posted 01-30-2017 09:10 PM               

Space Cover 402: Project Bumper Atlas

February 21, 1967 was the day America was to have orbited a three-man Apollo spacecraft that would eventually take explorers to the moon. Elementary school scientists launched two 11-inch rockets instead. The miniature rockets were a memorial from the 6th grade Rocket Group at Cape View Elementary School to astronauts Virgil Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee, who died in a flash fire aboard their Apollo I spacecraft January 27, 1967 during a test for the February 21st scheduled launch. One of the two small rockets, "Bumber 2" and "Atlas 2" blasted off at exactly 10 a.m. EST, the time Grissom, White and Chaffee were to have launched toward orbit atop their Saturn rocket.

The rockets of Project Bumper Atlas were launched from the Cape View Elementary School grounds in Cape Canaveral. Each flight lasted approximately 2 minutes.

The news of the launch of these rockets was distributed across the country by the press organizations such as AP and UPI. I have found references to it appearing in print in issues of the Lubbock Avalanche (Lubbock TX), Pittsburgh Press (Pittsburgh PA), and Traverse City Record-Eagle (Traverse City MI).

The articles stated that the students had previously fired three rockets, including one carrying a frog which was successfully recovered. "This is their way of honoring the astronauts," proclaimed principal Robert Brandt. Heading the juvenile launch team was sixth-grader Paul Davison, age 11, son of Maj. Ralph Davison, chief of the test support branch for the Air Force Titan 3C space rocket program. The Rocket Group followed a complete flight plan (procured thru the NASA Press Section) to launch their rockets.

The proximity of Cape View Elementary School to Patrick AFB – and the fact that Patrick AFB units would have participated in the launch - made it an excellent place to have the cover cancelled.

The typed portion of the cachet on the cover states:

Two small rockets were launched by 6th graders from Capeview (sic) Elementary School, in a pint sized tribute to a bigger mission that never did get off the ground – APOLLO I – and the astronauts who died in a fire. Flight duration 2 minutes each launch

I have never seen another cover created for this tribute. Anyone else have one?