posted 01-02-2021 09:22 PM               

Space Cover #592: NASA STDN Madrid Spain

Following slightly on Antoni's lead from his Space Cover post from last week, my choice this week is to highlight a few covers I recently picked up.

These are tracking covers for each of the first three space shuttle launches. These are postmarked in Madrid, Spain, which is home to one of the large dishes of NASA's Deep Space Network. The Deep Space Network dishes are used to communicate with various probes throughout the solar system. They were also used to track various space launches and to communicate with orbiting spacecraft before the Tracking and Data Relay System satellites came online.

The first cover pictured is for STS-1, the first space shuttle launch. The cover has a Madrid postmark for what was the scrub date of April 10 and then a second cancel for the launch date of April 12.

The second cover is for STS-2 and again has a cancel for the scrub date of November 4 and a second cancel for the launch date of November 12.

The third cover pictured is for the STS-3 launch. Each of the three covers pictured has a very nice printed cachet. Typically with tracking station covers they apply an appropriate rubber stamp cachet or corner card but these are very nice printed cachets. They look like they were done by maybe a local stamp club or something similar.

Does anyone have any information on who may have done these covers? Also, any info on the different cancels or why they were postmarked for the scrub dates would be appreciated.

posted 01-04-2021 04:55 AM               

Printed covers were produced by José Manuel Grandela in quantity of around 200 copies each one. No exact figures can be provided because invoices issued by printing were not kept. At that time domestic printers did not exist and covers had to be taken to print shop.

Mr. Grandela, former INTA-NASA employee at Fresnedillas, and later at Robledo (both tracking stations in Madrid province) was a Spanish astrophilatelist, exhibitor, Astro Spanish Chairman until 2010, Astro FIP Secretary and finally became Astrophilately FIP Chairman in period 2000-2008. Currently retired from major philatelic events, he just offers some conferences and writes some articles.

Next to these printed covers there are too RSC covers created by Mr. Grandela. Neither exact figures can be provided because these covers were produced on request. So, maybe for some missions copies of RSC are only around 50 meanwhile others +200.

See an example for STS-1 mission with RSC produced by Mr. Grandela (left) and RSC from NASA comm (right).

Furthermore, printed covers can found as shown by Eddie in first post, but also with RSC applied on front side, or applied on backside. See both examples.

Concerning scrub dates.

Printed covers were delivered at the post office on advance of launch scheduled date with a note like this: "to be postmarked on x date."

However, for STS-1 and STS-2 launch scheduled dates were postponed and new launch dates were assigned. It happened without knowledge of the post office what postmarked the covers on requested day.

When Mr. Grandela realized that their covers were already postmarked with the scrub dates (as told by Jürgen, nobody wants to lose their space covers) then he took the option to request a second postmark with correct launch date.

Obviously this was the cheapest solution. Others would be by applying a second stamp on each cover (cost) or print again all the covers with other stamps (more cost).

In order to solve this situation, from STS-3 onwards, all printed covers delivered on advance at post office were accompanied with a note like this: "no postmark until I called with specific date."

posted 01-04-2021 01:48 PM               

The Madrid tracking station was one of four shuttle program operated STDN sites that provided critical support for Columbia's OMS orbital phase insertion with tracking, telemetry, air-ground and command support to Mission Control Center at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.

I'm checking over my own Madrid shuttle launch tracking station covers and came across an unusual issue seen below. I would assume the shuttle tracking chart full-cachet cover was mailed over to the Madrid station for processing for the second shuttle mission (STS-2) launched on Nov. 12, 1981. The chart cover itself came from an original printed NASA shuttle orbital mission chart for Mission STS-2.

On the back side of the chart-map cover is an applied rubber stamp cachet in green ink, which I believe, was provided by the station itself, or, was it provided by a German space cover dealer? It depicts the STS-2/Columbia crew emblem along with the station's address.

But my favorite component of the chart cover can be seen on the front surface to the left of the cachet. Here it actually shows the STDN station at Madrid in Spain labeled as "MAD," an appropriate connection with the cachet tie-in to the actual space cover event itself. Of course, while not a direct Madrid-printed cover issue, it does provide an appropriate connection in my opinion.

posted 01-05-2021 04:50 AM               

I do recall seeing during the early shuttle program years similar affixed rubber stamps on Madrid covers along with a few other worldwide STDN stations that had been provided by European dealers.

posted 01-05-2021 10:49 AM               

Sorry guys, I have not a clear and blunt answer to each of your questions, many of them I have already asked myself in the past.

Ken, all info supplied about MAD tracking station is absolutely true. Congratulations for supporting us once again about astronautics history.

I am agree with you that this map cover is very appropriate (image location and postmark matching). I have the same cover but with same green RSC applied on the front side.

I am not sure 100% if all RSC applied on Spanish space covers were produced by Mr. Grandela as he did not keep any kind of record. However, I can say that many of RSC with Spanish text or text English/Spanish were produced by Mr. Grandela.

In Fresnedillas (where NASA tracking station was located until 1985) there is a "Museo Lunar" (Moon Museum) where some RSC are displayed. At least what is displayed, was always in Spain and never came out.

I should search into my files if I have some photo of some of these RSC there displayed.

As Mr. Grandela received many commitments of other astrophilatelists, it is possible to find covers produced around the world with some of its RSC applied on them. He offered it as favour to other collectors orfor swapping space covers.

As long I know, Mr. Grandela worked with Robert Rank (SpaceVoyage firm) and for this reason this kind of covers can be found with Spanish postmarks.

He also collaborated with some German dealers/collectors but not sure if was just with Eberhard Cölle or another person. When I asked him for this issue, he did not remember.

Answering to Eddie, last covers I have produced by Mr. Grandela are dated in 1992, when he left to do it. I am not sure if STS-46 was the last mission (it is the last mission I have though). If anyone has Spanish covers later than STS-46 I would be grateful to see them.

Ken, there are a lot of Spanish space covers with RSC (probably produced by Mr. Grandela) as well as other RSC (official or private). An example can be seen in my previous post. There is not a clear sign of identification for Grandela's covers. As told before, printed cachets covers shown by Eddie, can be found with/without RSC. Also Spanish covers with more than 1 RSC or map covers (clearly not produced in Spain) with RSC.

Sorry again if all this seems a bit complicated.

posted 01-05-2021 05:06 PM               

But recently, though, while sorting over dozens of cover boxes, I did come across a lot of tracking station cover issues that I wasn't fully aware of. Many of the covers acquired were from purchased space cover collections over the years that I was able to pick up, and some, with very large quantities that included hundreds of station covers that did intrigue me somewhat.

I think someone did ask in an earlier post of when the Madrid station had deactivated its 85-foot antenna, named "Dino." That was in 1985 after two decades of space flight telemetry service for NASA and the U.S. military since the Gemini program in 1965.

The "MAD" station site in Spain is one of three Deep Space Network (DSN) stations still in operation today. It was this very same station that relayed the first TV images of Armstrong stepping on the moon in 1969 and was critical in brining the Apollo 13 crew back home nine months later. In addition, the Spanish station complex was a key deep space network facility for the Mariner 4 fly-by of Mars, Mariner 10 to Mercury and Venus, and for the twin far-out Voyager space probes now in interstellar space. There are plenty of Madrid tracking covers out there for such planetary and deep space events.

Perhaps Buzz Aldrin said it well of all the tracking station "Range Rats," as he called them, "I salute--from my space helmet--the unsung heroes of the space race to the future."

posted 01-09-2021 02:38 PM               

• Eagle landed on Moon when signal was received first in Fresnedillas (MAD) and then sent to Houston.

• Armstrong coming down the Eagle and posing his foot on the Moon through signal received by Honeysucke tracking station.

So, Armstrong and Aldrin did not left Eagle immediately after Moon landing. According procedures, they should assure the spaceship as well as put on your spacesuits, which took them quite a while.

posted 01-20-2021 12:43 PM               

Photography (sorry for bad quality) shows some of the devices produced by Mr. Grandela and used in their covers.

The devices were used as rubber stamp cachet as well as design for printed covers.

Shown the three covers concerning the devices photographed.