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[b]Space Cover 753: My Favorite Programs/Covers, 1972-82[/b] I began collecting space covers in 1972 with Apollo 17 and continued with great enthusiasm for over 40 years. I was fortunate to be a space fan and collector during a significant part of the golden age of space cover collecting. In my opinion the "golden age" would be from Explorer 1 in 1958 to the early part of the shuttle program in 1982. So I have decided to feature here one or two of my favorite covers from significant U.S. space programs from the 1972 to 1982 time frame. Covers shown are from Apollo 17, X-24B Lifting Body, Skylab, ASTP, Viking, Enterprise/ALT, STS-1 and the OFTs. During that 1972-82 ten year period, space and space cover collecting was extremely popular, with many collectors, cover servicers/designers, dealers and small auctions all actively involved and busy. It was a great time to be a collector and many wonderful memories and covers resulted from that era for all of us. [b]X-24B Lifting Body Test Program[/b]: Public Affairs Office cacheted cover for the final flight in the X-24B flight program, signed by the six pilots, including Mike Love, killed in an aircraft accident shortly after the end of the program, and Dick Scobee, lost on Challenger. [b]Skylab Space Station[/b]: Official NASA/KSC cacheted cover for the Skylab-1 Orbital Workshop launch and also Skylab's final day in orbit. Skylab 1's time in space included 34,981 orbits. Second cover is for the final day in orbit and signed by the nine Skylab astronauts [b]Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP)[/b]: First cover is canceled at Moscow for the Soyuz launch and then at Cape Canaveral for the Apollo launch on the same day. Special arrangements were made by German dealer Eberhard Colle to fly the Soyuz launch canceled covers to the US after being canceled in Moscow. Then later it was signed by the Apollo crew. The second cover was canceled on board the Prime Recovery Ship USS New Orleans the day after splashdown (the ship's post office was closed on the day of splashdown), and bears the ship's official rubber stamp cachet and the Apollo crew's autographs. [b]Viking Mars Landing[/b]: The first cover was canceled for both Viking 1 and Viking 2 launches. The second cover has an official Viking Martin Marietta rubber stamp cachet and is canceled for both Viking launches and also with Denver, CO cancels for each Viking's Mars landing. Martin Marietta, of Denver, CO, was the primary builder of the Viking spacecraft. Also during the 1970's, launches of both Voyager 1 and 2, and Pioneer 10/11 occured and then their very, very long-distance voyages of discovery. [b]Shuttle Enterprise/Approach and Landing Tests[/b]: Dryden Flight Research Center cover for the first Enterprise ALT free flight and autographed by the two astronaut pilots. And Rockwell Space Division Stamp Club cover for Enterprise's rollout from its assembly plant in Palmdale, CA, and also canceled for the final ALT free flight, and autographed by both Enterprise/ALT astronaut two-man crews. [b]STS-1 and Orbital Flight Tests (OFT)[/b]: Cover canceled at KSC for the first shuttle launch and then flown by a NASA aircraft to Edwards AFB and canceled there for Columbia's landing, and later signed by the crew. Second cover canceled at KSC for the four Orbital Flight Tests. Perhaps others may have favorite covers they'd like to show from this very special 1972-82 time period.
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