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[b]Space Cover 609: A space cover without postmark. Is this possible?[/b] Astrophilately means postmark. Postmark is the key element for deciding if a cover is a space cover or just a commemorative cover with space images. After postmark, cachet is the second most important element in astrophilately and finally, signatures for personnel involved in programs are a plus. Then, if a cover shows any postmark, can it be considered a space cover? A genuine astrophilatelic cover? Normal answer should be NO. However, there are a few exceptions. These are rare, and probably the cover pictured is a good example. Ours space flown covers are covers postmarked onboard the different Soviet (now Russia) space stations and currently onboard ISS. Also covers carried in rockets or other spaceships are considered space flown covers. Above depicted cover was carried on Soyuz MS-10, launched from Baikonur on Oct 11, 2018. However, approximately 2 min after launch a failure in Soyuz-Fregat carrier forced to re-entry following a ballistic trajectory, and capsule with crew, previously separated from the rocket, landed in Dzhezkagan (Kazakhstan). Space flight lasted only 19 min and 41 sec and flight maximum altitude was 50 km, around 164.000 ft. Cover was signed by cosmonaut Alexei Ovchinin, who hand-wrote: “11.10.2018 this cover was on board of the Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft inside the Orbital module”. In normal circumstances, this cover would have arrived to ISS and received there the ISS onboard postmark on docking date with Dragon CRS-17 which happened on May 6, 2019.
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