posted 02-01-2026 07:00 PM               

Space Cover 843: AS-203 NASA Cachet Variety

Many collectors have Kennedy Space Center (KSC) NASA cachet covers in their collections. Further, many collectors have become specialists by collecting the NASA cachet varieties such as color/tones of the cachet, partial cachets (part on/part off the envelope), on varying size envelopes, machine and hand cancels, etc. The NASA cachets can be found on varying mission dates especially for the later Apollo missions onward.

There are also covers containing multiple official NASA cachets for the same mission (in different colors) or multiple missions (e.g. I have seen one with Apollo 12 and 13 NASA cachets on the same cover). Some of the NASA cachets also appear on covers with Cape Canaveral hand cancels.

There are multiple theories on how these "rare" or "proof" covers came to exist in multiple quantities and colors different than the official versions.

The variety for today's post is a cover with an Apollo 3 (AS-203) NASA cachet from Cocoa, FL. The date of Apollo 3 was July 5, 1966, but the Cocoa cancel is postmarked on November 22, 1966 – about 4 and a half months after the flight.

I can only assume that the original cover had the KSC NASA cachet applied but for some reason did not receive the KSC postmark on July 5 and was later postmarked by remailing from Cocoa, FL in November.

Any other thoughts?

posted 02-05-2026 11:07 AM               

Here are some ONC ive have over the years. The first is a GT-6 and 7 ONC with a Orlando, FL cancel on launch day. Quite rare I think.

The second is a GT-9 ONC with a double cachet cancel. Really cool.

The last but not lease is a very nice example of a GT-6 launch with a great Cape Canaveral HC post mark.

posted 02-06-2026 07:42 PM               

The top cover has an Apollo 13 ONC applied to an emblem cover and canceled on the date of the oxygen tank explosion and the resulting (exaggerated) "1st Deep Space Abort."

The second cover is from the KSC Philatelic Society and has a KSC Apollo 14 Mailer's Postmark Permit pictorial cancel along with an Apollo 14 ONC.

The third cover has a red ONC on a cover marking Skylab 2's second rollout to the pad.

The fourth cover has an unusual pairing of two ONCs for both SL-3 and SL-4 and is canceled for SL-4's rollout.

These four covers are oddities and were created against US postal regulations that required KSC/ONCs be applied only to launch covers.