posted 01-15-2023 09:30 AM               

Space Cover 685: NASA Contractor Space Covers

As a new collector and as a way to create some different space covers, I contacted several NASA space contractor companies asking if they would send me some of their company's official return address envelopes (called "corner cards" by philatelists). I received envelopes from three companies: Space Division of Rockwell International; Rocketdyne Division of Rockwell; and Martin Marietta Aerospace of Denver, CO.

Unfortunately, the envelopes from Martin Marietta were long "number ten" legal size (about ten inches in length), but the ones from Rockwell were a smaller size, about seven inches long and just slightly bigger than standard US space covers - a good size for space cover use.

Then with the second Skylab flight, I sent several of these space contractor envelopes to KSC to be canceled for the SL-3 launch. They were canceled and also had the official NASA/KSC SL-3 rubber stamp cachets applied. The same good results happened with SL-4. Then later with ASTP, I also had several Rockwell company envelopes cancelled/cacheted.

At about this same time, I sent several of my Martin Marietta ten inch envelopes to Edwards AFB, CA for some of the X-24B lifting body flights. The one shown, November 15, 1973, was for the first powered flight of the X-24B and it received a red Public Affairs Office rubber stamp cachet (Martin Marietta was the manufacturer of both the X-24A and X-24B).

Three of the five covers shown were autographed by prominent people involved in the programs: W.B. Bergen of Rockwell Space Division and W.J. Brennan of Rocketdyne.

Also the SL-3 astronaut Support Crew nicely autographed one of my SL-3 Rocketdyne covers. And for ASTP I sent Rockwell Space Division covers to KSC and they received an official NASA/KSC Apollo-Soyuz cachet.

posted 01-15-2023 05:28 PM               

I've got many contractor covers from that same era, mainly from Apollo and Viking, but only a limited few unmanned Saturn (SA) legal size contractor envelopes that have a couple or more ONCs from KSC on them along with a few earlier Apollos that I can recall.

The same-type Rockwell contractor-sized envelopes also have many different types of rubber stamp applied impressions from Rockwell itself by the Rockwell Space Division Stamp Club. I've got a bunch of these, however, they're not considered as official ONCs as you were able to acquire.

The X-24B PA-cachet from DFRC on a Martin Marietta Aerospace legal envelope is certainly one-of-a-kind. Well done my collector friend!