Axman
Member Posts: 691
From: Derbyshire UK
Registered: Mar 2023
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posted 02-08-2025 05:31 AM
   
I own six launch covers which at first glance beyond the vague and general do not appear to have any specific connection to each other. However, they're all launch attempts by the Scout X-1 rocket. During its short lifetime the Scout X-1 was fired a total of seven times, all from Wallops Island. Like many rockets in the early days of spaceflight it had mixed fortune, with three failures, one partial failure (Explorer 13), and three successes including one satellite launch (Explorer 9).  
My covers in chronological order are: - Second launch of a Scout X-1 on 4th October 1960
- Explorer (9) S-56, failed 4th December 1960
- Explorer 9 satellite, launched 16th February 1961
- Explorer (13) S-55, failed on 30th June 1961
- Explorer 13 satellite (p.F.), launched 25th August 1961
- Seventh and final Scout X-1 launch on 19th October 1961
I am missing the original Scout X-1 shot which took place on 2nd July 1960. I'm not sure that any launch covers were actually produced for that attempt. It was a failure, and in those days failures did not always have associated cacheted covers.Does anyone have a launch cover for the first, failed, Scout X-1? And if so, could you please share a scan or photo of it? [Edit: an additional point on the postmark cancellations. The eagle-eyed will have spotted that although the second launch (i.e.the topmost cover) took place at Wallops, the cancellation is from Patrick Airforce Base. There were no Scout launches from the Cape that day, although Courier-1b was launched on a Thor-Ablestar from Canaveral on that date. So, additionally, does anybody out there have a cover cancelled at Wallops on 4th October 1960?] |
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