posted 05-17-2020 04:09 AM               

Space Cover 563: Club in the past

Ray Cartier, who precedes me every week posted past week an excellent text about club for the future. Please, read Space Cover of the Week 562.

After reading this post, I was wondering me if there was in the past some similar "club." Pan American World Airways (most know as Pan Am) was a commercial airline that operated until 1991. Almost 30 years later, it is still remembered as an airline with some of the highest standards of quality especially in business class.

Pan Am participated in Apollo program and as many other US companies, helped get to the Moon.

Just some months before July 1969, and when everybody was aware that US would arrive to our Moon, Pan Am created a club for Moon flighters with the name of FIRST MOON FLIGHT'S CLUB.

Above a letter with logo of the club and below the letter inside with a warm welcome to this club.

The letter also contained a member card which reinforced the idea of belonging to this club.

Hidden address in letter and member card to keep identity privacy.

According to some sources consulted in 1971, when they stop accepting reservations, more than 90.000 people had signed up.

Please, if you have additional information about this club, do not hesitate to share with others. Thanks.

posted 05-17-2020 06:13 AM               

In 1970 the popular worldwide airline company, the first airline to enter the jet age, carried 11 million passengers to nearly 90 countries worldwide. Between 1968-71, the airline giant issued over 93,000 "First Moon Flights" Club free membership serial numbered cards to Pan Am and space enthusiasts eager to make a reservation for the first commercial lunar flight, whenever that would be.

The airline club originated from a wanting list way back in 1964 when an Austrian journalist, Gerhard Pistor, went to a Viennese travel agent requesting a flight to the moon. The agency forwarded his request to Pan Am, which actually accepted his reservation 2 weeks later and told him such a flight could be possible in 2000.

There's more to the story, of course, but that's pretty much its basic beginning.
Unfortunately, though, the club folded up in 1991 when Pan Am declared bankruptcy.

I've got a few of the envelope covers along with some of the cards, which by the way Antoni, is an excellent cover topic for this SCOTW. It just goes to show how the Apollo moon flights of that era were so popular.

Besides the club envelope and letter depicted here by Antoni, the world airliner's headquarters in Boston, MA, also used the same type #10 envelope of "First Moon Flights" Club for the Apollo 11 (C76) "First Man on the Moon" 10-cent airmail stamp first day cover issue in Sept. 1969. Inside was a brief 2-paragraph letter by their senior vice president of marketing.

As a little side note, both my parents were employed by Pan Am here at the Cape throughout the 1970/80's when the worldwide-flight travel agency operated a base support contract for the Air Force and NASA.

posted 05-17-2020 07:59 AM               

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ken Havekotte:
...the world airliner's headquarters in Boston, MA, also used the same type #10 envelope of "First Moon Flights" Club for the Apollo 11 (C76) "First Man on the Moon" 10-cent airmail stamp first day cover issue in Sept. 1969. Inside was a brief 2-paragraph letter by their senior vice president of marketing.

---