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[b]Space Cover 723: Sally-Amy-Moe Zero over One[/b] The "clean" Port Canaveral cancel that appears on early space covers by Clyde Sarzin has been written up in other collectSpace topics. But here is another interesting twist for a Sarzin cover. The flight was a launch of three black mice – named Sally, Amy, and Moe - in an Atlas missile nose cone that flew 650 miles into space on October 13, 1960, along with liberal rations of oxygen, oatmeal, peanuts and gelatin and a variety of scientific instruments. During the ride, the mice rode into the perilous inner Van Allen radiation belt and were also treated to ten minutes of weightlessness; then they survived a blazing dive back through the earth's atmosphere to a landing 5,000 miles downrange. The genetic lessons learned from radiation effects were valuable for putting humans into space in the upcoming Project Mercury flights. As can be seen in the top image, Sarzin obtained a number of Port Canaveral cancels using the "smeared" version of the postmark for the launch date of October 13, 1960. The middle image shows another Sarzin cover for the same launch, but it uses the "clean" version of the postmark. In addition, the "clean" postmark used the year 1961 instead of 1960. There was an attempt to "correct" the postmark date by stamping a "zero" over the "one" in 1961 as can be seen in the magnified image. The "one" can definitely be seen under the "zero." There is seemingly no reason for 1961 to be in the cancel at all if the covers were cancelled even months after the launch date in October 1960. The Sarzin covers are the only ones known to have the 1961 strikes of the postmark. Another interesting observation is the cachet itself – in all the covers I've seen with the smeared Port Canaveral postmark, the rocket is pointing to the 10 o'clock position. In all the covers I've seen with the clean Port Canaveral Zero over One covers, the rocket and mice have rotated to the right – with the rocket pointing to the 2 o'clock position.
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