Space Cover #32, Ares I-X LaunchOn October 28th, NASA's first flight of the Constellation Program's Ares launch vehicle took place. The 327 foot tall Ares I-X rocket, with a dummy second stage, lifted off from newly refurbished Launch Complex 39B, reaching a top speed of Mach 4.7 and an altitude of about 150,000 feet.
Of course, covers were created for this flight, including Ares I-X's rollout to the launch pad. Two Ares I-X covers are shown here that were created by Ken Havekotte, the longtime space collector-dealer, and owner/operator of SpaceCoast Cover Service of Merritt Island, FL.
The top cover was canceled for the Ares I-X launch and is cacheted with the Ares 1-X Program emblem and has both a standard 44-cent flag stamp and a "Zazzle" photo stamp picturing the actual Ares 1-X launch (It's kind of a neat trick to have a stamp canceled showing an event that happened the same day! But with the USPS's 30-day "grace period," such things can be accomplished.)
The 44-cent flag stamp was an unwanted extra, but was required because of the USPS's rule that privately produced "Zazzle" stamps can't be used on philatelic material without regular first class postage also affixed.
The bottom cover is a special creation by Ken, as it was canceled from three KSC-area post offices (KSC, Cape Canaveral and Merritt Island) that Ken traveled to on the day of launch.
Ken has a number of various Ares 1-X event covers available and those interested can contact him at khavekotte@cfl.rr.com for information on them.
Bob McLeod
posted 11-22-2009 10:27 AM
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