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Author
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Topic: Space Cover 31: Lunar Prospector
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Apollo-Soyuz Member Posts: 1205 From: Shady Side, Md Registered: Sep 2004
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posted 11-15-2009 03:00 PM
Space Cover of the Week, Week 31 (November 16, 2009) The Lunar Prospector mission was the third selected by NASA for full development and construction as part of the Discovery program. At a cost of $63 million, the 19 month mission was designed for a low polar orbit investigation of the moon including mapping of the surface composition and possible polar ice deposits, measurements of magnetic and gravity fields and study of lunar outgassing events. Lunar prospector was launched at 9:28:44 PM EST on January 6, 1998 aboard the maiden flight of the Lockheed-Martin Athena 2 commercial launch vehicle. The mission ended on July 31, 1999 at 5:52:02 AM EDT when Lunar Prospector was deliberately targeted to impact the moon in a permanently shadowed crater near the lunar south pole. It was hoped that the impact would liberate water vapor from the suspected ice deposits in the crater and that the plume would be detectable from earth, however no such plume was detected. Two very appropriate stamps was used on this cover. The first stamp used commemorated the Apollo 8 flight to the moon and was issued on May 5, 1969. The other stamp was issued as part of a 10 stamp Space Exploration booklet pane which was issued on October 1, 1991. The other nine stamps depicted the planets and this stamp depicted the moon. ------------------ John Macco Space Unit#1457 |
micropooz Member Posts: 1512 From: Washington, DC, USA Registered: Apr 2003
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posted 11-15-2009 03:00 PM
Neat! I had forgotten that they had tried the "crash & plume" trick with Lunar Prospector, long before LCROSS. Thanks for the reboot, John! |
Ken Havekotte Member Posts: 2913 From: Merritt Island, Florida, Brevard Registered: Mar 2001
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posted 11-23-2009 08:56 PM
John, this is another production of my firm. The cachet cover for the Lunar Prospector launch aboard the new Lockheed Martin's Athena II rocket from the Cape in 1998 also contained a one-sided printed insert card.The pictorial cancel depicted here was designed by an associate of mine, on request by my company, and approved by the USPS for the "Launch Station" along with a similar pictorial postmark used at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, CA, as the official "Mission Control Station." | |
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