posted 03-12-2023 10:48 AM               

Space Cover 692: Unusual Carried Covers

Covers flown on NASA and US military test aircraft go back to the X-15 program and earlier, with legendary collectors Barbara Baker and Harry Gordon creating flown covers that are among the most prized covers in our hobby.

Many other historic space events occurred in the years that followed (Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Viking, Skylab, ALT, Space Shuttle, etc.) and later collectors, besides having interest in flown covers, were also interested in covers actually located/carried on NASA events and tests. This collector was among them and the covers that follow are to present the wide range of covers carried and located on space tests and events from just the 1976-1985 time period:

The top cover above was located in the Viking Control and Computing Center at JPL, and was documented that it was there and mailed from Pasadena on the day of the Viking I landing. The cover below was located in the NORAD Cheyenne Mountain Complex at the time of the re-entry of the Skylab Orbital Workshop in 1979.

The cover at the top was flown in 1976 aboard the Galileo II Ames Research aircraft from Thule, Greenland to Fairbanks, Alaska during a microwave test. Below that is a cover that was actually located and attached to a 6.4% Shuttle scale acoustic model during a live test firing, with tape remnants still on the cover.

The top cover above was carried at MSFC, AL during an experiment proposed for future flight on the LDEF (Long Duration Exposure Facility). Below that is a cover located inside JSC Mission Control by Flight Director Donald Puddy during Enterprise's first free flight in the Approach and Landing Test Program (ALT) at Edwards AFB, CA.

The top cover was located in JSC Mission Control during the STS-41C Shuttle flight and with excellent documenting information added. This last cover was both located and flown. It was located in the Spacelab Payload Control Center at JSC during the STS-51B/Spacelab-3 mission then, as documented, flown with the test animals back to KSC.

Of course, covers were stored and carried on many other various NASA tests and events, including rollouts to the pad and on the launch pad for launches (including 51L).

posted 03-18-2023 07:36 AM               

It makes the space cover hobby so much more fun and personal when results come back with unusual located, stored, carried or flown covers like this. You got a great selection here, Bob, with several of the cover projects that we have shared and worked together on in many cases.

posted 03-19-2023 02:50 PM               

The top cover was located in KSC Firing Room-1 at the time of the first Space Shuttle Launch, as verified by Graydon F. Corn, Chief of the Main Propulsion Branch. The cover below was located inside Mobile Launcher Platform-1 for the STS-1 launch and also previously was on board the Crawler Transporter and MLP during the rollout to the pad.

These two covers relate to the ill-fated STS-51L Challenger launch. The top cover was carried onboard the Crawler Transporter and inside the MLP to pad B. During the rollout it was located inside the control room and signed by five of the Crawler Transporter personnel.