zazzles and others are
available from the Lollini website or brochures
STS 128 in May 2010 section
STS 129 in June 2010
WISE and Delta 2 launch in July 2010 STS 130 in August 2010
STS 128 stamps show astronauts Christer Fuglesang (far left) and left Frank De Winne ISS Commander Expedition 21 STS 129 issues depict mission
patch and the crew led by Charles Hobaugh
Delta 2 rocket launch from Cape Canaveral of WISE Deep InfraRed telescope
34
ORBIT
Concluded on page 39
More Spaceflight Books for Sale
35
ORBIT ORBIT
SPACE HABITATS (Part Two) by John Beenen Continuing his feature from our last issue John Beenen begins by posing the questionhellip Why Should we Seek to Live
in Space
Spacecom gives ten main reasons why we should enter space for a prolonged
period
1 To secure a future for humanity
2 To build a new frontier
3 To find new energy sources
4 To build an industrial settlement on
the Moon
5 Better quality images of the
Universe
6 The SETI effort
7 Mining
8 Learning the history of our
Universe
9 Environmental benefits
Meeting the challenge
Taking for granted that it is naturally fascinating to investigate how mankind
might be able to maintain its habitat outside earth there are several further reasons to investigate why
mankind should settle themselves outside earth in the far future And More reasons mean a overall better
argument
Primarily there is the question of overpopulation and
secondly a solution for the energy problem
Next we have to consider that climate circumstances
are not under control anymore and earth eventually becomes uninhabitable
Also when for various reasons we start to kill each
other for some groups of people it may be an attractive proposition to depart this Earth in quite a different
sense And that is perhaps the most common thought
through activities in space more money can be obtained
But there are disadvantageshellip
On the other hand a prolonged stay in space is not that safe The construction must be protected against
radiation and it can be hit by large and small debris which makes space a very unsafe place
Furthermore cosmic radiation produces
a radiation of 80 mSv (millisievert) - well over the allowed maximum of 50
mSv and very much over the amount which is considered as safe for man
which is 3 mSv
Next solar flares produce a sudden
increase of soft gamma and energy rich radiation so much that without the
protection of an atmosphere half of our population could die easily
It is interesting that even without shielding most of this radiation can be
absorbed in the projected spacecraftsrsquo structure and in the air Smaller
structures can be protected with a
shield of co-rotating rocks
The construction further must be protected against sunlight which by
lack of the air shield will fall in unshielded so sun blinds and radiators
are indispensable
And as a result of the artificial gravity
there are some tiny movement problems which we will face later
Finally the created ecosystem should be fully self-supporting and that is easier said than done as
experiments with Biosphere-2 have showed
Biosphere-2 Biosphere-2 was a project built between 1987 and 1991 providing in an area of about 2frac12 football fields
a closed biological system of different composition From 1991-1993 a crew of 8 persons stayed herein A
second crew of 7 persons bridged a period of March
until September 1994 During the first period it appeared difficult to keep the atmosphere constant in
particular the carbon dioxide values changed rapidlymdashthe reason why many of the carried insects perished
Further the oxygen level decreased slowly because pf a leak
Even during the first two-year phase large differences in opinion appeared and the yield was not large
enough to deliver the calories necessary Reserve stocks had to be broken into Finally the second
experiment had to be ended prematurely because of
mismanagement
However it seems that a well-functioning stable ecosystem should not be underestimated physically
not technically
Artists impressions above Interior Stanford Torus and below Interior
OrsquoNeill Cylinder
Solar flares Czechoslovakia 1965 WB 47
36
ORBIT
It further has to be speculated on that men would resist
a regulated weather programme instead of the customary ever changing circumstances on Earth
Also we must physically resist an eternal stay outside
Earth That is not always easy as some people will show
some kind of sea sickness for ever In any case rooms with a diameter of less than 100 meters and a speed of
revolution over three per minute are insufficient At specifications of over 500 m and at less than 1 revolution
per minute fewer problems have to be expected
How do we get raw materials (Fantasy Moon Mining Yemen
Mutawakelite 1969 1343)
And still there have to be enough raw materials to sustain the
colony but as a principle the
search for raw materials is not the most difficult
From the asteroid belt enough small rocks can be
transported as a building material Also mines can be put
on the Moon Bercause of the lower gravity there transport is easier and some kind of firing mechanism
has been calculated which launch packets of ore simply into space where they can be manipulated
Air can be produced from moonstone Nitrogen nearly without loss can be recycled and eventually added to
ammonia mined from comets Large gardens and fields should start the normal photosynthesis and doing so
finally a complete sustainable society might be built up Energy from the Sun is present in superfluous quantities
What to do about gravity Most designs for a Space station start with a gravity of
1G Some designers however think that a lower level of gravity is possible But in the meantime experiments
with astronauts have showed that our physiology
changes rapidly influenced by decreased or absence of gravity Thus the calcium potassium and sodium
contents of our bone system decrease by about 10 That is not bad were we to stay in space forever but
very troublesome when occasionally we would return to
Earth
Also the quality of our muscles decreases as the blood volume does Providing effects comparable to aging
Further by lack of gravity astronauts become a little
taller with accompanying pain in the back Hence the staying with 1G gravity is not so bad
That has to be maintained by rotation of the
construction The larger the diameter of the construction is the slower it will turn to provide 1 G That is a result
of the centrifugal or centripetal force Its
magnitude has long been established thanks to the work of Dutchman Christiaan Huygens and fixed in
the formula
m v2
F = r where
F = the external force in N(ewton) m = mass in kg
v = speed in msec r = radius in m
Hence a spacecraft with a diameter of 15 meters has to carry out one revolution every 8 seconds to
produce a sensation of 1G And that is too quick for man The effect of the centrifugal force is that should
an astronaut drop an object it does not fall straight
down but partly away from himher Weird
Coriolis force But in a rotating Space station another force is at
work That is the lsquoCoriolis forcersquo named after the
French Gustave-Gaspard Coriolis (1792-1843) who described this kind of force for the first time
The most common manifestation is the second law of
Buys Ballot which says that air streams in the
atmosphere which according the first law of Boys Ballot as a principle run from high to low pressure at
the northern hemisphere are bent to the right and at the southern hemisphere to the left because of the
rotation of the Earth
Therefore air streams around depressions show a
spiral shape in opposite directions at the northern and southern hemisphere In a space station this
force can especially noticed when moving around through the spokes of the wheel
(Diagram of Coriolis F o r c e h t t p
wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm)
A s s u m e t h a t a n
astronaut on a ladder
climbs through a spoke to the axis As he climbs
along he circles around more slowly as he
describes a smaller circle
in the same time What happens with the difference in speed that he had before He will be pressed
against the ladder and that is the Coriolis force The force also acts in opposite direction when he
descends from the ladder
Also the throwing up and catching of a ball will
become a huge achievement as the ball does not
37
ORBIT
drop perpendicularly but will shift a little into the
direction of the orbit of the station and also achieves a higher speed
This also has strange effects on the astronaut As moves
quickly in the rotation direction of the station his weight
appears to increase to a noteworthy extent Then as he moves against the speed of rotation his weight
decreases apparently Mathematically this effect is explainable but very complex
Also the astronautrsquos head and feet move in different
speed to artificial gravity This is plainly noticeable when
somebody jumps up Hence avoid this practice
With these kind of effects adaptation to the changed circumstances in a space station will ask a lot of the
crew members I do hope they can stand it But in any
case the larger the space ship the lesser the problems
Inflatable stations
But therersquos more The inflatable station was considered
many years ago The first i d e a w a s p o s s i b l y
developed when on 12th August 1960 the Echo
balloon with a diameter of
30 meters was launched (Echo I balloon USA 1960
WB 3)
It is true you could not live in it as the balloon was of too frail a construction but the idea of an inflatable
spacecraft was then alive By 1958 groups within NASA
had begun to think about inflatable stations The Goett-committee has been one of the first On 25th26th May
1959 a conference started about projects after
Mercury In particular the
representative of Langley L a r r y Lo f t i n wa s
enthusiastic about his AMIS (Advanced Man in
Space) project (Hexagonal structure
Manama 1970 WB 113)
One of his first projects was a rotating hexagonal
inflatable construction with a diameter of 25 meters a cylindrical core and three lsquospokesrsquo Acting as a ferry to
and from the station the lsquoDyna Soarrsquo Space plane could
be used The Dyna Soar project (at that time still
under development) was cancelled by the American
Minister of Defense Robert
McNamara Inflatable Habitat NASA
1961 enwikipediaorg)
A Langley Space Station
team managed by Paul Hill and Emanuel lsquoMannyrsquo
Schnitzer developed the concept together with the
G o o d y e a r A i r c r a f t
Corporation
(Langleyrsquos self-inflating rotating hexagonal structure httphistorynasagov
SP-4308) Its original diameter had already been reduced to 10
meters
In the years after Langley built several experimental
modules called lsquoErectable Torus Manned Space Laboratoryrsquo a 11 model built by firms such as
Goodyear The torus was built from three layers of
nylon tissue and in between a rubber-like plastic material butyl elastomer A large problem was the
penetration by micrometeorites which as was learnt from the results of the Echo balloon finally damaged
the whole structure
Another problem was the great instability of the ring
due to movements of the astronauts the station started to wobble when they moved around Finally
the project was cancelled and at the end of the eighties the Langley Research Center started to
design inflatable constructions for a base camp on the
Moon
( A r t i s t imp r e s s i on Transhab inflatable
m o d u l e h t t p
enwikipediaorg)
Due to the development of a new series of
s t r o n g e r p l a s t i c materials such as Kevlar
these construct ions
received new interest That lead to the development of Transhab (Transit Habitat) as a resource for crews
coupled at the ISS (international Space Station) The construction is a cylinder in a diameter of 82 meters
and several storeys high
Its volume in inflatable state is 340 m3 The wall has a
thickness of 30 () cm and consists of 12 layers of which the outside layer is made from Kevlar The
layers beneath are made from Nextel a ceramic fibre Disagreements during development and the spiralling
costs finally in 2000 saw the end of NASArsquos interest
G e n e s i s 1
thespacereviewcom)
From 1999 the project was
taken up by Bigelow
38
ORBIT
Aerospace who improved the design and tested it with
successful launchings of Genesis I on 12 July 2006 and Genesis II on 28 June 2007
In their design it has once again more or less the shape
of a balloon With a thickness of 40 cm the wall is still
very thick The outside layer is still Kevlar but inside are some layers of Vectran a textile fibre Within the
structure ants and scorpions were launched along with some objects which people who paid for the privilege of
boosting into space
In this way Bigelow hopes to build a Space Hotel named
Nautilus To stimulate the development Bigelow offered a price of $50 million to everybody who succeeded in
launching a crew of 5 persons to an altitude of 400 km before 2010 So little money lost here so far
A second project which can be realized within the near future is a fixed residence on the Moon As said Langley
occupies itself with the design of such a base which partly should be build below the surface Stamp
designers have already realized the idea
What does the future hold Although we are a long way away from the kind of space station by which a large amount of earth inhabitants can
leave the planet Earth forever the first steps for doing
so are in preparation With the development of their Space Hotel Bigelow tries to make the step to space
albeit a temporary one
Also Langley literally tries to set foot on the Moon and
finally they will succeed in doing so However The cost of such projects are literally astronomical and it is not
expected that in the coming decades much money can be allocated to such projects
Of course in some thousands of years (possibly only in
hundreds of years) this will become the case but for the
time being in my opinion the true conquest of space will stay as science-fiction for at least a few hundred years
Hoorn 2009
John Beenen
NB The stamps entitled lsquoSpace Cityrsquo with a value of 0 cnt do not exist but have been made by the author by means of frames and pictures present at the Internet
Fantasy Moon
b a s e M a n a -ma1970 WB 122
Fantasy bases
ready for Mars
YAR 1971 WB 2892 and 6
Fantasy Modular
base YAR 169 WB 233
39
ORBIT
Cover Below bottom right Future space Dutch Antilles 2000
Literature references (for both parts of article) httpenwikipediaorg Space habitat Space Colonization Orbital Colony Space City Space settlement Space stations L5 Society Bernal Sphere Stanford Torus OrsquoNeil Cylinder Inflatable Space Habitat Transhab Biosphere 2 Generation Ship wwwdsenl~hklruimtehtm Wonen op groene eilanden in de Ruimte (Dutch Living on green Islands in Space) Henry Kluytmans wwworionsarmcom McKendree Cylinder Bishops Ring wwwnasnasagovAboutEducationSpaceSettlement The Colonization of Space wwwdyarstraightscommsgundamhabitatshtml Mobile Suit Gundam High Frontier Life in the Universal Century Developing sound habitats wwwartificial-gravitycomDissertation1_2htm From Tsiolkovsky to Sputnik (1878-1957) httpsciencenasagovheadlinesy2000ast26may_1mhtm Wheels in the Sky httpdiscaircraftgreyfalconus Hermann Noordung Wohnrad (Wheel for Habitation) httparticlesadsabsharvardedufull1992lbsaconf249R Inflatable habitation for the lunar base MRoberts httphistorynasagovSP-4308ch9htm lsquoAs inevitable as the Rising Sunrsquo From the inflatable Torus to the Rotating Hexagon wwwspacecomnewsbusinessmonday_040524html Bigelow Aerospace to tackle inflatable Space Habitats httpsciencehowstuffsworkcominflatable-spacecraft2htm How Inflatable Spacecraft Will Work wwwbogancaphysicscoriolishtml Rotating Space Stations Dynamics An Explanation of the Coriolis Force httpdemonstrationswolframcomRotatingSpaceStation Rotating Space Station wwwdvandomcomcoliolisspacestationhtml Frame Effects and Space Stations wwwdvandomcomcoriolisindexhtml A (hopefully) simple explanation of the Coriolis Force wwwdaviddarlinginfoencyclopedia Hale Edward Everett von Pirquet Guido Noordung Hermann Space Station wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm The Coriolis Force wwwastronautixcomcraftfamlunbaseshtm Lunar bases wwwastronautixcomgallerycspebasehtm Photo Gallery Space base wwwregererating-universeorgOn_Moon_as_Space_Basehtm On Moon as Space Base wwwspacefuturecomhabitatlivingshtml Space Habitat Introduction Living in Space wwwspacepagebevideotaak=bekijkampid=47 Living in space (Video) wwwnutricomspace The Case for Space colonization ndash Now Oscar Falconi wwwxentcompipermailfork (FoRK) Bigelowrsquos inflatable Genesis I satellite in orbit wwwrussianforcesorg Russian strategic nuclear forces (Genesis II) wwwbigelowaerospacecomgenesis Genesis I Genesis II
Thanks to Alan Tunnicliffe who came across the attached news item
complete with stamp in the eNZ Magazine the bi-monthly journal of
the Institution of Professional Engineers NZ Inc Vol 11 No 3 May-
June 2010
Vaccari Auction Sells Remarkable Space Covers April 2010
Apollo 12 cover 55 of 87 flown to the moon on Apollo 15 having been left behind by the original crew sold for euro12200 1977 Salyut
6 Soyuz 27 cover sold for euro1600
40
ORBIT ORBIT
Shuttle 1981mdash2010 Stamps Marshall
Islands 2005
United Nations 2007 Monaco and Ascension 2008
Bulgaria 1991 including stamp from souvenir sheet
USA 1981
below USA 1995 and bottom USA 1998
(two values)
St Vincent Grenadines 1983
Ascension 1989
Bulgaria 1990
and above right W Germany 1975
and USA 2000 Guyana 2006
USA 1995
41
ASSS Membership Renewal 2010
Memberrsquos Name amp Addresshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
I wish to renew my membership of the ASSS for a further year and enclose the equivalent of
pound15 (UK) euro30 (Europe) $US 45 (Rest of the World)
Please return this form with your remittance to Harvey Duncan by the
end of July Thank you
Harvey Duncan Treasurer ASSS 16 Begg Avenue
Falkirk Scotland FK1 2DL
PayPal For details of how to Pay via Paypal
please email Jeff Dugdale Email address on Page 2
42
43
44
18
ORBIT
Flight STS-130 Commander George Zamka Pilot Terry Virtis MS Kathryn Hire MS Stephen Robinson MS Nicholas Patrick MS Robert Behnken MS Koichi Wakata KSC Launch Date 822010 KSC Landing 21210 Purpose Tranquility Module Main Payload and Cupola
Shuttle Story 201011 STSndash130 -131 -132 Part One
STS-130 (ISS assembly flight 20A) via Endeavour carried as its
primary payloads the Tranquility module and the Cupola a robotic control station with six windows around its sides and
another in the centre providing a 360-degree view around the station Endeavour launched at 0414 EST (0914 UTC) on 8
February 2010 and landed at 2220 EST on 21 February 2010 on
runway 15 at the Kennedy Space Centers Shuttle Landing Facility
Tranquility was shipped from the
Thales Alenia Space facility in
Turin Italy It arrived at Kennedy Space Center on 21 May 2009 It
was formerly known as Node 3 and was named by a NASA poll
The module provides six berthing locations however three of those
locations are disabled as modules
originally planned to be attached to Tranquility were cancelled The
photo right shows Tranquility just before being installed to Unity node
STS-130 also brought the Cupola a large window
module and robotics work station to the ISS which was
to be attached to the nadir-
side of Tranquility The module also includes various
ISS systems including addit iona l l i fe support
systems This photo shows the facility being prepared at KSC whilst the photo above right
shows the module and cupola being moved into position on the
ISS
The shape of the mission patch on the launch
cover below represents the cupola over the earth in a photo taken by the unmanned
Lunar Orbiter probe in 1966 so representing a past and future designation for explorers from
Earth
For other Zazzle stamps
see page 33
19
ORBIT
Flight STS-131 Commander Alan Pointdexter Pilot James Dutton MS Rick Mastracchio MS Dorthy Metcalf- Lindenburger MS Stephanie Wilson MS Naoko Yamakazi MS Clayton Anderson KSC Launch Date 5410 KSC Landing 20410 Purpose MPLM Leonardo Main Payload
STS-131 (ISS assembly flight 19A) via Discovery launched on 5
April 2010 from Kennedy Space Centers launch pad 39A and landed at 908 AM on 20 April 2010 on runway 33 at the Kennedy
Space Centers Shuttle Landing Facility The mission marked the longest flight for space shuttle Discovery
The primary payload was a Multi-Purpose Logistics Module loaded with supplies and equipment for the ISS The mission also
removed and replaced an ammonia tank assembly outside the station on the S1 truss The mission also included several on-
board payloads this mission had the most payloads since STS-
107
The primary payload of STS-131 was MPLM Leonardo filled with food and science supplies and also carried the third and final
Minus Eighty Degree Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI) Window Orbital Research Facility (WORF) one Crew Quarters Rack the
Muscle Atrophy Resistive Exercise (MARES) rack Resupply
Stowage Racks (RSRs) as well as Resupply Stowage Platforms (RSPs) The Lightweight Multi-Purpose Equipment Support
Structure Carrier (LMC) carried a refurbished Ammonia Tank Assembly (ATA) to the ISS The refurbished ATA was removed
from the Space Station and returned for use on this mission
during STS-128 It was swapped with an empty tank which will ride home on the LMC
This mission was the second flight of the TriDAR a 3D dual-
sensing laser camera intended for potential use as an
autonomous rendezvous and docking sensor TriDAR provides guidance information that can be used to guide a vehicle during
rendezvous and docking operations in space TriDAR does not rely on any reference markers such as reflectors positioned on
the target spacecraft
This was the final Space Shuttle mission that contains one or
more rookie astronauts the missions after this will have all- veteran crews
STS-131 was only the third mission in the Space Shuttle
programme to carry three female astronauts
the others being STS-40 and STS-96
With three female crew members arriving on board Discovery and Expedition 23 Flight
Engineer Tracy Caldwell Dyson at the station
the STS-131 mission marked the first time that four women have been in space at one
time
STS-131 marked the first time that two
Japanese astronauts Naoko Yamazaki from the Shuttle crew and Soichi Noguchi on the
ISS had been in space together
Although Naoko Yamazaki is not the last non-
US astronaut Naoko was the last Japanese astronaut to fly the space shuttle
MPLM Leonardo can
be seen in the shuttle cargo bay
The seven stars either side of our
sun represent the
crew members
The shuttlersquos orientation indicates
it is performing the Rendezvous Pitch
Manoeuvre which
allows the ISS to photograph its
underbelly
20
ORBIT
Flight STS-132 Commander Kenneth Ham Pilot Dominic Antonelli MS Michael Good MS Garret Reisman MS Piers Sellars MS Stephen Bowen KSC Launch Date 1452010 KSC Landing 2652010 Purpose Delivery of Russian Main Payload Rassvet Module
STS-132 (ISS assembly flight ULF4) docked with the ISS on May
16 2010 It was launched from the Kennedy Space Center on May 14 2010 The primary payload is the Russian Rassvet Mini-
Research Module along with an Integrated Cargo Carrier-Vertical Light Deployable (ICC-VLD) STS-132 is scheduled to be the
final flight of Space Shuttle Atlantis provided that the STS-335
Launch On Need rescue mission is not flown
Rassvet means dawn in Russian The module was built
by Russian aerospace company
Energia and arrived at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC)
aboard an Antonov 124 cargo plane on 17 December 2009
After it was unloaded from the Antonov the module was
transported to an Astrotech processing bay in Cape Canaveral to
undergo preparations for launch shown in this photo
An airlock and radiation heat exchanger to be used for outfitting the Russian Nauka Module (to be launched in 2012) a spare
elbow part of the European Robotic Arm (ERA) and a portable
work platform for science hardware for performing experiments in outer space were externally mounted on Rassvet in its launch
configuration Russian and US cargo delivered was also accommodated inside the module The volume for cargo and
science inside MRM1 is 5 cubic meters] Rassvet was outfitted
with ISS standard grapple fixtures that allowed the module to be unloaded from the payload bay of Atlantis using the stations
robotic arm
The ICC pallet is constructed of aluminum It is approximately 8 feet long 13 feet wide and 10 inches thick The empty weight of
the pallet is 2645 pounds The total weight of ICCndashVLD and the ORUs is approximately 8330 pounds ICC-VLD return mass is
2933 kilograms (6470 lb)
The ICC-VLD was berthed in the centre of the
payload bay for both launch and re-entry
In the photo above Rassvet is shown centre top
The mission patch shows Atlantis flying off into the sunset as the end of the shuttle
programme approaches
21
ORBIT
By Andreacute Scheer and Margaret Morris This fascinating structure is an octagonal pentelic marble tower on the Roman agora or marketplace in Athens It was supposedly built by the astronomer Andronicus of Kyrrhos c 50 BC but according to other sources might have been constructed in the 2
nd
century BC before the rest of the forum The structure is 12 metres high with a diameter of approximately 8 metres On each of the eight sides (aligned with the eight principal points of the compass) is a sculpture featuring the wind gods and below each sculpture is engraved a sundial Thus the tower served as a solar clock but additionally in the interior was a water-clock (clepsydra) driven by water coming down from the Acropolis There were mechanical hour indicators and displays for the seasons of the year with astrological dates and periods The tower was topped in antiquity by a weather-vane in the shape of a triton with a wand which pointed at whichever of the winds was blowing The tower must have been one of the most useful structures in the agora as it showed the time for civilian purposes and indicated the wind direction for merchants awaiting the arrival of a ship The earliest philatelic items to depict this unusual building are postal stationery postcards originating from 1900 when the Greek postal authorities organised a competition for photographers and artists The best pictures were selected for issue and on 1 July 1901 the first series of 32 cards was issued In total 12 series of 32 cards each were issued between then and 20 March 1903 The cards were issued in three colours (chestnut black and green) with imprinted stamps of two values (5 lepta green for national mail and 10 lepta red for international mail) The cards additionally have an impressed stamp without colour on the left side being 10 lepta for the card itself so the cards were sold for 15 and 20 lepta The design of the imprinted stamps was based on the Hermes (Mercury) statue by Giovanni da Bologna During the war on the Balkans the cards were used by the Greek army and have an extra imprint ndash Carte Postale ndash Franchise Militaire A few examples of these postal stationery postcards are illustrated opposite and on page 23 The wording ldquoLrsquohorloge de Kyrrhestesrdquo refers to the timepiece built by Andronicus of Kyrrhos while ldquoTEMPLE DrsquoEOLErdquo translates as ldquoTemple of Aeolusrdquo (Aeolus = god of the winds) For each card 12 versions can be distinguished ndash ie 3 colours x 2 values x 2 usages For fuller information see reference no 1 Of course numerous picture postcards also feature this interesting structure
The Tower of the Winds The Oldest Planetarium on Stamps and
Postal Stationery
Front and back of postal stationery postcard
Examples of Greek postal stationery from the early 20th
century
Front and back of postal stationery postcard
22
ORBIT
The 19423 issues (SG 561-572) of Greece shown beside the 1973 Dominica souvenir sheet whose designer has
reinterpreted the divine sculptures in the margins
Boreas also on the 100d value in black and grey
Skiron
Zephyrus in two 25d vals
orange and green
Lips
Notus
Eurus
Apeliotes in two 10d vals red brown and red orange
Kaikias in two 50d vals black and grey violet and blue
Wind Direction Name of Deity Characteristics of the Sculpture North Boreas An old man wearing heavy clothing and holding a conch shell This wind was cold fierce and
stormy and in Athens made a loud hollow noise
North East Kaikias Old man with severe expression holding circular shield from which he will drop hailstones Weather characteristically cloudy wet and cold
East Apeliotes Young man with hair flowing in every direction holding a cloak full of fruit and grain ndash he brings gradual gentle rain
South East Eurus Old man with morose countenance wrapped tightly against the elements in his cloak This wind brought sultry gloomy weather with much rain
South Notus Young man emptying an urn and producing a shower of water This wind was associated with sultry very wet weather
South West Lips Boy pushing the stern of a ship promising a good sailing wind This was the wind which blew right into Piraeus harbour
West Zephyrus Beautiful lightly clad youth of happy aspect holding a cloak full of flowers In summer this wind brought very sultry weather
North West Skiron Bearded man with a bronze pot full of hot ashes and charcoal This was a dry wind extremely cold in winter but scorching and with lightning in summer
The following table gives details of the sculptures and the characteristics attributed to each of the wind gods
For fuller information see reference no 2
23
ORBIT
The sculptures of the eight winds were depicted on stamps of Greece issued in 1942 (six designs) and 1943 (again six designs ndash four as the previous issue but including the two omitted winds) Five values were surcharged in 1944 to aid victims of the Piraeus bombing of 11 January 1944 the exceptionally high face value resulted in few of these stamps being used Later in 1944 the same five values were surcharged in aid of a Childrenrsquos Convalescent Camp Fund Finally in 1946 two values of the 1942 issue were surcharged ndash the 10dr value in black and the 50dr revalued as 20dr in red See opposite for examples of the stamp designs In addition to these attractive engraved stamps the 1973 issue from Dominica commemorating the centenary of the World Meteorological Organisation included a miniature sheet incorporating the 50c and $1 values and surrounded in the margin by images of all eight wind sculptures (see page 22) More recently the cover of a booklet issued by Greece on 7 October 1988 provides an aerial view of the agora and the Tower of the Winds can be detected (see below) The booklet contains 16 stamps (4 each of 4 different values) and celebrates capitals of Greek provinces In early Christian times the building was used as the bell tower of a Byzantine Church It was partly buried in the ground until fully excavated in the 19
th century by the
Archaeological Society of Athens It is interesting to note that the design of the upper octagon of the 18th century Radcliffe Observatory in Oxford England is based on the Tower of the Winds as is the mausoleum of the founder of the Greek National Library Panayis Vagliano at West Norwood Cemetery London There is a similar tower in Sevastopol built in 1849 References
1 ldquoEntiers Postaux Illustreacutes du service des postes
helleacuteniques et leurs preacutecurseursrdquo Georges Mathas 1985
2 For finely detailed drawings and information about the sculptures you may care to see if your Library has a copy of ldquoThe Antiquities of Athensrdquo Stuart amp Revett Vol 1 published in London 1762
3 Article by Derek J de Solla Price in ldquoNational
Geographic April 1967 pp587-596 4 Much useful information may also be obtained from
sites on the internet
Examples of Overprints from left to right
1944 Piraeus Bombing Aid 1944 Childrenrsquos convalescent camp fund 1946 Surcharge
Below Cover of the 1988 stamp booklet
Front and back of postal stationery postcard
24
ORBIT
Old Photo Makes New(s) Story
A photo taken twenty-one years ago became hot international new(s) this July writes Bert van Eijck
It is a picture of your correspondent in front of the
monument on the graves of the seven astronauts killed
in the Challenger disaster The photo from November 1989 shows the national cemetery at Arlington in
Washington DC And it is this graveyard a national American field of pride and honour that was involved in
a scandal making news all over the world
What happened This became a hot story after it was leaked to the press that in 211 graves on Arlington the wrong corpse had
been buried But this disgrace grew to international
proportions when the US Senate published a report which revealed that it was not 211 but 6600 graves that
had been so dishonoured And maybe there are more the researchers stated
Consequently it meant that family members had been paying their respect at the wrong graves because many
were not marked well or the ground-plan directed to wrong places
Arlingtonrsquos director John Metzler was fired as was his
depute Thurman Higginbotham both of whom said
they knew there were made mistakes but they could not help ldquobecause of economyrdquo
Arlington cemetery was opened in 1864 Since then
300000 Americans have been buried here including
famous or well-known persons like presidents
ministers high ranked military artists judges and
astronauts
And what about some of the most recent ones Did I indeed visit and honour the seven Challenger astronauts in their last resting place on Earth in
November 1989 as shown on the photo Or are they perhaps mistakenly buried in another
unmarked grave This is hard to believe but one never knowshelliphellip
For those who wonder what was doing 21
years ago in the US capital I visited the
World Stamp Exporsquo89 at the Convention Center in Washington DC Of course I did
more sightseeing at and in the famous Smithsonian Museums (a must the
National AirampSpace Museum with 10
million visitors a year) the Capitol the metro (deepest in the world) George
Washingtonrsquos house in Vernon Arlington of course and much more
At the World Stamp Expo there was a
presentation of both USA and USSR space
stamps The American stamps were presented by astronaut Buzz Aldrin the
Soviet stamps by cosmonaut Gherman Titov
Author and the Challenger astronauts monument at Arlington seven figures in bronze (left) At right a plaque honoring US-soldiers killed in action saving
hostages in Iran
Astronaut Buzz Aldrin (left) presents the US space stamps while cosmonaut Gherman Titov (right) does the same with
Soviet space stamps In the middle officials of USPS Below the
stampshellip
25
ORBIT
The Apollo 15 Cover Scandal by Umberto Cavallaro
In a feature which first appeared in the April-June 2010 issue of Ad Astra the web journal of the Italian Astrophilatelic Association its editor reveals in considerable detail the full story of those covers which today sell for so much money The Apollo 15 flown covers are among the best known
collectibles from the Apollo Era mainly because of what Jim Irwin recalls as ldquothe problem we brought
back from the Moonrdquo
The crew of Apollo 15 carried out one of the most complete scientific explorations of the Moon the first
lunar roving vehicle was operated on the Moon to
extend the range of exploration some 180 pounds of lunar surface samples were returned for analysis Yet
Fifteen is best remembered as the crew that carried envelopes to the moon and the whole mission is
remembered for the ldquogreat postal caperrdquo
Apollo 15 was not the first mission to carry covers
dozens were carried on each flight from Apollo 11 onwards and as Commander Dave Scott recalls in his
book the whole business had probably been building since Mercury through Gemini and into Apollo People
had a fascination with objects that had been carried in space and they became more and more popular and
valuable as the programme progressed Right from
the start of the Mercury programme each astronaut had been allowed to carry on board a certain number
of personal items
NASA was in the habit of authorizing astronauts to
carry certain personal items on manned flights known as Astronautsrsquo PPK (Personal Preference Kits) All such
items had to be listed and approved by Deke Slayton the Head of the Astronaut Office prior to launch and
were intended for private use or as personal gifts
after the flight and could not be employed for commercial
Fig 1 The official USPS cover postmarked on the Moon
purposes or personal gain Astronaut kits typically
included badges jewellery coins medals flags stamps postal covers currency printed materials and
similar easily packed lightweight mementoes As the flight became more significant the number and type of
items increased
Aside from personal mementoes each crew had
carried medallions whose number had grown steadily on each mission In his book The All-American Boys astronaut Walter Cunningham reveals that it was rumoured around the Astronaut Office that Apollo 14
carried on board a personal package weighing forty-
two pounds Before that flight the Franklin Mint had even advertised the proposed sale After the flight the
commercial deal was never completed and all went quiet nothing about it being published in the media
But some members of the US Congress were unhappy
of the situation
In that context the ldquolapses of judgmentrdquo of the Apollo 15 crew became fatal Dave Scott went too far
carrying on board a total of 641 postal covers (including the two official covers) of which only 243
were listed and authorized before the flight and 398
were not -- secretly carried on board Apollo 15 by Scott in a pocket of his space suit Had they been
listed as being in Scotts PPK they would probably have been routinely approved for inclusion in the
preference kit
The 243 listed and authorized covers include
bull 2 official US Postal Service covers one of which the ldquoOfficial Coverrdquo was publicly cancelled on the
moon by Scott at the request of the US Postal
Service 10 (Fig 1) bull 1 Wright Brothers commemorative cover dated
1928 and autographed by Orville Wright which was carried by Worden for a friend
bull 1 cover bearing a First Man on the Moon stamp and a Bliss Centennial three-cent stamp carried by
Irwin for Barbara Baker (Fig 2 below)
26
ORBIT
8 Shamrock covers carried by Irwin (as below)
144 Herrickrsquos ldquoMoon Phasesrdquo covers carried by Worden
(Fig 4) printed with a cachet showing 15 phases of the moon On the USS Okinawa the Apollo 15 recovery ship
the astronauts placed two eight-cent stamps purchased
on board by Worden on each of these covers and they had the covers cancelled by the shipboard post office
The astronauts later autographed these covers while flying back from Hawaii to Houston Sixteen covers were
torn or damaged and were destroyed Because of the furore created by the Apollo 15 covers incident NASA
confiscated 61 of these 144 Moon Phases covers
87 Apollo 12 covers (Fig 5) that for unknown reason
did not fly on that mission and which were carried on
Apollo 15 for Mrs Barbara Gordon a stamp collector then wife of Richard Gordon Apollo 12 astronaut who
at was the back-up pilot for Apollo 15
The 398 unauthorized covers (initially there were
400 but 2 were damaged and discarded) are lightweight envelopes carrying as a cachet a replica
of the official Apollo 15 patch overprinted with an Air Force wing and propeller emblem
The idea of these additional covers was suggested during a cocktail party by Eiermann a salesman for
the heat-shield contractor who had frequent business and social contacts with NASA personnel and
astronauts He suggested to fly 400 lightweight covers 100 for each of the astronauts and 100 for
his friend Sieger the German stamp dealer The
cacheted covers were provided by Al Bishop a friend of many astronauts then at the Howard
Hughes organization He had already provided covers for the previous flights since Apollo 12
Above one of the 100 Sieger covers with the handwritten note ldquoLanded at Hadley Moon July 30 1971 On the
reverse is a typed and notarised inscription ldquoThis is to certify that this cover was on board the Falcon at the Hadley-
Apennine Moon July 30 ndashAug 2 1971rdquo
Below one of the 298 unauthorised covers carried to the Moon by David Scott with the inscription ldquoThis envelope was
carried to the Moon aboard the Apollo 15 of 300 to the Lunar Surface in LMrdquoFalconrdquo
The crews usually returned to Bishop a couple of
flown covers signed with gratitude ldquoTo my
knowledge ndash Cunningham reports in his well documented book ndash Bishop never sold any and never
made a dime off his relationship He was simply a fan To Al Bishop Apollo 15 was no different from any
other flight except for a phone call he received from
Hal Collins the Astronaut Office manager at the Cape
27
ORBIT
Collins told Bishop that the crew would like to know
whether he could obtain some very lightweight envelopes for them Al said that hed be happy to do so
He was unaware then that many of them would be smuggled on board the next lunar flight Al was trusted
Thats why many of us imposed on him with our
problems special requests and sometimes matters which we would rather not share with NASArdquo
This time Al was badly used he emerged as a
scapegoat and his name was dragged as though he was the Mr Big of an international stamp conspiracy
The covers were cancelled at Kennedy Space Center
several days before July 26 1971 The date of the post office machine canceller was moved forward
Additionally twin eight-cent stamps were purchased by the astronauts on the USS Okinawa the Apollo 15
recovery ship and affixed to these covers ndash as for the
Herrickrsquos covers In the shipboard post office the covers were then cancelled and date-stamped August 7 1971
The astronauts finally autographed these covers while flying from Hawaii to Houston
Soon after the flight the astronauts gave Eiermann
the 100 covers ndash after agreeing that there was to be
no commercialization or advertising of these covers and that nothing would be done with them until after
completion of the Apollo programme
But after a while news started to circulate that the
German dealer was selling in Europe covers flown on Apollo 15 for a reported average of US $1500 each
The reports infuriated Congress not least because congressmen had to read such controversial
information in the press before being informed by
NASA which is obligated to keep Congress fully informed of its activity Recollection of the Apollo 14
medallions incident must have echoed in the minds of certain members of Congress many of whom were
not fans of NASA anyway NASA started an internal investigation This was the most controversial
development of the Apollo Programme and although
most astronauts were involved to some degree NASA made an example of the Apollo 15 flight crew ldquoIt
was turning into a witch-huntrdquo recalled Scott ldquoOur bosses had abrogated their responsibilities and we
were left alone on a very wet dayrdquo
It is ironic that after addressing a joint session of
Congress as heroes in less that one year the three astronauts of Apollo 15 had to go back in front of these
same senators in disgrace because of this envelope scandal
After this ldquoincidentrdquo NASA prohibited from Apollo 17 on the flying of covers or stamps during a space
missions (they were not on time to block the covers carried on Apollo 16) The only exceptions have been
since then the items flown in cooperation with the US
Postal Service ie the 266000 covers carried in 1983 in
the payload bay of the Space Shuttle Challenger on
STS-8 and the 500000 $995 Express Mail stamp created by Paul and Chris Calle in 1994 flown on
Endeavour STS-68 in recognition of the 25th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing The huge
number of such items carried in space discourages
speculations and these items still are widely available for few dollars
So far fewer than 1000 envelopes in total have flown
to the Moon No other American covers will flow to the Moon in the foreseeable future Perhaps the next
ldquoMoon coversrdquo will bear Chinese or Indian stamps
Dave Scott was the first lunar Postmaster and had two
postmarks with him and two covers with imperforated dieproof of the US twin Decade of Space Achievements
stamps affixed (Fig 1)
He had one postmark with ldquoMoon Landing USArdquo (Fig 8 below) and another with ldquoUnited States on the
Moonrdquo (Fig 9 bottom)
The First Lunar Post Office was opened on August 2 1971 when David Scott postmarked only the official
cover (and brought back the official backup-cover uncancelled) A handful covers had however been
postmarked before launch with both postmarks Dr Matthew Radnofsky ndash who in his laboratory already
had simulated cancelling in space for Apollo 11 ndash
tested both postmarks to ensure that the cancellation devices were in working order
Especially the date could be changed easily Contrary
to Apollo 11 covers without stamps were used for
28
ORBIT
these tests Apollo 15 Lunar Cancellation Proofs are
much scarcer than Apollo 11 ones ldquoAs by now I am aware of only 17 itemsrdquo states famous astrophilatelist
Walter Hopferwieser Covers with proofs of the Apollo 15 moon postmarks have been recently sold at Regency
Superior and Aurora auctions
The official Apollo 15 cover postmarked on the Moon
(see Fig 1 repeated above ) is displayed at the US National Postal Museum It was publicly cancelled and
the video can be seen at httpwwwpostalmuseumsiedustampstakeflight
apollo15video-01html A short speech was given by
Dave Scott while cancelling the cover ldquoTo show that our good Postal Service has deliveries any place in the
universe I have the pleasant task of cancelling here on the Moon the first stamp of a new issue dedicated to
commemorate US achievements in space I have the
first one here on an envelope At the bottom it says United States in Space a decade of achievement and
Im very proud to have the opportunity here to play postman I pull out a cancellation device It says
August 2 1971 first day of issuehellip What could be a
better place to cancel this stamp than right here at Hadley Rillehelliprdquo
Immediately thereafter the Postmaster General who
was waiting at the Mission Control at Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston Texas gave the signal to start the
First- Day cancellations at post offices in Houston
Kennedy Space Center and Huntsville
Acknowledgement Thanks to Walter Hopferwieser for his comments
Some Notes About Space Mail
Commenting on Brian Vincentrsquos article in the June
2010 Orbit ASSS member Geoff Chivers writes in an
email to your Editorhellip Im sure you wont mind me commenting on Brian G Vincents Some Notes About Space Mail (page 36)
In paragraph 2 he refers to the Apollo 15 cover incident leaving the impression that Scott Worden and Irwin were guilty of some heinous crime This has been the subject of much miss-reporting over the years The full story of what actually happened is explained in depth at page 328 et seq of Two sides of the moon by David Scott and Alexei Leonov published by Simon amp Shuster The astronauts were of course exonerated
This is the quote (slightly edited to enable it to stand as an independent piece)-
During 1972 while on a trip to Washington DC George Low NASA deputy administrator asked me to stop by his
office writes David Scott I had known George in Houston while he was Apollo spacecraft programme manager and I had great respect for him We spent a short while exchanging pleasantries Then George looked me in the eye and came to the point ldquoWell Daverdquo he said ldquoI have to tell you I was not very proud of my performancerdquo His comment was the culmination of what had become known as the Apollo 15 ldquocover incidentrdquo This involved some first day postal covers which we had carried aboard Apollo 15 some of which were unfortunately sold by a German stamp dealer several months after the flight As No 2 in NASA George
had been heavily involved in NASAs handling of the incident and his comment referred to one of the poorest management performances the space agency had ever demonstrated - up to then The whole business had probably been building since Mercury through Gemini and into Apollo People had a fascination with objects that had been carried in space and they became more and more popular and valuable as the programme progressed Right from the start of the Mercury programme each astronaut had been allowed to carry on board a certain number of personal items in what were known as PPKS - Personal Preference Kits Before each flight a list of the items was prepared for Deke Slayton who
Two Sides of The Moon
by David Scott and Alexei Leonov
The text opposite from the
above book has been
referred to by Umberto Cavallaro in preparing his
above piece
29
ORBIT
had overall responsibility for approving them As the flights became more significant the number and type of items increased Aside from personal mementoes each crew had carried a certain number of medallions which they could hand out afterwards as souvenirs The number of medallions had grown steadily on each mission - eventually some crew members had been carrying several hundred each and their weight was becoming a concern And as always commercialisation began to creep in In the end on Apollo 14 commanded by Al Shepard it was alleged that the crew had carried some silver medallions on board which were to be melted down after the flight and mixed with many other commemorative medallions by the Franklin Mint to be sold to the general public The Franklin Mint had even advertised the proposed sale before the flight After the flight the deal was never consummated and all went quiet nothing about it was printed in the media But some members of Congress had heard about it and were unhappy with the situation Since we were busy training for Apollo 15 (launched 26 July 1971) we knew nothing about all this Had we known we would have been far more wary of what happened subsequently All we knew was that Deke Slayton had halved the number of medallions we could carry Shortly afterwards Deke introduced Jim (Irwin) Al (Worden) and me to a long-standing friend of his at the Cape called Walter Eiermann In retrospect this seems likely to have been more than a coincidence Deke invited us to join him at dinner at Eiermanns house one evening several months before the Apollo 15 launch Eiermann asked if we would like to make some money on the side by signing some stamps ldquoAll the guys are doing itrdquo he said We agreed We were also approached by several members of the Manned Spacecraft Centerrsquos stamp club who asked us to sign many first - day covers before the flight for their members as well as for ourselves At that time we could not buy life insurance If we signed some covers we reasoned they could be held during the flight and act as limited life insurance for our families if anything happened to us But then Eiermann proposed we carry four hundred lightweight commemorative covers a hundred of which would be passed on to a stamp dealer in Germany when we returned All the covers would be franked on the day of launch and franked on the day of our return Our understanding was that the dealer would hold his hundred covers to be sold at some future date after the Apollo programme was over In return he would set up a $6000 trust fund for each of us for the education of our children In the months of intense activity before the flight we did not give this more than a moment of thought But we agreed In retrospect we made a mistake in even considering it In the months following our mission we learnt that the German dealer had begun to sell the covers We let Eiermann know that we were opposed to the sale Forget the trust funds we said we dont want any money This is not what we had understood would happen But when senior managers at NASA learnt about the covers being sold they were furious Incomplete information was then provided to the press by NASArsquos Public Affairs Office and reports started to appear that we had smuggled the covers onto our flight This was literally impossible NASA personnel prepared us for every aspect of the flight - from our birthday suits out Everything we had carried had to be specially packaged by the flight support crew to make sure apart from anything else
that it was fireproof Everything in our PPKs was on a list which was certified before launch I was never aware of any rules about what could or could not be taken in these packs Slayton was to approve the list so as far as I was concerned it was up to management to keep us on the straight and narrow I assumed if the list was approved that was fine Usually the list was certified by Deke But before our flight for some reason he neither asked us personally for each of our lists as was customary nor signed off on the list personally He said the flight - crew support team had already logged everything Whereas we had purchased the covers ourselves the Astronaut Office at the Cape had prepared the covers for the flight and had had them stamped and franked on the day of launch Somehow however the support team had missed them when they prepared the PPK flight manifest It was also reported after the incident that we had been removed from the astronaut corps Again totally untrue Unfortunately NASA managers did nothing to dispel this false and misleading information They just tucked their heads in and let the rumours run The reports infuriated Congress not least because congressmen had to read such controversial information in the press before being informed by NASA which is obligated to keep Congress fully informed of its activities Recollections of the Apollo 14 medallion incident must have seeped into the minds of certain members of Congress many of whom were not fans of NASA anyway When NASA started an internal investigation we were told by a senior official in the agency that we were on our own We were advised to get our own legal representation A Senate hearing into the matter had been called and a justice Department investigation would follow It was turning into a witch - hunt NASA we were advised expected us to keep quiet and take the Fifth Amendment at this hearing We did not We told it like it was We had nothing to hide Eventually the Justice Department concluded that we had broken some administrative rules but had done nothing criminal NASA confiscated the remaining covers but they acted before discovering all the facts of the case Following an investigation by NASA the Justice Department and the Senate the Justice Department concluded on 6 December 1978 in a ldquoMemorandum Opinion for the Assistant Attorney Generalrdquo that NASA had no claim to the remaining covers that the covers were never intended for sale that there was no attempt at concealment by the crew of the fact that the covers were to be flown on Apollo 15 and finally that the covers would have been approved to carry aboard Apollo 15 had a request been made We were reprimanded and we took our licks But it was a very raw deal NASA had hung us out to dry Our bosses had abrogated their responsibilities and we were left alone on a very wet day I spent many years trying to get full access to NASA and congressional records on the case NASA refused to provide full disclosure We subsequently found out there had been rumblings about profitmdashmaking on previous missions A copy of a letter was released to me in which NASA admitted that ten other astronauts who were not identified had been involved in selling signed blocks of stamps and postcards for Eiermann But the wave reached the shore on Apollo 15 and we were the ones who bore the brunt of the blame for such incidents
30
ORBIT
Buckingham Cover offer Free Souvenirs for You
Brian Austin of Buckinghamrsquos Rare Cover Department writes to your Editorhellip
Over the last two or three years we have been dealing more and more in signed space covers This led us to earlier this year buying an Apollo 11 crew signed cover which had been carried to the moon which we had on display on our stand at London 2010
For this we also printed a limited edition of 800 sets of postcards one featuring the Apollo 11 cover and another
featuring an Apollo 15 cover The idea was to give away 100 sets per day to customers at the show but now the show is all finished I still have around 150 pairs left on my desk
We wondered if you would like to offer them to your readers we are happy to send them out free of charge to the first 150 readers to contact us with their details as long as we can also include one of our lists of space
covers
BrianAustinbuckinghamcoverscom
31
ORBIT
More About Missile Mail
Harvey Duncan told us in the last Orbit (page 15) about the First Official Missile Mail writes Bert van Eijck After the useful technical details about the USS Barbero he gave us I can offer you more philatelic information and show you some illustrations The missile mail experiment was a joint venture between
the Ministry of Defense and the US Post Office Dept headed by Postmaster General Mr Arthur E
Summerfield Three thousand special envelopes were printed with a reproduction of a Navy missile type
Regulus with the text ldquoFirst Official Missile Mailrdquo and above that ldquoThe Postmaster General Washingtonrdquo All
the envelopes were addressed to The President high
government officials like senators and to the Post Masters General of ninety nine other member nations of
UPU Inside was a letter from Mr Summerfield entitled ldquoThe First Official Missile Mailrdquo with the official seal of
the Post Office dept It was explained therein what had
happed to that letter and the other 2999
The special letters were loaded in two metal compartments and came aboard the guided missile USS Barbero (SSG-317) The shot was to occur during a regular training mission from Norfolk Virginia to Florida
About 350 kilometres off the coast of Florida the
Regulus missile was launched toward Airport Mayport
The missile climbed 10 km above the Atlantic and
landed within twenty minutes with all the letters intact The letters were cancelled with the hand stamp ldquoUSS
Barberordquo with the date ldquoJun 8 1959rdquo and the approximate timing of the launching ldquo930 amrdquo This
was done by post office staff part of an established
branch office on the USS Barbero The letters bore the 1957 4c American flag postage stamp Those
addressed to foreign countries carried two such stamps covering surface mail postage costs On the
reverse side is the Jacksonville Post Office cancellation with the approximate time of arrival ldquoJune 8 1030 am
1959 Floridardquo
Such flown letters are expensive to buy and a jewel in
any exhibit
But this is NOT the case with the Barbero souvenir
cover dated a month later on July 8 1959 issued in the same quantity (3000) as the originals The
inscription reads ldquoPoint of LandingmdashFirst Official Missile Mail 8 June 1959 US Naval Station Mayport Floridardquo
About 16000 () collectors had applied for such a cover
The imprint of the official Barbero cover was reproduced on a memorial cover issued and posted at
the Vienna International Airpost Exhibition Luposta on August 1959 in the Austrian capital Of course neither
of these items had been carried within the Regulus
missile
Also of interest the Postal Administration of
Paraguay issued a stamp
and a block in 1976 honouring the Barbero
Missile Mail The Gs 20 stamp shows a Regulus
missile in flight while the sheet shows the whole
addressed cover and in
miniature the complete letter inside from the US Postmaster General
as mentioned above and as illustrated below
Above a specimen envelope as described in the text and below its reverse cancel
32
ORBIT
An Invitation to Our Readers to Donate to an Innovative International Projecthellip
Kindest Sir or Madam
The municipality of Vitanje
(Slovenia) is honoured to have had a hand in the life of the
famous space architect Herman Potocnik Noordung
(1892-1929) (pictured right) who had already found a
surprising number of solutions
to space travel and troubles of living in vacuum long before
actual space flights took place His creations were used by the
renowned novelist Arthur C Clarke
in his book 2001 A Space Odyssey which was later also turned into a
movie directed by Stanley Kubrick In Noordungs honour we have
created the Memorial Centre of Herman Potocnik Noordung This
year the cultural centre of European
space technology will also get going in Vitanje This will be a place
where the European space heritage will be gathered and various events connected with the
contemporary European space technologies will be
organized
Proposed Philatelic Collection We would like to bring the project onto a higher level
where we would have the collaboration of various
countries in the world including such with a history in space travel (like USA Russia) One of the steps of this
expansion process would also include a philatelic collection of stamps with themes of outer space
(astronomy astronautics and everything connected to
outer space) We already have quite a decent collection but we would like to expand on that
Our goal is to have 6000 stamps before opening our
exhibition For this we would require the help of as many philatelists as possible
All of these philatelists would become co-creators and partners of this collection for which we hope will
become the largest collection of its kind in the world The people donating the stamps would get a great deal
of exposure at all these exhibitions and on the special
website which will be started shortly If you give us enough support and we are able to raise enough
stamps for a first-class collection we hope the first
exhibitions and various special events (like visits from
astronauts ndash philatelists) will see the light of day as early as in 2011
From a professional point of view we have an
excellent team working with us Long-time philatelist
Tone Petek is the person who initiated this project while Bojan Bracic the secretary of FEPA is one of our
counsellors and is completely behind this project
If you would be interested in such cooperation I will get the wheels in motion and send you a verifying
mail with the stamp of the municipality of Vitanje and
also of some higher organization within the Slovene political system
The collection is already underway with the help of the
Slovene Philatelic organisation (FZS) adds Rok in an email to your Editor in July This organisation has been of immense help with technical expertise and
connections It looks as if there might be an introductory exhibition next year sometime
In the hope of a successful partnership we offer our
sincere appreciation
Rok Podgrajsek
Obcina Vitanje Grajski trg 1
3205 Vitanje
Slovenia
Email address rokpodgrajsekgmailcom
But see also website httpwwwvitanjesi
(Editorrsquos Note both Wendy Buckle editor of
Themescene and our Chairman Margaret Morris commend this project to you We will be sending Rok
some recent copies of Orbit for the displays)
Some illustrations from Noordungrsquos only published text ldquoThe Problem of
Space Travel The Rocket Motorrdquo (the original German title
was ldquoDas Problem der Befahrung
des Weltraums - der Raketen-Motorrdquo) which saw the light of day
in 1928
Vitanje Local Private Post stamp
33
ORBIT
Zazzle Space Stamps Dazzle
I have noticed Zazzle Space Stamps appearing in Lollini brochures and on their web pages in recent months writes your Editor so I undertook to find out some facts about them and am grateful to The Astrophile Editor Jim Roth and the man who inspired him to create his own Zazzle designs Otto Bergman for the following infohellip Zazzle is one of half a dozen or more US companies
who facilitate the printing of non-copyrighted photos and artwork on private postage stamps which count
as postage within and outwith the USA You can
design your own Zazzle stampsmdashsee their websitemdashwhich you then purchase for your own use 20 to a
page
They are therefore a bit like British Smilers except
that the personal element of the stamp is not on a se-tenant label but actually incorporated within the
stamp itself as you can see from the examples on this page
Jim Roth was annoyed that the Kennedy Space Center Post office would not cancel his Zazzle stamps as they
consider them to be ldquometersrdquo and although he has marked STS-122 he wonrsquot be creating any others
You can see (and buy) all Jim Rothrsquos Space Zazzles on
his website m57coverscommdashclick on ldquostampsrdquo
Three of Jim Rothrsquos designs
See others on his website
An Otto Bergman space creation on
Zazzlecomottobergman
These space Zazzles and others are
available from the Lollini website or brochures
STS 128 in May 2010 section
STS 129 in June 2010
WISE and Delta 2 launch in July 2010 STS 130 in August 2010
STS 128 stamps show astronauts Christer Fuglesang (far left) and left Frank De Winne ISS Commander Expedition 21 STS 129 issues depict mission
patch and the crew led by Charles Hobaugh
Delta 2 rocket launch from Cape Canaveral of WISE Deep InfraRed telescope
34
ORBIT
Concluded on page 39
More Spaceflight Books for Sale
35
ORBIT ORBIT
SPACE HABITATS (Part Two) by John Beenen Continuing his feature from our last issue John Beenen begins by posing the questionhellip Why Should we Seek to Live
in Space
Spacecom gives ten main reasons why we should enter space for a prolonged
period
1 To secure a future for humanity
2 To build a new frontier
3 To find new energy sources
4 To build an industrial settlement on
the Moon
5 Better quality images of the
Universe
6 The SETI effort
7 Mining
8 Learning the history of our
Universe
9 Environmental benefits
Meeting the challenge
Taking for granted that it is naturally fascinating to investigate how mankind
might be able to maintain its habitat outside earth there are several further reasons to investigate why
mankind should settle themselves outside earth in the far future And More reasons mean a overall better
argument
Primarily there is the question of overpopulation and
secondly a solution for the energy problem
Next we have to consider that climate circumstances
are not under control anymore and earth eventually becomes uninhabitable
Also when for various reasons we start to kill each
other for some groups of people it may be an attractive proposition to depart this Earth in quite a different
sense And that is perhaps the most common thought
through activities in space more money can be obtained
But there are disadvantageshellip
On the other hand a prolonged stay in space is not that safe The construction must be protected against
radiation and it can be hit by large and small debris which makes space a very unsafe place
Furthermore cosmic radiation produces
a radiation of 80 mSv (millisievert) - well over the allowed maximum of 50
mSv and very much over the amount which is considered as safe for man
which is 3 mSv
Next solar flares produce a sudden
increase of soft gamma and energy rich radiation so much that without the
protection of an atmosphere half of our population could die easily
It is interesting that even without shielding most of this radiation can be
absorbed in the projected spacecraftsrsquo structure and in the air Smaller
structures can be protected with a
shield of co-rotating rocks
The construction further must be protected against sunlight which by
lack of the air shield will fall in unshielded so sun blinds and radiators
are indispensable
And as a result of the artificial gravity
there are some tiny movement problems which we will face later
Finally the created ecosystem should be fully self-supporting and that is easier said than done as
experiments with Biosphere-2 have showed
Biosphere-2 Biosphere-2 was a project built between 1987 and 1991 providing in an area of about 2frac12 football fields
a closed biological system of different composition From 1991-1993 a crew of 8 persons stayed herein A
second crew of 7 persons bridged a period of March
until September 1994 During the first period it appeared difficult to keep the atmosphere constant in
particular the carbon dioxide values changed rapidlymdashthe reason why many of the carried insects perished
Further the oxygen level decreased slowly because pf a leak
Even during the first two-year phase large differences in opinion appeared and the yield was not large
enough to deliver the calories necessary Reserve stocks had to be broken into Finally the second
experiment had to be ended prematurely because of
mismanagement
However it seems that a well-functioning stable ecosystem should not be underestimated physically
not technically
Artists impressions above Interior Stanford Torus and below Interior
OrsquoNeill Cylinder
Solar flares Czechoslovakia 1965 WB 47
36
ORBIT
It further has to be speculated on that men would resist
a regulated weather programme instead of the customary ever changing circumstances on Earth
Also we must physically resist an eternal stay outside
Earth That is not always easy as some people will show
some kind of sea sickness for ever In any case rooms with a diameter of less than 100 meters and a speed of
revolution over three per minute are insufficient At specifications of over 500 m and at less than 1 revolution
per minute fewer problems have to be expected
How do we get raw materials (Fantasy Moon Mining Yemen
Mutawakelite 1969 1343)
And still there have to be enough raw materials to sustain the
colony but as a principle the
search for raw materials is not the most difficult
From the asteroid belt enough small rocks can be
transported as a building material Also mines can be put
on the Moon Bercause of the lower gravity there transport is easier and some kind of firing mechanism
has been calculated which launch packets of ore simply into space where they can be manipulated
Air can be produced from moonstone Nitrogen nearly without loss can be recycled and eventually added to
ammonia mined from comets Large gardens and fields should start the normal photosynthesis and doing so
finally a complete sustainable society might be built up Energy from the Sun is present in superfluous quantities
What to do about gravity Most designs for a Space station start with a gravity of
1G Some designers however think that a lower level of gravity is possible But in the meantime experiments
with astronauts have showed that our physiology
changes rapidly influenced by decreased or absence of gravity Thus the calcium potassium and sodium
contents of our bone system decrease by about 10 That is not bad were we to stay in space forever but
very troublesome when occasionally we would return to
Earth
Also the quality of our muscles decreases as the blood volume does Providing effects comparable to aging
Further by lack of gravity astronauts become a little
taller with accompanying pain in the back Hence the staying with 1G gravity is not so bad
That has to be maintained by rotation of the
construction The larger the diameter of the construction is the slower it will turn to provide 1 G That is a result
of the centrifugal or centripetal force Its
magnitude has long been established thanks to the work of Dutchman Christiaan Huygens and fixed in
the formula
m v2
F = r where
F = the external force in N(ewton) m = mass in kg
v = speed in msec r = radius in m
Hence a spacecraft with a diameter of 15 meters has to carry out one revolution every 8 seconds to
produce a sensation of 1G And that is too quick for man The effect of the centrifugal force is that should
an astronaut drop an object it does not fall straight
down but partly away from himher Weird
Coriolis force But in a rotating Space station another force is at
work That is the lsquoCoriolis forcersquo named after the
French Gustave-Gaspard Coriolis (1792-1843) who described this kind of force for the first time
The most common manifestation is the second law of
Buys Ballot which says that air streams in the
atmosphere which according the first law of Boys Ballot as a principle run from high to low pressure at
the northern hemisphere are bent to the right and at the southern hemisphere to the left because of the
rotation of the Earth
Therefore air streams around depressions show a
spiral shape in opposite directions at the northern and southern hemisphere In a space station this
force can especially noticed when moving around through the spokes of the wheel
(Diagram of Coriolis F o r c e h t t p
wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm)
A s s u m e t h a t a n
astronaut on a ladder
climbs through a spoke to the axis As he climbs
along he circles around more slowly as he
describes a smaller circle
in the same time What happens with the difference in speed that he had before He will be pressed
against the ladder and that is the Coriolis force The force also acts in opposite direction when he
descends from the ladder
Also the throwing up and catching of a ball will
become a huge achievement as the ball does not
37
ORBIT
drop perpendicularly but will shift a little into the
direction of the orbit of the station and also achieves a higher speed
This also has strange effects on the astronaut As moves
quickly in the rotation direction of the station his weight
appears to increase to a noteworthy extent Then as he moves against the speed of rotation his weight
decreases apparently Mathematically this effect is explainable but very complex
Also the astronautrsquos head and feet move in different
speed to artificial gravity This is plainly noticeable when
somebody jumps up Hence avoid this practice
With these kind of effects adaptation to the changed circumstances in a space station will ask a lot of the
crew members I do hope they can stand it But in any
case the larger the space ship the lesser the problems
Inflatable stations
But therersquos more The inflatable station was considered
many years ago The first i d e a w a s p o s s i b l y
developed when on 12th August 1960 the Echo
balloon with a diameter of
30 meters was launched (Echo I balloon USA 1960
WB 3)
It is true you could not live in it as the balloon was of too frail a construction but the idea of an inflatable
spacecraft was then alive By 1958 groups within NASA
had begun to think about inflatable stations The Goett-committee has been one of the first On 25th26th May
1959 a conference started about projects after
Mercury In particular the
representative of Langley L a r r y Lo f t i n wa s
enthusiastic about his AMIS (Advanced Man in
Space) project (Hexagonal structure
Manama 1970 WB 113)
One of his first projects was a rotating hexagonal
inflatable construction with a diameter of 25 meters a cylindrical core and three lsquospokesrsquo Acting as a ferry to
and from the station the lsquoDyna Soarrsquo Space plane could
be used The Dyna Soar project (at that time still
under development) was cancelled by the American
Minister of Defense Robert
McNamara Inflatable Habitat NASA
1961 enwikipediaorg)
A Langley Space Station
team managed by Paul Hill and Emanuel lsquoMannyrsquo
Schnitzer developed the concept together with the
G o o d y e a r A i r c r a f t
Corporation
(Langleyrsquos self-inflating rotating hexagonal structure httphistorynasagov
SP-4308) Its original diameter had already been reduced to 10
meters
In the years after Langley built several experimental
modules called lsquoErectable Torus Manned Space Laboratoryrsquo a 11 model built by firms such as
Goodyear The torus was built from three layers of
nylon tissue and in between a rubber-like plastic material butyl elastomer A large problem was the
penetration by micrometeorites which as was learnt from the results of the Echo balloon finally damaged
the whole structure
Another problem was the great instability of the ring
due to movements of the astronauts the station started to wobble when they moved around Finally
the project was cancelled and at the end of the eighties the Langley Research Center started to
design inflatable constructions for a base camp on the
Moon
( A r t i s t imp r e s s i on Transhab inflatable
m o d u l e h t t p
enwikipediaorg)
Due to the development of a new series of
s t r o n g e r p l a s t i c materials such as Kevlar
these construct ions
received new interest That lead to the development of Transhab (Transit Habitat) as a resource for crews
coupled at the ISS (international Space Station) The construction is a cylinder in a diameter of 82 meters
and several storeys high
Its volume in inflatable state is 340 m3 The wall has a
thickness of 30 () cm and consists of 12 layers of which the outside layer is made from Kevlar The
layers beneath are made from Nextel a ceramic fibre Disagreements during development and the spiralling
costs finally in 2000 saw the end of NASArsquos interest
G e n e s i s 1
thespacereviewcom)
From 1999 the project was
taken up by Bigelow
38
ORBIT
Aerospace who improved the design and tested it with
successful launchings of Genesis I on 12 July 2006 and Genesis II on 28 June 2007
In their design it has once again more or less the shape
of a balloon With a thickness of 40 cm the wall is still
very thick The outside layer is still Kevlar but inside are some layers of Vectran a textile fibre Within the
structure ants and scorpions were launched along with some objects which people who paid for the privilege of
boosting into space
In this way Bigelow hopes to build a Space Hotel named
Nautilus To stimulate the development Bigelow offered a price of $50 million to everybody who succeeded in
launching a crew of 5 persons to an altitude of 400 km before 2010 So little money lost here so far
A second project which can be realized within the near future is a fixed residence on the Moon As said Langley
occupies itself with the design of such a base which partly should be build below the surface Stamp
designers have already realized the idea
What does the future hold Although we are a long way away from the kind of space station by which a large amount of earth inhabitants can
leave the planet Earth forever the first steps for doing
so are in preparation With the development of their Space Hotel Bigelow tries to make the step to space
albeit a temporary one
Also Langley literally tries to set foot on the Moon and
finally they will succeed in doing so However The cost of such projects are literally astronomical and it is not
expected that in the coming decades much money can be allocated to such projects
Of course in some thousands of years (possibly only in
hundreds of years) this will become the case but for the
time being in my opinion the true conquest of space will stay as science-fiction for at least a few hundred years
Hoorn 2009
John Beenen
NB The stamps entitled lsquoSpace Cityrsquo with a value of 0 cnt do not exist but have been made by the author by means of frames and pictures present at the Internet
Fantasy Moon
b a s e M a n a -ma1970 WB 122
Fantasy bases
ready for Mars
YAR 1971 WB 2892 and 6
Fantasy Modular
base YAR 169 WB 233
39
ORBIT
Cover Below bottom right Future space Dutch Antilles 2000
Literature references (for both parts of article) httpenwikipediaorg Space habitat Space Colonization Orbital Colony Space City Space settlement Space stations L5 Society Bernal Sphere Stanford Torus OrsquoNeil Cylinder Inflatable Space Habitat Transhab Biosphere 2 Generation Ship wwwdsenl~hklruimtehtm Wonen op groene eilanden in de Ruimte (Dutch Living on green Islands in Space) Henry Kluytmans wwworionsarmcom McKendree Cylinder Bishops Ring wwwnasnasagovAboutEducationSpaceSettlement The Colonization of Space wwwdyarstraightscommsgundamhabitatshtml Mobile Suit Gundam High Frontier Life in the Universal Century Developing sound habitats wwwartificial-gravitycomDissertation1_2htm From Tsiolkovsky to Sputnik (1878-1957) httpsciencenasagovheadlinesy2000ast26may_1mhtm Wheels in the Sky httpdiscaircraftgreyfalconus Hermann Noordung Wohnrad (Wheel for Habitation) httparticlesadsabsharvardedufull1992lbsaconf249R Inflatable habitation for the lunar base MRoberts httphistorynasagovSP-4308ch9htm lsquoAs inevitable as the Rising Sunrsquo From the inflatable Torus to the Rotating Hexagon wwwspacecomnewsbusinessmonday_040524html Bigelow Aerospace to tackle inflatable Space Habitats httpsciencehowstuffsworkcominflatable-spacecraft2htm How Inflatable Spacecraft Will Work wwwbogancaphysicscoriolishtml Rotating Space Stations Dynamics An Explanation of the Coriolis Force httpdemonstrationswolframcomRotatingSpaceStation Rotating Space Station wwwdvandomcomcoliolisspacestationhtml Frame Effects and Space Stations wwwdvandomcomcoriolisindexhtml A (hopefully) simple explanation of the Coriolis Force wwwdaviddarlinginfoencyclopedia Hale Edward Everett von Pirquet Guido Noordung Hermann Space Station wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm The Coriolis Force wwwastronautixcomcraftfamlunbaseshtm Lunar bases wwwastronautixcomgallerycspebasehtm Photo Gallery Space base wwwregererating-universeorgOn_Moon_as_Space_Basehtm On Moon as Space Base wwwspacefuturecomhabitatlivingshtml Space Habitat Introduction Living in Space wwwspacepagebevideotaak=bekijkampid=47 Living in space (Video) wwwnutricomspace The Case for Space colonization ndash Now Oscar Falconi wwwxentcompipermailfork (FoRK) Bigelowrsquos inflatable Genesis I satellite in orbit wwwrussianforcesorg Russian strategic nuclear forces (Genesis II) wwwbigelowaerospacecomgenesis Genesis I Genesis II
Thanks to Alan Tunnicliffe who came across the attached news item
complete with stamp in the eNZ Magazine the bi-monthly journal of
the Institution of Professional Engineers NZ Inc Vol 11 No 3 May-
June 2010
Vaccari Auction Sells Remarkable Space Covers April 2010
Apollo 12 cover 55 of 87 flown to the moon on Apollo 15 having been left behind by the original crew sold for euro12200 1977 Salyut
6 Soyuz 27 cover sold for euro1600
40
ORBIT ORBIT
Shuttle 1981mdash2010 Stamps Marshall
Islands 2005
United Nations 2007 Monaco and Ascension 2008
Bulgaria 1991 including stamp from souvenir sheet
USA 1981
below USA 1995 and bottom USA 1998
(two values)
St Vincent Grenadines 1983
Ascension 1989
Bulgaria 1990
and above right W Germany 1975
and USA 2000 Guyana 2006
USA 1995
41
ASSS Membership Renewal 2010
Memberrsquos Name amp Addresshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
I wish to renew my membership of the ASSS for a further year and enclose the equivalent of
pound15 (UK) euro30 (Europe) $US 45 (Rest of the World)
Please return this form with your remittance to Harvey Duncan by the
end of July Thank you
Harvey Duncan Treasurer ASSS 16 Begg Avenue
Falkirk Scotland FK1 2DL
PayPal For details of how to Pay via Paypal
please email Jeff Dugdale Email address on Page 2
42
43
44
19
ORBIT
Flight STS-131 Commander Alan Pointdexter Pilot James Dutton MS Rick Mastracchio MS Dorthy Metcalf- Lindenburger MS Stephanie Wilson MS Naoko Yamakazi MS Clayton Anderson KSC Launch Date 5410 KSC Landing 20410 Purpose MPLM Leonardo Main Payload
STS-131 (ISS assembly flight 19A) via Discovery launched on 5
April 2010 from Kennedy Space Centers launch pad 39A and landed at 908 AM on 20 April 2010 on runway 33 at the Kennedy
Space Centers Shuttle Landing Facility The mission marked the longest flight for space shuttle Discovery
The primary payload was a Multi-Purpose Logistics Module loaded with supplies and equipment for the ISS The mission also
removed and replaced an ammonia tank assembly outside the station on the S1 truss The mission also included several on-
board payloads this mission had the most payloads since STS-
107
The primary payload of STS-131 was MPLM Leonardo filled with food and science supplies and also carried the third and final
Minus Eighty Degree Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI) Window Orbital Research Facility (WORF) one Crew Quarters Rack the
Muscle Atrophy Resistive Exercise (MARES) rack Resupply
Stowage Racks (RSRs) as well as Resupply Stowage Platforms (RSPs) The Lightweight Multi-Purpose Equipment Support
Structure Carrier (LMC) carried a refurbished Ammonia Tank Assembly (ATA) to the ISS The refurbished ATA was removed
from the Space Station and returned for use on this mission
during STS-128 It was swapped with an empty tank which will ride home on the LMC
This mission was the second flight of the TriDAR a 3D dual-
sensing laser camera intended for potential use as an
autonomous rendezvous and docking sensor TriDAR provides guidance information that can be used to guide a vehicle during
rendezvous and docking operations in space TriDAR does not rely on any reference markers such as reflectors positioned on
the target spacecraft
This was the final Space Shuttle mission that contains one or
more rookie astronauts the missions after this will have all- veteran crews
STS-131 was only the third mission in the Space Shuttle
programme to carry three female astronauts
the others being STS-40 and STS-96
With three female crew members arriving on board Discovery and Expedition 23 Flight
Engineer Tracy Caldwell Dyson at the station
the STS-131 mission marked the first time that four women have been in space at one
time
STS-131 marked the first time that two
Japanese astronauts Naoko Yamazaki from the Shuttle crew and Soichi Noguchi on the
ISS had been in space together
Although Naoko Yamazaki is not the last non-
US astronaut Naoko was the last Japanese astronaut to fly the space shuttle
MPLM Leonardo can
be seen in the shuttle cargo bay
The seven stars either side of our
sun represent the
crew members
The shuttlersquos orientation indicates
it is performing the Rendezvous Pitch
Manoeuvre which
allows the ISS to photograph its
underbelly
20
ORBIT
Flight STS-132 Commander Kenneth Ham Pilot Dominic Antonelli MS Michael Good MS Garret Reisman MS Piers Sellars MS Stephen Bowen KSC Launch Date 1452010 KSC Landing 2652010 Purpose Delivery of Russian Main Payload Rassvet Module
STS-132 (ISS assembly flight ULF4) docked with the ISS on May
16 2010 It was launched from the Kennedy Space Center on May 14 2010 The primary payload is the Russian Rassvet Mini-
Research Module along with an Integrated Cargo Carrier-Vertical Light Deployable (ICC-VLD) STS-132 is scheduled to be the
final flight of Space Shuttle Atlantis provided that the STS-335
Launch On Need rescue mission is not flown
Rassvet means dawn in Russian The module was built
by Russian aerospace company
Energia and arrived at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC)
aboard an Antonov 124 cargo plane on 17 December 2009
After it was unloaded from the Antonov the module was
transported to an Astrotech processing bay in Cape Canaveral to
undergo preparations for launch shown in this photo
An airlock and radiation heat exchanger to be used for outfitting the Russian Nauka Module (to be launched in 2012) a spare
elbow part of the European Robotic Arm (ERA) and a portable
work platform for science hardware for performing experiments in outer space were externally mounted on Rassvet in its launch
configuration Russian and US cargo delivered was also accommodated inside the module The volume for cargo and
science inside MRM1 is 5 cubic meters] Rassvet was outfitted
with ISS standard grapple fixtures that allowed the module to be unloaded from the payload bay of Atlantis using the stations
robotic arm
The ICC pallet is constructed of aluminum It is approximately 8 feet long 13 feet wide and 10 inches thick The empty weight of
the pallet is 2645 pounds The total weight of ICCndashVLD and the ORUs is approximately 8330 pounds ICC-VLD return mass is
2933 kilograms (6470 lb)
The ICC-VLD was berthed in the centre of the
payload bay for both launch and re-entry
In the photo above Rassvet is shown centre top
The mission patch shows Atlantis flying off into the sunset as the end of the shuttle
programme approaches
21
ORBIT
By Andreacute Scheer and Margaret Morris This fascinating structure is an octagonal pentelic marble tower on the Roman agora or marketplace in Athens It was supposedly built by the astronomer Andronicus of Kyrrhos c 50 BC but according to other sources might have been constructed in the 2
nd
century BC before the rest of the forum The structure is 12 metres high with a diameter of approximately 8 metres On each of the eight sides (aligned with the eight principal points of the compass) is a sculpture featuring the wind gods and below each sculpture is engraved a sundial Thus the tower served as a solar clock but additionally in the interior was a water-clock (clepsydra) driven by water coming down from the Acropolis There were mechanical hour indicators and displays for the seasons of the year with astrological dates and periods The tower was topped in antiquity by a weather-vane in the shape of a triton with a wand which pointed at whichever of the winds was blowing The tower must have been one of the most useful structures in the agora as it showed the time for civilian purposes and indicated the wind direction for merchants awaiting the arrival of a ship The earliest philatelic items to depict this unusual building are postal stationery postcards originating from 1900 when the Greek postal authorities organised a competition for photographers and artists The best pictures were selected for issue and on 1 July 1901 the first series of 32 cards was issued In total 12 series of 32 cards each were issued between then and 20 March 1903 The cards were issued in three colours (chestnut black and green) with imprinted stamps of two values (5 lepta green for national mail and 10 lepta red for international mail) The cards additionally have an impressed stamp without colour on the left side being 10 lepta for the card itself so the cards were sold for 15 and 20 lepta The design of the imprinted stamps was based on the Hermes (Mercury) statue by Giovanni da Bologna During the war on the Balkans the cards were used by the Greek army and have an extra imprint ndash Carte Postale ndash Franchise Militaire A few examples of these postal stationery postcards are illustrated opposite and on page 23 The wording ldquoLrsquohorloge de Kyrrhestesrdquo refers to the timepiece built by Andronicus of Kyrrhos while ldquoTEMPLE DrsquoEOLErdquo translates as ldquoTemple of Aeolusrdquo (Aeolus = god of the winds) For each card 12 versions can be distinguished ndash ie 3 colours x 2 values x 2 usages For fuller information see reference no 1 Of course numerous picture postcards also feature this interesting structure
The Tower of the Winds The Oldest Planetarium on Stamps and
Postal Stationery
Front and back of postal stationery postcard
Examples of Greek postal stationery from the early 20th
century
Front and back of postal stationery postcard
22
ORBIT
The 19423 issues (SG 561-572) of Greece shown beside the 1973 Dominica souvenir sheet whose designer has
reinterpreted the divine sculptures in the margins
Boreas also on the 100d value in black and grey
Skiron
Zephyrus in two 25d vals
orange and green
Lips
Notus
Eurus
Apeliotes in two 10d vals red brown and red orange
Kaikias in two 50d vals black and grey violet and blue
Wind Direction Name of Deity Characteristics of the Sculpture North Boreas An old man wearing heavy clothing and holding a conch shell This wind was cold fierce and
stormy and in Athens made a loud hollow noise
North East Kaikias Old man with severe expression holding circular shield from which he will drop hailstones Weather characteristically cloudy wet and cold
East Apeliotes Young man with hair flowing in every direction holding a cloak full of fruit and grain ndash he brings gradual gentle rain
South East Eurus Old man with morose countenance wrapped tightly against the elements in his cloak This wind brought sultry gloomy weather with much rain
South Notus Young man emptying an urn and producing a shower of water This wind was associated with sultry very wet weather
South West Lips Boy pushing the stern of a ship promising a good sailing wind This was the wind which blew right into Piraeus harbour
West Zephyrus Beautiful lightly clad youth of happy aspect holding a cloak full of flowers In summer this wind brought very sultry weather
North West Skiron Bearded man with a bronze pot full of hot ashes and charcoal This was a dry wind extremely cold in winter but scorching and with lightning in summer
The following table gives details of the sculptures and the characteristics attributed to each of the wind gods
For fuller information see reference no 2
23
ORBIT
The sculptures of the eight winds were depicted on stamps of Greece issued in 1942 (six designs) and 1943 (again six designs ndash four as the previous issue but including the two omitted winds) Five values were surcharged in 1944 to aid victims of the Piraeus bombing of 11 January 1944 the exceptionally high face value resulted in few of these stamps being used Later in 1944 the same five values were surcharged in aid of a Childrenrsquos Convalescent Camp Fund Finally in 1946 two values of the 1942 issue were surcharged ndash the 10dr value in black and the 50dr revalued as 20dr in red See opposite for examples of the stamp designs In addition to these attractive engraved stamps the 1973 issue from Dominica commemorating the centenary of the World Meteorological Organisation included a miniature sheet incorporating the 50c and $1 values and surrounded in the margin by images of all eight wind sculptures (see page 22) More recently the cover of a booklet issued by Greece on 7 October 1988 provides an aerial view of the agora and the Tower of the Winds can be detected (see below) The booklet contains 16 stamps (4 each of 4 different values) and celebrates capitals of Greek provinces In early Christian times the building was used as the bell tower of a Byzantine Church It was partly buried in the ground until fully excavated in the 19
th century by the
Archaeological Society of Athens It is interesting to note that the design of the upper octagon of the 18th century Radcliffe Observatory in Oxford England is based on the Tower of the Winds as is the mausoleum of the founder of the Greek National Library Panayis Vagliano at West Norwood Cemetery London There is a similar tower in Sevastopol built in 1849 References
1 ldquoEntiers Postaux Illustreacutes du service des postes
helleacuteniques et leurs preacutecurseursrdquo Georges Mathas 1985
2 For finely detailed drawings and information about the sculptures you may care to see if your Library has a copy of ldquoThe Antiquities of Athensrdquo Stuart amp Revett Vol 1 published in London 1762
3 Article by Derek J de Solla Price in ldquoNational
Geographic April 1967 pp587-596 4 Much useful information may also be obtained from
sites on the internet
Examples of Overprints from left to right
1944 Piraeus Bombing Aid 1944 Childrenrsquos convalescent camp fund 1946 Surcharge
Below Cover of the 1988 stamp booklet
Front and back of postal stationery postcard
24
ORBIT
Old Photo Makes New(s) Story
A photo taken twenty-one years ago became hot international new(s) this July writes Bert van Eijck
It is a picture of your correspondent in front of the
monument on the graves of the seven astronauts killed
in the Challenger disaster The photo from November 1989 shows the national cemetery at Arlington in
Washington DC And it is this graveyard a national American field of pride and honour that was involved in
a scandal making news all over the world
What happened This became a hot story after it was leaked to the press that in 211 graves on Arlington the wrong corpse had
been buried But this disgrace grew to international
proportions when the US Senate published a report which revealed that it was not 211 but 6600 graves that
had been so dishonoured And maybe there are more the researchers stated
Consequently it meant that family members had been paying their respect at the wrong graves because many
were not marked well or the ground-plan directed to wrong places
Arlingtonrsquos director John Metzler was fired as was his
depute Thurman Higginbotham both of whom said
they knew there were made mistakes but they could not help ldquobecause of economyrdquo
Arlington cemetery was opened in 1864 Since then
300000 Americans have been buried here including
famous or well-known persons like presidents
ministers high ranked military artists judges and
astronauts
And what about some of the most recent ones Did I indeed visit and honour the seven Challenger astronauts in their last resting place on Earth in
November 1989 as shown on the photo Or are they perhaps mistakenly buried in another
unmarked grave This is hard to believe but one never knowshelliphellip
For those who wonder what was doing 21
years ago in the US capital I visited the
World Stamp Exporsquo89 at the Convention Center in Washington DC Of course I did
more sightseeing at and in the famous Smithsonian Museums (a must the
National AirampSpace Museum with 10
million visitors a year) the Capitol the metro (deepest in the world) George
Washingtonrsquos house in Vernon Arlington of course and much more
At the World Stamp Expo there was a
presentation of both USA and USSR space
stamps The American stamps were presented by astronaut Buzz Aldrin the
Soviet stamps by cosmonaut Gherman Titov
Author and the Challenger astronauts monument at Arlington seven figures in bronze (left) At right a plaque honoring US-soldiers killed in action saving
hostages in Iran
Astronaut Buzz Aldrin (left) presents the US space stamps while cosmonaut Gherman Titov (right) does the same with
Soviet space stamps In the middle officials of USPS Below the
stampshellip
25
ORBIT
The Apollo 15 Cover Scandal by Umberto Cavallaro
In a feature which first appeared in the April-June 2010 issue of Ad Astra the web journal of the Italian Astrophilatelic Association its editor reveals in considerable detail the full story of those covers which today sell for so much money The Apollo 15 flown covers are among the best known
collectibles from the Apollo Era mainly because of what Jim Irwin recalls as ldquothe problem we brought
back from the Moonrdquo
The crew of Apollo 15 carried out one of the most complete scientific explorations of the Moon the first
lunar roving vehicle was operated on the Moon to
extend the range of exploration some 180 pounds of lunar surface samples were returned for analysis Yet
Fifteen is best remembered as the crew that carried envelopes to the moon and the whole mission is
remembered for the ldquogreat postal caperrdquo
Apollo 15 was not the first mission to carry covers
dozens were carried on each flight from Apollo 11 onwards and as Commander Dave Scott recalls in his
book the whole business had probably been building since Mercury through Gemini and into Apollo People
had a fascination with objects that had been carried in space and they became more and more popular and
valuable as the programme progressed Right from
the start of the Mercury programme each astronaut had been allowed to carry on board a certain number
of personal items
NASA was in the habit of authorizing astronauts to
carry certain personal items on manned flights known as Astronautsrsquo PPK (Personal Preference Kits) All such
items had to be listed and approved by Deke Slayton the Head of the Astronaut Office prior to launch and
were intended for private use or as personal gifts
after the flight and could not be employed for commercial
Fig 1 The official USPS cover postmarked on the Moon
purposes or personal gain Astronaut kits typically
included badges jewellery coins medals flags stamps postal covers currency printed materials and
similar easily packed lightweight mementoes As the flight became more significant the number and type of
items increased
Aside from personal mementoes each crew had
carried medallions whose number had grown steadily on each mission In his book The All-American Boys astronaut Walter Cunningham reveals that it was rumoured around the Astronaut Office that Apollo 14
carried on board a personal package weighing forty-
two pounds Before that flight the Franklin Mint had even advertised the proposed sale After the flight the
commercial deal was never completed and all went quiet nothing about it being published in the media
But some members of the US Congress were unhappy
of the situation
In that context the ldquolapses of judgmentrdquo of the Apollo 15 crew became fatal Dave Scott went too far
carrying on board a total of 641 postal covers (including the two official covers) of which only 243
were listed and authorized before the flight and 398
were not -- secretly carried on board Apollo 15 by Scott in a pocket of his space suit Had they been
listed as being in Scotts PPK they would probably have been routinely approved for inclusion in the
preference kit
The 243 listed and authorized covers include
bull 2 official US Postal Service covers one of which the ldquoOfficial Coverrdquo was publicly cancelled on the
moon by Scott at the request of the US Postal
Service 10 (Fig 1) bull 1 Wright Brothers commemorative cover dated
1928 and autographed by Orville Wright which was carried by Worden for a friend
bull 1 cover bearing a First Man on the Moon stamp and a Bliss Centennial three-cent stamp carried by
Irwin for Barbara Baker (Fig 2 below)
26
ORBIT
8 Shamrock covers carried by Irwin (as below)
144 Herrickrsquos ldquoMoon Phasesrdquo covers carried by Worden
(Fig 4) printed with a cachet showing 15 phases of the moon On the USS Okinawa the Apollo 15 recovery ship
the astronauts placed two eight-cent stamps purchased
on board by Worden on each of these covers and they had the covers cancelled by the shipboard post office
The astronauts later autographed these covers while flying back from Hawaii to Houston Sixteen covers were
torn or damaged and were destroyed Because of the furore created by the Apollo 15 covers incident NASA
confiscated 61 of these 144 Moon Phases covers
87 Apollo 12 covers (Fig 5) that for unknown reason
did not fly on that mission and which were carried on
Apollo 15 for Mrs Barbara Gordon a stamp collector then wife of Richard Gordon Apollo 12 astronaut who
at was the back-up pilot for Apollo 15
The 398 unauthorized covers (initially there were
400 but 2 were damaged and discarded) are lightweight envelopes carrying as a cachet a replica
of the official Apollo 15 patch overprinted with an Air Force wing and propeller emblem
The idea of these additional covers was suggested during a cocktail party by Eiermann a salesman for
the heat-shield contractor who had frequent business and social contacts with NASA personnel and
astronauts He suggested to fly 400 lightweight covers 100 for each of the astronauts and 100 for
his friend Sieger the German stamp dealer The
cacheted covers were provided by Al Bishop a friend of many astronauts then at the Howard
Hughes organization He had already provided covers for the previous flights since Apollo 12
Above one of the 100 Sieger covers with the handwritten note ldquoLanded at Hadley Moon July 30 1971 On the
reverse is a typed and notarised inscription ldquoThis is to certify that this cover was on board the Falcon at the Hadley-
Apennine Moon July 30 ndashAug 2 1971rdquo
Below one of the 298 unauthorised covers carried to the Moon by David Scott with the inscription ldquoThis envelope was
carried to the Moon aboard the Apollo 15 of 300 to the Lunar Surface in LMrdquoFalconrdquo
The crews usually returned to Bishop a couple of
flown covers signed with gratitude ldquoTo my
knowledge ndash Cunningham reports in his well documented book ndash Bishop never sold any and never
made a dime off his relationship He was simply a fan To Al Bishop Apollo 15 was no different from any
other flight except for a phone call he received from
Hal Collins the Astronaut Office manager at the Cape
27
ORBIT
Collins told Bishop that the crew would like to know
whether he could obtain some very lightweight envelopes for them Al said that hed be happy to do so
He was unaware then that many of them would be smuggled on board the next lunar flight Al was trusted
Thats why many of us imposed on him with our
problems special requests and sometimes matters which we would rather not share with NASArdquo
This time Al was badly used he emerged as a
scapegoat and his name was dragged as though he was the Mr Big of an international stamp conspiracy
The covers were cancelled at Kennedy Space Center
several days before July 26 1971 The date of the post office machine canceller was moved forward
Additionally twin eight-cent stamps were purchased by the astronauts on the USS Okinawa the Apollo 15
recovery ship and affixed to these covers ndash as for the
Herrickrsquos covers In the shipboard post office the covers were then cancelled and date-stamped August 7 1971
The astronauts finally autographed these covers while flying from Hawaii to Houston
Soon after the flight the astronauts gave Eiermann
the 100 covers ndash after agreeing that there was to be
no commercialization or advertising of these covers and that nothing would be done with them until after
completion of the Apollo programme
But after a while news started to circulate that the
German dealer was selling in Europe covers flown on Apollo 15 for a reported average of US $1500 each
The reports infuriated Congress not least because congressmen had to read such controversial
information in the press before being informed by
NASA which is obligated to keep Congress fully informed of its activity Recollection of the Apollo 14
medallions incident must have echoed in the minds of certain members of Congress many of whom were
not fans of NASA anyway NASA started an internal investigation This was the most controversial
development of the Apollo Programme and although
most astronauts were involved to some degree NASA made an example of the Apollo 15 flight crew ldquoIt
was turning into a witch-huntrdquo recalled Scott ldquoOur bosses had abrogated their responsibilities and we
were left alone on a very wet dayrdquo
It is ironic that after addressing a joint session of
Congress as heroes in less that one year the three astronauts of Apollo 15 had to go back in front of these
same senators in disgrace because of this envelope scandal
After this ldquoincidentrdquo NASA prohibited from Apollo 17 on the flying of covers or stamps during a space
missions (they were not on time to block the covers carried on Apollo 16) The only exceptions have been
since then the items flown in cooperation with the US
Postal Service ie the 266000 covers carried in 1983 in
the payload bay of the Space Shuttle Challenger on
STS-8 and the 500000 $995 Express Mail stamp created by Paul and Chris Calle in 1994 flown on
Endeavour STS-68 in recognition of the 25th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing The huge
number of such items carried in space discourages
speculations and these items still are widely available for few dollars
So far fewer than 1000 envelopes in total have flown
to the Moon No other American covers will flow to the Moon in the foreseeable future Perhaps the next
ldquoMoon coversrdquo will bear Chinese or Indian stamps
Dave Scott was the first lunar Postmaster and had two
postmarks with him and two covers with imperforated dieproof of the US twin Decade of Space Achievements
stamps affixed (Fig 1)
He had one postmark with ldquoMoon Landing USArdquo (Fig 8 below) and another with ldquoUnited States on the
Moonrdquo (Fig 9 bottom)
The First Lunar Post Office was opened on August 2 1971 when David Scott postmarked only the official
cover (and brought back the official backup-cover uncancelled) A handful covers had however been
postmarked before launch with both postmarks Dr Matthew Radnofsky ndash who in his laboratory already
had simulated cancelling in space for Apollo 11 ndash
tested both postmarks to ensure that the cancellation devices were in working order
Especially the date could be changed easily Contrary
to Apollo 11 covers without stamps were used for
28
ORBIT
these tests Apollo 15 Lunar Cancellation Proofs are
much scarcer than Apollo 11 ones ldquoAs by now I am aware of only 17 itemsrdquo states famous astrophilatelist
Walter Hopferwieser Covers with proofs of the Apollo 15 moon postmarks have been recently sold at Regency
Superior and Aurora auctions
The official Apollo 15 cover postmarked on the Moon
(see Fig 1 repeated above ) is displayed at the US National Postal Museum It was publicly cancelled and
the video can be seen at httpwwwpostalmuseumsiedustampstakeflight
apollo15video-01html A short speech was given by
Dave Scott while cancelling the cover ldquoTo show that our good Postal Service has deliveries any place in the
universe I have the pleasant task of cancelling here on the Moon the first stamp of a new issue dedicated to
commemorate US achievements in space I have the
first one here on an envelope At the bottom it says United States in Space a decade of achievement and
Im very proud to have the opportunity here to play postman I pull out a cancellation device It says
August 2 1971 first day of issuehellip What could be a
better place to cancel this stamp than right here at Hadley Rillehelliprdquo
Immediately thereafter the Postmaster General who
was waiting at the Mission Control at Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston Texas gave the signal to start the
First- Day cancellations at post offices in Houston
Kennedy Space Center and Huntsville
Acknowledgement Thanks to Walter Hopferwieser for his comments
Some Notes About Space Mail
Commenting on Brian Vincentrsquos article in the June
2010 Orbit ASSS member Geoff Chivers writes in an
email to your Editorhellip Im sure you wont mind me commenting on Brian G Vincents Some Notes About Space Mail (page 36)
In paragraph 2 he refers to the Apollo 15 cover incident leaving the impression that Scott Worden and Irwin were guilty of some heinous crime This has been the subject of much miss-reporting over the years The full story of what actually happened is explained in depth at page 328 et seq of Two sides of the moon by David Scott and Alexei Leonov published by Simon amp Shuster The astronauts were of course exonerated
This is the quote (slightly edited to enable it to stand as an independent piece)-
During 1972 while on a trip to Washington DC George Low NASA deputy administrator asked me to stop by his
office writes David Scott I had known George in Houston while he was Apollo spacecraft programme manager and I had great respect for him We spent a short while exchanging pleasantries Then George looked me in the eye and came to the point ldquoWell Daverdquo he said ldquoI have to tell you I was not very proud of my performancerdquo His comment was the culmination of what had become known as the Apollo 15 ldquocover incidentrdquo This involved some first day postal covers which we had carried aboard Apollo 15 some of which were unfortunately sold by a German stamp dealer several months after the flight As No 2 in NASA George
had been heavily involved in NASAs handling of the incident and his comment referred to one of the poorest management performances the space agency had ever demonstrated - up to then The whole business had probably been building since Mercury through Gemini and into Apollo People had a fascination with objects that had been carried in space and they became more and more popular and valuable as the programme progressed Right from the start of the Mercury programme each astronaut had been allowed to carry on board a certain number of personal items in what were known as PPKS - Personal Preference Kits Before each flight a list of the items was prepared for Deke Slayton who
Two Sides of The Moon
by David Scott and Alexei Leonov
The text opposite from the
above book has been
referred to by Umberto Cavallaro in preparing his
above piece
29
ORBIT
had overall responsibility for approving them As the flights became more significant the number and type of items increased Aside from personal mementoes each crew had carried a certain number of medallions which they could hand out afterwards as souvenirs The number of medallions had grown steadily on each mission - eventually some crew members had been carrying several hundred each and their weight was becoming a concern And as always commercialisation began to creep in In the end on Apollo 14 commanded by Al Shepard it was alleged that the crew had carried some silver medallions on board which were to be melted down after the flight and mixed with many other commemorative medallions by the Franklin Mint to be sold to the general public The Franklin Mint had even advertised the proposed sale before the flight After the flight the deal was never consummated and all went quiet nothing about it was printed in the media But some members of Congress had heard about it and were unhappy with the situation Since we were busy training for Apollo 15 (launched 26 July 1971) we knew nothing about all this Had we known we would have been far more wary of what happened subsequently All we knew was that Deke Slayton had halved the number of medallions we could carry Shortly afterwards Deke introduced Jim (Irwin) Al (Worden) and me to a long-standing friend of his at the Cape called Walter Eiermann In retrospect this seems likely to have been more than a coincidence Deke invited us to join him at dinner at Eiermanns house one evening several months before the Apollo 15 launch Eiermann asked if we would like to make some money on the side by signing some stamps ldquoAll the guys are doing itrdquo he said We agreed We were also approached by several members of the Manned Spacecraft Centerrsquos stamp club who asked us to sign many first - day covers before the flight for their members as well as for ourselves At that time we could not buy life insurance If we signed some covers we reasoned they could be held during the flight and act as limited life insurance for our families if anything happened to us But then Eiermann proposed we carry four hundred lightweight commemorative covers a hundred of which would be passed on to a stamp dealer in Germany when we returned All the covers would be franked on the day of launch and franked on the day of our return Our understanding was that the dealer would hold his hundred covers to be sold at some future date after the Apollo programme was over In return he would set up a $6000 trust fund for each of us for the education of our children In the months of intense activity before the flight we did not give this more than a moment of thought But we agreed In retrospect we made a mistake in even considering it In the months following our mission we learnt that the German dealer had begun to sell the covers We let Eiermann know that we were opposed to the sale Forget the trust funds we said we dont want any money This is not what we had understood would happen But when senior managers at NASA learnt about the covers being sold they were furious Incomplete information was then provided to the press by NASArsquos Public Affairs Office and reports started to appear that we had smuggled the covers onto our flight This was literally impossible NASA personnel prepared us for every aspect of the flight - from our birthday suits out Everything we had carried had to be specially packaged by the flight support crew to make sure apart from anything else
that it was fireproof Everything in our PPKs was on a list which was certified before launch I was never aware of any rules about what could or could not be taken in these packs Slayton was to approve the list so as far as I was concerned it was up to management to keep us on the straight and narrow I assumed if the list was approved that was fine Usually the list was certified by Deke But before our flight for some reason he neither asked us personally for each of our lists as was customary nor signed off on the list personally He said the flight - crew support team had already logged everything Whereas we had purchased the covers ourselves the Astronaut Office at the Cape had prepared the covers for the flight and had had them stamped and franked on the day of launch Somehow however the support team had missed them when they prepared the PPK flight manifest It was also reported after the incident that we had been removed from the astronaut corps Again totally untrue Unfortunately NASA managers did nothing to dispel this false and misleading information They just tucked their heads in and let the rumours run The reports infuriated Congress not least because congressmen had to read such controversial information in the press before being informed by NASA which is obligated to keep Congress fully informed of its activities Recollections of the Apollo 14 medallion incident must have seeped into the minds of certain members of Congress many of whom were not fans of NASA anyway When NASA started an internal investigation we were told by a senior official in the agency that we were on our own We were advised to get our own legal representation A Senate hearing into the matter had been called and a justice Department investigation would follow It was turning into a witch - hunt NASA we were advised expected us to keep quiet and take the Fifth Amendment at this hearing We did not We told it like it was We had nothing to hide Eventually the Justice Department concluded that we had broken some administrative rules but had done nothing criminal NASA confiscated the remaining covers but they acted before discovering all the facts of the case Following an investigation by NASA the Justice Department and the Senate the Justice Department concluded on 6 December 1978 in a ldquoMemorandum Opinion for the Assistant Attorney Generalrdquo that NASA had no claim to the remaining covers that the covers were never intended for sale that there was no attempt at concealment by the crew of the fact that the covers were to be flown on Apollo 15 and finally that the covers would have been approved to carry aboard Apollo 15 had a request been made We were reprimanded and we took our licks But it was a very raw deal NASA had hung us out to dry Our bosses had abrogated their responsibilities and we were left alone on a very wet day I spent many years trying to get full access to NASA and congressional records on the case NASA refused to provide full disclosure We subsequently found out there had been rumblings about profitmdashmaking on previous missions A copy of a letter was released to me in which NASA admitted that ten other astronauts who were not identified had been involved in selling signed blocks of stamps and postcards for Eiermann But the wave reached the shore on Apollo 15 and we were the ones who bore the brunt of the blame for such incidents
30
ORBIT
Buckingham Cover offer Free Souvenirs for You
Brian Austin of Buckinghamrsquos Rare Cover Department writes to your Editorhellip
Over the last two or three years we have been dealing more and more in signed space covers This led us to earlier this year buying an Apollo 11 crew signed cover which had been carried to the moon which we had on display on our stand at London 2010
For this we also printed a limited edition of 800 sets of postcards one featuring the Apollo 11 cover and another
featuring an Apollo 15 cover The idea was to give away 100 sets per day to customers at the show but now the show is all finished I still have around 150 pairs left on my desk
We wondered if you would like to offer them to your readers we are happy to send them out free of charge to the first 150 readers to contact us with their details as long as we can also include one of our lists of space
covers
BrianAustinbuckinghamcoverscom
31
ORBIT
More About Missile Mail
Harvey Duncan told us in the last Orbit (page 15) about the First Official Missile Mail writes Bert van Eijck After the useful technical details about the USS Barbero he gave us I can offer you more philatelic information and show you some illustrations The missile mail experiment was a joint venture between
the Ministry of Defense and the US Post Office Dept headed by Postmaster General Mr Arthur E
Summerfield Three thousand special envelopes were printed with a reproduction of a Navy missile type
Regulus with the text ldquoFirst Official Missile Mailrdquo and above that ldquoThe Postmaster General Washingtonrdquo All
the envelopes were addressed to The President high
government officials like senators and to the Post Masters General of ninety nine other member nations of
UPU Inside was a letter from Mr Summerfield entitled ldquoThe First Official Missile Mailrdquo with the official seal of
the Post Office dept It was explained therein what had
happed to that letter and the other 2999
The special letters were loaded in two metal compartments and came aboard the guided missile USS Barbero (SSG-317) The shot was to occur during a regular training mission from Norfolk Virginia to Florida
About 350 kilometres off the coast of Florida the
Regulus missile was launched toward Airport Mayport
The missile climbed 10 km above the Atlantic and
landed within twenty minutes with all the letters intact The letters were cancelled with the hand stamp ldquoUSS
Barberordquo with the date ldquoJun 8 1959rdquo and the approximate timing of the launching ldquo930 amrdquo This
was done by post office staff part of an established
branch office on the USS Barbero The letters bore the 1957 4c American flag postage stamp Those
addressed to foreign countries carried two such stamps covering surface mail postage costs On the
reverse side is the Jacksonville Post Office cancellation with the approximate time of arrival ldquoJune 8 1030 am
1959 Floridardquo
Such flown letters are expensive to buy and a jewel in
any exhibit
But this is NOT the case with the Barbero souvenir
cover dated a month later on July 8 1959 issued in the same quantity (3000) as the originals The
inscription reads ldquoPoint of LandingmdashFirst Official Missile Mail 8 June 1959 US Naval Station Mayport Floridardquo
About 16000 () collectors had applied for such a cover
The imprint of the official Barbero cover was reproduced on a memorial cover issued and posted at
the Vienna International Airpost Exhibition Luposta on August 1959 in the Austrian capital Of course neither
of these items had been carried within the Regulus
missile
Also of interest the Postal Administration of
Paraguay issued a stamp
and a block in 1976 honouring the Barbero
Missile Mail The Gs 20 stamp shows a Regulus
missile in flight while the sheet shows the whole
addressed cover and in
miniature the complete letter inside from the US Postmaster General
as mentioned above and as illustrated below
Above a specimen envelope as described in the text and below its reverse cancel
32
ORBIT
An Invitation to Our Readers to Donate to an Innovative International Projecthellip
Kindest Sir or Madam
The municipality of Vitanje
(Slovenia) is honoured to have had a hand in the life of the
famous space architect Herman Potocnik Noordung
(1892-1929) (pictured right) who had already found a
surprising number of solutions
to space travel and troubles of living in vacuum long before
actual space flights took place His creations were used by the
renowned novelist Arthur C Clarke
in his book 2001 A Space Odyssey which was later also turned into a
movie directed by Stanley Kubrick In Noordungs honour we have
created the Memorial Centre of Herman Potocnik Noordung This
year the cultural centre of European
space technology will also get going in Vitanje This will be a place
where the European space heritage will be gathered and various events connected with the
contemporary European space technologies will be
organized
Proposed Philatelic Collection We would like to bring the project onto a higher level
where we would have the collaboration of various
countries in the world including such with a history in space travel (like USA Russia) One of the steps of this
expansion process would also include a philatelic collection of stamps with themes of outer space
(astronomy astronautics and everything connected to
outer space) We already have quite a decent collection but we would like to expand on that
Our goal is to have 6000 stamps before opening our
exhibition For this we would require the help of as many philatelists as possible
All of these philatelists would become co-creators and partners of this collection for which we hope will
become the largest collection of its kind in the world The people donating the stamps would get a great deal
of exposure at all these exhibitions and on the special
website which will be started shortly If you give us enough support and we are able to raise enough
stamps for a first-class collection we hope the first
exhibitions and various special events (like visits from
astronauts ndash philatelists) will see the light of day as early as in 2011
From a professional point of view we have an
excellent team working with us Long-time philatelist
Tone Petek is the person who initiated this project while Bojan Bracic the secretary of FEPA is one of our
counsellors and is completely behind this project
If you would be interested in such cooperation I will get the wheels in motion and send you a verifying
mail with the stamp of the municipality of Vitanje and
also of some higher organization within the Slovene political system
The collection is already underway with the help of the
Slovene Philatelic organisation (FZS) adds Rok in an email to your Editor in July This organisation has been of immense help with technical expertise and
connections It looks as if there might be an introductory exhibition next year sometime
In the hope of a successful partnership we offer our
sincere appreciation
Rok Podgrajsek
Obcina Vitanje Grajski trg 1
3205 Vitanje
Slovenia
Email address rokpodgrajsekgmailcom
But see also website httpwwwvitanjesi
(Editorrsquos Note both Wendy Buckle editor of
Themescene and our Chairman Margaret Morris commend this project to you We will be sending Rok
some recent copies of Orbit for the displays)
Some illustrations from Noordungrsquos only published text ldquoThe Problem of
Space Travel The Rocket Motorrdquo (the original German title
was ldquoDas Problem der Befahrung
des Weltraums - der Raketen-Motorrdquo) which saw the light of day
in 1928
Vitanje Local Private Post stamp
33
ORBIT
Zazzle Space Stamps Dazzle
I have noticed Zazzle Space Stamps appearing in Lollini brochures and on their web pages in recent months writes your Editor so I undertook to find out some facts about them and am grateful to The Astrophile Editor Jim Roth and the man who inspired him to create his own Zazzle designs Otto Bergman for the following infohellip Zazzle is one of half a dozen or more US companies
who facilitate the printing of non-copyrighted photos and artwork on private postage stamps which count
as postage within and outwith the USA You can
design your own Zazzle stampsmdashsee their websitemdashwhich you then purchase for your own use 20 to a
page
They are therefore a bit like British Smilers except
that the personal element of the stamp is not on a se-tenant label but actually incorporated within the
stamp itself as you can see from the examples on this page
Jim Roth was annoyed that the Kennedy Space Center Post office would not cancel his Zazzle stamps as they
consider them to be ldquometersrdquo and although he has marked STS-122 he wonrsquot be creating any others
You can see (and buy) all Jim Rothrsquos Space Zazzles on
his website m57coverscommdashclick on ldquostampsrdquo
Three of Jim Rothrsquos designs
See others on his website
An Otto Bergman space creation on
Zazzlecomottobergman
These space Zazzles and others are
available from the Lollini website or brochures
STS 128 in May 2010 section
STS 129 in June 2010
WISE and Delta 2 launch in July 2010 STS 130 in August 2010
STS 128 stamps show astronauts Christer Fuglesang (far left) and left Frank De Winne ISS Commander Expedition 21 STS 129 issues depict mission
patch and the crew led by Charles Hobaugh
Delta 2 rocket launch from Cape Canaveral of WISE Deep InfraRed telescope
34
ORBIT
Concluded on page 39
More Spaceflight Books for Sale
35
ORBIT ORBIT
SPACE HABITATS (Part Two) by John Beenen Continuing his feature from our last issue John Beenen begins by posing the questionhellip Why Should we Seek to Live
in Space
Spacecom gives ten main reasons why we should enter space for a prolonged
period
1 To secure a future for humanity
2 To build a new frontier
3 To find new energy sources
4 To build an industrial settlement on
the Moon
5 Better quality images of the
Universe
6 The SETI effort
7 Mining
8 Learning the history of our
Universe
9 Environmental benefits
Meeting the challenge
Taking for granted that it is naturally fascinating to investigate how mankind
might be able to maintain its habitat outside earth there are several further reasons to investigate why
mankind should settle themselves outside earth in the far future And More reasons mean a overall better
argument
Primarily there is the question of overpopulation and
secondly a solution for the energy problem
Next we have to consider that climate circumstances
are not under control anymore and earth eventually becomes uninhabitable
Also when for various reasons we start to kill each
other for some groups of people it may be an attractive proposition to depart this Earth in quite a different
sense And that is perhaps the most common thought
through activities in space more money can be obtained
But there are disadvantageshellip
On the other hand a prolonged stay in space is not that safe The construction must be protected against
radiation and it can be hit by large and small debris which makes space a very unsafe place
Furthermore cosmic radiation produces
a radiation of 80 mSv (millisievert) - well over the allowed maximum of 50
mSv and very much over the amount which is considered as safe for man
which is 3 mSv
Next solar flares produce a sudden
increase of soft gamma and energy rich radiation so much that without the
protection of an atmosphere half of our population could die easily
It is interesting that even without shielding most of this radiation can be
absorbed in the projected spacecraftsrsquo structure and in the air Smaller
structures can be protected with a
shield of co-rotating rocks
The construction further must be protected against sunlight which by
lack of the air shield will fall in unshielded so sun blinds and radiators
are indispensable
And as a result of the artificial gravity
there are some tiny movement problems which we will face later
Finally the created ecosystem should be fully self-supporting and that is easier said than done as
experiments with Biosphere-2 have showed
Biosphere-2 Biosphere-2 was a project built between 1987 and 1991 providing in an area of about 2frac12 football fields
a closed biological system of different composition From 1991-1993 a crew of 8 persons stayed herein A
second crew of 7 persons bridged a period of March
until September 1994 During the first period it appeared difficult to keep the atmosphere constant in
particular the carbon dioxide values changed rapidlymdashthe reason why many of the carried insects perished
Further the oxygen level decreased slowly because pf a leak
Even during the first two-year phase large differences in opinion appeared and the yield was not large
enough to deliver the calories necessary Reserve stocks had to be broken into Finally the second
experiment had to be ended prematurely because of
mismanagement
However it seems that a well-functioning stable ecosystem should not be underestimated physically
not technically
Artists impressions above Interior Stanford Torus and below Interior
OrsquoNeill Cylinder
Solar flares Czechoslovakia 1965 WB 47
36
ORBIT
It further has to be speculated on that men would resist
a regulated weather programme instead of the customary ever changing circumstances on Earth
Also we must physically resist an eternal stay outside
Earth That is not always easy as some people will show
some kind of sea sickness for ever In any case rooms with a diameter of less than 100 meters and a speed of
revolution over three per minute are insufficient At specifications of over 500 m and at less than 1 revolution
per minute fewer problems have to be expected
How do we get raw materials (Fantasy Moon Mining Yemen
Mutawakelite 1969 1343)
And still there have to be enough raw materials to sustain the
colony but as a principle the
search for raw materials is not the most difficult
From the asteroid belt enough small rocks can be
transported as a building material Also mines can be put
on the Moon Bercause of the lower gravity there transport is easier and some kind of firing mechanism
has been calculated which launch packets of ore simply into space where they can be manipulated
Air can be produced from moonstone Nitrogen nearly without loss can be recycled and eventually added to
ammonia mined from comets Large gardens and fields should start the normal photosynthesis and doing so
finally a complete sustainable society might be built up Energy from the Sun is present in superfluous quantities
What to do about gravity Most designs for a Space station start with a gravity of
1G Some designers however think that a lower level of gravity is possible But in the meantime experiments
with astronauts have showed that our physiology
changes rapidly influenced by decreased or absence of gravity Thus the calcium potassium and sodium
contents of our bone system decrease by about 10 That is not bad were we to stay in space forever but
very troublesome when occasionally we would return to
Earth
Also the quality of our muscles decreases as the blood volume does Providing effects comparable to aging
Further by lack of gravity astronauts become a little
taller with accompanying pain in the back Hence the staying with 1G gravity is not so bad
That has to be maintained by rotation of the
construction The larger the diameter of the construction is the slower it will turn to provide 1 G That is a result
of the centrifugal or centripetal force Its
magnitude has long been established thanks to the work of Dutchman Christiaan Huygens and fixed in
the formula
m v2
F = r where
F = the external force in N(ewton) m = mass in kg
v = speed in msec r = radius in m
Hence a spacecraft with a diameter of 15 meters has to carry out one revolution every 8 seconds to
produce a sensation of 1G And that is too quick for man The effect of the centrifugal force is that should
an astronaut drop an object it does not fall straight
down but partly away from himher Weird
Coriolis force But in a rotating Space station another force is at
work That is the lsquoCoriolis forcersquo named after the
French Gustave-Gaspard Coriolis (1792-1843) who described this kind of force for the first time
The most common manifestation is the second law of
Buys Ballot which says that air streams in the
atmosphere which according the first law of Boys Ballot as a principle run from high to low pressure at
the northern hemisphere are bent to the right and at the southern hemisphere to the left because of the
rotation of the Earth
Therefore air streams around depressions show a
spiral shape in opposite directions at the northern and southern hemisphere In a space station this
force can especially noticed when moving around through the spokes of the wheel
(Diagram of Coriolis F o r c e h t t p
wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm)
A s s u m e t h a t a n
astronaut on a ladder
climbs through a spoke to the axis As he climbs
along he circles around more slowly as he
describes a smaller circle
in the same time What happens with the difference in speed that he had before He will be pressed
against the ladder and that is the Coriolis force The force also acts in opposite direction when he
descends from the ladder
Also the throwing up and catching of a ball will
become a huge achievement as the ball does not
37
ORBIT
drop perpendicularly but will shift a little into the
direction of the orbit of the station and also achieves a higher speed
This also has strange effects on the astronaut As moves
quickly in the rotation direction of the station his weight
appears to increase to a noteworthy extent Then as he moves against the speed of rotation his weight
decreases apparently Mathematically this effect is explainable but very complex
Also the astronautrsquos head and feet move in different
speed to artificial gravity This is plainly noticeable when
somebody jumps up Hence avoid this practice
With these kind of effects adaptation to the changed circumstances in a space station will ask a lot of the
crew members I do hope they can stand it But in any
case the larger the space ship the lesser the problems
Inflatable stations
But therersquos more The inflatable station was considered
many years ago The first i d e a w a s p o s s i b l y
developed when on 12th August 1960 the Echo
balloon with a diameter of
30 meters was launched (Echo I balloon USA 1960
WB 3)
It is true you could not live in it as the balloon was of too frail a construction but the idea of an inflatable
spacecraft was then alive By 1958 groups within NASA
had begun to think about inflatable stations The Goett-committee has been one of the first On 25th26th May
1959 a conference started about projects after
Mercury In particular the
representative of Langley L a r r y Lo f t i n wa s
enthusiastic about his AMIS (Advanced Man in
Space) project (Hexagonal structure
Manama 1970 WB 113)
One of his first projects was a rotating hexagonal
inflatable construction with a diameter of 25 meters a cylindrical core and three lsquospokesrsquo Acting as a ferry to
and from the station the lsquoDyna Soarrsquo Space plane could
be used The Dyna Soar project (at that time still
under development) was cancelled by the American
Minister of Defense Robert
McNamara Inflatable Habitat NASA
1961 enwikipediaorg)
A Langley Space Station
team managed by Paul Hill and Emanuel lsquoMannyrsquo
Schnitzer developed the concept together with the
G o o d y e a r A i r c r a f t
Corporation
(Langleyrsquos self-inflating rotating hexagonal structure httphistorynasagov
SP-4308) Its original diameter had already been reduced to 10
meters
In the years after Langley built several experimental
modules called lsquoErectable Torus Manned Space Laboratoryrsquo a 11 model built by firms such as
Goodyear The torus was built from three layers of
nylon tissue and in between a rubber-like plastic material butyl elastomer A large problem was the
penetration by micrometeorites which as was learnt from the results of the Echo balloon finally damaged
the whole structure
Another problem was the great instability of the ring
due to movements of the astronauts the station started to wobble when they moved around Finally
the project was cancelled and at the end of the eighties the Langley Research Center started to
design inflatable constructions for a base camp on the
Moon
( A r t i s t imp r e s s i on Transhab inflatable
m o d u l e h t t p
enwikipediaorg)
Due to the development of a new series of
s t r o n g e r p l a s t i c materials such as Kevlar
these construct ions
received new interest That lead to the development of Transhab (Transit Habitat) as a resource for crews
coupled at the ISS (international Space Station) The construction is a cylinder in a diameter of 82 meters
and several storeys high
Its volume in inflatable state is 340 m3 The wall has a
thickness of 30 () cm and consists of 12 layers of which the outside layer is made from Kevlar The
layers beneath are made from Nextel a ceramic fibre Disagreements during development and the spiralling
costs finally in 2000 saw the end of NASArsquos interest
G e n e s i s 1
thespacereviewcom)
From 1999 the project was
taken up by Bigelow
38
ORBIT
Aerospace who improved the design and tested it with
successful launchings of Genesis I on 12 July 2006 and Genesis II on 28 June 2007
In their design it has once again more or less the shape
of a balloon With a thickness of 40 cm the wall is still
very thick The outside layer is still Kevlar but inside are some layers of Vectran a textile fibre Within the
structure ants and scorpions were launched along with some objects which people who paid for the privilege of
boosting into space
In this way Bigelow hopes to build a Space Hotel named
Nautilus To stimulate the development Bigelow offered a price of $50 million to everybody who succeeded in
launching a crew of 5 persons to an altitude of 400 km before 2010 So little money lost here so far
A second project which can be realized within the near future is a fixed residence on the Moon As said Langley
occupies itself with the design of such a base which partly should be build below the surface Stamp
designers have already realized the idea
What does the future hold Although we are a long way away from the kind of space station by which a large amount of earth inhabitants can
leave the planet Earth forever the first steps for doing
so are in preparation With the development of their Space Hotel Bigelow tries to make the step to space
albeit a temporary one
Also Langley literally tries to set foot on the Moon and
finally they will succeed in doing so However The cost of such projects are literally astronomical and it is not
expected that in the coming decades much money can be allocated to such projects
Of course in some thousands of years (possibly only in
hundreds of years) this will become the case but for the
time being in my opinion the true conquest of space will stay as science-fiction for at least a few hundred years
Hoorn 2009
John Beenen
NB The stamps entitled lsquoSpace Cityrsquo with a value of 0 cnt do not exist but have been made by the author by means of frames and pictures present at the Internet
Fantasy Moon
b a s e M a n a -ma1970 WB 122
Fantasy bases
ready for Mars
YAR 1971 WB 2892 and 6
Fantasy Modular
base YAR 169 WB 233
39
ORBIT
Cover Below bottom right Future space Dutch Antilles 2000
Literature references (for both parts of article) httpenwikipediaorg Space habitat Space Colonization Orbital Colony Space City Space settlement Space stations L5 Society Bernal Sphere Stanford Torus OrsquoNeil Cylinder Inflatable Space Habitat Transhab Biosphere 2 Generation Ship wwwdsenl~hklruimtehtm Wonen op groene eilanden in de Ruimte (Dutch Living on green Islands in Space) Henry Kluytmans wwworionsarmcom McKendree Cylinder Bishops Ring wwwnasnasagovAboutEducationSpaceSettlement The Colonization of Space wwwdyarstraightscommsgundamhabitatshtml Mobile Suit Gundam High Frontier Life in the Universal Century Developing sound habitats wwwartificial-gravitycomDissertation1_2htm From Tsiolkovsky to Sputnik (1878-1957) httpsciencenasagovheadlinesy2000ast26may_1mhtm Wheels in the Sky httpdiscaircraftgreyfalconus Hermann Noordung Wohnrad (Wheel for Habitation) httparticlesadsabsharvardedufull1992lbsaconf249R Inflatable habitation for the lunar base MRoberts httphistorynasagovSP-4308ch9htm lsquoAs inevitable as the Rising Sunrsquo From the inflatable Torus to the Rotating Hexagon wwwspacecomnewsbusinessmonday_040524html Bigelow Aerospace to tackle inflatable Space Habitats httpsciencehowstuffsworkcominflatable-spacecraft2htm How Inflatable Spacecraft Will Work wwwbogancaphysicscoriolishtml Rotating Space Stations Dynamics An Explanation of the Coriolis Force httpdemonstrationswolframcomRotatingSpaceStation Rotating Space Station wwwdvandomcomcoliolisspacestationhtml Frame Effects and Space Stations wwwdvandomcomcoriolisindexhtml A (hopefully) simple explanation of the Coriolis Force wwwdaviddarlinginfoencyclopedia Hale Edward Everett von Pirquet Guido Noordung Hermann Space Station wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm The Coriolis Force wwwastronautixcomcraftfamlunbaseshtm Lunar bases wwwastronautixcomgallerycspebasehtm Photo Gallery Space base wwwregererating-universeorgOn_Moon_as_Space_Basehtm On Moon as Space Base wwwspacefuturecomhabitatlivingshtml Space Habitat Introduction Living in Space wwwspacepagebevideotaak=bekijkampid=47 Living in space (Video) wwwnutricomspace The Case for Space colonization ndash Now Oscar Falconi wwwxentcompipermailfork (FoRK) Bigelowrsquos inflatable Genesis I satellite in orbit wwwrussianforcesorg Russian strategic nuclear forces (Genesis II) wwwbigelowaerospacecomgenesis Genesis I Genesis II
Thanks to Alan Tunnicliffe who came across the attached news item
complete with stamp in the eNZ Magazine the bi-monthly journal of
the Institution of Professional Engineers NZ Inc Vol 11 No 3 May-
June 2010
Vaccari Auction Sells Remarkable Space Covers April 2010
Apollo 12 cover 55 of 87 flown to the moon on Apollo 15 having been left behind by the original crew sold for euro12200 1977 Salyut
6 Soyuz 27 cover sold for euro1600
40
ORBIT ORBIT
Shuttle 1981mdash2010 Stamps Marshall
Islands 2005
United Nations 2007 Monaco and Ascension 2008
Bulgaria 1991 including stamp from souvenir sheet
USA 1981
below USA 1995 and bottom USA 1998
(two values)
St Vincent Grenadines 1983
Ascension 1989
Bulgaria 1990
and above right W Germany 1975
and USA 2000 Guyana 2006
USA 1995
41
ASSS Membership Renewal 2010
Memberrsquos Name amp Addresshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
I wish to renew my membership of the ASSS for a further year and enclose the equivalent of
pound15 (UK) euro30 (Europe) $US 45 (Rest of the World)
Please return this form with your remittance to Harvey Duncan by the
end of July Thank you
Harvey Duncan Treasurer ASSS 16 Begg Avenue
Falkirk Scotland FK1 2DL
PayPal For details of how to Pay via Paypal
please email Jeff Dugdale Email address on Page 2
42
43
44
20
ORBIT
Flight STS-132 Commander Kenneth Ham Pilot Dominic Antonelli MS Michael Good MS Garret Reisman MS Piers Sellars MS Stephen Bowen KSC Launch Date 1452010 KSC Landing 2652010 Purpose Delivery of Russian Main Payload Rassvet Module
STS-132 (ISS assembly flight ULF4) docked with the ISS on May
16 2010 It was launched from the Kennedy Space Center on May 14 2010 The primary payload is the Russian Rassvet Mini-
Research Module along with an Integrated Cargo Carrier-Vertical Light Deployable (ICC-VLD) STS-132 is scheduled to be the
final flight of Space Shuttle Atlantis provided that the STS-335
Launch On Need rescue mission is not flown
Rassvet means dawn in Russian The module was built
by Russian aerospace company
Energia and arrived at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC)
aboard an Antonov 124 cargo plane on 17 December 2009
After it was unloaded from the Antonov the module was
transported to an Astrotech processing bay in Cape Canaveral to
undergo preparations for launch shown in this photo
An airlock and radiation heat exchanger to be used for outfitting the Russian Nauka Module (to be launched in 2012) a spare
elbow part of the European Robotic Arm (ERA) and a portable
work platform for science hardware for performing experiments in outer space were externally mounted on Rassvet in its launch
configuration Russian and US cargo delivered was also accommodated inside the module The volume for cargo and
science inside MRM1 is 5 cubic meters] Rassvet was outfitted
with ISS standard grapple fixtures that allowed the module to be unloaded from the payload bay of Atlantis using the stations
robotic arm
The ICC pallet is constructed of aluminum It is approximately 8 feet long 13 feet wide and 10 inches thick The empty weight of
the pallet is 2645 pounds The total weight of ICCndashVLD and the ORUs is approximately 8330 pounds ICC-VLD return mass is
2933 kilograms (6470 lb)
The ICC-VLD was berthed in the centre of the
payload bay for both launch and re-entry
In the photo above Rassvet is shown centre top
The mission patch shows Atlantis flying off into the sunset as the end of the shuttle
programme approaches
21
ORBIT
By Andreacute Scheer and Margaret Morris This fascinating structure is an octagonal pentelic marble tower on the Roman agora or marketplace in Athens It was supposedly built by the astronomer Andronicus of Kyrrhos c 50 BC but according to other sources might have been constructed in the 2
nd
century BC before the rest of the forum The structure is 12 metres high with a diameter of approximately 8 metres On each of the eight sides (aligned with the eight principal points of the compass) is a sculpture featuring the wind gods and below each sculpture is engraved a sundial Thus the tower served as a solar clock but additionally in the interior was a water-clock (clepsydra) driven by water coming down from the Acropolis There were mechanical hour indicators and displays for the seasons of the year with astrological dates and periods The tower was topped in antiquity by a weather-vane in the shape of a triton with a wand which pointed at whichever of the winds was blowing The tower must have been one of the most useful structures in the agora as it showed the time for civilian purposes and indicated the wind direction for merchants awaiting the arrival of a ship The earliest philatelic items to depict this unusual building are postal stationery postcards originating from 1900 when the Greek postal authorities organised a competition for photographers and artists The best pictures were selected for issue and on 1 July 1901 the first series of 32 cards was issued In total 12 series of 32 cards each were issued between then and 20 March 1903 The cards were issued in three colours (chestnut black and green) with imprinted stamps of two values (5 lepta green for national mail and 10 lepta red for international mail) The cards additionally have an impressed stamp without colour on the left side being 10 lepta for the card itself so the cards were sold for 15 and 20 lepta The design of the imprinted stamps was based on the Hermes (Mercury) statue by Giovanni da Bologna During the war on the Balkans the cards were used by the Greek army and have an extra imprint ndash Carte Postale ndash Franchise Militaire A few examples of these postal stationery postcards are illustrated opposite and on page 23 The wording ldquoLrsquohorloge de Kyrrhestesrdquo refers to the timepiece built by Andronicus of Kyrrhos while ldquoTEMPLE DrsquoEOLErdquo translates as ldquoTemple of Aeolusrdquo (Aeolus = god of the winds) For each card 12 versions can be distinguished ndash ie 3 colours x 2 values x 2 usages For fuller information see reference no 1 Of course numerous picture postcards also feature this interesting structure
The Tower of the Winds The Oldest Planetarium on Stamps and
Postal Stationery
Front and back of postal stationery postcard
Examples of Greek postal stationery from the early 20th
century
Front and back of postal stationery postcard
22
ORBIT
The 19423 issues (SG 561-572) of Greece shown beside the 1973 Dominica souvenir sheet whose designer has
reinterpreted the divine sculptures in the margins
Boreas also on the 100d value in black and grey
Skiron
Zephyrus in two 25d vals
orange and green
Lips
Notus
Eurus
Apeliotes in two 10d vals red brown and red orange
Kaikias in two 50d vals black and grey violet and blue
Wind Direction Name of Deity Characteristics of the Sculpture North Boreas An old man wearing heavy clothing and holding a conch shell This wind was cold fierce and
stormy and in Athens made a loud hollow noise
North East Kaikias Old man with severe expression holding circular shield from which he will drop hailstones Weather characteristically cloudy wet and cold
East Apeliotes Young man with hair flowing in every direction holding a cloak full of fruit and grain ndash he brings gradual gentle rain
South East Eurus Old man with morose countenance wrapped tightly against the elements in his cloak This wind brought sultry gloomy weather with much rain
South Notus Young man emptying an urn and producing a shower of water This wind was associated with sultry very wet weather
South West Lips Boy pushing the stern of a ship promising a good sailing wind This was the wind which blew right into Piraeus harbour
West Zephyrus Beautiful lightly clad youth of happy aspect holding a cloak full of flowers In summer this wind brought very sultry weather
North West Skiron Bearded man with a bronze pot full of hot ashes and charcoal This was a dry wind extremely cold in winter but scorching and with lightning in summer
The following table gives details of the sculptures and the characteristics attributed to each of the wind gods
For fuller information see reference no 2
23
ORBIT
The sculptures of the eight winds were depicted on stamps of Greece issued in 1942 (six designs) and 1943 (again six designs ndash four as the previous issue but including the two omitted winds) Five values were surcharged in 1944 to aid victims of the Piraeus bombing of 11 January 1944 the exceptionally high face value resulted in few of these stamps being used Later in 1944 the same five values were surcharged in aid of a Childrenrsquos Convalescent Camp Fund Finally in 1946 two values of the 1942 issue were surcharged ndash the 10dr value in black and the 50dr revalued as 20dr in red See opposite for examples of the stamp designs In addition to these attractive engraved stamps the 1973 issue from Dominica commemorating the centenary of the World Meteorological Organisation included a miniature sheet incorporating the 50c and $1 values and surrounded in the margin by images of all eight wind sculptures (see page 22) More recently the cover of a booklet issued by Greece on 7 October 1988 provides an aerial view of the agora and the Tower of the Winds can be detected (see below) The booklet contains 16 stamps (4 each of 4 different values) and celebrates capitals of Greek provinces In early Christian times the building was used as the bell tower of a Byzantine Church It was partly buried in the ground until fully excavated in the 19
th century by the
Archaeological Society of Athens It is interesting to note that the design of the upper octagon of the 18th century Radcliffe Observatory in Oxford England is based on the Tower of the Winds as is the mausoleum of the founder of the Greek National Library Panayis Vagliano at West Norwood Cemetery London There is a similar tower in Sevastopol built in 1849 References
1 ldquoEntiers Postaux Illustreacutes du service des postes
helleacuteniques et leurs preacutecurseursrdquo Georges Mathas 1985
2 For finely detailed drawings and information about the sculptures you may care to see if your Library has a copy of ldquoThe Antiquities of Athensrdquo Stuart amp Revett Vol 1 published in London 1762
3 Article by Derek J de Solla Price in ldquoNational
Geographic April 1967 pp587-596 4 Much useful information may also be obtained from
sites on the internet
Examples of Overprints from left to right
1944 Piraeus Bombing Aid 1944 Childrenrsquos convalescent camp fund 1946 Surcharge
Below Cover of the 1988 stamp booklet
Front and back of postal stationery postcard
24
ORBIT
Old Photo Makes New(s) Story
A photo taken twenty-one years ago became hot international new(s) this July writes Bert van Eijck
It is a picture of your correspondent in front of the
monument on the graves of the seven astronauts killed
in the Challenger disaster The photo from November 1989 shows the national cemetery at Arlington in
Washington DC And it is this graveyard a national American field of pride and honour that was involved in
a scandal making news all over the world
What happened This became a hot story after it was leaked to the press that in 211 graves on Arlington the wrong corpse had
been buried But this disgrace grew to international
proportions when the US Senate published a report which revealed that it was not 211 but 6600 graves that
had been so dishonoured And maybe there are more the researchers stated
Consequently it meant that family members had been paying their respect at the wrong graves because many
were not marked well or the ground-plan directed to wrong places
Arlingtonrsquos director John Metzler was fired as was his
depute Thurman Higginbotham both of whom said
they knew there were made mistakes but they could not help ldquobecause of economyrdquo
Arlington cemetery was opened in 1864 Since then
300000 Americans have been buried here including
famous or well-known persons like presidents
ministers high ranked military artists judges and
astronauts
And what about some of the most recent ones Did I indeed visit and honour the seven Challenger astronauts in their last resting place on Earth in
November 1989 as shown on the photo Or are they perhaps mistakenly buried in another
unmarked grave This is hard to believe but one never knowshelliphellip
For those who wonder what was doing 21
years ago in the US capital I visited the
World Stamp Exporsquo89 at the Convention Center in Washington DC Of course I did
more sightseeing at and in the famous Smithsonian Museums (a must the
National AirampSpace Museum with 10
million visitors a year) the Capitol the metro (deepest in the world) George
Washingtonrsquos house in Vernon Arlington of course and much more
At the World Stamp Expo there was a
presentation of both USA and USSR space
stamps The American stamps were presented by astronaut Buzz Aldrin the
Soviet stamps by cosmonaut Gherman Titov
Author and the Challenger astronauts monument at Arlington seven figures in bronze (left) At right a plaque honoring US-soldiers killed in action saving
hostages in Iran
Astronaut Buzz Aldrin (left) presents the US space stamps while cosmonaut Gherman Titov (right) does the same with
Soviet space stamps In the middle officials of USPS Below the
stampshellip
25
ORBIT
The Apollo 15 Cover Scandal by Umberto Cavallaro
In a feature which first appeared in the April-June 2010 issue of Ad Astra the web journal of the Italian Astrophilatelic Association its editor reveals in considerable detail the full story of those covers which today sell for so much money The Apollo 15 flown covers are among the best known
collectibles from the Apollo Era mainly because of what Jim Irwin recalls as ldquothe problem we brought
back from the Moonrdquo
The crew of Apollo 15 carried out one of the most complete scientific explorations of the Moon the first
lunar roving vehicle was operated on the Moon to
extend the range of exploration some 180 pounds of lunar surface samples were returned for analysis Yet
Fifteen is best remembered as the crew that carried envelopes to the moon and the whole mission is
remembered for the ldquogreat postal caperrdquo
Apollo 15 was not the first mission to carry covers
dozens were carried on each flight from Apollo 11 onwards and as Commander Dave Scott recalls in his
book the whole business had probably been building since Mercury through Gemini and into Apollo People
had a fascination with objects that had been carried in space and they became more and more popular and
valuable as the programme progressed Right from
the start of the Mercury programme each astronaut had been allowed to carry on board a certain number
of personal items
NASA was in the habit of authorizing astronauts to
carry certain personal items on manned flights known as Astronautsrsquo PPK (Personal Preference Kits) All such
items had to be listed and approved by Deke Slayton the Head of the Astronaut Office prior to launch and
were intended for private use or as personal gifts
after the flight and could not be employed for commercial
Fig 1 The official USPS cover postmarked on the Moon
purposes or personal gain Astronaut kits typically
included badges jewellery coins medals flags stamps postal covers currency printed materials and
similar easily packed lightweight mementoes As the flight became more significant the number and type of
items increased
Aside from personal mementoes each crew had
carried medallions whose number had grown steadily on each mission In his book The All-American Boys astronaut Walter Cunningham reveals that it was rumoured around the Astronaut Office that Apollo 14
carried on board a personal package weighing forty-
two pounds Before that flight the Franklin Mint had even advertised the proposed sale After the flight the
commercial deal was never completed and all went quiet nothing about it being published in the media
But some members of the US Congress were unhappy
of the situation
In that context the ldquolapses of judgmentrdquo of the Apollo 15 crew became fatal Dave Scott went too far
carrying on board a total of 641 postal covers (including the two official covers) of which only 243
were listed and authorized before the flight and 398
were not -- secretly carried on board Apollo 15 by Scott in a pocket of his space suit Had they been
listed as being in Scotts PPK they would probably have been routinely approved for inclusion in the
preference kit
The 243 listed and authorized covers include
bull 2 official US Postal Service covers one of which the ldquoOfficial Coverrdquo was publicly cancelled on the
moon by Scott at the request of the US Postal
Service 10 (Fig 1) bull 1 Wright Brothers commemorative cover dated
1928 and autographed by Orville Wright which was carried by Worden for a friend
bull 1 cover bearing a First Man on the Moon stamp and a Bliss Centennial three-cent stamp carried by
Irwin for Barbara Baker (Fig 2 below)
26
ORBIT
8 Shamrock covers carried by Irwin (as below)
144 Herrickrsquos ldquoMoon Phasesrdquo covers carried by Worden
(Fig 4) printed with a cachet showing 15 phases of the moon On the USS Okinawa the Apollo 15 recovery ship
the astronauts placed two eight-cent stamps purchased
on board by Worden on each of these covers and they had the covers cancelled by the shipboard post office
The astronauts later autographed these covers while flying back from Hawaii to Houston Sixteen covers were
torn or damaged and were destroyed Because of the furore created by the Apollo 15 covers incident NASA
confiscated 61 of these 144 Moon Phases covers
87 Apollo 12 covers (Fig 5) that for unknown reason
did not fly on that mission and which were carried on
Apollo 15 for Mrs Barbara Gordon a stamp collector then wife of Richard Gordon Apollo 12 astronaut who
at was the back-up pilot for Apollo 15
The 398 unauthorized covers (initially there were
400 but 2 were damaged and discarded) are lightweight envelopes carrying as a cachet a replica
of the official Apollo 15 patch overprinted with an Air Force wing and propeller emblem
The idea of these additional covers was suggested during a cocktail party by Eiermann a salesman for
the heat-shield contractor who had frequent business and social contacts with NASA personnel and
astronauts He suggested to fly 400 lightweight covers 100 for each of the astronauts and 100 for
his friend Sieger the German stamp dealer The
cacheted covers were provided by Al Bishop a friend of many astronauts then at the Howard
Hughes organization He had already provided covers for the previous flights since Apollo 12
Above one of the 100 Sieger covers with the handwritten note ldquoLanded at Hadley Moon July 30 1971 On the
reverse is a typed and notarised inscription ldquoThis is to certify that this cover was on board the Falcon at the Hadley-
Apennine Moon July 30 ndashAug 2 1971rdquo
Below one of the 298 unauthorised covers carried to the Moon by David Scott with the inscription ldquoThis envelope was
carried to the Moon aboard the Apollo 15 of 300 to the Lunar Surface in LMrdquoFalconrdquo
The crews usually returned to Bishop a couple of
flown covers signed with gratitude ldquoTo my
knowledge ndash Cunningham reports in his well documented book ndash Bishop never sold any and never
made a dime off his relationship He was simply a fan To Al Bishop Apollo 15 was no different from any
other flight except for a phone call he received from
Hal Collins the Astronaut Office manager at the Cape
27
ORBIT
Collins told Bishop that the crew would like to know
whether he could obtain some very lightweight envelopes for them Al said that hed be happy to do so
He was unaware then that many of them would be smuggled on board the next lunar flight Al was trusted
Thats why many of us imposed on him with our
problems special requests and sometimes matters which we would rather not share with NASArdquo
This time Al was badly used he emerged as a
scapegoat and his name was dragged as though he was the Mr Big of an international stamp conspiracy
The covers were cancelled at Kennedy Space Center
several days before July 26 1971 The date of the post office machine canceller was moved forward
Additionally twin eight-cent stamps were purchased by the astronauts on the USS Okinawa the Apollo 15
recovery ship and affixed to these covers ndash as for the
Herrickrsquos covers In the shipboard post office the covers were then cancelled and date-stamped August 7 1971
The astronauts finally autographed these covers while flying from Hawaii to Houston
Soon after the flight the astronauts gave Eiermann
the 100 covers ndash after agreeing that there was to be
no commercialization or advertising of these covers and that nothing would be done with them until after
completion of the Apollo programme
But after a while news started to circulate that the
German dealer was selling in Europe covers flown on Apollo 15 for a reported average of US $1500 each
The reports infuriated Congress not least because congressmen had to read such controversial
information in the press before being informed by
NASA which is obligated to keep Congress fully informed of its activity Recollection of the Apollo 14
medallions incident must have echoed in the minds of certain members of Congress many of whom were
not fans of NASA anyway NASA started an internal investigation This was the most controversial
development of the Apollo Programme and although
most astronauts were involved to some degree NASA made an example of the Apollo 15 flight crew ldquoIt
was turning into a witch-huntrdquo recalled Scott ldquoOur bosses had abrogated their responsibilities and we
were left alone on a very wet dayrdquo
It is ironic that after addressing a joint session of
Congress as heroes in less that one year the three astronauts of Apollo 15 had to go back in front of these
same senators in disgrace because of this envelope scandal
After this ldquoincidentrdquo NASA prohibited from Apollo 17 on the flying of covers or stamps during a space
missions (they were not on time to block the covers carried on Apollo 16) The only exceptions have been
since then the items flown in cooperation with the US
Postal Service ie the 266000 covers carried in 1983 in
the payload bay of the Space Shuttle Challenger on
STS-8 and the 500000 $995 Express Mail stamp created by Paul and Chris Calle in 1994 flown on
Endeavour STS-68 in recognition of the 25th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing The huge
number of such items carried in space discourages
speculations and these items still are widely available for few dollars
So far fewer than 1000 envelopes in total have flown
to the Moon No other American covers will flow to the Moon in the foreseeable future Perhaps the next
ldquoMoon coversrdquo will bear Chinese or Indian stamps
Dave Scott was the first lunar Postmaster and had two
postmarks with him and two covers with imperforated dieproof of the US twin Decade of Space Achievements
stamps affixed (Fig 1)
He had one postmark with ldquoMoon Landing USArdquo (Fig 8 below) and another with ldquoUnited States on the
Moonrdquo (Fig 9 bottom)
The First Lunar Post Office was opened on August 2 1971 when David Scott postmarked only the official
cover (and brought back the official backup-cover uncancelled) A handful covers had however been
postmarked before launch with both postmarks Dr Matthew Radnofsky ndash who in his laboratory already
had simulated cancelling in space for Apollo 11 ndash
tested both postmarks to ensure that the cancellation devices were in working order
Especially the date could be changed easily Contrary
to Apollo 11 covers without stamps were used for
28
ORBIT
these tests Apollo 15 Lunar Cancellation Proofs are
much scarcer than Apollo 11 ones ldquoAs by now I am aware of only 17 itemsrdquo states famous astrophilatelist
Walter Hopferwieser Covers with proofs of the Apollo 15 moon postmarks have been recently sold at Regency
Superior and Aurora auctions
The official Apollo 15 cover postmarked on the Moon
(see Fig 1 repeated above ) is displayed at the US National Postal Museum It was publicly cancelled and
the video can be seen at httpwwwpostalmuseumsiedustampstakeflight
apollo15video-01html A short speech was given by
Dave Scott while cancelling the cover ldquoTo show that our good Postal Service has deliveries any place in the
universe I have the pleasant task of cancelling here on the Moon the first stamp of a new issue dedicated to
commemorate US achievements in space I have the
first one here on an envelope At the bottom it says United States in Space a decade of achievement and
Im very proud to have the opportunity here to play postman I pull out a cancellation device It says
August 2 1971 first day of issuehellip What could be a
better place to cancel this stamp than right here at Hadley Rillehelliprdquo
Immediately thereafter the Postmaster General who
was waiting at the Mission Control at Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston Texas gave the signal to start the
First- Day cancellations at post offices in Houston
Kennedy Space Center and Huntsville
Acknowledgement Thanks to Walter Hopferwieser for his comments
Some Notes About Space Mail
Commenting on Brian Vincentrsquos article in the June
2010 Orbit ASSS member Geoff Chivers writes in an
email to your Editorhellip Im sure you wont mind me commenting on Brian G Vincents Some Notes About Space Mail (page 36)
In paragraph 2 he refers to the Apollo 15 cover incident leaving the impression that Scott Worden and Irwin were guilty of some heinous crime This has been the subject of much miss-reporting over the years The full story of what actually happened is explained in depth at page 328 et seq of Two sides of the moon by David Scott and Alexei Leonov published by Simon amp Shuster The astronauts were of course exonerated
This is the quote (slightly edited to enable it to stand as an independent piece)-
During 1972 while on a trip to Washington DC George Low NASA deputy administrator asked me to stop by his
office writes David Scott I had known George in Houston while he was Apollo spacecraft programme manager and I had great respect for him We spent a short while exchanging pleasantries Then George looked me in the eye and came to the point ldquoWell Daverdquo he said ldquoI have to tell you I was not very proud of my performancerdquo His comment was the culmination of what had become known as the Apollo 15 ldquocover incidentrdquo This involved some first day postal covers which we had carried aboard Apollo 15 some of which were unfortunately sold by a German stamp dealer several months after the flight As No 2 in NASA George
had been heavily involved in NASAs handling of the incident and his comment referred to one of the poorest management performances the space agency had ever demonstrated - up to then The whole business had probably been building since Mercury through Gemini and into Apollo People had a fascination with objects that had been carried in space and they became more and more popular and valuable as the programme progressed Right from the start of the Mercury programme each astronaut had been allowed to carry on board a certain number of personal items in what were known as PPKS - Personal Preference Kits Before each flight a list of the items was prepared for Deke Slayton who
Two Sides of The Moon
by David Scott and Alexei Leonov
The text opposite from the
above book has been
referred to by Umberto Cavallaro in preparing his
above piece
29
ORBIT
had overall responsibility for approving them As the flights became more significant the number and type of items increased Aside from personal mementoes each crew had carried a certain number of medallions which they could hand out afterwards as souvenirs The number of medallions had grown steadily on each mission - eventually some crew members had been carrying several hundred each and their weight was becoming a concern And as always commercialisation began to creep in In the end on Apollo 14 commanded by Al Shepard it was alleged that the crew had carried some silver medallions on board which were to be melted down after the flight and mixed with many other commemorative medallions by the Franklin Mint to be sold to the general public The Franklin Mint had even advertised the proposed sale before the flight After the flight the deal was never consummated and all went quiet nothing about it was printed in the media But some members of Congress had heard about it and were unhappy with the situation Since we were busy training for Apollo 15 (launched 26 July 1971) we knew nothing about all this Had we known we would have been far more wary of what happened subsequently All we knew was that Deke Slayton had halved the number of medallions we could carry Shortly afterwards Deke introduced Jim (Irwin) Al (Worden) and me to a long-standing friend of his at the Cape called Walter Eiermann In retrospect this seems likely to have been more than a coincidence Deke invited us to join him at dinner at Eiermanns house one evening several months before the Apollo 15 launch Eiermann asked if we would like to make some money on the side by signing some stamps ldquoAll the guys are doing itrdquo he said We agreed We were also approached by several members of the Manned Spacecraft Centerrsquos stamp club who asked us to sign many first - day covers before the flight for their members as well as for ourselves At that time we could not buy life insurance If we signed some covers we reasoned they could be held during the flight and act as limited life insurance for our families if anything happened to us But then Eiermann proposed we carry four hundred lightweight commemorative covers a hundred of which would be passed on to a stamp dealer in Germany when we returned All the covers would be franked on the day of launch and franked on the day of our return Our understanding was that the dealer would hold his hundred covers to be sold at some future date after the Apollo programme was over In return he would set up a $6000 trust fund for each of us for the education of our children In the months of intense activity before the flight we did not give this more than a moment of thought But we agreed In retrospect we made a mistake in even considering it In the months following our mission we learnt that the German dealer had begun to sell the covers We let Eiermann know that we were opposed to the sale Forget the trust funds we said we dont want any money This is not what we had understood would happen But when senior managers at NASA learnt about the covers being sold they were furious Incomplete information was then provided to the press by NASArsquos Public Affairs Office and reports started to appear that we had smuggled the covers onto our flight This was literally impossible NASA personnel prepared us for every aspect of the flight - from our birthday suits out Everything we had carried had to be specially packaged by the flight support crew to make sure apart from anything else
that it was fireproof Everything in our PPKs was on a list which was certified before launch I was never aware of any rules about what could or could not be taken in these packs Slayton was to approve the list so as far as I was concerned it was up to management to keep us on the straight and narrow I assumed if the list was approved that was fine Usually the list was certified by Deke But before our flight for some reason he neither asked us personally for each of our lists as was customary nor signed off on the list personally He said the flight - crew support team had already logged everything Whereas we had purchased the covers ourselves the Astronaut Office at the Cape had prepared the covers for the flight and had had them stamped and franked on the day of launch Somehow however the support team had missed them when they prepared the PPK flight manifest It was also reported after the incident that we had been removed from the astronaut corps Again totally untrue Unfortunately NASA managers did nothing to dispel this false and misleading information They just tucked their heads in and let the rumours run The reports infuriated Congress not least because congressmen had to read such controversial information in the press before being informed by NASA which is obligated to keep Congress fully informed of its activities Recollections of the Apollo 14 medallion incident must have seeped into the minds of certain members of Congress many of whom were not fans of NASA anyway When NASA started an internal investigation we were told by a senior official in the agency that we were on our own We were advised to get our own legal representation A Senate hearing into the matter had been called and a justice Department investigation would follow It was turning into a witch - hunt NASA we were advised expected us to keep quiet and take the Fifth Amendment at this hearing We did not We told it like it was We had nothing to hide Eventually the Justice Department concluded that we had broken some administrative rules but had done nothing criminal NASA confiscated the remaining covers but they acted before discovering all the facts of the case Following an investigation by NASA the Justice Department and the Senate the Justice Department concluded on 6 December 1978 in a ldquoMemorandum Opinion for the Assistant Attorney Generalrdquo that NASA had no claim to the remaining covers that the covers were never intended for sale that there was no attempt at concealment by the crew of the fact that the covers were to be flown on Apollo 15 and finally that the covers would have been approved to carry aboard Apollo 15 had a request been made We were reprimanded and we took our licks But it was a very raw deal NASA had hung us out to dry Our bosses had abrogated their responsibilities and we were left alone on a very wet day I spent many years trying to get full access to NASA and congressional records on the case NASA refused to provide full disclosure We subsequently found out there had been rumblings about profitmdashmaking on previous missions A copy of a letter was released to me in which NASA admitted that ten other astronauts who were not identified had been involved in selling signed blocks of stamps and postcards for Eiermann But the wave reached the shore on Apollo 15 and we were the ones who bore the brunt of the blame for such incidents
30
ORBIT
Buckingham Cover offer Free Souvenirs for You
Brian Austin of Buckinghamrsquos Rare Cover Department writes to your Editorhellip
Over the last two or three years we have been dealing more and more in signed space covers This led us to earlier this year buying an Apollo 11 crew signed cover which had been carried to the moon which we had on display on our stand at London 2010
For this we also printed a limited edition of 800 sets of postcards one featuring the Apollo 11 cover and another
featuring an Apollo 15 cover The idea was to give away 100 sets per day to customers at the show but now the show is all finished I still have around 150 pairs left on my desk
We wondered if you would like to offer them to your readers we are happy to send them out free of charge to the first 150 readers to contact us with their details as long as we can also include one of our lists of space
covers
BrianAustinbuckinghamcoverscom
31
ORBIT
More About Missile Mail
Harvey Duncan told us in the last Orbit (page 15) about the First Official Missile Mail writes Bert van Eijck After the useful technical details about the USS Barbero he gave us I can offer you more philatelic information and show you some illustrations The missile mail experiment was a joint venture between
the Ministry of Defense and the US Post Office Dept headed by Postmaster General Mr Arthur E
Summerfield Three thousand special envelopes were printed with a reproduction of a Navy missile type
Regulus with the text ldquoFirst Official Missile Mailrdquo and above that ldquoThe Postmaster General Washingtonrdquo All
the envelopes were addressed to The President high
government officials like senators and to the Post Masters General of ninety nine other member nations of
UPU Inside was a letter from Mr Summerfield entitled ldquoThe First Official Missile Mailrdquo with the official seal of
the Post Office dept It was explained therein what had
happed to that letter and the other 2999
The special letters were loaded in two metal compartments and came aboard the guided missile USS Barbero (SSG-317) The shot was to occur during a regular training mission from Norfolk Virginia to Florida
About 350 kilometres off the coast of Florida the
Regulus missile was launched toward Airport Mayport
The missile climbed 10 km above the Atlantic and
landed within twenty minutes with all the letters intact The letters were cancelled with the hand stamp ldquoUSS
Barberordquo with the date ldquoJun 8 1959rdquo and the approximate timing of the launching ldquo930 amrdquo This
was done by post office staff part of an established
branch office on the USS Barbero The letters bore the 1957 4c American flag postage stamp Those
addressed to foreign countries carried two such stamps covering surface mail postage costs On the
reverse side is the Jacksonville Post Office cancellation with the approximate time of arrival ldquoJune 8 1030 am
1959 Floridardquo
Such flown letters are expensive to buy and a jewel in
any exhibit
But this is NOT the case with the Barbero souvenir
cover dated a month later on July 8 1959 issued in the same quantity (3000) as the originals The
inscription reads ldquoPoint of LandingmdashFirst Official Missile Mail 8 June 1959 US Naval Station Mayport Floridardquo
About 16000 () collectors had applied for such a cover
The imprint of the official Barbero cover was reproduced on a memorial cover issued and posted at
the Vienna International Airpost Exhibition Luposta on August 1959 in the Austrian capital Of course neither
of these items had been carried within the Regulus
missile
Also of interest the Postal Administration of
Paraguay issued a stamp
and a block in 1976 honouring the Barbero
Missile Mail The Gs 20 stamp shows a Regulus
missile in flight while the sheet shows the whole
addressed cover and in
miniature the complete letter inside from the US Postmaster General
as mentioned above and as illustrated below
Above a specimen envelope as described in the text and below its reverse cancel
32
ORBIT
An Invitation to Our Readers to Donate to an Innovative International Projecthellip
Kindest Sir or Madam
The municipality of Vitanje
(Slovenia) is honoured to have had a hand in the life of the
famous space architect Herman Potocnik Noordung
(1892-1929) (pictured right) who had already found a
surprising number of solutions
to space travel and troubles of living in vacuum long before
actual space flights took place His creations were used by the
renowned novelist Arthur C Clarke
in his book 2001 A Space Odyssey which was later also turned into a
movie directed by Stanley Kubrick In Noordungs honour we have
created the Memorial Centre of Herman Potocnik Noordung This
year the cultural centre of European
space technology will also get going in Vitanje This will be a place
where the European space heritage will be gathered and various events connected with the
contemporary European space technologies will be
organized
Proposed Philatelic Collection We would like to bring the project onto a higher level
where we would have the collaboration of various
countries in the world including such with a history in space travel (like USA Russia) One of the steps of this
expansion process would also include a philatelic collection of stamps with themes of outer space
(astronomy astronautics and everything connected to
outer space) We already have quite a decent collection but we would like to expand on that
Our goal is to have 6000 stamps before opening our
exhibition For this we would require the help of as many philatelists as possible
All of these philatelists would become co-creators and partners of this collection for which we hope will
become the largest collection of its kind in the world The people donating the stamps would get a great deal
of exposure at all these exhibitions and on the special
website which will be started shortly If you give us enough support and we are able to raise enough
stamps for a first-class collection we hope the first
exhibitions and various special events (like visits from
astronauts ndash philatelists) will see the light of day as early as in 2011
From a professional point of view we have an
excellent team working with us Long-time philatelist
Tone Petek is the person who initiated this project while Bojan Bracic the secretary of FEPA is one of our
counsellors and is completely behind this project
If you would be interested in such cooperation I will get the wheels in motion and send you a verifying
mail with the stamp of the municipality of Vitanje and
also of some higher organization within the Slovene political system
The collection is already underway with the help of the
Slovene Philatelic organisation (FZS) adds Rok in an email to your Editor in July This organisation has been of immense help with technical expertise and
connections It looks as if there might be an introductory exhibition next year sometime
In the hope of a successful partnership we offer our
sincere appreciation
Rok Podgrajsek
Obcina Vitanje Grajski trg 1
3205 Vitanje
Slovenia
Email address rokpodgrajsekgmailcom
But see also website httpwwwvitanjesi
(Editorrsquos Note both Wendy Buckle editor of
Themescene and our Chairman Margaret Morris commend this project to you We will be sending Rok
some recent copies of Orbit for the displays)
Some illustrations from Noordungrsquos only published text ldquoThe Problem of
Space Travel The Rocket Motorrdquo (the original German title
was ldquoDas Problem der Befahrung
des Weltraums - der Raketen-Motorrdquo) which saw the light of day
in 1928
Vitanje Local Private Post stamp
33
ORBIT
Zazzle Space Stamps Dazzle
I have noticed Zazzle Space Stamps appearing in Lollini brochures and on their web pages in recent months writes your Editor so I undertook to find out some facts about them and am grateful to The Astrophile Editor Jim Roth and the man who inspired him to create his own Zazzle designs Otto Bergman for the following infohellip Zazzle is one of half a dozen or more US companies
who facilitate the printing of non-copyrighted photos and artwork on private postage stamps which count
as postage within and outwith the USA You can
design your own Zazzle stampsmdashsee their websitemdashwhich you then purchase for your own use 20 to a
page
They are therefore a bit like British Smilers except
that the personal element of the stamp is not on a se-tenant label but actually incorporated within the
stamp itself as you can see from the examples on this page
Jim Roth was annoyed that the Kennedy Space Center Post office would not cancel his Zazzle stamps as they
consider them to be ldquometersrdquo and although he has marked STS-122 he wonrsquot be creating any others
You can see (and buy) all Jim Rothrsquos Space Zazzles on
his website m57coverscommdashclick on ldquostampsrdquo
Three of Jim Rothrsquos designs
See others on his website
An Otto Bergman space creation on
Zazzlecomottobergman
These space Zazzles and others are
available from the Lollini website or brochures
STS 128 in May 2010 section
STS 129 in June 2010
WISE and Delta 2 launch in July 2010 STS 130 in August 2010
STS 128 stamps show astronauts Christer Fuglesang (far left) and left Frank De Winne ISS Commander Expedition 21 STS 129 issues depict mission
patch and the crew led by Charles Hobaugh
Delta 2 rocket launch from Cape Canaveral of WISE Deep InfraRed telescope
34
ORBIT
Concluded on page 39
More Spaceflight Books for Sale
35
ORBIT ORBIT
SPACE HABITATS (Part Two) by John Beenen Continuing his feature from our last issue John Beenen begins by posing the questionhellip Why Should we Seek to Live
in Space
Spacecom gives ten main reasons why we should enter space for a prolonged
period
1 To secure a future for humanity
2 To build a new frontier
3 To find new energy sources
4 To build an industrial settlement on
the Moon
5 Better quality images of the
Universe
6 The SETI effort
7 Mining
8 Learning the history of our
Universe
9 Environmental benefits
Meeting the challenge
Taking for granted that it is naturally fascinating to investigate how mankind
might be able to maintain its habitat outside earth there are several further reasons to investigate why
mankind should settle themselves outside earth in the far future And More reasons mean a overall better
argument
Primarily there is the question of overpopulation and
secondly a solution for the energy problem
Next we have to consider that climate circumstances
are not under control anymore and earth eventually becomes uninhabitable
Also when for various reasons we start to kill each
other for some groups of people it may be an attractive proposition to depart this Earth in quite a different
sense And that is perhaps the most common thought
through activities in space more money can be obtained
But there are disadvantageshellip
On the other hand a prolonged stay in space is not that safe The construction must be protected against
radiation and it can be hit by large and small debris which makes space a very unsafe place
Furthermore cosmic radiation produces
a radiation of 80 mSv (millisievert) - well over the allowed maximum of 50
mSv and very much over the amount which is considered as safe for man
which is 3 mSv
Next solar flares produce a sudden
increase of soft gamma and energy rich radiation so much that without the
protection of an atmosphere half of our population could die easily
It is interesting that even without shielding most of this radiation can be
absorbed in the projected spacecraftsrsquo structure and in the air Smaller
structures can be protected with a
shield of co-rotating rocks
The construction further must be protected against sunlight which by
lack of the air shield will fall in unshielded so sun blinds and radiators
are indispensable
And as a result of the artificial gravity
there are some tiny movement problems which we will face later
Finally the created ecosystem should be fully self-supporting and that is easier said than done as
experiments with Biosphere-2 have showed
Biosphere-2 Biosphere-2 was a project built between 1987 and 1991 providing in an area of about 2frac12 football fields
a closed biological system of different composition From 1991-1993 a crew of 8 persons stayed herein A
second crew of 7 persons bridged a period of March
until September 1994 During the first period it appeared difficult to keep the atmosphere constant in
particular the carbon dioxide values changed rapidlymdashthe reason why many of the carried insects perished
Further the oxygen level decreased slowly because pf a leak
Even during the first two-year phase large differences in opinion appeared and the yield was not large
enough to deliver the calories necessary Reserve stocks had to be broken into Finally the second
experiment had to be ended prematurely because of
mismanagement
However it seems that a well-functioning stable ecosystem should not be underestimated physically
not technically
Artists impressions above Interior Stanford Torus and below Interior
OrsquoNeill Cylinder
Solar flares Czechoslovakia 1965 WB 47
36
ORBIT
It further has to be speculated on that men would resist
a regulated weather programme instead of the customary ever changing circumstances on Earth
Also we must physically resist an eternal stay outside
Earth That is not always easy as some people will show
some kind of sea sickness for ever In any case rooms with a diameter of less than 100 meters and a speed of
revolution over three per minute are insufficient At specifications of over 500 m and at less than 1 revolution
per minute fewer problems have to be expected
How do we get raw materials (Fantasy Moon Mining Yemen
Mutawakelite 1969 1343)
And still there have to be enough raw materials to sustain the
colony but as a principle the
search for raw materials is not the most difficult
From the asteroid belt enough small rocks can be
transported as a building material Also mines can be put
on the Moon Bercause of the lower gravity there transport is easier and some kind of firing mechanism
has been calculated which launch packets of ore simply into space where they can be manipulated
Air can be produced from moonstone Nitrogen nearly without loss can be recycled and eventually added to
ammonia mined from comets Large gardens and fields should start the normal photosynthesis and doing so
finally a complete sustainable society might be built up Energy from the Sun is present in superfluous quantities
What to do about gravity Most designs for a Space station start with a gravity of
1G Some designers however think that a lower level of gravity is possible But in the meantime experiments
with astronauts have showed that our physiology
changes rapidly influenced by decreased or absence of gravity Thus the calcium potassium and sodium
contents of our bone system decrease by about 10 That is not bad were we to stay in space forever but
very troublesome when occasionally we would return to
Earth
Also the quality of our muscles decreases as the blood volume does Providing effects comparable to aging
Further by lack of gravity astronauts become a little
taller with accompanying pain in the back Hence the staying with 1G gravity is not so bad
That has to be maintained by rotation of the
construction The larger the diameter of the construction is the slower it will turn to provide 1 G That is a result
of the centrifugal or centripetal force Its
magnitude has long been established thanks to the work of Dutchman Christiaan Huygens and fixed in
the formula
m v2
F = r where
F = the external force in N(ewton) m = mass in kg
v = speed in msec r = radius in m
Hence a spacecraft with a diameter of 15 meters has to carry out one revolution every 8 seconds to
produce a sensation of 1G And that is too quick for man The effect of the centrifugal force is that should
an astronaut drop an object it does not fall straight
down but partly away from himher Weird
Coriolis force But in a rotating Space station another force is at
work That is the lsquoCoriolis forcersquo named after the
French Gustave-Gaspard Coriolis (1792-1843) who described this kind of force for the first time
The most common manifestation is the second law of
Buys Ballot which says that air streams in the
atmosphere which according the first law of Boys Ballot as a principle run from high to low pressure at
the northern hemisphere are bent to the right and at the southern hemisphere to the left because of the
rotation of the Earth
Therefore air streams around depressions show a
spiral shape in opposite directions at the northern and southern hemisphere In a space station this
force can especially noticed when moving around through the spokes of the wheel
(Diagram of Coriolis F o r c e h t t p
wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm)
A s s u m e t h a t a n
astronaut on a ladder
climbs through a spoke to the axis As he climbs
along he circles around more slowly as he
describes a smaller circle
in the same time What happens with the difference in speed that he had before He will be pressed
against the ladder and that is the Coriolis force The force also acts in opposite direction when he
descends from the ladder
Also the throwing up and catching of a ball will
become a huge achievement as the ball does not
37
ORBIT
drop perpendicularly but will shift a little into the
direction of the orbit of the station and also achieves a higher speed
This also has strange effects on the astronaut As moves
quickly in the rotation direction of the station his weight
appears to increase to a noteworthy extent Then as he moves against the speed of rotation his weight
decreases apparently Mathematically this effect is explainable but very complex
Also the astronautrsquos head and feet move in different
speed to artificial gravity This is plainly noticeable when
somebody jumps up Hence avoid this practice
With these kind of effects adaptation to the changed circumstances in a space station will ask a lot of the
crew members I do hope they can stand it But in any
case the larger the space ship the lesser the problems
Inflatable stations
But therersquos more The inflatable station was considered
many years ago The first i d e a w a s p o s s i b l y
developed when on 12th August 1960 the Echo
balloon with a diameter of
30 meters was launched (Echo I balloon USA 1960
WB 3)
It is true you could not live in it as the balloon was of too frail a construction but the idea of an inflatable
spacecraft was then alive By 1958 groups within NASA
had begun to think about inflatable stations The Goett-committee has been one of the first On 25th26th May
1959 a conference started about projects after
Mercury In particular the
representative of Langley L a r r y Lo f t i n wa s
enthusiastic about his AMIS (Advanced Man in
Space) project (Hexagonal structure
Manama 1970 WB 113)
One of his first projects was a rotating hexagonal
inflatable construction with a diameter of 25 meters a cylindrical core and three lsquospokesrsquo Acting as a ferry to
and from the station the lsquoDyna Soarrsquo Space plane could
be used The Dyna Soar project (at that time still
under development) was cancelled by the American
Minister of Defense Robert
McNamara Inflatable Habitat NASA
1961 enwikipediaorg)
A Langley Space Station
team managed by Paul Hill and Emanuel lsquoMannyrsquo
Schnitzer developed the concept together with the
G o o d y e a r A i r c r a f t
Corporation
(Langleyrsquos self-inflating rotating hexagonal structure httphistorynasagov
SP-4308) Its original diameter had already been reduced to 10
meters
In the years after Langley built several experimental
modules called lsquoErectable Torus Manned Space Laboratoryrsquo a 11 model built by firms such as
Goodyear The torus was built from three layers of
nylon tissue and in between a rubber-like plastic material butyl elastomer A large problem was the
penetration by micrometeorites which as was learnt from the results of the Echo balloon finally damaged
the whole structure
Another problem was the great instability of the ring
due to movements of the astronauts the station started to wobble when they moved around Finally
the project was cancelled and at the end of the eighties the Langley Research Center started to
design inflatable constructions for a base camp on the
Moon
( A r t i s t imp r e s s i on Transhab inflatable
m o d u l e h t t p
enwikipediaorg)
Due to the development of a new series of
s t r o n g e r p l a s t i c materials such as Kevlar
these construct ions
received new interest That lead to the development of Transhab (Transit Habitat) as a resource for crews
coupled at the ISS (international Space Station) The construction is a cylinder in a diameter of 82 meters
and several storeys high
Its volume in inflatable state is 340 m3 The wall has a
thickness of 30 () cm and consists of 12 layers of which the outside layer is made from Kevlar The
layers beneath are made from Nextel a ceramic fibre Disagreements during development and the spiralling
costs finally in 2000 saw the end of NASArsquos interest
G e n e s i s 1
thespacereviewcom)
From 1999 the project was
taken up by Bigelow
38
ORBIT
Aerospace who improved the design and tested it with
successful launchings of Genesis I on 12 July 2006 and Genesis II on 28 June 2007
In their design it has once again more or less the shape
of a balloon With a thickness of 40 cm the wall is still
very thick The outside layer is still Kevlar but inside are some layers of Vectran a textile fibre Within the
structure ants and scorpions were launched along with some objects which people who paid for the privilege of
boosting into space
In this way Bigelow hopes to build a Space Hotel named
Nautilus To stimulate the development Bigelow offered a price of $50 million to everybody who succeeded in
launching a crew of 5 persons to an altitude of 400 km before 2010 So little money lost here so far
A second project which can be realized within the near future is a fixed residence on the Moon As said Langley
occupies itself with the design of such a base which partly should be build below the surface Stamp
designers have already realized the idea
What does the future hold Although we are a long way away from the kind of space station by which a large amount of earth inhabitants can
leave the planet Earth forever the first steps for doing
so are in preparation With the development of their Space Hotel Bigelow tries to make the step to space
albeit a temporary one
Also Langley literally tries to set foot on the Moon and
finally they will succeed in doing so However The cost of such projects are literally astronomical and it is not
expected that in the coming decades much money can be allocated to such projects
Of course in some thousands of years (possibly only in
hundreds of years) this will become the case but for the
time being in my opinion the true conquest of space will stay as science-fiction for at least a few hundred years
Hoorn 2009
John Beenen
NB The stamps entitled lsquoSpace Cityrsquo with a value of 0 cnt do not exist but have been made by the author by means of frames and pictures present at the Internet
Fantasy Moon
b a s e M a n a -ma1970 WB 122
Fantasy bases
ready for Mars
YAR 1971 WB 2892 and 6
Fantasy Modular
base YAR 169 WB 233
39
ORBIT
Cover Below bottom right Future space Dutch Antilles 2000
Literature references (for both parts of article) httpenwikipediaorg Space habitat Space Colonization Orbital Colony Space City Space settlement Space stations L5 Society Bernal Sphere Stanford Torus OrsquoNeil Cylinder Inflatable Space Habitat Transhab Biosphere 2 Generation Ship wwwdsenl~hklruimtehtm Wonen op groene eilanden in de Ruimte (Dutch Living on green Islands in Space) Henry Kluytmans wwworionsarmcom McKendree Cylinder Bishops Ring wwwnasnasagovAboutEducationSpaceSettlement The Colonization of Space wwwdyarstraightscommsgundamhabitatshtml Mobile Suit Gundam High Frontier Life in the Universal Century Developing sound habitats wwwartificial-gravitycomDissertation1_2htm From Tsiolkovsky to Sputnik (1878-1957) httpsciencenasagovheadlinesy2000ast26may_1mhtm Wheels in the Sky httpdiscaircraftgreyfalconus Hermann Noordung Wohnrad (Wheel for Habitation) httparticlesadsabsharvardedufull1992lbsaconf249R Inflatable habitation for the lunar base MRoberts httphistorynasagovSP-4308ch9htm lsquoAs inevitable as the Rising Sunrsquo From the inflatable Torus to the Rotating Hexagon wwwspacecomnewsbusinessmonday_040524html Bigelow Aerospace to tackle inflatable Space Habitats httpsciencehowstuffsworkcominflatable-spacecraft2htm How Inflatable Spacecraft Will Work wwwbogancaphysicscoriolishtml Rotating Space Stations Dynamics An Explanation of the Coriolis Force httpdemonstrationswolframcomRotatingSpaceStation Rotating Space Station wwwdvandomcomcoliolisspacestationhtml Frame Effects and Space Stations wwwdvandomcomcoriolisindexhtml A (hopefully) simple explanation of the Coriolis Force wwwdaviddarlinginfoencyclopedia Hale Edward Everett von Pirquet Guido Noordung Hermann Space Station wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm The Coriolis Force wwwastronautixcomcraftfamlunbaseshtm Lunar bases wwwastronautixcomgallerycspebasehtm Photo Gallery Space base wwwregererating-universeorgOn_Moon_as_Space_Basehtm On Moon as Space Base wwwspacefuturecomhabitatlivingshtml Space Habitat Introduction Living in Space wwwspacepagebevideotaak=bekijkampid=47 Living in space (Video) wwwnutricomspace The Case for Space colonization ndash Now Oscar Falconi wwwxentcompipermailfork (FoRK) Bigelowrsquos inflatable Genesis I satellite in orbit wwwrussianforcesorg Russian strategic nuclear forces (Genesis II) wwwbigelowaerospacecomgenesis Genesis I Genesis II
Thanks to Alan Tunnicliffe who came across the attached news item
complete with stamp in the eNZ Magazine the bi-monthly journal of
the Institution of Professional Engineers NZ Inc Vol 11 No 3 May-
June 2010
Vaccari Auction Sells Remarkable Space Covers April 2010
Apollo 12 cover 55 of 87 flown to the moon on Apollo 15 having been left behind by the original crew sold for euro12200 1977 Salyut
6 Soyuz 27 cover sold for euro1600
40
ORBIT ORBIT
Shuttle 1981mdash2010 Stamps Marshall
Islands 2005
United Nations 2007 Monaco and Ascension 2008
Bulgaria 1991 including stamp from souvenir sheet
USA 1981
below USA 1995 and bottom USA 1998
(two values)
St Vincent Grenadines 1983
Ascension 1989
Bulgaria 1990
and above right W Germany 1975
and USA 2000 Guyana 2006
USA 1995
41
ASSS Membership Renewal 2010
Memberrsquos Name amp Addresshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
I wish to renew my membership of the ASSS for a further year and enclose the equivalent of
pound15 (UK) euro30 (Europe) $US 45 (Rest of the World)
Please return this form with your remittance to Harvey Duncan by the
end of July Thank you
Harvey Duncan Treasurer ASSS 16 Begg Avenue
Falkirk Scotland FK1 2DL
PayPal For details of how to Pay via Paypal
please email Jeff Dugdale Email address on Page 2
42
43
44
21
ORBIT
By Andreacute Scheer and Margaret Morris This fascinating structure is an octagonal pentelic marble tower on the Roman agora or marketplace in Athens It was supposedly built by the astronomer Andronicus of Kyrrhos c 50 BC but according to other sources might have been constructed in the 2
nd
century BC before the rest of the forum The structure is 12 metres high with a diameter of approximately 8 metres On each of the eight sides (aligned with the eight principal points of the compass) is a sculpture featuring the wind gods and below each sculpture is engraved a sundial Thus the tower served as a solar clock but additionally in the interior was a water-clock (clepsydra) driven by water coming down from the Acropolis There were mechanical hour indicators and displays for the seasons of the year with astrological dates and periods The tower was topped in antiquity by a weather-vane in the shape of a triton with a wand which pointed at whichever of the winds was blowing The tower must have been one of the most useful structures in the agora as it showed the time for civilian purposes and indicated the wind direction for merchants awaiting the arrival of a ship The earliest philatelic items to depict this unusual building are postal stationery postcards originating from 1900 when the Greek postal authorities organised a competition for photographers and artists The best pictures were selected for issue and on 1 July 1901 the first series of 32 cards was issued In total 12 series of 32 cards each were issued between then and 20 March 1903 The cards were issued in three colours (chestnut black and green) with imprinted stamps of two values (5 lepta green for national mail and 10 lepta red for international mail) The cards additionally have an impressed stamp without colour on the left side being 10 lepta for the card itself so the cards were sold for 15 and 20 lepta The design of the imprinted stamps was based on the Hermes (Mercury) statue by Giovanni da Bologna During the war on the Balkans the cards were used by the Greek army and have an extra imprint ndash Carte Postale ndash Franchise Militaire A few examples of these postal stationery postcards are illustrated opposite and on page 23 The wording ldquoLrsquohorloge de Kyrrhestesrdquo refers to the timepiece built by Andronicus of Kyrrhos while ldquoTEMPLE DrsquoEOLErdquo translates as ldquoTemple of Aeolusrdquo (Aeolus = god of the winds) For each card 12 versions can be distinguished ndash ie 3 colours x 2 values x 2 usages For fuller information see reference no 1 Of course numerous picture postcards also feature this interesting structure
The Tower of the Winds The Oldest Planetarium on Stamps and
Postal Stationery
Front and back of postal stationery postcard
Examples of Greek postal stationery from the early 20th
century
Front and back of postal stationery postcard
22
ORBIT
The 19423 issues (SG 561-572) of Greece shown beside the 1973 Dominica souvenir sheet whose designer has
reinterpreted the divine sculptures in the margins
Boreas also on the 100d value in black and grey
Skiron
Zephyrus in two 25d vals
orange and green
Lips
Notus
Eurus
Apeliotes in two 10d vals red brown and red orange
Kaikias in two 50d vals black and grey violet and blue
Wind Direction Name of Deity Characteristics of the Sculpture North Boreas An old man wearing heavy clothing and holding a conch shell This wind was cold fierce and
stormy and in Athens made a loud hollow noise
North East Kaikias Old man with severe expression holding circular shield from which he will drop hailstones Weather characteristically cloudy wet and cold
East Apeliotes Young man with hair flowing in every direction holding a cloak full of fruit and grain ndash he brings gradual gentle rain
South East Eurus Old man with morose countenance wrapped tightly against the elements in his cloak This wind brought sultry gloomy weather with much rain
South Notus Young man emptying an urn and producing a shower of water This wind was associated with sultry very wet weather
South West Lips Boy pushing the stern of a ship promising a good sailing wind This was the wind which blew right into Piraeus harbour
West Zephyrus Beautiful lightly clad youth of happy aspect holding a cloak full of flowers In summer this wind brought very sultry weather
North West Skiron Bearded man with a bronze pot full of hot ashes and charcoal This was a dry wind extremely cold in winter but scorching and with lightning in summer
The following table gives details of the sculptures and the characteristics attributed to each of the wind gods
For fuller information see reference no 2
23
ORBIT
The sculptures of the eight winds were depicted on stamps of Greece issued in 1942 (six designs) and 1943 (again six designs ndash four as the previous issue but including the two omitted winds) Five values were surcharged in 1944 to aid victims of the Piraeus bombing of 11 January 1944 the exceptionally high face value resulted in few of these stamps being used Later in 1944 the same five values were surcharged in aid of a Childrenrsquos Convalescent Camp Fund Finally in 1946 two values of the 1942 issue were surcharged ndash the 10dr value in black and the 50dr revalued as 20dr in red See opposite for examples of the stamp designs In addition to these attractive engraved stamps the 1973 issue from Dominica commemorating the centenary of the World Meteorological Organisation included a miniature sheet incorporating the 50c and $1 values and surrounded in the margin by images of all eight wind sculptures (see page 22) More recently the cover of a booklet issued by Greece on 7 October 1988 provides an aerial view of the agora and the Tower of the Winds can be detected (see below) The booklet contains 16 stamps (4 each of 4 different values) and celebrates capitals of Greek provinces In early Christian times the building was used as the bell tower of a Byzantine Church It was partly buried in the ground until fully excavated in the 19
th century by the
Archaeological Society of Athens It is interesting to note that the design of the upper octagon of the 18th century Radcliffe Observatory in Oxford England is based on the Tower of the Winds as is the mausoleum of the founder of the Greek National Library Panayis Vagliano at West Norwood Cemetery London There is a similar tower in Sevastopol built in 1849 References
1 ldquoEntiers Postaux Illustreacutes du service des postes
helleacuteniques et leurs preacutecurseursrdquo Georges Mathas 1985
2 For finely detailed drawings and information about the sculptures you may care to see if your Library has a copy of ldquoThe Antiquities of Athensrdquo Stuart amp Revett Vol 1 published in London 1762
3 Article by Derek J de Solla Price in ldquoNational
Geographic April 1967 pp587-596 4 Much useful information may also be obtained from
sites on the internet
Examples of Overprints from left to right
1944 Piraeus Bombing Aid 1944 Childrenrsquos convalescent camp fund 1946 Surcharge
Below Cover of the 1988 stamp booklet
Front and back of postal stationery postcard
24
ORBIT
Old Photo Makes New(s) Story
A photo taken twenty-one years ago became hot international new(s) this July writes Bert van Eijck
It is a picture of your correspondent in front of the
monument on the graves of the seven astronauts killed
in the Challenger disaster The photo from November 1989 shows the national cemetery at Arlington in
Washington DC And it is this graveyard a national American field of pride and honour that was involved in
a scandal making news all over the world
What happened This became a hot story after it was leaked to the press that in 211 graves on Arlington the wrong corpse had
been buried But this disgrace grew to international
proportions when the US Senate published a report which revealed that it was not 211 but 6600 graves that
had been so dishonoured And maybe there are more the researchers stated
Consequently it meant that family members had been paying their respect at the wrong graves because many
were not marked well or the ground-plan directed to wrong places
Arlingtonrsquos director John Metzler was fired as was his
depute Thurman Higginbotham both of whom said
they knew there were made mistakes but they could not help ldquobecause of economyrdquo
Arlington cemetery was opened in 1864 Since then
300000 Americans have been buried here including
famous or well-known persons like presidents
ministers high ranked military artists judges and
astronauts
And what about some of the most recent ones Did I indeed visit and honour the seven Challenger astronauts in their last resting place on Earth in
November 1989 as shown on the photo Or are they perhaps mistakenly buried in another
unmarked grave This is hard to believe but one never knowshelliphellip
For those who wonder what was doing 21
years ago in the US capital I visited the
World Stamp Exporsquo89 at the Convention Center in Washington DC Of course I did
more sightseeing at and in the famous Smithsonian Museums (a must the
National AirampSpace Museum with 10
million visitors a year) the Capitol the metro (deepest in the world) George
Washingtonrsquos house in Vernon Arlington of course and much more
At the World Stamp Expo there was a
presentation of both USA and USSR space
stamps The American stamps were presented by astronaut Buzz Aldrin the
Soviet stamps by cosmonaut Gherman Titov
Author and the Challenger astronauts monument at Arlington seven figures in bronze (left) At right a plaque honoring US-soldiers killed in action saving
hostages in Iran
Astronaut Buzz Aldrin (left) presents the US space stamps while cosmonaut Gherman Titov (right) does the same with
Soviet space stamps In the middle officials of USPS Below the
stampshellip
25
ORBIT
The Apollo 15 Cover Scandal by Umberto Cavallaro
In a feature which first appeared in the April-June 2010 issue of Ad Astra the web journal of the Italian Astrophilatelic Association its editor reveals in considerable detail the full story of those covers which today sell for so much money The Apollo 15 flown covers are among the best known
collectibles from the Apollo Era mainly because of what Jim Irwin recalls as ldquothe problem we brought
back from the Moonrdquo
The crew of Apollo 15 carried out one of the most complete scientific explorations of the Moon the first
lunar roving vehicle was operated on the Moon to
extend the range of exploration some 180 pounds of lunar surface samples were returned for analysis Yet
Fifteen is best remembered as the crew that carried envelopes to the moon and the whole mission is
remembered for the ldquogreat postal caperrdquo
Apollo 15 was not the first mission to carry covers
dozens were carried on each flight from Apollo 11 onwards and as Commander Dave Scott recalls in his
book the whole business had probably been building since Mercury through Gemini and into Apollo People
had a fascination with objects that had been carried in space and they became more and more popular and
valuable as the programme progressed Right from
the start of the Mercury programme each astronaut had been allowed to carry on board a certain number
of personal items
NASA was in the habit of authorizing astronauts to
carry certain personal items on manned flights known as Astronautsrsquo PPK (Personal Preference Kits) All such
items had to be listed and approved by Deke Slayton the Head of the Astronaut Office prior to launch and
were intended for private use or as personal gifts
after the flight and could not be employed for commercial
Fig 1 The official USPS cover postmarked on the Moon
purposes or personal gain Astronaut kits typically
included badges jewellery coins medals flags stamps postal covers currency printed materials and
similar easily packed lightweight mementoes As the flight became more significant the number and type of
items increased
Aside from personal mementoes each crew had
carried medallions whose number had grown steadily on each mission In his book The All-American Boys astronaut Walter Cunningham reveals that it was rumoured around the Astronaut Office that Apollo 14
carried on board a personal package weighing forty-
two pounds Before that flight the Franklin Mint had even advertised the proposed sale After the flight the
commercial deal was never completed and all went quiet nothing about it being published in the media
But some members of the US Congress were unhappy
of the situation
In that context the ldquolapses of judgmentrdquo of the Apollo 15 crew became fatal Dave Scott went too far
carrying on board a total of 641 postal covers (including the two official covers) of which only 243
were listed and authorized before the flight and 398
were not -- secretly carried on board Apollo 15 by Scott in a pocket of his space suit Had they been
listed as being in Scotts PPK they would probably have been routinely approved for inclusion in the
preference kit
The 243 listed and authorized covers include
bull 2 official US Postal Service covers one of which the ldquoOfficial Coverrdquo was publicly cancelled on the
moon by Scott at the request of the US Postal
Service 10 (Fig 1) bull 1 Wright Brothers commemorative cover dated
1928 and autographed by Orville Wright which was carried by Worden for a friend
bull 1 cover bearing a First Man on the Moon stamp and a Bliss Centennial three-cent stamp carried by
Irwin for Barbara Baker (Fig 2 below)
26
ORBIT
8 Shamrock covers carried by Irwin (as below)
144 Herrickrsquos ldquoMoon Phasesrdquo covers carried by Worden
(Fig 4) printed with a cachet showing 15 phases of the moon On the USS Okinawa the Apollo 15 recovery ship
the astronauts placed two eight-cent stamps purchased
on board by Worden on each of these covers and they had the covers cancelled by the shipboard post office
The astronauts later autographed these covers while flying back from Hawaii to Houston Sixteen covers were
torn or damaged and were destroyed Because of the furore created by the Apollo 15 covers incident NASA
confiscated 61 of these 144 Moon Phases covers
87 Apollo 12 covers (Fig 5) that for unknown reason
did not fly on that mission and which were carried on
Apollo 15 for Mrs Barbara Gordon a stamp collector then wife of Richard Gordon Apollo 12 astronaut who
at was the back-up pilot for Apollo 15
The 398 unauthorized covers (initially there were
400 but 2 were damaged and discarded) are lightweight envelopes carrying as a cachet a replica
of the official Apollo 15 patch overprinted with an Air Force wing and propeller emblem
The idea of these additional covers was suggested during a cocktail party by Eiermann a salesman for
the heat-shield contractor who had frequent business and social contacts with NASA personnel and
astronauts He suggested to fly 400 lightweight covers 100 for each of the astronauts and 100 for
his friend Sieger the German stamp dealer The
cacheted covers were provided by Al Bishop a friend of many astronauts then at the Howard
Hughes organization He had already provided covers for the previous flights since Apollo 12
Above one of the 100 Sieger covers with the handwritten note ldquoLanded at Hadley Moon July 30 1971 On the
reverse is a typed and notarised inscription ldquoThis is to certify that this cover was on board the Falcon at the Hadley-
Apennine Moon July 30 ndashAug 2 1971rdquo
Below one of the 298 unauthorised covers carried to the Moon by David Scott with the inscription ldquoThis envelope was
carried to the Moon aboard the Apollo 15 of 300 to the Lunar Surface in LMrdquoFalconrdquo
The crews usually returned to Bishop a couple of
flown covers signed with gratitude ldquoTo my
knowledge ndash Cunningham reports in his well documented book ndash Bishop never sold any and never
made a dime off his relationship He was simply a fan To Al Bishop Apollo 15 was no different from any
other flight except for a phone call he received from
Hal Collins the Astronaut Office manager at the Cape
27
ORBIT
Collins told Bishop that the crew would like to know
whether he could obtain some very lightweight envelopes for them Al said that hed be happy to do so
He was unaware then that many of them would be smuggled on board the next lunar flight Al was trusted
Thats why many of us imposed on him with our
problems special requests and sometimes matters which we would rather not share with NASArdquo
This time Al was badly used he emerged as a
scapegoat and his name was dragged as though he was the Mr Big of an international stamp conspiracy
The covers were cancelled at Kennedy Space Center
several days before July 26 1971 The date of the post office machine canceller was moved forward
Additionally twin eight-cent stamps were purchased by the astronauts on the USS Okinawa the Apollo 15
recovery ship and affixed to these covers ndash as for the
Herrickrsquos covers In the shipboard post office the covers were then cancelled and date-stamped August 7 1971
The astronauts finally autographed these covers while flying from Hawaii to Houston
Soon after the flight the astronauts gave Eiermann
the 100 covers ndash after agreeing that there was to be
no commercialization or advertising of these covers and that nothing would be done with them until after
completion of the Apollo programme
But after a while news started to circulate that the
German dealer was selling in Europe covers flown on Apollo 15 for a reported average of US $1500 each
The reports infuriated Congress not least because congressmen had to read such controversial
information in the press before being informed by
NASA which is obligated to keep Congress fully informed of its activity Recollection of the Apollo 14
medallions incident must have echoed in the minds of certain members of Congress many of whom were
not fans of NASA anyway NASA started an internal investigation This was the most controversial
development of the Apollo Programme and although
most astronauts were involved to some degree NASA made an example of the Apollo 15 flight crew ldquoIt
was turning into a witch-huntrdquo recalled Scott ldquoOur bosses had abrogated their responsibilities and we
were left alone on a very wet dayrdquo
It is ironic that after addressing a joint session of
Congress as heroes in less that one year the three astronauts of Apollo 15 had to go back in front of these
same senators in disgrace because of this envelope scandal
After this ldquoincidentrdquo NASA prohibited from Apollo 17 on the flying of covers or stamps during a space
missions (they were not on time to block the covers carried on Apollo 16) The only exceptions have been
since then the items flown in cooperation with the US
Postal Service ie the 266000 covers carried in 1983 in
the payload bay of the Space Shuttle Challenger on
STS-8 and the 500000 $995 Express Mail stamp created by Paul and Chris Calle in 1994 flown on
Endeavour STS-68 in recognition of the 25th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing The huge
number of such items carried in space discourages
speculations and these items still are widely available for few dollars
So far fewer than 1000 envelopes in total have flown
to the Moon No other American covers will flow to the Moon in the foreseeable future Perhaps the next
ldquoMoon coversrdquo will bear Chinese or Indian stamps
Dave Scott was the first lunar Postmaster and had two
postmarks with him and two covers with imperforated dieproof of the US twin Decade of Space Achievements
stamps affixed (Fig 1)
He had one postmark with ldquoMoon Landing USArdquo (Fig 8 below) and another with ldquoUnited States on the
Moonrdquo (Fig 9 bottom)
The First Lunar Post Office was opened on August 2 1971 when David Scott postmarked only the official
cover (and brought back the official backup-cover uncancelled) A handful covers had however been
postmarked before launch with both postmarks Dr Matthew Radnofsky ndash who in his laboratory already
had simulated cancelling in space for Apollo 11 ndash
tested both postmarks to ensure that the cancellation devices were in working order
Especially the date could be changed easily Contrary
to Apollo 11 covers without stamps were used for
28
ORBIT
these tests Apollo 15 Lunar Cancellation Proofs are
much scarcer than Apollo 11 ones ldquoAs by now I am aware of only 17 itemsrdquo states famous astrophilatelist
Walter Hopferwieser Covers with proofs of the Apollo 15 moon postmarks have been recently sold at Regency
Superior and Aurora auctions
The official Apollo 15 cover postmarked on the Moon
(see Fig 1 repeated above ) is displayed at the US National Postal Museum It was publicly cancelled and
the video can be seen at httpwwwpostalmuseumsiedustampstakeflight
apollo15video-01html A short speech was given by
Dave Scott while cancelling the cover ldquoTo show that our good Postal Service has deliveries any place in the
universe I have the pleasant task of cancelling here on the Moon the first stamp of a new issue dedicated to
commemorate US achievements in space I have the
first one here on an envelope At the bottom it says United States in Space a decade of achievement and
Im very proud to have the opportunity here to play postman I pull out a cancellation device It says
August 2 1971 first day of issuehellip What could be a
better place to cancel this stamp than right here at Hadley Rillehelliprdquo
Immediately thereafter the Postmaster General who
was waiting at the Mission Control at Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston Texas gave the signal to start the
First- Day cancellations at post offices in Houston
Kennedy Space Center and Huntsville
Acknowledgement Thanks to Walter Hopferwieser for his comments
Some Notes About Space Mail
Commenting on Brian Vincentrsquos article in the June
2010 Orbit ASSS member Geoff Chivers writes in an
email to your Editorhellip Im sure you wont mind me commenting on Brian G Vincents Some Notes About Space Mail (page 36)
In paragraph 2 he refers to the Apollo 15 cover incident leaving the impression that Scott Worden and Irwin were guilty of some heinous crime This has been the subject of much miss-reporting over the years The full story of what actually happened is explained in depth at page 328 et seq of Two sides of the moon by David Scott and Alexei Leonov published by Simon amp Shuster The astronauts were of course exonerated
This is the quote (slightly edited to enable it to stand as an independent piece)-
During 1972 while on a trip to Washington DC George Low NASA deputy administrator asked me to stop by his
office writes David Scott I had known George in Houston while he was Apollo spacecraft programme manager and I had great respect for him We spent a short while exchanging pleasantries Then George looked me in the eye and came to the point ldquoWell Daverdquo he said ldquoI have to tell you I was not very proud of my performancerdquo His comment was the culmination of what had become known as the Apollo 15 ldquocover incidentrdquo This involved some first day postal covers which we had carried aboard Apollo 15 some of which were unfortunately sold by a German stamp dealer several months after the flight As No 2 in NASA George
had been heavily involved in NASAs handling of the incident and his comment referred to one of the poorest management performances the space agency had ever demonstrated - up to then The whole business had probably been building since Mercury through Gemini and into Apollo People had a fascination with objects that had been carried in space and they became more and more popular and valuable as the programme progressed Right from the start of the Mercury programme each astronaut had been allowed to carry on board a certain number of personal items in what were known as PPKS - Personal Preference Kits Before each flight a list of the items was prepared for Deke Slayton who
Two Sides of The Moon
by David Scott and Alexei Leonov
The text opposite from the
above book has been
referred to by Umberto Cavallaro in preparing his
above piece
29
ORBIT
had overall responsibility for approving them As the flights became more significant the number and type of items increased Aside from personal mementoes each crew had carried a certain number of medallions which they could hand out afterwards as souvenirs The number of medallions had grown steadily on each mission - eventually some crew members had been carrying several hundred each and their weight was becoming a concern And as always commercialisation began to creep in In the end on Apollo 14 commanded by Al Shepard it was alleged that the crew had carried some silver medallions on board which were to be melted down after the flight and mixed with many other commemorative medallions by the Franklin Mint to be sold to the general public The Franklin Mint had even advertised the proposed sale before the flight After the flight the deal was never consummated and all went quiet nothing about it was printed in the media But some members of Congress had heard about it and were unhappy with the situation Since we were busy training for Apollo 15 (launched 26 July 1971) we knew nothing about all this Had we known we would have been far more wary of what happened subsequently All we knew was that Deke Slayton had halved the number of medallions we could carry Shortly afterwards Deke introduced Jim (Irwin) Al (Worden) and me to a long-standing friend of his at the Cape called Walter Eiermann In retrospect this seems likely to have been more than a coincidence Deke invited us to join him at dinner at Eiermanns house one evening several months before the Apollo 15 launch Eiermann asked if we would like to make some money on the side by signing some stamps ldquoAll the guys are doing itrdquo he said We agreed We were also approached by several members of the Manned Spacecraft Centerrsquos stamp club who asked us to sign many first - day covers before the flight for their members as well as for ourselves At that time we could not buy life insurance If we signed some covers we reasoned they could be held during the flight and act as limited life insurance for our families if anything happened to us But then Eiermann proposed we carry four hundred lightweight commemorative covers a hundred of which would be passed on to a stamp dealer in Germany when we returned All the covers would be franked on the day of launch and franked on the day of our return Our understanding was that the dealer would hold his hundred covers to be sold at some future date after the Apollo programme was over In return he would set up a $6000 trust fund for each of us for the education of our children In the months of intense activity before the flight we did not give this more than a moment of thought But we agreed In retrospect we made a mistake in even considering it In the months following our mission we learnt that the German dealer had begun to sell the covers We let Eiermann know that we were opposed to the sale Forget the trust funds we said we dont want any money This is not what we had understood would happen But when senior managers at NASA learnt about the covers being sold they were furious Incomplete information was then provided to the press by NASArsquos Public Affairs Office and reports started to appear that we had smuggled the covers onto our flight This was literally impossible NASA personnel prepared us for every aspect of the flight - from our birthday suits out Everything we had carried had to be specially packaged by the flight support crew to make sure apart from anything else
that it was fireproof Everything in our PPKs was on a list which was certified before launch I was never aware of any rules about what could or could not be taken in these packs Slayton was to approve the list so as far as I was concerned it was up to management to keep us on the straight and narrow I assumed if the list was approved that was fine Usually the list was certified by Deke But before our flight for some reason he neither asked us personally for each of our lists as was customary nor signed off on the list personally He said the flight - crew support team had already logged everything Whereas we had purchased the covers ourselves the Astronaut Office at the Cape had prepared the covers for the flight and had had them stamped and franked on the day of launch Somehow however the support team had missed them when they prepared the PPK flight manifest It was also reported after the incident that we had been removed from the astronaut corps Again totally untrue Unfortunately NASA managers did nothing to dispel this false and misleading information They just tucked their heads in and let the rumours run The reports infuriated Congress not least because congressmen had to read such controversial information in the press before being informed by NASA which is obligated to keep Congress fully informed of its activities Recollections of the Apollo 14 medallion incident must have seeped into the minds of certain members of Congress many of whom were not fans of NASA anyway When NASA started an internal investigation we were told by a senior official in the agency that we were on our own We were advised to get our own legal representation A Senate hearing into the matter had been called and a justice Department investigation would follow It was turning into a witch - hunt NASA we were advised expected us to keep quiet and take the Fifth Amendment at this hearing We did not We told it like it was We had nothing to hide Eventually the Justice Department concluded that we had broken some administrative rules but had done nothing criminal NASA confiscated the remaining covers but they acted before discovering all the facts of the case Following an investigation by NASA the Justice Department and the Senate the Justice Department concluded on 6 December 1978 in a ldquoMemorandum Opinion for the Assistant Attorney Generalrdquo that NASA had no claim to the remaining covers that the covers were never intended for sale that there was no attempt at concealment by the crew of the fact that the covers were to be flown on Apollo 15 and finally that the covers would have been approved to carry aboard Apollo 15 had a request been made We were reprimanded and we took our licks But it was a very raw deal NASA had hung us out to dry Our bosses had abrogated their responsibilities and we were left alone on a very wet day I spent many years trying to get full access to NASA and congressional records on the case NASA refused to provide full disclosure We subsequently found out there had been rumblings about profitmdashmaking on previous missions A copy of a letter was released to me in which NASA admitted that ten other astronauts who were not identified had been involved in selling signed blocks of stamps and postcards for Eiermann But the wave reached the shore on Apollo 15 and we were the ones who bore the brunt of the blame for such incidents
30
ORBIT
Buckingham Cover offer Free Souvenirs for You
Brian Austin of Buckinghamrsquos Rare Cover Department writes to your Editorhellip
Over the last two or three years we have been dealing more and more in signed space covers This led us to earlier this year buying an Apollo 11 crew signed cover which had been carried to the moon which we had on display on our stand at London 2010
For this we also printed a limited edition of 800 sets of postcards one featuring the Apollo 11 cover and another
featuring an Apollo 15 cover The idea was to give away 100 sets per day to customers at the show but now the show is all finished I still have around 150 pairs left on my desk
We wondered if you would like to offer them to your readers we are happy to send them out free of charge to the first 150 readers to contact us with their details as long as we can also include one of our lists of space
covers
BrianAustinbuckinghamcoverscom
31
ORBIT
More About Missile Mail
Harvey Duncan told us in the last Orbit (page 15) about the First Official Missile Mail writes Bert van Eijck After the useful technical details about the USS Barbero he gave us I can offer you more philatelic information and show you some illustrations The missile mail experiment was a joint venture between
the Ministry of Defense and the US Post Office Dept headed by Postmaster General Mr Arthur E
Summerfield Three thousand special envelopes were printed with a reproduction of a Navy missile type
Regulus with the text ldquoFirst Official Missile Mailrdquo and above that ldquoThe Postmaster General Washingtonrdquo All
the envelopes were addressed to The President high
government officials like senators and to the Post Masters General of ninety nine other member nations of
UPU Inside was a letter from Mr Summerfield entitled ldquoThe First Official Missile Mailrdquo with the official seal of
the Post Office dept It was explained therein what had
happed to that letter and the other 2999
The special letters were loaded in two metal compartments and came aboard the guided missile USS Barbero (SSG-317) The shot was to occur during a regular training mission from Norfolk Virginia to Florida
About 350 kilometres off the coast of Florida the
Regulus missile was launched toward Airport Mayport
The missile climbed 10 km above the Atlantic and
landed within twenty minutes with all the letters intact The letters were cancelled with the hand stamp ldquoUSS
Barberordquo with the date ldquoJun 8 1959rdquo and the approximate timing of the launching ldquo930 amrdquo This
was done by post office staff part of an established
branch office on the USS Barbero The letters bore the 1957 4c American flag postage stamp Those
addressed to foreign countries carried two such stamps covering surface mail postage costs On the
reverse side is the Jacksonville Post Office cancellation with the approximate time of arrival ldquoJune 8 1030 am
1959 Floridardquo
Such flown letters are expensive to buy and a jewel in
any exhibit
But this is NOT the case with the Barbero souvenir
cover dated a month later on July 8 1959 issued in the same quantity (3000) as the originals The
inscription reads ldquoPoint of LandingmdashFirst Official Missile Mail 8 June 1959 US Naval Station Mayport Floridardquo
About 16000 () collectors had applied for such a cover
The imprint of the official Barbero cover was reproduced on a memorial cover issued and posted at
the Vienna International Airpost Exhibition Luposta on August 1959 in the Austrian capital Of course neither
of these items had been carried within the Regulus
missile
Also of interest the Postal Administration of
Paraguay issued a stamp
and a block in 1976 honouring the Barbero
Missile Mail The Gs 20 stamp shows a Regulus
missile in flight while the sheet shows the whole
addressed cover and in
miniature the complete letter inside from the US Postmaster General
as mentioned above and as illustrated below
Above a specimen envelope as described in the text and below its reverse cancel
32
ORBIT
An Invitation to Our Readers to Donate to an Innovative International Projecthellip
Kindest Sir or Madam
The municipality of Vitanje
(Slovenia) is honoured to have had a hand in the life of the
famous space architect Herman Potocnik Noordung
(1892-1929) (pictured right) who had already found a
surprising number of solutions
to space travel and troubles of living in vacuum long before
actual space flights took place His creations were used by the
renowned novelist Arthur C Clarke
in his book 2001 A Space Odyssey which was later also turned into a
movie directed by Stanley Kubrick In Noordungs honour we have
created the Memorial Centre of Herman Potocnik Noordung This
year the cultural centre of European
space technology will also get going in Vitanje This will be a place
where the European space heritage will be gathered and various events connected with the
contemporary European space technologies will be
organized
Proposed Philatelic Collection We would like to bring the project onto a higher level
where we would have the collaboration of various
countries in the world including such with a history in space travel (like USA Russia) One of the steps of this
expansion process would also include a philatelic collection of stamps with themes of outer space
(astronomy astronautics and everything connected to
outer space) We already have quite a decent collection but we would like to expand on that
Our goal is to have 6000 stamps before opening our
exhibition For this we would require the help of as many philatelists as possible
All of these philatelists would become co-creators and partners of this collection for which we hope will
become the largest collection of its kind in the world The people donating the stamps would get a great deal
of exposure at all these exhibitions and on the special
website which will be started shortly If you give us enough support and we are able to raise enough
stamps for a first-class collection we hope the first
exhibitions and various special events (like visits from
astronauts ndash philatelists) will see the light of day as early as in 2011
From a professional point of view we have an
excellent team working with us Long-time philatelist
Tone Petek is the person who initiated this project while Bojan Bracic the secretary of FEPA is one of our
counsellors and is completely behind this project
If you would be interested in such cooperation I will get the wheels in motion and send you a verifying
mail with the stamp of the municipality of Vitanje and
also of some higher organization within the Slovene political system
The collection is already underway with the help of the
Slovene Philatelic organisation (FZS) adds Rok in an email to your Editor in July This organisation has been of immense help with technical expertise and
connections It looks as if there might be an introductory exhibition next year sometime
In the hope of a successful partnership we offer our
sincere appreciation
Rok Podgrajsek
Obcina Vitanje Grajski trg 1
3205 Vitanje
Slovenia
Email address rokpodgrajsekgmailcom
But see also website httpwwwvitanjesi
(Editorrsquos Note both Wendy Buckle editor of
Themescene and our Chairman Margaret Morris commend this project to you We will be sending Rok
some recent copies of Orbit for the displays)
Some illustrations from Noordungrsquos only published text ldquoThe Problem of
Space Travel The Rocket Motorrdquo (the original German title
was ldquoDas Problem der Befahrung
des Weltraums - der Raketen-Motorrdquo) which saw the light of day
in 1928
Vitanje Local Private Post stamp
33
ORBIT
Zazzle Space Stamps Dazzle
I have noticed Zazzle Space Stamps appearing in Lollini brochures and on their web pages in recent months writes your Editor so I undertook to find out some facts about them and am grateful to The Astrophile Editor Jim Roth and the man who inspired him to create his own Zazzle designs Otto Bergman for the following infohellip Zazzle is one of half a dozen or more US companies
who facilitate the printing of non-copyrighted photos and artwork on private postage stamps which count
as postage within and outwith the USA You can
design your own Zazzle stampsmdashsee their websitemdashwhich you then purchase for your own use 20 to a
page
They are therefore a bit like British Smilers except
that the personal element of the stamp is not on a se-tenant label but actually incorporated within the
stamp itself as you can see from the examples on this page
Jim Roth was annoyed that the Kennedy Space Center Post office would not cancel his Zazzle stamps as they
consider them to be ldquometersrdquo and although he has marked STS-122 he wonrsquot be creating any others
You can see (and buy) all Jim Rothrsquos Space Zazzles on
his website m57coverscommdashclick on ldquostampsrdquo
Three of Jim Rothrsquos designs
See others on his website
An Otto Bergman space creation on
Zazzlecomottobergman
These space Zazzles and others are
available from the Lollini website or brochures
STS 128 in May 2010 section
STS 129 in June 2010
WISE and Delta 2 launch in July 2010 STS 130 in August 2010
STS 128 stamps show astronauts Christer Fuglesang (far left) and left Frank De Winne ISS Commander Expedition 21 STS 129 issues depict mission
patch and the crew led by Charles Hobaugh
Delta 2 rocket launch from Cape Canaveral of WISE Deep InfraRed telescope
34
ORBIT
Concluded on page 39
More Spaceflight Books for Sale
35
ORBIT ORBIT
SPACE HABITATS (Part Two) by John Beenen Continuing his feature from our last issue John Beenen begins by posing the questionhellip Why Should we Seek to Live
in Space
Spacecom gives ten main reasons why we should enter space for a prolonged
period
1 To secure a future for humanity
2 To build a new frontier
3 To find new energy sources
4 To build an industrial settlement on
the Moon
5 Better quality images of the
Universe
6 The SETI effort
7 Mining
8 Learning the history of our
Universe
9 Environmental benefits
Meeting the challenge
Taking for granted that it is naturally fascinating to investigate how mankind
might be able to maintain its habitat outside earth there are several further reasons to investigate why
mankind should settle themselves outside earth in the far future And More reasons mean a overall better
argument
Primarily there is the question of overpopulation and
secondly a solution for the energy problem
Next we have to consider that climate circumstances
are not under control anymore and earth eventually becomes uninhabitable
Also when for various reasons we start to kill each
other for some groups of people it may be an attractive proposition to depart this Earth in quite a different
sense And that is perhaps the most common thought
through activities in space more money can be obtained
But there are disadvantageshellip
On the other hand a prolonged stay in space is not that safe The construction must be protected against
radiation and it can be hit by large and small debris which makes space a very unsafe place
Furthermore cosmic radiation produces
a radiation of 80 mSv (millisievert) - well over the allowed maximum of 50
mSv and very much over the amount which is considered as safe for man
which is 3 mSv
Next solar flares produce a sudden
increase of soft gamma and energy rich radiation so much that without the
protection of an atmosphere half of our population could die easily
It is interesting that even without shielding most of this radiation can be
absorbed in the projected spacecraftsrsquo structure and in the air Smaller
structures can be protected with a
shield of co-rotating rocks
The construction further must be protected against sunlight which by
lack of the air shield will fall in unshielded so sun blinds and radiators
are indispensable
And as a result of the artificial gravity
there are some tiny movement problems which we will face later
Finally the created ecosystem should be fully self-supporting and that is easier said than done as
experiments with Biosphere-2 have showed
Biosphere-2 Biosphere-2 was a project built between 1987 and 1991 providing in an area of about 2frac12 football fields
a closed biological system of different composition From 1991-1993 a crew of 8 persons stayed herein A
second crew of 7 persons bridged a period of March
until September 1994 During the first period it appeared difficult to keep the atmosphere constant in
particular the carbon dioxide values changed rapidlymdashthe reason why many of the carried insects perished
Further the oxygen level decreased slowly because pf a leak
Even during the first two-year phase large differences in opinion appeared and the yield was not large
enough to deliver the calories necessary Reserve stocks had to be broken into Finally the second
experiment had to be ended prematurely because of
mismanagement
However it seems that a well-functioning stable ecosystem should not be underestimated physically
not technically
Artists impressions above Interior Stanford Torus and below Interior
OrsquoNeill Cylinder
Solar flares Czechoslovakia 1965 WB 47
36
ORBIT
It further has to be speculated on that men would resist
a regulated weather programme instead of the customary ever changing circumstances on Earth
Also we must physically resist an eternal stay outside
Earth That is not always easy as some people will show
some kind of sea sickness for ever In any case rooms with a diameter of less than 100 meters and a speed of
revolution over three per minute are insufficient At specifications of over 500 m and at less than 1 revolution
per minute fewer problems have to be expected
How do we get raw materials (Fantasy Moon Mining Yemen
Mutawakelite 1969 1343)
And still there have to be enough raw materials to sustain the
colony but as a principle the
search for raw materials is not the most difficult
From the asteroid belt enough small rocks can be
transported as a building material Also mines can be put
on the Moon Bercause of the lower gravity there transport is easier and some kind of firing mechanism
has been calculated which launch packets of ore simply into space where they can be manipulated
Air can be produced from moonstone Nitrogen nearly without loss can be recycled and eventually added to
ammonia mined from comets Large gardens and fields should start the normal photosynthesis and doing so
finally a complete sustainable society might be built up Energy from the Sun is present in superfluous quantities
What to do about gravity Most designs for a Space station start with a gravity of
1G Some designers however think that a lower level of gravity is possible But in the meantime experiments
with astronauts have showed that our physiology
changes rapidly influenced by decreased or absence of gravity Thus the calcium potassium and sodium
contents of our bone system decrease by about 10 That is not bad were we to stay in space forever but
very troublesome when occasionally we would return to
Earth
Also the quality of our muscles decreases as the blood volume does Providing effects comparable to aging
Further by lack of gravity astronauts become a little
taller with accompanying pain in the back Hence the staying with 1G gravity is not so bad
That has to be maintained by rotation of the
construction The larger the diameter of the construction is the slower it will turn to provide 1 G That is a result
of the centrifugal or centripetal force Its
magnitude has long been established thanks to the work of Dutchman Christiaan Huygens and fixed in
the formula
m v2
F = r where
F = the external force in N(ewton) m = mass in kg
v = speed in msec r = radius in m
Hence a spacecraft with a diameter of 15 meters has to carry out one revolution every 8 seconds to
produce a sensation of 1G And that is too quick for man The effect of the centrifugal force is that should
an astronaut drop an object it does not fall straight
down but partly away from himher Weird
Coriolis force But in a rotating Space station another force is at
work That is the lsquoCoriolis forcersquo named after the
French Gustave-Gaspard Coriolis (1792-1843) who described this kind of force for the first time
The most common manifestation is the second law of
Buys Ballot which says that air streams in the
atmosphere which according the first law of Boys Ballot as a principle run from high to low pressure at
the northern hemisphere are bent to the right and at the southern hemisphere to the left because of the
rotation of the Earth
Therefore air streams around depressions show a
spiral shape in opposite directions at the northern and southern hemisphere In a space station this
force can especially noticed when moving around through the spokes of the wheel
(Diagram of Coriolis F o r c e h t t p
wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm)
A s s u m e t h a t a n
astronaut on a ladder
climbs through a spoke to the axis As he climbs
along he circles around more slowly as he
describes a smaller circle
in the same time What happens with the difference in speed that he had before He will be pressed
against the ladder and that is the Coriolis force The force also acts in opposite direction when he
descends from the ladder
Also the throwing up and catching of a ball will
become a huge achievement as the ball does not
37
ORBIT
drop perpendicularly but will shift a little into the
direction of the orbit of the station and also achieves a higher speed
This also has strange effects on the astronaut As moves
quickly in the rotation direction of the station his weight
appears to increase to a noteworthy extent Then as he moves against the speed of rotation his weight
decreases apparently Mathematically this effect is explainable but very complex
Also the astronautrsquos head and feet move in different
speed to artificial gravity This is plainly noticeable when
somebody jumps up Hence avoid this practice
With these kind of effects adaptation to the changed circumstances in a space station will ask a lot of the
crew members I do hope they can stand it But in any
case the larger the space ship the lesser the problems
Inflatable stations
But therersquos more The inflatable station was considered
many years ago The first i d e a w a s p o s s i b l y
developed when on 12th August 1960 the Echo
balloon with a diameter of
30 meters was launched (Echo I balloon USA 1960
WB 3)
It is true you could not live in it as the balloon was of too frail a construction but the idea of an inflatable
spacecraft was then alive By 1958 groups within NASA
had begun to think about inflatable stations The Goett-committee has been one of the first On 25th26th May
1959 a conference started about projects after
Mercury In particular the
representative of Langley L a r r y Lo f t i n wa s
enthusiastic about his AMIS (Advanced Man in
Space) project (Hexagonal structure
Manama 1970 WB 113)
One of his first projects was a rotating hexagonal
inflatable construction with a diameter of 25 meters a cylindrical core and three lsquospokesrsquo Acting as a ferry to
and from the station the lsquoDyna Soarrsquo Space plane could
be used The Dyna Soar project (at that time still
under development) was cancelled by the American
Minister of Defense Robert
McNamara Inflatable Habitat NASA
1961 enwikipediaorg)
A Langley Space Station
team managed by Paul Hill and Emanuel lsquoMannyrsquo
Schnitzer developed the concept together with the
G o o d y e a r A i r c r a f t
Corporation
(Langleyrsquos self-inflating rotating hexagonal structure httphistorynasagov
SP-4308) Its original diameter had already been reduced to 10
meters
In the years after Langley built several experimental
modules called lsquoErectable Torus Manned Space Laboratoryrsquo a 11 model built by firms such as
Goodyear The torus was built from three layers of
nylon tissue and in between a rubber-like plastic material butyl elastomer A large problem was the
penetration by micrometeorites which as was learnt from the results of the Echo balloon finally damaged
the whole structure
Another problem was the great instability of the ring
due to movements of the astronauts the station started to wobble when they moved around Finally
the project was cancelled and at the end of the eighties the Langley Research Center started to
design inflatable constructions for a base camp on the
Moon
( A r t i s t imp r e s s i on Transhab inflatable
m o d u l e h t t p
enwikipediaorg)
Due to the development of a new series of
s t r o n g e r p l a s t i c materials such as Kevlar
these construct ions
received new interest That lead to the development of Transhab (Transit Habitat) as a resource for crews
coupled at the ISS (international Space Station) The construction is a cylinder in a diameter of 82 meters
and several storeys high
Its volume in inflatable state is 340 m3 The wall has a
thickness of 30 () cm and consists of 12 layers of which the outside layer is made from Kevlar The
layers beneath are made from Nextel a ceramic fibre Disagreements during development and the spiralling
costs finally in 2000 saw the end of NASArsquos interest
G e n e s i s 1
thespacereviewcom)
From 1999 the project was
taken up by Bigelow
38
ORBIT
Aerospace who improved the design and tested it with
successful launchings of Genesis I on 12 July 2006 and Genesis II on 28 June 2007
In their design it has once again more or less the shape
of a balloon With a thickness of 40 cm the wall is still
very thick The outside layer is still Kevlar but inside are some layers of Vectran a textile fibre Within the
structure ants and scorpions were launched along with some objects which people who paid for the privilege of
boosting into space
In this way Bigelow hopes to build a Space Hotel named
Nautilus To stimulate the development Bigelow offered a price of $50 million to everybody who succeeded in
launching a crew of 5 persons to an altitude of 400 km before 2010 So little money lost here so far
A second project which can be realized within the near future is a fixed residence on the Moon As said Langley
occupies itself with the design of such a base which partly should be build below the surface Stamp
designers have already realized the idea
What does the future hold Although we are a long way away from the kind of space station by which a large amount of earth inhabitants can
leave the planet Earth forever the first steps for doing
so are in preparation With the development of their Space Hotel Bigelow tries to make the step to space
albeit a temporary one
Also Langley literally tries to set foot on the Moon and
finally they will succeed in doing so However The cost of such projects are literally astronomical and it is not
expected that in the coming decades much money can be allocated to such projects
Of course in some thousands of years (possibly only in
hundreds of years) this will become the case but for the
time being in my opinion the true conquest of space will stay as science-fiction for at least a few hundred years
Hoorn 2009
John Beenen
NB The stamps entitled lsquoSpace Cityrsquo with a value of 0 cnt do not exist but have been made by the author by means of frames and pictures present at the Internet
Fantasy Moon
b a s e M a n a -ma1970 WB 122
Fantasy bases
ready for Mars
YAR 1971 WB 2892 and 6
Fantasy Modular
base YAR 169 WB 233
39
ORBIT
Cover Below bottom right Future space Dutch Antilles 2000
Literature references (for both parts of article) httpenwikipediaorg Space habitat Space Colonization Orbital Colony Space City Space settlement Space stations L5 Society Bernal Sphere Stanford Torus OrsquoNeil Cylinder Inflatable Space Habitat Transhab Biosphere 2 Generation Ship wwwdsenl~hklruimtehtm Wonen op groene eilanden in de Ruimte (Dutch Living on green Islands in Space) Henry Kluytmans wwworionsarmcom McKendree Cylinder Bishops Ring wwwnasnasagovAboutEducationSpaceSettlement The Colonization of Space wwwdyarstraightscommsgundamhabitatshtml Mobile Suit Gundam High Frontier Life in the Universal Century Developing sound habitats wwwartificial-gravitycomDissertation1_2htm From Tsiolkovsky to Sputnik (1878-1957) httpsciencenasagovheadlinesy2000ast26may_1mhtm Wheels in the Sky httpdiscaircraftgreyfalconus Hermann Noordung Wohnrad (Wheel for Habitation) httparticlesadsabsharvardedufull1992lbsaconf249R Inflatable habitation for the lunar base MRoberts httphistorynasagovSP-4308ch9htm lsquoAs inevitable as the Rising Sunrsquo From the inflatable Torus to the Rotating Hexagon wwwspacecomnewsbusinessmonday_040524html Bigelow Aerospace to tackle inflatable Space Habitats httpsciencehowstuffsworkcominflatable-spacecraft2htm How Inflatable Spacecraft Will Work wwwbogancaphysicscoriolishtml Rotating Space Stations Dynamics An Explanation of the Coriolis Force httpdemonstrationswolframcomRotatingSpaceStation Rotating Space Station wwwdvandomcomcoliolisspacestationhtml Frame Effects and Space Stations wwwdvandomcomcoriolisindexhtml A (hopefully) simple explanation of the Coriolis Force wwwdaviddarlinginfoencyclopedia Hale Edward Everett von Pirquet Guido Noordung Hermann Space Station wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm The Coriolis Force wwwastronautixcomcraftfamlunbaseshtm Lunar bases wwwastronautixcomgallerycspebasehtm Photo Gallery Space base wwwregererating-universeorgOn_Moon_as_Space_Basehtm On Moon as Space Base wwwspacefuturecomhabitatlivingshtml Space Habitat Introduction Living in Space wwwspacepagebevideotaak=bekijkampid=47 Living in space (Video) wwwnutricomspace The Case for Space colonization ndash Now Oscar Falconi wwwxentcompipermailfork (FoRK) Bigelowrsquos inflatable Genesis I satellite in orbit wwwrussianforcesorg Russian strategic nuclear forces (Genesis II) wwwbigelowaerospacecomgenesis Genesis I Genesis II
Thanks to Alan Tunnicliffe who came across the attached news item
complete with stamp in the eNZ Magazine the bi-monthly journal of
the Institution of Professional Engineers NZ Inc Vol 11 No 3 May-
June 2010
Vaccari Auction Sells Remarkable Space Covers April 2010
Apollo 12 cover 55 of 87 flown to the moon on Apollo 15 having been left behind by the original crew sold for euro12200 1977 Salyut
6 Soyuz 27 cover sold for euro1600
40
ORBIT ORBIT
Shuttle 1981mdash2010 Stamps Marshall
Islands 2005
United Nations 2007 Monaco and Ascension 2008
Bulgaria 1991 including stamp from souvenir sheet
USA 1981
below USA 1995 and bottom USA 1998
(two values)
St Vincent Grenadines 1983
Ascension 1989
Bulgaria 1990
and above right W Germany 1975
and USA 2000 Guyana 2006
USA 1995
41
ASSS Membership Renewal 2010
Memberrsquos Name amp Addresshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
I wish to renew my membership of the ASSS for a further year and enclose the equivalent of
pound15 (UK) euro30 (Europe) $US 45 (Rest of the World)
Please return this form with your remittance to Harvey Duncan by the
end of July Thank you
Harvey Duncan Treasurer ASSS 16 Begg Avenue
Falkirk Scotland FK1 2DL
PayPal For details of how to Pay via Paypal
please email Jeff Dugdale Email address on Page 2
42
43
44
22
ORBIT
The 19423 issues (SG 561-572) of Greece shown beside the 1973 Dominica souvenir sheet whose designer has
reinterpreted the divine sculptures in the margins
Boreas also on the 100d value in black and grey
Skiron
Zephyrus in two 25d vals
orange and green
Lips
Notus
Eurus
Apeliotes in two 10d vals red brown and red orange
Kaikias in two 50d vals black and grey violet and blue
Wind Direction Name of Deity Characteristics of the Sculpture North Boreas An old man wearing heavy clothing and holding a conch shell This wind was cold fierce and
stormy and in Athens made a loud hollow noise
North East Kaikias Old man with severe expression holding circular shield from which he will drop hailstones Weather characteristically cloudy wet and cold
East Apeliotes Young man with hair flowing in every direction holding a cloak full of fruit and grain ndash he brings gradual gentle rain
South East Eurus Old man with morose countenance wrapped tightly against the elements in his cloak This wind brought sultry gloomy weather with much rain
South Notus Young man emptying an urn and producing a shower of water This wind was associated with sultry very wet weather
South West Lips Boy pushing the stern of a ship promising a good sailing wind This was the wind which blew right into Piraeus harbour
West Zephyrus Beautiful lightly clad youth of happy aspect holding a cloak full of flowers In summer this wind brought very sultry weather
North West Skiron Bearded man with a bronze pot full of hot ashes and charcoal This was a dry wind extremely cold in winter but scorching and with lightning in summer
The following table gives details of the sculptures and the characteristics attributed to each of the wind gods
For fuller information see reference no 2
23
ORBIT
The sculptures of the eight winds were depicted on stamps of Greece issued in 1942 (six designs) and 1943 (again six designs ndash four as the previous issue but including the two omitted winds) Five values were surcharged in 1944 to aid victims of the Piraeus bombing of 11 January 1944 the exceptionally high face value resulted in few of these stamps being used Later in 1944 the same five values were surcharged in aid of a Childrenrsquos Convalescent Camp Fund Finally in 1946 two values of the 1942 issue were surcharged ndash the 10dr value in black and the 50dr revalued as 20dr in red See opposite for examples of the stamp designs In addition to these attractive engraved stamps the 1973 issue from Dominica commemorating the centenary of the World Meteorological Organisation included a miniature sheet incorporating the 50c and $1 values and surrounded in the margin by images of all eight wind sculptures (see page 22) More recently the cover of a booklet issued by Greece on 7 October 1988 provides an aerial view of the agora and the Tower of the Winds can be detected (see below) The booklet contains 16 stamps (4 each of 4 different values) and celebrates capitals of Greek provinces In early Christian times the building was used as the bell tower of a Byzantine Church It was partly buried in the ground until fully excavated in the 19
th century by the
Archaeological Society of Athens It is interesting to note that the design of the upper octagon of the 18th century Radcliffe Observatory in Oxford England is based on the Tower of the Winds as is the mausoleum of the founder of the Greek National Library Panayis Vagliano at West Norwood Cemetery London There is a similar tower in Sevastopol built in 1849 References
1 ldquoEntiers Postaux Illustreacutes du service des postes
helleacuteniques et leurs preacutecurseursrdquo Georges Mathas 1985
2 For finely detailed drawings and information about the sculptures you may care to see if your Library has a copy of ldquoThe Antiquities of Athensrdquo Stuart amp Revett Vol 1 published in London 1762
3 Article by Derek J de Solla Price in ldquoNational
Geographic April 1967 pp587-596 4 Much useful information may also be obtained from
sites on the internet
Examples of Overprints from left to right
1944 Piraeus Bombing Aid 1944 Childrenrsquos convalescent camp fund 1946 Surcharge
Below Cover of the 1988 stamp booklet
Front and back of postal stationery postcard
24
ORBIT
Old Photo Makes New(s) Story
A photo taken twenty-one years ago became hot international new(s) this July writes Bert van Eijck
It is a picture of your correspondent in front of the
monument on the graves of the seven astronauts killed
in the Challenger disaster The photo from November 1989 shows the national cemetery at Arlington in
Washington DC And it is this graveyard a national American field of pride and honour that was involved in
a scandal making news all over the world
What happened This became a hot story after it was leaked to the press that in 211 graves on Arlington the wrong corpse had
been buried But this disgrace grew to international
proportions when the US Senate published a report which revealed that it was not 211 but 6600 graves that
had been so dishonoured And maybe there are more the researchers stated
Consequently it meant that family members had been paying their respect at the wrong graves because many
were not marked well or the ground-plan directed to wrong places
Arlingtonrsquos director John Metzler was fired as was his
depute Thurman Higginbotham both of whom said
they knew there were made mistakes but they could not help ldquobecause of economyrdquo
Arlington cemetery was opened in 1864 Since then
300000 Americans have been buried here including
famous or well-known persons like presidents
ministers high ranked military artists judges and
astronauts
And what about some of the most recent ones Did I indeed visit and honour the seven Challenger astronauts in their last resting place on Earth in
November 1989 as shown on the photo Or are they perhaps mistakenly buried in another
unmarked grave This is hard to believe but one never knowshelliphellip
For those who wonder what was doing 21
years ago in the US capital I visited the
World Stamp Exporsquo89 at the Convention Center in Washington DC Of course I did
more sightseeing at and in the famous Smithsonian Museums (a must the
National AirampSpace Museum with 10
million visitors a year) the Capitol the metro (deepest in the world) George
Washingtonrsquos house in Vernon Arlington of course and much more
At the World Stamp Expo there was a
presentation of both USA and USSR space
stamps The American stamps were presented by astronaut Buzz Aldrin the
Soviet stamps by cosmonaut Gherman Titov
Author and the Challenger astronauts monument at Arlington seven figures in bronze (left) At right a plaque honoring US-soldiers killed in action saving
hostages in Iran
Astronaut Buzz Aldrin (left) presents the US space stamps while cosmonaut Gherman Titov (right) does the same with
Soviet space stamps In the middle officials of USPS Below the
stampshellip
25
ORBIT
The Apollo 15 Cover Scandal by Umberto Cavallaro
In a feature which first appeared in the April-June 2010 issue of Ad Astra the web journal of the Italian Astrophilatelic Association its editor reveals in considerable detail the full story of those covers which today sell for so much money The Apollo 15 flown covers are among the best known
collectibles from the Apollo Era mainly because of what Jim Irwin recalls as ldquothe problem we brought
back from the Moonrdquo
The crew of Apollo 15 carried out one of the most complete scientific explorations of the Moon the first
lunar roving vehicle was operated on the Moon to
extend the range of exploration some 180 pounds of lunar surface samples were returned for analysis Yet
Fifteen is best remembered as the crew that carried envelopes to the moon and the whole mission is
remembered for the ldquogreat postal caperrdquo
Apollo 15 was not the first mission to carry covers
dozens were carried on each flight from Apollo 11 onwards and as Commander Dave Scott recalls in his
book the whole business had probably been building since Mercury through Gemini and into Apollo People
had a fascination with objects that had been carried in space and they became more and more popular and
valuable as the programme progressed Right from
the start of the Mercury programme each astronaut had been allowed to carry on board a certain number
of personal items
NASA was in the habit of authorizing astronauts to
carry certain personal items on manned flights known as Astronautsrsquo PPK (Personal Preference Kits) All such
items had to be listed and approved by Deke Slayton the Head of the Astronaut Office prior to launch and
were intended for private use or as personal gifts
after the flight and could not be employed for commercial
Fig 1 The official USPS cover postmarked on the Moon
purposes or personal gain Astronaut kits typically
included badges jewellery coins medals flags stamps postal covers currency printed materials and
similar easily packed lightweight mementoes As the flight became more significant the number and type of
items increased
Aside from personal mementoes each crew had
carried medallions whose number had grown steadily on each mission In his book The All-American Boys astronaut Walter Cunningham reveals that it was rumoured around the Astronaut Office that Apollo 14
carried on board a personal package weighing forty-
two pounds Before that flight the Franklin Mint had even advertised the proposed sale After the flight the
commercial deal was never completed and all went quiet nothing about it being published in the media
But some members of the US Congress were unhappy
of the situation
In that context the ldquolapses of judgmentrdquo of the Apollo 15 crew became fatal Dave Scott went too far
carrying on board a total of 641 postal covers (including the two official covers) of which only 243
were listed and authorized before the flight and 398
were not -- secretly carried on board Apollo 15 by Scott in a pocket of his space suit Had they been
listed as being in Scotts PPK they would probably have been routinely approved for inclusion in the
preference kit
The 243 listed and authorized covers include
bull 2 official US Postal Service covers one of which the ldquoOfficial Coverrdquo was publicly cancelled on the
moon by Scott at the request of the US Postal
Service 10 (Fig 1) bull 1 Wright Brothers commemorative cover dated
1928 and autographed by Orville Wright which was carried by Worden for a friend
bull 1 cover bearing a First Man on the Moon stamp and a Bliss Centennial three-cent stamp carried by
Irwin for Barbara Baker (Fig 2 below)
26
ORBIT
8 Shamrock covers carried by Irwin (as below)
144 Herrickrsquos ldquoMoon Phasesrdquo covers carried by Worden
(Fig 4) printed with a cachet showing 15 phases of the moon On the USS Okinawa the Apollo 15 recovery ship
the astronauts placed two eight-cent stamps purchased
on board by Worden on each of these covers and they had the covers cancelled by the shipboard post office
The astronauts later autographed these covers while flying back from Hawaii to Houston Sixteen covers were
torn or damaged and were destroyed Because of the furore created by the Apollo 15 covers incident NASA
confiscated 61 of these 144 Moon Phases covers
87 Apollo 12 covers (Fig 5) that for unknown reason
did not fly on that mission and which were carried on
Apollo 15 for Mrs Barbara Gordon a stamp collector then wife of Richard Gordon Apollo 12 astronaut who
at was the back-up pilot for Apollo 15
The 398 unauthorized covers (initially there were
400 but 2 were damaged and discarded) are lightweight envelopes carrying as a cachet a replica
of the official Apollo 15 patch overprinted with an Air Force wing and propeller emblem
The idea of these additional covers was suggested during a cocktail party by Eiermann a salesman for
the heat-shield contractor who had frequent business and social contacts with NASA personnel and
astronauts He suggested to fly 400 lightweight covers 100 for each of the astronauts and 100 for
his friend Sieger the German stamp dealer The
cacheted covers were provided by Al Bishop a friend of many astronauts then at the Howard
Hughes organization He had already provided covers for the previous flights since Apollo 12
Above one of the 100 Sieger covers with the handwritten note ldquoLanded at Hadley Moon July 30 1971 On the
reverse is a typed and notarised inscription ldquoThis is to certify that this cover was on board the Falcon at the Hadley-
Apennine Moon July 30 ndashAug 2 1971rdquo
Below one of the 298 unauthorised covers carried to the Moon by David Scott with the inscription ldquoThis envelope was
carried to the Moon aboard the Apollo 15 of 300 to the Lunar Surface in LMrdquoFalconrdquo
The crews usually returned to Bishop a couple of
flown covers signed with gratitude ldquoTo my
knowledge ndash Cunningham reports in his well documented book ndash Bishop never sold any and never
made a dime off his relationship He was simply a fan To Al Bishop Apollo 15 was no different from any
other flight except for a phone call he received from
Hal Collins the Astronaut Office manager at the Cape
27
ORBIT
Collins told Bishop that the crew would like to know
whether he could obtain some very lightweight envelopes for them Al said that hed be happy to do so
He was unaware then that many of them would be smuggled on board the next lunar flight Al was trusted
Thats why many of us imposed on him with our
problems special requests and sometimes matters which we would rather not share with NASArdquo
This time Al was badly used he emerged as a
scapegoat and his name was dragged as though he was the Mr Big of an international stamp conspiracy
The covers were cancelled at Kennedy Space Center
several days before July 26 1971 The date of the post office machine canceller was moved forward
Additionally twin eight-cent stamps were purchased by the astronauts on the USS Okinawa the Apollo 15
recovery ship and affixed to these covers ndash as for the
Herrickrsquos covers In the shipboard post office the covers were then cancelled and date-stamped August 7 1971
The astronauts finally autographed these covers while flying from Hawaii to Houston
Soon after the flight the astronauts gave Eiermann
the 100 covers ndash after agreeing that there was to be
no commercialization or advertising of these covers and that nothing would be done with them until after
completion of the Apollo programme
But after a while news started to circulate that the
German dealer was selling in Europe covers flown on Apollo 15 for a reported average of US $1500 each
The reports infuriated Congress not least because congressmen had to read such controversial
information in the press before being informed by
NASA which is obligated to keep Congress fully informed of its activity Recollection of the Apollo 14
medallions incident must have echoed in the minds of certain members of Congress many of whom were
not fans of NASA anyway NASA started an internal investigation This was the most controversial
development of the Apollo Programme and although
most astronauts were involved to some degree NASA made an example of the Apollo 15 flight crew ldquoIt
was turning into a witch-huntrdquo recalled Scott ldquoOur bosses had abrogated their responsibilities and we
were left alone on a very wet dayrdquo
It is ironic that after addressing a joint session of
Congress as heroes in less that one year the three astronauts of Apollo 15 had to go back in front of these
same senators in disgrace because of this envelope scandal
After this ldquoincidentrdquo NASA prohibited from Apollo 17 on the flying of covers or stamps during a space
missions (they were not on time to block the covers carried on Apollo 16) The only exceptions have been
since then the items flown in cooperation with the US
Postal Service ie the 266000 covers carried in 1983 in
the payload bay of the Space Shuttle Challenger on
STS-8 and the 500000 $995 Express Mail stamp created by Paul and Chris Calle in 1994 flown on
Endeavour STS-68 in recognition of the 25th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing The huge
number of such items carried in space discourages
speculations and these items still are widely available for few dollars
So far fewer than 1000 envelopes in total have flown
to the Moon No other American covers will flow to the Moon in the foreseeable future Perhaps the next
ldquoMoon coversrdquo will bear Chinese or Indian stamps
Dave Scott was the first lunar Postmaster and had two
postmarks with him and two covers with imperforated dieproof of the US twin Decade of Space Achievements
stamps affixed (Fig 1)
He had one postmark with ldquoMoon Landing USArdquo (Fig 8 below) and another with ldquoUnited States on the
Moonrdquo (Fig 9 bottom)
The First Lunar Post Office was opened on August 2 1971 when David Scott postmarked only the official
cover (and brought back the official backup-cover uncancelled) A handful covers had however been
postmarked before launch with both postmarks Dr Matthew Radnofsky ndash who in his laboratory already
had simulated cancelling in space for Apollo 11 ndash
tested both postmarks to ensure that the cancellation devices were in working order
Especially the date could be changed easily Contrary
to Apollo 11 covers without stamps were used for
28
ORBIT
these tests Apollo 15 Lunar Cancellation Proofs are
much scarcer than Apollo 11 ones ldquoAs by now I am aware of only 17 itemsrdquo states famous astrophilatelist
Walter Hopferwieser Covers with proofs of the Apollo 15 moon postmarks have been recently sold at Regency
Superior and Aurora auctions
The official Apollo 15 cover postmarked on the Moon
(see Fig 1 repeated above ) is displayed at the US National Postal Museum It was publicly cancelled and
the video can be seen at httpwwwpostalmuseumsiedustampstakeflight
apollo15video-01html A short speech was given by
Dave Scott while cancelling the cover ldquoTo show that our good Postal Service has deliveries any place in the
universe I have the pleasant task of cancelling here on the Moon the first stamp of a new issue dedicated to
commemorate US achievements in space I have the
first one here on an envelope At the bottom it says United States in Space a decade of achievement and
Im very proud to have the opportunity here to play postman I pull out a cancellation device It says
August 2 1971 first day of issuehellip What could be a
better place to cancel this stamp than right here at Hadley Rillehelliprdquo
Immediately thereafter the Postmaster General who
was waiting at the Mission Control at Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston Texas gave the signal to start the
First- Day cancellations at post offices in Houston
Kennedy Space Center and Huntsville
Acknowledgement Thanks to Walter Hopferwieser for his comments
Some Notes About Space Mail
Commenting on Brian Vincentrsquos article in the June
2010 Orbit ASSS member Geoff Chivers writes in an
email to your Editorhellip Im sure you wont mind me commenting on Brian G Vincents Some Notes About Space Mail (page 36)
In paragraph 2 he refers to the Apollo 15 cover incident leaving the impression that Scott Worden and Irwin were guilty of some heinous crime This has been the subject of much miss-reporting over the years The full story of what actually happened is explained in depth at page 328 et seq of Two sides of the moon by David Scott and Alexei Leonov published by Simon amp Shuster The astronauts were of course exonerated
This is the quote (slightly edited to enable it to stand as an independent piece)-
During 1972 while on a trip to Washington DC George Low NASA deputy administrator asked me to stop by his
office writes David Scott I had known George in Houston while he was Apollo spacecraft programme manager and I had great respect for him We spent a short while exchanging pleasantries Then George looked me in the eye and came to the point ldquoWell Daverdquo he said ldquoI have to tell you I was not very proud of my performancerdquo His comment was the culmination of what had become known as the Apollo 15 ldquocover incidentrdquo This involved some first day postal covers which we had carried aboard Apollo 15 some of which were unfortunately sold by a German stamp dealer several months after the flight As No 2 in NASA George
had been heavily involved in NASAs handling of the incident and his comment referred to one of the poorest management performances the space agency had ever demonstrated - up to then The whole business had probably been building since Mercury through Gemini and into Apollo People had a fascination with objects that had been carried in space and they became more and more popular and valuable as the programme progressed Right from the start of the Mercury programme each astronaut had been allowed to carry on board a certain number of personal items in what were known as PPKS - Personal Preference Kits Before each flight a list of the items was prepared for Deke Slayton who
Two Sides of The Moon
by David Scott and Alexei Leonov
The text opposite from the
above book has been
referred to by Umberto Cavallaro in preparing his
above piece
29
ORBIT
had overall responsibility for approving them As the flights became more significant the number and type of items increased Aside from personal mementoes each crew had carried a certain number of medallions which they could hand out afterwards as souvenirs The number of medallions had grown steadily on each mission - eventually some crew members had been carrying several hundred each and their weight was becoming a concern And as always commercialisation began to creep in In the end on Apollo 14 commanded by Al Shepard it was alleged that the crew had carried some silver medallions on board which were to be melted down after the flight and mixed with many other commemorative medallions by the Franklin Mint to be sold to the general public The Franklin Mint had even advertised the proposed sale before the flight After the flight the deal was never consummated and all went quiet nothing about it was printed in the media But some members of Congress had heard about it and were unhappy with the situation Since we were busy training for Apollo 15 (launched 26 July 1971) we knew nothing about all this Had we known we would have been far more wary of what happened subsequently All we knew was that Deke Slayton had halved the number of medallions we could carry Shortly afterwards Deke introduced Jim (Irwin) Al (Worden) and me to a long-standing friend of his at the Cape called Walter Eiermann In retrospect this seems likely to have been more than a coincidence Deke invited us to join him at dinner at Eiermanns house one evening several months before the Apollo 15 launch Eiermann asked if we would like to make some money on the side by signing some stamps ldquoAll the guys are doing itrdquo he said We agreed We were also approached by several members of the Manned Spacecraft Centerrsquos stamp club who asked us to sign many first - day covers before the flight for their members as well as for ourselves At that time we could not buy life insurance If we signed some covers we reasoned they could be held during the flight and act as limited life insurance for our families if anything happened to us But then Eiermann proposed we carry four hundred lightweight commemorative covers a hundred of which would be passed on to a stamp dealer in Germany when we returned All the covers would be franked on the day of launch and franked on the day of our return Our understanding was that the dealer would hold his hundred covers to be sold at some future date after the Apollo programme was over In return he would set up a $6000 trust fund for each of us for the education of our children In the months of intense activity before the flight we did not give this more than a moment of thought But we agreed In retrospect we made a mistake in even considering it In the months following our mission we learnt that the German dealer had begun to sell the covers We let Eiermann know that we were opposed to the sale Forget the trust funds we said we dont want any money This is not what we had understood would happen But when senior managers at NASA learnt about the covers being sold they were furious Incomplete information was then provided to the press by NASArsquos Public Affairs Office and reports started to appear that we had smuggled the covers onto our flight This was literally impossible NASA personnel prepared us for every aspect of the flight - from our birthday suits out Everything we had carried had to be specially packaged by the flight support crew to make sure apart from anything else
that it was fireproof Everything in our PPKs was on a list which was certified before launch I was never aware of any rules about what could or could not be taken in these packs Slayton was to approve the list so as far as I was concerned it was up to management to keep us on the straight and narrow I assumed if the list was approved that was fine Usually the list was certified by Deke But before our flight for some reason he neither asked us personally for each of our lists as was customary nor signed off on the list personally He said the flight - crew support team had already logged everything Whereas we had purchased the covers ourselves the Astronaut Office at the Cape had prepared the covers for the flight and had had them stamped and franked on the day of launch Somehow however the support team had missed them when they prepared the PPK flight manifest It was also reported after the incident that we had been removed from the astronaut corps Again totally untrue Unfortunately NASA managers did nothing to dispel this false and misleading information They just tucked their heads in and let the rumours run The reports infuriated Congress not least because congressmen had to read such controversial information in the press before being informed by NASA which is obligated to keep Congress fully informed of its activities Recollections of the Apollo 14 medallion incident must have seeped into the minds of certain members of Congress many of whom were not fans of NASA anyway When NASA started an internal investigation we were told by a senior official in the agency that we were on our own We were advised to get our own legal representation A Senate hearing into the matter had been called and a justice Department investigation would follow It was turning into a witch - hunt NASA we were advised expected us to keep quiet and take the Fifth Amendment at this hearing We did not We told it like it was We had nothing to hide Eventually the Justice Department concluded that we had broken some administrative rules but had done nothing criminal NASA confiscated the remaining covers but they acted before discovering all the facts of the case Following an investigation by NASA the Justice Department and the Senate the Justice Department concluded on 6 December 1978 in a ldquoMemorandum Opinion for the Assistant Attorney Generalrdquo that NASA had no claim to the remaining covers that the covers were never intended for sale that there was no attempt at concealment by the crew of the fact that the covers were to be flown on Apollo 15 and finally that the covers would have been approved to carry aboard Apollo 15 had a request been made We were reprimanded and we took our licks But it was a very raw deal NASA had hung us out to dry Our bosses had abrogated their responsibilities and we were left alone on a very wet day I spent many years trying to get full access to NASA and congressional records on the case NASA refused to provide full disclosure We subsequently found out there had been rumblings about profitmdashmaking on previous missions A copy of a letter was released to me in which NASA admitted that ten other astronauts who were not identified had been involved in selling signed blocks of stamps and postcards for Eiermann But the wave reached the shore on Apollo 15 and we were the ones who bore the brunt of the blame for such incidents
30
ORBIT
Buckingham Cover offer Free Souvenirs for You
Brian Austin of Buckinghamrsquos Rare Cover Department writes to your Editorhellip
Over the last two or three years we have been dealing more and more in signed space covers This led us to earlier this year buying an Apollo 11 crew signed cover which had been carried to the moon which we had on display on our stand at London 2010
For this we also printed a limited edition of 800 sets of postcards one featuring the Apollo 11 cover and another
featuring an Apollo 15 cover The idea was to give away 100 sets per day to customers at the show but now the show is all finished I still have around 150 pairs left on my desk
We wondered if you would like to offer them to your readers we are happy to send them out free of charge to the first 150 readers to contact us with their details as long as we can also include one of our lists of space
covers
BrianAustinbuckinghamcoverscom
31
ORBIT
More About Missile Mail
Harvey Duncan told us in the last Orbit (page 15) about the First Official Missile Mail writes Bert van Eijck After the useful technical details about the USS Barbero he gave us I can offer you more philatelic information and show you some illustrations The missile mail experiment was a joint venture between
the Ministry of Defense and the US Post Office Dept headed by Postmaster General Mr Arthur E
Summerfield Three thousand special envelopes were printed with a reproduction of a Navy missile type
Regulus with the text ldquoFirst Official Missile Mailrdquo and above that ldquoThe Postmaster General Washingtonrdquo All
the envelopes were addressed to The President high
government officials like senators and to the Post Masters General of ninety nine other member nations of
UPU Inside was a letter from Mr Summerfield entitled ldquoThe First Official Missile Mailrdquo with the official seal of
the Post Office dept It was explained therein what had
happed to that letter and the other 2999
The special letters were loaded in two metal compartments and came aboard the guided missile USS Barbero (SSG-317) The shot was to occur during a regular training mission from Norfolk Virginia to Florida
About 350 kilometres off the coast of Florida the
Regulus missile was launched toward Airport Mayport
The missile climbed 10 km above the Atlantic and
landed within twenty minutes with all the letters intact The letters were cancelled with the hand stamp ldquoUSS
Barberordquo with the date ldquoJun 8 1959rdquo and the approximate timing of the launching ldquo930 amrdquo This
was done by post office staff part of an established
branch office on the USS Barbero The letters bore the 1957 4c American flag postage stamp Those
addressed to foreign countries carried two such stamps covering surface mail postage costs On the
reverse side is the Jacksonville Post Office cancellation with the approximate time of arrival ldquoJune 8 1030 am
1959 Floridardquo
Such flown letters are expensive to buy and a jewel in
any exhibit
But this is NOT the case with the Barbero souvenir
cover dated a month later on July 8 1959 issued in the same quantity (3000) as the originals The
inscription reads ldquoPoint of LandingmdashFirst Official Missile Mail 8 June 1959 US Naval Station Mayport Floridardquo
About 16000 () collectors had applied for such a cover
The imprint of the official Barbero cover was reproduced on a memorial cover issued and posted at
the Vienna International Airpost Exhibition Luposta on August 1959 in the Austrian capital Of course neither
of these items had been carried within the Regulus
missile
Also of interest the Postal Administration of
Paraguay issued a stamp
and a block in 1976 honouring the Barbero
Missile Mail The Gs 20 stamp shows a Regulus
missile in flight while the sheet shows the whole
addressed cover and in
miniature the complete letter inside from the US Postmaster General
as mentioned above and as illustrated below
Above a specimen envelope as described in the text and below its reverse cancel
32
ORBIT
An Invitation to Our Readers to Donate to an Innovative International Projecthellip
Kindest Sir or Madam
The municipality of Vitanje
(Slovenia) is honoured to have had a hand in the life of the
famous space architect Herman Potocnik Noordung
(1892-1929) (pictured right) who had already found a
surprising number of solutions
to space travel and troubles of living in vacuum long before
actual space flights took place His creations were used by the
renowned novelist Arthur C Clarke
in his book 2001 A Space Odyssey which was later also turned into a
movie directed by Stanley Kubrick In Noordungs honour we have
created the Memorial Centre of Herman Potocnik Noordung This
year the cultural centre of European
space technology will also get going in Vitanje This will be a place
where the European space heritage will be gathered and various events connected with the
contemporary European space technologies will be
organized
Proposed Philatelic Collection We would like to bring the project onto a higher level
where we would have the collaboration of various
countries in the world including such with a history in space travel (like USA Russia) One of the steps of this
expansion process would also include a philatelic collection of stamps with themes of outer space
(astronomy astronautics and everything connected to
outer space) We already have quite a decent collection but we would like to expand on that
Our goal is to have 6000 stamps before opening our
exhibition For this we would require the help of as many philatelists as possible
All of these philatelists would become co-creators and partners of this collection for which we hope will
become the largest collection of its kind in the world The people donating the stamps would get a great deal
of exposure at all these exhibitions and on the special
website which will be started shortly If you give us enough support and we are able to raise enough
stamps for a first-class collection we hope the first
exhibitions and various special events (like visits from
astronauts ndash philatelists) will see the light of day as early as in 2011
From a professional point of view we have an
excellent team working with us Long-time philatelist
Tone Petek is the person who initiated this project while Bojan Bracic the secretary of FEPA is one of our
counsellors and is completely behind this project
If you would be interested in such cooperation I will get the wheels in motion and send you a verifying
mail with the stamp of the municipality of Vitanje and
also of some higher organization within the Slovene political system
The collection is already underway with the help of the
Slovene Philatelic organisation (FZS) adds Rok in an email to your Editor in July This organisation has been of immense help with technical expertise and
connections It looks as if there might be an introductory exhibition next year sometime
In the hope of a successful partnership we offer our
sincere appreciation
Rok Podgrajsek
Obcina Vitanje Grajski trg 1
3205 Vitanje
Slovenia
Email address rokpodgrajsekgmailcom
But see also website httpwwwvitanjesi
(Editorrsquos Note both Wendy Buckle editor of
Themescene and our Chairman Margaret Morris commend this project to you We will be sending Rok
some recent copies of Orbit for the displays)
Some illustrations from Noordungrsquos only published text ldquoThe Problem of
Space Travel The Rocket Motorrdquo (the original German title
was ldquoDas Problem der Befahrung
des Weltraums - der Raketen-Motorrdquo) which saw the light of day
in 1928
Vitanje Local Private Post stamp
33
ORBIT
Zazzle Space Stamps Dazzle
I have noticed Zazzle Space Stamps appearing in Lollini brochures and on their web pages in recent months writes your Editor so I undertook to find out some facts about them and am grateful to The Astrophile Editor Jim Roth and the man who inspired him to create his own Zazzle designs Otto Bergman for the following infohellip Zazzle is one of half a dozen or more US companies
who facilitate the printing of non-copyrighted photos and artwork on private postage stamps which count
as postage within and outwith the USA You can
design your own Zazzle stampsmdashsee their websitemdashwhich you then purchase for your own use 20 to a
page
They are therefore a bit like British Smilers except
that the personal element of the stamp is not on a se-tenant label but actually incorporated within the
stamp itself as you can see from the examples on this page
Jim Roth was annoyed that the Kennedy Space Center Post office would not cancel his Zazzle stamps as they
consider them to be ldquometersrdquo and although he has marked STS-122 he wonrsquot be creating any others
You can see (and buy) all Jim Rothrsquos Space Zazzles on
his website m57coverscommdashclick on ldquostampsrdquo
Three of Jim Rothrsquos designs
See others on his website
An Otto Bergman space creation on
Zazzlecomottobergman
These space Zazzles and others are
available from the Lollini website or brochures
STS 128 in May 2010 section
STS 129 in June 2010
WISE and Delta 2 launch in July 2010 STS 130 in August 2010
STS 128 stamps show astronauts Christer Fuglesang (far left) and left Frank De Winne ISS Commander Expedition 21 STS 129 issues depict mission
patch and the crew led by Charles Hobaugh
Delta 2 rocket launch from Cape Canaveral of WISE Deep InfraRed telescope
34
ORBIT
Concluded on page 39
More Spaceflight Books for Sale
35
ORBIT ORBIT
SPACE HABITATS (Part Two) by John Beenen Continuing his feature from our last issue John Beenen begins by posing the questionhellip Why Should we Seek to Live
in Space
Spacecom gives ten main reasons why we should enter space for a prolonged
period
1 To secure a future for humanity
2 To build a new frontier
3 To find new energy sources
4 To build an industrial settlement on
the Moon
5 Better quality images of the
Universe
6 The SETI effort
7 Mining
8 Learning the history of our
Universe
9 Environmental benefits
Meeting the challenge
Taking for granted that it is naturally fascinating to investigate how mankind
might be able to maintain its habitat outside earth there are several further reasons to investigate why
mankind should settle themselves outside earth in the far future And More reasons mean a overall better
argument
Primarily there is the question of overpopulation and
secondly a solution for the energy problem
Next we have to consider that climate circumstances
are not under control anymore and earth eventually becomes uninhabitable
Also when for various reasons we start to kill each
other for some groups of people it may be an attractive proposition to depart this Earth in quite a different
sense And that is perhaps the most common thought
through activities in space more money can be obtained
But there are disadvantageshellip
On the other hand a prolonged stay in space is not that safe The construction must be protected against
radiation and it can be hit by large and small debris which makes space a very unsafe place
Furthermore cosmic radiation produces
a radiation of 80 mSv (millisievert) - well over the allowed maximum of 50
mSv and very much over the amount which is considered as safe for man
which is 3 mSv
Next solar flares produce a sudden
increase of soft gamma and energy rich radiation so much that without the
protection of an atmosphere half of our population could die easily
It is interesting that even without shielding most of this radiation can be
absorbed in the projected spacecraftsrsquo structure and in the air Smaller
structures can be protected with a
shield of co-rotating rocks
The construction further must be protected against sunlight which by
lack of the air shield will fall in unshielded so sun blinds and radiators
are indispensable
And as a result of the artificial gravity
there are some tiny movement problems which we will face later
Finally the created ecosystem should be fully self-supporting and that is easier said than done as
experiments with Biosphere-2 have showed
Biosphere-2 Biosphere-2 was a project built between 1987 and 1991 providing in an area of about 2frac12 football fields
a closed biological system of different composition From 1991-1993 a crew of 8 persons stayed herein A
second crew of 7 persons bridged a period of March
until September 1994 During the first period it appeared difficult to keep the atmosphere constant in
particular the carbon dioxide values changed rapidlymdashthe reason why many of the carried insects perished
Further the oxygen level decreased slowly because pf a leak
Even during the first two-year phase large differences in opinion appeared and the yield was not large
enough to deliver the calories necessary Reserve stocks had to be broken into Finally the second
experiment had to be ended prematurely because of
mismanagement
However it seems that a well-functioning stable ecosystem should not be underestimated physically
not technically
Artists impressions above Interior Stanford Torus and below Interior
OrsquoNeill Cylinder
Solar flares Czechoslovakia 1965 WB 47
36
ORBIT
It further has to be speculated on that men would resist
a regulated weather programme instead of the customary ever changing circumstances on Earth
Also we must physically resist an eternal stay outside
Earth That is not always easy as some people will show
some kind of sea sickness for ever In any case rooms with a diameter of less than 100 meters and a speed of
revolution over three per minute are insufficient At specifications of over 500 m and at less than 1 revolution
per minute fewer problems have to be expected
How do we get raw materials (Fantasy Moon Mining Yemen
Mutawakelite 1969 1343)
And still there have to be enough raw materials to sustain the
colony but as a principle the
search for raw materials is not the most difficult
From the asteroid belt enough small rocks can be
transported as a building material Also mines can be put
on the Moon Bercause of the lower gravity there transport is easier and some kind of firing mechanism
has been calculated which launch packets of ore simply into space where they can be manipulated
Air can be produced from moonstone Nitrogen nearly without loss can be recycled and eventually added to
ammonia mined from comets Large gardens and fields should start the normal photosynthesis and doing so
finally a complete sustainable society might be built up Energy from the Sun is present in superfluous quantities
What to do about gravity Most designs for a Space station start with a gravity of
1G Some designers however think that a lower level of gravity is possible But in the meantime experiments
with astronauts have showed that our physiology
changes rapidly influenced by decreased or absence of gravity Thus the calcium potassium and sodium
contents of our bone system decrease by about 10 That is not bad were we to stay in space forever but
very troublesome when occasionally we would return to
Earth
Also the quality of our muscles decreases as the blood volume does Providing effects comparable to aging
Further by lack of gravity astronauts become a little
taller with accompanying pain in the back Hence the staying with 1G gravity is not so bad
That has to be maintained by rotation of the
construction The larger the diameter of the construction is the slower it will turn to provide 1 G That is a result
of the centrifugal or centripetal force Its
magnitude has long been established thanks to the work of Dutchman Christiaan Huygens and fixed in
the formula
m v2
F = r where
F = the external force in N(ewton) m = mass in kg
v = speed in msec r = radius in m
Hence a spacecraft with a diameter of 15 meters has to carry out one revolution every 8 seconds to
produce a sensation of 1G And that is too quick for man The effect of the centrifugal force is that should
an astronaut drop an object it does not fall straight
down but partly away from himher Weird
Coriolis force But in a rotating Space station another force is at
work That is the lsquoCoriolis forcersquo named after the
French Gustave-Gaspard Coriolis (1792-1843) who described this kind of force for the first time
The most common manifestation is the second law of
Buys Ballot which says that air streams in the
atmosphere which according the first law of Boys Ballot as a principle run from high to low pressure at
the northern hemisphere are bent to the right and at the southern hemisphere to the left because of the
rotation of the Earth
Therefore air streams around depressions show a
spiral shape in opposite directions at the northern and southern hemisphere In a space station this
force can especially noticed when moving around through the spokes of the wheel
(Diagram of Coriolis F o r c e h t t p
wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm)
A s s u m e t h a t a n
astronaut on a ladder
climbs through a spoke to the axis As he climbs
along he circles around more slowly as he
describes a smaller circle
in the same time What happens with the difference in speed that he had before He will be pressed
against the ladder and that is the Coriolis force The force also acts in opposite direction when he
descends from the ladder
Also the throwing up and catching of a ball will
become a huge achievement as the ball does not
37
ORBIT
drop perpendicularly but will shift a little into the
direction of the orbit of the station and also achieves a higher speed
This also has strange effects on the astronaut As moves
quickly in the rotation direction of the station his weight
appears to increase to a noteworthy extent Then as he moves against the speed of rotation his weight
decreases apparently Mathematically this effect is explainable but very complex
Also the astronautrsquos head and feet move in different
speed to artificial gravity This is plainly noticeable when
somebody jumps up Hence avoid this practice
With these kind of effects adaptation to the changed circumstances in a space station will ask a lot of the
crew members I do hope they can stand it But in any
case the larger the space ship the lesser the problems
Inflatable stations
But therersquos more The inflatable station was considered
many years ago The first i d e a w a s p o s s i b l y
developed when on 12th August 1960 the Echo
balloon with a diameter of
30 meters was launched (Echo I balloon USA 1960
WB 3)
It is true you could not live in it as the balloon was of too frail a construction but the idea of an inflatable
spacecraft was then alive By 1958 groups within NASA
had begun to think about inflatable stations The Goett-committee has been one of the first On 25th26th May
1959 a conference started about projects after
Mercury In particular the
representative of Langley L a r r y Lo f t i n wa s
enthusiastic about his AMIS (Advanced Man in
Space) project (Hexagonal structure
Manama 1970 WB 113)
One of his first projects was a rotating hexagonal
inflatable construction with a diameter of 25 meters a cylindrical core and three lsquospokesrsquo Acting as a ferry to
and from the station the lsquoDyna Soarrsquo Space plane could
be used The Dyna Soar project (at that time still
under development) was cancelled by the American
Minister of Defense Robert
McNamara Inflatable Habitat NASA
1961 enwikipediaorg)
A Langley Space Station
team managed by Paul Hill and Emanuel lsquoMannyrsquo
Schnitzer developed the concept together with the
G o o d y e a r A i r c r a f t
Corporation
(Langleyrsquos self-inflating rotating hexagonal structure httphistorynasagov
SP-4308) Its original diameter had already been reduced to 10
meters
In the years after Langley built several experimental
modules called lsquoErectable Torus Manned Space Laboratoryrsquo a 11 model built by firms such as
Goodyear The torus was built from three layers of
nylon tissue and in between a rubber-like plastic material butyl elastomer A large problem was the
penetration by micrometeorites which as was learnt from the results of the Echo balloon finally damaged
the whole structure
Another problem was the great instability of the ring
due to movements of the astronauts the station started to wobble when they moved around Finally
the project was cancelled and at the end of the eighties the Langley Research Center started to
design inflatable constructions for a base camp on the
Moon
( A r t i s t imp r e s s i on Transhab inflatable
m o d u l e h t t p
enwikipediaorg)
Due to the development of a new series of
s t r o n g e r p l a s t i c materials such as Kevlar
these construct ions
received new interest That lead to the development of Transhab (Transit Habitat) as a resource for crews
coupled at the ISS (international Space Station) The construction is a cylinder in a diameter of 82 meters
and several storeys high
Its volume in inflatable state is 340 m3 The wall has a
thickness of 30 () cm and consists of 12 layers of which the outside layer is made from Kevlar The
layers beneath are made from Nextel a ceramic fibre Disagreements during development and the spiralling
costs finally in 2000 saw the end of NASArsquos interest
G e n e s i s 1
thespacereviewcom)
From 1999 the project was
taken up by Bigelow
38
ORBIT
Aerospace who improved the design and tested it with
successful launchings of Genesis I on 12 July 2006 and Genesis II on 28 June 2007
In their design it has once again more or less the shape
of a balloon With a thickness of 40 cm the wall is still
very thick The outside layer is still Kevlar but inside are some layers of Vectran a textile fibre Within the
structure ants and scorpions were launched along with some objects which people who paid for the privilege of
boosting into space
In this way Bigelow hopes to build a Space Hotel named
Nautilus To stimulate the development Bigelow offered a price of $50 million to everybody who succeeded in
launching a crew of 5 persons to an altitude of 400 km before 2010 So little money lost here so far
A second project which can be realized within the near future is a fixed residence on the Moon As said Langley
occupies itself with the design of such a base which partly should be build below the surface Stamp
designers have already realized the idea
What does the future hold Although we are a long way away from the kind of space station by which a large amount of earth inhabitants can
leave the planet Earth forever the first steps for doing
so are in preparation With the development of their Space Hotel Bigelow tries to make the step to space
albeit a temporary one
Also Langley literally tries to set foot on the Moon and
finally they will succeed in doing so However The cost of such projects are literally astronomical and it is not
expected that in the coming decades much money can be allocated to such projects
Of course in some thousands of years (possibly only in
hundreds of years) this will become the case but for the
time being in my opinion the true conquest of space will stay as science-fiction for at least a few hundred years
Hoorn 2009
John Beenen
NB The stamps entitled lsquoSpace Cityrsquo with a value of 0 cnt do not exist but have been made by the author by means of frames and pictures present at the Internet
Fantasy Moon
b a s e M a n a -ma1970 WB 122
Fantasy bases
ready for Mars
YAR 1971 WB 2892 and 6
Fantasy Modular
base YAR 169 WB 233
39
ORBIT
Cover Below bottom right Future space Dutch Antilles 2000
Literature references (for both parts of article) httpenwikipediaorg Space habitat Space Colonization Orbital Colony Space City Space settlement Space stations L5 Society Bernal Sphere Stanford Torus OrsquoNeil Cylinder Inflatable Space Habitat Transhab Biosphere 2 Generation Ship wwwdsenl~hklruimtehtm Wonen op groene eilanden in de Ruimte (Dutch Living on green Islands in Space) Henry Kluytmans wwworionsarmcom McKendree Cylinder Bishops Ring wwwnasnasagovAboutEducationSpaceSettlement The Colonization of Space wwwdyarstraightscommsgundamhabitatshtml Mobile Suit Gundam High Frontier Life in the Universal Century Developing sound habitats wwwartificial-gravitycomDissertation1_2htm From Tsiolkovsky to Sputnik (1878-1957) httpsciencenasagovheadlinesy2000ast26may_1mhtm Wheels in the Sky httpdiscaircraftgreyfalconus Hermann Noordung Wohnrad (Wheel for Habitation) httparticlesadsabsharvardedufull1992lbsaconf249R Inflatable habitation for the lunar base MRoberts httphistorynasagovSP-4308ch9htm lsquoAs inevitable as the Rising Sunrsquo From the inflatable Torus to the Rotating Hexagon wwwspacecomnewsbusinessmonday_040524html Bigelow Aerospace to tackle inflatable Space Habitats httpsciencehowstuffsworkcominflatable-spacecraft2htm How Inflatable Spacecraft Will Work wwwbogancaphysicscoriolishtml Rotating Space Stations Dynamics An Explanation of the Coriolis Force httpdemonstrationswolframcomRotatingSpaceStation Rotating Space Station wwwdvandomcomcoliolisspacestationhtml Frame Effects and Space Stations wwwdvandomcomcoriolisindexhtml A (hopefully) simple explanation of the Coriolis Force wwwdaviddarlinginfoencyclopedia Hale Edward Everett von Pirquet Guido Noordung Hermann Space Station wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm The Coriolis Force wwwastronautixcomcraftfamlunbaseshtm Lunar bases wwwastronautixcomgallerycspebasehtm Photo Gallery Space base wwwregererating-universeorgOn_Moon_as_Space_Basehtm On Moon as Space Base wwwspacefuturecomhabitatlivingshtml Space Habitat Introduction Living in Space wwwspacepagebevideotaak=bekijkampid=47 Living in space (Video) wwwnutricomspace The Case for Space colonization ndash Now Oscar Falconi wwwxentcompipermailfork (FoRK) Bigelowrsquos inflatable Genesis I satellite in orbit wwwrussianforcesorg Russian strategic nuclear forces (Genesis II) wwwbigelowaerospacecomgenesis Genesis I Genesis II
Thanks to Alan Tunnicliffe who came across the attached news item
complete with stamp in the eNZ Magazine the bi-monthly journal of
the Institution of Professional Engineers NZ Inc Vol 11 No 3 May-
June 2010
Vaccari Auction Sells Remarkable Space Covers April 2010
Apollo 12 cover 55 of 87 flown to the moon on Apollo 15 having been left behind by the original crew sold for euro12200 1977 Salyut
6 Soyuz 27 cover sold for euro1600
40
ORBIT ORBIT
Shuttle 1981mdash2010 Stamps Marshall
Islands 2005
United Nations 2007 Monaco and Ascension 2008
Bulgaria 1991 including stamp from souvenir sheet
USA 1981
below USA 1995 and bottom USA 1998
(two values)
St Vincent Grenadines 1983
Ascension 1989
Bulgaria 1990
and above right W Germany 1975
and USA 2000 Guyana 2006
USA 1995
41
ASSS Membership Renewal 2010
Memberrsquos Name amp Addresshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
I wish to renew my membership of the ASSS for a further year and enclose the equivalent of
pound15 (UK) euro30 (Europe) $US 45 (Rest of the World)
Please return this form with your remittance to Harvey Duncan by the
end of July Thank you
Harvey Duncan Treasurer ASSS 16 Begg Avenue
Falkirk Scotland FK1 2DL
PayPal For details of how to Pay via Paypal
please email Jeff Dugdale Email address on Page 2
42
43
44
23
ORBIT
The sculptures of the eight winds were depicted on stamps of Greece issued in 1942 (six designs) and 1943 (again six designs ndash four as the previous issue but including the two omitted winds) Five values were surcharged in 1944 to aid victims of the Piraeus bombing of 11 January 1944 the exceptionally high face value resulted in few of these stamps being used Later in 1944 the same five values were surcharged in aid of a Childrenrsquos Convalescent Camp Fund Finally in 1946 two values of the 1942 issue were surcharged ndash the 10dr value in black and the 50dr revalued as 20dr in red See opposite for examples of the stamp designs In addition to these attractive engraved stamps the 1973 issue from Dominica commemorating the centenary of the World Meteorological Organisation included a miniature sheet incorporating the 50c and $1 values and surrounded in the margin by images of all eight wind sculptures (see page 22) More recently the cover of a booklet issued by Greece on 7 October 1988 provides an aerial view of the agora and the Tower of the Winds can be detected (see below) The booklet contains 16 stamps (4 each of 4 different values) and celebrates capitals of Greek provinces In early Christian times the building was used as the bell tower of a Byzantine Church It was partly buried in the ground until fully excavated in the 19
th century by the
Archaeological Society of Athens It is interesting to note that the design of the upper octagon of the 18th century Radcliffe Observatory in Oxford England is based on the Tower of the Winds as is the mausoleum of the founder of the Greek National Library Panayis Vagliano at West Norwood Cemetery London There is a similar tower in Sevastopol built in 1849 References
1 ldquoEntiers Postaux Illustreacutes du service des postes
helleacuteniques et leurs preacutecurseursrdquo Georges Mathas 1985
2 For finely detailed drawings and information about the sculptures you may care to see if your Library has a copy of ldquoThe Antiquities of Athensrdquo Stuart amp Revett Vol 1 published in London 1762
3 Article by Derek J de Solla Price in ldquoNational
Geographic April 1967 pp587-596 4 Much useful information may also be obtained from
sites on the internet
Examples of Overprints from left to right
1944 Piraeus Bombing Aid 1944 Childrenrsquos convalescent camp fund 1946 Surcharge
Below Cover of the 1988 stamp booklet
Front and back of postal stationery postcard
24
ORBIT
Old Photo Makes New(s) Story
A photo taken twenty-one years ago became hot international new(s) this July writes Bert van Eijck
It is a picture of your correspondent in front of the
monument on the graves of the seven astronauts killed
in the Challenger disaster The photo from November 1989 shows the national cemetery at Arlington in
Washington DC And it is this graveyard a national American field of pride and honour that was involved in
a scandal making news all over the world
What happened This became a hot story after it was leaked to the press that in 211 graves on Arlington the wrong corpse had
been buried But this disgrace grew to international
proportions when the US Senate published a report which revealed that it was not 211 but 6600 graves that
had been so dishonoured And maybe there are more the researchers stated
Consequently it meant that family members had been paying their respect at the wrong graves because many
were not marked well or the ground-plan directed to wrong places
Arlingtonrsquos director John Metzler was fired as was his
depute Thurman Higginbotham both of whom said
they knew there were made mistakes but they could not help ldquobecause of economyrdquo
Arlington cemetery was opened in 1864 Since then
300000 Americans have been buried here including
famous or well-known persons like presidents
ministers high ranked military artists judges and
astronauts
And what about some of the most recent ones Did I indeed visit and honour the seven Challenger astronauts in their last resting place on Earth in
November 1989 as shown on the photo Or are they perhaps mistakenly buried in another
unmarked grave This is hard to believe but one never knowshelliphellip
For those who wonder what was doing 21
years ago in the US capital I visited the
World Stamp Exporsquo89 at the Convention Center in Washington DC Of course I did
more sightseeing at and in the famous Smithsonian Museums (a must the
National AirampSpace Museum with 10
million visitors a year) the Capitol the metro (deepest in the world) George
Washingtonrsquos house in Vernon Arlington of course and much more
At the World Stamp Expo there was a
presentation of both USA and USSR space
stamps The American stamps were presented by astronaut Buzz Aldrin the
Soviet stamps by cosmonaut Gherman Titov
Author and the Challenger astronauts monument at Arlington seven figures in bronze (left) At right a plaque honoring US-soldiers killed in action saving
hostages in Iran
Astronaut Buzz Aldrin (left) presents the US space stamps while cosmonaut Gherman Titov (right) does the same with
Soviet space stamps In the middle officials of USPS Below the
stampshellip
25
ORBIT
The Apollo 15 Cover Scandal by Umberto Cavallaro
In a feature which first appeared in the April-June 2010 issue of Ad Astra the web journal of the Italian Astrophilatelic Association its editor reveals in considerable detail the full story of those covers which today sell for so much money The Apollo 15 flown covers are among the best known
collectibles from the Apollo Era mainly because of what Jim Irwin recalls as ldquothe problem we brought
back from the Moonrdquo
The crew of Apollo 15 carried out one of the most complete scientific explorations of the Moon the first
lunar roving vehicle was operated on the Moon to
extend the range of exploration some 180 pounds of lunar surface samples were returned for analysis Yet
Fifteen is best remembered as the crew that carried envelopes to the moon and the whole mission is
remembered for the ldquogreat postal caperrdquo
Apollo 15 was not the first mission to carry covers
dozens were carried on each flight from Apollo 11 onwards and as Commander Dave Scott recalls in his
book the whole business had probably been building since Mercury through Gemini and into Apollo People
had a fascination with objects that had been carried in space and they became more and more popular and
valuable as the programme progressed Right from
the start of the Mercury programme each astronaut had been allowed to carry on board a certain number
of personal items
NASA was in the habit of authorizing astronauts to
carry certain personal items on manned flights known as Astronautsrsquo PPK (Personal Preference Kits) All such
items had to be listed and approved by Deke Slayton the Head of the Astronaut Office prior to launch and
were intended for private use or as personal gifts
after the flight and could not be employed for commercial
Fig 1 The official USPS cover postmarked on the Moon
purposes or personal gain Astronaut kits typically
included badges jewellery coins medals flags stamps postal covers currency printed materials and
similar easily packed lightweight mementoes As the flight became more significant the number and type of
items increased
Aside from personal mementoes each crew had
carried medallions whose number had grown steadily on each mission In his book The All-American Boys astronaut Walter Cunningham reveals that it was rumoured around the Astronaut Office that Apollo 14
carried on board a personal package weighing forty-
two pounds Before that flight the Franklin Mint had even advertised the proposed sale After the flight the
commercial deal was never completed and all went quiet nothing about it being published in the media
But some members of the US Congress were unhappy
of the situation
In that context the ldquolapses of judgmentrdquo of the Apollo 15 crew became fatal Dave Scott went too far
carrying on board a total of 641 postal covers (including the two official covers) of which only 243
were listed and authorized before the flight and 398
were not -- secretly carried on board Apollo 15 by Scott in a pocket of his space suit Had they been
listed as being in Scotts PPK they would probably have been routinely approved for inclusion in the
preference kit
The 243 listed and authorized covers include
bull 2 official US Postal Service covers one of which the ldquoOfficial Coverrdquo was publicly cancelled on the
moon by Scott at the request of the US Postal
Service 10 (Fig 1) bull 1 Wright Brothers commemorative cover dated
1928 and autographed by Orville Wright which was carried by Worden for a friend
bull 1 cover bearing a First Man on the Moon stamp and a Bliss Centennial three-cent stamp carried by
Irwin for Barbara Baker (Fig 2 below)
26
ORBIT
8 Shamrock covers carried by Irwin (as below)
144 Herrickrsquos ldquoMoon Phasesrdquo covers carried by Worden
(Fig 4) printed with a cachet showing 15 phases of the moon On the USS Okinawa the Apollo 15 recovery ship
the astronauts placed two eight-cent stamps purchased
on board by Worden on each of these covers and they had the covers cancelled by the shipboard post office
The astronauts later autographed these covers while flying back from Hawaii to Houston Sixteen covers were
torn or damaged and were destroyed Because of the furore created by the Apollo 15 covers incident NASA
confiscated 61 of these 144 Moon Phases covers
87 Apollo 12 covers (Fig 5) that for unknown reason
did not fly on that mission and which were carried on
Apollo 15 for Mrs Barbara Gordon a stamp collector then wife of Richard Gordon Apollo 12 astronaut who
at was the back-up pilot for Apollo 15
The 398 unauthorized covers (initially there were
400 but 2 were damaged and discarded) are lightweight envelopes carrying as a cachet a replica
of the official Apollo 15 patch overprinted with an Air Force wing and propeller emblem
The idea of these additional covers was suggested during a cocktail party by Eiermann a salesman for
the heat-shield contractor who had frequent business and social contacts with NASA personnel and
astronauts He suggested to fly 400 lightweight covers 100 for each of the astronauts and 100 for
his friend Sieger the German stamp dealer The
cacheted covers were provided by Al Bishop a friend of many astronauts then at the Howard
Hughes organization He had already provided covers for the previous flights since Apollo 12
Above one of the 100 Sieger covers with the handwritten note ldquoLanded at Hadley Moon July 30 1971 On the
reverse is a typed and notarised inscription ldquoThis is to certify that this cover was on board the Falcon at the Hadley-
Apennine Moon July 30 ndashAug 2 1971rdquo
Below one of the 298 unauthorised covers carried to the Moon by David Scott with the inscription ldquoThis envelope was
carried to the Moon aboard the Apollo 15 of 300 to the Lunar Surface in LMrdquoFalconrdquo
The crews usually returned to Bishop a couple of
flown covers signed with gratitude ldquoTo my
knowledge ndash Cunningham reports in his well documented book ndash Bishop never sold any and never
made a dime off his relationship He was simply a fan To Al Bishop Apollo 15 was no different from any
other flight except for a phone call he received from
Hal Collins the Astronaut Office manager at the Cape
27
ORBIT
Collins told Bishop that the crew would like to know
whether he could obtain some very lightweight envelopes for them Al said that hed be happy to do so
He was unaware then that many of them would be smuggled on board the next lunar flight Al was trusted
Thats why many of us imposed on him with our
problems special requests and sometimes matters which we would rather not share with NASArdquo
This time Al was badly used he emerged as a
scapegoat and his name was dragged as though he was the Mr Big of an international stamp conspiracy
The covers were cancelled at Kennedy Space Center
several days before July 26 1971 The date of the post office machine canceller was moved forward
Additionally twin eight-cent stamps were purchased by the astronauts on the USS Okinawa the Apollo 15
recovery ship and affixed to these covers ndash as for the
Herrickrsquos covers In the shipboard post office the covers were then cancelled and date-stamped August 7 1971
The astronauts finally autographed these covers while flying from Hawaii to Houston
Soon after the flight the astronauts gave Eiermann
the 100 covers ndash after agreeing that there was to be
no commercialization or advertising of these covers and that nothing would be done with them until after
completion of the Apollo programme
But after a while news started to circulate that the
German dealer was selling in Europe covers flown on Apollo 15 for a reported average of US $1500 each
The reports infuriated Congress not least because congressmen had to read such controversial
information in the press before being informed by
NASA which is obligated to keep Congress fully informed of its activity Recollection of the Apollo 14
medallions incident must have echoed in the minds of certain members of Congress many of whom were
not fans of NASA anyway NASA started an internal investigation This was the most controversial
development of the Apollo Programme and although
most astronauts were involved to some degree NASA made an example of the Apollo 15 flight crew ldquoIt
was turning into a witch-huntrdquo recalled Scott ldquoOur bosses had abrogated their responsibilities and we
were left alone on a very wet dayrdquo
It is ironic that after addressing a joint session of
Congress as heroes in less that one year the three astronauts of Apollo 15 had to go back in front of these
same senators in disgrace because of this envelope scandal
After this ldquoincidentrdquo NASA prohibited from Apollo 17 on the flying of covers or stamps during a space
missions (they were not on time to block the covers carried on Apollo 16) The only exceptions have been
since then the items flown in cooperation with the US
Postal Service ie the 266000 covers carried in 1983 in
the payload bay of the Space Shuttle Challenger on
STS-8 and the 500000 $995 Express Mail stamp created by Paul and Chris Calle in 1994 flown on
Endeavour STS-68 in recognition of the 25th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing The huge
number of such items carried in space discourages
speculations and these items still are widely available for few dollars
So far fewer than 1000 envelopes in total have flown
to the Moon No other American covers will flow to the Moon in the foreseeable future Perhaps the next
ldquoMoon coversrdquo will bear Chinese or Indian stamps
Dave Scott was the first lunar Postmaster and had two
postmarks with him and two covers with imperforated dieproof of the US twin Decade of Space Achievements
stamps affixed (Fig 1)
He had one postmark with ldquoMoon Landing USArdquo (Fig 8 below) and another with ldquoUnited States on the
Moonrdquo (Fig 9 bottom)
The First Lunar Post Office was opened on August 2 1971 when David Scott postmarked only the official
cover (and brought back the official backup-cover uncancelled) A handful covers had however been
postmarked before launch with both postmarks Dr Matthew Radnofsky ndash who in his laboratory already
had simulated cancelling in space for Apollo 11 ndash
tested both postmarks to ensure that the cancellation devices were in working order
Especially the date could be changed easily Contrary
to Apollo 11 covers without stamps were used for
28
ORBIT
these tests Apollo 15 Lunar Cancellation Proofs are
much scarcer than Apollo 11 ones ldquoAs by now I am aware of only 17 itemsrdquo states famous astrophilatelist
Walter Hopferwieser Covers with proofs of the Apollo 15 moon postmarks have been recently sold at Regency
Superior and Aurora auctions
The official Apollo 15 cover postmarked on the Moon
(see Fig 1 repeated above ) is displayed at the US National Postal Museum It was publicly cancelled and
the video can be seen at httpwwwpostalmuseumsiedustampstakeflight
apollo15video-01html A short speech was given by
Dave Scott while cancelling the cover ldquoTo show that our good Postal Service has deliveries any place in the
universe I have the pleasant task of cancelling here on the Moon the first stamp of a new issue dedicated to
commemorate US achievements in space I have the
first one here on an envelope At the bottom it says United States in Space a decade of achievement and
Im very proud to have the opportunity here to play postman I pull out a cancellation device It says
August 2 1971 first day of issuehellip What could be a
better place to cancel this stamp than right here at Hadley Rillehelliprdquo
Immediately thereafter the Postmaster General who
was waiting at the Mission Control at Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston Texas gave the signal to start the
First- Day cancellations at post offices in Houston
Kennedy Space Center and Huntsville
Acknowledgement Thanks to Walter Hopferwieser for his comments
Some Notes About Space Mail
Commenting on Brian Vincentrsquos article in the June
2010 Orbit ASSS member Geoff Chivers writes in an
email to your Editorhellip Im sure you wont mind me commenting on Brian G Vincents Some Notes About Space Mail (page 36)
In paragraph 2 he refers to the Apollo 15 cover incident leaving the impression that Scott Worden and Irwin were guilty of some heinous crime This has been the subject of much miss-reporting over the years The full story of what actually happened is explained in depth at page 328 et seq of Two sides of the moon by David Scott and Alexei Leonov published by Simon amp Shuster The astronauts were of course exonerated
This is the quote (slightly edited to enable it to stand as an independent piece)-
During 1972 while on a trip to Washington DC George Low NASA deputy administrator asked me to stop by his
office writes David Scott I had known George in Houston while he was Apollo spacecraft programme manager and I had great respect for him We spent a short while exchanging pleasantries Then George looked me in the eye and came to the point ldquoWell Daverdquo he said ldquoI have to tell you I was not very proud of my performancerdquo His comment was the culmination of what had become known as the Apollo 15 ldquocover incidentrdquo This involved some first day postal covers which we had carried aboard Apollo 15 some of which were unfortunately sold by a German stamp dealer several months after the flight As No 2 in NASA George
had been heavily involved in NASAs handling of the incident and his comment referred to one of the poorest management performances the space agency had ever demonstrated - up to then The whole business had probably been building since Mercury through Gemini and into Apollo People had a fascination with objects that had been carried in space and they became more and more popular and valuable as the programme progressed Right from the start of the Mercury programme each astronaut had been allowed to carry on board a certain number of personal items in what were known as PPKS - Personal Preference Kits Before each flight a list of the items was prepared for Deke Slayton who
Two Sides of The Moon
by David Scott and Alexei Leonov
The text opposite from the
above book has been
referred to by Umberto Cavallaro in preparing his
above piece
29
ORBIT
had overall responsibility for approving them As the flights became more significant the number and type of items increased Aside from personal mementoes each crew had carried a certain number of medallions which they could hand out afterwards as souvenirs The number of medallions had grown steadily on each mission - eventually some crew members had been carrying several hundred each and their weight was becoming a concern And as always commercialisation began to creep in In the end on Apollo 14 commanded by Al Shepard it was alleged that the crew had carried some silver medallions on board which were to be melted down after the flight and mixed with many other commemorative medallions by the Franklin Mint to be sold to the general public The Franklin Mint had even advertised the proposed sale before the flight After the flight the deal was never consummated and all went quiet nothing about it was printed in the media But some members of Congress had heard about it and were unhappy with the situation Since we were busy training for Apollo 15 (launched 26 July 1971) we knew nothing about all this Had we known we would have been far more wary of what happened subsequently All we knew was that Deke Slayton had halved the number of medallions we could carry Shortly afterwards Deke introduced Jim (Irwin) Al (Worden) and me to a long-standing friend of his at the Cape called Walter Eiermann In retrospect this seems likely to have been more than a coincidence Deke invited us to join him at dinner at Eiermanns house one evening several months before the Apollo 15 launch Eiermann asked if we would like to make some money on the side by signing some stamps ldquoAll the guys are doing itrdquo he said We agreed We were also approached by several members of the Manned Spacecraft Centerrsquos stamp club who asked us to sign many first - day covers before the flight for their members as well as for ourselves At that time we could not buy life insurance If we signed some covers we reasoned they could be held during the flight and act as limited life insurance for our families if anything happened to us But then Eiermann proposed we carry four hundred lightweight commemorative covers a hundred of which would be passed on to a stamp dealer in Germany when we returned All the covers would be franked on the day of launch and franked on the day of our return Our understanding was that the dealer would hold his hundred covers to be sold at some future date after the Apollo programme was over In return he would set up a $6000 trust fund for each of us for the education of our children In the months of intense activity before the flight we did not give this more than a moment of thought But we agreed In retrospect we made a mistake in even considering it In the months following our mission we learnt that the German dealer had begun to sell the covers We let Eiermann know that we were opposed to the sale Forget the trust funds we said we dont want any money This is not what we had understood would happen But when senior managers at NASA learnt about the covers being sold they were furious Incomplete information was then provided to the press by NASArsquos Public Affairs Office and reports started to appear that we had smuggled the covers onto our flight This was literally impossible NASA personnel prepared us for every aspect of the flight - from our birthday suits out Everything we had carried had to be specially packaged by the flight support crew to make sure apart from anything else
that it was fireproof Everything in our PPKs was on a list which was certified before launch I was never aware of any rules about what could or could not be taken in these packs Slayton was to approve the list so as far as I was concerned it was up to management to keep us on the straight and narrow I assumed if the list was approved that was fine Usually the list was certified by Deke But before our flight for some reason he neither asked us personally for each of our lists as was customary nor signed off on the list personally He said the flight - crew support team had already logged everything Whereas we had purchased the covers ourselves the Astronaut Office at the Cape had prepared the covers for the flight and had had them stamped and franked on the day of launch Somehow however the support team had missed them when they prepared the PPK flight manifest It was also reported after the incident that we had been removed from the astronaut corps Again totally untrue Unfortunately NASA managers did nothing to dispel this false and misleading information They just tucked their heads in and let the rumours run The reports infuriated Congress not least because congressmen had to read such controversial information in the press before being informed by NASA which is obligated to keep Congress fully informed of its activities Recollections of the Apollo 14 medallion incident must have seeped into the minds of certain members of Congress many of whom were not fans of NASA anyway When NASA started an internal investigation we were told by a senior official in the agency that we were on our own We were advised to get our own legal representation A Senate hearing into the matter had been called and a justice Department investigation would follow It was turning into a witch - hunt NASA we were advised expected us to keep quiet and take the Fifth Amendment at this hearing We did not We told it like it was We had nothing to hide Eventually the Justice Department concluded that we had broken some administrative rules but had done nothing criminal NASA confiscated the remaining covers but they acted before discovering all the facts of the case Following an investigation by NASA the Justice Department and the Senate the Justice Department concluded on 6 December 1978 in a ldquoMemorandum Opinion for the Assistant Attorney Generalrdquo that NASA had no claim to the remaining covers that the covers were never intended for sale that there was no attempt at concealment by the crew of the fact that the covers were to be flown on Apollo 15 and finally that the covers would have been approved to carry aboard Apollo 15 had a request been made We were reprimanded and we took our licks But it was a very raw deal NASA had hung us out to dry Our bosses had abrogated their responsibilities and we were left alone on a very wet day I spent many years trying to get full access to NASA and congressional records on the case NASA refused to provide full disclosure We subsequently found out there had been rumblings about profitmdashmaking on previous missions A copy of a letter was released to me in which NASA admitted that ten other astronauts who were not identified had been involved in selling signed blocks of stamps and postcards for Eiermann But the wave reached the shore on Apollo 15 and we were the ones who bore the brunt of the blame for such incidents
30
ORBIT
Buckingham Cover offer Free Souvenirs for You
Brian Austin of Buckinghamrsquos Rare Cover Department writes to your Editorhellip
Over the last two or three years we have been dealing more and more in signed space covers This led us to earlier this year buying an Apollo 11 crew signed cover which had been carried to the moon which we had on display on our stand at London 2010
For this we also printed a limited edition of 800 sets of postcards one featuring the Apollo 11 cover and another
featuring an Apollo 15 cover The idea was to give away 100 sets per day to customers at the show but now the show is all finished I still have around 150 pairs left on my desk
We wondered if you would like to offer them to your readers we are happy to send them out free of charge to the first 150 readers to contact us with their details as long as we can also include one of our lists of space
covers
BrianAustinbuckinghamcoverscom
31
ORBIT
More About Missile Mail
Harvey Duncan told us in the last Orbit (page 15) about the First Official Missile Mail writes Bert van Eijck After the useful technical details about the USS Barbero he gave us I can offer you more philatelic information and show you some illustrations The missile mail experiment was a joint venture between
the Ministry of Defense and the US Post Office Dept headed by Postmaster General Mr Arthur E
Summerfield Three thousand special envelopes were printed with a reproduction of a Navy missile type
Regulus with the text ldquoFirst Official Missile Mailrdquo and above that ldquoThe Postmaster General Washingtonrdquo All
the envelopes were addressed to The President high
government officials like senators and to the Post Masters General of ninety nine other member nations of
UPU Inside was a letter from Mr Summerfield entitled ldquoThe First Official Missile Mailrdquo with the official seal of
the Post Office dept It was explained therein what had
happed to that letter and the other 2999
The special letters were loaded in two metal compartments and came aboard the guided missile USS Barbero (SSG-317) The shot was to occur during a regular training mission from Norfolk Virginia to Florida
About 350 kilometres off the coast of Florida the
Regulus missile was launched toward Airport Mayport
The missile climbed 10 km above the Atlantic and
landed within twenty minutes with all the letters intact The letters were cancelled with the hand stamp ldquoUSS
Barberordquo with the date ldquoJun 8 1959rdquo and the approximate timing of the launching ldquo930 amrdquo This
was done by post office staff part of an established
branch office on the USS Barbero The letters bore the 1957 4c American flag postage stamp Those
addressed to foreign countries carried two such stamps covering surface mail postage costs On the
reverse side is the Jacksonville Post Office cancellation with the approximate time of arrival ldquoJune 8 1030 am
1959 Floridardquo
Such flown letters are expensive to buy and a jewel in
any exhibit
But this is NOT the case with the Barbero souvenir
cover dated a month later on July 8 1959 issued in the same quantity (3000) as the originals The
inscription reads ldquoPoint of LandingmdashFirst Official Missile Mail 8 June 1959 US Naval Station Mayport Floridardquo
About 16000 () collectors had applied for such a cover
The imprint of the official Barbero cover was reproduced on a memorial cover issued and posted at
the Vienna International Airpost Exhibition Luposta on August 1959 in the Austrian capital Of course neither
of these items had been carried within the Regulus
missile
Also of interest the Postal Administration of
Paraguay issued a stamp
and a block in 1976 honouring the Barbero
Missile Mail The Gs 20 stamp shows a Regulus
missile in flight while the sheet shows the whole
addressed cover and in
miniature the complete letter inside from the US Postmaster General
as mentioned above and as illustrated below
Above a specimen envelope as described in the text and below its reverse cancel
32
ORBIT
An Invitation to Our Readers to Donate to an Innovative International Projecthellip
Kindest Sir or Madam
The municipality of Vitanje
(Slovenia) is honoured to have had a hand in the life of the
famous space architect Herman Potocnik Noordung
(1892-1929) (pictured right) who had already found a
surprising number of solutions
to space travel and troubles of living in vacuum long before
actual space flights took place His creations were used by the
renowned novelist Arthur C Clarke
in his book 2001 A Space Odyssey which was later also turned into a
movie directed by Stanley Kubrick In Noordungs honour we have
created the Memorial Centre of Herman Potocnik Noordung This
year the cultural centre of European
space technology will also get going in Vitanje This will be a place
where the European space heritage will be gathered and various events connected with the
contemporary European space technologies will be
organized
Proposed Philatelic Collection We would like to bring the project onto a higher level
where we would have the collaboration of various
countries in the world including such with a history in space travel (like USA Russia) One of the steps of this
expansion process would also include a philatelic collection of stamps with themes of outer space
(astronomy astronautics and everything connected to
outer space) We already have quite a decent collection but we would like to expand on that
Our goal is to have 6000 stamps before opening our
exhibition For this we would require the help of as many philatelists as possible
All of these philatelists would become co-creators and partners of this collection for which we hope will
become the largest collection of its kind in the world The people donating the stamps would get a great deal
of exposure at all these exhibitions and on the special
website which will be started shortly If you give us enough support and we are able to raise enough
stamps for a first-class collection we hope the first
exhibitions and various special events (like visits from
astronauts ndash philatelists) will see the light of day as early as in 2011
From a professional point of view we have an
excellent team working with us Long-time philatelist
Tone Petek is the person who initiated this project while Bojan Bracic the secretary of FEPA is one of our
counsellors and is completely behind this project
If you would be interested in such cooperation I will get the wheels in motion and send you a verifying
mail with the stamp of the municipality of Vitanje and
also of some higher organization within the Slovene political system
The collection is already underway with the help of the
Slovene Philatelic organisation (FZS) adds Rok in an email to your Editor in July This organisation has been of immense help with technical expertise and
connections It looks as if there might be an introductory exhibition next year sometime
In the hope of a successful partnership we offer our
sincere appreciation
Rok Podgrajsek
Obcina Vitanje Grajski trg 1
3205 Vitanje
Slovenia
Email address rokpodgrajsekgmailcom
But see also website httpwwwvitanjesi
(Editorrsquos Note both Wendy Buckle editor of
Themescene and our Chairman Margaret Morris commend this project to you We will be sending Rok
some recent copies of Orbit for the displays)
Some illustrations from Noordungrsquos only published text ldquoThe Problem of
Space Travel The Rocket Motorrdquo (the original German title
was ldquoDas Problem der Befahrung
des Weltraums - der Raketen-Motorrdquo) which saw the light of day
in 1928
Vitanje Local Private Post stamp
33
ORBIT
Zazzle Space Stamps Dazzle
I have noticed Zazzle Space Stamps appearing in Lollini brochures and on their web pages in recent months writes your Editor so I undertook to find out some facts about them and am grateful to The Astrophile Editor Jim Roth and the man who inspired him to create his own Zazzle designs Otto Bergman for the following infohellip Zazzle is one of half a dozen or more US companies
who facilitate the printing of non-copyrighted photos and artwork on private postage stamps which count
as postage within and outwith the USA You can
design your own Zazzle stampsmdashsee their websitemdashwhich you then purchase for your own use 20 to a
page
They are therefore a bit like British Smilers except
that the personal element of the stamp is not on a se-tenant label but actually incorporated within the
stamp itself as you can see from the examples on this page
Jim Roth was annoyed that the Kennedy Space Center Post office would not cancel his Zazzle stamps as they
consider them to be ldquometersrdquo and although he has marked STS-122 he wonrsquot be creating any others
You can see (and buy) all Jim Rothrsquos Space Zazzles on
his website m57coverscommdashclick on ldquostampsrdquo
Three of Jim Rothrsquos designs
See others on his website
An Otto Bergman space creation on
Zazzlecomottobergman
These space Zazzles and others are
available from the Lollini website or brochures
STS 128 in May 2010 section
STS 129 in June 2010
WISE and Delta 2 launch in July 2010 STS 130 in August 2010
STS 128 stamps show astronauts Christer Fuglesang (far left) and left Frank De Winne ISS Commander Expedition 21 STS 129 issues depict mission
patch and the crew led by Charles Hobaugh
Delta 2 rocket launch from Cape Canaveral of WISE Deep InfraRed telescope
34
ORBIT
Concluded on page 39
More Spaceflight Books for Sale
35
ORBIT ORBIT
SPACE HABITATS (Part Two) by John Beenen Continuing his feature from our last issue John Beenen begins by posing the questionhellip Why Should we Seek to Live
in Space
Spacecom gives ten main reasons why we should enter space for a prolonged
period
1 To secure a future for humanity
2 To build a new frontier
3 To find new energy sources
4 To build an industrial settlement on
the Moon
5 Better quality images of the
Universe
6 The SETI effort
7 Mining
8 Learning the history of our
Universe
9 Environmental benefits
Meeting the challenge
Taking for granted that it is naturally fascinating to investigate how mankind
might be able to maintain its habitat outside earth there are several further reasons to investigate why
mankind should settle themselves outside earth in the far future And More reasons mean a overall better
argument
Primarily there is the question of overpopulation and
secondly a solution for the energy problem
Next we have to consider that climate circumstances
are not under control anymore and earth eventually becomes uninhabitable
Also when for various reasons we start to kill each
other for some groups of people it may be an attractive proposition to depart this Earth in quite a different
sense And that is perhaps the most common thought
through activities in space more money can be obtained
But there are disadvantageshellip
On the other hand a prolonged stay in space is not that safe The construction must be protected against
radiation and it can be hit by large and small debris which makes space a very unsafe place
Furthermore cosmic radiation produces
a radiation of 80 mSv (millisievert) - well over the allowed maximum of 50
mSv and very much over the amount which is considered as safe for man
which is 3 mSv
Next solar flares produce a sudden
increase of soft gamma and energy rich radiation so much that without the
protection of an atmosphere half of our population could die easily
It is interesting that even without shielding most of this radiation can be
absorbed in the projected spacecraftsrsquo structure and in the air Smaller
structures can be protected with a
shield of co-rotating rocks
The construction further must be protected against sunlight which by
lack of the air shield will fall in unshielded so sun blinds and radiators
are indispensable
And as a result of the artificial gravity
there are some tiny movement problems which we will face later
Finally the created ecosystem should be fully self-supporting and that is easier said than done as
experiments with Biosphere-2 have showed
Biosphere-2 Biosphere-2 was a project built between 1987 and 1991 providing in an area of about 2frac12 football fields
a closed biological system of different composition From 1991-1993 a crew of 8 persons stayed herein A
second crew of 7 persons bridged a period of March
until September 1994 During the first period it appeared difficult to keep the atmosphere constant in
particular the carbon dioxide values changed rapidlymdashthe reason why many of the carried insects perished
Further the oxygen level decreased slowly because pf a leak
Even during the first two-year phase large differences in opinion appeared and the yield was not large
enough to deliver the calories necessary Reserve stocks had to be broken into Finally the second
experiment had to be ended prematurely because of
mismanagement
However it seems that a well-functioning stable ecosystem should not be underestimated physically
not technically
Artists impressions above Interior Stanford Torus and below Interior
OrsquoNeill Cylinder
Solar flares Czechoslovakia 1965 WB 47
36
ORBIT
It further has to be speculated on that men would resist
a regulated weather programme instead of the customary ever changing circumstances on Earth
Also we must physically resist an eternal stay outside
Earth That is not always easy as some people will show
some kind of sea sickness for ever In any case rooms with a diameter of less than 100 meters and a speed of
revolution over three per minute are insufficient At specifications of over 500 m and at less than 1 revolution
per minute fewer problems have to be expected
How do we get raw materials (Fantasy Moon Mining Yemen
Mutawakelite 1969 1343)
And still there have to be enough raw materials to sustain the
colony but as a principle the
search for raw materials is not the most difficult
From the asteroid belt enough small rocks can be
transported as a building material Also mines can be put
on the Moon Bercause of the lower gravity there transport is easier and some kind of firing mechanism
has been calculated which launch packets of ore simply into space where they can be manipulated
Air can be produced from moonstone Nitrogen nearly without loss can be recycled and eventually added to
ammonia mined from comets Large gardens and fields should start the normal photosynthesis and doing so
finally a complete sustainable society might be built up Energy from the Sun is present in superfluous quantities
What to do about gravity Most designs for a Space station start with a gravity of
1G Some designers however think that a lower level of gravity is possible But in the meantime experiments
with astronauts have showed that our physiology
changes rapidly influenced by decreased or absence of gravity Thus the calcium potassium and sodium
contents of our bone system decrease by about 10 That is not bad were we to stay in space forever but
very troublesome when occasionally we would return to
Earth
Also the quality of our muscles decreases as the blood volume does Providing effects comparable to aging
Further by lack of gravity astronauts become a little
taller with accompanying pain in the back Hence the staying with 1G gravity is not so bad
That has to be maintained by rotation of the
construction The larger the diameter of the construction is the slower it will turn to provide 1 G That is a result
of the centrifugal or centripetal force Its
magnitude has long been established thanks to the work of Dutchman Christiaan Huygens and fixed in
the formula
m v2
F = r where
F = the external force in N(ewton) m = mass in kg
v = speed in msec r = radius in m
Hence a spacecraft with a diameter of 15 meters has to carry out one revolution every 8 seconds to
produce a sensation of 1G And that is too quick for man The effect of the centrifugal force is that should
an astronaut drop an object it does not fall straight
down but partly away from himher Weird
Coriolis force But in a rotating Space station another force is at
work That is the lsquoCoriolis forcersquo named after the
French Gustave-Gaspard Coriolis (1792-1843) who described this kind of force for the first time
The most common manifestation is the second law of
Buys Ballot which says that air streams in the
atmosphere which according the first law of Boys Ballot as a principle run from high to low pressure at
the northern hemisphere are bent to the right and at the southern hemisphere to the left because of the
rotation of the Earth
Therefore air streams around depressions show a
spiral shape in opposite directions at the northern and southern hemisphere In a space station this
force can especially noticed when moving around through the spokes of the wheel
(Diagram of Coriolis F o r c e h t t p
wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm)
A s s u m e t h a t a n
astronaut on a ladder
climbs through a spoke to the axis As he climbs
along he circles around more slowly as he
describes a smaller circle
in the same time What happens with the difference in speed that he had before He will be pressed
against the ladder and that is the Coriolis force The force also acts in opposite direction when he
descends from the ladder
Also the throwing up and catching of a ball will
become a huge achievement as the ball does not
37
ORBIT
drop perpendicularly but will shift a little into the
direction of the orbit of the station and also achieves a higher speed
This also has strange effects on the astronaut As moves
quickly in the rotation direction of the station his weight
appears to increase to a noteworthy extent Then as he moves against the speed of rotation his weight
decreases apparently Mathematically this effect is explainable but very complex
Also the astronautrsquos head and feet move in different
speed to artificial gravity This is plainly noticeable when
somebody jumps up Hence avoid this practice
With these kind of effects adaptation to the changed circumstances in a space station will ask a lot of the
crew members I do hope they can stand it But in any
case the larger the space ship the lesser the problems
Inflatable stations
But therersquos more The inflatable station was considered
many years ago The first i d e a w a s p o s s i b l y
developed when on 12th August 1960 the Echo
balloon with a diameter of
30 meters was launched (Echo I balloon USA 1960
WB 3)
It is true you could not live in it as the balloon was of too frail a construction but the idea of an inflatable
spacecraft was then alive By 1958 groups within NASA
had begun to think about inflatable stations The Goett-committee has been one of the first On 25th26th May
1959 a conference started about projects after
Mercury In particular the
representative of Langley L a r r y Lo f t i n wa s
enthusiastic about his AMIS (Advanced Man in
Space) project (Hexagonal structure
Manama 1970 WB 113)
One of his first projects was a rotating hexagonal
inflatable construction with a diameter of 25 meters a cylindrical core and three lsquospokesrsquo Acting as a ferry to
and from the station the lsquoDyna Soarrsquo Space plane could
be used The Dyna Soar project (at that time still
under development) was cancelled by the American
Minister of Defense Robert
McNamara Inflatable Habitat NASA
1961 enwikipediaorg)
A Langley Space Station
team managed by Paul Hill and Emanuel lsquoMannyrsquo
Schnitzer developed the concept together with the
G o o d y e a r A i r c r a f t
Corporation
(Langleyrsquos self-inflating rotating hexagonal structure httphistorynasagov
SP-4308) Its original diameter had already been reduced to 10
meters
In the years after Langley built several experimental
modules called lsquoErectable Torus Manned Space Laboratoryrsquo a 11 model built by firms such as
Goodyear The torus was built from three layers of
nylon tissue and in between a rubber-like plastic material butyl elastomer A large problem was the
penetration by micrometeorites which as was learnt from the results of the Echo balloon finally damaged
the whole structure
Another problem was the great instability of the ring
due to movements of the astronauts the station started to wobble when they moved around Finally
the project was cancelled and at the end of the eighties the Langley Research Center started to
design inflatable constructions for a base camp on the
Moon
( A r t i s t imp r e s s i on Transhab inflatable
m o d u l e h t t p
enwikipediaorg)
Due to the development of a new series of
s t r o n g e r p l a s t i c materials such as Kevlar
these construct ions
received new interest That lead to the development of Transhab (Transit Habitat) as a resource for crews
coupled at the ISS (international Space Station) The construction is a cylinder in a diameter of 82 meters
and several storeys high
Its volume in inflatable state is 340 m3 The wall has a
thickness of 30 () cm and consists of 12 layers of which the outside layer is made from Kevlar The
layers beneath are made from Nextel a ceramic fibre Disagreements during development and the spiralling
costs finally in 2000 saw the end of NASArsquos interest
G e n e s i s 1
thespacereviewcom)
From 1999 the project was
taken up by Bigelow
38
ORBIT
Aerospace who improved the design and tested it with
successful launchings of Genesis I on 12 July 2006 and Genesis II on 28 June 2007
In their design it has once again more or less the shape
of a balloon With a thickness of 40 cm the wall is still
very thick The outside layer is still Kevlar but inside are some layers of Vectran a textile fibre Within the
structure ants and scorpions were launched along with some objects which people who paid for the privilege of
boosting into space
In this way Bigelow hopes to build a Space Hotel named
Nautilus To stimulate the development Bigelow offered a price of $50 million to everybody who succeeded in
launching a crew of 5 persons to an altitude of 400 km before 2010 So little money lost here so far
A second project which can be realized within the near future is a fixed residence on the Moon As said Langley
occupies itself with the design of such a base which partly should be build below the surface Stamp
designers have already realized the idea
What does the future hold Although we are a long way away from the kind of space station by which a large amount of earth inhabitants can
leave the planet Earth forever the first steps for doing
so are in preparation With the development of their Space Hotel Bigelow tries to make the step to space
albeit a temporary one
Also Langley literally tries to set foot on the Moon and
finally they will succeed in doing so However The cost of such projects are literally astronomical and it is not
expected that in the coming decades much money can be allocated to such projects
Of course in some thousands of years (possibly only in
hundreds of years) this will become the case but for the
time being in my opinion the true conquest of space will stay as science-fiction for at least a few hundred years
Hoorn 2009
John Beenen
NB The stamps entitled lsquoSpace Cityrsquo with a value of 0 cnt do not exist but have been made by the author by means of frames and pictures present at the Internet
Fantasy Moon
b a s e M a n a -ma1970 WB 122
Fantasy bases
ready for Mars
YAR 1971 WB 2892 and 6
Fantasy Modular
base YAR 169 WB 233
39
ORBIT
Cover Below bottom right Future space Dutch Antilles 2000
Literature references (for both parts of article) httpenwikipediaorg Space habitat Space Colonization Orbital Colony Space City Space settlement Space stations L5 Society Bernal Sphere Stanford Torus OrsquoNeil Cylinder Inflatable Space Habitat Transhab Biosphere 2 Generation Ship wwwdsenl~hklruimtehtm Wonen op groene eilanden in de Ruimte (Dutch Living on green Islands in Space) Henry Kluytmans wwworionsarmcom McKendree Cylinder Bishops Ring wwwnasnasagovAboutEducationSpaceSettlement The Colonization of Space wwwdyarstraightscommsgundamhabitatshtml Mobile Suit Gundam High Frontier Life in the Universal Century Developing sound habitats wwwartificial-gravitycomDissertation1_2htm From Tsiolkovsky to Sputnik (1878-1957) httpsciencenasagovheadlinesy2000ast26may_1mhtm Wheels in the Sky httpdiscaircraftgreyfalconus Hermann Noordung Wohnrad (Wheel for Habitation) httparticlesadsabsharvardedufull1992lbsaconf249R Inflatable habitation for the lunar base MRoberts httphistorynasagovSP-4308ch9htm lsquoAs inevitable as the Rising Sunrsquo From the inflatable Torus to the Rotating Hexagon wwwspacecomnewsbusinessmonday_040524html Bigelow Aerospace to tackle inflatable Space Habitats httpsciencehowstuffsworkcominflatable-spacecraft2htm How Inflatable Spacecraft Will Work wwwbogancaphysicscoriolishtml Rotating Space Stations Dynamics An Explanation of the Coriolis Force httpdemonstrationswolframcomRotatingSpaceStation Rotating Space Station wwwdvandomcomcoliolisspacestationhtml Frame Effects and Space Stations wwwdvandomcomcoriolisindexhtml A (hopefully) simple explanation of the Coriolis Force wwwdaviddarlinginfoencyclopedia Hale Edward Everett von Pirquet Guido Noordung Hermann Space Station wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm The Coriolis Force wwwastronautixcomcraftfamlunbaseshtm Lunar bases wwwastronautixcomgallerycspebasehtm Photo Gallery Space base wwwregererating-universeorgOn_Moon_as_Space_Basehtm On Moon as Space Base wwwspacefuturecomhabitatlivingshtml Space Habitat Introduction Living in Space wwwspacepagebevideotaak=bekijkampid=47 Living in space (Video) wwwnutricomspace The Case for Space colonization ndash Now Oscar Falconi wwwxentcompipermailfork (FoRK) Bigelowrsquos inflatable Genesis I satellite in orbit wwwrussianforcesorg Russian strategic nuclear forces (Genesis II) wwwbigelowaerospacecomgenesis Genesis I Genesis II
Thanks to Alan Tunnicliffe who came across the attached news item
complete with stamp in the eNZ Magazine the bi-monthly journal of
the Institution of Professional Engineers NZ Inc Vol 11 No 3 May-
June 2010
Vaccari Auction Sells Remarkable Space Covers April 2010
Apollo 12 cover 55 of 87 flown to the moon on Apollo 15 having been left behind by the original crew sold for euro12200 1977 Salyut
6 Soyuz 27 cover sold for euro1600
40
ORBIT ORBIT
Shuttle 1981mdash2010 Stamps Marshall
Islands 2005
United Nations 2007 Monaco and Ascension 2008
Bulgaria 1991 including stamp from souvenir sheet
USA 1981
below USA 1995 and bottom USA 1998
(two values)
St Vincent Grenadines 1983
Ascension 1989
Bulgaria 1990
and above right W Germany 1975
and USA 2000 Guyana 2006
USA 1995
41
ASSS Membership Renewal 2010
Memberrsquos Name amp Addresshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
I wish to renew my membership of the ASSS for a further year and enclose the equivalent of
pound15 (UK) euro30 (Europe) $US 45 (Rest of the World)
Please return this form with your remittance to Harvey Duncan by the
end of July Thank you
Harvey Duncan Treasurer ASSS 16 Begg Avenue
Falkirk Scotland FK1 2DL
PayPal For details of how to Pay via Paypal
please email Jeff Dugdale Email address on Page 2
42
43
44
24
ORBIT
Old Photo Makes New(s) Story
A photo taken twenty-one years ago became hot international new(s) this July writes Bert van Eijck
It is a picture of your correspondent in front of the
monument on the graves of the seven astronauts killed
in the Challenger disaster The photo from November 1989 shows the national cemetery at Arlington in
Washington DC And it is this graveyard a national American field of pride and honour that was involved in
a scandal making news all over the world
What happened This became a hot story after it was leaked to the press that in 211 graves on Arlington the wrong corpse had
been buried But this disgrace grew to international
proportions when the US Senate published a report which revealed that it was not 211 but 6600 graves that
had been so dishonoured And maybe there are more the researchers stated
Consequently it meant that family members had been paying their respect at the wrong graves because many
were not marked well or the ground-plan directed to wrong places
Arlingtonrsquos director John Metzler was fired as was his
depute Thurman Higginbotham both of whom said
they knew there were made mistakes but they could not help ldquobecause of economyrdquo
Arlington cemetery was opened in 1864 Since then
300000 Americans have been buried here including
famous or well-known persons like presidents
ministers high ranked military artists judges and
astronauts
And what about some of the most recent ones Did I indeed visit and honour the seven Challenger astronauts in their last resting place on Earth in
November 1989 as shown on the photo Or are they perhaps mistakenly buried in another
unmarked grave This is hard to believe but one never knowshelliphellip
For those who wonder what was doing 21
years ago in the US capital I visited the
World Stamp Exporsquo89 at the Convention Center in Washington DC Of course I did
more sightseeing at and in the famous Smithsonian Museums (a must the
National AirampSpace Museum with 10
million visitors a year) the Capitol the metro (deepest in the world) George
Washingtonrsquos house in Vernon Arlington of course and much more
At the World Stamp Expo there was a
presentation of both USA and USSR space
stamps The American stamps were presented by astronaut Buzz Aldrin the
Soviet stamps by cosmonaut Gherman Titov
Author and the Challenger astronauts monument at Arlington seven figures in bronze (left) At right a plaque honoring US-soldiers killed in action saving
hostages in Iran
Astronaut Buzz Aldrin (left) presents the US space stamps while cosmonaut Gherman Titov (right) does the same with
Soviet space stamps In the middle officials of USPS Below the
stampshellip
25
ORBIT
The Apollo 15 Cover Scandal by Umberto Cavallaro
In a feature which first appeared in the April-June 2010 issue of Ad Astra the web journal of the Italian Astrophilatelic Association its editor reveals in considerable detail the full story of those covers which today sell for so much money The Apollo 15 flown covers are among the best known
collectibles from the Apollo Era mainly because of what Jim Irwin recalls as ldquothe problem we brought
back from the Moonrdquo
The crew of Apollo 15 carried out one of the most complete scientific explorations of the Moon the first
lunar roving vehicle was operated on the Moon to
extend the range of exploration some 180 pounds of lunar surface samples were returned for analysis Yet
Fifteen is best remembered as the crew that carried envelopes to the moon and the whole mission is
remembered for the ldquogreat postal caperrdquo
Apollo 15 was not the first mission to carry covers
dozens were carried on each flight from Apollo 11 onwards and as Commander Dave Scott recalls in his
book the whole business had probably been building since Mercury through Gemini and into Apollo People
had a fascination with objects that had been carried in space and they became more and more popular and
valuable as the programme progressed Right from
the start of the Mercury programme each astronaut had been allowed to carry on board a certain number
of personal items
NASA was in the habit of authorizing astronauts to
carry certain personal items on manned flights known as Astronautsrsquo PPK (Personal Preference Kits) All such
items had to be listed and approved by Deke Slayton the Head of the Astronaut Office prior to launch and
were intended for private use or as personal gifts
after the flight and could not be employed for commercial
Fig 1 The official USPS cover postmarked on the Moon
purposes or personal gain Astronaut kits typically
included badges jewellery coins medals flags stamps postal covers currency printed materials and
similar easily packed lightweight mementoes As the flight became more significant the number and type of
items increased
Aside from personal mementoes each crew had
carried medallions whose number had grown steadily on each mission In his book The All-American Boys astronaut Walter Cunningham reveals that it was rumoured around the Astronaut Office that Apollo 14
carried on board a personal package weighing forty-
two pounds Before that flight the Franklin Mint had even advertised the proposed sale After the flight the
commercial deal was never completed and all went quiet nothing about it being published in the media
But some members of the US Congress were unhappy
of the situation
In that context the ldquolapses of judgmentrdquo of the Apollo 15 crew became fatal Dave Scott went too far
carrying on board a total of 641 postal covers (including the two official covers) of which only 243
were listed and authorized before the flight and 398
were not -- secretly carried on board Apollo 15 by Scott in a pocket of his space suit Had they been
listed as being in Scotts PPK they would probably have been routinely approved for inclusion in the
preference kit
The 243 listed and authorized covers include
bull 2 official US Postal Service covers one of which the ldquoOfficial Coverrdquo was publicly cancelled on the
moon by Scott at the request of the US Postal
Service 10 (Fig 1) bull 1 Wright Brothers commemorative cover dated
1928 and autographed by Orville Wright which was carried by Worden for a friend
bull 1 cover bearing a First Man on the Moon stamp and a Bliss Centennial three-cent stamp carried by
Irwin for Barbara Baker (Fig 2 below)
26
ORBIT
8 Shamrock covers carried by Irwin (as below)
144 Herrickrsquos ldquoMoon Phasesrdquo covers carried by Worden
(Fig 4) printed with a cachet showing 15 phases of the moon On the USS Okinawa the Apollo 15 recovery ship
the astronauts placed two eight-cent stamps purchased
on board by Worden on each of these covers and they had the covers cancelled by the shipboard post office
The astronauts later autographed these covers while flying back from Hawaii to Houston Sixteen covers were
torn or damaged and were destroyed Because of the furore created by the Apollo 15 covers incident NASA
confiscated 61 of these 144 Moon Phases covers
87 Apollo 12 covers (Fig 5) that for unknown reason
did not fly on that mission and which were carried on
Apollo 15 for Mrs Barbara Gordon a stamp collector then wife of Richard Gordon Apollo 12 astronaut who
at was the back-up pilot for Apollo 15
The 398 unauthorized covers (initially there were
400 but 2 were damaged and discarded) are lightweight envelopes carrying as a cachet a replica
of the official Apollo 15 patch overprinted with an Air Force wing and propeller emblem
The idea of these additional covers was suggested during a cocktail party by Eiermann a salesman for
the heat-shield contractor who had frequent business and social contacts with NASA personnel and
astronauts He suggested to fly 400 lightweight covers 100 for each of the astronauts and 100 for
his friend Sieger the German stamp dealer The
cacheted covers were provided by Al Bishop a friend of many astronauts then at the Howard
Hughes organization He had already provided covers for the previous flights since Apollo 12
Above one of the 100 Sieger covers with the handwritten note ldquoLanded at Hadley Moon July 30 1971 On the
reverse is a typed and notarised inscription ldquoThis is to certify that this cover was on board the Falcon at the Hadley-
Apennine Moon July 30 ndashAug 2 1971rdquo
Below one of the 298 unauthorised covers carried to the Moon by David Scott with the inscription ldquoThis envelope was
carried to the Moon aboard the Apollo 15 of 300 to the Lunar Surface in LMrdquoFalconrdquo
The crews usually returned to Bishop a couple of
flown covers signed with gratitude ldquoTo my
knowledge ndash Cunningham reports in his well documented book ndash Bishop never sold any and never
made a dime off his relationship He was simply a fan To Al Bishop Apollo 15 was no different from any
other flight except for a phone call he received from
Hal Collins the Astronaut Office manager at the Cape
27
ORBIT
Collins told Bishop that the crew would like to know
whether he could obtain some very lightweight envelopes for them Al said that hed be happy to do so
He was unaware then that many of them would be smuggled on board the next lunar flight Al was trusted
Thats why many of us imposed on him with our
problems special requests and sometimes matters which we would rather not share with NASArdquo
This time Al was badly used he emerged as a
scapegoat and his name was dragged as though he was the Mr Big of an international stamp conspiracy
The covers were cancelled at Kennedy Space Center
several days before July 26 1971 The date of the post office machine canceller was moved forward
Additionally twin eight-cent stamps were purchased by the astronauts on the USS Okinawa the Apollo 15
recovery ship and affixed to these covers ndash as for the
Herrickrsquos covers In the shipboard post office the covers were then cancelled and date-stamped August 7 1971
The astronauts finally autographed these covers while flying from Hawaii to Houston
Soon after the flight the astronauts gave Eiermann
the 100 covers ndash after agreeing that there was to be
no commercialization or advertising of these covers and that nothing would be done with them until after
completion of the Apollo programme
But after a while news started to circulate that the
German dealer was selling in Europe covers flown on Apollo 15 for a reported average of US $1500 each
The reports infuriated Congress not least because congressmen had to read such controversial
information in the press before being informed by
NASA which is obligated to keep Congress fully informed of its activity Recollection of the Apollo 14
medallions incident must have echoed in the minds of certain members of Congress many of whom were
not fans of NASA anyway NASA started an internal investigation This was the most controversial
development of the Apollo Programme and although
most astronauts were involved to some degree NASA made an example of the Apollo 15 flight crew ldquoIt
was turning into a witch-huntrdquo recalled Scott ldquoOur bosses had abrogated their responsibilities and we
were left alone on a very wet dayrdquo
It is ironic that after addressing a joint session of
Congress as heroes in less that one year the three astronauts of Apollo 15 had to go back in front of these
same senators in disgrace because of this envelope scandal
After this ldquoincidentrdquo NASA prohibited from Apollo 17 on the flying of covers or stamps during a space
missions (they were not on time to block the covers carried on Apollo 16) The only exceptions have been
since then the items flown in cooperation with the US
Postal Service ie the 266000 covers carried in 1983 in
the payload bay of the Space Shuttle Challenger on
STS-8 and the 500000 $995 Express Mail stamp created by Paul and Chris Calle in 1994 flown on
Endeavour STS-68 in recognition of the 25th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing The huge
number of such items carried in space discourages
speculations and these items still are widely available for few dollars
So far fewer than 1000 envelopes in total have flown
to the Moon No other American covers will flow to the Moon in the foreseeable future Perhaps the next
ldquoMoon coversrdquo will bear Chinese or Indian stamps
Dave Scott was the first lunar Postmaster and had two
postmarks with him and two covers with imperforated dieproof of the US twin Decade of Space Achievements
stamps affixed (Fig 1)
He had one postmark with ldquoMoon Landing USArdquo (Fig 8 below) and another with ldquoUnited States on the
Moonrdquo (Fig 9 bottom)
The First Lunar Post Office was opened on August 2 1971 when David Scott postmarked only the official
cover (and brought back the official backup-cover uncancelled) A handful covers had however been
postmarked before launch with both postmarks Dr Matthew Radnofsky ndash who in his laboratory already
had simulated cancelling in space for Apollo 11 ndash
tested both postmarks to ensure that the cancellation devices were in working order
Especially the date could be changed easily Contrary
to Apollo 11 covers without stamps were used for
28
ORBIT
these tests Apollo 15 Lunar Cancellation Proofs are
much scarcer than Apollo 11 ones ldquoAs by now I am aware of only 17 itemsrdquo states famous astrophilatelist
Walter Hopferwieser Covers with proofs of the Apollo 15 moon postmarks have been recently sold at Regency
Superior and Aurora auctions
The official Apollo 15 cover postmarked on the Moon
(see Fig 1 repeated above ) is displayed at the US National Postal Museum It was publicly cancelled and
the video can be seen at httpwwwpostalmuseumsiedustampstakeflight
apollo15video-01html A short speech was given by
Dave Scott while cancelling the cover ldquoTo show that our good Postal Service has deliveries any place in the
universe I have the pleasant task of cancelling here on the Moon the first stamp of a new issue dedicated to
commemorate US achievements in space I have the
first one here on an envelope At the bottom it says United States in Space a decade of achievement and
Im very proud to have the opportunity here to play postman I pull out a cancellation device It says
August 2 1971 first day of issuehellip What could be a
better place to cancel this stamp than right here at Hadley Rillehelliprdquo
Immediately thereafter the Postmaster General who
was waiting at the Mission Control at Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston Texas gave the signal to start the
First- Day cancellations at post offices in Houston
Kennedy Space Center and Huntsville
Acknowledgement Thanks to Walter Hopferwieser for his comments
Some Notes About Space Mail
Commenting on Brian Vincentrsquos article in the June
2010 Orbit ASSS member Geoff Chivers writes in an
email to your Editorhellip Im sure you wont mind me commenting on Brian G Vincents Some Notes About Space Mail (page 36)
In paragraph 2 he refers to the Apollo 15 cover incident leaving the impression that Scott Worden and Irwin were guilty of some heinous crime This has been the subject of much miss-reporting over the years The full story of what actually happened is explained in depth at page 328 et seq of Two sides of the moon by David Scott and Alexei Leonov published by Simon amp Shuster The astronauts were of course exonerated
This is the quote (slightly edited to enable it to stand as an independent piece)-
During 1972 while on a trip to Washington DC George Low NASA deputy administrator asked me to stop by his
office writes David Scott I had known George in Houston while he was Apollo spacecraft programme manager and I had great respect for him We spent a short while exchanging pleasantries Then George looked me in the eye and came to the point ldquoWell Daverdquo he said ldquoI have to tell you I was not very proud of my performancerdquo His comment was the culmination of what had become known as the Apollo 15 ldquocover incidentrdquo This involved some first day postal covers which we had carried aboard Apollo 15 some of which were unfortunately sold by a German stamp dealer several months after the flight As No 2 in NASA George
had been heavily involved in NASAs handling of the incident and his comment referred to one of the poorest management performances the space agency had ever demonstrated - up to then The whole business had probably been building since Mercury through Gemini and into Apollo People had a fascination with objects that had been carried in space and they became more and more popular and valuable as the programme progressed Right from the start of the Mercury programme each astronaut had been allowed to carry on board a certain number of personal items in what were known as PPKS - Personal Preference Kits Before each flight a list of the items was prepared for Deke Slayton who
Two Sides of The Moon
by David Scott and Alexei Leonov
The text opposite from the
above book has been
referred to by Umberto Cavallaro in preparing his
above piece
29
ORBIT
had overall responsibility for approving them As the flights became more significant the number and type of items increased Aside from personal mementoes each crew had carried a certain number of medallions which they could hand out afterwards as souvenirs The number of medallions had grown steadily on each mission - eventually some crew members had been carrying several hundred each and their weight was becoming a concern And as always commercialisation began to creep in In the end on Apollo 14 commanded by Al Shepard it was alleged that the crew had carried some silver medallions on board which were to be melted down after the flight and mixed with many other commemorative medallions by the Franklin Mint to be sold to the general public The Franklin Mint had even advertised the proposed sale before the flight After the flight the deal was never consummated and all went quiet nothing about it was printed in the media But some members of Congress had heard about it and were unhappy with the situation Since we were busy training for Apollo 15 (launched 26 July 1971) we knew nothing about all this Had we known we would have been far more wary of what happened subsequently All we knew was that Deke Slayton had halved the number of medallions we could carry Shortly afterwards Deke introduced Jim (Irwin) Al (Worden) and me to a long-standing friend of his at the Cape called Walter Eiermann In retrospect this seems likely to have been more than a coincidence Deke invited us to join him at dinner at Eiermanns house one evening several months before the Apollo 15 launch Eiermann asked if we would like to make some money on the side by signing some stamps ldquoAll the guys are doing itrdquo he said We agreed We were also approached by several members of the Manned Spacecraft Centerrsquos stamp club who asked us to sign many first - day covers before the flight for their members as well as for ourselves At that time we could not buy life insurance If we signed some covers we reasoned they could be held during the flight and act as limited life insurance for our families if anything happened to us But then Eiermann proposed we carry four hundred lightweight commemorative covers a hundred of which would be passed on to a stamp dealer in Germany when we returned All the covers would be franked on the day of launch and franked on the day of our return Our understanding was that the dealer would hold his hundred covers to be sold at some future date after the Apollo programme was over In return he would set up a $6000 trust fund for each of us for the education of our children In the months of intense activity before the flight we did not give this more than a moment of thought But we agreed In retrospect we made a mistake in even considering it In the months following our mission we learnt that the German dealer had begun to sell the covers We let Eiermann know that we were opposed to the sale Forget the trust funds we said we dont want any money This is not what we had understood would happen But when senior managers at NASA learnt about the covers being sold they were furious Incomplete information was then provided to the press by NASArsquos Public Affairs Office and reports started to appear that we had smuggled the covers onto our flight This was literally impossible NASA personnel prepared us for every aspect of the flight - from our birthday suits out Everything we had carried had to be specially packaged by the flight support crew to make sure apart from anything else
that it was fireproof Everything in our PPKs was on a list which was certified before launch I was never aware of any rules about what could or could not be taken in these packs Slayton was to approve the list so as far as I was concerned it was up to management to keep us on the straight and narrow I assumed if the list was approved that was fine Usually the list was certified by Deke But before our flight for some reason he neither asked us personally for each of our lists as was customary nor signed off on the list personally He said the flight - crew support team had already logged everything Whereas we had purchased the covers ourselves the Astronaut Office at the Cape had prepared the covers for the flight and had had them stamped and franked on the day of launch Somehow however the support team had missed them when they prepared the PPK flight manifest It was also reported after the incident that we had been removed from the astronaut corps Again totally untrue Unfortunately NASA managers did nothing to dispel this false and misleading information They just tucked their heads in and let the rumours run The reports infuriated Congress not least because congressmen had to read such controversial information in the press before being informed by NASA which is obligated to keep Congress fully informed of its activities Recollections of the Apollo 14 medallion incident must have seeped into the minds of certain members of Congress many of whom were not fans of NASA anyway When NASA started an internal investigation we were told by a senior official in the agency that we were on our own We were advised to get our own legal representation A Senate hearing into the matter had been called and a justice Department investigation would follow It was turning into a witch - hunt NASA we were advised expected us to keep quiet and take the Fifth Amendment at this hearing We did not We told it like it was We had nothing to hide Eventually the Justice Department concluded that we had broken some administrative rules but had done nothing criminal NASA confiscated the remaining covers but they acted before discovering all the facts of the case Following an investigation by NASA the Justice Department and the Senate the Justice Department concluded on 6 December 1978 in a ldquoMemorandum Opinion for the Assistant Attorney Generalrdquo that NASA had no claim to the remaining covers that the covers were never intended for sale that there was no attempt at concealment by the crew of the fact that the covers were to be flown on Apollo 15 and finally that the covers would have been approved to carry aboard Apollo 15 had a request been made We were reprimanded and we took our licks But it was a very raw deal NASA had hung us out to dry Our bosses had abrogated their responsibilities and we were left alone on a very wet day I spent many years trying to get full access to NASA and congressional records on the case NASA refused to provide full disclosure We subsequently found out there had been rumblings about profitmdashmaking on previous missions A copy of a letter was released to me in which NASA admitted that ten other astronauts who were not identified had been involved in selling signed blocks of stamps and postcards for Eiermann But the wave reached the shore on Apollo 15 and we were the ones who bore the brunt of the blame for such incidents
30
ORBIT
Buckingham Cover offer Free Souvenirs for You
Brian Austin of Buckinghamrsquos Rare Cover Department writes to your Editorhellip
Over the last two or three years we have been dealing more and more in signed space covers This led us to earlier this year buying an Apollo 11 crew signed cover which had been carried to the moon which we had on display on our stand at London 2010
For this we also printed a limited edition of 800 sets of postcards one featuring the Apollo 11 cover and another
featuring an Apollo 15 cover The idea was to give away 100 sets per day to customers at the show but now the show is all finished I still have around 150 pairs left on my desk
We wondered if you would like to offer them to your readers we are happy to send them out free of charge to the first 150 readers to contact us with their details as long as we can also include one of our lists of space
covers
BrianAustinbuckinghamcoverscom
31
ORBIT
More About Missile Mail
Harvey Duncan told us in the last Orbit (page 15) about the First Official Missile Mail writes Bert van Eijck After the useful technical details about the USS Barbero he gave us I can offer you more philatelic information and show you some illustrations The missile mail experiment was a joint venture between
the Ministry of Defense and the US Post Office Dept headed by Postmaster General Mr Arthur E
Summerfield Three thousand special envelopes were printed with a reproduction of a Navy missile type
Regulus with the text ldquoFirst Official Missile Mailrdquo and above that ldquoThe Postmaster General Washingtonrdquo All
the envelopes were addressed to The President high
government officials like senators and to the Post Masters General of ninety nine other member nations of
UPU Inside was a letter from Mr Summerfield entitled ldquoThe First Official Missile Mailrdquo with the official seal of
the Post Office dept It was explained therein what had
happed to that letter and the other 2999
The special letters were loaded in two metal compartments and came aboard the guided missile USS Barbero (SSG-317) The shot was to occur during a regular training mission from Norfolk Virginia to Florida
About 350 kilometres off the coast of Florida the
Regulus missile was launched toward Airport Mayport
The missile climbed 10 km above the Atlantic and
landed within twenty minutes with all the letters intact The letters were cancelled with the hand stamp ldquoUSS
Barberordquo with the date ldquoJun 8 1959rdquo and the approximate timing of the launching ldquo930 amrdquo This
was done by post office staff part of an established
branch office on the USS Barbero The letters bore the 1957 4c American flag postage stamp Those
addressed to foreign countries carried two such stamps covering surface mail postage costs On the
reverse side is the Jacksonville Post Office cancellation with the approximate time of arrival ldquoJune 8 1030 am
1959 Floridardquo
Such flown letters are expensive to buy and a jewel in
any exhibit
But this is NOT the case with the Barbero souvenir
cover dated a month later on July 8 1959 issued in the same quantity (3000) as the originals The
inscription reads ldquoPoint of LandingmdashFirst Official Missile Mail 8 June 1959 US Naval Station Mayport Floridardquo
About 16000 () collectors had applied for such a cover
The imprint of the official Barbero cover was reproduced on a memorial cover issued and posted at
the Vienna International Airpost Exhibition Luposta on August 1959 in the Austrian capital Of course neither
of these items had been carried within the Regulus
missile
Also of interest the Postal Administration of
Paraguay issued a stamp
and a block in 1976 honouring the Barbero
Missile Mail The Gs 20 stamp shows a Regulus
missile in flight while the sheet shows the whole
addressed cover and in
miniature the complete letter inside from the US Postmaster General
as mentioned above and as illustrated below
Above a specimen envelope as described in the text and below its reverse cancel
32
ORBIT
An Invitation to Our Readers to Donate to an Innovative International Projecthellip
Kindest Sir or Madam
The municipality of Vitanje
(Slovenia) is honoured to have had a hand in the life of the
famous space architect Herman Potocnik Noordung
(1892-1929) (pictured right) who had already found a
surprising number of solutions
to space travel and troubles of living in vacuum long before
actual space flights took place His creations were used by the
renowned novelist Arthur C Clarke
in his book 2001 A Space Odyssey which was later also turned into a
movie directed by Stanley Kubrick In Noordungs honour we have
created the Memorial Centre of Herman Potocnik Noordung This
year the cultural centre of European
space technology will also get going in Vitanje This will be a place
where the European space heritage will be gathered and various events connected with the
contemporary European space technologies will be
organized
Proposed Philatelic Collection We would like to bring the project onto a higher level
where we would have the collaboration of various
countries in the world including such with a history in space travel (like USA Russia) One of the steps of this
expansion process would also include a philatelic collection of stamps with themes of outer space
(astronomy astronautics and everything connected to
outer space) We already have quite a decent collection but we would like to expand on that
Our goal is to have 6000 stamps before opening our
exhibition For this we would require the help of as many philatelists as possible
All of these philatelists would become co-creators and partners of this collection for which we hope will
become the largest collection of its kind in the world The people donating the stamps would get a great deal
of exposure at all these exhibitions and on the special
website which will be started shortly If you give us enough support and we are able to raise enough
stamps for a first-class collection we hope the first
exhibitions and various special events (like visits from
astronauts ndash philatelists) will see the light of day as early as in 2011
From a professional point of view we have an
excellent team working with us Long-time philatelist
Tone Petek is the person who initiated this project while Bojan Bracic the secretary of FEPA is one of our
counsellors and is completely behind this project
If you would be interested in such cooperation I will get the wheels in motion and send you a verifying
mail with the stamp of the municipality of Vitanje and
also of some higher organization within the Slovene political system
The collection is already underway with the help of the
Slovene Philatelic organisation (FZS) adds Rok in an email to your Editor in July This organisation has been of immense help with technical expertise and
connections It looks as if there might be an introductory exhibition next year sometime
In the hope of a successful partnership we offer our
sincere appreciation
Rok Podgrajsek
Obcina Vitanje Grajski trg 1
3205 Vitanje
Slovenia
Email address rokpodgrajsekgmailcom
But see also website httpwwwvitanjesi
(Editorrsquos Note both Wendy Buckle editor of
Themescene and our Chairman Margaret Morris commend this project to you We will be sending Rok
some recent copies of Orbit for the displays)
Some illustrations from Noordungrsquos only published text ldquoThe Problem of
Space Travel The Rocket Motorrdquo (the original German title
was ldquoDas Problem der Befahrung
des Weltraums - der Raketen-Motorrdquo) which saw the light of day
in 1928
Vitanje Local Private Post stamp
33
ORBIT
Zazzle Space Stamps Dazzle
I have noticed Zazzle Space Stamps appearing in Lollini brochures and on their web pages in recent months writes your Editor so I undertook to find out some facts about them and am grateful to The Astrophile Editor Jim Roth and the man who inspired him to create his own Zazzle designs Otto Bergman for the following infohellip Zazzle is one of half a dozen or more US companies
who facilitate the printing of non-copyrighted photos and artwork on private postage stamps which count
as postage within and outwith the USA You can
design your own Zazzle stampsmdashsee their websitemdashwhich you then purchase for your own use 20 to a
page
They are therefore a bit like British Smilers except
that the personal element of the stamp is not on a se-tenant label but actually incorporated within the
stamp itself as you can see from the examples on this page
Jim Roth was annoyed that the Kennedy Space Center Post office would not cancel his Zazzle stamps as they
consider them to be ldquometersrdquo and although he has marked STS-122 he wonrsquot be creating any others
You can see (and buy) all Jim Rothrsquos Space Zazzles on
his website m57coverscommdashclick on ldquostampsrdquo
Three of Jim Rothrsquos designs
See others on his website
An Otto Bergman space creation on
Zazzlecomottobergman
These space Zazzles and others are
available from the Lollini website or brochures
STS 128 in May 2010 section
STS 129 in June 2010
WISE and Delta 2 launch in July 2010 STS 130 in August 2010
STS 128 stamps show astronauts Christer Fuglesang (far left) and left Frank De Winne ISS Commander Expedition 21 STS 129 issues depict mission
patch and the crew led by Charles Hobaugh
Delta 2 rocket launch from Cape Canaveral of WISE Deep InfraRed telescope
34
ORBIT
Concluded on page 39
More Spaceflight Books for Sale
35
ORBIT ORBIT
SPACE HABITATS (Part Two) by John Beenen Continuing his feature from our last issue John Beenen begins by posing the questionhellip Why Should we Seek to Live
in Space
Spacecom gives ten main reasons why we should enter space for a prolonged
period
1 To secure a future for humanity
2 To build a new frontier
3 To find new energy sources
4 To build an industrial settlement on
the Moon
5 Better quality images of the
Universe
6 The SETI effort
7 Mining
8 Learning the history of our
Universe
9 Environmental benefits
Meeting the challenge
Taking for granted that it is naturally fascinating to investigate how mankind
might be able to maintain its habitat outside earth there are several further reasons to investigate why
mankind should settle themselves outside earth in the far future And More reasons mean a overall better
argument
Primarily there is the question of overpopulation and
secondly a solution for the energy problem
Next we have to consider that climate circumstances
are not under control anymore and earth eventually becomes uninhabitable
Also when for various reasons we start to kill each
other for some groups of people it may be an attractive proposition to depart this Earth in quite a different
sense And that is perhaps the most common thought
through activities in space more money can be obtained
But there are disadvantageshellip
On the other hand a prolonged stay in space is not that safe The construction must be protected against
radiation and it can be hit by large and small debris which makes space a very unsafe place
Furthermore cosmic radiation produces
a radiation of 80 mSv (millisievert) - well over the allowed maximum of 50
mSv and very much over the amount which is considered as safe for man
which is 3 mSv
Next solar flares produce a sudden
increase of soft gamma and energy rich radiation so much that without the
protection of an atmosphere half of our population could die easily
It is interesting that even without shielding most of this radiation can be
absorbed in the projected spacecraftsrsquo structure and in the air Smaller
structures can be protected with a
shield of co-rotating rocks
The construction further must be protected against sunlight which by
lack of the air shield will fall in unshielded so sun blinds and radiators
are indispensable
And as a result of the artificial gravity
there are some tiny movement problems which we will face later
Finally the created ecosystem should be fully self-supporting and that is easier said than done as
experiments with Biosphere-2 have showed
Biosphere-2 Biosphere-2 was a project built between 1987 and 1991 providing in an area of about 2frac12 football fields
a closed biological system of different composition From 1991-1993 a crew of 8 persons stayed herein A
second crew of 7 persons bridged a period of March
until September 1994 During the first period it appeared difficult to keep the atmosphere constant in
particular the carbon dioxide values changed rapidlymdashthe reason why many of the carried insects perished
Further the oxygen level decreased slowly because pf a leak
Even during the first two-year phase large differences in opinion appeared and the yield was not large
enough to deliver the calories necessary Reserve stocks had to be broken into Finally the second
experiment had to be ended prematurely because of
mismanagement
However it seems that a well-functioning stable ecosystem should not be underestimated physically
not technically
Artists impressions above Interior Stanford Torus and below Interior
OrsquoNeill Cylinder
Solar flares Czechoslovakia 1965 WB 47
36
ORBIT
It further has to be speculated on that men would resist
a regulated weather programme instead of the customary ever changing circumstances on Earth
Also we must physically resist an eternal stay outside
Earth That is not always easy as some people will show
some kind of sea sickness for ever In any case rooms with a diameter of less than 100 meters and a speed of
revolution over three per minute are insufficient At specifications of over 500 m and at less than 1 revolution
per minute fewer problems have to be expected
How do we get raw materials (Fantasy Moon Mining Yemen
Mutawakelite 1969 1343)
And still there have to be enough raw materials to sustain the
colony but as a principle the
search for raw materials is not the most difficult
From the asteroid belt enough small rocks can be
transported as a building material Also mines can be put
on the Moon Bercause of the lower gravity there transport is easier and some kind of firing mechanism
has been calculated which launch packets of ore simply into space where they can be manipulated
Air can be produced from moonstone Nitrogen nearly without loss can be recycled and eventually added to
ammonia mined from comets Large gardens and fields should start the normal photosynthesis and doing so
finally a complete sustainable society might be built up Energy from the Sun is present in superfluous quantities
What to do about gravity Most designs for a Space station start with a gravity of
1G Some designers however think that a lower level of gravity is possible But in the meantime experiments
with astronauts have showed that our physiology
changes rapidly influenced by decreased or absence of gravity Thus the calcium potassium and sodium
contents of our bone system decrease by about 10 That is not bad were we to stay in space forever but
very troublesome when occasionally we would return to
Earth
Also the quality of our muscles decreases as the blood volume does Providing effects comparable to aging
Further by lack of gravity astronauts become a little
taller with accompanying pain in the back Hence the staying with 1G gravity is not so bad
That has to be maintained by rotation of the
construction The larger the diameter of the construction is the slower it will turn to provide 1 G That is a result
of the centrifugal or centripetal force Its
magnitude has long been established thanks to the work of Dutchman Christiaan Huygens and fixed in
the formula
m v2
F = r where
F = the external force in N(ewton) m = mass in kg
v = speed in msec r = radius in m
Hence a spacecraft with a diameter of 15 meters has to carry out one revolution every 8 seconds to
produce a sensation of 1G And that is too quick for man The effect of the centrifugal force is that should
an astronaut drop an object it does not fall straight
down but partly away from himher Weird
Coriolis force But in a rotating Space station another force is at
work That is the lsquoCoriolis forcersquo named after the
French Gustave-Gaspard Coriolis (1792-1843) who described this kind of force for the first time
The most common manifestation is the second law of
Buys Ballot which says that air streams in the
atmosphere which according the first law of Boys Ballot as a principle run from high to low pressure at
the northern hemisphere are bent to the right and at the southern hemisphere to the left because of the
rotation of the Earth
Therefore air streams around depressions show a
spiral shape in opposite directions at the northern and southern hemisphere In a space station this
force can especially noticed when moving around through the spokes of the wheel
(Diagram of Coriolis F o r c e h t t p
wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm)
A s s u m e t h a t a n
astronaut on a ladder
climbs through a spoke to the axis As he climbs
along he circles around more slowly as he
describes a smaller circle
in the same time What happens with the difference in speed that he had before He will be pressed
against the ladder and that is the Coriolis force The force also acts in opposite direction when he
descends from the ladder
Also the throwing up and catching of a ball will
become a huge achievement as the ball does not
37
ORBIT
drop perpendicularly but will shift a little into the
direction of the orbit of the station and also achieves a higher speed
This also has strange effects on the astronaut As moves
quickly in the rotation direction of the station his weight
appears to increase to a noteworthy extent Then as he moves against the speed of rotation his weight
decreases apparently Mathematically this effect is explainable but very complex
Also the astronautrsquos head and feet move in different
speed to artificial gravity This is plainly noticeable when
somebody jumps up Hence avoid this practice
With these kind of effects adaptation to the changed circumstances in a space station will ask a lot of the
crew members I do hope they can stand it But in any
case the larger the space ship the lesser the problems
Inflatable stations
But therersquos more The inflatable station was considered
many years ago The first i d e a w a s p o s s i b l y
developed when on 12th August 1960 the Echo
balloon with a diameter of
30 meters was launched (Echo I balloon USA 1960
WB 3)
It is true you could not live in it as the balloon was of too frail a construction but the idea of an inflatable
spacecraft was then alive By 1958 groups within NASA
had begun to think about inflatable stations The Goett-committee has been one of the first On 25th26th May
1959 a conference started about projects after
Mercury In particular the
representative of Langley L a r r y Lo f t i n wa s
enthusiastic about his AMIS (Advanced Man in
Space) project (Hexagonal structure
Manama 1970 WB 113)
One of his first projects was a rotating hexagonal
inflatable construction with a diameter of 25 meters a cylindrical core and three lsquospokesrsquo Acting as a ferry to
and from the station the lsquoDyna Soarrsquo Space plane could
be used The Dyna Soar project (at that time still
under development) was cancelled by the American
Minister of Defense Robert
McNamara Inflatable Habitat NASA
1961 enwikipediaorg)
A Langley Space Station
team managed by Paul Hill and Emanuel lsquoMannyrsquo
Schnitzer developed the concept together with the
G o o d y e a r A i r c r a f t
Corporation
(Langleyrsquos self-inflating rotating hexagonal structure httphistorynasagov
SP-4308) Its original diameter had already been reduced to 10
meters
In the years after Langley built several experimental
modules called lsquoErectable Torus Manned Space Laboratoryrsquo a 11 model built by firms such as
Goodyear The torus was built from three layers of
nylon tissue and in between a rubber-like plastic material butyl elastomer A large problem was the
penetration by micrometeorites which as was learnt from the results of the Echo balloon finally damaged
the whole structure
Another problem was the great instability of the ring
due to movements of the astronauts the station started to wobble when they moved around Finally
the project was cancelled and at the end of the eighties the Langley Research Center started to
design inflatable constructions for a base camp on the
Moon
( A r t i s t imp r e s s i on Transhab inflatable
m o d u l e h t t p
enwikipediaorg)
Due to the development of a new series of
s t r o n g e r p l a s t i c materials such as Kevlar
these construct ions
received new interest That lead to the development of Transhab (Transit Habitat) as a resource for crews
coupled at the ISS (international Space Station) The construction is a cylinder in a diameter of 82 meters
and several storeys high
Its volume in inflatable state is 340 m3 The wall has a
thickness of 30 () cm and consists of 12 layers of which the outside layer is made from Kevlar The
layers beneath are made from Nextel a ceramic fibre Disagreements during development and the spiralling
costs finally in 2000 saw the end of NASArsquos interest
G e n e s i s 1
thespacereviewcom)
From 1999 the project was
taken up by Bigelow
38
ORBIT
Aerospace who improved the design and tested it with
successful launchings of Genesis I on 12 July 2006 and Genesis II on 28 June 2007
In their design it has once again more or less the shape
of a balloon With a thickness of 40 cm the wall is still
very thick The outside layer is still Kevlar but inside are some layers of Vectran a textile fibre Within the
structure ants and scorpions were launched along with some objects which people who paid for the privilege of
boosting into space
In this way Bigelow hopes to build a Space Hotel named
Nautilus To stimulate the development Bigelow offered a price of $50 million to everybody who succeeded in
launching a crew of 5 persons to an altitude of 400 km before 2010 So little money lost here so far
A second project which can be realized within the near future is a fixed residence on the Moon As said Langley
occupies itself with the design of such a base which partly should be build below the surface Stamp
designers have already realized the idea
What does the future hold Although we are a long way away from the kind of space station by which a large amount of earth inhabitants can
leave the planet Earth forever the first steps for doing
so are in preparation With the development of their Space Hotel Bigelow tries to make the step to space
albeit a temporary one
Also Langley literally tries to set foot on the Moon and
finally they will succeed in doing so However The cost of such projects are literally astronomical and it is not
expected that in the coming decades much money can be allocated to such projects
Of course in some thousands of years (possibly only in
hundreds of years) this will become the case but for the
time being in my opinion the true conquest of space will stay as science-fiction for at least a few hundred years
Hoorn 2009
John Beenen
NB The stamps entitled lsquoSpace Cityrsquo with a value of 0 cnt do not exist but have been made by the author by means of frames and pictures present at the Internet
Fantasy Moon
b a s e M a n a -ma1970 WB 122
Fantasy bases
ready for Mars
YAR 1971 WB 2892 and 6
Fantasy Modular
base YAR 169 WB 233
39
ORBIT
Cover Below bottom right Future space Dutch Antilles 2000
Literature references (for both parts of article) httpenwikipediaorg Space habitat Space Colonization Orbital Colony Space City Space settlement Space stations L5 Society Bernal Sphere Stanford Torus OrsquoNeil Cylinder Inflatable Space Habitat Transhab Biosphere 2 Generation Ship wwwdsenl~hklruimtehtm Wonen op groene eilanden in de Ruimte (Dutch Living on green Islands in Space) Henry Kluytmans wwworionsarmcom McKendree Cylinder Bishops Ring wwwnasnasagovAboutEducationSpaceSettlement The Colonization of Space wwwdyarstraightscommsgundamhabitatshtml Mobile Suit Gundam High Frontier Life in the Universal Century Developing sound habitats wwwartificial-gravitycomDissertation1_2htm From Tsiolkovsky to Sputnik (1878-1957) httpsciencenasagovheadlinesy2000ast26may_1mhtm Wheels in the Sky httpdiscaircraftgreyfalconus Hermann Noordung Wohnrad (Wheel for Habitation) httparticlesadsabsharvardedufull1992lbsaconf249R Inflatable habitation for the lunar base MRoberts httphistorynasagovSP-4308ch9htm lsquoAs inevitable as the Rising Sunrsquo From the inflatable Torus to the Rotating Hexagon wwwspacecomnewsbusinessmonday_040524html Bigelow Aerospace to tackle inflatable Space Habitats httpsciencehowstuffsworkcominflatable-spacecraft2htm How Inflatable Spacecraft Will Work wwwbogancaphysicscoriolishtml Rotating Space Stations Dynamics An Explanation of the Coriolis Force httpdemonstrationswolframcomRotatingSpaceStation Rotating Space Station wwwdvandomcomcoliolisspacestationhtml Frame Effects and Space Stations wwwdvandomcomcoriolisindexhtml A (hopefully) simple explanation of the Coriolis Force wwwdaviddarlinginfoencyclopedia Hale Edward Everett von Pirquet Guido Noordung Hermann Space Station wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm The Coriolis Force wwwastronautixcomcraftfamlunbaseshtm Lunar bases wwwastronautixcomgallerycspebasehtm Photo Gallery Space base wwwregererating-universeorgOn_Moon_as_Space_Basehtm On Moon as Space Base wwwspacefuturecomhabitatlivingshtml Space Habitat Introduction Living in Space wwwspacepagebevideotaak=bekijkampid=47 Living in space (Video) wwwnutricomspace The Case for Space colonization ndash Now Oscar Falconi wwwxentcompipermailfork (FoRK) Bigelowrsquos inflatable Genesis I satellite in orbit wwwrussianforcesorg Russian strategic nuclear forces (Genesis II) wwwbigelowaerospacecomgenesis Genesis I Genesis II
Thanks to Alan Tunnicliffe who came across the attached news item
complete with stamp in the eNZ Magazine the bi-monthly journal of
the Institution of Professional Engineers NZ Inc Vol 11 No 3 May-
June 2010
Vaccari Auction Sells Remarkable Space Covers April 2010
Apollo 12 cover 55 of 87 flown to the moon on Apollo 15 having been left behind by the original crew sold for euro12200 1977 Salyut
6 Soyuz 27 cover sold for euro1600
40
ORBIT ORBIT
Shuttle 1981mdash2010 Stamps Marshall
Islands 2005
United Nations 2007 Monaco and Ascension 2008
Bulgaria 1991 including stamp from souvenir sheet
USA 1981
below USA 1995 and bottom USA 1998
(two values)
St Vincent Grenadines 1983
Ascension 1989
Bulgaria 1990
and above right W Germany 1975
and USA 2000 Guyana 2006
USA 1995
41
ASSS Membership Renewal 2010
Memberrsquos Name amp Addresshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
I wish to renew my membership of the ASSS for a further year and enclose the equivalent of
pound15 (UK) euro30 (Europe) $US 45 (Rest of the World)
Please return this form with your remittance to Harvey Duncan by the
end of July Thank you
Harvey Duncan Treasurer ASSS 16 Begg Avenue
Falkirk Scotland FK1 2DL
PayPal For details of how to Pay via Paypal
please email Jeff Dugdale Email address on Page 2
42
43
44
25
ORBIT
The Apollo 15 Cover Scandal by Umberto Cavallaro
In a feature which first appeared in the April-June 2010 issue of Ad Astra the web journal of the Italian Astrophilatelic Association its editor reveals in considerable detail the full story of those covers which today sell for so much money The Apollo 15 flown covers are among the best known
collectibles from the Apollo Era mainly because of what Jim Irwin recalls as ldquothe problem we brought
back from the Moonrdquo
The crew of Apollo 15 carried out one of the most complete scientific explorations of the Moon the first
lunar roving vehicle was operated on the Moon to
extend the range of exploration some 180 pounds of lunar surface samples were returned for analysis Yet
Fifteen is best remembered as the crew that carried envelopes to the moon and the whole mission is
remembered for the ldquogreat postal caperrdquo
Apollo 15 was not the first mission to carry covers
dozens were carried on each flight from Apollo 11 onwards and as Commander Dave Scott recalls in his
book the whole business had probably been building since Mercury through Gemini and into Apollo People
had a fascination with objects that had been carried in space and they became more and more popular and
valuable as the programme progressed Right from
the start of the Mercury programme each astronaut had been allowed to carry on board a certain number
of personal items
NASA was in the habit of authorizing astronauts to
carry certain personal items on manned flights known as Astronautsrsquo PPK (Personal Preference Kits) All such
items had to be listed and approved by Deke Slayton the Head of the Astronaut Office prior to launch and
were intended for private use or as personal gifts
after the flight and could not be employed for commercial
Fig 1 The official USPS cover postmarked on the Moon
purposes or personal gain Astronaut kits typically
included badges jewellery coins medals flags stamps postal covers currency printed materials and
similar easily packed lightweight mementoes As the flight became more significant the number and type of
items increased
Aside from personal mementoes each crew had
carried medallions whose number had grown steadily on each mission In his book The All-American Boys astronaut Walter Cunningham reveals that it was rumoured around the Astronaut Office that Apollo 14
carried on board a personal package weighing forty-
two pounds Before that flight the Franklin Mint had even advertised the proposed sale After the flight the
commercial deal was never completed and all went quiet nothing about it being published in the media
But some members of the US Congress were unhappy
of the situation
In that context the ldquolapses of judgmentrdquo of the Apollo 15 crew became fatal Dave Scott went too far
carrying on board a total of 641 postal covers (including the two official covers) of which only 243
were listed and authorized before the flight and 398
were not -- secretly carried on board Apollo 15 by Scott in a pocket of his space suit Had they been
listed as being in Scotts PPK they would probably have been routinely approved for inclusion in the
preference kit
The 243 listed and authorized covers include
bull 2 official US Postal Service covers one of which the ldquoOfficial Coverrdquo was publicly cancelled on the
moon by Scott at the request of the US Postal
Service 10 (Fig 1) bull 1 Wright Brothers commemorative cover dated
1928 and autographed by Orville Wright which was carried by Worden for a friend
bull 1 cover bearing a First Man on the Moon stamp and a Bliss Centennial three-cent stamp carried by
Irwin for Barbara Baker (Fig 2 below)
26
ORBIT
8 Shamrock covers carried by Irwin (as below)
144 Herrickrsquos ldquoMoon Phasesrdquo covers carried by Worden
(Fig 4) printed with a cachet showing 15 phases of the moon On the USS Okinawa the Apollo 15 recovery ship
the astronauts placed two eight-cent stamps purchased
on board by Worden on each of these covers and they had the covers cancelled by the shipboard post office
The astronauts later autographed these covers while flying back from Hawaii to Houston Sixteen covers were
torn or damaged and were destroyed Because of the furore created by the Apollo 15 covers incident NASA
confiscated 61 of these 144 Moon Phases covers
87 Apollo 12 covers (Fig 5) that for unknown reason
did not fly on that mission and which were carried on
Apollo 15 for Mrs Barbara Gordon a stamp collector then wife of Richard Gordon Apollo 12 astronaut who
at was the back-up pilot for Apollo 15
The 398 unauthorized covers (initially there were
400 but 2 were damaged and discarded) are lightweight envelopes carrying as a cachet a replica
of the official Apollo 15 patch overprinted with an Air Force wing and propeller emblem
The idea of these additional covers was suggested during a cocktail party by Eiermann a salesman for
the heat-shield contractor who had frequent business and social contacts with NASA personnel and
astronauts He suggested to fly 400 lightweight covers 100 for each of the astronauts and 100 for
his friend Sieger the German stamp dealer The
cacheted covers were provided by Al Bishop a friend of many astronauts then at the Howard
Hughes organization He had already provided covers for the previous flights since Apollo 12
Above one of the 100 Sieger covers with the handwritten note ldquoLanded at Hadley Moon July 30 1971 On the
reverse is a typed and notarised inscription ldquoThis is to certify that this cover was on board the Falcon at the Hadley-
Apennine Moon July 30 ndashAug 2 1971rdquo
Below one of the 298 unauthorised covers carried to the Moon by David Scott with the inscription ldquoThis envelope was
carried to the Moon aboard the Apollo 15 of 300 to the Lunar Surface in LMrdquoFalconrdquo
The crews usually returned to Bishop a couple of
flown covers signed with gratitude ldquoTo my
knowledge ndash Cunningham reports in his well documented book ndash Bishop never sold any and never
made a dime off his relationship He was simply a fan To Al Bishop Apollo 15 was no different from any
other flight except for a phone call he received from
Hal Collins the Astronaut Office manager at the Cape
27
ORBIT
Collins told Bishop that the crew would like to know
whether he could obtain some very lightweight envelopes for them Al said that hed be happy to do so
He was unaware then that many of them would be smuggled on board the next lunar flight Al was trusted
Thats why many of us imposed on him with our
problems special requests and sometimes matters which we would rather not share with NASArdquo
This time Al was badly used he emerged as a
scapegoat and his name was dragged as though he was the Mr Big of an international stamp conspiracy
The covers were cancelled at Kennedy Space Center
several days before July 26 1971 The date of the post office machine canceller was moved forward
Additionally twin eight-cent stamps were purchased by the astronauts on the USS Okinawa the Apollo 15
recovery ship and affixed to these covers ndash as for the
Herrickrsquos covers In the shipboard post office the covers were then cancelled and date-stamped August 7 1971
The astronauts finally autographed these covers while flying from Hawaii to Houston
Soon after the flight the astronauts gave Eiermann
the 100 covers ndash after agreeing that there was to be
no commercialization or advertising of these covers and that nothing would be done with them until after
completion of the Apollo programme
But after a while news started to circulate that the
German dealer was selling in Europe covers flown on Apollo 15 for a reported average of US $1500 each
The reports infuriated Congress not least because congressmen had to read such controversial
information in the press before being informed by
NASA which is obligated to keep Congress fully informed of its activity Recollection of the Apollo 14
medallions incident must have echoed in the minds of certain members of Congress many of whom were
not fans of NASA anyway NASA started an internal investigation This was the most controversial
development of the Apollo Programme and although
most astronauts were involved to some degree NASA made an example of the Apollo 15 flight crew ldquoIt
was turning into a witch-huntrdquo recalled Scott ldquoOur bosses had abrogated their responsibilities and we
were left alone on a very wet dayrdquo
It is ironic that after addressing a joint session of
Congress as heroes in less that one year the three astronauts of Apollo 15 had to go back in front of these
same senators in disgrace because of this envelope scandal
After this ldquoincidentrdquo NASA prohibited from Apollo 17 on the flying of covers or stamps during a space
missions (they were not on time to block the covers carried on Apollo 16) The only exceptions have been
since then the items flown in cooperation with the US
Postal Service ie the 266000 covers carried in 1983 in
the payload bay of the Space Shuttle Challenger on
STS-8 and the 500000 $995 Express Mail stamp created by Paul and Chris Calle in 1994 flown on
Endeavour STS-68 in recognition of the 25th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing The huge
number of such items carried in space discourages
speculations and these items still are widely available for few dollars
So far fewer than 1000 envelopes in total have flown
to the Moon No other American covers will flow to the Moon in the foreseeable future Perhaps the next
ldquoMoon coversrdquo will bear Chinese or Indian stamps
Dave Scott was the first lunar Postmaster and had two
postmarks with him and two covers with imperforated dieproof of the US twin Decade of Space Achievements
stamps affixed (Fig 1)
He had one postmark with ldquoMoon Landing USArdquo (Fig 8 below) and another with ldquoUnited States on the
Moonrdquo (Fig 9 bottom)
The First Lunar Post Office was opened on August 2 1971 when David Scott postmarked only the official
cover (and brought back the official backup-cover uncancelled) A handful covers had however been
postmarked before launch with both postmarks Dr Matthew Radnofsky ndash who in his laboratory already
had simulated cancelling in space for Apollo 11 ndash
tested both postmarks to ensure that the cancellation devices were in working order
Especially the date could be changed easily Contrary
to Apollo 11 covers without stamps were used for
28
ORBIT
these tests Apollo 15 Lunar Cancellation Proofs are
much scarcer than Apollo 11 ones ldquoAs by now I am aware of only 17 itemsrdquo states famous astrophilatelist
Walter Hopferwieser Covers with proofs of the Apollo 15 moon postmarks have been recently sold at Regency
Superior and Aurora auctions
The official Apollo 15 cover postmarked on the Moon
(see Fig 1 repeated above ) is displayed at the US National Postal Museum It was publicly cancelled and
the video can be seen at httpwwwpostalmuseumsiedustampstakeflight
apollo15video-01html A short speech was given by
Dave Scott while cancelling the cover ldquoTo show that our good Postal Service has deliveries any place in the
universe I have the pleasant task of cancelling here on the Moon the first stamp of a new issue dedicated to
commemorate US achievements in space I have the
first one here on an envelope At the bottom it says United States in Space a decade of achievement and
Im very proud to have the opportunity here to play postman I pull out a cancellation device It says
August 2 1971 first day of issuehellip What could be a
better place to cancel this stamp than right here at Hadley Rillehelliprdquo
Immediately thereafter the Postmaster General who
was waiting at the Mission Control at Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston Texas gave the signal to start the
First- Day cancellations at post offices in Houston
Kennedy Space Center and Huntsville
Acknowledgement Thanks to Walter Hopferwieser for his comments
Some Notes About Space Mail
Commenting on Brian Vincentrsquos article in the June
2010 Orbit ASSS member Geoff Chivers writes in an
email to your Editorhellip Im sure you wont mind me commenting on Brian G Vincents Some Notes About Space Mail (page 36)
In paragraph 2 he refers to the Apollo 15 cover incident leaving the impression that Scott Worden and Irwin were guilty of some heinous crime This has been the subject of much miss-reporting over the years The full story of what actually happened is explained in depth at page 328 et seq of Two sides of the moon by David Scott and Alexei Leonov published by Simon amp Shuster The astronauts were of course exonerated
This is the quote (slightly edited to enable it to stand as an independent piece)-
During 1972 while on a trip to Washington DC George Low NASA deputy administrator asked me to stop by his
office writes David Scott I had known George in Houston while he was Apollo spacecraft programme manager and I had great respect for him We spent a short while exchanging pleasantries Then George looked me in the eye and came to the point ldquoWell Daverdquo he said ldquoI have to tell you I was not very proud of my performancerdquo His comment was the culmination of what had become known as the Apollo 15 ldquocover incidentrdquo This involved some first day postal covers which we had carried aboard Apollo 15 some of which were unfortunately sold by a German stamp dealer several months after the flight As No 2 in NASA George
had been heavily involved in NASAs handling of the incident and his comment referred to one of the poorest management performances the space agency had ever demonstrated - up to then The whole business had probably been building since Mercury through Gemini and into Apollo People had a fascination with objects that had been carried in space and they became more and more popular and valuable as the programme progressed Right from the start of the Mercury programme each astronaut had been allowed to carry on board a certain number of personal items in what were known as PPKS - Personal Preference Kits Before each flight a list of the items was prepared for Deke Slayton who
Two Sides of The Moon
by David Scott and Alexei Leonov
The text opposite from the
above book has been
referred to by Umberto Cavallaro in preparing his
above piece
29
ORBIT
had overall responsibility for approving them As the flights became more significant the number and type of items increased Aside from personal mementoes each crew had carried a certain number of medallions which they could hand out afterwards as souvenirs The number of medallions had grown steadily on each mission - eventually some crew members had been carrying several hundred each and their weight was becoming a concern And as always commercialisation began to creep in In the end on Apollo 14 commanded by Al Shepard it was alleged that the crew had carried some silver medallions on board which were to be melted down after the flight and mixed with many other commemorative medallions by the Franklin Mint to be sold to the general public The Franklin Mint had even advertised the proposed sale before the flight After the flight the deal was never consummated and all went quiet nothing about it was printed in the media But some members of Congress had heard about it and were unhappy with the situation Since we were busy training for Apollo 15 (launched 26 July 1971) we knew nothing about all this Had we known we would have been far more wary of what happened subsequently All we knew was that Deke Slayton had halved the number of medallions we could carry Shortly afterwards Deke introduced Jim (Irwin) Al (Worden) and me to a long-standing friend of his at the Cape called Walter Eiermann In retrospect this seems likely to have been more than a coincidence Deke invited us to join him at dinner at Eiermanns house one evening several months before the Apollo 15 launch Eiermann asked if we would like to make some money on the side by signing some stamps ldquoAll the guys are doing itrdquo he said We agreed We were also approached by several members of the Manned Spacecraft Centerrsquos stamp club who asked us to sign many first - day covers before the flight for their members as well as for ourselves At that time we could not buy life insurance If we signed some covers we reasoned they could be held during the flight and act as limited life insurance for our families if anything happened to us But then Eiermann proposed we carry four hundred lightweight commemorative covers a hundred of which would be passed on to a stamp dealer in Germany when we returned All the covers would be franked on the day of launch and franked on the day of our return Our understanding was that the dealer would hold his hundred covers to be sold at some future date after the Apollo programme was over In return he would set up a $6000 trust fund for each of us for the education of our children In the months of intense activity before the flight we did not give this more than a moment of thought But we agreed In retrospect we made a mistake in even considering it In the months following our mission we learnt that the German dealer had begun to sell the covers We let Eiermann know that we were opposed to the sale Forget the trust funds we said we dont want any money This is not what we had understood would happen But when senior managers at NASA learnt about the covers being sold they were furious Incomplete information was then provided to the press by NASArsquos Public Affairs Office and reports started to appear that we had smuggled the covers onto our flight This was literally impossible NASA personnel prepared us for every aspect of the flight - from our birthday suits out Everything we had carried had to be specially packaged by the flight support crew to make sure apart from anything else
that it was fireproof Everything in our PPKs was on a list which was certified before launch I was never aware of any rules about what could or could not be taken in these packs Slayton was to approve the list so as far as I was concerned it was up to management to keep us on the straight and narrow I assumed if the list was approved that was fine Usually the list was certified by Deke But before our flight for some reason he neither asked us personally for each of our lists as was customary nor signed off on the list personally He said the flight - crew support team had already logged everything Whereas we had purchased the covers ourselves the Astronaut Office at the Cape had prepared the covers for the flight and had had them stamped and franked on the day of launch Somehow however the support team had missed them when they prepared the PPK flight manifest It was also reported after the incident that we had been removed from the astronaut corps Again totally untrue Unfortunately NASA managers did nothing to dispel this false and misleading information They just tucked their heads in and let the rumours run The reports infuriated Congress not least because congressmen had to read such controversial information in the press before being informed by NASA which is obligated to keep Congress fully informed of its activities Recollections of the Apollo 14 medallion incident must have seeped into the minds of certain members of Congress many of whom were not fans of NASA anyway When NASA started an internal investigation we were told by a senior official in the agency that we were on our own We were advised to get our own legal representation A Senate hearing into the matter had been called and a justice Department investigation would follow It was turning into a witch - hunt NASA we were advised expected us to keep quiet and take the Fifth Amendment at this hearing We did not We told it like it was We had nothing to hide Eventually the Justice Department concluded that we had broken some administrative rules but had done nothing criminal NASA confiscated the remaining covers but they acted before discovering all the facts of the case Following an investigation by NASA the Justice Department and the Senate the Justice Department concluded on 6 December 1978 in a ldquoMemorandum Opinion for the Assistant Attorney Generalrdquo that NASA had no claim to the remaining covers that the covers were never intended for sale that there was no attempt at concealment by the crew of the fact that the covers were to be flown on Apollo 15 and finally that the covers would have been approved to carry aboard Apollo 15 had a request been made We were reprimanded and we took our licks But it was a very raw deal NASA had hung us out to dry Our bosses had abrogated their responsibilities and we were left alone on a very wet day I spent many years trying to get full access to NASA and congressional records on the case NASA refused to provide full disclosure We subsequently found out there had been rumblings about profitmdashmaking on previous missions A copy of a letter was released to me in which NASA admitted that ten other astronauts who were not identified had been involved in selling signed blocks of stamps and postcards for Eiermann But the wave reached the shore on Apollo 15 and we were the ones who bore the brunt of the blame for such incidents
30
ORBIT
Buckingham Cover offer Free Souvenirs for You
Brian Austin of Buckinghamrsquos Rare Cover Department writes to your Editorhellip
Over the last two or three years we have been dealing more and more in signed space covers This led us to earlier this year buying an Apollo 11 crew signed cover which had been carried to the moon which we had on display on our stand at London 2010
For this we also printed a limited edition of 800 sets of postcards one featuring the Apollo 11 cover and another
featuring an Apollo 15 cover The idea was to give away 100 sets per day to customers at the show but now the show is all finished I still have around 150 pairs left on my desk
We wondered if you would like to offer them to your readers we are happy to send them out free of charge to the first 150 readers to contact us with their details as long as we can also include one of our lists of space
covers
BrianAustinbuckinghamcoverscom
31
ORBIT
More About Missile Mail
Harvey Duncan told us in the last Orbit (page 15) about the First Official Missile Mail writes Bert van Eijck After the useful technical details about the USS Barbero he gave us I can offer you more philatelic information and show you some illustrations The missile mail experiment was a joint venture between
the Ministry of Defense and the US Post Office Dept headed by Postmaster General Mr Arthur E
Summerfield Three thousand special envelopes were printed with a reproduction of a Navy missile type
Regulus with the text ldquoFirst Official Missile Mailrdquo and above that ldquoThe Postmaster General Washingtonrdquo All
the envelopes were addressed to The President high
government officials like senators and to the Post Masters General of ninety nine other member nations of
UPU Inside was a letter from Mr Summerfield entitled ldquoThe First Official Missile Mailrdquo with the official seal of
the Post Office dept It was explained therein what had
happed to that letter and the other 2999
The special letters were loaded in two metal compartments and came aboard the guided missile USS Barbero (SSG-317) The shot was to occur during a regular training mission from Norfolk Virginia to Florida
About 350 kilometres off the coast of Florida the
Regulus missile was launched toward Airport Mayport
The missile climbed 10 km above the Atlantic and
landed within twenty minutes with all the letters intact The letters were cancelled with the hand stamp ldquoUSS
Barberordquo with the date ldquoJun 8 1959rdquo and the approximate timing of the launching ldquo930 amrdquo This
was done by post office staff part of an established
branch office on the USS Barbero The letters bore the 1957 4c American flag postage stamp Those
addressed to foreign countries carried two such stamps covering surface mail postage costs On the
reverse side is the Jacksonville Post Office cancellation with the approximate time of arrival ldquoJune 8 1030 am
1959 Floridardquo
Such flown letters are expensive to buy and a jewel in
any exhibit
But this is NOT the case with the Barbero souvenir
cover dated a month later on July 8 1959 issued in the same quantity (3000) as the originals The
inscription reads ldquoPoint of LandingmdashFirst Official Missile Mail 8 June 1959 US Naval Station Mayport Floridardquo
About 16000 () collectors had applied for such a cover
The imprint of the official Barbero cover was reproduced on a memorial cover issued and posted at
the Vienna International Airpost Exhibition Luposta on August 1959 in the Austrian capital Of course neither
of these items had been carried within the Regulus
missile
Also of interest the Postal Administration of
Paraguay issued a stamp
and a block in 1976 honouring the Barbero
Missile Mail The Gs 20 stamp shows a Regulus
missile in flight while the sheet shows the whole
addressed cover and in
miniature the complete letter inside from the US Postmaster General
as mentioned above and as illustrated below
Above a specimen envelope as described in the text and below its reverse cancel
32
ORBIT
An Invitation to Our Readers to Donate to an Innovative International Projecthellip
Kindest Sir or Madam
The municipality of Vitanje
(Slovenia) is honoured to have had a hand in the life of the
famous space architect Herman Potocnik Noordung
(1892-1929) (pictured right) who had already found a
surprising number of solutions
to space travel and troubles of living in vacuum long before
actual space flights took place His creations were used by the
renowned novelist Arthur C Clarke
in his book 2001 A Space Odyssey which was later also turned into a
movie directed by Stanley Kubrick In Noordungs honour we have
created the Memorial Centre of Herman Potocnik Noordung This
year the cultural centre of European
space technology will also get going in Vitanje This will be a place
where the European space heritage will be gathered and various events connected with the
contemporary European space technologies will be
organized
Proposed Philatelic Collection We would like to bring the project onto a higher level
where we would have the collaboration of various
countries in the world including such with a history in space travel (like USA Russia) One of the steps of this
expansion process would also include a philatelic collection of stamps with themes of outer space
(astronomy astronautics and everything connected to
outer space) We already have quite a decent collection but we would like to expand on that
Our goal is to have 6000 stamps before opening our
exhibition For this we would require the help of as many philatelists as possible
All of these philatelists would become co-creators and partners of this collection for which we hope will
become the largest collection of its kind in the world The people donating the stamps would get a great deal
of exposure at all these exhibitions and on the special
website which will be started shortly If you give us enough support and we are able to raise enough
stamps for a first-class collection we hope the first
exhibitions and various special events (like visits from
astronauts ndash philatelists) will see the light of day as early as in 2011
From a professional point of view we have an
excellent team working with us Long-time philatelist
Tone Petek is the person who initiated this project while Bojan Bracic the secretary of FEPA is one of our
counsellors and is completely behind this project
If you would be interested in such cooperation I will get the wheels in motion and send you a verifying
mail with the stamp of the municipality of Vitanje and
also of some higher organization within the Slovene political system
The collection is already underway with the help of the
Slovene Philatelic organisation (FZS) adds Rok in an email to your Editor in July This organisation has been of immense help with technical expertise and
connections It looks as if there might be an introductory exhibition next year sometime
In the hope of a successful partnership we offer our
sincere appreciation
Rok Podgrajsek
Obcina Vitanje Grajski trg 1
3205 Vitanje
Slovenia
Email address rokpodgrajsekgmailcom
But see also website httpwwwvitanjesi
(Editorrsquos Note both Wendy Buckle editor of
Themescene and our Chairman Margaret Morris commend this project to you We will be sending Rok
some recent copies of Orbit for the displays)
Some illustrations from Noordungrsquos only published text ldquoThe Problem of
Space Travel The Rocket Motorrdquo (the original German title
was ldquoDas Problem der Befahrung
des Weltraums - der Raketen-Motorrdquo) which saw the light of day
in 1928
Vitanje Local Private Post stamp
33
ORBIT
Zazzle Space Stamps Dazzle
I have noticed Zazzle Space Stamps appearing in Lollini brochures and on their web pages in recent months writes your Editor so I undertook to find out some facts about them and am grateful to The Astrophile Editor Jim Roth and the man who inspired him to create his own Zazzle designs Otto Bergman for the following infohellip Zazzle is one of half a dozen or more US companies
who facilitate the printing of non-copyrighted photos and artwork on private postage stamps which count
as postage within and outwith the USA You can
design your own Zazzle stampsmdashsee their websitemdashwhich you then purchase for your own use 20 to a
page
They are therefore a bit like British Smilers except
that the personal element of the stamp is not on a se-tenant label but actually incorporated within the
stamp itself as you can see from the examples on this page
Jim Roth was annoyed that the Kennedy Space Center Post office would not cancel his Zazzle stamps as they
consider them to be ldquometersrdquo and although he has marked STS-122 he wonrsquot be creating any others
You can see (and buy) all Jim Rothrsquos Space Zazzles on
his website m57coverscommdashclick on ldquostampsrdquo
Three of Jim Rothrsquos designs
See others on his website
An Otto Bergman space creation on
Zazzlecomottobergman
These space Zazzles and others are
available from the Lollini website or brochures
STS 128 in May 2010 section
STS 129 in June 2010
WISE and Delta 2 launch in July 2010 STS 130 in August 2010
STS 128 stamps show astronauts Christer Fuglesang (far left) and left Frank De Winne ISS Commander Expedition 21 STS 129 issues depict mission
patch and the crew led by Charles Hobaugh
Delta 2 rocket launch from Cape Canaveral of WISE Deep InfraRed telescope
34
ORBIT
Concluded on page 39
More Spaceflight Books for Sale
35
ORBIT ORBIT
SPACE HABITATS (Part Two) by John Beenen Continuing his feature from our last issue John Beenen begins by posing the questionhellip Why Should we Seek to Live
in Space
Spacecom gives ten main reasons why we should enter space for a prolonged
period
1 To secure a future for humanity
2 To build a new frontier
3 To find new energy sources
4 To build an industrial settlement on
the Moon
5 Better quality images of the
Universe
6 The SETI effort
7 Mining
8 Learning the history of our
Universe
9 Environmental benefits
Meeting the challenge
Taking for granted that it is naturally fascinating to investigate how mankind
might be able to maintain its habitat outside earth there are several further reasons to investigate why
mankind should settle themselves outside earth in the far future And More reasons mean a overall better
argument
Primarily there is the question of overpopulation and
secondly a solution for the energy problem
Next we have to consider that climate circumstances
are not under control anymore and earth eventually becomes uninhabitable
Also when for various reasons we start to kill each
other for some groups of people it may be an attractive proposition to depart this Earth in quite a different
sense And that is perhaps the most common thought
through activities in space more money can be obtained
But there are disadvantageshellip
On the other hand a prolonged stay in space is not that safe The construction must be protected against
radiation and it can be hit by large and small debris which makes space a very unsafe place
Furthermore cosmic radiation produces
a radiation of 80 mSv (millisievert) - well over the allowed maximum of 50
mSv and very much over the amount which is considered as safe for man
which is 3 mSv
Next solar flares produce a sudden
increase of soft gamma and energy rich radiation so much that without the
protection of an atmosphere half of our population could die easily
It is interesting that even without shielding most of this radiation can be
absorbed in the projected spacecraftsrsquo structure and in the air Smaller
structures can be protected with a
shield of co-rotating rocks
The construction further must be protected against sunlight which by
lack of the air shield will fall in unshielded so sun blinds and radiators
are indispensable
And as a result of the artificial gravity
there are some tiny movement problems which we will face later
Finally the created ecosystem should be fully self-supporting and that is easier said than done as
experiments with Biosphere-2 have showed
Biosphere-2 Biosphere-2 was a project built between 1987 and 1991 providing in an area of about 2frac12 football fields
a closed biological system of different composition From 1991-1993 a crew of 8 persons stayed herein A
second crew of 7 persons bridged a period of March
until September 1994 During the first period it appeared difficult to keep the atmosphere constant in
particular the carbon dioxide values changed rapidlymdashthe reason why many of the carried insects perished
Further the oxygen level decreased slowly because pf a leak
Even during the first two-year phase large differences in opinion appeared and the yield was not large
enough to deliver the calories necessary Reserve stocks had to be broken into Finally the second
experiment had to be ended prematurely because of
mismanagement
However it seems that a well-functioning stable ecosystem should not be underestimated physically
not technically
Artists impressions above Interior Stanford Torus and below Interior
OrsquoNeill Cylinder
Solar flares Czechoslovakia 1965 WB 47
36
ORBIT
It further has to be speculated on that men would resist
a regulated weather programme instead of the customary ever changing circumstances on Earth
Also we must physically resist an eternal stay outside
Earth That is not always easy as some people will show
some kind of sea sickness for ever In any case rooms with a diameter of less than 100 meters and a speed of
revolution over three per minute are insufficient At specifications of over 500 m and at less than 1 revolution
per minute fewer problems have to be expected
How do we get raw materials (Fantasy Moon Mining Yemen
Mutawakelite 1969 1343)
And still there have to be enough raw materials to sustain the
colony but as a principle the
search for raw materials is not the most difficult
From the asteroid belt enough small rocks can be
transported as a building material Also mines can be put
on the Moon Bercause of the lower gravity there transport is easier and some kind of firing mechanism
has been calculated which launch packets of ore simply into space where they can be manipulated
Air can be produced from moonstone Nitrogen nearly without loss can be recycled and eventually added to
ammonia mined from comets Large gardens and fields should start the normal photosynthesis and doing so
finally a complete sustainable society might be built up Energy from the Sun is present in superfluous quantities
What to do about gravity Most designs for a Space station start with a gravity of
1G Some designers however think that a lower level of gravity is possible But in the meantime experiments
with astronauts have showed that our physiology
changes rapidly influenced by decreased or absence of gravity Thus the calcium potassium and sodium
contents of our bone system decrease by about 10 That is not bad were we to stay in space forever but
very troublesome when occasionally we would return to
Earth
Also the quality of our muscles decreases as the blood volume does Providing effects comparable to aging
Further by lack of gravity astronauts become a little
taller with accompanying pain in the back Hence the staying with 1G gravity is not so bad
That has to be maintained by rotation of the
construction The larger the diameter of the construction is the slower it will turn to provide 1 G That is a result
of the centrifugal or centripetal force Its
magnitude has long been established thanks to the work of Dutchman Christiaan Huygens and fixed in
the formula
m v2
F = r where
F = the external force in N(ewton) m = mass in kg
v = speed in msec r = radius in m
Hence a spacecraft with a diameter of 15 meters has to carry out one revolution every 8 seconds to
produce a sensation of 1G And that is too quick for man The effect of the centrifugal force is that should
an astronaut drop an object it does not fall straight
down but partly away from himher Weird
Coriolis force But in a rotating Space station another force is at
work That is the lsquoCoriolis forcersquo named after the
French Gustave-Gaspard Coriolis (1792-1843) who described this kind of force for the first time
The most common manifestation is the second law of
Buys Ballot which says that air streams in the
atmosphere which according the first law of Boys Ballot as a principle run from high to low pressure at
the northern hemisphere are bent to the right and at the southern hemisphere to the left because of the
rotation of the Earth
Therefore air streams around depressions show a
spiral shape in opposite directions at the northern and southern hemisphere In a space station this
force can especially noticed when moving around through the spokes of the wheel
(Diagram of Coriolis F o r c e h t t p
wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm)
A s s u m e t h a t a n
astronaut on a ladder
climbs through a spoke to the axis As he climbs
along he circles around more slowly as he
describes a smaller circle
in the same time What happens with the difference in speed that he had before He will be pressed
against the ladder and that is the Coriolis force The force also acts in opposite direction when he
descends from the ladder
Also the throwing up and catching of a ball will
become a huge achievement as the ball does not
37
ORBIT
drop perpendicularly but will shift a little into the
direction of the orbit of the station and also achieves a higher speed
This also has strange effects on the astronaut As moves
quickly in the rotation direction of the station his weight
appears to increase to a noteworthy extent Then as he moves against the speed of rotation his weight
decreases apparently Mathematically this effect is explainable but very complex
Also the astronautrsquos head and feet move in different
speed to artificial gravity This is plainly noticeable when
somebody jumps up Hence avoid this practice
With these kind of effects adaptation to the changed circumstances in a space station will ask a lot of the
crew members I do hope they can stand it But in any
case the larger the space ship the lesser the problems
Inflatable stations
But therersquos more The inflatable station was considered
many years ago The first i d e a w a s p o s s i b l y
developed when on 12th August 1960 the Echo
balloon with a diameter of
30 meters was launched (Echo I balloon USA 1960
WB 3)
It is true you could not live in it as the balloon was of too frail a construction but the idea of an inflatable
spacecraft was then alive By 1958 groups within NASA
had begun to think about inflatable stations The Goett-committee has been one of the first On 25th26th May
1959 a conference started about projects after
Mercury In particular the
representative of Langley L a r r y Lo f t i n wa s
enthusiastic about his AMIS (Advanced Man in
Space) project (Hexagonal structure
Manama 1970 WB 113)
One of his first projects was a rotating hexagonal
inflatable construction with a diameter of 25 meters a cylindrical core and three lsquospokesrsquo Acting as a ferry to
and from the station the lsquoDyna Soarrsquo Space plane could
be used The Dyna Soar project (at that time still
under development) was cancelled by the American
Minister of Defense Robert
McNamara Inflatable Habitat NASA
1961 enwikipediaorg)
A Langley Space Station
team managed by Paul Hill and Emanuel lsquoMannyrsquo
Schnitzer developed the concept together with the
G o o d y e a r A i r c r a f t
Corporation
(Langleyrsquos self-inflating rotating hexagonal structure httphistorynasagov
SP-4308) Its original diameter had already been reduced to 10
meters
In the years after Langley built several experimental
modules called lsquoErectable Torus Manned Space Laboratoryrsquo a 11 model built by firms such as
Goodyear The torus was built from three layers of
nylon tissue and in between a rubber-like plastic material butyl elastomer A large problem was the
penetration by micrometeorites which as was learnt from the results of the Echo balloon finally damaged
the whole structure
Another problem was the great instability of the ring
due to movements of the astronauts the station started to wobble when they moved around Finally
the project was cancelled and at the end of the eighties the Langley Research Center started to
design inflatable constructions for a base camp on the
Moon
( A r t i s t imp r e s s i on Transhab inflatable
m o d u l e h t t p
enwikipediaorg)
Due to the development of a new series of
s t r o n g e r p l a s t i c materials such as Kevlar
these construct ions
received new interest That lead to the development of Transhab (Transit Habitat) as a resource for crews
coupled at the ISS (international Space Station) The construction is a cylinder in a diameter of 82 meters
and several storeys high
Its volume in inflatable state is 340 m3 The wall has a
thickness of 30 () cm and consists of 12 layers of which the outside layer is made from Kevlar The
layers beneath are made from Nextel a ceramic fibre Disagreements during development and the spiralling
costs finally in 2000 saw the end of NASArsquos interest
G e n e s i s 1
thespacereviewcom)
From 1999 the project was
taken up by Bigelow
38
ORBIT
Aerospace who improved the design and tested it with
successful launchings of Genesis I on 12 July 2006 and Genesis II on 28 June 2007
In their design it has once again more or less the shape
of a balloon With a thickness of 40 cm the wall is still
very thick The outside layer is still Kevlar but inside are some layers of Vectran a textile fibre Within the
structure ants and scorpions were launched along with some objects which people who paid for the privilege of
boosting into space
In this way Bigelow hopes to build a Space Hotel named
Nautilus To stimulate the development Bigelow offered a price of $50 million to everybody who succeeded in
launching a crew of 5 persons to an altitude of 400 km before 2010 So little money lost here so far
A second project which can be realized within the near future is a fixed residence on the Moon As said Langley
occupies itself with the design of such a base which partly should be build below the surface Stamp
designers have already realized the idea
What does the future hold Although we are a long way away from the kind of space station by which a large amount of earth inhabitants can
leave the planet Earth forever the first steps for doing
so are in preparation With the development of their Space Hotel Bigelow tries to make the step to space
albeit a temporary one
Also Langley literally tries to set foot on the Moon and
finally they will succeed in doing so However The cost of such projects are literally astronomical and it is not
expected that in the coming decades much money can be allocated to such projects
Of course in some thousands of years (possibly only in
hundreds of years) this will become the case but for the
time being in my opinion the true conquest of space will stay as science-fiction for at least a few hundred years
Hoorn 2009
John Beenen
NB The stamps entitled lsquoSpace Cityrsquo with a value of 0 cnt do not exist but have been made by the author by means of frames and pictures present at the Internet
Fantasy Moon
b a s e M a n a -ma1970 WB 122
Fantasy bases
ready for Mars
YAR 1971 WB 2892 and 6
Fantasy Modular
base YAR 169 WB 233
39
ORBIT
Cover Below bottom right Future space Dutch Antilles 2000
Literature references (for both parts of article) httpenwikipediaorg Space habitat Space Colonization Orbital Colony Space City Space settlement Space stations L5 Society Bernal Sphere Stanford Torus OrsquoNeil Cylinder Inflatable Space Habitat Transhab Biosphere 2 Generation Ship wwwdsenl~hklruimtehtm Wonen op groene eilanden in de Ruimte (Dutch Living on green Islands in Space) Henry Kluytmans wwworionsarmcom McKendree Cylinder Bishops Ring wwwnasnasagovAboutEducationSpaceSettlement The Colonization of Space wwwdyarstraightscommsgundamhabitatshtml Mobile Suit Gundam High Frontier Life in the Universal Century Developing sound habitats wwwartificial-gravitycomDissertation1_2htm From Tsiolkovsky to Sputnik (1878-1957) httpsciencenasagovheadlinesy2000ast26may_1mhtm Wheels in the Sky httpdiscaircraftgreyfalconus Hermann Noordung Wohnrad (Wheel for Habitation) httparticlesadsabsharvardedufull1992lbsaconf249R Inflatable habitation for the lunar base MRoberts httphistorynasagovSP-4308ch9htm lsquoAs inevitable as the Rising Sunrsquo From the inflatable Torus to the Rotating Hexagon wwwspacecomnewsbusinessmonday_040524html Bigelow Aerospace to tackle inflatable Space Habitats httpsciencehowstuffsworkcominflatable-spacecraft2htm How Inflatable Spacecraft Will Work wwwbogancaphysicscoriolishtml Rotating Space Stations Dynamics An Explanation of the Coriolis Force httpdemonstrationswolframcomRotatingSpaceStation Rotating Space Station wwwdvandomcomcoliolisspacestationhtml Frame Effects and Space Stations wwwdvandomcomcoriolisindexhtml A (hopefully) simple explanation of the Coriolis Force wwwdaviddarlinginfoencyclopedia Hale Edward Everett von Pirquet Guido Noordung Hermann Space Station wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm The Coriolis Force wwwastronautixcomcraftfamlunbaseshtm Lunar bases wwwastronautixcomgallerycspebasehtm Photo Gallery Space base wwwregererating-universeorgOn_Moon_as_Space_Basehtm On Moon as Space Base wwwspacefuturecomhabitatlivingshtml Space Habitat Introduction Living in Space wwwspacepagebevideotaak=bekijkampid=47 Living in space (Video) wwwnutricomspace The Case for Space colonization ndash Now Oscar Falconi wwwxentcompipermailfork (FoRK) Bigelowrsquos inflatable Genesis I satellite in orbit wwwrussianforcesorg Russian strategic nuclear forces (Genesis II) wwwbigelowaerospacecomgenesis Genesis I Genesis II
Thanks to Alan Tunnicliffe who came across the attached news item
complete with stamp in the eNZ Magazine the bi-monthly journal of
the Institution of Professional Engineers NZ Inc Vol 11 No 3 May-
June 2010
Vaccari Auction Sells Remarkable Space Covers April 2010
Apollo 12 cover 55 of 87 flown to the moon on Apollo 15 having been left behind by the original crew sold for euro12200 1977 Salyut
6 Soyuz 27 cover sold for euro1600
40
ORBIT ORBIT
Shuttle 1981mdash2010 Stamps Marshall
Islands 2005
United Nations 2007 Monaco and Ascension 2008
Bulgaria 1991 including stamp from souvenir sheet
USA 1981
below USA 1995 and bottom USA 1998
(two values)
St Vincent Grenadines 1983
Ascension 1989
Bulgaria 1990
and above right W Germany 1975
and USA 2000 Guyana 2006
USA 1995
41
ASSS Membership Renewal 2010
Memberrsquos Name amp Addresshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
I wish to renew my membership of the ASSS for a further year and enclose the equivalent of
pound15 (UK) euro30 (Europe) $US 45 (Rest of the World)
Please return this form with your remittance to Harvey Duncan by the
end of July Thank you
Harvey Duncan Treasurer ASSS 16 Begg Avenue
Falkirk Scotland FK1 2DL
PayPal For details of how to Pay via Paypal
please email Jeff Dugdale Email address on Page 2
42
43
44
26
ORBIT
8 Shamrock covers carried by Irwin (as below)
144 Herrickrsquos ldquoMoon Phasesrdquo covers carried by Worden
(Fig 4) printed with a cachet showing 15 phases of the moon On the USS Okinawa the Apollo 15 recovery ship
the astronauts placed two eight-cent stamps purchased
on board by Worden on each of these covers and they had the covers cancelled by the shipboard post office
The astronauts later autographed these covers while flying back from Hawaii to Houston Sixteen covers were
torn or damaged and were destroyed Because of the furore created by the Apollo 15 covers incident NASA
confiscated 61 of these 144 Moon Phases covers
87 Apollo 12 covers (Fig 5) that for unknown reason
did not fly on that mission and which were carried on
Apollo 15 for Mrs Barbara Gordon a stamp collector then wife of Richard Gordon Apollo 12 astronaut who
at was the back-up pilot for Apollo 15
The 398 unauthorized covers (initially there were
400 but 2 were damaged and discarded) are lightweight envelopes carrying as a cachet a replica
of the official Apollo 15 patch overprinted with an Air Force wing and propeller emblem
The idea of these additional covers was suggested during a cocktail party by Eiermann a salesman for
the heat-shield contractor who had frequent business and social contacts with NASA personnel and
astronauts He suggested to fly 400 lightweight covers 100 for each of the astronauts and 100 for
his friend Sieger the German stamp dealer The
cacheted covers were provided by Al Bishop a friend of many astronauts then at the Howard
Hughes organization He had already provided covers for the previous flights since Apollo 12
Above one of the 100 Sieger covers with the handwritten note ldquoLanded at Hadley Moon July 30 1971 On the
reverse is a typed and notarised inscription ldquoThis is to certify that this cover was on board the Falcon at the Hadley-
Apennine Moon July 30 ndashAug 2 1971rdquo
Below one of the 298 unauthorised covers carried to the Moon by David Scott with the inscription ldquoThis envelope was
carried to the Moon aboard the Apollo 15 of 300 to the Lunar Surface in LMrdquoFalconrdquo
The crews usually returned to Bishop a couple of
flown covers signed with gratitude ldquoTo my
knowledge ndash Cunningham reports in his well documented book ndash Bishop never sold any and never
made a dime off his relationship He was simply a fan To Al Bishop Apollo 15 was no different from any
other flight except for a phone call he received from
Hal Collins the Astronaut Office manager at the Cape
27
ORBIT
Collins told Bishop that the crew would like to know
whether he could obtain some very lightweight envelopes for them Al said that hed be happy to do so
He was unaware then that many of them would be smuggled on board the next lunar flight Al was trusted
Thats why many of us imposed on him with our
problems special requests and sometimes matters which we would rather not share with NASArdquo
This time Al was badly used he emerged as a
scapegoat and his name was dragged as though he was the Mr Big of an international stamp conspiracy
The covers were cancelled at Kennedy Space Center
several days before July 26 1971 The date of the post office machine canceller was moved forward
Additionally twin eight-cent stamps were purchased by the astronauts on the USS Okinawa the Apollo 15
recovery ship and affixed to these covers ndash as for the
Herrickrsquos covers In the shipboard post office the covers were then cancelled and date-stamped August 7 1971
The astronauts finally autographed these covers while flying from Hawaii to Houston
Soon after the flight the astronauts gave Eiermann
the 100 covers ndash after agreeing that there was to be
no commercialization or advertising of these covers and that nothing would be done with them until after
completion of the Apollo programme
But after a while news started to circulate that the
German dealer was selling in Europe covers flown on Apollo 15 for a reported average of US $1500 each
The reports infuriated Congress not least because congressmen had to read such controversial
information in the press before being informed by
NASA which is obligated to keep Congress fully informed of its activity Recollection of the Apollo 14
medallions incident must have echoed in the minds of certain members of Congress many of whom were
not fans of NASA anyway NASA started an internal investigation This was the most controversial
development of the Apollo Programme and although
most astronauts were involved to some degree NASA made an example of the Apollo 15 flight crew ldquoIt
was turning into a witch-huntrdquo recalled Scott ldquoOur bosses had abrogated their responsibilities and we
were left alone on a very wet dayrdquo
It is ironic that after addressing a joint session of
Congress as heroes in less that one year the three astronauts of Apollo 15 had to go back in front of these
same senators in disgrace because of this envelope scandal
After this ldquoincidentrdquo NASA prohibited from Apollo 17 on the flying of covers or stamps during a space
missions (they were not on time to block the covers carried on Apollo 16) The only exceptions have been
since then the items flown in cooperation with the US
Postal Service ie the 266000 covers carried in 1983 in
the payload bay of the Space Shuttle Challenger on
STS-8 and the 500000 $995 Express Mail stamp created by Paul and Chris Calle in 1994 flown on
Endeavour STS-68 in recognition of the 25th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing The huge
number of such items carried in space discourages
speculations and these items still are widely available for few dollars
So far fewer than 1000 envelopes in total have flown
to the Moon No other American covers will flow to the Moon in the foreseeable future Perhaps the next
ldquoMoon coversrdquo will bear Chinese or Indian stamps
Dave Scott was the first lunar Postmaster and had two
postmarks with him and two covers with imperforated dieproof of the US twin Decade of Space Achievements
stamps affixed (Fig 1)
He had one postmark with ldquoMoon Landing USArdquo (Fig 8 below) and another with ldquoUnited States on the
Moonrdquo (Fig 9 bottom)
The First Lunar Post Office was opened on August 2 1971 when David Scott postmarked only the official
cover (and brought back the official backup-cover uncancelled) A handful covers had however been
postmarked before launch with both postmarks Dr Matthew Radnofsky ndash who in his laboratory already
had simulated cancelling in space for Apollo 11 ndash
tested both postmarks to ensure that the cancellation devices were in working order
Especially the date could be changed easily Contrary
to Apollo 11 covers without stamps were used for
28
ORBIT
these tests Apollo 15 Lunar Cancellation Proofs are
much scarcer than Apollo 11 ones ldquoAs by now I am aware of only 17 itemsrdquo states famous astrophilatelist
Walter Hopferwieser Covers with proofs of the Apollo 15 moon postmarks have been recently sold at Regency
Superior and Aurora auctions
The official Apollo 15 cover postmarked on the Moon
(see Fig 1 repeated above ) is displayed at the US National Postal Museum It was publicly cancelled and
the video can be seen at httpwwwpostalmuseumsiedustampstakeflight
apollo15video-01html A short speech was given by
Dave Scott while cancelling the cover ldquoTo show that our good Postal Service has deliveries any place in the
universe I have the pleasant task of cancelling here on the Moon the first stamp of a new issue dedicated to
commemorate US achievements in space I have the
first one here on an envelope At the bottom it says United States in Space a decade of achievement and
Im very proud to have the opportunity here to play postman I pull out a cancellation device It says
August 2 1971 first day of issuehellip What could be a
better place to cancel this stamp than right here at Hadley Rillehelliprdquo
Immediately thereafter the Postmaster General who
was waiting at the Mission Control at Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston Texas gave the signal to start the
First- Day cancellations at post offices in Houston
Kennedy Space Center and Huntsville
Acknowledgement Thanks to Walter Hopferwieser for his comments
Some Notes About Space Mail
Commenting on Brian Vincentrsquos article in the June
2010 Orbit ASSS member Geoff Chivers writes in an
email to your Editorhellip Im sure you wont mind me commenting on Brian G Vincents Some Notes About Space Mail (page 36)
In paragraph 2 he refers to the Apollo 15 cover incident leaving the impression that Scott Worden and Irwin were guilty of some heinous crime This has been the subject of much miss-reporting over the years The full story of what actually happened is explained in depth at page 328 et seq of Two sides of the moon by David Scott and Alexei Leonov published by Simon amp Shuster The astronauts were of course exonerated
This is the quote (slightly edited to enable it to stand as an independent piece)-
During 1972 while on a trip to Washington DC George Low NASA deputy administrator asked me to stop by his
office writes David Scott I had known George in Houston while he was Apollo spacecraft programme manager and I had great respect for him We spent a short while exchanging pleasantries Then George looked me in the eye and came to the point ldquoWell Daverdquo he said ldquoI have to tell you I was not very proud of my performancerdquo His comment was the culmination of what had become known as the Apollo 15 ldquocover incidentrdquo This involved some first day postal covers which we had carried aboard Apollo 15 some of which were unfortunately sold by a German stamp dealer several months after the flight As No 2 in NASA George
had been heavily involved in NASAs handling of the incident and his comment referred to one of the poorest management performances the space agency had ever demonstrated - up to then The whole business had probably been building since Mercury through Gemini and into Apollo People had a fascination with objects that had been carried in space and they became more and more popular and valuable as the programme progressed Right from the start of the Mercury programme each astronaut had been allowed to carry on board a certain number of personal items in what were known as PPKS - Personal Preference Kits Before each flight a list of the items was prepared for Deke Slayton who
Two Sides of The Moon
by David Scott and Alexei Leonov
The text opposite from the
above book has been
referred to by Umberto Cavallaro in preparing his
above piece
29
ORBIT
had overall responsibility for approving them As the flights became more significant the number and type of items increased Aside from personal mementoes each crew had carried a certain number of medallions which they could hand out afterwards as souvenirs The number of medallions had grown steadily on each mission - eventually some crew members had been carrying several hundred each and their weight was becoming a concern And as always commercialisation began to creep in In the end on Apollo 14 commanded by Al Shepard it was alleged that the crew had carried some silver medallions on board which were to be melted down after the flight and mixed with many other commemorative medallions by the Franklin Mint to be sold to the general public The Franklin Mint had even advertised the proposed sale before the flight After the flight the deal was never consummated and all went quiet nothing about it was printed in the media But some members of Congress had heard about it and were unhappy with the situation Since we were busy training for Apollo 15 (launched 26 July 1971) we knew nothing about all this Had we known we would have been far more wary of what happened subsequently All we knew was that Deke Slayton had halved the number of medallions we could carry Shortly afterwards Deke introduced Jim (Irwin) Al (Worden) and me to a long-standing friend of his at the Cape called Walter Eiermann In retrospect this seems likely to have been more than a coincidence Deke invited us to join him at dinner at Eiermanns house one evening several months before the Apollo 15 launch Eiermann asked if we would like to make some money on the side by signing some stamps ldquoAll the guys are doing itrdquo he said We agreed We were also approached by several members of the Manned Spacecraft Centerrsquos stamp club who asked us to sign many first - day covers before the flight for their members as well as for ourselves At that time we could not buy life insurance If we signed some covers we reasoned they could be held during the flight and act as limited life insurance for our families if anything happened to us But then Eiermann proposed we carry four hundred lightweight commemorative covers a hundred of which would be passed on to a stamp dealer in Germany when we returned All the covers would be franked on the day of launch and franked on the day of our return Our understanding was that the dealer would hold his hundred covers to be sold at some future date after the Apollo programme was over In return he would set up a $6000 trust fund for each of us for the education of our children In the months of intense activity before the flight we did not give this more than a moment of thought But we agreed In retrospect we made a mistake in even considering it In the months following our mission we learnt that the German dealer had begun to sell the covers We let Eiermann know that we were opposed to the sale Forget the trust funds we said we dont want any money This is not what we had understood would happen But when senior managers at NASA learnt about the covers being sold they were furious Incomplete information was then provided to the press by NASArsquos Public Affairs Office and reports started to appear that we had smuggled the covers onto our flight This was literally impossible NASA personnel prepared us for every aspect of the flight - from our birthday suits out Everything we had carried had to be specially packaged by the flight support crew to make sure apart from anything else
that it was fireproof Everything in our PPKs was on a list which was certified before launch I was never aware of any rules about what could or could not be taken in these packs Slayton was to approve the list so as far as I was concerned it was up to management to keep us on the straight and narrow I assumed if the list was approved that was fine Usually the list was certified by Deke But before our flight for some reason he neither asked us personally for each of our lists as was customary nor signed off on the list personally He said the flight - crew support team had already logged everything Whereas we had purchased the covers ourselves the Astronaut Office at the Cape had prepared the covers for the flight and had had them stamped and franked on the day of launch Somehow however the support team had missed them when they prepared the PPK flight manifest It was also reported after the incident that we had been removed from the astronaut corps Again totally untrue Unfortunately NASA managers did nothing to dispel this false and misleading information They just tucked their heads in and let the rumours run The reports infuriated Congress not least because congressmen had to read such controversial information in the press before being informed by NASA which is obligated to keep Congress fully informed of its activities Recollections of the Apollo 14 medallion incident must have seeped into the minds of certain members of Congress many of whom were not fans of NASA anyway When NASA started an internal investigation we were told by a senior official in the agency that we were on our own We were advised to get our own legal representation A Senate hearing into the matter had been called and a justice Department investigation would follow It was turning into a witch - hunt NASA we were advised expected us to keep quiet and take the Fifth Amendment at this hearing We did not We told it like it was We had nothing to hide Eventually the Justice Department concluded that we had broken some administrative rules but had done nothing criminal NASA confiscated the remaining covers but they acted before discovering all the facts of the case Following an investigation by NASA the Justice Department and the Senate the Justice Department concluded on 6 December 1978 in a ldquoMemorandum Opinion for the Assistant Attorney Generalrdquo that NASA had no claim to the remaining covers that the covers were never intended for sale that there was no attempt at concealment by the crew of the fact that the covers were to be flown on Apollo 15 and finally that the covers would have been approved to carry aboard Apollo 15 had a request been made We were reprimanded and we took our licks But it was a very raw deal NASA had hung us out to dry Our bosses had abrogated their responsibilities and we were left alone on a very wet day I spent many years trying to get full access to NASA and congressional records on the case NASA refused to provide full disclosure We subsequently found out there had been rumblings about profitmdashmaking on previous missions A copy of a letter was released to me in which NASA admitted that ten other astronauts who were not identified had been involved in selling signed blocks of stamps and postcards for Eiermann But the wave reached the shore on Apollo 15 and we were the ones who bore the brunt of the blame for such incidents
30
ORBIT
Buckingham Cover offer Free Souvenirs for You
Brian Austin of Buckinghamrsquos Rare Cover Department writes to your Editorhellip
Over the last two or three years we have been dealing more and more in signed space covers This led us to earlier this year buying an Apollo 11 crew signed cover which had been carried to the moon which we had on display on our stand at London 2010
For this we also printed a limited edition of 800 sets of postcards one featuring the Apollo 11 cover and another
featuring an Apollo 15 cover The idea was to give away 100 sets per day to customers at the show but now the show is all finished I still have around 150 pairs left on my desk
We wondered if you would like to offer them to your readers we are happy to send them out free of charge to the first 150 readers to contact us with their details as long as we can also include one of our lists of space
covers
BrianAustinbuckinghamcoverscom
31
ORBIT
More About Missile Mail
Harvey Duncan told us in the last Orbit (page 15) about the First Official Missile Mail writes Bert van Eijck After the useful technical details about the USS Barbero he gave us I can offer you more philatelic information and show you some illustrations The missile mail experiment was a joint venture between
the Ministry of Defense and the US Post Office Dept headed by Postmaster General Mr Arthur E
Summerfield Three thousand special envelopes were printed with a reproduction of a Navy missile type
Regulus with the text ldquoFirst Official Missile Mailrdquo and above that ldquoThe Postmaster General Washingtonrdquo All
the envelopes were addressed to The President high
government officials like senators and to the Post Masters General of ninety nine other member nations of
UPU Inside was a letter from Mr Summerfield entitled ldquoThe First Official Missile Mailrdquo with the official seal of
the Post Office dept It was explained therein what had
happed to that letter and the other 2999
The special letters were loaded in two metal compartments and came aboard the guided missile USS Barbero (SSG-317) The shot was to occur during a regular training mission from Norfolk Virginia to Florida
About 350 kilometres off the coast of Florida the
Regulus missile was launched toward Airport Mayport
The missile climbed 10 km above the Atlantic and
landed within twenty minutes with all the letters intact The letters were cancelled with the hand stamp ldquoUSS
Barberordquo with the date ldquoJun 8 1959rdquo and the approximate timing of the launching ldquo930 amrdquo This
was done by post office staff part of an established
branch office on the USS Barbero The letters bore the 1957 4c American flag postage stamp Those
addressed to foreign countries carried two such stamps covering surface mail postage costs On the
reverse side is the Jacksonville Post Office cancellation with the approximate time of arrival ldquoJune 8 1030 am
1959 Floridardquo
Such flown letters are expensive to buy and a jewel in
any exhibit
But this is NOT the case with the Barbero souvenir
cover dated a month later on July 8 1959 issued in the same quantity (3000) as the originals The
inscription reads ldquoPoint of LandingmdashFirst Official Missile Mail 8 June 1959 US Naval Station Mayport Floridardquo
About 16000 () collectors had applied for such a cover
The imprint of the official Barbero cover was reproduced on a memorial cover issued and posted at
the Vienna International Airpost Exhibition Luposta on August 1959 in the Austrian capital Of course neither
of these items had been carried within the Regulus
missile
Also of interest the Postal Administration of
Paraguay issued a stamp
and a block in 1976 honouring the Barbero
Missile Mail The Gs 20 stamp shows a Regulus
missile in flight while the sheet shows the whole
addressed cover and in
miniature the complete letter inside from the US Postmaster General
as mentioned above and as illustrated below
Above a specimen envelope as described in the text and below its reverse cancel
32
ORBIT
An Invitation to Our Readers to Donate to an Innovative International Projecthellip
Kindest Sir or Madam
The municipality of Vitanje
(Slovenia) is honoured to have had a hand in the life of the
famous space architect Herman Potocnik Noordung
(1892-1929) (pictured right) who had already found a
surprising number of solutions
to space travel and troubles of living in vacuum long before
actual space flights took place His creations were used by the
renowned novelist Arthur C Clarke
in his book 2001 A Space Odyssey which was later also turned into a
movie directed by Stanley Kubrick In Noordungs honour we have
created the Memorial Centre of Herman Potocnik Noordung This
year the cultural centre of European
space technology will also get going in Vitanje This will be a place
where the European space heritage will be gathered and various events connected with the
contemporary European space technologies will be
organized
Proposed Philatelic Collection We would like to bring the project onto a higher level
where we would have the collaboration of various
countries in the world including such with a history in space travel (like USA Russia) One of the steps of this
expansion process would also include a philatelic collection of stamps with themes of outer space
(astronomy astronautics and everything connected to
outer space) We already have quite a decent collection but we would like to expand on that
Our goal is to have 6000 stamps before opening our
exhibition For this we would require the help of as many philatelists as possible
All of these philatelists would become co-creators and partners of this collection for which we hope will
become the largest collection of its kind in the world The people donating the stamps would get a great deal
of exposure at all these exhibitions and on the special
website which will be started shortly If you give us enough support and we are able to raise enough
stamps for a first-class collection we hope the first
exhibitions and various special events (like visits from
astronauts ndash philatelists) will see the light of day as early as in 2011
From a professional point of view we have an
excellent team working with us Long-time philatelist
Tone Petek is the person who initiated this project while Bojan Bracic the secretary of FEPA is one of our
counsellors and is completely behind this project
If you would be interested in such cooperation I will get the wheels in motion and send you a verifying
mail with the stamp of the municipality of Vitanje and
also of some higher organization within the Slovene political system
The collection is already underway with the help of the
Slovene Philatelic organisation (FZS) adds Rok in an email to your Editor in July This organisation has been of immense help with technical expertise and
connections It looks as if there might be an introductory exhibition next year sometime
In the hope of a successful partnership we offer our
sincere appreciation
Rok Podgrajsek
Obcina Vitanje Grajski trg 1
3205 Vitanje
Slovenia
Email address rokpodgrajsekgmailcom
But see also website httpwwwvitanjesi
(Editorrsquos Note both Wendy Buckle editor of
Themescene and our Chairman Margaret Morris commend this project to you We will be sending Rok
some recent copies of Orbit for the displays)
Some illustrations from Noordungrsquos only published text ldquoThe Problem of
Space Travel The Rocket Motorrdquo (the original German title
was ldquoDas Problem der Befahrung
des Weltraums - der Raketen-Motorrdquo) which saw the light of day
in 1928
Vitanje Local Private Post stamp
33
ORBIT
Zazzle Space Stamps Dazzle
I have noticed Zazzle Space Stamps appearing in Lollini brochures and on their web pages in recent months writes your Editor so I undertook to find out some facts about them and am grateful to The Astrophile Editor Jim Roth and the man who inspired him to create his own Zazzle designs Otto Bergman for the following infohellip Zazzle is one of half a dozen or more US companies
who facilitate the printing of non-copyrighted photos and artwork on private postage stamps which count
as postage within and outwith the USA You can
design your own Zazzle stampsmdashsee their websitemdashwhich you then purchase for your own use 20 to a
page
They are therefore a bit like British Smilers except
that the personal element of the stamp is not on a se-tenant label but actually incorporated within the
stamp itself as you can see from the examples on this page
Jim Roth was annoyed that the Kennedy Space Center Post office would not cancel his Zazzle stamps as they
consider them to be ldquometersrdquo and although he has marked STS-122 he wonrsquot be creating any others
You can see (and buy) all Jim Rothrsquos Space Zazzles on
his website m57coverscommdashclick on ldquostampsrdquo
Three of Jim Rothrsquos designs
See others on his website
An Otto Bergman space creation on
Zazzlecomottobergman
These space Zazzles and others are
available from the Lollini website or brochures
STS 128 in May 2010 section
STS 129 in June 2010
WISE and Delta 2 launch in July 2010 STS 130 in August 2010
STS 128 stamps show astronauts Christer Fuglesang (far left) and left Frank De Winne ISS Commander Expedition 21 STS 129 issues depict mission
patch and the crew led by Charles Hobaugh
Delta 2 rocket launch from Cape Canaveral of WISE Deep InfraRed telescope
34
ORBIT
Concluded on page 39
More Spaceflight Books for Sale
35
ORBIT ORBIT
SPACE HABITATS (Part Two) by John Beenen Continuing his feature from our last issue John Beenen begins by posing the questionhellip Why Should we Seek to Live
in Space
Spacecom gives ten main reasons why we should enter space for a prolonged
period
1 To secure a future for humanity
2 To build a new frontier
3 To find new energy sources
4 To build an industrial settlement on
the Moon
5 Better quality images of the
Universe
6 The SETI effort
7 Mining
8 Learning the history of our
Universe
9 Environmental benefits
Meeting the challenge
Taking for granted that it is naturally fascinating to investigate how mankind
might be able to maintain its habitat outside earth there are several further reasons to investigate why
mankind should settle themselves outside earth in the far future And More reasons mean a overall better
argument
Primarily there is the question of overpopulation and
secondly a solution for the energy problem
Next we have to consider that climate circumstances
are not under control anymore and earth eventually becomes uninhabitable
Also when for various reasons we start to kill each
other for some groups of people it may be an attractive proposition to depart this Earth in quite a different
sense And that is perhaps the most common thought
through activities in space more money can be obtained
But there are disadvantageshellip
On the other hand a prolonged stay in space is not that safe The construction must be protected against
radiation and it can be hit by large and small debris which makes space a very unsafe place
Furthermore cosmic radiation produces
a radiation of 80 mSv (millisievert) - well over the allowed maximum of 50
mSv and very much over the amount which is considered as safe for man
which is 3 mSv
Next solar flares produce a sudden
increase of soft gamma and energy rich radiation so much that without the
protection of an atmosphere half of our population could die easily
It is interesting that even without shielding most of this radiation can be
absorbed in the projected spacecraftsrsquo structure and in the air Smaller
structures can be protected with a
shield of co-rotating rocks
The construction further must be protected against sunlight which by
lack of the air shield will fall in unshielded so sun blinds and radiators
are indispensable
And as a result of the artificial gravity
there are some tiny movement problems which we will face later
Finally the created ecosystem should be fully self-supporting and that is easier said than done as
experiments with Biosphere-2 have showed
Biosphere-2 Biosphere-2 was a project built between 1987 and 1991 providing in an area of about 2frac12 football fields
a closed biological system of different composition From 1991-1993 a crew of 8 persons stayed herein A
second crew of 7 persons bridged a period of March
until September 1994 During the first period it appeared difficult to keep the atmosphere constant in
particular the carbon dioxide values changed rapidlymdashthe reason why many of the carried insects perished
Further the oxygen level decreased slowly because pf a leak
Even during the first two-year phase large differences in opinion appeared and the yield was not large
enough to deliver the calories necessary Reserve stocks had to be broken into Finally the second
experiment had to be ended prematurely because of
mismanagement
However it seems that a well-functioning stable ecosystem should not be underestimated physically
not technically
Artists impressions above Interior Stanford Torus and below Interior
OrsquoNeill Cylinder
Solar flares Czechoslovakia 1965 WB 47
36
ORBIT
It further has to be speculated on that men would resist
a regulated weather programme instead of the customary ever changing circumstances on Earth
Also we must physically resist an eternal stay outside
Earth That is not always easy as some people will show
some kind of sea sickness for ever In any case rooms with a diameter of less than 100 meters and a speed of
revolution over three per minute are insufficient At specifications of over 500 m and at less than 1 revolution
per minute fewer problems have to be expected
How do we get raw materials (Fantasy Moon Mining Yemen
Mutawakelite 1969 1343)
And still there have to be enough raw materials to sustain the
colony but as a principle the
search for raw materials is not the most difficult
From the asteroid belt enough small rocks can be
transported as a building material Also mines can be put
on the Moon Bercause of the lower gravity there transport is easier and some kind of firing mechanism
has been calculated which launch packets of ore simply into space where they can be manipulated
Air can be produced from moonstone Nitrogen nearly without loss can be recycled and eventually added to
ammonia mined from comets Large gardens and fields should start the normal photosynthesis and doing so
finally a complete sustainable society might be built up Energy from the Sun is present in superfluous quantities
What to do about gravity Most designs for a Space station start with a gravity of
1G Some designers however think that a lower level of gravity is possible But in the meantime experiments
with astronauts have showed that our physiology
changes rapidly influenced by decreased or absence of gravity Thus the calcium potassium and sodium
contents of our bone system decrease by about 10 That is not bad were we to stay in space forever but
very troublesome when occasionally we would return to
Earth
Also the quality of our muscles decreases as the blood volume does Providing effects comparable to aging
Further by lack of gravity astronauts become a little
taller with accompanying pain in the back Hence the staying with 1G gravity is not so bad
That has to be maintained by rotation of the
construction The larger the diameter of the construction is the slower it will turn to provide 1 G That is a result
of the centrifugal or centripetal force Its
magnitude has long been established thanks to the work of Dutchman Christiaan Huygens and fixed in
the formula
m v2
F = r where
F = the external force in N(ewton) m = mass in kg
v = speed in msec r = radius in m
Hence a spacecraft with a diameter of 15 meters has to carry out one revolution every 8 seconds to
produce a sensation of 1G And that is too quick for man The effect of the centrifugal force is that should
an astronaut drop an object it does not fall straight
down but partly away from himher Weird
Coriolis force But in a rotating Space station another force is at
work That is the lsquoCoriolis forcersquo named after the
French Gustave-Gaspard Coriolis (1792-1843) who described this kind of force for the first time
The most common manifestation is the second law of
Buys Ballot which says that air streams in the
atmosphere which according the first law of Boys Ballot as a principle run from high to low pressure at
the northern hemisphere are bent to the right and at the southern hemisphere to the left because of the
rotation of the Earth
Therefore air streams around depressions show a
spiral shape in opposite directions at the northern and southern hemisphere In a space station this
force can especially noticed when moving around through the spokes of the wheel
(Diagram of Coriolis F o r c e h t t p
wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm)
A s s u m e t h a t a n
astronaut on a ladder
climbs through a spoke to the axis As he climbs
along he circles around more slowly as he
describes a smaller circle
in the same time What happens with the difference in speed that he had before He will be pressed
against the ladder and that is the Coriolis force The force also acts in opposite direction when he
descends from the ladder
Also the throwing up and catching of a ball will
become a huge achievement as the ball does not
37
ORBIT
drop perpendicularly but will shift a little into the
direction of the orbit of the station and also achieves a higher speed
This also has strange effects on the astronaut As moves
quickly in the rotation direction of the station his weight
appears to increase to a noteworthy extent Then as he moves against the speed of rotation his weight
decreases apparently Mathematically this effect is explainable but very complex
Also the astronautrsquos head and feet move in different
speed to artificial gravity This is plainly noticeable when
somebody jumps up Hence avoid this practice
With these kind of effects adaptation to the changed circumstances in a space station will ask a lot of the
crew members I do hope they can stand it But in any
case the larger the space ship the lesser the problems
Inflatable stations
But therersquos more The inflatable station was considered
many years ago The first i d e a w a s p o s s i b l y
developed when on 12th August 1960 the Echo
balloon with a diameter of
30 meters was launched (Echo I balloon USA 1960
WB 3)
It is true you could not live in it as the balloon was of too frail a construction but the idea of an inflatable
spacecraft was then alive By 1958 groups within NASA
had begun to think about inflatable stations The Goett-committee has been one of the first On 25th26th May
1959 a conference started about projects after
Mercury In particular the
representative of Langley L a r r y Lo f t i n wa s
enthusiastic about his AMIS (Advanced Man in
Space) project (Hexagonal structure
Manama 1970 WB 113)
One of his first projects was a rotating hexagonal
inflatable construction with a diameter of 25 meters a cylindrical core and three lsquospokesrsquo Acting as a ferry to
and from the station the lsquoDyna Soarrsquo Space plane could
be used The Dyna Soar project (at that time still
under development) was cancelled by the American
Minister of Defense Robert
McNamara Inflatable Habitat NASA
1961 enwikipediaorg)
A Langley Space Station
team managed by Paul Hill and Emanuel lsquoMannyrsquo
Schnitzer developed the concept together with the
G o o d y e a r A i r c r a f t
Corporation
(Langleyrsquos self-inflating rotating hexagonal structure httphistorynasagov
SP-4308) Its original diameter had already been reduced to 10
meters
In the years after Langley built several experimental
modules called lsquoErectable Torus Manned Space Laboratoryrsquo a 11 model built by firms such as
Goodyear The torus was built from three layers of
nylon tissue and in between a rubber-like plastic material butyl elastomer A large problem was the
penetration by micrometeorites which as was learnt from the results of the Echo balloon finally damaged
the whole structure
Another problem was the great instability of the ring
due to movements of the astronauts the station started to wobble when they moved around Finally
the project was cancelled and at the end of the eighties the Langley Research Center started to
design inflatable constructions for a base camp on the
Moon
( A r t i s t imp r e s s i on Transhab inflatable
m o d u l e h t t p
enwikipediaorg)
Due to the development of a new series of
s t r o n g e r p l a s t i c materials such as Kevlar
these construct ions
received new interest That lead to the development of Transhab (Transit Habitat) as a resource for crews
coupled at the ISS (international Space Station) The construction is a cylinder in a diameter of 82 meters
and several storeys high
Its volume in inflatable state is 340 m3 The wall has a
thickness of 30 () cm and consists of 12 layers of which the outside layer is made from Kevlar The
layers beneath are made from Nextel a ceramic fibre Disagreements during development and the spiralling
costs finally in 2000 saw the end of NASArsquos interest
G e n e s i s 1
thespacereviewcom)
From 1999 the project was
taken up by Bigelow
38
ORBIT
Aerospace who improved the design and tested it with
successful launchings of Genesis I on 12 July 2006 and Genesis II on 28 June 2007
In their design it has once again more or less the shape
of a balloon With a thickness of 40 cm the wall is still
very thick The outside layer is still Kevlar but inside are some layers of Vectran a textile fibre Within the
structure ants and scorpions were launched along with some objects which people who paid for the privilege of
boosting into space
In this way Bigelow hopes to build a Space Hotel named
Nautilus To stimulate the development Bigelow offered a price of $50 million to everybody who succeeded in
launching a crew of 5 persons to an altitude of 400 km before 2010 So little money lost here so far
A second project which can be realized within the near future is a fixed residence on the Moon As said Langley
occupies itself with the design of such a base which partly should be build below the surface Stamp
designers have already realized the idea
What does the future hold Although we are a long way away from the kind of space station by which a large amount of earth inhabitants can
leave the planet Earth forever the first steps for doing
so are in preparation With the development of their Space Hotel Bigelow tries to make the step to space
albeit a temporary one
Also Langley literally tries to set foot on the Moon and
finally they will succeed in doing so However The cost of such projects are literally astronomical and it is not
expected that in the coming decades much money can be allocated to such projects
Of course in some thousands of years (possibly only in
hundreds of years) this will become the case but for the
time being in my opinion the true conquest of space will stay as science-fiction for at least a few hundred years
Hoorn 2009
John Beenen
NB The stamps entitled lsquoSpace Cityrsquo with a value of 0 cnt do not exist but have been made by the author by means of frames and pictures present at the Internet
Fantasy Moon
b a s e M a n a -ma1970 WB 122
Fantasy bases
ready for Mars
YAR 1971 WB 2892 and 6
Fantasy Modular
base YAR 169 WB 233
39
ORBIT
Cover Below bottom right Future space Dutch Antilles 2000
Literature references (for both parts of article) httpenwikipediaorg Space habitat Space Colonization Orbital Colony Space City Space settlement Space stations L5 Society Bernal Sphere Stanford Torus OrsquoNeil Cylinder Inflatable Space Habitat Transhab Biosphere 2 Generation Ship wwwdsenl~hklruimtehtm Wonen op groene eilanden in de Ruimte (Dutch Living on green Islands in Space) Henry Kluytmans wwworionsarmcom McKendree Cylinder Bishops Ring wwwnasnasagovAboutEducationSpaceSettlement The Colonization of Space wwwdyarstraightscommsgundamhabitatshtml Mobile Suit Gundam High Frontier Life in the Universal Century Developing sound habitats wwwartificial-gravitycomDissertation1_2htm From Tsiolkovsky to Sputnik (1878-1957) httpsciencenasagovheadlinesy2000ast26may_1mhtm Wheels in the Sky httpdiscaircraftgreyfalconus Hermann Noordung Wohnrad (Wheel for Habitation) httparticlesadsabsharvardedufull1992lbsaconf249R Inflatable habitation for the lunar base MRoberts httphistorynasagovSP-4308ch9htm lsquoAs inevitable as the Rising Sunrsquo From the inflatable Torus to the Rotating Hexagon wwwspacecomnewsbusinessmonday_040524html Bigelow Aerospace to tackle inflatable Space Habitats httpsciencehowstuffsworkcominflatable-spacecraft2htm How Inflatable Spacecraft Will Work wwwbogancaphysicscoriolishtml Rotating Space Stations Dynamics An Explanation of the Coriolis Force httpdemonstrationswolframcomRotatingSpaceStation Rotating Space Station wwwdvandomcomcoliolisspacestationhtml Frame Effects and Space Stations wwwdvandomcomcoriolisindexhtml A (hopefully) simple explanation of the Coriolis Force wwwdaviddarlinginfoencyclopedia Hale Edward Everett von Pirquet Guido Noordung Hermann Space Station wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm The Coriolis Force wwwastronautixcomcraftfamlunbaseshtm Lunar bases wwwastronautixcomgallerycspebasehtm Photo Gallery Space base wwwregererating-universeorgOn_Moon_as_Space_Basehtm On Moon as Space Base wwwspacefuturecomhabitatlivingshtml Space Habitat Introduction Living in Space wwwspacepagebevideotaak=bekijkampid=47 Living in space (Video) wwwnutricomspace The Case for Space colonization ndash Now Oscar Falconi wwwxentcompipermailfork (FoRK) Bigelowrsquos inflatable Genesis I satellite in orbit wwwrussianforcesorg Russian strategic nuclear forces (Genesis II) wwwbigelowaerospacecomgenesis Genesis I Genesis II
Thanks to Alan Tunnicliffe who came across the attached news item
complete with stamp in the eNZ Magazine the bi-monthly journal of
the Institution of Professional Engineers NZ Inc Vol 11 No 3 May-
June 2010
Vaccari Auction Sells Remarkable Space Covers April 2010
Apollo 12 cover 55 of 87 flown to the moon on Apollo 15 having been left behind by the original crew sold for euro12200 1977 Salyut
6 Soyuz 27 cover sold for euro1600
40
ORBIT ORBIT
Shuttle 1981mdash2010 Stamps Marshall
Islands 2005
United Nations 2007 Monaco and Ascension 2008
Bulgaria 1991 including stamp from souvenir sheet
USA 1981
below USA 1995 and bottom USA 1998
(two values)
St Vincent Grenadines 1983
Ascension 1989
Bulgaria 1990
and above right W Germany 1975
and USA 2000 Guyana 2006
USA 1995
41
ASSS Membership Renewal 2010
Memberrsquos Name amp Addresshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
I wish to renew my membership of the ASSS for a further year and enclose the equivalent of
pound15 (UK) euro30 (Europe) $US 45 (Rest of the World)
Please return this form with your remittance to Harvey Duncan by the
end of July Thank you
Harvey Duncan Treasurer ASSS 16 Begg Avenue
Falkirk Scotland FK1 2DL
PayPal For details of how to Pay via Paypal
please email Jeff Dugdale Email address on Page 2
42
43
44
27
ORBIT
Collins told Bishop that the crew would like to know
whether he could obtain some very lightweight envelopes for them Al said that hed be happy to do so
He was unaware then that many of them would be smuggled on board the next lunar flight Al was trusted
Thats why many of us imposed on him with our
problems special requests and sometimes matters which we would rather not share with NASArdquo
This time Al was badly used he emerged as a
scapegoat and his name was dragged as though he was the Mr Big of an international stamp conspiracy
The covers were cancelled at Kennedy Space Center
several days before July 26 1971 The date of the post office machine canceller was moved forward
Additionally twin eight-cent stamps were purchased by the astronauts on the USS Okinawa the Apollo 15
recovery ship and affixed to these covers ndash as for the
Herrickrsquos covers In the shipboard post office the covers were then cancelled and date-stamped August 7 1971
The astronauts finally autographed these covers while flying from Hawaii to Houston
Soon after the flight the astronauts gave Eiermann
the 100 covers ndash after agreeing that there was to be
no commercialization or advertising of these covers and that nothing would be done with them until after
completion of the Apollo programme
But after a while news started to circulate that the
German dealer was selling in Europe covers flown on Apollo 15 for a reported average of US $1500 each
The reports infuriated Congress not least because congressmen had to read such controversial
information in the press before being informed by
NASA which is obligated to keep Congress fully informed of its activity Recollection of the Apollo 14
medallions incident must have echoed in the minds of certain members of Congress many of whom were
not fans of NASA anyway NASA started an internal investigation This was the most controversial
development of the Apollo Programme and although
most astronauts were involved to some degree NASA made an example of the Apollo 15 flight crew ldquoIt
was turning into a witch-huntrdquo recalled Scott ldquoOur bosses had abrogated their responsibilities and we
were left alone on a very wet dayrdquo
It is ironic that after addressing a joint session of
Congress as heroes in less that one year the three astronauts of Apollo 15 had to go back in front of these
same senators in disgrace because of this envelope scandal
After this ldquoincidentrdquo NASA prohibited from Apollo 17 on the flying of covers or stamps during a space
missions (they were not on time to block the covers carried on Apollo 16) The only exceptions have been
since then the items flown in cooperation with the US
Postal Service ie the 266000 covers carried in 1983 in
the payload bay of the Space Shuttle Challenger on
STS-8 and the 500000 $995 Express Mail stamp created by Paul and Chris Calle in 1994 flown on
Endeavour STS-68 in recognition of the 25th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing The huge
number of such items carried in space discourages
speculations and these items still are widely available for few dollars
So far fewer than 1000 envelopes in total have flown
to the Moon No other American covers will flow to the Moon in the foreseeable future Perhaps the next
ldquoMoon coversrdquo will bear Chinese or Indian stamps
Dave Scott was the first lunar Postmaster and had two
postmarks with him and two covers with imperforated dieproof of the US twin Decade of Space Achievements
stamps affixed (Fig 1)
He had one postmark with ldquoMoon Landing USArdquo (Fig 8 below) and another with ldquoUnited States on the
Moonrdquo (Fig 9 bottom)
The First Lunar Post Office was opened on August 2 1971 when David Scott postmarked only the official
cover (and brought back the official backup-cover uncancelled) A handful covers had however been
postmarked before launch with both postmarks Dr Matthew Radnofsky ndash who in his laboratory already
had simulated cancelling in space for Apollo 11 ndash
tested both postmarks to ensure that the cancellation devices were in working order
Especially the date could be changed easily Contrary
to Apollo 11 covers without stamps were used for
28
ORBIT
these tests Apollo 15 Lunar Cancellation Proofs are
much scarcer than Apollo 11 ones ldquoAs by now I am aware of only 17 itemsrdquo states famous astrophilatelist
Walter Hopferwieser Covers with proofs of the Apollo 15 moon postmarks have been recently sold at Regency
Superior and Aurora auctions
The official Apollo 15 cover postmarked on the Moon
(see Fig 1 repeated above ) is displayed at the US National Postal Museum It was publicly cancelled and
the video can be seen at httpwwwpostalmuseumsiedustampstakeflight
apollo15video-01html A short speech was given by
Dave Scott while cancelling the cover ldquoTo show that our good Postal Service has deliveries any place in the
universe I have the pleasant task of cancelling here on the Moon the first stamp of a new issue dedicated to
commemorate US achievements in space I have the
first one here on an envelope At the bottom it says United States in Space a decade of achievement and
Im very proud to have the opportunity here to play postman I pull out a cancellation device It says
August 2 1971 first day of issuehellip What could be a
better place to cancel this stamp than right here at Hadley Rillehelliprdquo
Immediately thereafter the Postmaster General who
was waiting at the Mission Control at Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston Texas gave the signal to start the
First- Day cancellations at post offices in Houston
Kennedy Space Center and Huntsville
Acknowledgement Thanks to Walter Hopferwieser for his comments
Some Notes About Space Mail
Commenting on Brian Vincentrsquos article in the June
2010 Orbit ASSS member Geoff Chivers writes in an
email to your Editorhellip Im sure you wont mind me commenting on Brian G Vincents Some Notes About Space Mail (page 36)
In paragraph 2 he refers to the Apollo 15 cover incident leaving the impression that Scott Worden and Irwin were guilty of some heinous crime This has been the subject of much miss-reporting over the years The full story of what actually happened is explained in depth at page 328 et seq of Two sides of the moon by David Scott and Alexei Leonov published by Simon amp Shuster The astronauts were of course exonerated
This is the quote (slightly edited to enable it to stand as an independent piece)-
During 1972 while on a trip to Washington DC George Low NASA deputy administrator asked me to stop by his
office writes David Scott I had known George in Houston while he was Apollo spacecraft programme manager and I had great respect for him We spent a short while exchanging pleasantries Then George looked me in the eye and came to the point ldquoWell Daverdquo he said ldquoI have to tell you I was not very proud of my performancerdquo His comment was the culmination of what had become known as the Apollo 15 ldquocover incidentrdquo This involved some first day postal covers which we had carried aboard Apollo 15 some of which were unfortunately sold by a German stamp dealer several months after the flight As No 2 in NASA George
had been heavily involved in NASAs handling of the incident and his comment referred to one of the poorest management performances the space agency had ever demonstrated - up to then The whole business had probably been building since Mercury through Gemini and into Apollo People had a fascination with objects that had been carried in space and they became more and more popular and valuable as the programme progressed Right from the start of the Mercury programme each astronaut had been allowed to carry on board a certain number of personal items in what were known as PPKS - Personal Preference Kits Before each flight a list of the items was prepared for Deke Slayton who
Two Sides of The Moon
by David Scott and Alexei Leonov
The text opposite from the
above book has been
referred to by Umberto Cavallaro in preparing his
above piece
29
ORBIT
had overall responsibility for approving them As the flights became more significant the number and type of items increased Aside from personal mementoes each crew had carried a certain number of medallions which they could hand out afterwards as souvenirs The number of medallions had grown steadily on each mission - eventually some crew members had been carrying several hundred each and their weight was becoming a concern And as always commercialisation began to creep in In the end on Apollo 14 commanded by Al Shepard it was alleged that the crew had carried some silver medallions on board which were to be melted down after the flight and mixed with many other commemorative medallions by the Franklin Mint to be sold to the general public The Franklin Mint had even advertised the proposed sale before the flight After the flight the deal was never consummated and all went quiet nothing about it was printed in the media But some members of Congress had heard about it and were unhappy with the situation Since we were busy training for Apollo 15 (launched 26 July 1971) we knew nothing about all this Had we known we would have been far more wary of what happened subsequently All we knew was that Deke Slayton had halved the number of medallions we could carry Shortly afterwards Deke introduced Jim (Irwin) Al (Worden) and me to a long-standing friend of his at the Cape called Walter Eiermann In retrospect this seems likely to have been more than a coincidence Deke invited us to join him at dinner at Eiermanns house one evening several months before the Apollo 15 launch Eiermann asked if we would like to make some money on the side by signing some stamps ldquoAll the guys are doing itrdquo he said We agreed We were also approached by several members of the Manned Spacecraft Centerrsquos stamp club who asked us to sign many first - day covers before the flight for their members as well as for ourselves At that time we could not buy life insurance If we signed some covers we reasoned they could be held during the flight and act as limited life insurance for our families if anything happened to us But then Eiermann proposed we carry four hundred lightweight commemorative covers a hundred of which would be passed on to a stamp dealer in Germany when we returned All the covers would be franked on the day of launch and franked on the day of our return Our understanding was that the dealer would hold his hundred covers to be sold at some future date after the Apollo programme was over In return he would set up a $6000 trust fund for each of us for the education of our children In the months of intense activity before the flight we did not give this more than a moment of thought But we agreed In retrospect we made a mistake in even considering it In the months following our mission we learnt that the German dealer had begun to sell the covers We let Eiermann know that we were opposed to the sale Forget the trust funds we said we dont want any money This is not what we had understood would happen But when senior managers at NASA learnt about the covers being sold they were furious Incomplete information was then provided to the press by NASArsquos Public Affairs Office and reports started to appear that we had smuggled the covers onto our flight This was literally impossible NASA personnel prepared us for every aspect of the flight - from our birthday suits out Everything we had carried had to be specially packaged by the flight support crew to make sure apart from anything else
that it was fireproof Everything in our PPKs was on a list which was certified before launch I was never aware of any rules about what could or could not be taken in these packs Slayton was to approve the list so as far as I was concerned it was up to management to keep us on the straight and narrow I assumed if the list was approved that was fine Usually the list was certified by Deke But before our flight for some reason he neither asked us personally for each of our lists as was customary nor signed off on the list personally He said the flight - crew support team had already logged everything Whereas we had purchased the covers ourselves the Astronaut Office at the Cape had prepared the covers for the flight and had had them stamped and franked on the day of launch Somehow however the support team had missed them when they prepared the PPK flight manifest It was also reported after the incident that we had been removed from the astronaut corps Again totally untrue Unfortunately NASA managers did nothing to dispel this false and misleading information They just tucked their heads in and let the rumours run The reports infuriated Congress not least because congressmen had to read such controversial information in the press before being informed by NASA which is obligated to keep Congress fully informed of its activities Recollections of the Apollo 14 medallion incident must have seeped into the minds of certain members of Congress many of whom were not fans of NASA anyway When NASA started an internal investigation we were told by a senior official in the agency that we were on our own We were advised to get our own legal representation A Senate hearing into the matter had been called and a justice Department investigation would follow It was turning into a witch - hunt NASA we were advised expected us to keep quiet and take the Fifth Amendment at this hearing We did not We told it like it was We had nothing to hide Eventually the Justice Department concluded that we had broken some administrative rules but had done nothing criminal NASA confiscated the remaining covers but they acted before discovering all the facts of the case Following an investigation by NASA the Justice Department and the Senate the Justice Department concluded on 6 December 1978 in a ldquoMemorandum Opinion for the Assistant Attorney Generalrdquo that NASA had no claim to the remaining covers that the covers were never intended for sale that there was no attempt at concealment by the crew of the fact that the covers were to be flown on Apollo 15 and finally that the covers would have been approved to carry aboard Apollo 15 had a request been made We were reprimanded and we took our licks But it was a very raw deal NASA had hung us out to dry Our bosses had abrogated their responsibilities and we were left alone on a very wet day I spent many years trying to get full access to NASA and congressional records on the case NASA refused to provide full disclosure We subsequently found out there had been rumblings about profitmdashmaking on previous missions A copy of a letter was released to me in which NASA admitted that ten other astronauts who were not identified had been involved in selling signed blocks of stamps and postcards for Eiermann But the wave reached the shore on Apollo 15 and we were the ones who bore the brunt of the blame for such incidents
30
ORBIT
Buckingham Cover offer Free Souvenirs for You
Brian Austin of Buckinghamrsquos Rare Cover Department writes to your Editorhellip
Over the last two or three years we have been dealing more and more in signed space covers This led us to earlier this year buying an Apollo 11 crew signed cover which had been carried to the moon which we had on display on our stand at London 2010
For this we also printed a limited edition of 800 sets of postcards one featuring the Apollo 11 cover and another
featuring an Apollo 15 cover The idea was to give away 100 sets per day to customers at the show but now the show is all finished I still have around 150 pairs left on my desk
We wondered if you would like to offer them to your readers we are happy to send them out free of charge to the first 150 readers to contact us with their details as long as we can also include one of our lists of space
covers
BrianAustinbuckinghamcoverscom
31
ORBIT
More About Missile Mail
Harvey Duncan told us in the last Orbit (page 15) about the First Official Missile Mail writes Bert van Eijck After the useful technical details about the USS Barbero he gave us I can offer you more philatelic information and show you some illustrations The missile mail experiment was a joint venture between
the Ministry of Defense and the US Post Office Dept headed by Postmaster General Mr Arthur E
Summerfield Three thousand special envelopes were printed with a reproduction of a Navy missile type
Regulus with the text ldquoFirst Official Missile Mailrdquo and above that ldquoThe Postmaster General Washingtonrdquo All
the envelopes were addressed to The President high
government officials like senators and to the Post Masters General of ninety nine other member nations of
UPU Inside was a letter from Mr Summerfield entitled ldquoThe First Official Missile Mailrdquo with the official seal of
the Post Office dept It was explained therein what had
happed to that letter and the other 2999
The special letters were loaded in two metal compartments and came aboard the guided missile USS Barbero (SSG-317) The shot was to occur during a regular training mission from Norfolk Virginia to Florida
About 350 kilometres off the coast of Florida the
Regulus missile was launched toward Airport Mayport
The missile climbed 10 km above the Atlantic and
landed within twenty minutes with all the letters intact The letters were cancelled with the hand stamp ldquoUSS
Barberordquo with the date ldquoJun 8 1959rdquo and the approximate timing of the launching ldquo930 amrdquo This
was done by post office staff part of an established
branch office on the USS Barbero The letters bore the 1957 4c American flag postage stamp Those
addressed to foreign countries carried two such stamps covering surface mail postage costs On the
reverse side is the Jacksonville Post Office cancellation with the approximate time of arrival ldquoJune 8 1030 am
1959 Floridardquo
Such flown letters are expensive to buy and a jewel in
any exhibit
But this is NOT the case with the Barbero souvenir
cover dated a month later on July 8 1959 issued in the same quantity (3000) as the originals The
inscription reads ldquoPoint of LandingmdashFirst Official Missile Mail 8 June 1959 US Naval Station Mayport Floridardquo
About 16000 () collectors had applied for such a cover
The imprint of the official Barbero cover was reproduced on a memorial cover issued and posted at
the Vienna International Airpost Exhibition Luposta on August 1959 in the Austrian capital Of course neither
of these items had been carried within the Regulus
missile
Also of interest the Postal Administration of
Paraguay issued a stamp
and a block in 1976 honouring the Barbero
Missile Mail The Gs 20 stamp shows a Regulus
missile in flight while the sheet shows the whole
addressed cover and in
miniature the complete letter inside from the US Postmaster General
as mentioned above and as illustrated below
Above a specimen envelope as described in the text and below its reverse cancel
32
ORBIT
An Invitation to Our Readers to Donate to an Innovative International Projecthellip
Kindest Sir or Madam
The municipality of Vitanje
(Slovenia) is honoured to have had a hand in the life of the
famous space architect Herman Potocnik Noordung
(1892-1929) (pictured right) who had already found a
surprising number of solutions
to space travel and troubles of living in vacuum long before
actual space flights took place His creations were used by the
renowned novelist Arthur C Clarke
in his book 2001 A Space Odyssey which was later also turned into a
movie directed by Stanley Kubrick In Noordungs honour we have
created the Memorial Centre of Herman Potocnik Noordung This
year the cultural centre of European
space technology will also get going in Vitanje This will be a place
where the European space heritage will be gathered and various events connected with the
contemporary European space technologies will be
organized
Proposed Philatelic Collection We would like to bring the project onto a higher level
where we would have the collaboration of various
countries in the world including such with a history in space travel (like USA Russia) One of the steps of this
expansion process would also include a philatelic collection of stamps with themes of outer space
(astronomy astronautics and everything connected to
outer space) We already have quite a decent collection but we would like to expand on that
Our goal is to have 6000 stamps before opening our
exhibition For this we would require the help of as many philatelists as possible
All of these philatelists would become co-creators and partners of this collection for which we hope will
become the largest collection of its kind in the world The people donating the stamps would get a great deal
of exposure at all these exhibitions and on the special
website which will be started shortly If you give us enough support and we are able to raise enough
stamps for a first-class collection we hope the first
exhibitions and various special events (like visits from
astronauts ndash philatelists) will see the light of day as early as in 2011
From a professional point of view we have an
excellent team working with us Long-time philatelist
Tone Petek is the person who initiated this project while Bojan Bracic the secretary of FEPA is one of our
counsellors and is completely behind this project
If you would be interested in such cooperation I will get the wheels in motion and send you a verifying
mail with the stamp of the municipality of Vitanje and
also of some higher organization within the Slovene political system
The collection is already underway with the help of the
Slovene Philatelic organisation (FZS) adds Rok in an email to your Editor in July This organisation has been of immense help with technical expertise and
connections It looks as if there might be an introductory exhibition next year sometime
In the hope of a successful partnership we offer our
sincere appreciation
Rok Podgrajsek
Obcina Vitanje Grajski trg 1
3205 Vitanje
Slovenia
Email address rokpodgrajsekgmailcom
But see also website httpwwwvitanjesi
(Editorrsquos Note both Wendy Buckle editor of
Themescene and our Chairman Margaret Morris commend this project to you We will be sending Rok
some recent copies of Orbit for the displays)
Some illustrations from Noordungrsquos only published text ldquoThe Problem of
Space Travel The Rocket Motorrdquo (the original German title
was ldquoDas Problem der Befahrung
des Weltraums - der Raketen-Motorrdquo) which saw the light of day
in 1928
Vitanje Local Private Post stamp
33
ORBIT
Zazzle Space Stamps Dazzle
I have noticed Zazzle Space Stamps appearing in Lollini brochures and on their web pages in recent months writes your Editor so I undertook to find out some facts about them and am grateful to The Astrophile Editor Jim Roth and the man who inspired him to create his own Zazzle designs Otto Bergman for the following infohellip Zazzle is one of half a dozen or more US companies
who facilitate the printing of non-copyrighted photos and artwork on private postage stamps which count
as postage within and outwith the USA You can
design your own Zazzle stampsmdashsee their websitemdashwhich you then purchase for your own use 20 to a
page
They are therefore a bit like British Smilers except
that the personal element of the stamp is not on a se-tenant label but actually incorporated within the
stamp itself as you can see from the examples on this page
Jim Roth was annoyed that the Kennedy Space Center Post office would not cancel his Zazzle stamps as they
consider them to be ldquometersrdquo and although he has marked STS-122 he wonrsquot be creating any others
You can see (and buy) all Jim Rothrsquos Space Zazzles on
his website m57coverscommdashclick on ldquostampsrdquo
Three of Jim Rothrsquos designs
See others on his website
An Otto Bergman space creation on
Zazzlecomottobergman
These space Zazzles and others are
available from the Lollini website or brochures
STS 128 in May 2010 section
STS 129 in June 2010
WISE and Delta 2 launch in July 2010 STS 130 in August 2010
STS 128 stamps show astronauts Christer Fuglesang (far left) and left Frank De Winne ISS Commander Expedition 21 STS 129 issues depict mission
patch and the crew led by Charles Hobaugh
Delta 2 rocket launch from Cape Canaveral of WISE Deep InfraRed telescope
34
ORBIT
Concluded on page 39
More Spaceflight Books for Sale
35
ORBIT ORBIT
SPACE HABITATS (Part Two) by John Beenen Continuing his feature from our last issue John Beenen begins by posing the questionhellip Why Should we Seek to Live
in Space
Spacecom gives ten main reasons why we should enter space for a prolonged
period
1 To secure a future for humanity
2 To build a new frontier
3 To find new energy sources
4 To build an industrial settlement on
the Moon
5 Better quality images of the
Universe
6 The SETI effort
7 Mining
8 Learning the history of our
Universe
9 Environmental benefits
Meeting the challenge
Taking for granted that it is naturally fascinating to investigate how mankind
might be able to maintain its habitat outside earth there are several further reasons to investigate why
mankind should settle themselves outside earth in the far future And More reasons mean a overall better
argument
Primarily there is the question of overpopulation and
secondly a solution for the energy problem
Next we have to consider that climate circumstances
are not under control anymore and earth eventually becomes uninhabitable
Also when for various reasons we start to kill each
other for some groups of people it may be an attractive proposition to depart this Earth in quite a different
sense And that is perhaps the most common thought
through activities in space more money can be obtained
But there are disadvantageshellip
On the other hand a prolonged stay in space is not that safe The construction must be protected against
radiation and it can be hit by large and small debris which makes space a very unsafe place
Furthermore cosmic radiation produces
a radiation of 80 mSv (millisievert) - well over the allowed maximum of 50
mSv and very much over the amount which is considered as safe for man
which is 3 mSv
Next solar flares produce a sudden
increase of soft gamma and energy rich radiation so much that without the
protection of an atmosphere half of our population could die easily
It is interesting that even without shielding most of this radiation can be
absorbed in the projected spacecraftsrsquo structure and in the air Smaller
structures can be protected with a
shield of co-rotating rocks
The construction further must be protected against sunlight which by
lack of the air shield will fall in unshielded so sun blinds and radiators
are indispensable
And as a result of the artificial gravity
there are some tiny movement problems which we will face later
Finally the created ecosystem should be fully self-supporting and that is easier said than done as
experiments with Biosphere-2 have showed
Biosphere-2 Biosphere-2 was a project built between 1987 and 1991 providing in an area of about 2frac12 football fields
a closed biological system of different composition From 1991-1993 a crew of 8 persons stayed herein A
second crew of 7 persons bridged a period of March
until September 1994 During the first period it appeared difficult to keep the atmosphere constant in
particular the carbon dioxide values changed rapidlymdashthe reason why many of the carried insects perished
Further the oxygen level decreased slowly because pf a leak
Even during the first two-year phase large differences in opinion appeared and the yield was not large
enough to deliver the calories necessary Reserve stocks had to be broken into Finally the second
experiment had to be ended prematurely because of
mismanagement
However it seems that a well-functioning stable ecosystem should not be underestimated physically
not technically
Artists impressions above Interior Stanford Torus and below Interior
OrsquoNeill Cylinder
Solar flares Czechoslovakia 1965 WB 47
36
ORBIT
It further has to be speculated on that men would resist
a regulated weather programme instead of the customary ever changing circumstances on Earth
Also we must physically resist an eternal stay outside
Earth That is not always easy as some people will show
some kind of sea sickness for ever In any case rooms with a diameter of less than 100 meters and a speed of
revolution over three per minute are insufficient At specifications of over 500 m and at less than 1 revolution
per minute fewer problems have to be expected
How do we get raw materials (Fantasy Moon Mining Yemen
Mutawakelite 1969 1343)
And still there have to be enough raw materials to sustain the
colony but as a principle the
search for raw materials is not the most difficult
From the asteroid belt enough small rocks can be
transported as a building material Also mines can be put
on the Moon Bercause of the lower gravity there transport is easier and some kind of firing mechanism
has been calculated which launch packets of ore simply into space where they can be manipulated
Air can be produced from moonstone Nitrogen nearly without loss can be recycled and eventually added to
ammonia mined from comets Large gardens and fields should start the normal photosynthesis and doing so
finally a complete sustainable society might be built up Energy from the Sun is present in superfluous quantities
What to do about gravity Most designs for a Space station start with a gravity of
1G Some designers however think that a lower level of gravity is possible But in the meantime experiments
with astronauts have showed that our physiology
changes rapidly influenced by decreased or absence of gravity Thus the calcium potassium and sodium
contents of our bone system decrease by about 10 That is not bad were we to stay in space forever but
very troublesome when occasionally we would return to
Earth
Also the quality of our muscles decreases as the blood volume does Providing effects comparable to aging
Further by lack of gravity astronauts become a little
taller with accompanying pain in the back Hence the staying with 1G gravity is not so bad
That has to be maintained by rotation of the
construction The larger the diameter of the construction is the slower it will turn to provide 1 G That is a result
of the centrifugal or centripetal force Its
magnitude has long been established thanks to the work of Dutchman Christiaan Huygens and fixed in
the formula
m v2
F = r where
F = the external force in N(ewton) m = mass in kg
v = speed in msec r = radius in m
Hence a spacecraft with a diameter of 15 meters has to carry out one revolution every 8 seconds to
produce a sensation of 1G And that is too quick for man The effect of the centrifugal force is that should
an astronaut drop an object it does not fall straight
down but partly away from himher Weird
Coriolis force But in a rotating Space station another force is at
work That is the lsquoCoriolis forcersquo named after the
French Gustave-Gaspard Coriolis (1792-1843) who described this kind of force for the first time
The most common manifestation is the second law of
Buys Ballot which says that air streams in the
atmosphere which according the first law of Boys Ballot as a principle run from high to low pressure at
the northern hemisphere are bent to the right and at the southern hemisphere to the left because of the
rotation of the Earth
Therefore air streams around depressions show a
spiral shape in opposite directions at the northern and southern hemisphere In a space station this
force can especially noticed when moving around through the spokes of the wheel
(Diagram of Coriolis F o r c e h t t p
wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm)
A s s u m e t h a t a n
astronaut on a ladder
climbs through a spoke to the axis As he climbs
along he circles around more slowly as he
describes a smaller circle
in the same time What happens with the difference in speed that he had before He will be pressed
against the ladder and that is the Coriolis force The force also acts in opposite direction when he
descends from the ladder
Also the throwing up and catching of a ball will
become a huge achievement as the ball does not
37
ORBIT
drop perpendicularly but will shift a little into the
direction of the orbit of the station and also achieves a higher speed
This also has strange effects on the astronaut As moves
quickly in the rotation direction of the station his weight
appears to increase to a noteworthy extent Then as he moves against the speed of rotation his weight
decreases apparently Mathematically this effect is explainable but very complex
Also the astronautrsquos head and feet move in different
speed to artificial gravity This is plainly noticeable when
somebody jumps up Hence avoid this practice
With these kind of effects adaptation to the changed circumstances in a space station will ask a lot of the
crew members I do hope they can stand it But in any
case the larger the space ship the lesser the problems
Inflatable stations
But therersquos more The inflatable station was considered
many years ago The first i d e a w a s p o s s i b l y
developed when on 12th August 1960 the Echo
balloon with a diameter of
30 meters was launched (Echo I balloon USA 1960
WB 3)
It is true you could not live in it as the balloon was of too frail a construction but the idea of an inflatable
spacecraft was then alive By 1958 groups within NASA
had begun to think about inflatable stations The Goett-committee has been one of the first On 25th26th May
1959 a conference started about projects after
Mercury In particular the
representative of Langley L a r r y Lo f t i n wa s
enthusiastic about his AMIS (Advanced Man in
Space) project (Hexagonal structure
Manama 1970 WB 113)
One of his first projects was a rotating hexagonal
inflatable construction with a diameter of 25 meters a cylindrical core and three lsquospokesrsquo Acting as a ferry to
and from the station the lsquoDyna Soarrsquo Space plane could
be used The Dyna Soar project (at that time still
under development) was cancelled by the American
Minister of Defense Robert
McNamara Inflatable Habitat NASA
1961 enwikipediaorg)
A Langley Space Station
team managed by Paul Hill and Emanuel lsquoMannyrsquo
Schnitzer developed the concept together with the
G o o d y e a r A i r c r a f t
Corporation
(Langleyrsquos self-inflating rotating hexagonal structure httphistorynasagov
SP-4308) Its original diameter had already been reduced to 10
meters
In the years after Langley built several experimental
modules called lsquoErectable Torus Manned Space Laboratoryrsquo a 11 model built by firms such as
Goodyear The torus was built from three layers of
nylon tissue and in between a rubber-like plastic material butyl elastomer A large problem was the
penetration by micrometeorites which as was learnt from the results of the Echo balloon finally damaged
the whole structure
Another problem was the great instability of the ring
due to movements of the astronauts the station started to wobble when they moved around Finally
the project was cancelled and at the end of the eighties the Langley Research Center started to
design inflatable constructions for a base camp on the
Moon
( A r t i s t imp r e s s i on Transhab inflatable
m o d u l e h t t p
enwikipediaorg)
Due to the development of a new series of
s t r o n g e r p l a s t i c materials such as Kevlar
these construct ions
received new interest That lead to the development of Transhab (Transit Habitat) as a resource for crews
coupled at the ISS (international Space Station) The construction is a cylinder in a diameter of 82 meters
and several storeys high
Its volume in inflatable state is 340 m3 The wall has a
thickness of 30 () cm and consists of 12 layers of which the outside layer is made from Kevlar The
layers beneath are made from Nextel a ceramic fibre Disagreements during development and the spiralling
costs finally in 2000 saw the end of NASArsquos interest
G e n e s i s 1
thespacereviewcom)
From 1999 the project was
taken up by Bigelow
38
ORBIT
Aerospace who improved the design and tested it with
successful launchings of Genesis I on 12 July 2006 and Genesis II on 28 June 2007
In their design it has once again more or less the shape
of a balloon With a thickness of 40 cm the wall is still
very thick The outside layer is still Kevlar but inside are some layers of Vectran a textile fibre Within the
structure ants and scorpions were launched along with some objects which people who paid for the privilege of
boosting into space
In this way Bigelow hopes to build a Space Hotel named
Nautilus To stimulate the development Bigelow offered a price of $50 million to everybody who succeeded in
launching a crew of 5 persons to an altitude of 400 km before 2010 So little money lost here so far
A second project which can be realized within the near future is a fixed residence on the Moon As said Langley
occupies itself with the design of such a base which partly should be build below the surface Stamp
designers have already realized the idea
What does the future hold Although we are a long way away from the kind of space station by which a large amount of earth inhabitants can
leave the planet Earth forever the first steps for doing
so are in preparation With the development of their Space Hotel Bigelow tries to make the step to space
albeit a temporary one
Also Langley literally tries to set foot on the Moon and
finally they will succeed in doing so However The cost of such projects are literally astronomical and it is not
expected that in the coming decades much money can be allocated to such projects
Of course in some thousands of years (possibly only in
hundreds of years) this will become the case but for the
time being in my opinion the true conquest of space will stay as science-fiction for at least a few hundred years
Hoorn 2009
John Beenen
NB The stamps entitled lsquoSpace Cityrsquo with a value of 0 cnt do not exist but have been made by the author by means of frames and pictures present at the Internet
Fantasy Moon
b a s e M a n a -ma1970 WB 122
Fantasy bases
ready for Mars
YAR 1971 WB 2892 and 6
Fantasy Modular
base YAR 169 WB 233
39
ORBIT
Cover Below bottom right Future space Dutch Antilles 2000
Literature references (for both parts of article) httpenwikipediaorg Space habitat Space Colonization Orbital Colony Space City Space settlement Space stations L5 Society Bernal Sphere Stanford Torus OrsquoNeil Cylinder Inflatable Space Habitat Transhab Biosphere 2 Generation Ship wwwdsenl~hklruimtehtm Wonen op groene eilanden in de Ruimte (Dutch Living on green Islands in Space) Henry Kluytmans wwworionsarmcom McKendree Cylinder Bishops Ring wwwnasnasagovAboutEducationSpaceSettlement The Colonization of Space wwwdyarstraightscommsgundamhabitatshtml Mobile Suit Gundam High Frontier Life in the Universal Century Developing sound habitats wwwartificial-gravitycomDissertation1_2htm From Tsiolkovsky to Sputnik (1878-1957) httpsciencenasagovheadlinesy2000ast26may_1mhtm Wheels in the Sky httpdiscaircraftgreyfalconus Hermann Noordung Wohnrad (Wheel for Habitation) httparticlesadsabsharvardedufull1992lbsaconf249R Inflatable habitation for the lunar base MRoberts httphistorynasagovSP-4308ch9htm lsquoAs inevitable as the Rising Sunrsquo From the inflatable Torus to the Rotating Hexagon wwwspacecomnewsbusinessmonday_040524html Bigelow Aerospace to tackle inflatable Space Habitats httpsciencehowstuffsworkcominflatable-spacecraft2htm How Inflatable Spacecraft Will Work wwwbogancaphysicscoriolishtml Rotating Space Stations Dynamics An Explanation of the Coriolis Force httpdemonstrationswolframcomRotatingSpaceStation Rotating Space Station wwwdvandomcomcoliolisspacestationhtml Frame Effects and Space Stations wwwdvandomcomcoriolisindexhtml A (hopefully) simple explanation of the Coriolis Force wwwdaviddarlinginfoencyclopedia Hale Edward Everett von Pirquet Guido Noordung Hermann Space Station wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm The Coriolis Force wwwastronautixcomcraftfamlunbaseshtm Lunar bases wwwastronautixcomgallerycspebasehtm Photo Gallery Space base wwwregererating-universeorgOn_Moon_as_Space_Basehtm On Moon as Space Base wwwspacefuturecomhabitatlivingshtml Space Habitat Introduction Living in Space wwwspacepagebevideotaak=bekijkampid=47 Living in space (Video) wwwnutricomspace The Case for Space colonization ndash Now Oscar Falconi wwwxentcompipermailfork (FoRK) Bigelowrsquos inflatable Genesis I satellite in orbit wwwrussianforcesorg Russian strategic nuclear forces (Genesis II) wwwbigelowaerospacecomgenesis Genesis I Genesis II
Thanks to Alan Tunnicliffe who came across the attached news item
complete with stamp in the eNZ Magazine the bi-monthly journal of
the Institution of Professional Engineers NZ Inc Vol 11 No 3 May-
June 2010
Vaccari Auction Sells Remarkable Space Covers April 2010
Apollo 12 cover 55 of 87 flown to the moon on Apollo 15 having been left behind by the original crew sold for euro12200 1977 Salyut
6 Soyuz 27 cover sold for euro1600
40
ORBIT ORBIT
Shuttle 1981mdash2010 Stamps Marshall
Islands 2005
United Nations 2007 Monaco and Ascension 2008
Bulgaria 1991 including stamp from souvenir sheet
USA 1981
below USA 1995 and bottom USA 1998
(two values)
St Vincent Grenadines 1983
Ascension 1989
Bulgaria 1990
and above right W Germany 1975
and USA 2000 Guyana 2006
USA 1995
41
ASSS Membership Renewal 2010
Memberrsquos Name amp Addresshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
I wish to renew my membership of the ASSS for a further year and enclose the equivalent of
pound15 (UK) euro30 (Europe) $US 45 (Rest of the World)
Please return this form with your remittance to Harvey Duncan by the
end of July Thank you
Harvey Duncan Treasurer ASSS 16 Begg Avenue
Falkirk Scotland FK1 2DL
PayPal For details of how to Pay via Paypal
please email Jeff Dugdale Email address on Page 2
42
43
44
28
ORBIT
these tests Apollo 15 Lunar Cancellation Proofs are
much scarcer than Apollo 11 ones ldquoAs by now I am aware of only 17 itemsrdquo states famous astrophilatelist
Walter Hopferwieser Covers with proofs of the Apollo 15 moon postmarks have been recently sold at Regency
Superior and Aurora auctions
The official Apollo 15 cover postmarked on the Moon
(see Fig 1 repeated above ) is displayed at the US National Postal Museum It was publicly cancelled and
the video can be seen at httpwwwpostalmuseumsiedustampstakeflight
apollo15video-01html A short speech was given by
Dave Scott while cancelling the cover ldquoTo show that our good Postal Service has deliveries any place in the
universe I have the pleasant task of cancelling here on the Moon the first stamp of a new issue dedicated to
commemorate US achievements in space I have the
first one here on an envelope At the bottom it says United States in Space a decade of achievement and
Im very proud to have the opportunity here to play postman I pull out a cancellation device It says
August 2 1971 first day of issuehellip What could be a
better place to cancel this stamp than right here at Hadley Rillehelliprdquo
Immediately thereafter the Postmaster General who
was waiting at the Mission Control at Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston Texas gave the signal to start the
First- Day cancellations at post offices in Houston
Kennedy Space Center and Huntsville
Acknowledgement Thanks to Walter Hopferwieser for his comments
Some Notes About Space Mail
Commenting on Brian Vincentrsquos article in the June
2010 Orbit ASSS member Geoff Chivers writes in an
email to your Editorhellip Im sure you wont mind me commenting on Brian G Vincents Some Notes About Space Mail (page 36)
In paragraph 2 he refers to the Apollo 15 cover incident leaving the impression that Scott Worden and Irwin were guilty of some heinous crime This has been the subject of much miss-reporting over the years The full story of what actually happened is explained in depth at page 328 et seq of Two sides of the moon by David Scott and Alexei Leonov published by Simon amp Shuster The astronauts were of course exonerated
This is the quote (slightly edited to enable it to stand as an independent piece)-
During 1972 while on a trip to Washington DC George Low NASA deputy administrator asked me to stop by his
office writes David Scott I had known George in Houston while he was Apollo spacecraft programme manager and I had great respect for him We spent a short while exchanging pleasantries Then George looked me in the eye and came to the point ldquoWell Daverdquo he said ldquoI have to tell you I was not very proud of my performancerdquo His comment was the culmination of what had become known as the Apollo 15 ldquocover incidentrdquo This involved some first day postal covers which we had carried aboard Apollo 15 some of which were unfortunately sold by a German stamp dealer several months after the flight As No 2 in NASA George
had been heavily involved in NASAs handling of the incident and his comment referred to one of the poorest management performances the space agency had ever demonstrated - up to then The whole business had probably been building since Mercury through Gemini and into Apollo People had a fascination with objects that had been carried in space and they became more and more popular and valuable as the programme progressed Right from the start of the Mercury programme each astronaut had been allowed to carry on board a certain number of personal items in what were known as PPKS - Personal Preference Kits Before each flight a list of the items was prepared for Deke Slayton who
Two Sides of The Moon
by David Scott and Alexei Leonov
The text opposite from the
above book has been
referred to by Umberto Cavallaro in preparing his
above piece
29
ORBIT
had overall responsibility for approving them As the flights became more significant the number and type of items increased Aside from personal mementoes each crew had carried a certain number of medallions which they could hand out afterwards as souvenirs The number of medallions had grown steadily on each mission - eventually some crew members had been carrying several hundred each and their weight was becoming a concern And as always commercialisation began to creep in In the end on Apollo 14 commanded by Al Shepard it was alleged that the crew had carried some silver medallions on board which were to be melted down after the flight and mixed with many other commemorative medallions by the Franklin Mint to be sold to the general public The Franklin Mint had even advertised the proposed sale before the flight After the flight the deal was never consummated and all went quiet nothing about it was printed in the media But some members of Congress had heard about it and were unhappy with the situation Since we were busy training for Apollo 15 (launched 26 July 1971) we knew nothing about all this Had we known we would have been far more wary of what happened subsequently All we knew was that Deke Slayton had halved the number of medallions we could carry Shortly afterwards Deke introduced Jim (Irwin) Al (Worden) and me to a long-standing friend of his at the Cape called Walter Eiermann In retrospect this seems likely to have been more than a coincidence Deke invited us to join him at dinner at Eiermanns house one evening several months before the Apollo 15 launch Eiermann asked if we would like to make some money on the side by signing some stamps ldquoAll the guys are doing itrdquo he said We agreed We were also approached by several members of the Manned Spacecraft Centerrsquos stamp club who asked us to sign many first - day covers before the flight for their members as well as for ourselves At that time we could not buy life insurance If we signed some covers we reasoned they could be held during the flight and act as limited life insurance for our families if anything happened to us But then Eiermann proposed we carry four hundred lightweight commemorative covers a hundred of which would be passed on to a stamp dealer in Germany when we returned All the covers would be franked on the day of launch and franked on the day of our return Our understanding was that the dealer would hold his hundred covers to be sold at some future date after the Apollo programme was over In return he would set up a $6000 trust fund for each of us for the education of our children In the months of intense activity before the flight we did not give this more than a moment of thought But we agreed In retrospect we made a mistake in even considering it In the months following our mission we learnt that the German dealer had begun to sell the covers We let Eiermann know that we were opposed to the sale Forget the trust funds we said we dont want any money This is not what we had understood would happen But when senior managers at NASA learnt about the covers being sold they were furious Incomplete information was then provided to the press by NASArsquos Public Affairs Office and reports started to appear that we had smuggled the covers onto our flight This was literally impossible NASA personnel prepared us for every aspect of the flight - from our birthday suits out Everything we had carried had to be specially packaged by the flight support crew to make sure apart from anything else
that it was fireproof Everything in our PPKs was on a list which was certified before launch I was never aware of any rules about what could or could not be taken in these packs Slayton was to approve the list so as far as I was concerned it was up to management to keep us on the straight and narrow I assumed if the list was approved that was fine Usually the list was certified by Deke But before our flight for some reason he neither asked us personally for each of our lists as was customary nor signed off on the list personally He said the flight - crew support team had already logged everything Whereas we had purchased the covers ourselves the Astronaut Office at the Cape had prepared the covers for the flight and had had them stamped and franked on the day of launch Somehow however the support team had missed them when they prepared the PPK flight manifest It was also reported after the incident that we had been removed from the astronaut corps Again totally untrue Unfortunately NASA managers did nothing to dispel this false and misleading information They just tucked their heads in and let the rumours run The reports infuriated Congress not least because congressmen had to read such controversial information in the press before being informed by NASA which is obligated to keep Congress fully informed of its activities Recollections of the Apollo 14 medallion incident must have seeped into the minds of certain members of Congress many of whom were not fans of NASA anyway When NASA started an internal investigation we were told by a senior official in the agency that we were on our own We were advised to get our own legal representation A Senate hearing into the matter had been called and a justice Department investigation would follow It was turning into a witch - hunt NASA we were advised expected us to keep quiet and take the Fifth Amendment at this hearing We did not We told it like it was We had nothing to hide Eventually the Justice Department concluded that we had broken some administrative rules but had done nothing criminal NASA confiscated the remaining covers but they acted before discovering all the facts of the case Following an investigation by NASA the Justice Department and the Senate the Justice Department concluded on 6 December 1978 in a ldquoMemorandum Opinion for the Assistant Attorney Generalrdquo that NASA had no claim to the remaining covers that the covers were never intended for sale that there was no attempt at concealment by the crew of the fact that the covers were to be flown on Apollo 15 and finally that the covers would have been approved to carry aboard Apollo 15 had a request been made We were reprimanded and we took our licks But it was a very raw deal NASA had hung us out to dry Our bosses had abrogated their responsibilities and we were left alone on a very wet day I spent many years trying to get full access to NASA and congressional records on the case NASA refused to provide full disclosure We subsequently found out there had been rumblings about profitmdashmaking on previous missions A copy of a letter was released to me in which NASA admitted that ten other astronauts who were not identified had been involved in selling signed blocks of stamps and postcards for Eiermann But the wave reached the shore on Apollo 15 and we were the ones who bore the brunt of the blame for such incidents
30
ORBIT
Buckingham Cover offer Free Souvenirs for You
Brian Austin of Buckinghamrsquos Rare Cover Department writes to your Editorhellip
Over the last two or three years we have been dealing more and more in signed space covers This led us to earlier this year buying an Apollo 11 crew signed cover which had been carried to the moon which we had on display on our stand at London 2010
For this we also printed a limited edition of 800 sets of postcards one featuring the Apollo 11 cover and another
featuring an Apollo 15 cover The idea was to give away 100 sets per day to customers at the show but now the show is all finished I still have around 150 pairs left on my desk
We wondered if you would like to offer them to your readers we are happy to send them out free of charge to the first 150 readers to contact us with their details as long as we can also include one of our lists of space
covers
BrianAustinbuckinghamcoverscom
31
ORBIT
More About Missile Mail
Harvey Duncan told us in the last Orbit (page 15) about the First Official Missile Mail writes Bert van Eijck After the useful technical details about the USS Barbero he gave us I can offer you more philatelic information and show you some illustrations The missile mail experiment was a joint venture between
the Ministry of Defense and the US Post Office Dept headed by Postmaster General Mr Arthur E
Summerfield Three thousand special envelopes were printed with a reproduction of a Navy missile type
Regulus with the text ldquoFirst Official Missile Mailrdquo and above that ldquoThe Postmaster General Washingtonrdquo All
the envelopes were addressed to The President high
government officials like senators and to the Post Masters General of ninety nine other member nations of
UPU Inside was a letter from Mr Summerfield entitled ldquoThe First Official Missile Mailrdquo with the official seal of
the Post Office dept It was explained therein what had
happed to that letter and the other 2999
The special letters were loaded in two metal compartments and came aboard the guided missile USS Barbero (SSG-317) The shot was to occur during a regular training mission from Norfolk Virginia to Florida
About 350 kilometres off the coast of Florida the
Regulus missile was launched toward Airport Mayport
The missile climbed 10 km above the Atlantic and
landed within twenty minutes with all the letters intact The letters were cancelled with the hand stamp ldquoUSS
Barberordquo with the date ldquoJun 8 1959rdquo and the approximate timing of the launching ldquo930 amrdquo This
was done by post office staff part of an established
branch office on the USS Barbero The letters bore the 1957 4c American flag postage stamp Those
addressed to foreign countries carried two such stamps covering surface mail postage costs On the
reverse side is the Jacksonville Post Office cancellation with the approximate time of arrival ldquoJune 8 1030 am
1959 Floridardquo
Such flown letters are expensive to buy and a jewel in
any exhibit
But this is NOT the case with the Barbero souvenir
cover dated a month later on July 8 1959 issued in the same quantity (3000) as the originals The
inscription reads ldquoPoint of LandingmdashFirst Official Missile Mail 8 June 1959 US Naval Station Mayport Floridardquo
About 16000 () collectors had applied for such a cover
The imprint of the official Barbero cover was reproduced on a memorial cover issued and posted at
the Vienna International Airpost Exhibition Luposta on August 1959 in the Austrian capital Of course neither
of these items had been carried within the Regulus
missile
Also of interest the Postal Administration of
Paraguay issued a stamp
and a block in 1976 honouring the Barbero
Missile Mail The Gs 20 stamp shows a Regulus
missile in flight while the sheet shows the whole
addressed cover and in
miniature the complete letter inside from the US Postmaster General
as mentioned above and as illustrated below
Above a specimen envelope as described in the text and below its reverse cancel
32
ORBIT
An Invitation to Our Readers to Donate to an Innovative International Projecthellip
Kindest Sir or Madam
The municipality of Vitanje
(Slovenia) is honoured to have had a hand in the life of the
famous space architect Herman Potocnik Noordung
(1892-1929) (pictured right) who had already found a
surprising number of solutions
to space travel and troubles of living in vacuum long before
actual space flights took place His creations were used by the
renowned novelist Arthur C Clarke
in his book 2001 A Space Odyssey which was later also turned into a
movie directed by Stanley Kubrick In Noordungs honour we have
created the Memorial Centre of Herman Potocnik Noordung This
year the cultural centre of European
space technology will also get going in Vitanje This will be a place
where the European space heritage will be gathered and various events connected with the
contemporary European space technologies will be
organized
Proposed Philatelic Collection We would like to bring the project onto a higher level
where we would have the collaboration of various
countries in the world including such with a history in space travel (like USA Russia) One of the steps of this
expansion process would also include a philatelic collection of stamps with themes of outer space
(astronomy astronautics and everything connected to
outer space) We already have quite a decent collection but we would like to expand on that
Our goal is to have 6000 stamps before opening our
exhibition For this we would require the help of as many philatelists as possible
All of these philatelists would become co-creators and partners of this collection for which we hope will
become the largest collection of its kind in the world The people donating the stamps would get a great deal
of exposure at all these exhibitions and on the special
website which will be started shortly If you give us enough support and we are able to raise enough
stamps for a first-class collection we hope the first
exhibitions and various special events (like visits from
astronauts ndash philatelists) will see the light of day as early as in 2011
From a professional point of view we have an
excellent team working with us Long-time philatelist
Tone Petek is the person who initiated this project while Bojan Bracic the secretary of FEPA is one of our
counsellors and is completely behind this project
If you would be interested in such cooperation I will get the wheels in motion and send you a verifying
mail with the stamp of the municipality of Vitanje and
also of some higher organization within the Slovene political system
The collection is already underway with the help of the
Slovene Philatelic organisation (FZS) adds Rok in an email to your Editor in July This organisation has been of immense help with technical expertise and
connections It looks as if there might be an introductory exhibition next year sometime
In the hope of a successful partnership we offer our
sincere appreciation
Rok Podgrajsek
Obcina Vitanje Grajski trg 1
3205 Vitanje
Slovenia
Email address rokpodgrajsekgmailcom
But see also website httpwwwvitanjesi
(Editorrsquos Note both Wendy Buckle editor of
Themescene and our Chairman Margaret Morris commend this project to you We will be sending Rok
some recent copies of Orbit for the displays)
Some illustrations from Noordungrsquos only published text ldquoThe Problem of
Space Travel The Rocket Motorrdquo (the original German title
was ldquoDas Problem der Befahrung
des Weltraums - der Raketen-Motorrdquo) which saw the light of day
in 1928
Vitanje Local Private Post stamp
33
ORBIT
Zazzle Space Stamps Dazzle
I have noticed Zazzle Space Stamps appearing in Lollini brochures and on their web pages in recent months writes your Editor so I undertook to find out some facts about them and am grateful to The Astrophile Editor Jim Roth and the man who inspired him to create his own Zazzle designs Otto Bergman for the following infohellip Zazzle is one of half a dozen or more US companies
who facilitate the printing of non-copyrighted photos and artwork on private postage stamps which count
as postage within and outwith the USA You can
design your own Zazzle stampsmdashsee their websitemdashwhich you then purchase for your own use 20 to a
page
They are therefore a bit like British Smilers except
that the personal element of the stamp is not on a se-tenant label but actually incorporated within the
stamp itself as you can see from the examples on this page
Jim Roth was annoyed that the Kennedy Space Center Post office would not cancel his Zazzle stamps as they
consider them to be ldquometersrdquo and although he has marked STS-122 he wonrsquot be creating any others
You can see (and buy) all Jim Rothrsquos Space Zazzles on
his website m57coverscommdashclick on ldquostampsrdquo
Three of Jim Rothrsquos designs
See others on his website
An Otto Bergman space creation on
Zazzlecomottobergman
These space Zazzles and others are
available from the Lollini website or brochures
STS 128 in May 2010 section
STS 129 in June 2010
WISE and Delta 2 launch in July 2010 STS 130 in August 2010
STS 128 stamps show astronauts Christer Fuglesang (far left) and left Frank De Winne ISS Commander Expedition 21 STS 129 issues depict mission
patch and the crew led by Charles Hobaugh
Delta 2 rocket launch from Cape Canaveral of WISE Deep InfraRed telescope
34
ORBIT
Concluded on page 39
More Spaceflight Books for Sale
35
ORBIT ORBIT
SPACE HABITATS (Part Two) by John Beenen Continuing his feature from our last issue John Beenen begins by posing the questionhellip Why Should we Seek to Live
in Space
Spacecom gives ten main reasons why we should enter space for a prolonged
period
1 To secure a future for humanity
2 To build a new frontier
3 To find new energy sources
4 To build an industrial settlement on
the Moon
5 Better quality images of the
Universe
6 The SETI effort
7 Mining
8 Learning the history of our
Universe
9 Environmental benefits
Meeting the challenge
Taking for granted that it is naturally fascinating to investigate how mankind
might be able to maintain its habitat outside earth there are several further reasons to investigate why
mankind should settle themselves outside earth in the far future And More reasons mean a overall better
argument
Primarily there is the question of overpopulation and
secondly a solution for the energy problem
Next we have to consider that climate circumstances
are not under control anymore and earth eventually becomes uninhabitable
Also when for various reasons we start to kill each
other for some groups of people it may be an attractive proposition to depart this Earth in quite a different
sense And that is perhaps the most common thought
through activities in space more money can be obtained
But there are disadvantageshellip
On the other hand a prolonged stay in space is not that safe The construction must be protected against
radiation and it can be hit by large and small debris which makes space a very unsafe place
Furthermore cosmic radiation produces
a radiation of 80 mSv (millisievert) - well over the allowed maximum of 50
mSv and very much over the amount which is considered as safe for man
which is 3 mSv
Next solar flares produce a sudden
increase of soft gamma and energy rich radiation so much that without the
protection of an atmosphere half of our population could die easily
It is interesting that even without shielding most of this radiation can be
absorbed in the projected spacecraftsrsquo structure and in the air Smaller
structures can be protected with a
shield of co-rotating rocks
The construction further must be protected against sunlight which by
lack of the air shield will fall in unshielded so sun blinds and radiators
are indispensable
And as a result of the artificial gravity
there are some tiny movement problems which we will face later
Finally the created ecosystem should be fully self-supporting and that is easier said than done as
experiments with Biosphere-2 have showed
Biosphere-2 Biosphere-2 was a project built between 1987 and 1991 providing in an area of about 2frac12 football fields
a closed biological system of different composition From 1991-1993 a crew of 8 persons stayed herein A
second crew of 7 persons bridged a period of March
until September 1994 During the first period it appeared difficult to keep the atmosphere constant in
particular the carbon dioxide values changed rapidlymdashthe reason why many of the carried insects perished
Further the oxygen level decreased slowly because pf a leak
Even during the first two-year phase large differences in opinion appeared and the yield was not large
enough to deliver the calories necessary Reserve stocks had to be broken into Finally the second
experiment had to be ended prematurely because of
mismanagement
However it seems that a well-functioning stable ecosystem should not be underestimated physically
not technically
Artists impressions above Interior Stanford Torus and below Interior
OrsquoNeill Cylinder
Solar flares Czechoslovakia 1965 WB 47
36
ORBIT
It further has to be speculated on that men would resist
a regulated weather programme instead of the customary ever changing circumstances on Earth
Also we must physically resist an eternal stay outside
Earth That is not always easy as some people will show
some kind of sea sickness for ever In any case rooms with a diameter of less than 100 meters and a speed of
revolution over three per minute are insufficient At specifications of over 500 m and at less than 1 revolution
per minute fewer problems have to be expected
How do we get raw materials (Fantasy Moon Mining Yemen
Mutawakelite 1969 1343)
And still there have to be enough raw materials to sustain the
colony but as a principle the
search for raw materials is not the most difficult
From the asteroid belt enough small rocks can be
transported as a building material Also mines can be put
on the Moon Bercause of the lower gravity there transport is easier and some kind of firing mechanism
has been calculated which launch packets of ore simply into space where they can be manipulated
Air can be produced from moonstone Nitrogen nearly without loss can be recycled and eventually added to
ammonia mined from comets Large gardens and fields should start the normal photosynthesis and doing so
finally a complete sustainable society might be built up Energy from the Sun is present in superfluous quantities
What to do about gravity Most designs for a Space station start with a gravity of
1G Some designers however think that a lower level of gravity is possible But in the meantime experiments
with astronauts have showed that our physiology
changes rapidly influenced by decreased or absence of gravity Thus the calcium potassium and sodium
contents of our bone system decrease by about 10 That is not bad were we to stay in space forever but
very troublesome when occasionally we would return to
Earth
Also the quality of our muscles decreases as the blood volume does Providing effects comparable to aging
Further by lack of gravity astronauts become a little
taller with accompanying pain in the back Hence the staying with 1G gravity is not so bad
That has to be maintained by rotation of the
construction The larger the diameter of the construction is the slower it will turn to provide 1 G That is a result
of the centrifugal or centripetal force Its
magnitude has long been established thanks to the work of Dutchman Christiaan Huygens and fixed in
the formula
m v2
F = r where
F = the external force in N(ewton) m = mass in kg
v = speed in msec r = radius in m
Hence a spacecraft with a diameter of 15 meters has to carry out one revolution every 8 seconds to
produce a sensation of 1G And that is too quick for man The effect of the centrifugal force is that should
an astronaut drop an object it does not fall straight
down but partly away from himher Weird
Coriolis force But in a rotating Space station another force is at
work That is the lsquoCoriolis forcersquo named after the
French Gustave-Gaspard Coriolis (1792-1843) who described this kind of force for the first time
The most common manifestation is the second law of
Buys Ballot which says that air streams in the
atmosphere which according the first law of Boys Ballot as a principle run from high to low pressure at
the northern hemisphere are bent to the right and at the southern hemisphere to the left because of the
rotation of the Earth
Therefore air streams around depressions show a
spiral shape in opposite directions at the northern and southern hemisphere In a space station this
force can especially noticed when moving around through the spokes of the wheel
(Diagram of Coriolis F o r c e h t t p
wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm)
A s s u m e t h a t a n
astronaut on a ladder
climbs through a spoke to the axis As he climbs
along he circles around more slowly as he
describes a smaller circle
in the same time What happens with the difference in speed that he had before He will be pressed
against the ladder and that is the Coriolis force The force also acts in opposite direction when he
descends from the ladder
Also the throwing up and catching of a ball will
become a huge achievement as the ball does not
37
ORBIT
drop perpendicularly but will shift a little into the
direction of the orbit of the station and also achieves a higher speed
This also has strange effects on the astronaut As moves
quickly in the rotation direction of the station his weight
appears to increase to a noteworthy extent Then as he moves against the speed of rotation his weight
decreases apparently Mathematically this effect is explainable but very complex
Also the astronautrsquos head and feet move in different
speed to artificial gravity This is plainly noticeable when
somebody jumps up Hence avoid this practice
With these kind of effects adaptation to the changed circumstances in a space station will ask a lot of the
crew members I do hope they can stand it But in any
case the larger the space ship the lesser the problems
Inflatable stations
But therersquos more The inflatable station was considered
many years ago The first i d e a w a s p o s s i b l y
developed when on 12th August 1960 the Echo
balloon with a diameter of
30 meters was launched (Echo I balloon USA 1960
WB 3)
It is true you could not live in it as the balloon was of too frail a construction but the idea of an inflatable
spacecraft was then alive By 1958 groups within NASA
had begun to think about inflatable stations The Goett-committee has been one of the first On 25th26th May
1959 a conference started about projects after
Mercury In particular the
representative of Langley L a r r y Lo f t i n wa s
enthusiastic about his AMIS (Advanced Man in
Space) project (Hexagonal structure
Manama 1970 WB 113)
One of his first projects was a rotating hexagonal
inflatable construction with a diameter of 25 meters a cylindrical core and three lsquospokesrsquo Acting as a ferry to
and from the station the lsquoDyna Soarrsquo Space plane could
be used The Dyna Soar project (at that time still
under development) was cancelled by the American
Minister of Defense Robert
McNamara Inflatable Habitat NASA
1961 enwikipediaorg)
A Langley Space Station
team managed by Paul Hill and Emanuel lsquoMannyrsquo
Schnitzer developed the concept together with the
G o o d y e a r A i r c r a f t
Corporation
(Langleyrsquos self-inflating rotating hexagonal structure httphistorynasagov
SP-4308) Its original diameter had already been reduced to 10
meters
In the years after Langley built several experimental
modules called lsquoErectable Torus Manned Space Laboratoryrsquo a 11 model built by firms such as
Goodyear The torus was built from three layers of
nylon tissue and in between a rubber-like plastic material butyl elastomer A large problem was the
penetration by micrometeorites which as was learnt from the results of the Echo balloon finally damaged
the whole structure
Another problem was the great instability of the ring
due to movements of the astronauts the station started to wobble when they moved around Finally
the project was cancelled and at the end of the eighties the Langley Research Center started to
design inflatable constructions for a base camp on the
Moon
( A r t i s t imp r e s s i on Transhab inflatable
m o d u l e h t t p
enwikipediaorg)
Due to the development of a new series of
s t r o n g e r p l a s t i c materials such as Kevlar
these construct ions
received new interest That lead to the development of Transhab (Transit Habitat) as a resource for crews
coupled at the ISS (international Space Station) The construction is a cylinder in a diameter of 82 meters
and several storeys high
Its volume in inflatable state is 340 m3 The wall has a
thickness of 30 () cm and consists of 12 layers of which the outside layer is made from Kevlar The
layers beneath are made from Nextel a ceramic fibre Disagreements during development and the spiralling
costs finally in 2000 saw the end of NASArsquos interest
G e n e s i s 1
thespacereviewcom)
From 1999 the project was
taken up by Bigelow
38
ORBIT
Aerospace who improved the design and tested it with
successful launchings of Genesis I on 12 July 2006 and Genesis II on 28 June 2007
In their design it has once again more or less the shape
of a balloon With a thickness of 40 cm the wall is still
very thick The outside layer is still Kevlar but inside are some layers of Vectran a textile fibre Within the
structure ants and scorpions were launched along with some objects which people who paid for the privilege of
boosting into space
In this way Bigelow hopes to build a Space Hotel named
Nautilus To stimulate the development Bigelow offered a price of $50 million to everybody who succeeded in
launching a crew of 5 persons to an altitude of 400 km before 2010 So little money lost here so far
A second project which can be realized within the near future is a fixed residence on the Moon As said Langley
occupies itself with the design of such a base which partly should be build below the surface Stamp
designers have already realized the idea
What does the future hold Although we are a long way away from the kind of space station by which a large amount of earth inhabitants can
leave the planet Earth forever the first steps for doing
so are in preparation With the development of their Space Hotel Bigelow tries to make the step to space
albeit a temporary one
Also Langley literally tries to set foot on the Moon and
finally they will succeed in doing so However The cost of such projects are literally astronomical and it is not
expected that in the coming decades much money can be allocated to such projects
Of course in some thousands of years (possibly only in
hundreds of years) this will become the case but for the
time being in my opinion the true conquest of space will stay as science-fiction for at least a few hundred years
Hoorn 2009
John Beenen
NB The stamps entitled lsquoSpace Cityrsquo with a value of 0 cnt do not exist but have been made by the author by means of frames and pictures present at the Internet
Fantasy Moon
b a s e M a n a -ma1970 WB 122
Fantasy bases
ready for Mars
YAR 1971 WB 2892 and 6
Fantasy Modular
base YAR 169 WB 233
39
ORBIT
Cover Below bottom right Future space Dutch Antilles 2000
Literature references (for both parts of article) httpenwikipediaorg Space habitat Space Colonization Orbital Colony Space City Space settlement Space stations L5 Society Bernal Sphere Stanford Torus OrsquoNeil Cylinder Inflatable Space Habitat Transhab Biosphere 2 Generation Ship wwwdsenl~hklruimtehtm Wonen op groene eilanden in de Ruimte (Dutch Living on green Islands in Space) Henry Kluytmans wwworionsarmcom McKendree Cylinder Bishops Ring wwwnasnasagovAboutEducationSpaceSettlement The Colonization of Space wwwdyarstraightscommsgundamhabitatshtml Mobile Suit Gundam High Frontier Life in the Universal Century Developing sound habitats wwwartificial-gravitycomDissertation1_2htm From Tsiolkovsky to Sputnik (1878-1957) httpsciencenasagovheadlinesy2000ast26may_1mhtm Wheels in the Sky httpdiscaircraftgreyfalconus Hermann Noordung Wohnrad (Wheel for Habitation) httparticlesadsabsharvardedufull1992lbsaconf249R Inflatable habitation for the lunar base MRoberts httphistorynasagovSP-4308ch9htm lsquoAs inevitable as the Rising Sunrsquo From the inflatable Torus to the Rotating Hexagon wwwspacecomnewsbusinessmonday_040524html Bigelow Aerospace to tackle inflatable Space Habitats httpsciencehowstuffsworkcominflatable-spacecraft2htm How Inflatable Spacecraft Will Work wwwbogancaphysicscoriolishtml Rotating Space Stations Dynamics An Explanation of the Coriolis Force httpdemonstrationswolframcomRotatingSpaceStation Rotating Space Station wwwdvandomcomcoliolisspacestationhtml Frame Effects and Space Stations wwwdvandomcomcoriolisindexhtml A (hopefully) simple explanation of the Coriolis Force wwwdaviddarlinginfoencyclopedia Hale Edward Everett von Pirquet Guido Noordung Hermann Space Station wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm The Coriolis Force wwwastronautixcomcraftfamlunbaseshtm Lunar bases wwwastronautixcomgallerycspebasehtm Photo Gallery Space base wwwregererating-universeorgOn_Moon_as_Space_Basehtm On Moon as Space Base wwwspacefuturecomhabitatlivingshtml Space Habitat Introduction Living in Space wwwspacepagebevideotaak=bekijkampid=47 Living in space (Video) wwwnutricomspace The Case for Space colonization ndash Now Oscar Falconi wwwxentcompipermailfork (FoRK) Bigelowrsquos inflatable Genesis I satellite in orbit wwwrussianforcesorg Russian strategic nuclear forces (Genesis II) wwwbigelowaerospacecomgenesis Genesis I Genesis II
Thanks to Alan Tunnicliffe who came across the attached news item
complete with stamp in the eNZ Magazine the bi-monthly journal of
the Institution of Professional Engineers NZ Inc Vol 11 No 3 May-
June 2010
Vaccari Auction Sells Remarkable Space Covers April 2010
Apollo 12 cover 55 of 87 flown to the moon on Apollo 15 having been left behind by the original crew sold for euro12200 1977 Salyut
6 Soyuz 27 cover sold for euro1600
40
ORBIT ORBIT
Shuttle 1981mdash2010 Stamps Marshall
Islands 2005
United Nations 2007 Monaco and Ascension 2008
Bulgaria 1991 including stamp from souvenir sheet
USA 1981
below USA 1995 and bottom USA 1998
(two values)
St Vincent Grenadines 1983
Ascension 1989
Bulgaria 1990
and above right W Germany 1975
and USA 2000 Guyana 2006
USA 1995
41
ASSS Membership Renewal 2010
Memberrsquos Name amp Addresshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
I wish to renew my membership of the ASSS for a further year and enclose the equivalent of
pound15 (UK) euro30 (Europe) $US 45 (Rest of the World)
Please return this form with your remittance to Harvey Duncan by the
end of July Thank you
Harvey Duncan Treasurer ASSS 16 Begg Avenue
Falkirk Scotland FK1 2DL
PayPal For details of how to Pay via Paypal
please email Jeff Dugdale Email address on Page 2
42
43
44
29
ORBIT
had overall responsibility for approving them As the flights became more significant the number and type of items increased Aside from personal mementoes each crew had carried a certain number of medallions which they could hand out afterwards as souvenirs The number of medallions had grown steadily on each mission - eventually some crew members had been carrying several hundred each and their weight was becoming a concern And as always commercialisation began to creep in In the end on Apollo 14 commanded by Al Shepard it was alleged that the crew had carried some silver medallions on board which were to be melted down after the flight and mixed with many other commemorative medallions by the Franklin Mint to be sold to the general public The Franklin Mint had even advertised the proposed sale before the flight After the flight the deal was never consummated and all went quiet nothing about it was printed in the media But some members of Congress had heard about it and were unhappy with the situation Since we were busy training for Apollo 15 (launched 26 July 1971) we knew nothing about all this Had we known we would have been far more wary of what happened subsequently All we knew was that Deke Slayton had halved the number of medallions we could carry Shortly afterwards Deke introduced Jim (Irwin) Al (Worden) and me to a long-standing friend of his at the Cape called Walter Eiermann In retrospect this seems likely to have been more than a coincidence Deke invited us to join him at dinner at Eiermanns house one evening several months before the Apollo 15 launch Eiermann asked if we would like to make some money on the side by signing some stamps ldquoAll the guys are doing itrdquo he said We agreed We were also approached by several members of the Manned Spacecraft Centerrsquos stamp club who asked us to sign many first - day covers before the flight for their members as well as for ourselves At that time we could not buy life insurance If we signed some covers we reasoned they could be held during the flight and act as limited life insurance for our families if anything happened to us But then Eiermann proposed we carry four hundred lightweight commemorative covers a hundred of which would be passed on to a stamp dealer in Germany when we returned All the covers would be franked on the day of launch and franked on the day of our return Our understanding was that the dealer would hold his hundred covers to be sold at some future date after the Apollo programme was over In return he would set up a $6000 trust fund for each of us for the education of our children In the months of intense activity before the flight we did not give this more than a moment of thought But we agreed In retrospect we made a mistake in even considering it In the months following our mission we learnt that the German dealer had begun to sell the covers We let Eiermann know that we were opposed to the sale Forget the trust funds we said we dont want any money This is not what we had understood would happen But when senior managers at NASA learnt about the covers being sold they were furious Incomplete information was then provided to the press by NASArsquos Public Affairs Office and reports started to appear that we had smuggled the covers onto our flight This was literally impossible NASA personnel prepared us for every aspect of the flight - from our birthday suits out Everything we had carried had to be specially packaged by the flight support crew to make sure apart from anything else
that it was fireproof Everything in our PPKs was on a list which was certified before launch I was never aware of any rules about what could or could not be taken in these packs Slayton was to approve the list so as far as I was concerned it was up to management to keep us on the straight and narrow I assumed if the list was approved that was fine Usually the list was certified by Deke But before our flight for some reason he neither asked us personally for each of our lists as was customary nor signed off on the list personally He said the flight - crew support team had already logged everything Whereas we had purchased the covers ourselves the Astronaut Office at the Cape had prepared the covers for the flight and had had them stamped and franked on the day of launch Somehow however the support team had missed them when they prepared the PPK flight manifest It was also reported after the incident that we had been removed from the astronaut corps Again totally untrue Unfortunately NASA managers did nothing to dispel this false and misleading information They just tucked their heads in and let the rumours run The reports infuriated Congress not least because congressmen had to read such controversial information in the press before being informed by NASA which is obligated to keep Congress fully informed of its activities Recollections of the Apollo 14 medallion incident must have seeped into the minds of certain members of Congress many of whom were not fans of NASA anyway When NASA started an internal investigation we were told by a senior official in the agency that we were on our own We were advised to get our own legal representation A Senate hearing into the matter had been called and a justice Department investigation would follow It was turning into a witch - hunt NASA we were advised expected us to keep quiet and take the Fifth Amendment at this hearing We did not We told it like it was We had nothing to hide Eventually the Justice Department concluded that we had broken some administrative rules but had done nothing criminal NASA confiscated the remaining covers but they acted before discovering all the facts of the case Following an investigation by NASA the Justice Department and the Senate the Justice Department concluded on 6 December 1978 in a ldquoMemorandum Opinion for the Assistant Attorney Generalrdquo that NASA had no claim to the remaining covers that the covers were never intended for sale that there was no attempt at concealment by the crew of the fact that the covers were to be flown on Apollo 15 and finally that the covers would have been approved to carry aboard Apollo 15 had a request been made We were reprimanded and we took our licks But it was a very raw deal NASA had hung us out to dry Our bosses had abrogated their responsibilities and we were left alone on a very wet day I spent many years trying to get full access to NASA and congressional records on the case NASA refused to provide full disclosure We subsequently found out there had been rumblings about profitmdashmaking on previous missions A copy of a letter was released to me in which NASA admitted that ten other astronauts who were not identified had been involved in selling signed blocks of stamps and postcards for Eiermann But the wave reached the shore on Apollo 15 and we were the ones who bore the brunt of the blame for such incidents
30
ORBIT
Buckingham Cover offer Free Souvenirs for You
Brian Austin of Buckinghamrsquos Rare Cover Department writes to your Editorhellip
Over the last two or three years we have been dealing more and more in signed space covers This led us to earlier this year buying an Apollo 11 crew signed cover which had been carried to the moon which we had on display on our stand at London 2010
For this we also printed a limited edition of 800 sets of postcards one featuring the Apollo 11 cover and another
featuring an Apollo 15 cover The idea was to give away 100 sets per day to customers at the show but now the show is all finished I still have around 150 pairs left on my desk
We wondered if you would like to offer them to your readers we are happy to send them out free of charge to the first 150 readers to contact us with their details as long as we can also include one of our lists of space
covers
BrianAustinbuckinghamcoverscom
31
ORBIT
More About Missile Mail
Harvey Duncan told us in the last Orbit (page 15) about the First Official Missile Mail writes Bert van Eijck After the useful technical details about the USS Barbero he gave us I can offer you more philatelic information and show you some illustrations The missile mail experiment was a joint venture between
the Ministry of Defense and the US Post Office Dept headed by Postmaster General Mr Arthur E
Summerfield Three thousand special envelopes were printed with a reproduction of a Navy missile type
Regulus with the text ldquoFirst Official Missile Mailrdquo and above that ldquoThe Postmaster General Washingtonrdquo All
the envelopes were addressed to The President high
government officials like senators and to the Post Masters General of ninety nine other member nations of
UPU Inside was a letter from Mr Summerfield entitled ldquoThe First Official Missile Mailrdquo with the official seal of
the Post Office dept It was explained therein what had
happed to that letter and the other 2999
The special letters were loaded in two metal compartments and came aboard the guided missile USS Barbero (SSG-317) The shot was to occur during a regular training mission from Norfolk Virginia to Florida
About 350 kilometres off the coast of Florida the
Regulus missile was launched toward Airport Mayport
The missile climbed 10 km above the Atlantic and
landed within twenty minutes with all the letters intact The letters were cancelled with the hand stamp ldquoUSS
Barberordquo with the date ldquoJun 8 1959rdquo and the approximate timing of the launching ldquo930 amrdquo This
was done by post office staff part of an established
branch office on the USS Barbero The letters bore the 1957 4c American flag postage stamp Those
addressed to foreign countries carried two such stamps covering surface mail postage costs On the
reverse side is the Jacksonville Post Office cancellation with the approximate time of arrival ldquoJune 8 1030 am
1959 Floridardquo
Such flown letters are expensive to buy and a jewel in
any exhibit
But this is NOT the case with the Barbero souvenir
cover dated a month later on July 8 1959 issued in the same quantity (3000) as the originals The
inscription reads ldquoPoint of LandingmdashFirst Official Missile Mail 8 June 1959 US Naval Station Mayport Floridardquo
About 16000 () collectors had applied for such a cover
The imprint of the official Barbero cover was reproduced on a memorial cover issued and posted at
the Vienna International Airpost Exhibition Luposta on August 1959 in the Austrian capital Of course neither
of these items had been carried within the Regulus
missile
Also of interest the Postal Administration of
Paraguay issued a stamp
and a block in 1976 honouring the Barbero
Missile Mail The Gs 20 stamp shows a Regulus
missile in flight while the sheet shows the whole
addressed cover and in
miniature the complete letter inside from the US Postmaster General
as mentioned above and as illustrated below
Above a specimen envelope as described in the text and below its reverse cancel
32
ORBIT
An Invitation to Our Readers to Donate to an Innovative International Projecthellip
Kindest Sir or Madam
The municipality of Vitanje
(Slovenia) is honoured to have had a hand in the life of the
famous space architect Herman Potocnik Noordung
(1892-1929) (pictured right) who had already found a
surprising number of solutions
to space travel and troubles of living in vacuum long before
actual space flights took place His creations were used by the
renowned novelist Arthur C Clarke
in his book 2001 A Space Odyssey which was later also turned into a
movie directed by Stanley Kubrick In Noordungs honour we have
created the Memorial Centre of Herman Potocnik Noordung This
year the cultural centre of European
space technology will also get going in Vitanje This will be a place
where the European space heritage will be gathered and various events connected with the
contemporary European space technologies will be
organized
Proposed Philatelic Collection We would like to bring the project onto a higher level
where we would have the collaboration of various
countries in the world including such with a history in space travel (like USA Russia) One of the steps of this
expansion process would also include a philatelic collection of stamps with themes of outer space
(astronomy astronautics and everything connected to
outer space) We already have quite a decent collection but we would like to expand on that
Our goal is to have 6000 stamps before opening our
exhibition For this we would require the help of as many philatelists as possible
All of these philatelists would become co-creators and partners of this collection for which we hope will
become the largest collection of its kind in the world The people donating the stamps would get a great deal
of exposure at all these exhibitions and on the special
website which will be started shortly If you give us enough support and we are able to raise enough
stamps for a first-class collection we hope the first
exhibitions and various special events (like visits from
astronauts ndash philatelists) will see the light of day as early as in 2011
From a professional point of view we have an
excellent team working with us Long-time philatelist
Tone Petek is the person who initiated this project while Bojan Bracic the secretary of FEPA is one of our
counsellors and is completely behind this project
If you would be interested in such cooperation I will get the wheels in motion and send you a verifying
mail with the stamp of the municipality of Vitanje and
also of some higher organization within the Slovene political system
The collection is already underway with the help of the
Slovene Philatelic organisation (FZS) adds Rok in an email to your Editor in July This organisation has been of immense help with technical expertise and
connections It looks as if there might be an introductory exhibition next year sometime
In the hope of a successful partnership we offer our
sincere appreciation
Rok Podgrajsek
Obcina Vitanje Grajski trg 1
3205 Vitanje
Slovenia
Email address rokpodgrajsekgmailcom
But see also website httpwwwvitanjesi
(Editorrsquos Note both Wendy Buckle editor of
Themescene and our Chairman Margaret Morris commend this project to you We will be sending Rok
some recent copies of Orbit for the displays)
Some illustrations from Noordungrsquos only published text ldquoThe Problem of
Space Travel The Rocket Motorrdquo (the original German title
was ldquoDas Problem der Befahrung
des Weltraums - der Raketen-Motorrdquo) which saw the light of day
in 1928
Vitanje Local Private Post stamp
33
ORBIT
Zazzle Space Stamps Dazzle
I have noticed Zazzle Space Stamps appearing in Lollini brochures and on their web pages in recent months writes your Editor so I undertook to find out some facts about them and am grateful to The Astrophile Editor Jim Roth and the man who inspired him to create his own Zazzle designs Otto Bergman for the following infohellip Zazzle is one of half a dozen or more US companies
who facilitate the printing of non-copyrighted photos and artwork on private postage stamps which count
as postage within and outwith the USA You can
design your own Zazzle stampsmdashsee their websitemdashwhich you then purchase for your own use 20 to a
page
They are therefore a bit like British Smilers except
that the personal element of the stamp is not on a se-tenant label but actually incorporated within the
stamp itself as you can see from the examples on this page
Jim Roth was annoyed that the Kennedy Space Center Post office would not cancel his Zazzle stamps as they
consider them to be ldquometersrdquo and although he has marked STS-122 he wonrsquot be creating any others
You can see (and buy) all Jim Rothrsquos Space Zazzles on
his website m57coverscommdashclick on ldquostampsrdquo
Three of Jim Rothrsquos designs
See others on his website
An Otto Bergman space creation on
Zazzlecomottobergman
These space Zazzles and others are
available from the Lollini website or brochures
STS 128 in May 2010 section
STS 129 in June 2010
WISE and Delta 2 launch in July 2010 STS 130 in August 2010
STS 128 stamps show astronauts Christer Fuglesang (far left) and left Frank De Winne ISS Commander Expedition 21 STS 129 issues depict mission
patch and the crew led by Charles Hobaugh
Delta 2 rocket launch from Cape Canaveral of WISE Deep InfraRed telescope
34
ORBIT
Concluded on page 39
More Spaceflight Books for Sale
35
ORBIT ORBIT
SPACE HABITATS (Part Two) by John Beenen Continuing his feature from our last issue John Beenen begins by posing the questionhellip Why Should we Seek to Live
in Space
Spacecom gives ten main reasons why we should enter space for a prolonged
period
1 To secure a future for humanity
2 To build a new frontier
3 To find new energy sources
4 To build an industrial settlement on
the Moon
5 Better quality images of the
Universe
6 The SETI effort
7 Mining
8 Learning the history of our
Universe
9 Environmental benefits
Meeting the challenge
Taking for granted that it is naturally fascinating to investigate how mankind
might be able to maintain its habitat outside earth there are several further reasons to investigate why
mankind should settle themselves outside earth in the far future And More reasons mean a overall better
argument
Primarily there is the question of overpopulation and
secondly a solution for the energy problem
Next we have to consider that climate circumstances
are not under control anymore and earth eventually becomes uninhabitable
Also when for various reasons we start to kill each
other for some groups of people it may be an attractive proposition to depart this Earth in quite a different
sense And that is perhaps the most common thought
through activities in space more money can be obtained
But there are disadvantageshellip
On the other hand a prolonged stay in space is not that safe The construction must be protected against
radiation and it can be hit by large and small debris which makes space a very unsafe place
Furthermore cosmic radiation produces
a radiation of 80 mSv (millisievert) - well over the allowed maximum of 50
mSv and very much over the amount which is considered as safe for man
which is 3 mSv
Next solar flares produce a sudden
increase of soft gamma and energy rich radiation so much that without the
protection of an atmosphere half of our population could die easily
It is interesting that even without shielding most of this radiation can be
absorbed in the projected spacecraftsrsquo structure and in the air Smaller
structures can be protected with a
shield of co-rotating rocks
The construction further must be protected against sunlight which by
lack of the air shield will fall in unshielded so sun blinds and radiators
are indispensable
And as a result of the artificial gravity
there are some tiny movement problems which we will face later
Finally the created ecosystem should be fully self-supporting and that is easier said than done as
experiments with Biosphere-2 have showed
Biosphere-2 Biosphere-2 was a project built between 1987 and 1991 providing in an area of about 2frac12 football fields
a closed biological system of different composition From 1991-1993 a crew of 8 persons stayed herein A
second crew of 7 persons bridged a period of March
until September 1994 During the first period it appeared difficult to keep the atmosphere constant in
particular the carbon dioxide values changed rapidlymdashthe reason why many of the carried insects perished
Further the oxygen level decreased slowly because pf a leak
Even during the first two-year phase large differences in opinion appeared and the yield was not large
enough to deliver the calories necessary Reserve stocks had to be broken into Finally the second
experiment had to be ended prematurely because of
mismanagement
However it seems that a well-functioning stable ecosystem should not be underestimated physically
not technically
Artists impressions above Interior Stanford Torus and below Interior
OrsquoNeill Cylinder
Solar flares Czechoslovakia 1965 WB 47
36
ORBIT
It further has to be speculated on that men would resist
a regulated weather programme instead of the customary ever changing circumstances on Earth
Also we must physically resist an eternal stay outside
Earth That is not always easy as some people will show
some kind of sea sickness for ever In any case rooms with a diameter of less than 100 meters and a speed of
revolution over three per minute are insufficient At specifications of over 500 m and at less than 1 revolution
per minute fewer problems have to be expected
How do we get raw materials (Fantasy Moon Mining Yemen
Mutawakelite 1969 1343)
And still there have to be enough raw materials to sustain the
colony but as a principle the
search for raw materials is not the most difficult
From the asteroid belt enough small rocks can be
transported as a building material Also mines can be put
on the Moon Bercause of the lower gravity there transport is easier and some kind of firing mechanism
has been calculated which launch packets of ore simply into space where they can be manipulated
Air can be produced from moonstone Nitrogen nearly without loss can be recycled and eventually added to
ammonia mined from comets Large gardens and fields should start the normal photosynthesis and doing so
finally a complete sustainable society might be built up Energy from the Sun is present in superfluous quantities
What to do about gravity Most designs for a Space station start with a gravity of
1G Some designers however think that a lower level of gravity is possible But in the meantime experiments
with astronauts have showed that our physiology
changes rapidly influenced by decreased or absence of gravity Thus the calcium potassium and sodium
contents of our bone system decrease by about 10 That is not bad were we to stay in space forever but
very troublesome when occasionally we would return to
Earth
Also the quality of our muscles decreases as the blood volume does Providing effects comparable to aging
Further by lack of gravity astronauts become a little
taller with accompanying pain in the back Hence the staying with 1G gravity is not so bad
That has to be maintained by rotation of the
construction The larger the diameter of the construction is the slower it will turn to provide 1 G That is a result
of the centrifugal or centripetal force Its
magnitude has long been established thanks to the work of Dutchman Christiaan Huygens and fixed in
the formula
m v2
F = r where
F = the external force in N(ewton) m = mass in kg
v = speed in msec r = radius in m
Hence a spacecraft with a diameter of 15 meters has to carry out one revolution every 8 seconds to
produce a sensation of 1G And that is too quick for man The effect of the centrifugal force is that should
an astronaut drop an object it does not fall straight
down but partly away from himher Weird
Coriolis force But in a rotating Space station another force is at
work That is the lsquoCoriolis forcersquo named after the
French Gustave-Gaspard Coriolis (1792-1843) who described this kind of force for the first time
The most common manifestation is the second law of
Buys Ballot which says that air streams in the
atmosphere which according the first law of Boys Ballot as a principle run from high to low pressure at
the northern hemisphere are bent to the right and at the southern hemisphere to the left because of the
rotation of the Earth
Therefore air streams around depressions show a
spiral shape in opposite directions at the northern and southern hemisphere In a space station this
force can especially noticed when moving around through the spokes of the wheel
(Diagram of Coriolis F o r c e h t t p
wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm)
A s s u m e t h a t a n
astronaut on a ladder
climbs through a spoke to the axis As he climbs
along he circles around more slowly as he
describes a smaller circle
in the same time What happens with the difference in speed that he had before He will be pressed
against the ladder and that is the Coriolis force The force also acts in opposite direction when he
descends from the ladder
Also the throwing up and catching of a ball will
become a huge achievement as the ball does not
37
ORBIT
drop perpendicularly but will shift a little into the
direction of the orbit of the station and also achieves a higher speed
This also has strange effects on the astronaut As moves
quickly in the rotation direction of the station his weight
appears to increase to a noteworthy extent Then as he moves against the speed of rotation his weight
decreases apparently Mathematically this effect is explainable but very complex
Also the astronautrsquos head and feet move in different
speed to artificial gravity This is plainly noticeable when
somebody jumps up Hence avoid this practice
With these kind of effects adaptation to the changed circumstances in a space station will ask a lot of the
crew members I do hope they can stand it But in any
case the larger the space ship the lesser the problems
Inflatable stations
But therersquos more The inflatable station was considered
many years ago The first i d e a w a s p o s s i b l y
developed when on 12th August 1960 the Echo
balloon with a diameter of
30 meters was launched (Echo I balloon USA 1960
WB 3)
It is true you could not live in it as the balloon was of too frail a construction but the idea of an inflatable
spacecraft was then alive By 1958 groups within NASA
had begun to think about inflatable stations The Goett-committee has been one of the first On 25th26th May
1959 a conference started about projects after
Mercury In particular the
representative of Langley L a r r y Lo f t i n wa s
enthusiastic about his AMIS (Advanced Man in
Space) project (Hexagonal structure
Manama 1970 WB 113)
One of his first projects was a rotating hexagonal
inflatable construction with a diameter of 25 meters a cylindrical core and three lsquospokesrsquo Acting as a ferry to
and from the station the lsquoDyna Soarrsquo Space plane could
be used The Dyna Soar project (at that time still
under development) was cancelled by the American
Minister of Defense Robert
McNamara Inflatable Habitat NASA
1961 enwikipediaorg)
A Langley Space Station
team managed by Paul Hill and Emanuel lsquoMannyrsquo
Schnitzer developed the concept together with the
G o o d y e a r A i r c r a f t
Corporation
(Langleyrsquos self-inflating rotating hexagonal structure httphistorynasagov
SP-4308) Its original diameter had already been reduced to 10
meters
In the years after Langley built several experimental
modules called lsquoErectable Torus Manned Space Laboratoryrsquo a 11 model built by firms such as
Goodyear The torus was built from three layers of
nylon tissue and in between a rubber-like plastic material butyl elastomer A large problem was the
penetration by micrometeorites which as was learnt from the results of the Echo balloon finally damaged
the whole structure
Another problem was the great instability of the ring
due to movements of the astronauts the station started to wobble when they moved around Finally
the project was cancelled and at the end of the eighties the Langley Research Center started to
design inflatable constructions for a base camp on the
Moon
( A r t i s t imp r e s s i on Transhab inflatable
m o d u l e h t t p
enwikipediaorg)
Due to the development of a new series of
s t r o n g e r p l a s t i c materials such as Kevlar
these construct ions
received new interest That lead to the development of Transhab (Transit Habitat) as a resource for crews
coupled at the ISS (international Space Station) The construction is a cylinder in a diameter of 82 meters
and several storeys high
Its volume in inflatable state is 340 m3 The wall has a
thickness of 30 () cm and consists of 12 layers of which the outside layer is made from Kevlar The
layers beneath are made from Nextel a ceramic fibre Disagreements during development and the spiralling
costs finally in 2000 saw the end of NASArsquos interest
G e n e s i s 1
thespacereviewcom)
From 1999 the project was
taken up by Bigelow
38
ORBIT
Aerospace who improved the design and tested it with
successful launchings of Genesis I on 12 July 2006 and Genesis II on 28 June 2007
In their design it has once again more or less the shape
of a balloon With a thickness of 40 cm the wall is still
very thick The outside layer is still Kevlar but inside are some layers of Vectran a textile fibre Within the
structure ants and scorpions were launched along with some objects which people who paid for the privilege of
boosting into space
In this way Bigelow hopes to build a Space Hotel named
Nautilus To stimulate the development Bigelow offered a price of $50 million to everybody who succeeded in
launching a crew of 5 persons to an altitude of 400 km before 2010 So little money lost here so far
A second project which can be realized within the near future is a fixed residence on the Moon As said Langley
occupies itself with the design of such a base which partly should be build below the surface Stamp
designers have already realized the idea
What does the future hold Although we are a long way away from the kind of space station by which a large amount of earth inhabitants can
leave the planet Earth forever the first steps for doing
so are in preparation With the development of their Space Hotel Bigelow tries to make the step to space
albeit a temporary one
Also Langley literally tries to set foot on the Moon and
finally they will succeed in doing so However The cost of such projects are literally astronomical and it is not
expected that in the coming decades much money can be allocated to such projects
Of course in some thousands of years (possibly only in
hundreds of years) this will become the case but for the
time being in my opinion the true conquest of space will stay as science-fiction for at least a few hundred years
Hoorn 2009
John Beenen
NB The stamps entitled lsquoSpace Cityrsquo with a value of 0 cnt do not exist but have been made by the author by means of frames and pictures present at the Internet
Fantasy Moon
b a s e M a n a -ma1970 WB 122
Fantasy bases
ready for Mars
YAR 1971 WB 2892 and 6
Fantasy Modular
base YAR 169 WB 233
39
ORBIT
Cover Below bottom right Future space Dutch Antilles 2000
Literature references (for both parts of article) httpenwikipediaorg Space habitat Space Colonization Orbital Colony Space City Space settlement Space stations L5 Society Bernal Sphere Stanford Torus OrsquoNeil Cylinder Inflatable Space Habitat Transhab Biosphere 2 Generation Ship wwwdsenl~hklruimtehtm Wonen op groene eilanden in de Ruimte (Dutch Living on green Islands in Space) Henry Kluytmans wwworionsarmcom McKendree Cylinder Bishops Ring wwwnasnasagovAboutEducationSpaceSettlement The Colonization of Space wwwdyarstraightscommsgundamhabitatshtml Mobile Suit Gundam High Frontier Life in the Universal Century Developing sound habitats wwwartificial-gravitycomDissertation1_2htm From Tsiolkovsky to Sputnik (1878-1957) httpsciencenasagovheadlinesy2000ast26may_1mhtm Wheels in the Sky httpdiscaircraftgreyfalconus Hermann Noordung Wohnrad (Wheel for Habitation) httparticlesadsabsharvardedufull1992lbsaconf249R Inflatable habitation for the lunar base MRoberts httphistorynasagovSP-4308ch9htm lsquoAs inevitable as the Rising Sunrsquo From the inflatable Torus to the Rotating Hexagon wwwspacecomnewsbusinessmonday_040524html Bigelow Aerospace to tackle inflatable Space Habitats httpsciencehowstuffsworkcominflatable-spacecraft2htm How Inflatable Spacecraft Will Work wwwbogancaphysicscoriolishtml Rotating Space Stations Dynamics An Explanation of the Coriolis Force httpdemonstrationswolframcomRotatingSpaceStation Rotating Space Station wwwdvandomcomcoliolisspacestationhtml Frame Effects and Space Stations wwwdvandomcomcoriolisindexhtml A (hopefully) simple explanation of the Coriolis Force wwwdaviddarlinginfoencyclopedia Hale Edward Everett von Pirquet Guido Noordung Hermann Space Station wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm The Coriolis Force wwwastronautixcomcraftfamlunbaseshtm Lunar bases wwwastronautixcomgallerycspebasehtm Photo Gallery Space base wwwregererating-universeorgOn_Moon_as_Space_Basehtm On Moon as Space Base wwwspacefuturecomhabitatlivingshtml Space Habitat Introduction Living in Space wwwspacepagebevideotaak=bekijkampid=47 Living in space (Video) wwwnutricomspace The Case for Space colonization ndash Now Oscar Falconi wwwxentcompipermailfork (FoRK) Bigelowrsquos inflatable Genesis I satellite in orbit wwwrussianforcesorg Russian strategic nuclear forces (Genesis II) wwwbigelowaerospacecomgenesis Genesis I Genesis II
Thanks to Alan Tunnicliffe who came across the attached news item
complete with stamp in the eNZ Magazine the bi-monthly journal of
the Institution of Professional Engineers NZ Inc Vol 11 No 3 May-
June 2010
Vaccari Auction Sells Remarkable Space Covers April 2010
Apollo 12 cover 55 of 87 flown to the moon on Apollo 15 having been left behind by the original crew sold for euro12200 1977 Salyut
6 Soyuz 27 cover sold for euro1600
40
ORBIT ORBIT
Shuttle 1981mdash2010 Stamps Marshall
Islands 2005
United Nations 2007 Monaco and Ascension 2008
Bulgaria 1991 including stamp from souvenir sheet
USA 1981
below USA 1995 and bottom USA 1998
(two values)
St Vincent Grenadines 1983
Ascension 1989
Bulgaria 1990
and above right W Germany 1975
and USA 2000 Guyana 2006
USA 1995
41
ASSS Membership Renewal 2010
Memberrsquos Name amp Addresshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
I wish to renew my membership of the ASSS for a further year and enclose the equivalent of
pound15 (UK) euro30 (Europe) $US 45 (Rest of the World)
Please return this form with your remittance to Harvey Duncan by the
end of July Thank you
Harvey Duncan Treasurer ASSS 16 Begg Avenue
Falkirk Scotland FK1 2DL
PayPal For details of how to Pay via Paypal
please email Jeff Dugdale Email address on Page 2
42
43
44
30
ORBIT
Buckingham Cover offer Free Souvenirs for You
Brian Austin of Buckinghamrsquos Rare Cover Department writes to your Editorhellip
Over the last two or three years we have been dealing more and more in signed space covers This led us to earlier this year buying an Apollo 11 crew signed cover which had been carried to the moon which we had on display on our stand at London 2010
For this we also printed a limited edition of 800 sets of postcards one featuring the Apollo 11 cover and another
featuring an Apollo 15 cover The idea was to give away 100 sets per day to customers at the show but now the show is all finished I still have around 150 pairs left on my desk
We wondered if you would like to offer them to your readers we are happy to send them out free of charge to the first 150 readers to contact us with their details as long as we can also include one of our lists of space
covers
BrianAustinbuckinghamcoverscom
31
ORBIT
More About Missile Mail
Harvey Duncan told us in the last Orbit (page 15) about the First Official Missile Mail writes Bert van Eijck After the useful technical details about the USS Barbero he gave us I can offer you more philatelic information and show you some illustrations The missile mail experiment was a joint venture between
the Ministry of Defense and the US Post Office Dept headed by Postmaster General Mr Arthur E
Summerfield Three thousand special envelopes were printed with a reproduction of a Navy missile type
Regulus with the text ldquoFirst Official Missile Mailrdquo and above that ldquoThe Postmaster General Washingtonrdquo All
the envelopes were addressed to The President high
government officials like senators and to the Post Masters General of ninety nine other member nations of
UPU Inside was a letter from Mr Summerfield entitled ldquoThe First Official Missile Mailrdquo with the official seal of
the Post Office dept It was explained therein what had
happed to that letter and the other 2999
The special letters were loaded in two metal compartments and came aboard the guided missile USS Barbero (SSG-317) The shot was to occur during a regular training mission from Norfolk Virginia to Florida
About 350 kilometres off the coast of Florida the
Regulus missile was launched toward Airport Mayport
The missile climbed 10 km above the Atlantic and
landed within twenty minutes with all the letters intact The letters were cancelled with the hand stamp ldquoUSS
Barberordquo with the date ldquoJun 8 1959rdquo and the approximate timing of the launching ldquo930 amrdquo This
was done by post office staff part of an established
branch office on the USS Barbero The letters bore the 1957 4c American flag postage stamp Those
addressed to foreign countries carried two such stamps covering surface mail postage costs On the
reverse side is the Jacksonville Post Office cancellation with the approximate time of arrival ldquoJune 8 1030 am
1959 Floridardquo
Such flown letters are expensive to buy and a jewel in
any exhibit
But this is NOT the case with the Barbero souvenir
cover dated a month later on July 8 1959 issued in the same quantity (3000) as the originals The
inscription reads ldquoPoint of LandingmdashFirst Official Missile Mail 8 June 1959 US Naval Station Mayport Floridardquo
About 16000 () collectors had applied for such a cover
The imprint of the official Barbero cover was reproduced on a memorial cover issued and posted at
the Vienna International Airpost Exhibition Luposta on August 1959 in the Austrian capital Of course neither
of these items had been carried within the Regulus
missile
Also of interest the Postal Administration of
Paraguay issued a stamp
and a block in 1976 honouring the Barbero
Missile Mail The Gs 20 stamp shows a Regulus
missile in flight while the sheet shows the whole
addressed cover and in
miniature the complete letter inside from the US Postmaster General
as mentioned above and as illustrated below
Above a specimen envelope as described in the text and below its reverse cancel
32
ORBIT
An Invitation to Our Readers to Donate to an Innovative International Projecthellip
Kindest Sir or Madam
The municipality of Vitanje
(Slovenia) is honoured to have had a hand in the life of the
famous space architect Herman Potocnik Noordung
(1892-1929) (pictured right) who had already found a
surprising number of solutions
to space travel and troubles of living in vacuum long before
actual space flights took place His creations were used by the
renowned novelist Arthur C Clarke
in his book 2001 A Space Odyssey which was later also turned into a
movie directed by Stanley Kubrick In Noordungs honour we have
created the Memorial Centre of Herman Potocnik Noordung This
year the cultural centre of European
space technology will also get going in Vitanje This will be a place
where the European space heritage will be gathered and various events connected with the
contemporary European space technologies will be
organized
Proposed Philatelic Collection We would like to bring the project onto a higher level
where we would have the collaboration of various
countries in the world including such with a history in space travel (like USA Russia) One of the steps of this
expansion process would also include a philatelic collection of stamps with themes of outer space
(astronomy astronautics and everything connected to
outer space) We already have quite a decent collection but we would like to expand on that
Our goal is to have 6000 stamps before opening our
exhibition For this we would require the help of as many philatelists as possible
All of these philatelists would become co-creators and partners of this collection for which we hope will
become the largest collection of its kind in the world The people donating the stamps would get a great deal
of exposure at all these exhibitions and on the special
website which will be started shortly If you give us enough support and we are able to raise enough
stamps for a first-class collection we hope the first
exhibitions and various special events (like visits from
astronauts ndash philatelists) will see the light of day as early as in 2011
From a professional point of view we have an
excellent team working with us Long-time philatelist
Tone Petek is the person who initiated this project while Bojan Bracic the secretary of FEPA is one of our
counsellors and is completely behind this project
If you would be interested in such cooperation I will get the wheels in motion and send you a verifying
mail with the stamp of the municipality of Vitanje and
also of some higher organization within the Slovene political system
The collection is already underway with the help of the
Slovene Philatelic organisation (FZS) adds Rok in an email to your Editor in July This organisation has been of immense help with technical expertise and
connections It looks as if there might be an introductory exhibition next year sometime
In the hope of a successful partnership we offer our
sincere appreciation
Rok Podgrajsek
Obcina Vitanje Grajski trg 1
3205 Vitanje
Slovenia
Email address rokpodgrajsekgmailcom
But see also website httpwwwvitanjesi
(Editorrsquos Note both Wendy Buckle editor of
Themescene and our Chairman Margaret Morris commend this project to you We will be sending Rok
some recent copies of Orbit for the displays)
Some illustrations from Noordungrsquos only published text ldquoThe Problem of
Space Travel The Rocket Motorrdquo (the original German title
was ldquoDas Problem der Befahrung
des Weltraums - der Raketen-Motorrdquo) which saw the light of day
in 1928
Vitanje Local Private Post stamp
33
ORBIT
Zazzle Space Stamps Dazzle
I have noticed Zazzle Space Stamps appearing in Lollini brochures and on their web pages in recent months writes your Editor so I undertook to find out some facts about them and am grateful to The Astrophile Editor Jim Roth and the man who inspired him to create his own Zazzle designs Otto Bergman for the following infohellip Zazzle is one of half a dozen or more US companies
who facilitate the printing of non-copyrighted photos and artwork on private postage stamps which count
as postage within and outwith the USA You can
design your own Zazzle stampsmdashsee their websitemdashwhich you then purchase for your own use 20 to a
page
They are therefore a bit like British Smilers except
that the personal element of the stamp is not on a se-tenant label but actually incorporated within the
stamp itself as you can see from the examples on this page
Jim Roth was annoyed that the Kennedy Space Center Post office would not cancel his Zazzle stamps as they
consider them to be ldquometersrdquo and although he has marked STS-122 he wonrsquot be creating any others
You can see (and buy) all Jim Rothrsquos Space Zazzles on
his website m57coverscommdashclick on ldquostampsrdquo
Three of Jim Rothrsquos designs
See others on his website
An Otto Bergman space creation on
Zazzlecomottobergman
These space Zazzles and others are
available from the Lollini website or brochures
STS 128 in May 2010 section
STS 129 in June 2010
WISE and Delta 2 launch in July 2010 STS 130 in August 2010
STS 128 stamps show astronauts Christer Fuglesang (far left) and left Frank De Winne ISS Commander Expedition 21 STS 129 issues depict mission
patch and the crew led by Charles Hobaugh
Delta 2 rocket launch from Cape Canaveral of WISE Deep InfraRed telescope
34
ORBIT
Concluded on page 39
More Spaceflight Books for Sale
35
ORBIT ORBIT
SPACE HABITATS (Part Two) by John Beenen Continuing his feature from our last issue John Beenen begins by posing the questionhellip Why Should we Seek to Live
in Space
Spacecom gives ten main reasons why we should enter space for a prolonged
period
1 To secure a future for humanity
2 To build a new frontier
3 To find new energy sources
4 To build an industrial settlement on
the Moon
5 Better quality images of the
Universe
6 The SETI effort
7 Mining
8 Learning the history of our
Universe
9 Environmental benefits
Meeting the challenge
Taking for granted that it is naturally fascinating to investigate how mankind
might be able to maintain its habitat outside earth there are several further reasons to investigate why
mankind should settle themselves outside earth in the far future And More reasons mean a overall better
argument
Primarily there is the question of overpopulation and
secondly a solution for the energy problem
Next we have to consider that climate circumstances
are not under control anymore and earth eventually becomes uninhabitable
Also when for various reasons we start to kill each
other for some groups of people it may be an attractive proposition to depart this Earth in quite a different
sense And that is perhaps the most common thought
through activities in space more money can be obtained
But there are disadvantageshellip
On the other hand a prolonged stay in space is not that safe The construction must be protected against
radiation and it can be hit by large and small debris which makes space a very unsafe place
Furthermore cosmic radiation produces
a radiation of 80 mSv (millisievert) - well over the allowed maximum of 50
mSv and very much over the amount which is considered as safe for man
which is 3 mSv
Next solar flares produce a sudden
increase of soft gamma and energy rich radiation so much that without the
protection of an atmosphere half of our population could die easily
It is interesting that even without shielding most of this radiation can be
absorbed in the projected spacecraftsrsquo structure and in the air Smaller
structures can be protected with a
shield of co-rotating rocks
The construction further must be protected against sunlight which by
lack of the air shield will fall in unshielded so sun blinds and radiators
are indispensable
And as a result of the artificial gravity
there are some tiny movement problems which we will face later
Finally the created ecosystem should be fully self-supporting and that is easier said than done as
experiments with Biosphere-2 have showed
Biosphere-2 Biosphere-2 was a project built between 1987 and 1991 providing in an area of about 2frac12 football fields
a closed biological system of different composition From 1991-1993 a crew of 8 persons stayed herein A
second crew of 7 persons bridged a period of March
until September 1994 During the first period it appeared difficult to keep the atmosphere constant in
particular the carbon dioxide values changed rapidlymdashthe reason why many of the carried insects perished
Further the oxygen level decreased slowly because pf a leak
Even during the first two-year phase large differences in opinion appeared and the yield was not large
enough to deliver the calories necessary Reserve stocks had to be broken into Finally the second
experiment had to be ended prematurely because of
mismanagement
However it seems that a well-functioning stable ecosystem should not be underestimated physically
not technically
Artists impressions above Interior Stanford Torus and below Interior
OrsquoNeill Cylinder
Solar flares Czechoslovakia 1965 WB 47
36
ORBIT
It further has to be speculated on that men would resist
a regulated weather programme instead of the customary ever changing circumstances on Earth
Also we must physically resist an eternal stay outside
Earth That is not always easy as some people will show
some kind of sea sickness for ever In any case rooms with a diameter of less than 100 meters and a speed of
revolution over three per minute are insufficient At specifications of over 500 m and at less than 1 revolution
per minute fewer problems have to be expected
How do we get raw materials (Fantasy Moon Mining Yemen
Mutawakelite 1969 1343)
And still there have to be enough raw materials to sustain the
colony but as a principle the
search for raw materials is not the most difficult
From the asteroid belt enough small rocks can be
transported as a building material Also mines can be put
on the Moon Bercause of the lower gravity there transport is easier and some kind of firing mechanism
has been calculated which launch packets of ore simply into space where they can be manipulated
Air can be produced from moonstone Nitrogen nearly without loss can be recycled and eventually added to
ammonia mined from comets Large gardens and fields should start the normal photosynthesis and doing so
finally a complete sustainable society might be built up Energy from the Sun is present in superfluous quantities
What to do about gravity Most designs for a Space station start with a gravity of
1G Some designers however think that a lower level of gravity is possible But in the meantime experiments
with astronauts have showed that our physiology
changes rapidly influenced by decreased or absence of gravity Thus the calcium potassium and sodium
contents of our bone system decrease by about 10 That is not bad were we to stay in space forever but
very troublesome when occasionally we would return to
Earth
Also the quality of our muscles decreases as the blood volume does Providing effects comparable to aging
Further by lack of gravity astronauts become a little
taller with accompanying pain in the back Hence the staying with 1G gravity is not so bad
That has to be maintained by rotation of the
construction The larger the diameter of the construction is the slower it will turn to provide 1 G That is a result
of the centrifugal or centripetal force Its
magnitude has long been established thanks to the work of Dutchman Christiaan Huygens and fixed in
the formula
m v2
F = r where
F = the external force in N(ewton) m = mass in kg
v = speed in msec r = radius in m
Hence a spacecraft with a diameter of 15 meters has to carry out one revolution every 8 seconds to
produce a sensation of 1G And that is too quick for man The effect of the centrifugal force is that should
an astronaut drop an object it does not fall straight
down but partly away from himher Weird
Coriolis force But in a rotating Space station another force is at
work That is the lsquoCoriolis forcersquo named after the
French Gustave-Gaspard Coriolis (1792-1843) who described this kind of force for the first time
The most common manifestation is the second law of
Buys Ballot which says that air streams in the
atmosphere which according the first law of Boys Ballot as a principle run from high to low pressure at
the northern hemisphere are bent to the right and at the southern hemisphere to the left because of the
rotation of the Earth
Therefore air streams around depressions show a
spiral shape in opposite directions at the northern and southern hemisphere In a space station this
force can especially noticed when moving around through the spokes of the wheel
(Diagram of Coriolis F o r c e h t t p
wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm)
A s s u m e t h a t a n
astronaut on a ladder
climbs through a spoke to the axis As he climbs
along he circles around more slowly as he
describes a smaller circle
in the same time What happens with the difference in speed that he had before He will be pressed
against the ladder and that is the Coriolis force The force also acts in opposite direction when he
descends from the ladder
Also the throwing up and catching of a ball will
become a huge achievement as the ball does not
37
ORBIT
drop perpendicularly but will shift a little into the
direction of the orbit of the station and also achieves a higher speed
This also has strange effects on the astronaut As moves
quickly in the rotation direction of the station his weight
appears to increase to a noteworthy extent Then as he moves against the speed of rotation his weight
decreases apparently Mathematically this effect is explainable but very complex
Also the astronautrsquos head and feet move in different
speed to artificial gravity This is plainly noticeable when
somebody jumps up Hence avoid this practice
With these kind of effects adaptation to the changed circumstances in a space station will ask a lot of the
crew members I do hope they can stand it But in any
case the larger the space ship the lesser the problems
Inflatable stations
But therersquos more The inflatable station was considered
many years ago The first i d e a w a s p o s s i b l y
developed when on 12th August 1960 the Echo
balloon with a diameter of
30 meters was launched (Echo I balloon USA 1960
WB 3)
It is true you could not live in it as the balloon was of too frail a construction but the idea of an inflatable
spacecraft was then alive By 1958 groups within NASA
had begun to think about inflatable stations The Goett-committee has been one of the first On 25th26th May
1959 a conference started about projects after
Mercury In particular the
representative of Langley L a r r y Lo f t i n wa s
enthusiastic about his AMIS (Advanced Man in
Space) project (Hexagonal structure
Manama 1970 WB 113)
One of his first projects was a rotating hexagonal
inflatable construction with a diameter of 25 meters a cylindrical core and three lsquospokesrsquo Acting as a ferry to
and from the station the lsquoDyna Soarrsquo Space plane could
be used The Dyna Soar project (at that time still
under development) was cancelled by the American
Minister of Defense Robert
McNamara Inflatable Habitat NASA
1961 enwikipediaorg)
A Langley Space Station
team managed by Paul Hill and Emanuel lsquoMannyrsquo
Schnitzer developed the concept together with the
G o o d y e a r A i r c r a f t
Corporation
(Langleyrsquos self-inflating rotating hexagonal structure httphistorynasagov
SP-4308) Its original diameter had already been reduced to 10
meters
In the years after Langley built several experimental
modules called lsquoErectable Torus Manned Space Laboratoryrsquo a 11 model built by firms such as
Goodyear The torus was built from three layers of
nylon tissue and in between a rubber-like plastic material butyl elastomer A large problem was the
penetration by micrometeorites which as was learnt from the results of the Echo balloon finally damaged
the whole structure
Another problem was the great instability of the ring
due to movements of the astronauts the station started to wobble when they moved around Finally
the project was cancelled and at the end of the eighties the Langley Research Center started to
design inflatable constructions for a base camp on the
Moon
( A r t i s t imp r e s s i on Transhab inflatable
m o d u l e h t t p
enwikipediaorg)
Due to the development of a new series of
s t r o n g e r p l a s t i c materials such as Kevlar
these construct ions
received new interest That lead to the development of Transhab (Transit Habitat) as a resource for crews
coupled at the ISS (international Space Station) The construction is a cylinder in a diameter of 82 meters
and several storeys high
Its volume in inflatable state is 340 m3 The wall has a
thickness of 30 () cm and consists of 12 layers of which the outside layer is made from Kevlar The
layers beneath are made from Nextel a ceramic fibre Disagreements during development and the spiralling
costs finally in 2000 saw the end of NASArsquos interest
G e n e s i s 1
thespacereviewcom)
From 1999 the project was
taken up by Bigelow
38
ORBIT
Aerospace who improved the design and tested it with
successful launchings of Genesis I on 12 July 2006 and Genesis II on 28 June 2007
In their design it has once again more or less the shape
of a balloon With a thickness of 40 cm the wall is still
very thick The outside layer is still Kevlar but inside are some layers of Vectran a textile fibre Within the
structure ants and scorpions were launched along with some objects which people who paid for the privilege of
boosting into space
In this way Bigelow hopes to build a Space Hotel named
Nautilus To stimulate the development Bigelow offered a price of $50 million to everybody who succeeded in
launching a crew of 5 persons to an altitude of 400 km before 2010 So little money lost here so far
A second project which can be realized within the near future is a fixed residence on the Moon As said Langley
occupies itself with the design of such a base which partly should be build below the surface Stamp
designers have already realized the idea
What does the future hold Although we are a long way away from the kind of space station by which a large amount of earth inhabitants can
leave the planet Earth forever the first steps for doing
so are in preparation With the development of their Space Hotel Bigelow tries to make the step to space
albeit a temporary one
Also Langley literally tries to set foot on the Moon and
finally they will succeed in doing so However The cost of such projects are literally astronomical and it is not
expected that in the coming decades much money can be allocated to such projects
Of course in some thousands of years (possibly only in
hundreds of years) this will become the case but for the
time being in my opinion the true conquest of space will stay as science-fiction for at least a few hundred years
Hoorn 2009
John Beenen
NB The stamps entitled lsquoSpace Cityrsquo with a value of 0 cnt do not exist but have been made by the author by means of frames and pictures present at the Internet
Fantasy Moon
b a s e M a n a -ma1970 WB 122
Fantasy bases
ready for Mars
YAR 1971 WB 2892 and 6
Fantasy Modular
base YAR 169 WB 233
39
ORBIT
Cover Below bottom right Future space Dutch Antilles 2000
Literature references (for both parts of article) httpenwikipediaorg Space habitat Space Colonization Orbital Colony Space City Space settlement Space stations L5 Society Bernal Sphere Stanford Torus OrsquoNeil Cylinder Inflatable Space Habitat Transhab Biosphere 2 Generation Ship wwwdsenl~hklruimtehtm Wonen op groene eilanden in de Ruimte (Dutch Living on green Islands in Space) Henry Kluytmans wwworionsarmcom McKendree Cylinder Bishops Ring wwwnasnasagovAboutEducationSpaceSettlement The Colonization of Space wwwdyarstraightscommsgundamhabitatshtml Mobile Suit Gundam High Frontier Life in the Universal Century Developing sound habitats wwwartificial-gravitycomDissertation1_2htm From Tsiolkovsky to Sputnik (1878-1957) httpsciencenasagovheadlinesy2000ast26may_1mhtm Wheels in the Sky httpdiscaircraftgreyfalconus Hermann Noordung Wohnrad (Wheel for Habitation) httparticlesadsabsharvardedufull1992lbsaconf249R Inflatable habitation for the lunar base MRoberts httphistorynasagovSP-4308ch9htm lsquoAs inevitable as the Rising Sunrsquo From the inflatable Torus to the Rotating Hexagon wwwspacecomnewsbusinessmonday_040524html Bigelow Aerospace to tackle inflatable Space Habitats httpsciencehowstuffsworkcominflatable-spacecraft2htm How Inflatable Spacecraft Will Work wwwbogancaphysicscoriolishtml Rotating Space Stations Dynamics An Explanation of the Coriolis Force httpdemonstrationswolframcomRotatingSpaceStation Rotating Space Station wwwdvandomcomcoliolisspacestationhtml Frame Effects and Space Stations wwwdvandomcomcoriolisindexhtml A (hopefully) simple explanation of the Coriolis Force wwwdaviddarlinginfoencyclopedia Hale Edward Everett von Pirquet Guido Noordung Hermann Space Station wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm The Coriolis Force wwwastronautixcomcraftfamlunbaseshtm Lunar bases wwwastronautixcomgallerycspebasehtm Photo Gallery Space base wwwregererating-universeorgOn_Moon_as_Space_Basehtm On Moon as Space Base wwwspacefuturecomhabitatlivingshtml Space Habitat Introduction Living in Space wwwspacepagebevideotaak=bekijkampid=47 Living in space (Video) wwwnutricomspace The Case for Space colonization ndash Now Oscar Falconi wwwxentcompipermailfork (FoRK) Bigelowrsquos inflatable Genesis I satellite in orbit wwwrussianforcesorg Russian strategic nuclear forces (Genesis II) wwwbigelowaerospacecomgenesis Genesis I Genesis II
Thanks to Alan Tunnicliffe who came across the attached news item
complete with stamp in the eNZ Magazine the bi-monthly journal of
the Institution of Professional Engineers NZ Inc Vol 11 No 3 May-
June 2010
Vaccari Auction Sells Remarkable Space Covers April 2010
Apollo 12 cover 55 of 87 flown to the moon on Apollo 15 having been left behind by the original crew sold for euro12200 1977 Salyut
6 Soyuz 27 cover sold for euro1600
40
ORBIT ORBIT
Shuttle 1981mdash2010 Stamps Marshall
Islands 2005
United Nations 2007 Monaco and Ascension 2008
Bulgaria 1991 including stamp from souvenir sheet
USA 1981
below USA 1995 and bottom USA 1998
(two values)
St Vincent Grenadines 1983
Ascension 1989
Bulgaria 1990
and above right W Germany 1975
and USA 2000 Guyana 2006
USA 1995
41
ASSS Membership Renewal 2010
Memberrsquos Name amp Addresshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
I wish to renew my membership of the ASSS for a further year and enclose the equivalent of
pound15 (UK) euro30 (Europe) $US 45 (Rest of the World)
Please return this form with your remittance to Harvey Duncan by the
end of July Thank you
Harvey Duncan Treasurer ASSS 16 Begg Avenue
Falkirk Scotland FK1 2DL
PayPal For details of how to Pay via Paypal
please email Jeff Dugdale Email address on Page 2
42
43
44
31
ORBIT
More About Missile Mail
Harvey Duncan told us in the last Orbit (page 15) about the First Official Missile Mail writes Bert van Eijck After the useful technical details about the USS Barbero he gave us I can offer you more philatelic information and show you some illustrations The missile mail experiment was a joint venture between
the Ministry of Defense and the US Post Office Dept headed by Postmaster General Mr Arthur E
Summerfield Three thousand special envelopes were printed with a reproduction of a Navy missile type
Regulus with the text ldquoFirst Official Missile Mailrdquo and above that ldquoThe Postmaster General Washingtonrdquo All
the envelopes were addressed to The President high
government officials like senators and to the Post Masters General of ninety nine other member nations of
UPU Inside was a letter from Mr Summerfield entitled ldquoThe First Official Missile Mailrdquo with the official seal of
the Post Office dept It was explained therein what had
happed to that letter and the other 2999
The special letters were loaded in two metal compartments and came aboard the guided missile USS Barbero (SSG-317) The shot was to occur during a regular training mission from Norfolk Virginia to Florida
About 350 kilometres off the coast of Florida the
Regulus missile was launched toward Airport Mayport
The missile climbed 10 km above the Atlantic and
landed within twenty minutes with all the letters intact The letters were cancelled with the hand stamp ldquoUSS
Barberordquo with the date ldquoJun 8 1959rdquo and the approximate timing of the launching ldquo930 amrdquo This
was done by post office staff part of an established
branch office on the USS Barbero The letters bore the 1957 4c American flag postage stamp Those
addressed to foreign countries carried two such stamps covering surface mail postage costs On the
reverse side is the Jacksonville Post Office cancellation with the approximate time of arrival ldquoJune 8 1030 am
1959 Floridardquo
Such flown letters are expensive to buy and a jewel in
any exhibit
But this is NOT the case with the Barbero souvenir
cover dated a month later on July 8 1959 issued in the same quantity (3000) as the originals The
inscription reads ldquoPoint of LandingmdashFirst Official Missile Mail 8 June 1959 US Naval Station Mayport Floridardquo
About 16000 () collectors had applied for such a cover
The imprint of the official Barbero cover was reproduced on a memorial cover issued and posted at
the Vienna International Airpost Exhibition Luposta on August 1959 in the Austrian capital Of course neither
of these items had been carried within the Regulus
missile
Also of interest the Postal Administration of
Paraguay issued a stamp
and a block in 1976 honouring the Barbero
Missile Mail The Gs 20 stamp shows a Regulus
missile in flight while the sheet shows the whole
addressed cover and in
miniature the complete letter inside from the US Postmaster General
as mentioned above and as illustrated below
Above a specimen envelope as described in the text and below its reverse cancel
32
ORBIT
An Invitation to Our Readers to Donate to an Innovative International Projecthellip
Kindest Sir or Madam
The municipality of Vitanje
(Slovenia) is honoured to have had a hand in the life of the
famous space architect Herman Potocnik Noordung
(1892-1929) (pictured right) who had already found a
surprising number of solutions
to space travel and troubles of living in vacuum long before
actual space flights took place His creations were used by the
renowned novelist Arthur C Clarke
in his book 2001 A Space Odyssey which was later also turned into a
movie directed by Stanley Kubrick In Noordungs honour we have
created the Memorial Centre of Herman Potocnik Noordung This
year the cultural centre of European
space technology will also get going in Vitanje This will be a place
where the European space heritage will be gathered and various events connected with the
contemporary European space technologies will be
organized
Proposed Philatelic Collection We would like to bring the project onto a higher level
where we would have the collaboration of various
countries in the world including such with a history in space travel (like USA Russia) One of the steps of this
expansion process would also include a philatelic collection of stamps with themes of outer space
(astronomy astronautics and everything connected to
outer space) We already have quite a decent collection but we would like to expand on that
Our goal is to have 6000 stamps before opening our
exhibition For this we would require the help of as many philatelists as possible
All of these philatelists would become co-creators and partners of this collection for which we hope will
become the largest collection of its kind in the world The people donating the stamps would get a great deal
of exposure at all these exhibitions and on the special
website which will be started shortly If you give us enough support and we are able to raise enough
stamps for a first-class collection we hope the first
exhibitions and various special events (like visits from
astronauts ndash philatelists) will see the light of day as early as in 2011
From a professional point of view we have an
excellent team working with us Long-time philatelist
Tone Petek is the person who initiated this project while Bojan Bracic the secretary of FEPA is one of our
counsellors and is completely behind this project
If you would be interested in such cooperation I will get the wheels in motion and send you a verifying
mail with the stamp of the municipality of Vitanje and
also of some higher organization within the Slovene political system
The collection is already underway with the help of the
Slovene Philatelic organisation (FZS) adds Rok in an email to your Editor in July This organisation has been of immense help with technical expertise and
connections It looks as if there might be an introductory exhibition next year sometime
In the hope of a successful partnership we offer our
sincere appreciation
Rok Podgrajsek
Obcina Vitanje Grajski trg 1
3205 Vitanje
Slovenia
Email address rokpodgrajsekgmailcom
But see also website httpwwwvitanjesi
(Editorrsquos Note both Wendy Buckle editor of
Themescene and our Chairman Margaret Morris commend this project to you We will be sending Rok
some recent copies of Orbit for the displays)
Some illustrations from Noordungrsquos only published text ldquoThe Problem of
Space Travel The Rocket Motorrdquo (the original German title
was ldquoDas Problem der Befahrung
des Weltraums - der Raketen-Motorrdquo) which saw the light of day
in 1928
Vitanje Local Private Post stamp
33
ORBIT
Zazzle Space Stamps Dazzle
I have noticed Zazzle Space Stamps appearing in Lollini brochures and on their web pages in recent months writes your Editor so I undertook to find out some facts about them and am grateful to The Astrophile Editor Jim Roth and the man who inspired him to create his own Zazzle designs Otto Bergman for the following infohellip Zazzle is one of half a dozen or more US companies
who facilitate the printing of non-copyrighted photos and artwork on private postage stamps which count
as postage within and outwith the USA You can
design your own Zazzle stampsmdashsee their websitemdashwhich you then purchase for your own use 20 to a
page
They are therefore a bit like British Smilers except
that the personal element of the stamp is not on a se-tenant label but actually incorporated within the
stamp itself as you can see from the examples on this page
Jim Roth was annoyed that the Kennedy Space Center Post office would not cancel his Zazzle stamps as they
consider them to be ldquometersrdquo and although he has marked STS-122 he wonrsquot be creating any others
You can see (and buy) all Jim Rothrsquos Space Zazzles on
his website m57coverscommdashclick on ldquostampsrdquo
Three of Jim Rothrsquos designs
See others on his website
An Otto Bergman space creation on
Zazzlecomottobergman
These space Zazzles and others are
available from the Lollini website or brochures
STS 128 in May 2010 section
STS 129 in June 2010
WISE and Delta 2 launch in July 2010 STS 130 in August 2010
STS 128 stamps show astronauts Christer Fuglesang (far left) and left Frank De Winne ISS Commander Expedition 21 STS 129 issues depict mission
patch and the crew led by Charles Hobaugh
Delta 2 rocket launch from Cape Canaveral of WISE Deep InfraRed telescope
34
ORBIT
Concluded on page 39
More Spaceflight Books for Sale
35
ORBIT ORBIT
SPACE HABITATS (Part Two) by John Beenen Continuing his feature from our last issue John Beenen begins by posing the questionhellip Why Should we Seek to Live
in Space
Spacecom gives ten main reasons why we should enter space for a prolonged
period
1 To secure a future for humanity
2 To build a new frontier
3 To find new energy sources
4 To build an industrial settlement on
the Moon
5 Better quality images of the
Universe
6 The SETI effort
7 Mining
8 Learning the history of our
Universe
9 Environmental benefits
Meeting the challenge
Taking for granted that it is naturally fascinating to investigate how mankind
might be able to maintain its habitat outside earth there are several further reasons to investigate why
mankind should settle themselves outside earth in the far future And More reasons mean a overall better
argument
Primarily there is the question of overpopulation and
secondly a solution for the energy problem
Next we have to consider that climate circumstances
are not under control anymore and earth eventually becomes uninhabitable
Also when for various reasons we start to kill each
other for some groups of people it may be an attractive proposition to depart this Earth in quite a different
sense And that is perhaps the most common thought
through activities in space more money can be obtained
But there are disadvantageshellip
On the other hand a prolonged stay in space is not that safe The construction must be protected against
radiation and it can be hit by large and small debris which makes space a very unsafe place
Furthermore cosmic radiation produces
a radiation of 80 mSv (millisievert) - well over the allowed maximum of 50
mSv and very much over the amount which is considered as safe for man
which is 3 mSv
Next solar flares produce a sudden
increase of soft gamma and energy rich radiation so much that without the
protection of an atmosphere half of our population could die easily
It is interesting that even without shielding most of this radiation can be
absorbed in the projected spacecraftsrsquo structure and in the air Smaller
structures can be protected with a
shield of co-rotating rocks
The construction further must be protected against sunlight which by
lack of the air shield will fall in unshielded so sun blinds and radiators
are indispensable
And as a result of the artificial gravity
there are some tiny movement problems which we will face later
Finally the created ecosystem should be fully self-supporting and that is easier said than done as
experiments with Biosphere-2 have showed
Biosphere-2 Biosphere-2 was a project built between 1987 and 1991 providing in an area of about 2frac12 football fields
a closed biological system of different composition From 1991-1993 a crew of 8 persons stayed herein A
second crew of 7 persons bridged a period of March
until September 1994 During the first period it appeared difficult to keep the atmosphere constant in
particular the carbon dioxide values changed rapidlymdashthe reason why many of the carried insects perished
Further the oxygen level decreased slowly because pf a leak
Even during the first two-year phase large differences in opinion appeared and the yield was not large
enough to deliver the calories necessary Reserve stocks had to be broken into Finally the second
experiment had to be ended prematurely because of
mismanagement
However it seems that a well-functioning stable ecosystem should not be underestimated physically
not technically
Artists impressions above Interior Stanford Torus and below Interior
OrsquoNeill Cylinder
Solar flares Czechoslovakia 1965 WB 47
36
ORBIT
It further has to be speculated on that men would resist
a regulated weather programme instead of the customary ever changing circumstances on Earth
Also we must physically resist an eternal stay outside
Earth That is not always easy as some people will show
some kind of sea sickness for ever In any case rooms with a diameter of less than 100 meters and a speed of
revolution over three per minute are insufficient At specifications of over 500 m and at less than 1 revolution
per minute fewer problems have to be expected
How do we get raw materials (Fantasy Moon Mining Yemen
Mutawakelite 1969 1343)
And still there have to be enough raw materials to sustain the
colony but as a principle the
search for raw materials is not the most difficult
From the asteroid belt enough small rocks can be
transported as a building material Also mines can be put
on the Moon Bercause of the lower gravity there transport is easier and some kind of firing mechanism
has been calculated which launch packets of ore simply into space where they can be manipulated
Air can be produced from moonstone Nitrogen nearly without loss can be recycled and eventually added to
ammonia mined from comets Large gardens and fields should start the normal photosynthesis and doing so
finally a complete sustainable society might be built up Energy from the Sun is present in superfluous quantities
What to do about gravity Most designs for a Space station start with a gravity of
1G Some designers however think that a lower level of gravity is possible But in the meantime experiments
with astronauts have showed that our physiology
changes rapidly influenced by decreased or absence of gravity Thus the calcium potassium and sodium
contents of our bone system decrease by about 10 That is not bad were we to stay in space forever but
very troublesome when occasionally we would return to
Earth
Also the quality of our muscles decreases as the blood volume does Providing effects comparable to aging
Further by lack of gravity astronauts become a little
taller with accompanying pain in the back Hence the staying with 1G gravity is not so bad
That has to be maintained by rotation of the
construction The larger the diameter of the construction is the slower it will turn to provide 1 G That is a result
of the centrifugal or centripetal force Its
magnitude has long been established thanks to the work of Dutchman Christiaan Huygens and fixed in
the formula
m v2
F = r where
F = the external force in N(ewton) m = mass in kg
v = speed in msec r = radius in m
Hence a spacecraft with a diameter of 15 meters has to carry out one revolution every 8 seconds to
produce a sensation of 1G And that is too quick for man The effect of the centrifugal force is that should
an astronaut drop an object it does not fall straight
down but partly away from himher Weird
Coriolis force But in a rotating Space station another force is at
work That is the lsquoCoriolis forcersquo named after the
French Gustave-Gaspard Coriolis (1792-1843) who described this kind of force for the first time
The most common manifestation is the second law of
Buys Ballot which says that air streams in the
atmosphere which according the first law of Boys Ballot as a principle run from high to low pressure at
the northern hemisphere are bent to the right and at the southern hemisphere to the left because of the
rotation of the Earth
Therefore air streams around depressions show a
spiral shape in opposite directions at the northern and southern hemisphere In a space station this
force can especially noticed when moving around through the spokes of the wheel
(Diagram of Coriolis F o r c e h t t p
wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm)
A s s u m e t h a t a n
astronaut on a ladder
climbs through a spoke to the axis As he climbs
along he circles around more slowly as he
describes a smaller circle
in the same time What happens with the difference in speed that he had before He will be pressed
against the ladder and that is the Coriolis force The force also acts in opposite direction when he
descends from the ladder
Also the throwing up and catching of a ball will
become a huge achievement as the ball does not
37
ORBIT
drop perpendicularly but will shift a little into the
direction of the orbit of the station and also achieves a higher speed
This also has strange effects on the astronaut As moves
quickly in the rotation direction of the station his weight
appears to increase to a noteworthy extent Then as he moves against the speed of rotation his weight
decreases apparently Mathematically this effect is explainable but very complex
Also the astronautrsquos head and feet move in different
speed to artificial gravity This is plainly noticeable when
somebody jumps up Hence avoid this practice
With these kind of effects adaptation to the changed circumstances in a space station will ask a lot of the
crew members I do hope they can stand it But in any
case the larger the space ship the lesser the problems
Inflatable stations
But therersquos more The inflatable station was considered
many years ago The first i d e a w a s p o s s i b l y
developed when on 12th August 1960 the Echo
balloon with a diameter of
30 meters was launched (Echo I balloon USA 1960
WB 3)
It is true you could not live in it as the balloon was of too frail a construction but the idea of an inflatable
spacecraft was then alive By 1958 groups within NASA
had begun to think about inflatable stations The Goett-committee has been one of the first On 25th26th May
1959 a conference started about projects after
Mercury In particular the
representative of Langley L a r r y Lo f t i n wa s
enthusiastic about his AMIS (Advanced Man in
Space) project (Hexagonal structure
Manama 1970 WB 113)
One of his first projects was a rotating hexagonal
inflatable construction with a diameter of 25 meters a cylindrical core and three lsquospokesrsquo Acting as a ferry to
and from the station the lsquoDyna Soarrsquo Space plane could
be used The Dyna Soar project (at that time still
under development) was cancelled by the American
Minister of Defense Robert
McNamara Inflatable Habitat NASA
1961 enwikipediaorg)
A Langley Space Station
team managed by Paul Hill and Emanuel lsquoMannyrsquo
Schnitzer developed the concept together with the
G o o d y e a r A i r c r a f t
Corporation
(Langleyrsquos self-inflating rotating hexagonal structure httphistorynasagov
SP-4308) Its original diameter had already been reduced to 10
meters
In the years after Langley built several experimental
modules called lsquoErectable Torus Manned Space Laboratoryrsquo a 11 model built by firms such as
Goodyear The torus was built from three layers of
nylon tissue and in between a rubber-like plastic material butyl elastomer A large problem was the
penetration by micrometeorites which as was learnt from the results of the Echo balloon finally damaged
the whole structure
Another problem was the great instability of the ring
due to movements of the astronauts the station started to wobble when they moved around Finally
the project was cancelled and at the end of the eighties the Langley Research Center started to
design inflatable constructions for a base camp on the
Moon
( A r t i s t imp r e s s i on Transhab inflatable
m o d u l e h t t p
enwikipediaorg)
Due to the development of a new series of
s t r o n g e r p l a s t i c materials such as Kevlar
these construct ions
received new interest That lead to the development of Transhab (Transit Habitat) as a resource for crews
coupled at the ISS (international Space Station) The construction is a cylinder in a diameter of 82 meters
and several storeys high
Its volume in inflatable state is 340 m3 The wall has a
thickness of 30 () cm and consists of 12 layers of which the outside layer is made from Kevlar The
layers beneath are made from Nextel a ceramic fibre Disagreements during development and the spiralling
costs finally in 2000 saw the end of NASArsquos interest
G e n e s i s 1
thespacereviewcom)
From 1999 the project was
taken up by Bigelow
38
ORBIT
Aerospace who improved the design and tested it with
successful launchings of Genesis I on 12 July 2006 and Genesis II on 28 June 2007
In their design it has once again more or less the shape
of a balloon With a thickness of 40 cm the wall is still
very thick The outside layer is still Kevlar but inside are some layers of Vectran a textile fibre Within the
structure ants and scorpions were launched along with some objects which people who paid for the privilege of
boosting into space
In this way Bigelow hopes to build a Space Hotel named
Nautilus To stimulate the development Bigelow offered a price of $50 million to everybody who succeeded in
launching a crew of 5 persons to an altitude of 400 km before 2010 So little money lost here so far
A second project which can be realized within the near future is a fixed residence on the Moon As said Langley
occupies itself with the design of such a base which partly should be build below the surface Stamp
designers have already realized the idea
What does the future hold Although we are a long way away from the kind of space station by which a large amount of earth inhabitants can
leave the planet Earth forever the first steps for doing
so are in preparation With the development of their Space Hotel Bigelow tries to make the step to space
albeit a temporary one
Also Langley literally tries to set foot on the Moon and
finally they will succeed in doing so However The cost of such projects are literally astronomical and it is not
expected that in the coming decades much money can be allocated to such projects
Of course in some thousands of years (possibly only in
hundreds of years) this will become the case but for the
time being in my opinion the true conquest of space will stay as science-fiction for at least a few hundred years
Hoorn 2009
John Beenen
NB The stamps entitled lsquoSpace Cityrsquo with a value of 0 cnt do not exist but have been made by the author by means of frames and pictures present at the Internet
Fantasy Moon
b a s e M a n a -ma1970 WB 122
Fantasy bases
ready for Mars
YAR 1971 WB 2892 and 6
Fantasy Modular
base YAR 169 WB 233
39
ORBIT
Cover Below bottom right Future space Dutch Antilles 2000
Literature references (for both parts of article) httpenwikipediaorg Space habitat Space Colonization Orbital Colony Space City Space settlement Space stations L5 Society Bernal Sphere Stanford Torus OrsquoNeil Cylinder Inflatable Space Habitat Transhab Biosphere 2 Generation Ship wwwdsenl~hklruimtehtm Wonen op groene eilanden in de Ruimte (Dutch Living on green Islands in Space) Henry Kluytmans wwworionsarmcom McKendree Cylinder Bishops Ring wwwnasnasagovAboutEducationSpaceSettlement The Colonization of Space wwwdyarstraightscommsgundamhabitatshtml Mobile Suit Gundam High Frontier Life in the Universal Century Developing sound habitats wwwartificial-gravitycomDissertation1_2htm From Tsiolkovsky to Sputnik (1878-1957) httpsciencenasagovheadlinesy2000ast26may_1mhtm Wheels in the Sky httpdiscaircraftgreyfalconus Hermann Noordung Wohnrad (Wheel for Habitation) httparticlesadsabsharvardedufull1992lbsaconf249R Inflatable habitation for the lunar base MRoberts httphistorynasagovSP-4308ch9htm lsquoAs inevitable as the Rising Sunrsquo From the inflatable Torus to the Rotating Hexagon wwwspacecomnewsbusinessmonday_040524html Bigelow Aerospace to tackle inflatable Space Habitats httpsciencehowstuffsworkcominflatable-spacecraft2htm How Inflatable Spacecraft Will Work wwwbogancaphysicscoriolishtml Rotating Space Stations Dynamics An Explanation of the Coriolis Force httpdemonstrationswolframcomRotatingSpaceStation Rotating Space Station wwwdvandomcomcoliolisspacestationhtml Frame Effects and Space Stations wwwdvandomcomcoriolisindexhtml A (hopefully) simple explanation of the Coriolis Force wwwdaviddarlinginfoencyclopedia Hale Edward Everett von Pirquet Guido Noordung Hermann Space Station wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm The Coriolis Force wwwastronautixcomcraftfamlunbaseshtm Lunar bases wwwastronautixcomgallerycspebasehtm Photo Gallery Space base wwwregererating-universeorgOn_Moon_as_Space_Basehtm On Moon as Space Base wwwspacefuturecomhabitatlivingshtml Space Habitat Introduction Living in Space wwwspacepagebevideotaak=bekijkampid=47 Living in space (Video) wwwnutricomspace The Case for Space colonization ndash Now Oscar Falconi wwwxentcompipermailfork (FoRK) Bigelowrsquos inflatable Genesis I satellite in orbit wwwrussianforcesorg Russian strategic nuclear forces (Genesis II) wwwbigelowaerospacecomgenesis Genesis I Genesis II
Thanks to Alan Tunnicliffe who came across the attached news item
complete with stamp in the eNZ Magazine the bi-monthly journal of
the Institution of Professional Engineers NZ Inc Vol 11 No 3 May-
June 2010
Vaccari Auction Sells Remarkable Space Covers April 2010
Apollo 12 cover 55 of 87 flown to the moon on Apollo 15 having been left behind by the original crew sold for euro12200 1977 Salyut
6 Soyuz 27 cover sold for euro1600
40
ORBIT ORBIT
Shuttle 1981mdash2010 Stamps Marshall
Islands 2005
United Nations 2007 Monaco and Ascension 2008
Bulgaria 1991 including stamp from souvenir sheet
USA 1981
below USA 1995 and bottom USA 1998
(two values)
St Vincent Grenadines 1983
Ascension 1989
Bulgaria 1990
and above right W Germany 1975
and USA 2000 Guyana 2006
USA 1995
41
ASSS Membership Renewal 2010
Memberrsquos Name amp Addresshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
I wish to renew my membership of the ASSS for a further year and enclose the equivalent of
pound15 (UK) euro30 (Europe) $US 45 (Rest of the World)
Please return this form with your remittance to Harvey Duncan by the
end of July Thank you
Harvey Duncan Treasurer ASSS 16 Begg Avenue
Falkirk Scotland FK1 2DL
PayPal For details of how to Pay via Paypal
please email Jeff Dugdale Email address on Page 2
42
43
44
32
ORBIT
An Invitation to Our Readers to Donate to an Innovative International Projecthellip
Kindest Sir or Madam
The municipality of Vitanje
(Slovenia) is honoured to have had a hand in the life of the
famous space architect Herman Potocnik Noordung
(1892-1929) (pictured right) who had already found a
surprising number of solutions
to space travel and troubles of living in vacuum long before
actual space flights took place His creations were used by the
renowned novelist Arthur C Clarke
in his book 2001 A Space Odyssey which was later also turned into a
movie directed by Stanley Kubrick In Noordungs honour we have
created the Memorial Centre of Herman Potocnik Noordung This
year the cultural centre of European
space technology will also get going in Vitanje This will be a place
where the European space heritage will be gathered and various events connected with the
contemporary European space technologies will be
organized
Proposed Philatelic Collection We would like to bring the project onto a higher level
where we would have the collaboration of various
countries in the world including such with a history in space travel (like USA Russia) One of the steps of this
expansion process would also include a philatelic collection of stamps with themes of outer space
(astronomy astronautics and everything connected to
outer space) We already have quite a decent collection but we would like to expand on that
Our goal is to have 6000 stamps before opening our
exhibition For this we would require the help of as many philatelists as possible
All of these philatelists would become co-creators and partners of this collection for which we hope will
become the largest collection of its kind in the world The people donating the stamps would get a great deal
of exposure at all these exhibitions and on the special
website which will be started shortly If you give us enough support and we are able to raise enough
stamps for a first-class collection we hope the first
exhibitions and various special events (like visits from
astronauts ndash philatelists) will see the light of day as early as in 2011
From a professional point of view we have an
excellent team working with us Long-time philatelist
Tone Petek is the person who initiated this project while Bojan Bracic the secretary of FEPA is one of our
counsellors and is completely behind this project
If you would be interested in such cooperation I will get the wheels in motion and send you a verifying
mail with the stamp of the municipality of Vitanje and
also of some higher organization within the Slovene political system
The collection is already underway with the help of the
Slovene Philatelic organisation (FZS) adds Rok in an email to your Editor in July This organisation has been of immense help with technical expertise and
connections It looks as if there might be an introductory exhibition next year sometime
In the hope of a successful partnership we offer our
sincere appreciation
Rok Podgrajsek
Obcina Vitanje Grajski trg 1
3205 Vitanje
Slovenia
Email address rokpodgrajsekgmailcom
But see also website httpwwwvitanjesi
(Editorrsquos Note both Wendy Buckle editor of
Themescene and our Chairman Margaret Morris commend this project to you We will be sending Rok
some recent copies of Orbit for the displays)
Some illustrations from Noordungrsquos only published text ldquoThe Problem of
Space Travel The Rocket Motorrdquo (the original German title
was ldquoDas Problem der Befahrung
des Weltraums - der Raketen-Motorrdquo) which saw the light of day
in 1928
Vitanje Local Private Post stamp
33
ORBIT
Zazzle Space Stamps Dazzle
I have noticed Zazzle Space Stamps appearing in Lollini brochures and on their web pages in recent months writes your Editor so I undertook to find out some facts about them and am grateful to The Astrophile Editor Jim Roth and the man who inspired him to create his own Zazzle designs Otto Bergman for the following infohellip Zazzle is one of half a dozen or more US companies
who facilitate the printing of non-copyrighted photos and artwork on private postage stamps which count
as postage within and outwith the USA You can
design your own Zazzle stampsmdashsee their websitemdashwhich you then purchase for your own use 20 to a
page
They are therefore a bit like British Smilers except
that the personal element of the stamp is not on a se-tenant label but actually incorporated within the
stamp itself as you can see from the examples on this page
Jim Roth was annoyed that the Kennedy Space Center Post office would not cancel his Zazzle stamps as they
consider them to be ldquometersrdquo and although he has marked STS-122 he wonrsquot be creating any others
You can see (and buy) all Jim Rothrsquos Space Zazzles on
his website m57coverscommdashclick on ldquostampsrdquo
Three of Jim Rothrsquos designs
See others on his website
An Otto Bergman space creation on
Zazzlecomottobergman
These space Zazzles and others are
available from the Lollini website or brochures
STS 128 in May 2010 section
STS 129 in June 2010
WISE and Delta 2 launch in July 2010 STS 130 in August 2010
STS 128 stamps show astronauts Christer Fuglesang (far left) and left Frank De Winne ISS Commander Expedition 21 STS 129 issues depict mission
patch and the crew led by Charles Hobaugh
Delta 2 rocket launch from Cape Canaveral of WISE Deep InfraRed telescope
34
ORBIT
Concluded on page 39
More Spaceflight Books for Sale
35
ORBIT ORBIT
SPACE HABITATS (Part Two) by John Beenen Continuing his feature from our last issue John Beenen begins by posing the questionhellip Why Should we Seek to Live
in Space
Spacecom gives ten main reasons why we should enter space for a prolonged
period
1 To secure a future for humanity
2 To build a new frontier
3 To find new energy sources
4 To build an industrial settlement on
the Moon
5 Better quality images of the
Universe
6 The SETI effort
7 Mining
8 Learning the history of our
Universe
9 Environmental benefits
Meeting the challenge
Taking for granted that it is naturally fascinating to investigate how mankind
might be able to maintain its habitat outside earth there are several further reasons to investigate why
mankind should settle themselves outside earth in the far future And More reasons mean a overall better
argument
Primarily there is the question of overpopulation and
secondly a solution for the energy problem
Next we have to consider that climate circumstances
are not under control anymore and earth eventually becomes uninhabitable
Also when for various reasons we start to kill each
other for some groups of people it may be an attractive proposition to depart this Earth in quite a different
sense And that is perhaps the most common thought
through activities in space more money can be obtained
But there are disadvantageshellip
On the other hand a prolonged stay in space is not that safe The construction must be protected against
radiation and it can be hit by large and small debris which makes space a very unsafe place
Furthermore cosmic radiation produces
a radiation of 80 mSv (millisievert) - well over the allowed maximum of 50
mSv and very much over the amount which is considered as safe for man
which is 3 mSv
Next solar flares produce a sudden
increase of soft gamma and energy rich radiation so much that without the
protection of an atmosphere half of our population could die easily
It is interesting that even without shielding most of this radiation can be
absorbed in the projected spacecraftsrsquo structure and in the air Smaller
structures can be protected with a
shield of co-rotating rocks
The construction further must be protected against sunlight which by
lack of the air shield will fall in unshielded so sun blinds and radiators
are indispensable
And as a result of the artificial gravity
there are some tiny movement problems which we will face later
Finally the created ecosystem should be fully self-supporting and that is easier said than done as
experiments with Biosphere-2 have showed
Biosphere-2 Biosphere-2 was a project built between 1987 and 1991 providing in an area of about 2frac12 football fields
a closed biological system of different composition From 1991-1993 a crew of 8 persons stayed herein A
second crew of 7 persons bridged a period of March
until September 1994 During the first period it appeared difficult to keep the atmosphere constant in
particular the carbon dioxide values changed rapidlymdashthe reason why many of the carried insects perished
Further the oxygen level decreased slowly because pf a leak
Even during the first two-year phase large differences in opinion appeared and the yield was not large
enough to deliver the calories necessary Reserve stocks had to be broken into Finally the second
experiment had to be ended prematurely because of
mismanagement
However it seems that a well-functioning stable ecosystem should not be underestimated physically
not technically
Artists impressions above Interior Stanford Torus and below Interior
OrsquoNeill Cylinder
Solar flares Czechoslovakia 1965 WB 47
36
ORBIT
It further has to be speculated on that men would resist
a regulated weather programme instead of the customary ever changing circumstances on Earth
Also we must physically resist an eternal stay outside
Earth That is not always easy as some people will show
some kind of sea sickness for ever In any case rooms with a diameter of less than 100 meters and a speed of
revolution over three per minute are insufficient At specifications of over 500 m and at less than 1 revolution
per minute fewer problems have to be expected
How do we get raw materials (Fantasy Moon Mining Yemen
Mutawakelite 1969 1343)
And still there have to be enough raw materials to sustain the
colony but as a principle the
search for raw materials is not the most difficult
From the asteroid belt enough small rocks can be
transported as a building material Also mines can be put
on the Moon Bercause of the lower gravity there transport is easier and some kind of firing mechanism
has been calculated which launch packets of ore simply into space where they can be manipulated
Air can be produced from moonstone Nitrogen nearly without loss can be recycled and eventually added to
ammonia mined from comets Large gardens and fields should start the normal photosynthesis and doing so
finally a complete sustainable society might be built up Energy from the Sun is present in superfluous quantities
What to do about gravity Most designs for a Space station start with a gravity of
1G Some designers however think that a lower level of gravity is possible But in the meantime experiments
with astronauts have showed that our physiology
changes rapidly influenced by decreased or absence of gravity Thus the calcium potassium and sodium
contents of our bone system decrease by about 10 That is not bad were we to stay in space forever but
very troublesome when occasionally we would return to
Earth
Also the quality of our muscles decreases as the blood volume does Providing effects comparable to aging
Further by lack of gravity astronauts become a little
taller with accompanying pain in the back Hence the staying with 1G gravity is not so bad
That has to be maintained by rotation of the
construction The larger the diameter of the construction is the slower it will turn to provide 1 G That is a result
of the centrifugal or centripetal force Its
magnitude has long been established thanks to the work of Dutchman Christiaan Huygens and fixed in
the formula
m v2
F = r where
F = the external force in N(ewton) m = mass in kg
v = speed in msec r = radius in m
Hence a spacecraft with a diameter of 15 meters has to carry out one revolution every 8 seconds to
produce a sensation of 1G And that is too quick for man The effect of the centrifugal force is that should
an astronaut drop an object it does not fall straight
down but partly away from himher Weird
Coriolis force But in a rotating Space station another force is at
work That is the lsquoCoriolis forcersquo named after the
French Gustave-Gaspard Coriolis (1792-1843) who described this kind of force for the first time
The most common manifestation is the second law of
Buys Ballot which says that air streams in the
atmosphere which according the first law of Boys Ballot as a principle run from high to low pressure at
the northern hemisphere are bent to the right and at the southern hemisphere to the left because of the
rotation of the Earth
Therefore air streams around depressions show a
spiral shape in opposite directions at the northern and southern hemisphere In a space station this
force can especially noticed when moving around through the spokes of the wheel
(Diagram of Coriolis F o r c e h t t p
wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm)
A s s u m e t h a t a n
astronaut on a ladder
climbs through a spoke to the axis As he climbs
along he circles around more slowly as he
describes a smaller circle
in the same time What happens with the difference in speed that he had before He will be pressed
against the ladder and that is the Coriolis force The force also acts in opposite direction when he
descends from the ladder
Also the throwing up and catching of a ball will
become a huge achievement as the ball does not
37
ORBIT
drop perpendicularly but will shift a little into the
direction of the orbit of the station and also achieves a higher speed
This also has strange effects on the astronaut As moves
quickly in the rotation direction of the station his weight
appears to increase to a noteworthy extent Then as he moves against the speed of rotation his weight
decreases apparently Mathematically this effect is explainable but very complex
Also the astronautrsquos head and feet move in different
speed to artificial gravity This is plainly noticeable when
somebody jumps up Hence avoid this practice
With these kind of effects adaptation to the changed circumstances in a space station will ask a lot of the
crew members I do hope they can stand it But in any
case the larger the space ship the lesser the problems
Inflatable stations
But therersquos more The inflatable station was considered
many years ago The first i d e a w a s p o s s i b l y
developed when on 12th August 1960 the Echo
balloon with a diameter of
30 meters was launched (Echo I balloon USA 1960
WB 3)
It is true you could not live in it as the balloon was of too frail a construction but the idea of an inflatable
spacecraft was then alive By 1958 groups within NASA
had begun to think about inflatable stations The Goett-committee has been one of the first On 25th26th May
1959 a conference started about projects after
Mercury In particular the
representative of Langley L a r r y Lo f t i n wa s
enthusiastic about his AMIS (Advanced Man in
Space) project (Hexagonal structure
Manama 1970 WB 113)
One of his first projects was a rotating hexagonal
inflatable construction with a diameter of 25 meters a cylindrical core and three lsquospokesrsquo Acting as a ferry to
and from the station the lsquoDyna Soarrsquo Space plane could
be used The Dyna Soar project (at that time still
under development) was cancelled by the American
Minister of Defense Robert
McNamara Inflatable Habitat NASA
1961 enwikipediaorg)
A Langley Space Station
team managed by Paul Hill and Emanuel lsquoMannyrsquo
Schnitzer developed the concept together with the
G o o d y e a r A i r c r a f t
Corporation
(Langleyrsquos self-inflating rotating hexagonal structure httphistorynasagov
SP-4308) Its original diameter had already been reduced to 10
meters
In the years after Langley built several experimental
modules called lsquoErectable Torus Manned Space Laboratoryrsquo a 11 model built by firms such as
Goodyear The torus was built from three layers of
nylon tissue and in between a rubber-like plastic material butyl elastomer A large problem was the
penetration by micrometeorites which as was learnt from the results of the Echo balloon finally damaged
the whole structure
Another problem was the great instability of the ring
due to movements of the astronauts the station started to wobble when they moved around Finally
the project was cancelled and at the end of the eighties the Langley Research Center started to
design inflatable constructions for a base camp on the
Moon
( A r t i s t imp r e s s i on Transhab inflatable
m o d u l e h t t p
enwikipediaorg)
Due to the development of a new series of
s t r o n g e r p l a s t i c materials such as Kevlar
these construct ions
received new interest That lead to the development of Transhab (Transit Habitat) as a resource for crews
coupled at the ISS (international Space Station) The construction is a cylinder in a diameter of 82 meters
and several storeys high
Its volume in inflatable state is 340 m3 The wall has a
thickness of 30 () cm and consists of 12 layers of which the outside layer is made from Kevlar The
layers beneath are made from Nextel a ceramic fibre Disagreements during development and the spiralling
costs finally in 2000 saw the end of NASArsquos interest
G e n e s i s 1
thespacereviewcom)
From 1999 the project was
taken up by Bigelow
38
ORBIT
Aerospace who improved the design and tested it with
successful launchings of Genesis I on 12 July 2006 and Genesis II on 28 June 2007
In their design it has once again more or less the shape
of a balloon With a thickness of 40 cm the wall is still
very thick The outside layer is still Kevlar but inside are some layers of Vectran a textile fibre Within the
structure ants and scorpions were launched along with some objects which people who paid for the privilege of
boosting into space
In this way Bigelow hopes to build a Space Hotel named
Nautilus To stimulate the development Bigelow offered a price of $50 million to everybody who succeeded in
launching a crew of 5 persons to an altitude of 400 km before 2010 So little money lost here so far
A second project which can be realized within the near future is a fixed residence on the Moon As said Langley
occupies itself with the design of such a base which partly should be build below the surface Stamp
designers have already realized the idea
What does the future hold Although we are a long way away from the kind of space station by which a large amount of earth inhabitants can
leave the planet Earth forever the first steps for doing
so are in preparation With the development of their Space Hotel Bigelow tries to make the step to space
albeit a temporary one
Also Langley literally tries to set foot on the Moon and
finally they will succeed in doing so However The cost of such projects are literally astronomical and it is not
expected that in the coming decades much money can be allocated to such projects
Of course in some thousands of years (possibly only in
hundreds of years) this will become the case but for the
time being in my opinion the true conquest of space will stay as science-fiction for at least a few hundred years
Hoorn 2009
John Beenen
NB The stamps entitled lsquoSpace Cityrsquo with a value of 0 cnt do not exist but have been made by the author by means of frames and pictures present at the Internet
Fantasy Moon
b a s e M a n a -ma1970 WB 122
Fantasy bases
ready for Mars
YAR 1971 WB 2892 and 6
Fantasy Modular
base YAR 169 WB 233
39
ORBIT
Cover Below bottom right Future space Dutch Antilles 2000
Literature references (for both parts of article) httpenwikipediaorg Space habitat Space Colonization Orbital Colony Space City Space settlement Space stations L5 Society Bernal Sphere Stanford Torus OrsquoNeil Cylinder Inflatable Space Habitat Transhab Biosphere 2 Generation Ship wwwdsenl~hklruimtehtm Wonen op groene eilanden in de Ruimte (Dutch Living on green Islands in Space) Henry Kluytmans wwworionsarmcom McKendree Cylinder Bishops Ring wwwnasnasagovAboutEducationSpaceSettlement The Colonization of Space wwwdyarstraightscommsgundamhabitatshtml Mobile Suit Gundam High Frontier Life in the Universal Century Developing sound habitats wwwartificial-gravitycomDissertation1_2htm From Tsiolkovsky to Sputnik (1878-1957) httpsciencenasagovheadlinesy2000ast26may_1mhtm Wheels in the Sky httpdiscaircraftgreyfalconus Hermann Noordung Wohnrad (Wheel for Habitation) httparticlesadsabsharvardedufull1992lbsaconf249R Inflatable habitation for the lunar base MRoberts httphistorynasagovSP-4308ch9htm lsquoAs inevitable as the Rising Sunrsquo From the inflatable Torus to the Rotating Hexagon wwwspacecomnewsbusinessmonday_040524html Bigelow Aerospace to tackle inflatable Space Habitats httpsciencehowstuffsworkcominflatable-spacecraft2htm How Inflatable Spacecraft Will Work wwwbogancaphysicscoriolishtml Rotating Space Stations Dynamics An Explanation of the Coriolis Force httpdemonstrationswolframcomRotatingSpaceStation Rotating Space Station wwwdvandomcomcoliolisspacestationhtml Frame Effects and Space Stations wwwdvandomcomcoriolisindexhtml A (hopefully) simple explanation of the Coriolis Force wwwdaviddarlinginfoencyclopedia Hale Edward Everett von Pirquet Guido Noordung Hermann Space Station wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm The Coriolis Force wwwastronautixcomcraftfamlunbaseshtm Lunar bases wwwastronautixcomgallerycspebasehtm Photo Gallery Space base wwwregererating-universeorgOn_Moon_as_Space_Basehtm On Moon as Space Base wwwspacefuturecomhabitatlivingshtml Space Habitat Introduction Living in Space wwwspacepagebevideotaak=bekijkampid=47 Living in space (Video) wwwnutricomspace The Case for Space colonization ndash Now Oscar Falconi wwwxentcompipermailfork (FoRK) Bigelowrsquos inflatable Genesis I satellite in orbit wwwrussianforcesorg Russian strategic nuclear forces (Genesis II) wwwbigelowaerospacecomgenesis Genesis I Genesis II
Thanks to Alan Tunnicliffe who came across the attached news item
complete with stamp in the eNZ Magazine the bi-monthly journal of
the Institution of Professional Engineers NZ Inc Vol 11 No 3 May-
June 2010
Vaccari Auction Sells Remarkable Space Covers April 2010
Apollo 12 cover 55 of 87 flown to the moon on Apollo 15 having been left behind by the original crew sold for euro12200 1977 Salyut
6 Soyuz 27 cover sold for euro1600
40
ORBIT ORBIT
Shuttle 1981mdash2010 Stamps Marshall
Islands 2005
United Nations 2007 Monaco and Ascension 2008
Bulgaria 1991 including stamp from souvenir sheet
USA 1981
below USA 1995 and bottom USA 1998
(two values)
St Vincent Grenadines 1983
Ascension 1989
Bulgaria 1990
and above right W Germany 1975
and USA 2000 Guyana 2006
USA 1995
41
ASSS Membership Renewal 2010
Memberrsquos Name amp Addresshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
I wish to renew my membership of the ASSS for a further year and enclose the equivalent of
pound15 (UK) euro30 (Europe) $US 45 (Rest of the World)
Please return this form with your remittance to Harvey Duncan by the
end of July Thank you
Harvey Duncan Treasurer ASSS 16 Begg Avenue
Falkirk Scotland FK1 2DL
PayPal For details of how to Pay via Paypal
please email Jeff Dugdale Email address on Page 2
42
43
44
33
ORBIT
Zazzle Space Stamps Dazzle
I have noticed Zazzle Space Stamps appearing in Lollini brochures and on their web pages in recent months writes your Editor so I undertook to find out some facts about them and am grateful to The Astrophile Editor Jim Roth and the man who inspired him to create his own Zazzle designs Otto Bergman for the following infohellip Zazzle is one of half a dozen or more US companies
who facilitate the printing of non-copyrighted photos and artwork on private postage stamps which count
as postage within and outwith the USA You can
design your own Zazzle stampsmdashsee their websitemdashwhich you then purchase for your own use 20 to a
page
They are therefore a bit like British Smilers except
that the personal element of the stamp is not on a se-tenant label but actually incorporated within the
stamp itself as you can see from the examples on this page
Jim Roth was annoyed that the Kennedy Space Center Post office would not cancel his Zazzle stamps as they
consider them to be ldquometersrdquo and although he has marked STS-122 he wonrsquot be creating any others
You can see (and buy) all Jim Rothrsquos Space Zazzles on
his website m57coverscommdashclick on ldquostampsrdquo
Three of Jim Rothrsquos designs
See others on his website
An Otto Bergman space creation on
Zazzlecomottobergman
These space Zazzles and others are
available from the Lollini website or brochures
STS 128 in May 2010 section
STS 129 in June 2010
WISE and Delta 2 launch in July 2010 STS 130 in August 2010
STS 128 stamps show astronauts Christer Fuglesang (far left) and left Frank De Winne ISS Commander Expedition 21 STS 129 issues depict mission
patch and the crew led by Charles Hobaugh
Delta 2 rocket launch from Cape Canaveral of WISE Deep InfraRed telescope
34
ORBIT
Concluded on page 39
More Spaceflight Books for Sale
35
ORBIT ORBIT
SPACE HABITATS (Part Two) by John Beenen Continuing his feature from our last issue John Beenen begins by posing the questionhellip Why Should we Seek to Live
in Space
Spacecom gives ten main reasons why we should enter space for a prolonged
period
1 To secure a future for humanity
2 To build a new frontier
3 To find new energy sources
4 To build an industrial settlement on
the Moon
5 Better quality images of the
Universe
6 The SETI effort
7 Mining
8 Learning the history of our
Universe
9 Environmental benefits
Meeting the challenge
Taking for granted that it is naturally fascinating to investigate how mankind
might be able to maintain its habitat outside earth there are several further reasons to investigate why
mankind should settle themselves outside earth in the far future And More reasons mean a overall better
argument
Primarily there is the question of overpopulation and
secondly a solution for the energy problem
Next we have to consider that climate circumstances
are not under control anymore and earth eventually becomes uninhabitable
Also when for various reasons we start to kill each
other for some groups of people it may be an attractive proposition to depart this Earth in quite a different
sense And that is perhaps the most common thought
through activities in space more money can be obtained
But there are disadvantageshellip
On the other hand a prolonged stay in space is not that safe The construction must be protected against
radiation and it can be hit by large and small debris which makes space a very unsafe place
Furthermore cosmic radiation produces
a radiation of 80 mSv (millisievert) - well over the allowed maximum of 50
mSv and very much over the amount which is considered as safe for man
which is 3 mSv
Next solar flares produce a sudden
increase of soft gamma and energy rich radiation so much that without the
protection of an atmosphere half of our population could die easily
It is interesting that even without shielding most of this radiation can be
absorbed in the projected spacecraftsrsquo structure and in the air Smaller
structures can be protected with a
shield of co-rotating rocks
The construction further must be protected against sunlight which by
lack of the air shield will fall in unshielded so sun blinds and radiators
are indispensable
And as a result of the artificial gravity
there are some tiny movement problems which we will face later
Finally the created ecosystem should be fully self-supporting and that is easier said than done as
experiments with Biosphere-2 have showed
Biosphere-2 Biosphere-2 was a project built between 1987 and 1991 providing in an area of about 2frac12 football fields
a closed biological system of different composition From 1991-1993 a crew of 8 persons stayed herein A
second crew of 7 persons bridged a period of March
until September 1994 During the first period it appeared difficult to keep the atmosphere constant in
particular the carbon dioxide values changed rapidlymdashthe reason why many of the carried insects perished
Further the oxygen level decreased slowly because pf a leak
Even during the first two-year phase large differences in opinion appeared and the yield was not large
enough to deliver the calories necessary Reserve stocks had to be broken into Finally the second
experiment had to be ended prematurely because of
mismanagement
However it seems that a well-functioning stable ecosystem should not be underestimated physically
not technically
Artists impressions above Interior Stanford Torus and below Interior
OrsquoNeill Cylinder
Solar flares Czechoslovakia 1965 WB 47
36
ORBIT
It further has to be speculated on that men would resist
a regulated weather programme instead of the customary ever changing circumstances on Earth
Also we must physically resist an eternal stay outside
Earth That is not always easy as some people will show
some kind of sea sickness for ever In any case rooms with a diameter of less than 100 meters and a speed of
revolution over three per minute are insufficient At specifications of over 500 m and at less than 1 revolution
per minute fewer problems have to be expected
How do we get raw materials (Fantasy Moon Mining Yemen
Mutawakelite 1969 1343)
And still there have to be enough raw materials to sustain the
colony but as a principle the
search for raw materials is not the most difficult
From the asteroid belt enough small rocks can be
transported as a building material Also mines can be put
on the Moon Bercause of the lower gravity there transport is easier and some kind of firing mechanism
has been calculated which launch packets of ore simply into space where they can be manipulated
Air can be produced from moonstone Nitrogen nearly without loss can be recycled and eventually added to
ammonia mined from comets Large gardens and fields should start the normal photosynthesis and doing so
finally a complete sustainable society might be built up Energy from the Sun is present in superfluous quantities
What to do about gravity Most designs for a Space station start with a gravity of
1G Some designers however think that a lower level of gravity is possible But in the meantime experiments
with astronauts have showed that our physiology
changes rapidly influenced by decreased or absence of gravity Thus the calcium potassium and sodium
contents of our bone system decrease by about 10 That is not bad were we to stay in space forever but
very troublesome when occasionally we would return to
Earth
Also the quality of our muscles decreases as the blood volume does Providing effects comparable to aging
Further by lack of gravity astronauts become a little
taller with accompanying pain in the back Hence the staying with 1G gravity is not so bad
That has to be maintained by rotation of the
construction The larger the diameter of the construction is the slower it will turn to provide 1 G That is a result
of the centrifugal or centripetal force Its
magnitude has long been established thanks to the work of Dutchman Christiaan Huygens and fixed in
the formula
m v2
F = r where
F = the external force in N(ewton) m = mass in kg
v = speed in msec r = radius in m
Hence a spacecraft with a diameter of 15 meters has to carry out one revolution every 8 seconds to
produce a sensation of 1G And that is too quick for man The effect of the centrifugal force is that should
an astronaut drop an object it does not fall straight
down but partly away from himher Weird
Coriolis force But in a rotating Space station another force is at
work That is the lsquoCoriolis forcersquo named after the
French Gustave-Gaspard Coriolis (1792-1843) who described this kind of force for the first time
The most common manifestation is the second law of
Buys Ballot which says that air streams in the
atmosphere which according the first law of Boys Ballot as a principle run from high to low pressure at
the northern hemisphere are bent to the right and at the southern hemisphere to the left because of the
rotation of the Earth
Therefore air streams around depressions show a
spiral shape in opposite directions at the northern and southern hemisphere In a space station this
force can especially noticed when moving around through the spokes of the wheel
(Diagram of Coriolis F o r c e h t t p
wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm)
A s s u m e t h a t a n
astronaut on a ladder
climbs through a spoke to the axis As he climbs
along he circles around more slowly as he
describes a smaller circle
in the same time What happens with the difference in speed that he had before He will be pressed
against the ladder and that is the Coriolis force The force also acts in opposite direction when he
descends from the ladder
Also the throwing up and catching of a ball will
become a huge achievement as the ball does not
37
ORBIT
drop perpendicularly but will shift a little into the
direction of the orbit of the station and also achieves a higher speed
This also has strange effects on the astronaut As moves
quickly in the rotation direction of the station his weight
appears to increase to a noteworthy extent Then as he moves against the speed of rotation his weight
decreases apparently Mathematically this effect is explainable but very complex
Also the astronautrsquos head and feet move in different
speed to artificial gravity This is plainly noticeable when
somebody jumps up Hence avoid this practice
With these kind of effects adaptation to the changed circumstances in a space station will ask a lot of the
crew members I do hope they can stand it But in any
case the larger the space ship the lesser the problems
Inflatable stations
But therersquos more The inflatable station was considered
many years ago The first i d e a w a s p o s s i b l y
developed when on 12th August 1960 the Echo
balloon with a diameter of
30 meters was launched (Echo I balloon USA 1960
WB 3)
It is true you could not live in it as the balloon was of too frail a construction but the idea of an inflatable
spacecraft was then alive By 1958 groups within NASA
had begun to think about inflatable stations The Goett-committee has been one of the first On 25th26th May
1959 a conference started about projects after
Mercury In particular the
representative of Langley L a r r y Lo f t i n wa s
enthusiastic about his AMIS (Advanced Man in
Space) project (Hexagonal structure
Manama 1970 WB 113)
One of his first projects was a rotating hexagonal
inflatable construction with a diameter of 25 meters a cylindrical core and three lsquospokesrsquo Acting as a ferry to
and from the station the lsquoDyna Soarrsquo Space plane could
be used The Dyna Soar project (at that time still
under development) was cancelled by the American
Minister of Defense Robert
McNamara Inflatable Habitat NASA
1961 enwikipediaorg)
A Langley Space Station
team managed by Paul Hill and Emanuel lsquoMannyrsquo
Schnitzer developed the concept together with the
G o o d y e a r A i r c r a f t
Corporation
(Langleyrsquos self-inflating rotating hexagonal structure httphistorynasagov
SP-4308) Its original diameter had already been reduced to 10
meters
In the years after Langley built several experimental
modules called lsquoErectable Torus Manned Space Laboratoryrsquo a 11 model built by firms such as
Goodyear The torus was built from three layers of
nylon tissue and in between a rubber-like plastic material butyl elastomer A large problem was the
penetration by micrometeorites which as was learnt from the results of the Echo balloon finally damaged
the whole structure
Another problem was the great instability of the ring
due to movements of the astronauts the station started to wobble when they moved around Finally
the project was cancelled and at the end of the eighties the Langley Research Center started to
design inflatable constructions for a base camp on the
Moon
( A r t i s t imp r e s s i on Transhab inflatable
m o d u l e h t t p
enwikipediaorg)
Due to the development of a new series of
s t r o n g e r p l a s t i c materials such as Kevlar
these construct ions
received new interest That lead to the development of Transhab (Transit Habitat) as a resource for crews
coupled at the ISS (international Space Station) The construction is a cylinder in a diameter of 82 meters
and several storeys high
Its volume in inflatable state is 340 m3 The wall has a
thickness of 30 () cm and consists of 12 layers of which the outside layer is made from Kevlar The
layers beneath are made from Nextel a ceramic fibre Disagreements during development and the spiralling
costs finally in 2000 saw the end of NASArsquos interest
G e n e s i s 1
thespacereviewcom)
From 1999 the project was
taken up by Bigelow
38
ORBIT
Aerospace who improved the design and tested it with
successful launchings of Genesis I on 12 July 2006 and Genesis II on 28 June 2007
In their design it has once again more or less the shape
of a balloon With a thickness of 40 cm the wall is still
very thick The outside layer is still Kevlar but inside are some layers of Vectran a textile fibre Within the
structure ants and scorpions were launched along with some objects which people who paid for the privilege of
boosting into space
In this way Bigelow hopes to build a Space Hotel named
Nautilus To stimulate the development Bigelow offered a price of $50 million to everybody who succeeded in
launching a crew of 5 persons to an altitude of 400 km before 2010 So little money lost here so far
A second project which can be realized within the near future is a fixed residence on the Moon As said Langley
occupies itself with the design of such a base which partly should be build below the surface Stamp
designers have already realized the idea
What does the future hold Although we are a long way away from the kind of space station by which a large amount of earth inhabitants can
leave the planet Earth forever the first steps for doing
so are in preparation With the development of their Space Hotel Bigelow tries to make the step to space
albeit a temporary one
Also Langley literally tries to set foot on the Moon and
finally they will succeed in doing so However The cost of such projects are literally astronomical and it is not
expected that in the coming decades much money can be allocated to such projects
Of course in some thousands of years (possibly only in
hundreds of years) this will become the case but for the
time being in my opinion the true conquest of space will stay as science-fiction for at least a few hundred years
Hoorn 2009
John Beenen
NB The stamps entitled lsquoSpace Cityrsquo with a value of 0 cnt do not exist but have been made by the author by means of frames and pictures present at the Internet
Fantasy Moon
b a s e M a n a -ma1970 WB 122
Fantasy bases
ready for Mars
YAR 1971 WB 2892 and 6
Fantasy Modular
base YAR 169 WB 233
39
ORBIT
Cover Below bottom right Future space Dutch Antilles 2000
Literature references (for both parts of article) httpenwikipediaorg Space habitat Space Colonization Orbital Colony Space City Space settlement Space stations L5 Society Bernal Sphere Stanford Torus OrsquoNeil Cylinder Inflatable Space Habitat Transhab Biosphere 2 Generation Ship wwwdsenl~hklruimtehtm Wonen op groene eilanden in de Ruimte (Dutch Living on green Islands in Space) Henry Kluytmans wwworionsarmcom McKendree Cylinder Bishops Ring wwwnasnasagovAboutEducationSpaceSettlement The Colonization of Space wwwdyarstraightscommsgundamhabitatshtml Mobile Suit Gundam High Frontier Life in the Universal Century Developing sound habitats wwwartificial-gravitycomDissertation1_2htm From Tsiolkovsky to Sputnik (1878-1957) httpsciencenasagovheadlinesy2000ast26may_1mhtm Wheels in the Sky httpdiscaircraftgreyfalconus Hermann Noordung Wohnrad (Wheel for Habitation) httparticlesadsabsharvardedufull1992lbsaconf249R Inflatable habitation for the lunar base MRoberts httphistorynasagovSP-4308ch9htm lsquoAs inevitable as the Rising Sunrsquo From the inflatable Torus to the Rotating Hexagon wwwspacecomnewsbusinessmonday_040524html Bigelow Aerospace to tackle inflatable Space Habitats httpsciencehowstuffsworkcominflatable-spacecraft2htm How Inflatable Spacecraft Will Work wwwbogancaphysicscoriolishtml Rotating Space Stations Dynamics An Explanation of the Coriolis Force httpdemonstrationswolframcomRotatingSpaceStation Rotating Space Station wwwdvandomcomcoliolisspacestationhtml Frame Effects and Space Stations wwwdvandomcomcoriolisindexhtml A (hopefully) simple explanation of the Coriolis Force wwwdaviddarlinginfoencyclopedia Hale Edward Everett von Pirquet Guido Noordung Hermann Space Station wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm The Coriolis Force wwwastronautixcomcraftfamlunbaseshtm Lunar bases wwwastronautixcomgallerycspebasehtm Photo Gallery Space base wwwregererating-universeorgOn_Moon_as_Space_Basehtm On Moon as Space Base wwwspacefuturecomhabitatlivingshtml Space Habitat Introduction Living in Space wwwspacepagebevideotaak=bekijkampid=47 Living in space (Video) wwwnutricomspace The Case for Space colonization ndash Now Oscar Falconi wwwxentcompipermailfork (FoRK) Bigelowrsquos inflatable Genesis I satellite in orbit wwwrussianforcesorg Russian strategic nuclear forces (Genesis II) wwwbigelowaerospacecomgenesis Genesis I Genesis II
Thanks to Alan Tunnicliffe who came across the attached news item
complete with stamp in the eNZ Magazine the bi-monthly journal of
the Institution of Professional Engineers NZ Inc Vol 11 No 3 May-
June 2010
Vaccari Auction Sells Remarkable Space Covers April 2010
Apollo 12 cover 55 of 87 flown to the moon on Apollo 15 having been left behind by the original crew sold for euro12200 1977 Salyut
6 Soyuz 27 cover sold for euro1600
40
ORBIT ORBIT
Shuttle 1981mdash2010 Stamps Marshall
Islands 2005
United Nations 2007 Monaco and Ascension 2008
Bulgaria 1991 including stamp from souvenir sheet
USA 1981
below USA 1995 and bottom USA 1998
(two values)
St Vincent Grenadines 1983
Ascension 1989
Bulgaria 1990
and above right W Germany 1975
and USA 2000 Guyana 2006
USA 1995
41
ASSS Membership Renewal 2010
Memberrsquos Name amp Addresshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
I wish to renew my membership of the ASSS for a further year and enclose the equivalent of
pound15 (UK) euro30 (Europe) $US 45 (Rest of the World)
Please return this form with your remittance to Harvey Duncan by the
end of July Thank you
Harvey Duncan Treasurer ASSS 16 Begg Avenue
Falkirk Scotland FK1 2DL
PayPal For details of how to Pay via Paypal
please email Jeff Dugdale Email address on Page 2
42
43
44
34
ORBIT
Concluded on page 39
More Spaceflight Books for Sale
35
ORBIT ORBIT
SPACE HABITATS (Part Two) by John Beenen Continuing his feature from our last issue John Beenen begins by posing the questionhellip Why Should we Seek to Live
in Space
Spacecom gives ten main reasons why we should enter space for a prolonged
period
1 To secure a future for humanity
2 To build a new frontier
3 To find new energy sources
4 To build an industrial settlement on
the Moon
5 Better quality images of the
Universe
6 The SETI effort
7 Mining
8 Learning the history of our
Universe
9 Environmental benefits
Meeting the challenge
Taking for granted that it is naturally fascinating to investigate how mankind
might be able to maintain its habitat outside earth there are several further reasons to investigate why
mankind should settle themselves outside earth in the far future And More reasons mean a overall better
argument
Primarily there is the question of overpopulation and
secondly a solution for the energy problem
Next we have to consider that climate circumstances
are not under control anymore and earth eventually becomes uninhabitable
Also when for various reasons we start to kill each
other for some groups of people it may be an attractive proposition to depart this Earth in quite a different
sense And that is perhaps the most common thought
through activities in space more money can be obtained
But there are disadvantageshellip
On the other hand a prolonged stay in space is not that safe The construction must be protected against
radiation and it can be hit by large and small debris which makes space a very unsafe place
Furthermore cosmic radiation produces
a radiation of 80 mSv (millisievert) - well over the allowed maximum of 50
mSv and very much over the amount which is considered as safe for man
which is 3 mSv
Next solar flares produce a sudden
increase of soft gamma and energy rich radiation so much that without the
protection of an atmosphere half of our population could die easily
It is interesting that even without shielding most of this radiation can be
absorbed in the projected spacecraftsrsquo structure and in the air Smaller
structures can be protected with a
shield of co-rotating rocks
The construction further must be protected against sunlight which by
lack of the air shield will fall in unshielded so sun blinds and radiators
are indispensable
And as a result of the artificial gravity
there are some tiny movement problems which we will face later
Finally the created ecosystem should be fully self-supporting and that is easier said than done as
experiments with Biosphere-2 have showed
Biosphere-2 Biosphere-2 was a project built between 1987 and 1991 providing in an area of about 2frac12 football fields
a closed biological system of different composition From 1991-1993 a crew of 8 persons stayed herein A
second crew of 7 persons bridged a period of March
until September 1994 During the first period it appeared difficult to keep the atmosphere constant in
particular the carbon dioxide values changed rapidlymdashthe reason why many of the carried insects perished
Further the oxygen level decreased slowly because pf a leak
Even during the first two-year phase large differences in opinion appeared and the yield was not large
enough to deliver the calories necessary Reserve stocks had to be broken into Finally the second
experiment had to be ended prematurely because of
mismanagement
However it seems that a well-functioning stable ecosystem should not be underestimated physically
not technically
Artists impressions above Interior Stanford Torus and below Interior
OrsquoNeill Cylinder
Solar flares Czechoslovakia 1965 WB 47
36
ORBIT
It further has to be speculated on that men would resist
a regulated weather programme instead of the customary ever changing circumstances on Earth
Also we must physically resist an eternal stay outside
Earth That is not always easy as some people will show
some kind of sea sickness for ever In any case rooms with a diameter of less than 100 meters and a speed of
revolution over three per minute are insufficient At specifications of over 500 m and at less than 1 revolution
per minute fewer problems have to be expected
How do we get raw materials (Fantasy Moon Mining Yemen
Mutawakelite 1969 1343)
And still there have to be enough raw materials to sustain the
colony but as a principle the
search for raw materials is not the most difficult
From the asteroid belt enough small rocks can be
transported as a building material Also mines can be put
on the Moon Bercause of the lower gravity there transport is easier and some kind of firing mechanism
has been calculated which launch packets of ore simply into space where they can be manipulated
Air can be produced from moonstone Nitrogen nearly without loss can be recycled and eventually added to
ammonia mined from comets Large gardens and fields should start the normal photosynthesis and doing so
finally a complete sustainable society might be built up Energy from the Sun is present in superfluous quantities
What to do about gravity Most designs for a Space station start with a gravity of
1G Some designers however think that a lower level of gravity is possible But in the meantime experiments
with astronauts have showed that our physiology
changes rapidly influenced by decreased or absence of gravity Thus the calcium potassium and sodium
contents of our bone system decrease by about 10 That is not bad were we to stay in space forever but
very troublesome when occasionally we would return to
Earth
Also the quality of our muscles decreases as the blood volume does Providing effects comparable to aging
Further by lack of gravity astronauts become a little
taller with accompanying pain in the back Hence the staying with 1G gravity is not so bad
That has to be maintained by rotation of the
construction The larger the diameter of the construction is the slower it will turn to provide 1 G That is a result
of the centrifugal or centripetal force Its
magnitude has long been established thanks to the work of Dutchman Christiaan Huygens and fixed in
the formula
m v2
F = r where
F = the external force in N(ewton) m = mass in kg
v = speed in msec r = radius in m
Hence a spacecraft with a diameter of 15 meters has to carry out one revolution every 8 seconds to
produce a sensation of 1G And that is too quick for man The effect of the centrifugal force is that should
an astronaut drop an object it does not fall straight
down but partly away from himher Weird
Coriolis force But in a rotating Space station another force is at
work That is the lsquoCoriolis forcersquo named after the
French Gustave-Gaspard Coriolis (1792-1843) who described this kind of force for the first time
The most common manifestation is the second law of
Buys Ballot which says that air streams in the
atmosphere which according the first law of Boys Ballot as a principle run from high to low pressure at
the northern hemisphere are bent to the right and at the southern hemisphere to the left because of the
rotation of the Earth
Therefore air streams around depressions show a
spiral shape in opposite directions at the northern and southern hemisphere In a space station this
force can especially noticed when moving around through the spokes of the wheel
(Diagram of Coriolis F o r c e h t t p
wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm)
A s s u m e t h a t a n
astronaut on a ladder
climbs through a spoke to the axis As he climbs
along he circles around more slowly as he
describes a smaller circle
in the same time What happens with the difference in speed that he had before He will be pressed
against the ladder and that is the Coriolis force The force also acts in opposite direction when he
descends from the ladder
Also the throwing up and catching of a ball will
become a huge achievement as the ball does not
37
ORBIT
drop perpendicularly but will shift a little into the
direction of the orbit of the station and also achieves a higher speed
This also has strange effects on the astronaut As moves
quickly in the rotation direction of the station his weight
appears to increase to a noteworthy extent Then as he moves against the speed of rotation his weight
decreases apparently Mathematically this effect is explainable but very complex
Also the astronautrsquos head and feet move in different
speed to artificial gravity This is plainly noticeable when
somebody jumps up Hence avoid this practice
With these kind of effects adaptation to the changed circumstances in a space station will ask a lot of the
crew members I do hope they can stand it But in any
case the larger the space ship the lesser the problems
Inflatable stations
But therersquos more The inflatable station was considered
many years ago The first i d e a w a s p o s s i b l y
developed when on 12th August 1960 the Echo
balloon with a diameter of
30 meters was launched (Echo I balloon USA 1960
WB 3)
It is true you could not live in it as the balloon was of too frail a construction but the idea of an inflatable
spacecraft was then alive By 1958 groups within NASA
had begun to think about inflatable stations The Goett-committee has been one of the first On 25th26th May
1959 a conference started about projects after
Mercury In particular the
representative of Langley L a r r y Lo f t i n wa s
enthusiastic about his AMIS (Advanced Man in
Space) project (Hexagonal structure
Manama 1970 WB 113)
One of his first projects was a rotating hexagonal
inflatable construction with a diameter of 25 meters a cylindrical core and three lsquospokesrsquo Acting as a ferry to
and from the station the lsquoDyna Soarrsquo Space plane could
be used The Dyna Soar project (at that time still
under development) was cancelled by the American
Minister of Defense Robert
McNamara Inflatable Habitat NASA
1961 enwikipediaorg)
A Langley Space Station
team managed by Paul Hill and Emanuel lsquoMannyrsquo
Schnitzer developed the concept together with the
G o o d y e a r A i r c r a f t
Corporation
(Langleyrsquos self-inflating rotating hexagonal structure httphistorynasagov
SP-4308) Its original diameter had already been reduced to 10
meters
In the years after Langley built several experimental
modules called lsquoErectable Torus Manned Space Laboratoryrsquo a 11 model built by firms such as
Goodyear The torus was built from three layers of
nylon tissue and in between a rubber-like plastic material butyl elastomer A large problem was the
penetration by micrometeorites which as was learnt from the results of the Echo balloon finally damaged
the whole structure
Another problem was the great instability of the ring
due to movements of the astronauts the station started to wobble when they moved around Finally
the project was cancelled and at the end of the eighties the Langley Research Center started to
design inflatable constructions for a base camp on the
Moon
( A r t i s t imp r e s s i on Transhab inflatable
m o d u l e h t t p
enwikipediaorg)
Due to the development of a new series of
s t r o n g e r p l a s t i c materials such as Kevlar
these construct ions
received new interest That lead to the development of Transhab (Transit Habitat) as a resource for crews
coupled at the ISS (international Space Station) The construction is a cylinder in a diameter of 82 meters
and several storeys high
Its volume in inflatable state is 340 m3 The wall has a
thickness of 30 () cm and consists of 12 layers of which the outside layer is made from Kevlar The
layers beneath are made from Nextel a ceramic fibre Disagreements during development and the spiralling
costs finally in 2000 saw the end of NASArsquos interest
G e n e s i s 1
thespacereviewcom)
From 1999 the project was
taken up by Bigelow
38
ORBIT
Aerospace who improved the design and tested it with
successful launchings of Genesis I on 12 July 2006 and Genesis II on 28 June 2007
In their design it has once again more or less the shape
of a balloon With a thickness of 40 cm the wall is still
very thick The outside layer is still Kevlar but inside are some layers of Vectran a textile fibre Within the
structure ants and scorpions were launched along with some objects which people who paid for the privilege of
boosting into space
In this way Bigelow hopes to build a Space Hotel named
Nautilus To stimulate the development Bigelow offered a price of $50 million to everybody who succeeded in
launching a crew of 5 persons to an altitude of 400 km before 2010 So little money lost here so far
A second project which can be realized within the near future is a fixed residence on the Moon As said Langley
occupies itself with the design of such a base which partly should be build below the surface Stamp
designers have already realized the idea
What does the future hold Although we are a long way away from the kind of space station by which a large amount of earth inhabitants can
leave the planet Earth forever the first steps for doing
so are in preparation With the development of their Space Hotel Bigelow tries to make the step to space
albeit a temporary one
Also Langley literally tries to set foot on the Moon and
finally they will succeed in doing so However The cost of such projects are literally astronomical and it is not
expected that in the coming decades much money can be allocated to such projects
Of course in some thousands of years (possibly only in
hundreds of years) this will become the case but for the
time being in my opinion the true conquest of space will stay as science-fiction for at least a few hundred years
Hoorn 2009
John Beenen
NB The stamps entitled lsquoSpace Cityrsquo with a value of 0 cnt do not exist but have been made by the author by means of frames and pictures present at the Internet
Fantasy Moon
b a s e M a n a -ma1970 WB 122
Fantasy bases
ready for Mars
YAR 1971 WB 2892 and 6
Fantasy Modular
base YAR 169 WB 233
39
ORBIT
Cover Below bottom right Future space Dutch Antilles 2000
Literature references (for both parts of article) httpenwikipediaorg Space habitat Space Colonization Orbital Colony Space City Space settlement Space stations L5 Society Bernal Sphere Stanford Torus OrsquoNeil Cylinder Inflatable Space Habitat Transhab Biosphere 2 Generation Ship wwwdsenl~hklruimtehtm Wonen op groene eilanden in de Ruimte (Dutch Living on green Islands in Space) Henry Kluytmans wwworionsarmcom McKendree Cylinder Bishops Ring wwwnasnasagovAboutEducationSpaceSettlement The Colonization of Space wwwdyarstraightscommsgundamhabitatshtml Mobile Suit Gundam High Frontier Life in the Universal Century Developing sound habitats wwwartificial-gravitycomDissertation1_2htm From Tsiolkovsky to Sputnik (1878-1957) httpsciencenasagovheadlinesy2000ast26may_1mhtm Wheels in the Sky httpdiscaircraftgreyfalconus Hermann Noordung Wohnrad (Wheel for Habitation) httparticlesadsabsharvardedufull1992lbsaconf249R Inflatable habitation for the lunar base MRoberts httphistorynasagovSP-4308ch9htm lsquoAs inevitable as the Rising Sunrsquo From the inflatable Torus to the Rotating Hexagon wwwspacecomnewsbusinessmonday_040524html Bigelow Aerospace to tackle inflatable Space Habitats httpsciencehowstuffsworkcominflatable-spacecraft2htm How Inflatable Spacecraft Will Work wwwbogancaphysicscoriolishtml Rotating Space Stations Dynamics An Explanation of the Coriolis Force httpdemonstrationswolframcomRotatingSpaceStation Rotating Space Station wwwdvandomcomcoliolisspacestationhtml Frame Effects and Space Stations wwwdvandomcomcoriolisindexhtml A (hopefully) simple explanation of the Coriolis Force wwwdaviddarlinginfoencyclopedia Hale Edward Everett von Pirquet Guido Noordung Hermann Space Station wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm The Coriolis Force wwwastronautixcomcraftfamlunbaseshtm Lunar bases wwwastronautixcomgallerycspebasehtm Photo Gallery Space base wwwregererating-universeorgOn_Moon_as_Space_Basehtm On Moon as Space Base wwwspacefuturecomhabitatlivingshtml Space Habitat Introduction Living in Space wwwspacepagebevideotaak=bekijkampid=47 Living in space (Video) wwwnutricomspace The Case for Space colonization ndash Now Oscar Falconi wwwxentcompipermailfork (FoRK) Bigelowrsquos inflatable Genesis I satellite in orbit wwwrussianforcesorg Russian strategic nuclear forces (Genesis II) wwwbigelowaerospacecomgenesis Genesis I Genesis II
Thanks to Alan Tunnicliffe who came across the attached news item
complete with stamp in the eNZ Magazine the bi-monthly journal of
the Institution of Professional Engineers NZ Inc Vol 11 No 3 May-
June 2010
Vaccari Auction Sells Remarkable Space Covers April 2010
Apollo 12 cover 55 of 87 flown to the moon on Apollo 15 having been left behind by the original crew sold for euro12200 1977 Salyut
6 Soyuz 27 cover sold for euro1600
40
ORBIT ORBIT
Shuttle 1981mdash2010 Stamps Marshall
Islands 2005
United Nations 2007 Monaco and Ascension 2008
Bulgaria 1991 including stamp from souvenir sheet
USA 1981
below USA 1995 and bottom USA 1998
(two values)
St Vincent Grenadines 1983
Ascension 1989
Bulgaria 1990
and above right W Germany 1975
and USA 2000 Guyana 2006
USA 1995
41
ASSS Membership Renewal 2010
Memberrsquos Name amp Addresshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
I wish to renew my membership of the ASSS for a further year and enclose the equivalent of
pound15 (UK) euro30 (Europe) $US 45 (Rest of the World)
Please return this form with your remittance to Harvey Duncan by the
end of July Thank you
Harvey Duncan Treasurer ASSS 16 Begg Avenue
Falkirk Scotland FK1 2DL
PayPal For details of how to Pay via Paypal
please email Jeff Dugdale Email address on Page 2
42
43
44
35
ORBIT ORBIT
SPACE HABITATS (Part Two) by John Beenen Continuing his feature from our last issue John Beenen begins by posing the questionhellip Why Should we Seek to Live
in Space
Spacecom gives ten main reasons why we should enter space for a prolonged
period
1 To secure a future for humanity
2 To build a new frontier
3 To find new energy sources
4 To build an industrial settlement on
the Moon
5 Better quality images of the
Universe
6 The SETI effort
7 Mining
8 Learning the history of our
Universe
9 Environmental benefits
Meeting the challenge
Taking for granted that it is naturally fascinating to investigate how mankind
might be able to maintain its habitat outside earth there are several further reasons to investigate why
mankind should settle themselves outside earth in the far future And More reasons mean a overall better
argument
Primarily there is the question of overpopulation and
secondly a solution for the energy problem
Next we have to consider that climate circumstances
are not under control anymore and earth eventually becomes uninhabitable
Also when for various reasons we start to kill each
other for some groups of people it may be an attractive proposition to depart this Earth in quite a different
sense And that is perhaps the most common thought
through activities in space more money can be obtained
But there are disadvantageshellip
On the other hand a prolonged stay in space is not that safe The construction must be protected against
radiation and it can be hit by large and small debris which makes space a very unsafe place
Furthermore cosmic radiation produces
a radiation of 80 mSv (millisievert) - well over the allowed maximum of 50
mSv and very much over the amount which is considered as safe for man
which is 3 mSv
Next solar flares produce a sudden
increase of soft gamma and energy rich radiation so much that without the
protection of an atmosphere half of our population could die easily
It is interesting that even without shielding most of this radiation can be
absorbed in the projected spacecraftsrsquo structure and in the air Smaller
structures can be protected with a
shield of co-rotating rocks
The construction further must be protected against sunlight which by
lack of the air shield will fall in unshielded so sun blinds and radiators
are indispensable
And as a result of the artificial gravity
there are some tiny movement problems which we will face later
Finally the created ecosystem should be fully self-supporting and that is easier said than done as
experiments with Biosphere-2 have showed
Biosphere-2 Biosphere-2 was a project built between 1987 and 1991 providing in an area of about 2frac12 football fields
a closed biological system of different composition From 1991-1993 a crew of 8 persons stayed herein A
second crew of 7 persons bridged a period of March
until September 1994 During the first period it appeared difficult to keep the atmosphere constant in
particular the carbon dioxide values changed rapidlymdashthe reason why many of the carried insects perished
Further the oxygen level decreased slowly because pf a leak
Even during the first two-year phase large differences in opinion appeared and the yield was not large
enough to deliver the calories necessary Reserve stocks had to be broken into Finally the second
experiment had to be ended prematurely because of
mismanagement
However it seems that a well-functioning stable ecosystem should not be underestimated physically
not technically
Artists impressions above Interior Stanford Torus and below Interior
OrsquoNeill Cylinder
Solar flares Czechoslovakia 1965 WB 47
36
ORBIT
It further has to be speculated on that men would resist
a regulated weather programme instead of the customary ever changing circumstances on Earth
Also we must physically resist an eternal stay outside
Earth That is not always easy as some people will show
some kind of sea sickness for ever In any case rooms with a diameter of less than 100 meters and a speed of
revolution over three per minute are insufficient At specifications of over 500 m and at less than 1 revolution
per minute fewer problems have to be expected
How do we get raw materials (Fantasy Moon Mining Yemen
Mutawakelite 1969 1343)
And still there have to be enough raw materials to sustain the
colony but as a principle the
search for raw materials is not the most difficult
From the asteroid belt enough small rocks can be
transported as a building material Also mines can be put
on the Moon Bercause of the lower gravity there transport is easier and some kind of firing mechanism
has been calculated which launch packets of ore simply into space where they can be manipulated
Air can be produced from moonstone Nitrogen nearly without loss can be recycled and eventually added to
ammonia mined from comets Large gardens and fields should start the normal photosynthesis and doing so
finally a complete sustainable society might be built up Energy from the Sun is present in superfluous quantities
What to do about gravity Most designs for a Space station start with a gravity of
1G Some designers however think that a lower level of gravity is possible But in the meantime experiments
with astronauts have showed that our physiology
changes rapidly influenced by decreased or absence of gravity Thus the calcium potassium and sodium
contents of our bone system decrease by about 10 That is not bad were we to stay in space forever but
very troublesome when occasionally we would return to
Earth
Also the quality of our muscles decreases as the blood volume does Providing effects comparable to aging
Further by lack of gravity astronauts become a little
taller with accompanying pain in the back Hence the staying with 1G gravity is not so bad
That has to be maintained by rotation of the
construction The larger the diameter of the construction is the slower it will turn to provide 1 G That is a result
of the centrifugal or centripetal force Its
magnitude has long been established thanks to the work of Dutchman Christiaan Huygens and fixed in
the formula
m v2
F = r where
F = the external force in N(ewton) m = mass in kg
v = speed in msec r = radius in m
Hence a spacecraft with a diameter of 15 meters has to carry out one revolution every 8 seconds to
produce a sensation of 1G And that is too quick for man The effect of the centrifugal force is that should
an astronaut drop an object it does not fall straight
down but partly away from himher Weird
Coriolis force But in a rotating Space station another force is at
work That is the lsquoCoriolis forcersquo named after the
French Gustave-Gaspard Coriolis (1792-1843) who described this kind of force for the first time
The most common manifestation is the second law of
Buys Ballot which says that air streams in the
atmosphere which according the first law of Boys Ballot as a principle run from high to low pressure at
the northern hemisphere are bent to the right and at the southern hemisphere to the left because of the
rotation of the Earth
Therefore air streams around depressions show a
spiral shape in opposite directions at the northern and southern hemisphere In a space station this
force can especially noticed when moving around through the spokes of the wheel
(Diagram of Coriolis F o r c e h t t p
wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm)
A s s u m e t h a t a n
astronaut on a ladder
climbs through a spoke to the axis As he climbs
along he circles around more slowly as he
describes a smaller circle
in the same time What happens with the difference in speed that he had before He will be pressed
against the ladder and that is the Coriolis force The force also acts in opposite direction when he
descends from the ladder
Also the throwing up and catching of a ball will
become a huge achievement as the ball does not
37
ORBIT
drop perpendicularly but will shift a little into the
direction of the orbit of the station and also achieves a higher speed
This also has strange effects on the astronaut As moves
quickly in the rotation direction of the station his weight
appears to increase to a noteworthy extent Then as he moves against the speed of rotation his weight
decreases apparently Mathematically this effect is explainable but very complex
Also the astronautrsquos head and feet move in different
speed to artificial gravity This is plainly noticeable when
somebody jumps up Hence avoid this practice
With these kind of effects adaptation to the changed circumstances in a space station will ask a lot of the
crew members I do hope they can stand it But in any
case the larger the space ship the lesser the problems
Inflatable stations
But therersquos more The inflatable station was considered
many years ago The first i d e a w a s p o s s i b l y
developed when on 12th August 1960 the Echo
balloon with a diameter of
30 meters was launched (Echo I balloon USA 1960
WB 3)
It is true you could not live in it as the balloon was of too frail a construction but the idea of an inflatable
spacecraft was then alive By 1958 groups within NASA
had begun to think about inflatable stations The Goett-committee has been one of the first On 25th26th May
1959 a conference started about projects after
Mercury In particular the
representative of Langley L a r r y Lo f t i n wa s
enthusiastic about his AMIS (Advanced Man in
Space) project (Hexagonal structure
Manama 1970 WB 113)
One of his first projects was a rotating hexagonal
inflatable construction with a diameter of 25 meters a cylindrical core and three lsquospokesrsquo Acting as a ferry to
and from the station the lsquoDyna Soarrsquo Space plane could
be used The Dyna Soar project (at that time still
under development) was cancelled by the American
Minister of Defense Robert
McNamara Inflatable Habitat NASA
1961 enwikipediaorg)
A Langley Space Station
team managed by Paul Hill and Emanuel lsquoMannyrsquo
Schnitzer developed the concept together with the
G o o d y e a r A i r c r a f t
Corporation
(Langleyrsquos self-inflating rotating hexagonal structure httphistorynasagov
SP-4308) Its original diameter had already been reduced to 10
meters
In the years after Langley built several experimental
modules called lsquoErectable Torus Manned Space Laboratoryrsquo a 11 model built by firms such as
Goodyear The torus was built from three layers of
nylon tissue and in between a rubber-like plastic material butyl elastomer A large problem was the
penetration by micrometeorites which as was learnt from the results of the Echo balloon finally damaged
the whole structure
Another problem was the great instability of the ring
due to movements of the astronauts the station started to wobble when they moved around Finally
the project was cancelled and at the end of the eighties the Langley Research Center started to
design inflatable constructions for a base camp on the
Moon
( A r t i s t imp r e s s i on Transhab inflatable
m o d u l e h t t p
enwikipediaorg)
Due to the development of a new series of
s t r o n g e r p l a s t i c materials such as Kevlar
these construct ions
received new interest That lead to the development of Transhab (Transit Habitat) as a resource for crews
coupled at the ISS (international Space Station) The construction is a cylinder in a diameter of 82 meters
and several storeys high
Its volume in inflatable state is 340 m3 The wall has a
thickness of 30 () cm and consists of 12 layers of which the outside layer is made from Kevlar The
layers beneath are made from Nextel a ceramic fibre Disagreements during development and the spiralling
costs finally in 2000 saw the end of NASArsquos interest
G e n e s i s 1
thespacereviewcom)
From 1999 the project was
taken up by Bigelow
38
ORBIT
Aerospace who improved the design and tested it with
successful launchings of Genesis I on 12 July 2006 and Genesis II on 28 June 2007
In their design it has once again more or less the shape
of a balloon With a thickness of 40 cm the wall is still
very thick The outside layer is still Kevlar but inside are some layers of Vectran a textile fibre Within the
structure ants and scorpions were launched along with some objects which people who paid for the privilege of
boosting into space
In this way Bigelow hopes to build a Space Hotel named
Nautilus To stimulate the development Bigelow offered a price of $50 million to everybody who succeeded in
launching a crew of 5 persons to an altitude of 400 km before 2010 So little money lost here so far
A second project which can be realized within the near future is a fixed residence on the Moon As said Langley
occupies itself with the design of such a base which partly should be build below the surface Stamp
designers have already realized the idea
What does the future hold Although we are a long way away from the kind of space station by which a large amount of earth inhabitants can
leave the planet Earth forever the first steps for doing
so are in preparation With the development of their Space Hotel Bigelow tries to make the step to space
albeit a temporary one
Also Langley literally tries to set foot on the Moon and
finally they will succeed in doing so However The cost of such projects are literally astronomical and it is not
expected that in the coming decades much money can be allocated to such projects
Of course in some thousands of years (possibly only in
hundreds of years) this will become the case but for the
time being in my opinion the true conquest of space will stay as science-fiction for at least a few hundred years
Hoorn 2009
John Beenen
NB The stamps entitled lsquoSpace Cityrsquo with a value of 0 cnt do not exist but have been made by the author by means of frames and pictures present at the Internet
Fantasy Moon
b a s e M a n a -ma1970 WB 122
Fantasy bases
ready for Mars
YAR 1971 WB 2892 and 6
Fantasy Modular
base YAR 169 WB 233
39
ORBIT
Cover Below bottom right Future space Dutch Antilles 2000
Literature references (for both parts of article) httpenwikipediaorg Space habitat Space Colonization Orbital Colony Space City Space settlement Space stations L5 Society Bernal Sphere Stanford Torus OrsquoNeil Cylinder Inflatable Space Habitat Transhab Biosphere 2 Generation Ship wwwdsenl~hklruimtehtm Wonen op groene eilanden in de Ruimte (Dutch Living on green Islands in Space) Henry Kluytmans wwworionsarmcom McKendree Cylinder Bishops Ring wwwnasnasagovAboutEducationSpaceSettlement The Colonization of Space wwwdyarstraightscommsgundamhabitatshtml Mobile Suit Gundam High Frontier Life in the Universal Century Developing sound habitats wwwartificial-gravitycomDissertation1_2htm From Tsiolkovsky to Sputnik (1878-1957) httpsciencenasagovheadlinesy2000ast26may_1mhtm Wheels in the Sky httpdiscaircraftgreyfalconus Hermann Noordung Wohnrad (Wheel for Habitation) httparticlesadsabsharvardedufull1992lbsaconf249R Inflatable habitation for the lunar base MRoberts httphistorynasagovSP-4308ch9htm lsquoAs inevitable as the Rising Sunrsquo From the inflatable Torus to the Rotating Hexagon wwwspacecomnewsbusinessmonday_040524html Bigelow Aerospace to tackle inflatable Space Habitats httpsciencehowstuffsworkcominflatable-spacecraft2htm How Inflatable Spacecraft Will Work wwwbogancaphysicscoriolishtml Rotating Space Stations Dynamics An Explanation of the Coriolis Force httpdemonstrationswolframcomRotatingSpaceStation Rotating Space Station wwwdvandomcomcoliolisspacestationhtml Frame Effects and Space Stations wwwdvandomcomcoriolisindexhtml A (hopefully) simple explanation of the Coriolis Force wwwdaviddarlinginfoencyclopedia Hale Edward Everett von Pirquet Guido Noordung Hermann Space Station wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm The Coriolis Force wwwastronautixcomcraftfamlunbaseshtm Lunar bases wwwastronautixcomgallerycspebasehtm Photo Gallery Space base wwwregererating-universeorgOn_Moon_as_Space_Basehtm On Moon as Space Base wwwspacefuturecomhabitatlivingshtml Space Habitat Introduction Living in Space wwwspacepagebevideotaak=bekijkampid=47 Living in space (Video) wwwnutricomspace The Case for Space colonization ndash Now Oscar Falconi wwwxentcompipermailfork (FoRK) Bigelowrsquos inflatable Genesis I satellite in orbit wwwrussianforcesorg Russian strategic nuclear forces (Genesis II) wwwbigelowaerospacecomgenesis Genesis I Genesis II
Thanks to Alan Tunnicliffe who came across the attached news item
complete with stamp in the eNZ Magazine the bi-monthly journal of
the Institution of Professional Engineers NZ Inc Vol 11 No 3 May-
June 2010
Vaccari Auction Sells Remarkable Space Covers April 2010
Apollo 12 cover 55 of 87 flown to the moon on Apollo 15 having been left behind by the original crew sold for euro12200 1977 Salyut
6 Soyuz 27 cover sold for euro1600
40
ORBIT ORBIT
Shuttle 1981mdash2010 Stamps Marshall
Islands 2005
United Nations 2007 Monaco and Ascension 2008
Bulgaria 1991 including stamp from souvenir sheet
USA 1981
below USA 1995 and bottom USA 1998
(two values)
St Vincent Grenadines 1983
Ascension 1989
Bulgaria 1990
and above right W Germany 1975
and USA 2000 Guyana 2006
USA 1995
41
ASSS Membership Renewal 2010
Memberrsquos Name amp Addresshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
I wish to renew my membership of the ASSS for a further year and enclose the equivalent of
pound15 (UK) euro30 (Europe) $US 45 (Rest of the World)
Please return this form with your remittance to Harvey Duncan by the
end of July Thank you
Harvey Duncan Treasurer ASSS 16 Begg Avenue
Falkirk Scotland FK1 2DL
PayPal For details of how to Pay via Paypal
please email Jeff Dugdale Email address on Page 2
42
43
44
36
ORBIT
It further has to be speculated on that men would resist
a regulated weather programme instead of the customary ever changing circumstances on Earth
Also we must physically resist an eternal stay outside
Earth That is not always easy as some people will show
some kind of sea sickness for ever In any case rooms with a diameter of less than 100 meters and a speed of
revolution over three per minute are insufficient At specifications of over 500 m and at less than 1 revolution
per minute fewer problems have to be expected
How do we get raw materials (Fantasy Moon Mining Yemen
Mutawakelite 1969 1343)
And still there have to be enough raw materials to sustain the
colony but as a principle the
search for raw materials is not the most difficult
From the asteroid belt enough small rocks can be
transported as a building material Also mines can be put
on the Moon Bercause of the lower gravity there transport is easier and some kind of firing mechanism
has been calculated which launch packets of ore simply into space where they can be manipulated
Air can be produced from moonstone Nitrogen nearly without loss can be recycled and eventually added to
ammonia mined from comets Large gardens and fields should start the normal photosynthesis and doing so
finally a complete sustainable society might be built up Energy from the Sun is present in superfluous quantities
What to do about gravity Most designs for a Space station start with a gravity of
1G Some designers however think that a lower level of gravity is possible But in the meantime experiments
with astronauts have showed that our physiology
changes rapidly influenced by decreased or absence of gravity Thus the calcium potassium and sodium
contents of our bone system decrease by about 10 That is not bad were we to stay in space forever but
very troublesome when occasionally we would return to
Earth
Also the quality of our muscles decreases as the blood volume does Providing effects comparable to aging
Further by lack of gravity astronauts become a little
taller with accompanying pain in the back Hence the staying with 1G gravity is not so bad
That has to be maintained by rotation of the
construction The larger the diameter of the construction is the slower it will turn to provide 1 G That is a result
of the centrifugal or centripetal force Its
magnitude has long been established thanks to the work of Dutchman Christiaan Huygens and fixed in
the formula
m v2
F = r where
F = the external force in N(ewton) m = mass in kg
v = speed in msec r = radius in m
Hence a spacecraft with a diameter of 15 meters has to carry out one revolution every 8 seconds to
produce a sensation of 1G And that is too quick for man The effect of the centrifugal force is that should
an astronaut drop an object it does not fall straight
down but partly away from himher Weird
Coriolis force But in a rotating Space station another force is at
work That is the lsquoCoriolis forcersquo named after the
French Gustave-Gaspard Coriolis (1792-1843) who described this kind of force for the first time
The most common manifestation is the second law of
Buys Ballot which says that air streams in the
atmosphere which according the first law of Boys Ballot as a principle run from high to low pressure at
the northern hemisphere are bent to the right and at the southern hemisphere to the left because of the
rotation of the Earth
Therefore air streams around depressions show a
spiral shape in opposite directions at the northern and southern hemisphere In a space station this
force can especially noticed when moving around through the spokes of the wheel
(Diagram of Coriolis F o r c e h t t p
wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm)
A s s u m e t h a t a n
astronaut on a ladder
climbs through a spoke to the axis As he climbs
along he circles around more slowly as he
describes a smaller circle
in the same time What happens with the difference in speed that he had before He will be pressed
against the ladder and that is the Coriolis force The force also acts in opposite direction when he
descends from the ladder
Also the throwing up and catching of a ball will
become a huge achievement as the ball does not
37
ORBIT
drop perpendicularly but will shift a little into the
direction of the orbit of the station and also achieves a higher speed
This also has strange effects on the astronaut As moves
quickly in the rotation direction of the station his weight
appears to increase to a noteworthy extent Then as he moves against the speed of rotation his weight
decreases apparently Mathematically this effect is explainable but very complex
Also the astronautrsquos head and feet move in different
speed to artificial gravity This is plainly noticeable when
somebody jumps up Hence avoid this practice
With these kind of effects adaptation to the changed circumstances in a space station will ask a lot of the
crew members I do hope they can stand it But in any
case the larger the space ship the lesser the problems
Inflatable stations
But therersquos more The inflatable station was considered
many years ago The first i d e a w a s p o s s i b l y
developed when on 12th August 1960 the Echo
balloon with a diameter of
30 meters was launched (Echo I balloon USA 1960
WB 3)
It is true you could not live in it as the balloon was of too frail a construction but the idea of an inflatable
spacecraft was then alive By 1958 groups within NASA
had begun to think about inflatable stations The Goett-committee has been one of the first On 25th26th May
1959 a conference started about projects after
Mercury In particular the
representative of Langley L a r r y Lo f t i n wa s
enthusiastic about his AMIS (Advanced Man in
Space) project (Hexagonal structure
Manama 1970 WB 113)
One of his first projects was a rotating hexagonal
inflatable construction with a diameter of 25 meters a cylindrical core and three lsquospokesrsquo Acting as a ferry to
and from the station the lsquoDyna Soarrsquo Space plane could
be used The Dyna Soar project (at that time still
under development) was cancelled by the American
Minister of Defense Robert
McNamara Inflatable Habitat NASA
1961 enwikipediaorg)
A Langley Space Station
team managed by Paul Hill and Emanuel lsquoMannyrsquo
Schnitzer developed the concept together with the
G o o d y e a r A i r c r a f t
Corporation
(Langleyrsquos self-inflating rotating hexagonal structure httphistorynasagov
SP-4308) Its original diameter had already been reduced to 10
meters
In the years after Langley built several experimental
modules called lsquoErectable Torus Manned Space Laboratoryrsquo a 11 model built by firms such as
Goodyear The torus was built from three layers of
nylon tissue and in between a rubber-like plastic material butyl elastomer A large problem was the
penetration by micrometeorites which as was learnt from the results of the Echo balloon finally damaged
the whole structure
Another problem was the great instability of the ring
due to movements of the astronauts the station started to wobble when they moved around Finally
the project was cancelled and at the end of the eighties the Langley Research Center started to
design inflatable constructions for a base camp on the
Moon
( A r t i s t imp r e s s i on Transhab inflatable
m o d u l e h t t p
enwikipediaorg)
Due to the development of a new series of
s t r o n g e r p l a s t i c materials such as Kevlar
these construct ions
received new interest That lead to the development of Transhab (Transit Habitat) as a resource for crews
coupled at the ISS (international Space Station) The construction is a cylinder in a diameter of 82 meters
and several storeys high
Its volume in inflatable state is 340 m3 The wall has a
thickness of 30 () cm and consists of 12 layers of which the outside layer is made from Kevlar The
layers beneath are made from Nextel a ceramic fibre Disagreements during development and the spiralling
costs finally in 2000 saw the end of NASArsquos interest
G e n e s i s 1
thespacereviewcom)
From 1999 the project was
taken up by Bigelow
38
ORBIT
Aerospace who improved the design and tested it with
successful launchings of Genesis I on 12 July 2006 and Genesis II on 28 June 2007
In their design it has once again more or less the shape
of a balloon With a thickness of 40 cm the wall is still
very thick The outside layer is still Kevlar but inside are some layers of Vectran a textile fibre Within the
structure ants and scorpions were launched along with some objects which people who paid for the privilege of
boosting into space
In this way Bigelow hopes to build a Space Hotel named
Nautilus To stimulate the development Bigelow offered a price of $50 million to everybody who succeeded in
launching a crew of 5 persons to an altitude of 400 km before 2010 So little money lost here so far
A second project which can be realized within the near future is a fixed residence on the Moon As said Langley
occupies itself with the design of such a base which partly should be build below the surface Stamp
designers have already realized the idea
What does the future hold Although we are a long way away from the kind of space station by which a large amount of earth inhabitants can
leave the planet Earth forever the first steps for doing
so are in preparation With the development of their Space Hotel Bigelow tries to make the step to space
albeit a temporary one
Also Langley literally tries to set foot on the Moon and
finally they will succeed in doing so However The cost of such projects are literally astronomical and it is not
expected that in the coming decades much money can be allocated to such projects
Of course in some thousands of years (possibly only in
hundreds of years) this will become the case but for the
time being in my opinion the true conquest of space will stay as science-fiction for at least a few hundred years
Hoorn 2009
John Beenen
NB The stamps entitled lsquoSpace Cityrsquo with a value of 0 cnt do not exist but have been made by the author by means of frames and pictures present at the Internet
Fantasy Moon
b a s e M a n a -ma1970 WB 122
Fantasy bases
ready for Mars
YAR 1971 WB 2892 and 6
Fantasy Modular
base YAR 169 WB 233
39
ORBIT
Cover Below bottom right Future space Dutch Antilles 2000
Literature references (for both parts of article) httpenwikipediaorg Space habitat Space Colonization Orbital Colony Space City Space settlement Space stations L5 Society Bernal Sphere Stanford Torus OrsquoNeil Cylinder Inflatable Space Habitat Transhab Biosphere 2 Generation Ship wwwdsenl~hklruimtehtm Wonen op groene eilanden in de Ruimte (Dutch Living on green Islands in Space) Henry Kluytmans wwworionsarmcom McKendree Cylinder Bishops Ring wwwnasnasagovAboutEducationSpaceSettlement The Colonization of Space wwwdyarstraightscommsgundamhabitatshtml Mobile Suit Gundam High Frontier Life in the Universal Century Developing sound habitats wwwartificial-gravitycomDissertation1_2htm From Tsiolkovsky to Sputnik (1878-1957) httpsciencenasagovheadlinesy2000ast26may_1mhtm Wheels in the Sky httpdiscaircraftgreyfalconus Hermann Noordung Wohnrad (Wheel for Habitation) httparticlesadsabsharvardedufull1992lbsaconf249R Inflatable habitation for the lunar base MRoberts httphistorynasagovSP-4308ch9htm lsquoAs inevitable as the Rising Sunrsquo From the inflatable Torus to the Rotating Hexagon wwwspacecomnewsbusinessmonday_040524html Bigelow Aerospace to tackle inflatable Space Habitats httpsciencehowstuffsworkcominflatable-spacecraft2htm How Inflatable Spacecraft Will Work wwwbogancaphysicscoriolishtml Rotating Space Stations Dynamics An Explanation of the Coriolis Force httpdemonstrationswolframcomRotatingSpaceStation Rotating Space Station wwwdvandomcomcoliolisspacestationhtml Frame Effects and Space Stations wwwdvandomcomcoriolisindexhtml A (hopefully) simple explanation of the Coriolis Force wwwdaviddarlinginfoencyclopedia Hale Edward Everett von Pirquet Guido Noordung Hermann Space Station wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm The Coriolis Force wwwastronautixcomcraftfamlunbaseshtm Lunar bases wwwastronautixcomgallerycspebasehtm Photo Gallery Space base wwwregererating-universeorgOn_Moon_as_Space_Basehtm On Moon as Space Base wwwspacefuturecomhabitatlivingshtml Space Habitat Introduction Living in Space wwwspacepagebevideotaak=bekijkampid=47 Living in space (Video) wwwnutricomspace The Case for Space colonization ndash Now Oscar Falconi wwwxentcompipermailfork (FoRK) Bigelowrsquos inflatable Genesis I satellite in orbit wwwrussianforcesorg Russian strategic nuclear forces (Genesis II) wwwbigelowaerospacecomgenesis Genesis I Genesis II
Thanks to Alan Tunnicliffe who came across the attached news item
complete with stamp in the eNZ Magazine the bi-monthly journal of
the Institution of Professional Engineers NZ Inc Vol 11 No 3 May-
June 2010
Vaccari Auction Sells Remarkable Space Covers April 2010
Apollo 12 cover 55 of 87 flown to the moon on Apollo 15 having been left behind by the original crew sold for euro12200 1977 Salyut
6 Soyuz 27 cover sold for euro1600
40
ORBIT ORBIT
Shuttle 1981mdash2010 Stamps Marshall
Islands 2005
United Nations 2007 Monaco and Ascension 2008
Bulgaria 1991 including stamp from souvenir sheet
USA 1981
below USA 1995 and bottom USA 1998
(two values)
St Vincent Grenadines 1983
Ascension 1989
Bulgaria 1990
and above right W Germany 1975
and USA 2000 Guyana 2006
USA 1995
41
ASSS Membership Renewal 2010
Memberrsquos Name amp Addresshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
I wish to renew my membership of the ASSS for a further year and enclose the equivalent of
pound15 (UK) euro30 (Europe) $US 45 (Rest of the World)
Please return this form with your remittance to Harvey Duncan by the
end of July Thank you
Harvey Duncan Treasurer ASSS 16 Begg Avenue
Falkirk Scotland FK1 2DL
PayPal For details of how to Pay via Paypal
please email Jeff Dugdale Email address on Page 2
42
43
44
37
ORBIT
drop perpendicularly but will shift a little into the
direction of the orbit of the station and also achieves a higher speed
This also has strange effects on the astronaut As moves
quickly in the rotation direction of the station his weight
appears to increase to a noteworthy extent Then as he moves against the speed of rotation his weight
decreases apparently Mathematically this effect is explainable but very complex
Also the astronautrsquos head and feet move in different
speed to artificial gravity This is plainly noticeable when
somebody jumps up Hence avoid this practice
With these kind of effects adaptation to the changed circumstances in a space station will ask a lot of the
crew members I do hope they can stand it But in any
case the larger the space ship the lesser the problems
Inflatable stations
But therersquos more The inflatable station was considered
many years ago The first i d e a w a s p o s s i b l y
developed when on 12th August 1960 the Echo
balloon with a diameter of
30 meters was launched (Echo I balloon USA 1960
WB 3)
It is true you could not live in it as the balloon was of too frail a construction but the idea of an inflatable
spacecraft was then alive By 1958 groups within NASA
had begun to think about inflatable stations The Goett-committee has been one of the first On 25th26th May
1959 a conference started about projects after
Mercury In particular the
representative of Langley L a r r y Lo f t i n wa s
enthusiastic about his AMIS (Advanced Man in
Space) project (Hexagonal structure
Manama 1970 WB 113)
One of his first projects was a rotating hexagonal
inflatable construction with a diameter of 25 meters a cylindrical core and three lsquospokesrsquo Acting as a ferry to
and from the station the lsquoDyna Soarrsquo Space plane could
be used The Dyna Soar project (at that time still
under development) was cancelled by the American
Minister of Defense Robert
McNamara Inflatable Habitat NASA
1961 enwikipediaorg)
A Langley Space Station
team managed by Paul Hill and Emanuel lsquoMannyrsquo
Schnitzer developed the concept together with the
G o o d y e a r A i r c r a f t
Corporation
(Langleyrsquos self-inflating rotating hexagonal structure httphistorynasagov
SP-4308) Its original diameter had already been reduced to 10
meters
In the years after Langley built several experimental
modules called lsquoErectable Torus Manned Space Laboratoryrsquo a 11 model built by firms such as
Goodyear The torus was built from three layers of
nylon tissue and in between a rubber-like plastic material butyl elastomer A large problem was the
penetration by micrometeorites which as was learnt from the results of the Echo balloon finally damaged
the whole structure
Another problem was the great instability of the ring
due to movements of the astronauts the station started to wobble when they moved around Finally
the project was cancelled and at the end of the eighties the Langley Research Center started to
design inflatable constructions for a base camp on the
Moon
( A r t i s t imp r e s s i on Transhab inflatable
m o d u l e h t t p
enwikipediaorg)
Due to the development of a new series of
s t r o n g e r p l a s t i c materials such as Kevlar
these construct ions
received new interest That lead to the development of Transhab (Transit Habitat) as a resource for crews
coupled at the ISS (international Space Station) The construction is a cylinder in a diameter of 82 meters
and several storeys high
Its volume in inflatable state is 340 m3 The wall has a
thickness of 30 () cm and consists of 12 layers of which the outside layer is made from Kevlar The
layers beneath are made from Nextel a ceramic fibre Disagreements during development and the spiralling
costs finally in 2000 saw the end of NASArsquos interest
G e n e s i s 1
thespacereviewcom)
From 1999 the project was
taken up by Bigelow
38
ORBIT
Aerospace who improved the design and tested it with
successful launchings of Genesis I on 12 July 2006 and Genesis II on 28 June 2007
In their design it has once again more or less the shape
of a balloon With a thickness of 40 cm the wall is still
very thick The outside layer is still Kevlar but inside are some layers of Vectran a textile fibre Within the
structure ants and scorpions were launched along with some objects which people who paid for the privilege of
boosting into space
In this way Bigelow hopes to build a Space Hotel named
Nautilus To stimulate the development Bigelow offered a price of $50 million to everybody who succeeded in
launching a crew of 5 persons to an altitude of 400 km before 2010 So little money lost here so far
A second project which can be realized within the near future is a fixed residence on the Moon As said Langley
occupies itself with the design of such a base which partly should be build below the surface Stamp
designers have already realized the idea
What does the future hold Although we are a long way away from the kind of space station by which a large amount of earth inhabitants can
leave the planet Earth forever the first steps for doing
so are in preparation With the development of their Space Hotel Bigelow tries to make the step to space
albeit a temporary one
Also Langley literally tries to set foot on the Moon and
finally they will succeed in doing so However The cost of such projects are literally astronomical and it is not
expected that in the coming decades much money can be allocated to such projects
Of course in some thousands of years (possibly only in
hundreds of years) this will become the case but for the
time being in my opinion the true conquest of space will stay as science-fiction for at least a few hundred years
Hoorn 2009
John Beenen
NB The stamps entitled lsquoSpace Cityrsquo with a value of 0 cnt do not exist but have been made by the author by means of frames and pictures present at the Internet
Fantasy Moon
b a s e M a n a -ma1970 WB 122
Fantasy bases
ready for Mars
YAR 1971 WB 2892 and 6
Fantasy Modular
base YAR 169 WB 233
39
ORBIT
Cover Below bottom right Future space Dutch Antilles 2000
Literature references (for both parts of article) httpenwikipediaorg Space habitat Space Colonization Orbital Colony Space City Space settlement Space stations L5 Society Bernal Sphere Stanford Torus OrsquoNeil Cylinder Inflatable Space Habitat Transhab Biosphere 2 Generation Ship wwwdsenl~hklruimtehtm Wonen op groene eilanden in de Ruimte (Dutch Living on green Islands in Space) Henry Kluytmans wwworionsarmcom McKendree Cylinder Bishops Ring wwwnasnasagovAboutEducationSpaceSettlement The Colonization of Space wwwdyarstraightscommsgundamhabitatshtml Mobile Suit Gundam High Frontier Life in the Universal Century Developing sound habitats wwwartificial-gravitycomDissertation1_2htm From Tsiolkovsky to Sputnik (1878-1957) httpsciencenasagovheadlinesy2000ast26may_1mhtm Wheels in the Sky httpdiscaircraftgreyfalconus Hermann Noordung Wohnrad (Wheel for Habitation) httparticlesadsabsharvardedufull1992lbsaconf249R Inflatable habitation for the lunar base MRoberts httphistorynasagovSP-4308ch9htm lsquoAs inevitable as the Rising Sunrsquo From the inflatable Torus to the Rotating Hexagon wwwspacecomnewsbusinessmonday_040524html Bigelow Aerospace to tackle inflatable Space Habitats httpsciencehowstuffsworkcominflatable-spacecraft2htm How Inflatable Spacecraft Will Work wwwbogancaphysicscoriolishtml Rotating Space Stations Dynamics An Explanation of the Coriolis Force httpdemonstrationswolframcomRotatingSpaceStation Rotating Space Station wwwdvandomcomcoliolisspacestationhtml Frame Effects and Space Stations wwwdvandomcomcoriolisindexhtml A (hopefully) simple explanation of the Coriolis Force wwwdaviddarlinginfoencyclopedia Hale Edward Everett von Pirquet Guido Noordung Hermann Space Station wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm The Coriolis Force wwwastronautixcomcraftfamlunbaseshtm Lunar bases wwwastronautixcomgallerycspebasehtm Photo Gallery Space base wwwregererating-universeorgOn_Moon_as_Space_Basehtm On Moon as Space Base wwwspacefuturecomhabitatlivingshtml Space Habitat Introduction Living in Space wwwspacepagebevideotaak=bekijkampid=47 Living in space (Video) wwwnutricomspace The Case for Space colonization ndash Now Oscar Falconi wwwxentcompipermailfork (FoRK) Bigelowrsquos inflatable Genesis I satellite in orbit wwwrussianforcesorg Russian strategic nuclear forces (Genesis II) wwwbigelowaerospacecomgenesis Genesis I Genesis II
Thanks to Alan Tunnicliffe who came across the attached news item
complete with stamp in the eNZ Magazine the bi-monthly journal of
the Institution of Professional Engineers NZ Inc Vol 11 No 3 May-
June 2010
Vaccari Auction Sells Remarkable Space Covers April 2010
Apollo 12 cover 55 of 87 flown to the moon on Apollo 15 having been left behind by the original crew sold for euro12200 1977 Salyut
6 Soyuz 27 cover sold for euro1600
40
ORBIT ORBIT
Shuttle 1981mdash2010 Stamps Marshall
Islands 2005
United Nations 2007 Monaco and Ascension 2008
Bulgaria 1991 including stamp from souvenir sheet
USA 1981
below USA 1995 and bottom USA 1998
(two values)
St Vincent Grenadines 1983
Ascension 1989
Bulgaria 1990
and above right W Germany 1975
and USA 2000 Guyana 2006
USA 1995
41
ASSS Membership Renewal 2010
Memberrsquos Name amp Addresshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
I wish to renew my membership of the ASSS for a further year and enclose the equivalent of
pound15 (UK) euro30 (Europe) $US 45 (Rest of the World)
Please return this form with your remittance to Harvey Duncan by the
end of July Thank you
Harvey Duncan Treasurer ASSS 16 Begg Avenue
Falkirk Scotland FK1 2DL
PayPal For details of how to Pay via Paypal
please email Jeff Dugdale Email address on Page 2
42
43
44
38
ORBIT
Aerospace who improved the design and tested it with
successful launchings of Genesis I on 12 July 2006 and Genesis II on 28 June 2007
In their design it has once again more or less the shape
of a balloon With a thickness of 40 cm the wall is still
very thick The outside layer is still Kevlar but inside are some layers of Vectran a textile fibre Within the
structure ants and scorpions were launched along with some objects which people who paid for the privilege of
boosting into space
In this way Bigelow hopes to build a Space Hotel named
Nautilus To stimulate the development Bigelow offered a price of $50 million to everybody who succeeded in
launching a crew of 5 persons to an altitude of 400 km before 2010 So little money lost here so far
A second project which can be realized within the near future is a fixed residence on the Moon As said Langley
occupies itself with the design of such a base which partly should be build below the surface Stamp
designers have already realized the idea
What does the future hold Although we are a long way away from the kind of space station by which a large amount of earth inhabitants can
leave the planet Earth forever the first steps for doing
so are in preparation With the development of their Space Hotel Bigelow tries to make the step to space
albeit a temporary one
Also Langley literally tries to set foot on the Moon and
finally they will succeed in doing so However The cost of such projects are literally astronomical and it is not
expected that in the coming decades much money can be allocated to such projects
Of course in some thousands of years (possibly only in
hundreds of years) this will become the case but for the
time being in my opinion the true conquest of space will stay as science-fiction for at least a few hundred years
Hoorn 2009
John Beenen
NB The stamps entitled lsquoSpace Cityrsquo with a value of 0 cnt do not exist but have been made by the author by means of frames and pictures present at the Internet
Fantasy Moon
b a s e M a n a -ma1970 WB 122
Fantasy bases
ready for Mars
YAR 1971 WB 2892 and 6
Fantasy Modular
base YAR 169 WB 233
39
ORBIT
Cover Below bottom right Future space Dutch Antilles 2000
Literature references (for both parts of article) httpenwikipediaorg Space habitat Space Colonization Orbital Colony Space City Space settlement Space stations L5 Society Bernal Sphere Stanford Torus OrsquoNeil Cylinder Inflatable Space Habitat Transhab Biosphere 2 Generation Ship wwwdsenl~hklruimtehtm Wonen op groene eilanden in de Ruimte (Dutch Living on green Islands in Space) Henry Kluytmans wwworionsarmcom McKendree Cylinder Bishops Ring wwwnasnasagovAboutEducationSpaceSettlement The Colonization of Space wwwdyarstraightscommsgundamhabitatshtml Mobile Suit Gundam High Frontier Life in the Universal Century Developing sound habitats wwwartificial-gravitycomDissertation1_2htm From Tsiolkovsky to Sputnik (1878-1957) httpsciencenasagovheadlinesy2000ast26may_1mhtm Wheels in the Sky httpdiscaircraftgreyfalconus Hermann Noordung Wohnrad (Wheel for Habitation) httparticlesadsabsharvardedufull1992lbsaconf249R Inflatable habitation for the lunar base MRoberts httphistorynasagovSP-4308ch9htm lsquoAs inevitable as the Rising Sunrsquo From the inflatable Torus to the Rotating Hexagon wwwspacecomnewsbusinessmonday_040524html Bigelow Aerospace to tackle inflatable Space Habitats httpsciencehowstuffsworkcominflatable-spacecraft2htm How Inflatable Spacecraft Will Work wwwbogancaphysicscoriolishtml Rotating Space Stations Dynamics An Explanation of the Coriolis Force httpdemonstrationswolframcomRotatingSpaceStation Rotating Space Station wwwdvandomcomcoliolisspacestationhtml Frame Effects and Space Stations wwwdvandomcomcoriolisindexhtml A (hopefully) simple explanation of the Coriolis Force wwwdaviddarlinginfoencyclopedia Hale Edward Everett von Pirquet Guido Noordung Hermann Space Station wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm The Coriolis Force wwwastronautixcomcraftfamlunbaseshtm Lunar bases wwwastronautixcomgallerycspebasehtm Photo Gallery Space base wwwregererating-universeorgOn_Moon_as_Space_Basehtm On Moon as Space Base wwwspacefuturecomhabitatlivingshtml Space Habitat Introduction Living in Space wwwspacepagebevideotaak=bekijkampid=47 Living in space (Video) wwwnutricomspace The Case for Space colonization ndash Now Oscar Falconi wwwxentcompipermailfork (FoRK) Bigelowrsquos inflatable Genesis I satellite in orbit wwwrussianforcesorg Russian strategic nuclear forces (Genesis II) wwwbigelowaerospacecomgenesis Genesis I Genesis II
Thanks to Alan Tunnicliffe who came across the attached news item
complete with stamp in the eNZ Magazine the bi-monthly journal of
the Institution of Professional Engineers NZ Inc Vol 11 No 3 May-
June 2010
Vaccari Auction Sells Remarkable Space Covers April 2010
Apollo 12 cover 55 of 87 flown to the moon on Apollo 15 having been left behind by the original crew sold for euro12200 1977 Salyut
6 Soyuz 27 cover sold for euro1600
40
ORBIT ORBIT
Shuttle 1981mdash2010 Stamps Marshall
Islands 2005
United Nations 2007 Monaco and Ascension 2008
Bulgaria 1991 including stamp from souvenir sheet
USA 1981
below USA 1995 and bottom USA 1998
(two values)
St Vincent Grenadines 1983
Ascension 1989
Bulgaria 1990
and above right W Germany 1975
and USA 2000 Guyana 2006
USA 1995
41
ASSS Membership Renewal 2010
Memberrsquos Name amp Addresshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
I wish to renew my membership of the ASSS for a further year and enclose the equivalent of
pound15 (UK) euro30 (Europe) $US 45 (Rest of the World)
Please return this form with your remittance to Harvey Duncan by the
end of July Thank you
Harvey Duncan Treasurer ASSS 16 Begg Avenue
Falkirk Scotland FK1 2DL
PayPal For details of how to Pay via Paypal
please email Jeff Dugdale Email address on Page 2
42
43
44
39
ORBIT
Cover Below bottom right Future space Dutch Antilles 2000
Literature references (for both parts of article) httpenwikipediaorg Space habitat Space Colonization Orbital Colony Space City Space settlement Space stations L5 Society Bernal Sphere Stanford Torus OrsquoNeil Cylinder Inflatable Space Habitat Transhab Biosphere 2 Generation Ship wwwdsenl~hklruimtehtm Wonen op groene eilanden in de Ruimte (Dutch Living on green Islands in Space) Henry Kluytmans wwworionsarmcom McKendree Cylinder Bishops Ring wwwnasnasagovAboutEducationSpaceSettlement The Colonization of Space wwwdyarstraightscommsgundamhabitatshtml Mobile Suit Gundam High Frontier Life in the Universal Century Developing sound habitats wwwartificial-gravitycomDissertation1_2htm From Tsiolkovsky to Sputnik (1878-1957) httpsciencenasagovheadlinesy2000ast26may_1mhtm Wheels in the Sky httpdiscaircraftgreyfalconus Hermann Noordung Wohnrad (Wheel for Habitation) httparticlesadsabsharvardedufull1992lbsaconf249R Inflatable habitation for the lunar base MRoberts httphistorynasagovSP-4308ch9htm lsquoAs inevitable as the Rising Sunrsquo From the inflatable Torus to the Rotating Hexagon wwwspacecomnewsbusinessmonday_040524html Bigelow Aerospace to tackle inflatable Space Habitats httpsciencehowstuffsworkcominflatable-spacecraft2htm How Inflatable Spacecraft Will Work wwwbogancaphysicscoriolishtml Rotating Space Stations Dynamics An Explanation of the Coriolis Force httpdemonstrationswolframcomRotatingSpaceStation Rotating Space Station wwwdvandomcomcoliolisspacestationhtml Frame Effects and Space Stations wwwdvandomcomcoriolisindexhtml A (hopefully) simple explanation of the Coriolis Force wwwdaviddarlinginfoencyclopedia Hale Edward Everett von Pirquet Guido Noordung Hermann Space Station wwwphy6orgstargazeSrotframhtm The Coriolis Force wwwastronautixcomcraftfamlunbaseshtm Lunar bases wwwastronautixcomgallerycspebasehtm Photo Gallery Space base wwwregererating-universeorgOn_Moon_as_Space_Basehtm On Moon as Space Base wwwspacefuturecomhabitatlivingshtml Space Habitat Introduction Living in Space wwwspacepagebevideotaak=bekijkampid=47 Living in space (Video) wwwnutricomspace The Case for Space colonization ndash Now Oscar Falconi wwwxentcompipermailfork (FoRK) Bigelowrsquos inflatable Genesis I satellite in orbit wwwrussianforcesorg Russian strategic nuclear forces (Genesis II) wwwbigelowaerospacecomgenesis Genesis I Genesis II
Thanks to Alan Tunnicliffe who came across the attached news item
complete with stamp in the eNZ Magazine the bi-monthly journal of
the Institution of Professional Engineers NZ Inc Vol 11 No 3 May-
June 2010
Vaccari Auction Sells Remarkable Space Covers April 2010
Apollo 12 cover 55 of 87 flown to the moon on Apollo 15 having been left behind by the original crew sold for euro12200 1977 Salyut
6 Soyuz 27 cover sold for euro1600
40
ORBIT ORBIT
Shuttle 1981mdash2010 Stamps Marshall
Islands 2005
United Nations 2007 Monaco and Ascension 2008
Bulgaria 1991 including stamp from souvenir sheet
USA 1981
below USA 1995 and bottom USA 1998
(two values)
St Vincent Grenadines 1983
Ascension 1989
Bulgaria 1990
and above right W Germany 1975
and USA 2000 Guyana 2006
USA 1995
41
ASSS Membership Renewal 2010
Memberrsquos Name amp Addresshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
I wish to renew my membership of the ASSS for a further year and enclose the equivalent of
pound15 (UK) euro30 (Europe) $US 45 (Rest of the World)
Please return this form with your remittance to Harvey Duncan by the
end of July Thank you
Harvey Duncan Treasurer ASSS 16 Begg Avenue
Falkirk Scotland FK1 2DL
PayPal For details of how to Pay via Paypal
please email Jeff Dugdale Email address on Page 2
42
43
44
40
ORBIT ORBIT
Shuttle 1981mdash2010 Stamps Marshall
Islands 2005
United Nations 2007 Monaco and Ascension 2008
Bulgaria 1991 including stamp from souvenir sheet
USA 1981
below USA 1995 and bottom USA 1998
(two values)
St Vincent Grenadines 1983
Ascension 1989
Bulgaria 1990
and above right W Germany 1975
and USA 2000 Guyana 2006
USA 1995
41
ASSS Membership Renewal 2010
Memberrsquos Name amp Addresshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
I wish to renew my membership of the ASSS for a further year and enclose the equivalent of
pound15 (UK) euro30 (Europe) $US 45 (Rest of the World)
Please return this form with your remittance to Harvey Duncan by the
end of July Thank you
Harvey Duncan Treasurer ASSS 16 Begg Avenue
Falkirk Scotland FK1 2DL
PayPal For details of how to Pay via Paypal
please email Jeff Dugdale Email address on Page 2
42
43
44
41
ASSS Membership Renewal 2010
Memberrsquos Name amp Addresshelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
helliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphelliphellip
I wish to renew my membership of the ASSS for a further year and enclose the equivalent of
pound15 (UK) euro30 (Europe) $US 45 (Rest of the World)
Please return this form with your remittance to Harvey Duncan by the
end of July Thank you
Harvey Duncan Treasurer ASSS 16 Begg Avenue
Falkirk Scotland FK1 2DL
PayPal For details of how to Pay via Paypal
please email Jeff Dugdale Email address on Page 2
42
43
44
42
43
44
43
44
44