posted 09-23-2018 02:04 PM               

Space Cover #484: Uranus Ring Discovery

This week's cover commemorates the discovery of rings orbiting around the planet Uranus.

The discovery was announced on March 30, 1977 after the return of the Gerald Kuiper Airborne Observatory to Moffett Field, California. The observatory was based at Ames Research Center, Mountain View, Ca. Verification of the rings orbiting Uranus had been identified by Cornell University researchers flying aboard the Kuiper Airborne Observatory. Dr. James Elliot, senior research associate at Cornell's Center for Radiophysics and Space Research, assisted by graduate student Edward Dunham and computer programmer Douglas Mink.

The discovery was made on March 10, 1977 (March 9, 1977 California time) at an altitude of 41,000 feet, 1200 miles southwest of Australia over the southern Indian Ocean.

The covers were done by 3-Muscateers Stan Henderson.

posted 09-23-2018 04:38 PM               

It's not the first time, though, that the flying-lab research aircraft, based at NASA's Ames Research Center in CA, has provided new space science studies and discoveries in a variety of areas.

Once again, as mentioned in other space cover topics here, the name of Stan Henderson of 3-Muscateers appears. Stan was a very active space cover servicer and dealer throughout the 1970's, but was never heard from again.