posted 03-12-2011 07:05 PM               

Space Cover #100: Triple Digits!

Wow, it is hard to believe that we are already on Space Cover #100 -- triple digits! So in that same vein, let’s look at covers from #100's in the space program.

At the top is a cover postmarked for the 100th flight of the X-15 program, January 28, 1964, with an Edwards, Ca. hand cancel and the ubiquitous Boy Scout rubber stamped cachet. On this flight, pilot Bob Rushworth flew at Mach 5.34 (3618 mph) at 107,400 feet altitude to investigate aerodynamic heating, forming part of the database that helped design the Space Shuttle a decade later.

The 100th flight of a "heavyweight" (e.g. metal) lifting body rocketplane took place at Edwards on October 6, 1972. The center cover was machine cancelled at Edwards that day and carries a Space Voyager printed cachet. Pilot Bill Dana reached Mach 1.67 (900 mph) and an altitude of 67,000 feet on this flight of the M2-F3 lifting body, that helped develop unpowered landing techniques for the Space Shuttle.

The 100th U.S. human spaceflight was STS-71, launched on June 27, 1995. The lower cover received a special postmark for this occasion at the Kennedy Space Center and has a McDonnell-Douglas contractor cachet. This flight was the first-ever docking of a Space Shuttle to the Mir space station. The Shuttle Atlantis, commanded by Robert "Hoot" Gibson brought two relief cosmonauts to Mir, and returned one US astronaut from Mir.

These are just the 100th covers that I happen to have in my collection. If any of you have covers for any other 100th flights, please post 'em! Just so you know, the 100th Space Shuttle mission was STS-92, launched on October 11, 2000. The 100th Russian human space mission was Soyuz TMA-5 launched on October 14, 2004. And the 100th Soyuz flight was Soyuz TMA-13 launched on October 12, 2008. I'm not a dedicated Shuttle or Russian collector and I don't have these covers, so please feel free to post some on this thread! If you need me to host your image, just drop it to me in an email.

And on an even more extreme, since I am a rocketplane fanatic, the 100th X-1 flight took place on March 11, 1949 in the hands of Jack Ridley. And the 100th D-558-II Skyrocket flight took place on November 29, 1949 in the hands of Gene May. If any of you have covers for these two obscure flights, you are now my new bestest friends!

Happy 100th!

posted 03-12-2011 07:53 PM               

Soyuz T-12 is the 100th manned spaceflight inclusive of the four suborbital Mercury and X-15 flights.

posted 03-13-2011 10:48 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Joel Katzowitz:
However, a group of roudy woodpeckers...

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posted 03-13-2011 11:16 AM               

(Wow! One hundred SCOTW presentations over an almost two year period. I think that we five SCOTW'ers are surprised - and pleased - that it has lasted this long).

posted 03-13-2011 01:51 PM               

All of those depicted here are some of my all-time favorite issued cachet covers during a time, perhaps at our peak, when SpaceCoast Cover Service was quite busy preparing, producing, and processing many different kinds of space covers.

Those were indeed -- throughout the 1990s -- exciting times, especially philatelically speaking!