posted 08-19-2018 12:29 PM               

Space Cover 479: The Ship That Got There First

This week's Space Cover of the Week highlights U.S.S. Farragut and the part she could have played in history.

On May 24, 1962, Scott Carpenter and his spacecraft Aurora 7 were launched into space aboard a Mercury Atlas booster becoming the second American to orbit Earth. It was a three orbit mission that had its share of difficulties. During reentry it was determined that the spacecraft would land approximately 250 miles long.

NASA and the US Navy had planned for many different contingencies when it came to spacecraft recovery and pre-positioned a number of Navy ships at various locations under the orbital track to handle these contingencies. With Aurora 7 landing so far long there were no Navy vessels near the impact zone.

Luckily U.S.S. Farragut was nearby. She steamed to where Carpenter and Aurora 7 had splashed down to render any assistance if needed. She was not part of the official recovery force and therefore did not have any of the equipment on board to recover the spacecraft or the pilot. She was simply ordered to stand by and keep an eye on Carpenter and render assistance if he required it while the closest recovery vessel U.S.S. John R. Pierce was on her way.

Carpenter was rescued successfully and taken to the prime recovery ship U.S.S. Intrepid while U.S.S. John R. Pierce recovered the spacecraft. With the astronaut safe and sound, U.S.S. Farragut returned to her duties after being oh so close to history.

The pictured cover was postmarked on board U.S.S. Farragut on the day of recovery. Since she was not part of the official recovery force she did not have a cachet commemorating the event. The cover also has a somewhat undesirable Jacksonville FL machine cancel from its travels through the mail system.

I believe only a handful of these covers exist. Does anyone else have one?