posted 04-07-2018 01:24 PM               

Space Cover #462: Ames Research Center Stamp Club Covers

During the late 1970s and into the early 1980s, the Ames Research Center Stamp Club applied cachets and canceled covers for space events sent to them by collectors. Collectors would send a group of blank/stamped covers and the stamp club would hold them for events and then apply their cachets, then have the covers canceled at Moffett Field, CA and returned to the collectors.

The professionally done cachets were carefully applied to covers, usually in black ink, and when appropriate, purple ink impressions were added to identify the event the covers were canceled for.

The many tests and events that covers were canceled for included: space shuttle wind tunnel tests; various pre-STS-1 tests; planetary events; and anniversaries. After the shuttle began its flights, covers/cachets were done for a number of the early flights.

Shown here are a good sample of the many excellent cachets that the ARC Stamp Club applied to covers. Other events/tests covered include: Pioneer-Venus; Pioneer 11; Sputnik 1 and Explorer 1 anniversaries; Bed Rest Studies; and even the 200th anniversary of the discovery of Planet Uranus.

The top cover above is for the last day of the ten-day ASSESS 2 Spacelab Simulation mission, involving astronauts Karl Henize and Robert Parker. The bottom cover marks Alan Shepard's MR-3 flight, with special purple info impressions added to the all-purpose cachet. This type of all-purpose cachet was used for many events and tests, in both black and red inks.

These are the four types of wind tunnel test cachets used by the ARC Stamp Club. The shuttle wind tunnel tests were carried out at Ames/Moffett Field and the ARC Stamp Club specialized in commemorating these tests and a large number of their wind tunnel test covers exist.

Here are three more examples of ARC Stamp Club cachets,with the top left cachet marking the STS-1 launch and the right cachet being a second type all-purpose cachet, with "STS-4" applied. The bottom cover has a nicely designed cachet for STS-6.

These excellent ARC Stamp Club cachets shown here are good examples of the many and well-done cachets that the ARC Stamp Club provided us collectors over at least a 6-7 year period. The ARC Stamp Club did the space cover hobby a great service by providing these cachets/covers for many significant space events in that time period.