posted 01-14-2022 11:01 PM               

Pioneer 9... was this supposed to be an SCC?

My choice for Space Cover of the Week this week is a recent acquisition that comes with some speculation. The cover commemorates the launch of Pioneer 9. Pioneer 9 was the last of 4 Pioneer-class spacecraft designed to make detailed measurements of solar wind, cosmic rays, and the solar magnetic field. Pioneer 6, 7, 8 and 9 were very successful and relatively inexpensive as NASA/JPL spacecraft go. Much was learned about heliophysics and space weather from this program.

What makes this cover extremely interesting is that it is postmarked at Kennedy Space Center and is pencil addressed to Ray Burton. Ray Burton was the person behind getting uncacheted covers postmarked at KSC which were then sent to Joe Fitzpatrick and Carl Swanson to receive the Space Craft Covers cachet. Before Apollo 13, Kennedy Space Center covers were limited to two per person. If you wanted more than two, each request had to be sent in separately to the KSC post office. Ray Burton organized a campaign where he assembled addresses of friends and family and sent in covers to receive the KSC cancel for a particular launch. He would receive the covers back after the launch and then ship them off to receive the SCC cachet. He did this for roughly 30 different events from 1968 through early 1970.

Now, indulge me. The Pioneer 9 cover pictured has Ray Burton's address. I also picked up a second Pioneer 9 cover identical to the first. My guess is that these were both intended to receive the Pioneer 9 Space Craft Covers printed cachet but for some reason did not. According to Chuck Vukotich's Space Craft Covers Monograph and Catalog, 114 Pioneer 9 Space Craft Covers exist with a KSC cancel. Just maybe there were supposed to be a couple more. Maybe they came in late or maybe just got left out of the shipment. Or maybe they were simply for Ray Burton's collection. The answer will never be known.

The third cover pictured is for the launch of OGO-5 and is identical to the Pioneer 9 covers but is unaddressed. I also wonder if this was to receive a Space Craft Covers cachet. There exist Space Craft Covers commemorating the OGO-5 launch with both Cape Canaveral and Patrick Air Force Base cancels. Currently, no OGO-5 covers have ever been reported with KSC cancels. Maybe this was also supposed to receive the Space Craft Covers cachet but did not. It would have been one of the earliest Space Craft Covers with a KSC cancel. Again, the answer will never be known. But it is always fun to speculate!

posted 01-18-2022 08:05 PM               

As for the AS-501 launch, from what I understand from Ray Burton's son, the Burtons did not move to the Florida Space Coast until the late spring of 1968. From what I can gather, the first SCC with KSC cancels and the collaboration of Ray Burton and Joe Fitzpatrick and Carl Swanson of SCC began with the Apollo-7 launch.

posted 01-20-2022 11:36 AM               

OAO-2 was launched on this date but unsure if this cover was for that mission, some unknown Apollo 8 pre-flight event, or something else entirely.

Most OAO-2 SCC covers were from CC (#218) or PAFB (#218a) as expected, with only a quantity of 30 reported from KSC (#218b). Could this have been intended as one of those or as mentioned simply a personal cover for Ray.

The 6c flag/white house stamp was the go-to for SCC covers in this time frame but I'm not sure that is a hint one way or another.

posted 01-22-2022 08:54 PM               

Anyway, note the Ray Burton addresses on two non- space cover envelopes in 1965 before Ray's move to the Florida Space Coast in working for NASA at KSC. All of the covers here, as a quick reference for now, came from the original collection of Lloyd Bostwick, Merritt Island, FL, in which I had acquired from Lloyd a long time ago.

Bostwick, a long-time KSCPS member, was a close friend and stamp club associate of Ray Burton throughout the 1970'/80's. Bostwick served as a vice president and long-term secretary-treasurer of the KSCPS along with fellow society officers Ray Burton, Ralph Yorio, Ang Taiani, Al Collela, and Ron Stephens. Yorio had served as the first KSCPS president when established under the NASA Exchange Council in 1968. The club presidents to follow were Burton and Taiani during the decades of the 70/80's.

Is it possible that Bostwick, knowing Burton so well, also had some uncacheted covers addressed to himself, as viewed, in the same-type capacity as Burton did for possible SCC cachet applications? One of the covers depicted above was for the Mariner G (#7) launch to Mars on March 27, 1969.