posted 07-06-2025 09:04 AM               

Space Cover 813: Gemini 9 – The First SCC with a KSC?

Much has been written about Space Craft Covers over the years. With almost 300 different events they produced covers for they are considered the premier set of space covers for the 1960's. Here is yet another story about these great covers.

In 1968, Space Craft started producing covers with a Kennedy Space Center cancel. Cancels from Kennedy Space Center were not easy to obtain due to the regulations put forth by the KSC post office. Joe Fitzpatrick would use the addresses of friends and family to sort of get around the KSC post office rule of only two covers per person. When they were all received Joe would add them to the print run of the regular SCC issues. These KSC cancels were not readily available until well after Joe's death in 1970.

For the longest time, it was believed that the first SCC to receive a KSC cancel was for the launch of Apollo 5 (AS-204) on January 22, 1968. These covers received the Official NASA cachet but Joe printed the SCC cachet on the covers anyway. It is reported that only 18 of these covers exist. Then in 1988 Dad and I purchased the holdings of Space Craft Covers from Joe Fitzpatrick's widow.

Within the boxes of covers we found a few Surveyor 7 covers with KSC cancels. Surveyor 7 was launched on January 7, 1968. There were three covers with KSC postmarks. This pre-dates the Apollo 5 covers by 15 days. It is unknown if more than three covers exist with KSC cancels.

Then, four years ago a Surveyor 6 cover with a KSC cancel was found. This launch took place on November 7, 1967. This is now 2.5 months prior to Apollo 5 making this the earliest known SCC with a KSC cancel. Last September a second Surveyor 6 SCC with a KSC cancel was found and sold on eBay for almost $1700!

Which brings me to the Gemini 9 cover pictured above. This cover pre-dates the Apollo 5 cover by more than 19 months! Its an amazing cover but there are many questions as to why it even exists. The consensus is that Joe or a friend of his sent this in to the KSC post office to receive the KSC cancel and the Official NASA cachet. For some reason the NASA cachet was never applied. It may have just been added to the regular SCC print run for Gemini 9. The stamp placement is lower on the envelope. The KSC post office did ask collectors to do that so as to see the rocket part of the die hub. This would indicate that this cover certainly was intended to receive a KSC cancel.

It is certainly an interesting cover and quite possibly one of a kind making this cover now the earliest Space Craft Cover with a Kennedy Space Center cachet. This cover proudly resides in my collection.