posted 05-12-2019 12:42 PM               

Space Cover #514: Creating your own space cachets

In these days of home computers and home printing it is easy for all of us to become cachet makers. Back in 1969 my dad produced his own rubber stamp cachet to use on his Apollo 11 covers. Since it was a rubber stamp it was the same cachet for each and every cover he used it on other than maybe changing the color of the ink.

Today it is quite easy to add a cachet of your own choosing to any cover. I have done this many times myself. For example, I did covers for the 50th anniversary of each of the manned Project Mercury flights. For each flight I used a launch photo specific to that flight for the cachet. Just a quick internet search found the photo which was then verified to be correct by the number on the side of the booster. Relatively quick and painless and you end up with a very nice cover with a nice printed cachet.

Of all the covers I have created with my own cachet the one pictured above is probably my favorite. It is postmarked for the launch of STS-135 which was the final launch of the Space Shuttle program.

The cachet I chose to add was one of the pictures I took of the launch. For the launch I was standing on top of the blockhouse at historic Launch Complex-14 which is where the four manned Mercury missions were launched from. I was about 7 miles away and looking towards the north giving a unique viewing angle. On the left side of the photo you can see some of the other blockhouses for some of the other launch complexes of famed ICBM Row.

This cover was with me in my camera bag on top of the blockhouse making it a "carried" cover as well.

Later on, the STS-135 crew made an appearance at the USS Intrepid Museum in New York. My dad attended the appearance and was lucky to be able to get the signatures of Pilot Doug Hurley and Mission Specialists Sandra Magnus and Rex Walheim. Only Commander Chris Ferguson is missing as the crew had to move on to another engagement before Dad could obtain his autograph.

With the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing quickly approaching I'm sure many people will be producing covers and adding their own cachets to those covers. What cachets have you produced for some of your own covers? Show us some examples!

posted 05-12-2019 11:55 PM               

I believe the storage is finished at Complex 14. You used to be able to drive up to the pad perimeter and then walk all around the pad and even up the ramp itself. They have reinforced the structure with steel beams.

posted 05-15-2019 10:37 PM               

Next is a "Men of Mach 1" cover — the artwork wasn't the best but the covers neat I think.

posted 05-17-2019 05:38 PM               

To answer Dennis' question, yes as Eddie pointed out, there is no longer a hypergolic fuel storage area at the pad, however, I don't recall there being a fuel storage area at Pad 14 after the Mercury Atlas/Agena complex had been toppled in 1976 with salvage operations completed three years later. Or just maybe my memory is starting to fade a bit, but the pad's Ready and Support buildings are no longer present on site. And of course, the old Atlas complex did contain a LOX & GN2 storage area along with a JP-4 area back in its day.

And for Eddie, the Blockhouse for 14 is still open, at times, but much of the interior of the pad itself is no longer there. You can still see the pad's road ramp supported by steel beams leading up to what would had been an erected Atlas rocket, but much beneath the entire base structure is no more! No longer there are most of the 4-walled inside equipment rooms, offices, restroom, and other compartments.

Below are a few of my completely own cover creations, in every way, while using a variety of cachets and text images; rubber stamps, decal stickers, cut-out flow charts, add-ons, a simple quick print, four-color printed designs, and even adding on a small American flag cloth "patch" that had been issued by an aerospace company for that same designated mission being commemorated.

Some may not be considered a "true home-made" cover, but I guess that would depend on what one's definition of the term would consist of.

The STS-95/Discovery crew patch-type cover is a two-sided depiction. On the back or reserve side of the cover is an added "astronaut carried support" rubber stamp fill/write-in lined cachet. The red NASA/KSC Fire Rescue and team member decal stickers, provided by the on-base fire services department, were added on the envelope's right side to enhance the launch support event and balance out the cover graphically.

Those depicted here represent only a small portion of my astrophilately collections in such categories, but I do wish we have more cover selections of the X-20/Dyna Soar program that Al and Dennis are very passionate about, and rightly so. Has anyone ever seen such a cover signed by the selected military astronaut pilots as a team? Same also for MOL, but as a high schooler, I did acquire a MOL/Titan III Swanson cover signed by five to six of the pilots, but there must be a few more out there somewhere with many more signatures on them.

posted 05-18-2019 01:45 PM               

Al, that photo of Fisher is iconic, just perfect for a cover I made up for her signing at Spacefest last year.

posted 05-18-2019 02:44 PM               

It was the only Hank Gordon signature I had so I was hesitant to add my own art. And, it was a toss up between making it a bio cover (as I did) and an X-20 astronaut selectee cover.

Took me 3 hours to get it all just right then crossed my fingers when I hit print, worrying there might be an ink smear, envelope got caught in the gears, you name it. But no - it didn't.

posted 05-18-2019 03:16 PM               

When writing to the X-15, X-20 and MOL pilots, Al, during my high school and early college years, I was able to contact most of them. But I never was successful with Air Force pilot Albert Crews, after writing him about a half-dozen letters throughout the 1970's. I never did hear from him, but now, it's a bit ironic that Col. Crews now lives on the Florida Space Coast and is a frequent visitor to the Cape and is a museum volunteer. Even to this day, I can't recall our paths crossing.