posted 07-07-2012 09:45 AM               

Space Cover #169: Automated Transfer Vehicle-2/STS-135/Atlantis Flown Cover

When Space Shuttle Atlantis landed at KSC on July 21, 2011, it marked the end of the 30-year and 135-flight Space Shuttle Program. 600 postal covers returned to Earth aboard Atlantis on STS-135 and the Space Shuttle program's historic final flight. These 600 covers were among the cargo onboard ESA's unmanned ATV-2 spacecraft that was launched to the ISS aboard an Ariane 5 rocket in February 2011.

Many of the flown covers were offered for sale by Espace Lollini of France. The top cover shown here (thanks to Chris Calle) is one of only a small number signed by the six ISS Expedition crew members and also rubber stamped with two small ISS onboard cachets.

The standard, unsigned covers (example above) were sold by Lollini for around $70, but are out-of-stock now and are on sale elsewhere for $199.

Lollini mounted their flown ATV-2 covers in excellent folders, that included a tracking station cover (shown here) and a Mission Control cover.

While these flown covers were mainly promoted as being flown on the ATV-2 transfer vehicle, their real significance lies in the fact that they were onboard Atlantis when it accomplished the Space Shuttle Program's final flight.

Flown covers and various flown material is common now, but these flown covers have extra special significance: launched by an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou, South America; flown to the ISS onboard ATV-2 and spent 156 days in space; and finally returned to Earth aboard Atlantis on its and the Space Shuttle Program's last flight.

posted 07-12-2012 02:27 AM               

• the said Astrium covers (the folder was produced by the club, not Lollini)
  
• the ERNO postcards
  
• covers flown by Alenia Spazio from Italy.

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Jürgen P Esders
Brussels, Belgium

posted 07-13-2012 01:52 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Bob M:
The top cover shown here (thanks to Chris Calle) is one of only a small number signed by the six ISS Expedition crew members and also rubber stamped with two small ISS onboard cachets.

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posted 07-15-2012 04:16 AM               

This way, I got the flown covers/cards for sometimes as little as 10 or 15 Euro, and the whole bunch of unsigned and signed covers for around 100 Euro.

posted 04-22-2014 11:53 AM               

I own one of these covers (the unsigned version) but I am unclear as to whether there were 600 covers flown overall -or - 600 unsigned and 600 signed. Jürgen (eurospace) points out a few different versions and items.

It seems the signed and unsigned version have slight variations. My covers also came in a different folder than then one Alec linked (I assume mine is from Lollini).

posted 04-24-2014 12:52 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by MrSpace86:
I am unclear as to whether there were 600 covers flown overall -or - 600 unsigned and 600 signed. Jürgen (eurospace) points out a few different versions and items.

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As for now 600 covers are flown in the French kit prepared by EADS Astrium France, 600 covers are in the Italian kit prepared by Thales Alenia Space Italy and 550 card in the German kit sent by EADS Astrium DE.

On the initiative of ASITAF (Italian Astrophilately Society) for ATV-2 some of the 600 French covers were signed onboard by the crew of the Expedition 27 and were stamped with the ISS onboard seal and with the seal of the MagISStra mission, before returning with the last Space Shuttle flight .

The folder shown on the Alec website has been designed by Alec Bartos for ASITAF and was used to present the above-mentioned signed covers which were reserved for ASITAF Members only. The philatelic Club "La Marianne" (EADS Astrium France) presented its flown cover and three other related commemorative covers in a folder which was also sold by Lollini (Lollini has never prepared itself an ATV folder).