posted 01-31-2021 05:48 PM               

Space Cover 596: STS-8 Cancellation Error

Through the cooperative efforts of the U.S. Postal Service and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the special event cover (envelope) was developed and carried aboard STS-8, NASA's official designation for the eighth Space Shuttle flight. This cover is unique because it is the first to record the flight into space with originating and returning postal cancellations. The cover's front cachet is a reproduction of NASA's official patch design for STS-8, and the cachet on the reverse side depicts NASA's 25th anniversary logo.

The stamp affixed is also noteworthy because it was issued at the Kennedy Space Center on August 12, 1983. The August 14, 1983, cancellation date on the front of the cover indicates the day STS-8 was scheduled to be launched with its cargo of covers, including this one. NASA's 25th anniversary logo is part of the cancellation design on the front of the cover. The circular postmark cancellation on the reverse side of the cover indicates the place and date the shuttle returned to Earth.

However, as with many launches, the launch date slipped with the actual launch taking place on August 30. A new "Launched Aboard Challenger" with the August 30 date was added to the front of the envelopes along with a "Returned To Earth Edwards AFB, CA" cancel with a September 5 date. This is the same cancel that appears on the back of the envelopes.

It is likely the postmarks were applied in three or four passes of the envelopes. The original August 14 postmark on the front; the actual launch and landing dates on the front of the cover (individually or more likely together), and the landing date on the back.

We can deduce this from the fact that all covers have the original August 14 launch cancel on the front of the envelopes and the landing date on the back of the envelopes but, interestingly, covers exist WITHOUT the actual launch and landing dates on the front of the envelope!

At least four of these cancellation error covers are known to exist, and based on the complete listing of serial numbers of the 238,100 covers that were produced but not flown on the STS-8 space shuttle mission here (PDF), the four covers with the cancellation error were flown aboard STS-8. These are rare space covers that every space cover collector would very much like to find.

Members of the STS-8 crew were Richard H. Truly, Commander; Daniel C. Brandenstein; Dale A. Gardner; Guion S. Bluford; and William B. Thornton.

Ref: USPS/NASA STS-8 Mission. Covers from the space cover collection of the author.

posted 02-01-2021 07:55 AM               

Originally the USPS prepared for NASA 500,000 covers for the STS-8 mission in 1983. The special Challenger covers were loaded into two separate GAS-type container compartments in the cargo bay of the orbiter. About 125,000 of them were prepared for shipment to Florida's Kennedy Space Center and with the remainder for shipment to Johnson Space Center in Texas.

Altogether, USPS reported that approximately 260,000 actually got to fly in space, even though some of the serial numbers are above that amount. Some of the covers loaded at KSC and JSC could not be included on the flight, therefore, the numbers on the flown covers do not run consecutively from 1 to 260,000. Also, as noted beforehand, there were a few crew-compartment stored covers that would be gems as well.

The lowest numbers that I have, as of now, are 4,114 and 6,099 -- and note -- that the "099" last three digits is the shuttle orbiter number of Challenger (OV-099).