posted 08-06-2020 06:44 PM            

On January 11, 2007 the Feng Yun 1C (FY-1C) weather satellite was destroyed in a test by the SC-19 kinetic kill vehicle launched by a ballistic missile from the Songlin Test Facility, near the Xichang Space Center, in the Sichuan province. The ASAT test was tracked and monitored by ground-based and space-based assets of the U.S. Air Force. Vandenberg Air Force Base is home to the Joint Space Operations Center (JSpOC) and 614th Air & Space Operations Center. They monitor, track and analyze everything that goes into space.

The cachet is an illustration by Jeremy Cook for the July 2007 issue of Popular Mechanics magazine, and was used with permission.

On February 20, 2008, the U.S. Navy launched a Standard Missile 3 (SM-3) from the Aegis missile cruiser USS Lake Erie to destroy an NRO satellite over the Pacific Ocean in support of Operation Burnt Frost. The interceptor on the missile is an Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle (EKV) built by the Raytheon Company. It was the first anti-satellite (ASAT) mission conducted by the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System. Pearl Harbor, Honolulu, Hawaii is the homeport for the USN Aegis BMD Fleet.

posted 08-07-2020 01:10 PM               

I wish one day I could have some of them.

As you quoted the USS Lake Erie, I thought you would like to see the cover below.

posted 08-07-2020 05:09 PM            

The first HTV-2 was launched on April 22, 2010. The second HTV-2 was launched on August 11, 2011. The HTV-2 vehicle was designed to be launched into space, separate from its booster and then descend and maneuver through the atmosphere at about 13,000 mph (21,000 kph) before crashing into the Pacific Ocean near the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands.

The Falcon HTV-2 program logo was provided by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and was used with their permission. OSC provided me with their company logo to use on the USPS custom PC postage, with their permission. Note, in June 2018 OSC was purchased by Northrop Grumman Corporation.

posted 08-12-2020 09:03 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by rvk:
Who did you send your covers to at Pearl Harbor?

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posted 08-17-2020 04:39 PM            

Most of the covers I sent for this flight received the standard "Testing the Future" hand cancel, however, nine of my covers received a special pictorial X-51A First Flight hand cancel that I was unaware of until the covers were returned to me.

In a press release by the Boeing Company, on the first flight attempt, the Boeing X-51A WaveRider successfully completed the longest supersonic combustion ramjet-powered flight in history - nearly three and a half minutes at a top speed of Mach 5.