|
|
|
|
Author
|
Topic: Space Cover 463: Earliest Atlas Cover?
|
micropooz
Member Posts: 1706
From: Washington, DC, USA
Registered: Apr 2003
|
posted 04-15-2018 05:19 AM
   
Space Cover of the Week, Week 463 (April 15, 2018) Space Cover #463: Earliest Atlas Cover?Above is a classic Goldcraft cachet cover hand cancelled at Port Canaveral on November 28, 1958 for the 15th test flight of an Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). In this test, the Atlas finally flew its full intended trajectory, 6300 miles downrange. The Atlas was originally developed as an ICBM to loft nuclear warheads across the planet in the case of a world war. Fortunately, none had to be used for that purpose. The Atlas ICBM ended up becoming the workhorse launch vehicle for the American space program, launching four Americans into orbit during Project Mercury, Agena docking targets for Gemini, Rangers/Surveyors/Lunar Orbiters to the Moon, Mariners/Pioneers to the planets, and many more all the way up through 2004 (the current generation of Atlas launch vehicles are a newer design, unrelated to the ICBM). Atlas was a very complicated missile for its time (hence hard-to-develop), going through the A, B, and C test models before reaching the operational D model. The first Atlas (an A model) was launched on June 11, 1957 and failed shortly after launch. The cover above represents the 15th overall Atlas flight test (this one was a B model) and only the 8th successful one (remember the "hard-to-develop" part above?). Three weeks later another Atlas B successfully placed the SCORE satellite into earth orbit (covers exist for this launch).
Anyway, the cover above is the earliest Atlas test flight cover that I have found. This got dinged by a judge in a philatelic exhibit for not being "the first" Atlas test flight cover, but I've never seen nor heard of one of those. Has anyone found any Atlas test flight covers prior to the one above (e.g. time period from June 11, 1957 to November 28, 1958)? If so, let's post 'em! And as always, I'll be glad to host the image of your cover if you need it — just email the image to me. |
NAAmodel#240
Member Posts: 356
From: Boston, Mass.
Registered: Jun 2005
|
posted 04-15-2018 04:45 PM
Classic cover. As an apprentice in training to be a judge (I evaluate Skylab and ASTP exhibits from Ray Cartier in a few weeks) I can say that the comment that you failed to show the first Atlas constitutes a display of ignorance. The standard needs to be whether the cover you show furthers the story you are trying to tell. A first attempt, even if available for exhibit, does not necessarily convey the tale you wish to tell. |
cvrlvr99
Member Posts: 205
From: Arlington, TX
Registered: Aug 2014
|
posted 05-03-2018 08:57 PM
I was there when you were dinged wrongly when he said that you hadn't shown "the 1957 Atlas launch cover." I looked it up in McMahan's book and wrote back to that judge stating: Actually there were three Atlas launches in 1957 and McMahan's History shows a value of $0.00. That means that he had never seen one nor been advised that one existed. I now add that fact in my exhibit Synopses for each of my space exhibits and reference Jack's book. No one has ever tried to pull that one on me as a result. |
micropooz
Member Posts: 1706
From: Washington, DC, USA
Registered: Apr 2003
|
posted 05-04-2018 05:42 PM
David and Ray, thanks for your kind words about my remarks on exhibiting. But my remarks about exhibiting were really just an offshoot of the main question:Does anyone have an earlier Atlas launch cover? Let's find the earliest one! |
micropooz
Member Posts: 1706
From: Washington, DC, USA
Registered: Apr 2003
|
posted 09-04-2023 02:37 PM
I came across this oldie-but-goodie today, and since 5+ years have passed, figured I'd pose the question again: Has anyone seen an Atlas flight cover for any flight prior to Nov. 28, 1958? |
Axman
Member Posts: 147
From: Derbyshire UK
Registered: Mar 2023
|
posted 09-05-2023 05:19 AM
No. I don't believe cacheted covers exist for any Atlas launch prior to this (I'm 99.999% certain of that).I have spent a lot of time on eBay over the previous two years trying various search phrases trying to unearth any covers from any launch prior to 1959 and later than 1945 to little avail — I'm not saying uncacheted covers on relevant dates don't exist, just that intensive efforts to find them have failed. |
Ken Havekotte
Member Posts: 3669
From: Merritt Island, Florida, Brevard
Registered: Mar 2001
|
posted 09-05-2023 06:12 AM
. | |
Contact Us | The Source for Space History & Artifacts
Copyright 2023 collectSPACE.com All rights reserved.
Ultimate Bulletin Board 5.47a
|
|
|
 advertisement
|
