posted 04-27-2026 03:58 PM               

It had one of my own printed mission emblem covers postmarked at KSC with a signed COA on a parchment paper format. There was nothing on the cover itself for verification of a stored basis, however, on the cover's reverse side at bottom right was "Cover 33 of 120."

There were earlier covers carried, located or stored for shuttle launches beforehand. Most were authenticated on the covers themselves and signed. Many covers were also taking aboard the crawler transporters during several shuttle vehicle rollouts to the pad from the VAB. Perhaps that would be another topic even though similar.

posted 05-09-2026 07:08 AM               

Take for instance rollout events that I believe first got started with Apollo-Soyuz (ASTP) in March 1975. Space cover collecting during the Apollo program was certainly more popular than it is today, however, I have never heard nor seen of any others prior to 1975.

When asking members of the KSC Philatelic Society if such unique covers were arranged, I never did get an answer early on, but later in their retirement, none that they knew of. Of course, though, working with carried/flown/stored covers "on center" might endanger employee jobs or careers if such covers ever came to light. A similar development did occur with ASTP that had been investigated and later cleared.

posted 05-11-2026 10:24 AM               

Way back in 1975, along with the kind assistance of a person directly involved in the rollout of the ASTP Saturn 1B launch vehicle, Ken created perhaps the first documented covers actually carried on a crawler transporter during a rollout to the pad prior to a NASA manned launch.

I'm proud to have these two rollout covers from Ken that were probably done in relatively small numbers (an insignificant note: I paid Ken $5 for the top cover - the bottom cover may have been a freebie. Thanks again, Ken).

posted 05-17-2026 02:25 PM               

That top cover depiction was a somewhat simplistic and/or primitive cachet design, of which about 200 were printed, that had been carried aboard the rollout of the U.S. Apollo-Soyuz Saturn 1B rocket (AS-210) as Bob refers to. It was my very first crude attempt with brother Michael in producing a cachet space cover.

Not shown was an informative 2-page sheet tucked inside each cover with more details concerning the rollout covers that had been placed inside MLP/LUT #1 by a neighbor buddy of mine. His name was John D. Luca, a chief electrical technician that had been assigned to work on every Apollo rollout vehicle from 1966 to 1975.