posted 11-30-2025 06:57 AM               

Space Cover 834: France Orbits a Satellite, or Two

Above is a first day of issue cover for France Sc #1137-1138 se-tenant pair, commemorating the launch of France's first satellite, A-1 or Asterix, on November 26, 1965. The stamps were issued four days later in Paris. Both the cachet and #1137 show the French Diamont launch vehicle, and the cachet and #1138 shows A-1 in orbit.

A-1 was launched by a French built Diamant A rocket from the CIEES launch site at Hammaguir, Algeria. With A-1, France became the sixth country to have an artificial satellite and the third country to launch a satellite on its own rocket. The main purpose of this launch was to test the Diamant launcher, though A-1 was also designed to study the ionosphere. A-1 continues to orbit Earth as of 2025 and is expected to remain in orbit for centuries.

So you may ask, why did I feature a first day cover from four days after the launch, postmarked on a different continent from the launch? Simple, I haven't seen an A-1 launch date postmarked cover (November 26, 1965), either from near Hammaguir or even from Paris. Have any of you? If so, please post it!

An interesting aside to this story is that France's second satellite, FR-1 was orbited just ten days later aboard a Scout launch vehicle launched from Vandenberg AFB (SpaceCraft cachet Vukotich #135, 750 issued, below). FR-1 was originally planned to be France's first satellite, with A-1 originally planned to be FR-2. A-1 was sent to orbit prior to FR-1 because French President Charles de Gaulle and the French Space Agency (CNES) wanted France to become the third space power by launching a French satellite on a French launch vehicle, a bigger propaganda coup than launching on a US launcher.

posted 12-01-2025 05:59 AM               

In terms of impact during the history of the 20th century the collapse of the French overseas colonial empire is one of the big events. Not quite as impactful as the First and Second World Wars, the Russian Revolution, the Chinese Long March, The Cold War, and the dismemberment of the largest Empire the world has ever known - the British.

But, unlike the collapse of the British Empire, during which the crown grudgingly and reluctantly severed colonial ties mostly on a peaceful and mutually agreed basis, the post-war French Republic desperately tried to hold on to its overseas territories.

This led not only to the eventual calamitous involvement of the US in what became the Vietnam War (after the French withdrawal from Indo-China because of the botched battle of Dien-Bien-Phu), but also the much more obscure Algerian Revolution (also known as the Franco-Algerian War, or the Algerian War of Independence). It was not a pretty war, and many of the guerrilla tactics adopted by terrorists and revolutionaries throughout the world today first saw the light of day during it. In the eight years it raged it saw the collapse of the Fourth French Republic and the French Union, and then the Fifth French Republic did everything in its power to hold onto the closest colonial territory it had. It was a very bitter war.

When the French eventually conceded independence to Algeria in 1962 there was little love lost between the two combatant nations.

Part of the 'peace deal' was that France 'rented' out the Hammaguir base in deep Saharan territory. It had initially been a fort of the French Foreign Legion, and even though recognised as Algerian, its Tuareg nomadic population had fought for independence from both France and Algeria during the war and they were not a party to the peace talks.

Hammaguir was isolated, in a vast inhospitable desert, hundreds of miles from civilisation, surrounded by hostile enemies, who themselves were fighting a newly formed nation hostile to France. The base was run by the French Army who were not at all pleased that the Fifth Republic had 'sold them out'.

This kind of explains why launch covers from Hammaguir are so rare. Posting and servicing covers for collectors were way down the list of priorities for the personnel of the base. Strict military law applied; life was tense behind the extensive, under-defended, barbed-wire perimeter; luxuries were hard to come by, and even basic necessities were sometimes rationed. All post to and from the base had to be airlifted in and out. Flights could be days and sometimes weeks apart.

Meanwhile, the French went on to develop the leftovers of their former Empire into a kind of Francophone boys club.

Below are a set of eight FDCs for the French A-1 (Army-1, later dubbed by the French press into the much more friendly Asterix apellation, after the cartoon character) issued by the remaining outposts of the Fifth Republic.

posted 12-01-2025 12:53 PM               

As you mentioned, and Antoni has written to me, a very few Hammaguir covers do exist. Antoni has sent an image of one from the AAF website:

posted 12-03-2025 02:37 AM               

Below, my cover for second French satellite FR-1 cancelled at Vandenberg on Dec 6, 1965 and signed by Dr. A.Hocker (Director General) and J.A. Dinkespiler (Director of Programmes and Planning)

Alan, thanks too for your excellent summary sourrounding the historical context for these two French satellites.

posted 12-14-2025 05:21 AM               

Other astrophilatelic societies and their sites are available at our site.

posted 12-15-2025 06:05 AM               

Can I ask: are there any postmarks or corner cards on the reverse of the envelope? I only ask because the cancellations are generic "poste aux armees" without a number that would identify Hammaguir. In all the other Hammaguir covers I have seen, including my Felicette cat cover, there is a second postmark: le Vaguemestre S.P.89.846

I am just wondering how this cover can be tied to Hammaguir, and was not posted in a French Army base in Germany or Marseilles for example.

posted 12-15-2025 09:53 AM               

However, I can understand your doubts/questions because it is not a highly studied topic in Astrophilately.

It is true that some covers bear a second postmark: Le Vaguemestre S.P.89.846 and others no; and some covers bear a second red pictorial postmark *Sites Sahariens*Base d'Hammaguir and others no.

As postal postmark (generic poste aux armees postmark as you called it) is the key element, please be in mind that in covers dated 26.11.1965 you can see only one asterisk under date. However, other postmarks linked with Hammaguir launches have not asterisk but number 612 under the date.

And regarding Felicette cover, if you refer to a cover produced by Lollini, the postmark has three asterisks under the date. And this is the only one cover linked to Hammaguir launches with this type of postmark, besides a second postmark Le Vaguemestre S.P.89.846.

Sorry, if my message leaves you more questions than answers but as I told you, this is a fascinanting topic not well known as well as I am not an especialist in French program.

For sure, if you are able to get some answers to your doubts/questions I would be thankful to receive this information.