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© Copyright 2007 The Astro Space Stamp Society. No article contained herein may be reproduced without

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Editorial

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for publication should be with the Editor

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www.asss.utvinternet.com/

Happy New Year to you ! 2007 is a year with a major space stamp anniversary in it as the 4th October will be marked as the Fiftieth Anniversary of Sputnik and this is certain to bring a wallet-hurting number of commemorative issues. It will be interesting to see if space designers whose fathers witnessed those momentous days will be able to do anything original with the opportunity. The amenities that space satellites provide us today beyond the obvious telecommunication and television benefit was brought home to me late last year when I heard on local radio that the neon signs on bus shelters in Aberdeen advising passengers when the next bus was due were not working because “the satellite that provides that information” was malfunctioning !! Who would have thought that that such a mundane benefit would have come from satellite development. ? Orbit will mark the occasion with a series of articles which members are invited now to contribute for publication. In particular, members are invited to contribute guesstimates or accurate figures of the number of unmanned launches there have been over the last 50 years. It’s easy to calculate the number of manned launches but that statistic is not yet to hand and is one we ought to have. 10,000 + perhaps ??

ISSN 0953 1599 THE JOURNAL OF THE ASTRO SPACE

STAMP SOCIETY Issue No 72 January 2007

Patron:

Cosmonaut Georgi Grechko, Hero of the Soviet Union

COMMITTEE Chair :

Margaret Morris, 55 Canniesburn Drive, Bearsden, Glasgow G61 1RX (E-mail: MMorris671@aol.com)

Hon. Secretary: Brian J.Lockyer, 21, Exford Close,Weston-Super-Mare,

Somerset BS23 4RE

(E-mail : bjlockyer.spacestamps@virgin.net)

Compiler of Checklist / Hon Treasurer / Postal Packet Organiser

Harvey Duncan,16, Begg Avenue, Falkirk, Scotland FK1 5DL (E-mail: harvey.duncan@lineone.net)

Orbit : Editor Jeff Dugdale, c/o Elgin High School, Elgin, Moray.

Scotland IV30 6UD (E-mail: jefforbited@aol.com)

Orbit: Features Editor

John Berry, 4 Chilterns, S.Hatfield, Herts AL10 8JU (E-mail: diane@berry11.freeserve.co.uk)

Webmaster Derek Clarke, 36 Cherryfield Road, Walkington,

Dublin 12 (E-mail: dclarke@utvinternet.com)

Postal Auction Organiser: David Saunders, 42 Burnet Road, Bradwell,

Great Yarmouth. NR31 8SL.

Overseas Representatives:

Australia: Charles Bromser, 37 Bridport Street, Melbourne 3205. Germany:Jurgen P. Esders, An der Apostelkirche 10, 10783 Berlin

Eire:Derek Clarke, 36 Cherryfield Rd, Walkinstown. Dublin 12. France: Jean-Louis Lafon, 23 Rue de Mercantour, 78310 Maurepas

Netherlands: Bart Beimers, NJ Haismasrt 7, 9061 BV Gierkerk Russia: Mikhail Vorobyov, 31-12 Krupskaya Str, Kostroma

United States: Dr Ben Ramkissoon, 3011 White Oak Lane, Oak Brook, Il 60521 USA

Life Members: UK - Harvey Duncan, George Spiteri, Ian Ridpath, Margaret Morris, Michael Packham, Dr W.R. Withey, Paul Uppington, Jillian Wood.

Derek Clarke (Eire,) Charles Bromser (Australia,) Tom Baughn (U.S.A.,) Ross Smith (Australia,)

Vincent Leung Wing Sing (Hong Kong.) Mohammed K.Safdar (Saudi Arabia)

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Un-manned Satellites on Postage Stamps : 20 By Guest Contributors Don Hillger and Garry Toth

A version of this article first appeared in The Astrophile for Jan-Feb 2006

The OGO Series This is the twentieth in a series of articles about un-manned satellites on postage stamps. This article features the Orbiting Geophysical Observatory (OGO)-series satellites. Six OGO satellites were launched, starting with OGO-1 on 5 September 1964, and ending with OGO-6 on 5 June 1969. There were no OGO launch failures. The OGO satellites were all parallelepiped (box-shaped) in form, with two solar panels and several instrument packages. Three-axis stabilization was intended to keep one side of the spacecraft body pointing towards the earth at all times. However this did not prove possible for all the satellites in the series, and a low-rate spin had to be applied to some of the spacecraft. Orbital elements such as perigee, apogee, and inclination (to the equator) varied widely among the six satellites. Perigees ranged from about 230 km to 14,000 km, apogees from 900 km to 114,000 km, and inclinations from 31° to 87°, depending on the types of experiments flown and the data that were to be collected. Some of the instruments were oriented towards the sun, others in the orbital plane, and yet others were attached to booms extending from the spacecraft body. Experiments were for many diversified geophysical studies: energetic particles, geomagnetic and electric fields, plasma waves, interplanetary dust, electromagnetic radiation ranging from very low frequencies to UV and X-rays, atmospheric composition and heating, radio astronomy, aurora and airglow emissions, and ionospheric properties. Because the six OGO spacecraft were so similar, all but one of the postal items showing OGO do not specifically note a satellite number. Only the stamp from Sierra Leone issued in 1989 (Scott 1069a) specifically identifies the satellite (as OGO-4). A checklist of postal items showing OGO series satellites (http://www.cira.colostate.edu/ramm/hillger/OGO.htm) is available on the Website developed by the authors for the un-manned satellites featured in this series of articles (http://www.cira.colostate.edu/ramm/hillger/satellites.htm). E-mail correspondence is welcome. Don Hillger can be reached at hillger@cira.colostate.edu and Garry Toth at garry_toth@hotmail.com.

Picture taken from Mark Wade’s online Encyclopaedia Astronautica

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The Carter Observatory, Wellington, New Zealand.

Private Postal Issue—report by Brian G Vincent

The Carter Observatory is situated in Kelburn, Wellington and National Observatory status was conferred in 1977. It was named after Charles Rooking Carter who died in 1896 and who bequeathed funds for it to be built. The observatory was opened in 1941. This set of five stamps depicting designs related to the Carter Observatory was issued by Universal Mail – one of the private postal companies operating in New Zealand – the $1.50 stamps can be used for airmailing postcards around the world. No first day of issue has been recorded and as far as I am aware FDC’s were not made available.

Illustrated below is the strip of five stamps, one used on a picture postcard and also the picture side of the postcard (historical refractor housed at the Observatory) showing the same design as the stamp. The Wellington branch of the New Zealand Spaceflight Association also meets each month at the Carter Observatory.

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Bob Jones: Brief Biography A number of strands in my life combined to lead me to the ASSS. I had started collecting stamps while at primary school, partly under the influence of an uncle who was a keen collector. As with many young people, my interest waned during my teens, but I kept my collection and in my late 20s I took up collecting again. This time I was more focussed, and concentrated on the countries with which I had a personal connection: Germany, France and Iraq. I became increasingly interested in the complex postal history of Germany and for the last ten years this has been my main philatelic interest, supported by my membership of the Germany and Colonies Philatelic Society. The second strand came about more by chance. I had been trained as a chemist at university, and worked as a research scientist in the household products industry. I had to give up my job, however, for medical reasons. In order to keep my mind active, I started to study the humanities with the Open University. I had to produce a project report for a course on British Cinema, and combined my two areas of expertise by looking at how scientists had been represented in British films. This proved to be a fruitful and little studied area, and I have continued to work on it, publishing several papers. I had wanted to compare the British films with those of other countries, particularly continental Europe, but always felt that I had insufficient language skills. My “eureka” moment came when I realised that I could compare the attitudes to science in different countries by looking at how it was represented on their postage stamps, as I explained in my recent Orbit article. The final strand was space rockets. After finishing my first degree I started an MA course in Popular Culture, specialising in cinema, again with the Open University . A significant part of this course was a dissertation, and I decided to extend my previous work on science to look at how the conquest of space had been represented in British films. My initial work in this area brought me into contact with Dave Wright, the organiser of the British Rocket Oral History Programme (BROHP), who was invaluable in filling in the historical background for me. Although I had then only scratched the surface of the topic, I found myself giving a talk at the BROHP annual conference, and becoming involved in organising the cultural part of the programme. At present I am the book review editor for Prospero , the annual journal of BROHP.

One of the questions that came up regularly at the BROHP conferences was about the celebration of space exploration on postage stamps, and it seemed an obvious step to extend my work on scientists on stamps in this direction. But first I decided to do a web search to find out what had already been done, and this led me to the ASSS web-site and a sample copy of Orbit. I was astonished at the amount of knowledge about space stamps that the ASSS membership represented, so I joined as a member and hope to be able to use, and perhaps add to, this store of knowledge.

IDENTITY STAMP

MEMBER PROFILE

Our Wirral based member Dr Robert A Jones produced his first article (on countries’ space stamp issuing policies) for Orbit in our last issue. Bob has had several papers previously published in academic journals and websites

What I Did on My Holidays ! Your Editor at the Orbit restaurant at KSC on 16th October and witnessing the spectacular night time launch of a Delta rocket from Cocoa Beach Pier on Wed 26th October.

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June 16, 2006 marked the 43rd anniversary of the first woman in space- Russian cosmonaut Valentina V. Tereshkova, who broke the female space barrier on June 16, 1963 in Vostok 6 and capsule "Sea Gull". She became the first woman to follow the first man (Yuri Gagarin) into space by orbiting Earth 48 times. America's efforts to train and assign women for manned space missions in the 1960's were confused and the assignments did not materialize. The Jerry Cobbs and Jane Harts of these early years in the Mercury 13 program fell by the wayside. As Bettyann Holtzmann Kevles explained in her book Almost Heaven - the Story of Women in Space, "NASA had known for at least three years that a woman cosmonaut was on the Soviet agenda, but moon missions, known as Apollo, completely filled NASA's vision." Those women in the Mercury 13 program were our first women space dreamers and they deserve recognition. The 32 American women astronauts who have thus far ventured into space in the U.S. Space Shuttle program (see list on page 16) fit the words of Eleanor Roosevelt, when she wrote about gaining strength, courage and confidence by looking fear in the face and doing things which one thinks they cannot do. Our women astronauts abandoned ordinary paths in life and blazed new trails in space while looking fear in the face. They were not just along for the ride. They were and still are role models for millions of young women. They have purpose, dedication, and outstanding backgrounds in military service and prestigious universities. They worked along with men to become astronauts and mission specialists since 1978 when NASA opened our space frontier to all. Their records are outstanding. The work of our women astronauts is also about our future. They have lived and worked on the Mir Space Station and later the International Space Station, helped to repair the Hubble Space Telescope, launched satellites, helped to assemble the ISS, performed space research, "walked" in space, conducted bio-medical experiments, piloted the space shuttle, advanced space mechanical operations and studied our planet from space - all to help improve life on Earth, pioneer space and to keep space exploration alive. Cheers to those great women with their abiding interest to connect our earthly existence with new worlds. They know the risk.

Four U.S. women astronauts have perished in space. As astronaut Sally Ride stated, "Most astronauts recognize that the space shuttle program is very high-risk and are prepared for accidents." Although women comprise a much smaller percentage of the U.S. astronaut corps than men, NASA has assigned one or two women to nearly every space shuttle mission since the flight of Sally Ride (STS-7 in 1983). The last shuttle mission to fly without a woman in the crew was STS-82 in February 1997. According to NASA, there are

currently 30 women astronauts in the astronaut corps, which is composed of 103 active astronauts and 39 management astronauts. The accomplishments and exploits of our women astronauts have been recorded by space philatelists on space covers. Shown here is a sampling of the more notable covers Thanks to Bill York for his assistance in preparing this article for publication. Ref: Bettyann Holtzman Kerles, Almost Heaven - The story of women in space, MIT Press, March 2006 (288 pp.) - http://www.mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item…10808 http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/womwn/womenasf.html http://jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/astrobio_activemgmt.html http://Search.looksmart.com/p/browse/us1/us317916…. http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/s/sally_ride.html http://www.spacefacts.de/english/bio_ast.htm http://aerospaceguide.net/women_in_space.html http://www.astronautix.com/articles/womspace.html http://www.friends-partners.org/partners/mwade/articles/ womspace.htm (Bob’s article was first published in The Astrophile for May-June 2006).

CHEERS TO U.S. WOMEN ASTRONAUTS By new member Bob Weinberger

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Fig. 1 - Judy Resnick's autograph on a combination cover featuring KSC hand cancels for STS-3 (22 Mar 82) and Resnick's ill-fated Challenger STS - 51L (28 Jan 86)

Fig. 3 - STS-32 cover dated 12 Jan 90 with autographs of Marsha Ivins and Bonnie Dunbar - both veterans of five space flights

Fig. 2 - STS-7 launch cover (18 June 83) - On this Challenger mission Sally Ride became the first American woman to make a space flight Fig. 4 - STS-47 launch & landing cover (12-20 Sep 92); Mae Jemison became the first African-American woman in space on this mission

Fig. 5 - STS-93 launch coved dated 22 July 99, autographed by Eileen Collins, the first woman Mission Commander Fig. 6 - STS-101 launch cover dated 19 May 2000 autographed by Susan Helms, the first woman crew member on the ISS

Fig. 7 - ISS 11A launch cover dated 23 Nov 2002; Dr. Peggy Whitson (laun ched aboard STS-111 - 5 June 02) became the first NASA science officer on the ISS. She returned to Earth aboard STS-113 - 7 Dec 2002.

The accomplishments and exploits of our women astronauts have been

recorded by space philatelists on space covers.

Shown here is a sampling of more

notable covers.

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Checklist of U.S. WOMEN ASTRONAUTS listed by days spent in space

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Flight STS-37 Commander Steven Nagel Pilot Kenneth Cameron MS Jerry Ross MS Jay Apt MS Linda Godwin KSC Launch Date 5.4.1991 EAFB Landing 11.4.1991 Purpose / Gamma Ray Observatory Main Payload Deployment

Shuttle Story : 1991—STS-37, -39, -40, -43, -48, -44

Unscheduled EVA Saves GRO

Atlantis’s eighth mission became one of the most exciting flights in the programme’s history to date, which saw an emergency spacewalk to help deploy the world’s heaviest orbiting observatory, other scheduled spacewalk activity last over six hours, contact with MIR by amateur radio and numerous scientific experiments. With the large GRO payload stored onboard a month earlier, Atlantis was prepared for launch with countdown beginning on April 2nd and despite concerns about the weather particularly in the final hours to lift-off, unusually there were no delays and the shuttle launched only five minutes later than first planned ! Before retiring for the night on Day One in space, however, the crew received bad news as astronaut Sonny Carter had earlier that day died in an airplane crash. Day Two, on which GRO was to be prepared for deployment, began with the crew awake to sound of a marching band from The University of Illinois (the commander’s alma mater). Astronauts Ross and Apt breathed pure oxygen for an hour in preparing for a contingency EVA if the deployment via the Remote Manipulator System required human intervention, as indeed it did. Meantime other astronauts worked on SHARE (Space Station Heat Pipe Advanced Radiator System) which failed to work on STS-29 and again the experiment encountered significant problems. Day Three’s wake-up tune (The Marine Corps Hymn) was in honour of pilot, US Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel Ken Cameron. Round about this time the shuttle passed over Saudi Arabia/Kuwait and the crew was able to see the aftermath of the Gulf War with hundreds of burning oil wells spewing thick black smoke, recorded in over 800 pictures taken from the shuttle. Halfway through the day Astronaut Godwin grappled the GRO and began to gingerly lift the 16-tonne package into space. “While it does not weigh anything it has all those properties of mass so you have to move it very, very slowly” she commented. All the various aspects of the GRO operated well until it was time for the observatory’s High Gain Antennae to deploy but they remained firmly attached to underside of the GRO, a problem which shaking, rolling and tipping of the mother craft failed to resolve. Thus the preparations by Apt and Ross proved to have been wise ones and they emerged into space some eight hours after the first stage of the deployment had begun. When Ross took hold of the antennae and jostled it suddenly the five metre long boom sprung away from the observatory. They continued to help with the manual deployment as the sending of further automatic commands would expose the astronauts to RF energy from the spacecraft. During the remainder of the operation Apt supported Ross at the foot restraint and made sure his legs did not damage the GRO. With the deployment now rescued, the astronauts performed some scheduled tasks earlier than planned with Apt evaluating two different kinds of hand rail and Ross working at the Crew Loads Pallet. Then with astronauts safely back inside but still in suits in case they had to return the automatic deployment procedures continued with the GRO finally released into space just under five hours late. On Day Four the astronauts were awakened later than planned following the exhausting day before. Ross and Apt then returned to the payload bay to conduct further scheduled experiments including assembling a 14.6 metre long CETA track on the port

side of the shuttle’s payload bay and went on to evaluate a mechanical and an electric cart, both of which worked much better in zero-g than on the ground. The cart powered manually, rather like the old fashioned railroad hand cart, proved to be the better means of moving along the payload pay with bulky equipment in hand. The astronauts also conducted tests of the RMS using it as a work platform and finding it surprisingly robust. Ross was then given the ride of a lifetime at the end of the robotic arm being moved around by Godwin at increasingly greater speeds. New kinds of space gloves were also tried during this second EVA. Day Five’s alarm—a Harvard tune– was in honour of alumnus Jay Apt and the crew spent the day working inside their mid-deck cabin . During orbit 61 Atlantis passed within 100 km of MIR and made partial radio contact with Musa Manarov on board but there was a lot of interference. Day Six was the scheduled landing day but weather conditions were not ideal on the ground and the crew landed a day late after a fairly quiet penultimate day in space. During the roll-out the shuttle’s carbon brakes were tested for the first time.

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Sources : The narrative on page 18 is based on a report in Spaceflight

magazine for June 1991 by Roelef Schuiling and Steven Young

For up to date space news access

www.bis-spaceflight.com

Above, a Launch and AFB return cover.

The principal theme of the mission patch is the primary payload , the Gamma Ray Observatory. The shuttle craft and the observatory are connected by a large Greek letter gamma (γ) which symbolises

both the quest for gamma rays and the relationship between the manned and unmanned US space exploration programmes.

The Earth background shows the southern portion of the USA under partial cloud cover which the two fields of three and seven

stars refer to the mission’s number.

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Flight STS-39 Commander Michael Coats Pilot Blaine Hammond MS Gregory Harbaugh MS Donald McMonagle MS Guion Bluford PS Richard Hieb PS Charles Veach KSC Launch Date 28.4.1991 KSC Landing 6. 5.1991 Purpose / Main Payload Secret Payload

Secret “Star Wars” Mission When it blasted off on April 28th 1991. Discovery embarked on the most complicated Shuttle mission in the programme’s history to date, carrying a battery of instruments to help design space-borne warhead detection systems for the USA’s Strategic Defense Initiative. The seven man crew performed a record number of thruster firings during the eight day mission, deployed and recovered a free-flying platform, deployed three sub-satellites, one classified satellite and observed spectacular aurora displays. There were two primary payloads, the Infrared Background Signature Survey (IBSS)/Shuttle Pallet Satellite (SPAS)-II and the Air Force Program (AFP)-675. Data from the experiments was designed to help in construction of space-borne sensors to detect enemy warheads as they cruise outside the atmosphere. The IBSS instrument on SPAS was a liquid helium cooled sensors, the Arizona imager/spectrograph (AIS) and the primary instrument on AFP-675 was the Cryogenic Infrared Radiance Instrumentation for Shuttle (CIRRIS). Because warheads could be disguised by chemicals the IBSS instrument observed chemical releases to assess their characteristics. Also flown was Space Test Payload (STP)-1 a collection of five separate experiments mounted on a “hitchhiker “ structure that straddled the payload bay. The astronauts in this first ever all-NASA seven man crew—including five rookies—were divided into two shifts (Red and Blue) so work could be conducted around the clock, with Commander Michael Coats mainly working with the Red shift comprising Hammond, Veach and Hieb. Coats explained the complexity of his mission by saying that the training was 50% again as usual with more integrated simulations and joint integrated simulations than any previous flight. Guion Bluford, making his third flight, commented on the number of manoeuvring burns the craft made and on the interesting ground features seen because the craft was flying at 57° inclination to the Equator. Discovery lifted off in a flawless ascent after some days’ delay and then some hours late on eventual launch day, being inserted into a 137 by 24 nautical miles orbit, with an OMS burn taking it into a nearly perfectly circular orbit of 140 x 138 nautical miles. The crew encountered their first serious problem late on Day One when two data recorders on AFP-675 failed about four hours

after activation, but this was not considered too serious as they were needed mainly for experiments scheduled late on in the flight, giving ground controllers time to work on a possible solution. As Discovery approached Antarctica the crew reported seeing spectacular aurora, a prime target for several of their instruments. Bluford estimated that the aurora “got up to three or four hundred kilometres” - sometimes the craft flew through the wispy green light of the aurora curtain—as all on board were “ooing” and “arring”. The crew were also asked to photograph smoke from Central American fires drifting up as far as Texas and Florida and a cyclone over Bangladesh whilst the still burning Kuwait oil fields were a sad sight. Days Two and Three were largely spent on the troublesome CIRRIS equipment. The flight plan was likened to a house of cards by Coats : if you started to pull one out the whole thing fell down. On Day Four the SPAS-2 satellite was released from the robot arm and within a few hours was giving problems which were not solved until late in the day, after which the orbiter performed a space ballet (in orbital darkness) relative to the satellite manoeuvring all around it. These movements were nicknamed the Malarkey Milkshake after the rendezvous specialist who had choreographed them. All the time

astronauts manoeuvred SPAS to keep its instruments trained on Discovery. On Day Five the orbiter released its load of nitrogen tetroxide rocket fuel as the IBSS instrument looked on and later in the day a second sub-satellite CRO-B was released with the third one following on Day Six. On Day Seven SPAS was returned to the payload bay and two astronauts performed an ingenious by-pass operation to reroute data from the AFP-675 to the ground, solving the Day One data recording problem. The classified MPEC satellite was deployed on the final day in space, as the shuttle passed over the Arabian Sea.

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Launch and KSC Landing cover for STS– 39

The crew patch which is displayed on the cover is shaped like an arrowhead representing a skyward aim to learn more about our planet’s atmosphere and space environment in support of

the Department of Defense. The USA’s national symbol is represented by the constellation Aquila (the Eagle) as its brightest star Altair lifts a protective canopy above the earth.

The shuttle encircles the spectrum which represents X-ray, ultraviolet, visible and infrared electromagnetic radiation to be measured by a variety of scientific instruments on the flight.

Sources : The narrative on page 20 is based on a report in Spaceflight magazine for July 1991 by Roelef Schuiling and Steven Young

For up to date space news access www.bis-spaceflight.com

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Focus on Life Sciences in Spacelab Mission

In June 1991 the crew of Columbia studied how the human body is affected by weightlessness, SLS-1 being the first in a series of Spacelab Life Science missions. The astronauts carried out 20 investigations in the seven metre long European built Spacelab module, ten involving human subjects, nine on rodents and one using a lot of jellyfish. Although the craft performed well, for most of the mission it looked as if an emergency EVA would be necessary to close the payload bay doors. The crew was divided into two groups, with the orbiter team comprising O’Connor, Gutierrez and Jernigan and the science team made up of the other two mission specialist and the two payload specialists. Lift-off had been originally scheduled for May 22 but it was third time lucky before the craft got aloft with a string of problems (e.g. with temperature sensors in the propulsion system) dogging launch attempts. On Day One in orbit the 60 foot long payload bay doors were swung open within an hour and a half of launch and soon after the crew began to start up the Spacelab’s systems and astronauts entered the module within fours hours of take-off. As this occurred flight controllers expressed concern that a loose insulation blanket and torn teflon seal might inhibit the later closing of the doors. Experimentation had been before launch as astronaut Gaffney was launched with a two foot long catheter in his right arm placed in such a way as it could measure blood pressure in the large vessels near his heart. This pressure reflects the degree of shift of fluid in the body. Measurements were taken during the first four hours of his time in space before being removed, with much more rapid changes than anticipated being noted. Also before Spacelab was opened up measurements were taken of crew members’ leg volumes to give an indication of how body fluids had shifted and studies of kidney function were also performed in the mission’s early hours. Soon after lift off PS Hughes-Fulford collected blood, saliva and urine samples from the science crew members and chemical tracers were injected to monitor changes in kidney function. Some of the first SLS experiments included obtaining ultrasound images of the heart and an immunology test aimed at looking at how well white blood cells function in microgravity. One of the more unusual experiments involved nearly two and half thousand jellyfish at the earliest stage of development in small plastic bags. Such jellyfish should evolve from polyps into their ephyrae stage within the five or six days that the mission was scheduled to take, but this group of biota were to do all that without ever experiencing gravity. The first objective of the experiment was to test how the jellyfish’s gravity receptors (similar to otoliths in the human ear which affect balance) develop and behave in zero-g. On Day Two the first ever lung function tests in space were performed. Lungs were of particular interest as they are very sensitive to gravity and also provide a window on the circulation of blood in the body. Other tests were made on an astronaut’s carotid artery on body responses by use of an inflatable neck collar. Meantime rats carried in the Animal Holding Facility appeared to be acting healthily and eating more and moving around more energetically than their counterparts in the mid-deck. Astronauts were woken during the night to attend to a

malfunction in the Orbiter Refrigerator Freezer containing samples which warmed up unacceptably and began to emit a strange odour. Daily samples of saliva, blood and urine were taken and regular echocardiograph and cardiovascular studies continued. Video imagery of pulsating jellyfish just one cm long were downloaded to the control centre. The General Purpose Work Station—a kind of glove box- was making its maiden flight and crew members tested to see if an intravenous drip could be used in zero-g. Various experiments house in GAS canisters were activated. After a lot of work on the ground simulations of the payload bay seal problem managers decided that the doors would close safely and no spacewalk was needed, but Commander O’Connor was not confident with those predictions and questioned the decision. It was then decided that towards the end of the mission crew would watch and videotape the closure of the doors from inside the Spacelab as a precaution. On Day Four, astronauts continued work on the GPWS and Research Animal Holding Facility. Vestibular studies began with astronauts using a rotating chair to evaluate zero-g effects on balance sense information. Next day programme scientists Ron White noted that for four days the crew had exceeded the highest level of information return which he rated as “superb”. Before retiring on Day Five astronaut Bagian, who is an amateur magician, correctly predicted which card ground based Flight Director Pennington would turn over ! Experiments continued throughout Days Six and Seven and went so well than it was decided that for Day Eight astronauts could pick and choose what they wanted to do and this included successfully moving a rodent in its enclosure from the RAHF to the GPWS which was a big step proving that “particulates” in these boxes could be contained. O’Connor radioed to mission control that he had observed a dust storm cloud over Algeria that stretched all the way across the Atlantic Ocean and into the Caribbean and the crew observed yellowish cloud erupting from Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines. The mission ended with a safe return to home on Day Ten and Columbia’s landing saw the introduction of a major new item of crew support equipment—the Crew Transfer Vehicle, a very large mobile cabin similar in size (but differently equipped !) to a people mover at large airports—in fact acquired from Baltimore Washington International Airport.

Flight STS-40 Commander Bryan O’Connor Pilot Sidney Gutierrez MS Tamara Jernigan MS Rea Seddon MS James Bagian PS Drew Gaffney PS Millie Hughes-Fulford

KSC Launch Date 5. 6.1991 EAFB Landing 14. 6. 1991 Purpose / Life Science Experimentation

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Launch and EFB Landing cover for STS–40

The crew patch which is displayed on the above cover makes a contemporary statement focusing on humans living and working in space.

Against a background of the universe seven stars represent the astronauts. The orbiter’s flight path forms a double helix designed to represent the DNA molecule common to all living creatures. Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian man

silhouetted against the blue darkness of the heavens, touching both the Earth with arms extended to touch the shuttle’s orbit is an embodiment of the extension of human inquiry from the boundaries of Earth to the limitless

laboratory of space. A brilliant red and yellow Earth limb links Earth to space as it radiates from a native American symbol for the sun (top right corner).

At the frontier of space the traditional symbol for the sun vividly links America’s past to its future.

Sources : The narrative on page 22 is based on reports in Spaceflight

magazine for October, November and September 1991 by Roelef

Schuiling and Steven Young

For up to date space news access www.bis-spaceflight.com

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Fourth TDRS Deployed In August 1991, Atlantis deployed the fourth $120M Tracking Data and Relay Satellite, so completing a system of virtually continuous contact with ground controllers for future shuttle flights. The flight ended with a “picture perfect” landing at KSC, the first such planned landing there in six years. The only rookie on the flight was pilot Michael Baker, with two fellow crew (Blaha and Lucid) making their third flights, Lucid thus becoming the first woman to make three flights into space. The launch was the 42nd in the series and Atlantis’ ninth, it having been readied for launch in record breaking time after spending only 59 days in the OPF since its last flight. However its launch was postponed by weather and by technical difficulties three times before successful take-off with 23rd July the originally planned launch day. One of the most critical milestones occurred on the shuttle’s fourth orbit as Atlantis passed over the Goldstone and White Sands tracking stations, by which time Lucid had elected the TDRS/IUS to an angle of 29° and turned on the satellite’s downlink transmitter—and the system worked well ! The satellite was sprung out of the payload bay some six and a quarter hours after take-off and within the hour it had been handed over to the IUS and TDRS ground based directors. Much of Day Two’s activities were spent on the Shuttle Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet (SSBUV) instrumentation, which was housed in two adapted GAS canisters. Later in the day Lucid had problems with the privately funded BIMDA payload designed to investigate the scientific methods and commercial potential of biomedical manufacturing processes. During the day the crew transmitted the first TV footage of the TDRS deployment, which showed an arc-shaped piece of debris several feet long floating away from the shuttle and which later was deduced to be a piece of ice shaken loose from an engine nozzle when the TDRS was jettisoned. Later after deploying the Space Station Advanced Heatpipe Radiator Element the astronauts were able to photograph Hurricane Fefa located between California and Hawaii. Next day the crew obtained photos of the Hurricane Guillermo storm system developing in the western Pacific and photographed oil field and atmospheric pollution in the Middle East. The Optical Communication Through Shuttle Window experiment began. In this experiment signals pass through a fibre optic system and are routed to the cabin from the payload bay through the after flight deck windows. On Day Five Commander Blaha commented on the gold mine of the shuttle mid-deck and looked forward to the enhanced possibilities of experimentation on Space Station Freedom which he was very enthusiastic about. Later in a press conference the astronauts remarked on how the Earth’s atmosphere had appeared to have deteriorated, possibly through recent volcanic eruptions and fires in Kuwait for example, which were still spewing

black smoke for hundreds of miles to their south. On Day Six MS Adamson started a deliberate fire in space within the Solid Surface Combustion Experiment designed to study flame behaviour in zero-g within an enclosed chamber. The flame did not point up like a candle flame on earth but formed “a sort of ball as the filter paper burns”. One of the few problems of the flight occurred when astronauts were unable to attach a light intensifier to a Nikon camera for observations of the Earth’s aurora and phenomenon known as “shuttle glow”. (It was later discovered that a lens adapter needed for the experiment had been left on earth possibly after a training exercise !) On Day Seven MSs Low and Adamson utilised the Lower Body Negative Pressure device to study how to counteract the pooling of blood in the lower bodies of astronauts, common in space flight and a problem which delays re-adaptation to gravity when back on earth. The device uses a mild vacuum to draw body fluids into the lower limbs and thereby place an increased hydrostatic load on the heart. Meanwhile Commander Blaha and MS Adamson were busy testing a new low-impulse digital autopilot, designed to minimise thruster firings when controlling the orbiter’s attitude. Further heart tests following up the LBNP device used on Low and Adamson the day before took place at the start of Day Eight. The crew went on to use the ingeniously modified photography equipment to record “shuttle glow” effects. On the penultimate day the crew were woken to the sound of croaking frogs recorded by Shannon Lucid’s 15 year old son, Michael, in the family’s backyard. A number of experiments used throughout the mission were brought to close as the crew prepared for the landing, which on Day Ten brought an end their flight of 8 days 21 hours and 21 minutes. The traditional walk around the shuttle did not take place and post-flight medical checks began at once.

Flight STS-43 Commander John Blaha Pilot Michael Baker MS Sharon Lucid MS David Low MS James Adamson KSC Launch Date 2. 8.1991 KSC Landing 11.8.1991

Purpose / TDRS-E, SHARE SSBUV Main Payload OCTW

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Launch and Landing cover for STS–43

The crew patch portrays the evolution and continuity of the USA’s space programme by

highlighting 30 years of American manned space flight from Mercury

(note the outline shape of the patch) to the space shuttle. The energy and momentum of launch are conveyed by the gradations of

blue which mark the shuttle’s ascent. Inside the payload bay is

the TDRS. The stars are arrangement to conveyed the

shuttle’s “4-3” numerical designation.

Sources : The narrative on page 24 is based on a report in Spaceflight

magazine for January 1992 by Roelef Schuiling and Steven Young

For up to date space news access www.bis-spaceflight.com

Below a cover signed for the Editor by Michael Baker when he visited Inverness as part of a schools

promotion in science education by NASA personnel in 2004

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Flight STS-48 Commander John Creighton Pilot Ken Reightler MS Charles D. (Sam) Gemar MS Mark Brown MS James Buchli KSC Launch Date 12. 9.1991 EAFB Landing 18. 9.1991

Purpose / UARS— Main Payload Ozone Watching Satellite

“Mission to Planet Earth”

The crew of Discovery got NASA’s “Mission to Planet Earth” under way on September 15th with the deployment of the 7.7 tonne Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite after which the astronauts performed micro-gravity experiments and assembled models of large space structures in the shuttle cabin. A planned night time KSC landing had to be cancelled due to bad weather and the landing was switched to California. Pilot Reightler was the only rookie on the flight with Commander Creighton on his third journey into space and MS Jim Buchli serving as flight engineer making his fourth. The lift-off was the culmination of one of the smoothest countdown’s in the shuttle’s history with the craft taking off within 15 minutes of the scheduled time. Two and half hours into the mission the crew began to check out UARS and MS Brown uncradled the 50 ft RMS before going on to use the TV camera on its end to inspect the satellite. MS Gemar meantime was setting up the Cosmic Radiation Effects and Activation Monitor (CREAM) and the Shuttle Activation monitor (SAM) which respectively collect data on radiation and gamma ray activity within the crew cabin. On Day Two the shuttle’s orbit was raised via two RCS burns each of just under two and a half minutes which enabled the orbiter to release UARS into a slightly better than the planned 305 nm orbit so prolonging its ozone watching period of activity. Each day the astronauts monitored the health of eight month old female rats being flown on the Physiological and Anatomical Rodent Experiment within an animal enclosure module on the lower deck, which was designed to study muscle atrophy in the rats’ hind legs. UARS deployment began on Day Three when the satellite was transferred onto its internal supply and its umbilical cut. Happily the satellite solar arrays responded to ground control instructions and reached 30 ft as intended –without need for an emergency spacewalk—but problems began when the satellite’s steerable high gain antennae failed to lock onto the TDRS satellites as planned and the release of UARS was delayed for one orbit though that meant it would happen in darkness and this occurred successfully over the west coast of Africa. The communication problem with the TDRS system continued but was solved with a switch to a back-up transponder.

Potential Collision with Kosmos 995 rocket An otherwise routine Day Four was interrupted when for the first time in the history of the shuttle programme an orbiter had to take evasive action to avoid a piece of space debris—the discarded upper stage of Soviet satellite Kosmos 955 launched fourteen years earlier ! Computer predictions indicated that this one-tonne rocket body would pass within two kilometres of the shuttle and so would constitute a “near-miss”. Discovery eventually passed at a safe distance of

16km. At the time of this manoeuvre astronauts had to temporarily leave the Mid-deck 0-Gravity Dynamics Experiment on aspect of which involved two Lexan cylinders, two containing silicon oil and two water, the shaking of which was to provide data for future predictions on the behaviour of fluid systems in space. The crew transmitted footage of the Aurora Borealis over Northern Canada and enjoyed spectacular views of the entire length of the US Eastern Seaboard form Maine to Florida. Their last full day in space (the Fifth) saw them prepare for landing but they took time out to participate in a live phone-in on the Larry King radio show taking a dozen questions from members of the public, during which they unsurprisingly confided to listeners that they took no money into space (leaving their wallets with their wives) and that they had seen no UFOs during the mission!! The M0DE experiment, which looked at several aspects of behaviour in zero-gravity, was concluded with the assembly of models of truss structures in the mid-deck area and its results were expected to lead to more accurate and sophisticated computer models that would predict the behaviour of future large space structures such as space stations. At 6.35 a.m. EDT on September 17th UARS fired two of its main thrusters to begin the climb towards operational orbit of 585 kms. Day Six saw the weather turned nasty on the ground and scheduled plans to land at KSC had to be revised with the orbiter doing a further orbit in order to prepare for landing at Edwards AFB, a disappointment both for the crew and earth-bound watchers who enjoy the spectacular and firey re-entrance of space shuttles over land. The crew exited the orbiter directly into the new Crew Transport Vehicle but soon after left it in order to make the traditional inspection walk around their craft which overall had returned from spaceflight in good shape.

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Sources : The narrative on page 26 is based on a report in

Spaceflight magazine for March 1992 by Roelef Schuiling and

Steven Young .

For up to date space news access www.bis-spaceflight.com

The crew patch left was designed to represent Discovery in orbit shortly after deployment of UARS depicted in block letter style. The stars are those in the Northern Hemisphere as seen in autumn and winter when UARS was to begin its work. The colour bands on Earth’s atmosphere extending up to UARS depict the study of the atmosphere, the triangular shape representing the relationship amongst the three atmospheric processes that determine upper atmospheric structure and behaviour : chemistry, dynamics and energy.

Launch and Landing cover for STS–48

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Flight STS-44 Commander Frederick Gregory Pilot Tom Hendricks MS Mario Runco MS Story Musgrave MS James Voss PS Tom Hennen KSC Launch Date 24.11.1991 EAFB Landing 1.12.1991

Purpose / Early Warning Satellite Main Payload Deployment

Curtailed Atlantis Mission Despite an early return to Earth the crew of STS-44 achieved the vast majority of their objectives. Within six hours of launch they had overseen the successful deployment of a $300 million Defense Support Program missile warning satellite, but the flight was cut short by three days after the malfunction of a crucial piece of equipment. Four rookies on the crew were Pilot Henricks and MSs Mario Runco and Jim Voss and military Payload Specialist Tom Hennen, whilst Commander Gregory was making his third flight. MS Musgrave was the most experienced making the fourth of what were to be a total of six missions in his career. STS-44 was the 44th space shuttle mission, just by pure chance and this was the tenth flight by Atlantis The flight was delayed by five days when a gyroscope in the satellite’s IUS failed but the shuttle roared off the launch pad in a spectacular night time launch at 6.44 pm EST on 24th November. Story Musgrave had a unique view of the lift-off as from the centre seat on the flight deck he watched through the overhead windows using a mirror strapped to his wrist. The DSP satellites built by TRW—this one was called Liberty—have a 12 ft long infrared telescope equipped with 6,000 sensors. Located in geostationary and spinning at six revolutions per minute they sweep the Earth every ten seconds looking for the tell-tale infrared signature of a missile launch, can also detect nuclear detonations and are resistant to jamming by laser beams. During the 1991 Gulf War such satellites reportedly detected 88 Iraqi Scud missiles providing invaluable information to Patriot missile defence batteries in Israel and Saudi Arabia. On Day Two the crew were awakened by a pastiche of the opening of an episode of “Star Trek”, read by Scottish actor Patrick Stewart, aka Jean-Luc Picard of the the Starship Enterprise, “This is the voyage of the Shuttle Atlantis. Its ten day mission to explore new methods of remote sensing and observation of the planet Earth….” he began, then going on to give instructions and concluding “Make It So” (Mario Runco was an ardent Trekkie). During the day the crew activated CREAM and SAM (see report on STS-48 on previous page) and Payload Specialist Hennen set up the Spaceborne Direct View Optical System (SpaDVOS) for the Terra Scout reconnaissance experiment. This is sponsored by the US Intelligence Center and was designed to use a trained imagery analyst like Hennen to observe up to 30 targets of military interest from the shuttle, but he encountered problems with the SpaDVOS “cueing” which affects the tracking of a ground target. During the day Gregory and Hendricks manoeuvred the shuttle to a 195 by 198 nm orbit to aid Terra Scout observation. The crew was able to get a good view—for four minutes or so—of the Mir Space station as it passed within 21 nautical miles over the South Atlantic Ocean on orbit 22 and transmitted video of the event to the ground, a small white spot quickly crossing the screen. The crew later received a good will message from the Soviet crew (of Volkov and Krikalev) received via radio hams.

On Day Three the first visual and voice contact activity in support of the M88-1 (Military Man in Space) experiment was performed over Midway Island and Pearl Harbour in the Pacific with good target acquisition reported at both sites. Further Terra Scout observations included Australia, Florida and The Philippines. When the exercise treadmill seized video images of Hendricks performing alternative exercises and working on a makeshift rowing machine were sent to Earth for evaluation by the medical team. Day Four: The medical team on the ground devised a new exercise to replace the malfunctioning treadmill, which involved a modified squatting exercise. M88-1 and Terra Scout observations continued. Next day coincided with the Thanksgiving holiday and the crew took time out for a traditional turkey dinner and to send messages to friends and family on the ground. Several further observations were made using the M88-1 and Terra Scout experiments by PS Hennen and MS Runco. The crew reported seeing Typhoon Yuri—some 1,200 miles in diameter in the western Pacific Ocean, “the most impressive weather phenomena I’ve ever seen from space” said MS Musgrave. Unplanned activity later in the day required Commander Gregory to make a slight change in Atlantis orbit to avoid a too close encounter with the spent rocket body used to launch the Soviet Kosmos 851. On Day Six the crew continued with observations and with the LBNP device experiment activity with Musgrave and Hendricks as subjects and late in the day the crew participated in an in-flight press conference with reporters at the Johnson and Kennedy Space Centers. An hour after the crew woke on Day Seven one of the three Inertial Measurement Units (IMU #2) failed and flight rules declared that after such a failure the shuttle as a precaution against a further failure must return to Earth and to do so at Edwards AFB where the dry lakebed provided greater margins for error. The crew packed a great deal into their last day in space, making further observations. The orbiter landed on Day Eight at the second attempt at de-orbit with strong ground winds at Edwards causing a wave off for the first. Atlantis became the first shuttle to land on Runway 05 and Gregory did not apply the brakes until the shuttle has slowed to around 15 knots as data was collected on the hardness of the lake-bed.

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Launch and Landing cover for STS–44

Sources : The narrative on page 28 is based on a report in Spaceflight magazine

for April 1992.

For up to date space news access www.bis-spaceflight.com

The Crew patch shows Atlantis ascending to Earth

orbit on the back of the American flag. The six large

stars on the black background represent the crew members venturing into space and the smaller stars the Americans

who work in support of this and other missions. In the payload bay is a Defense Support Program Satellite which will “help

insure peace”

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How and Why The Trucial States Celebrated Space Successes between 1964 and 1972

When my wife Eve, who is not a stamp collector (God Forbid !) but who does most of the brilliant cover designs for Orbit returned home from a trip to Germany at Easter two years ago she proudly presented me with a packet of “250 Different Space Stamps” which she had bought in a newsagents in Hamburg, writes your Editor. Trying not to appear at all disappointed—because let’s face it I have just about every space stamp I would ever want after collecting the theme since 1960– I opened the packet hoping that it would not just contain the usual confetti one might find in such a packet as purchased in a British newsagent - often as a Christmas stocking filler from an eager relative hoping to interest a school boy in stamp-collecting. And do you know, it didn’t ! I managed to pick up more than a dozen relatively obscure items e.g. from DPR Korea and Cuba which brought a smile to my face because they were in fact wants. However the bulk of the 250 “different space stamps” were stuck together—or rather were in blocks or souvenir sheets—from The Trucial States. That this should be the case forty years or more after their issue led me to thinking “Just how many of the blighters were printed in those days, if they can still be so easily purchased today ?” So I tried to find out with a view to crafting an article for Orbit one day—and this is it.

Internet Research I quickly found a relevant postal history essay by Martin van Daele which explained quite a lot. As you probably know, the Trucial States (aka “Trucial Oman” or “The Sand Dune States”) were a series of tiny territories in the Persian Gulf which formed The United Arab Emirates with five other Sheikdoms in July 1971. To give you an idea of “tiny”, the territory of Ajman is only 100 square miles in total, and that of Umm al Qiwain only three times bigger—hardly a Scottish county in size ! There were originally seven territories under the banner “Trucial” which referred to a Nineteenth Century truce made between the British and some Arab Sheiks. These seven states were (allowing for variant spelling on transliteration) Umm al Qiwain, Ras Al Khaima, Fujeira, Sharjah, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Ajman (which amazingly had a “dependency” - Manama) and all of these eight areas (except Abu Dhabi) were profilic issuers of space stamps for a finite period in the 1960’s. However they were also prolific issuers of stamps for

almost any other theme you can think of. So, I suppose, if my wife had brought me home 250 “Different Butterfly” or “Different Transport” or “Different Fire Engine” stamps because one of those was a theme I collected I would have found much the same proportion of Trucial States issues in the packet. The van Daele essay, “Postal and Monetary History of the Gulf Arab States and the consequences of the withdrawal of the “external” rupee of Persian Arab Gulf States in 1966” (which I commend to you) provides the context for what happened to stamp issuing policy in these territories thereafter. It appears that after the British Post Office gave up its interest in printing stamps and running a service in these areas commercial interest and not consideration of local postal need—took over firstly and mainly in the shape of American citizen Finbar Kenny.

Finbar Kenny Referred to on the internet in two different contexts as an “American entrepreneur, manager of the Cook Islands Philatelic Bureau” and as “a philatelic consultant (who, at the time, was manager of the stamp department at Macy's in New York) brokered (a rare) stamp in 1939” Finbar Kenny appears to have seen a niche in the market which he could take advantage of and he then entered into an arrangement with a powerful local sheik to produce stamps…… “THIS AGREEMENT is made the fifteenth day of December One thousand nine hundred and sixty-nine BETWEEN His Highness Sheikh Mohamed Al Sharqi

Map above in which the seven Trucial States can be identified despite different transliterated spelling

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Top right, Manama, issued 5.1.70—one of a set of 7 showing Soyuz and Apollo flights

left, Ras Al Khaima : 1.6.1969

Silver overprint of Christmas Nativity stamp, as Apollo 8 had circled the Moon

on Christmas Eve 1968

Fujeira : below left—”The World’s Biggest Stamp” from the world’s smallest territory ??

issued 30.1.72

Ajman : below, issued 15.8.72 Apollo 11-17 and French satellites etc

Ras Al Khaima : bottom, one of eleven different series catalogued as being issued on the same

date, 15.8.69

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The Ruler of Fujairah Trucial States (hereinafter called "The Ruler") of the one part and Finbar Kenny of New York United States of America (hereinafter called "The Agency") of the other part…… “….The Agency will continue to have the exclusive right to produce and sell stamps and operate postal services in accordance with the terms set out in paragraphs 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 of the Agreement which are deemed to be incorporated herein”.

Serving Thematic not Postal Needs !

What the passing of time now suggests is that Finbar Kenny foresaw an opportunity to produce a very large number of stamps which would satisfy the then embryonic form of our hobby known as thematic philately and to make some money out of it which the above quoted agreement gave him the right to do. When in June 1966 the Indian Rupee was devalued by a third or more the convertible “external “ Indian rupee was also lowered in value and a new monetary system was immediately necessary in each of Bahrain, Qatar, The Trucial States, Muscat and Oman. Within a few years several of the Trucial States were issuing commemorative coins pegged to the Qatar/Dubai rial and a massive over production of stamps with thematic themes often totally unconnected with the geographical area began to take place—and certainly without any consideration of the postal requirements of the peoples of those territories The van Daele essay itemises this over production in many territories in or close to The Trucial States at the time, frequently using the word “excessive” in referring to the numbers printed. He indicates opportunistic printing of stamps with unnecessary overprints and in various formats, perforate and imperforate. Referring to Qatar, van Daele cites “1966 stamps with the change in values from the contemporary series of 11 values originally printed on September 2, 1961. Other series were altered like…...the UIT series of September 16, 1965 (8 values + non-serrated + block; the same already altered “Meeting in Space “ series of February 9. 1966…....and the “astronaut” series of August 20, 1966” Then of Sharjah he says “Sharjah was thrown into excessive stamp production with various series and partial-series…..the running series of 12 values (comprised of air post) printed on September 1, 1965 with effigy of Sheik Saqr, dropped, cancelled in three large blocks in London (values in dirhams and riyals)” And “other series were announced as having been changed with the new currency by the American stamp promoters of the region” And of Ajman, which “launched its first 18 postage stamps in 1964, as well as service stamps, air post and air service in the same year. The “Space Research” series (10 values)…….were also printed in dirhams and Rials but these issues were excessive”

And of Fujeirah—”The emirate sold its first series of stamps in 1964 in dirhams and rials: the edition ran in service, air post, air service as well as nine values for the Tokyo Olympic Games...followed by the “Churchill” series, (8 values with two air stamps) “Kennedy” (10 values), “Cairo Exhibition” (9 values plus block) “Space” (8 values plus block). The last series was excessive.” Van Daele concludes his essay with further comments on “the particularly excessive issues in some of the countries”…… “In 1970 the emirates of Fujeirah and Umm Al Qiwain were distinct with their American stamp agent Finbar Kenny, who was in charge of all issuance of all motifs…….Umm Al Qiwain also signified that Mr Kenny’s contract had been nullified and the first series issued after the contract was the Apollo 7 at the end of 1969. “The same year, the emirate of Fujeirah announced a similar decision relating to its relations with Mr Kenny and the contract which was signed with postal administration” He finally explains how the attempts of a rival firm to produce stamps was not successful and “The discredit relating to these thematic stamps issues was total”.

“Excessive Production” We can now see why forty and more years on newsagents packets are full to the brim with Trucial States stamps. There must be a stamp mountain somewhere with many more to be released onto a now less unsuspecting and undiscriminating market. Is this what happened ? An entrepreneur sees an opening, gains permission from a reputable authority and then mass produces issues of variable design quality over a very wide range of topics, not necessarily related to the country’s ethos or local environment or postal needs and which may not have ever have seen the light of day on the territories themselves, let alone be used on local regular mail ? These designs are exploited by overprinting in various colours and when no longer current are Cancelled To Order in their thousands and passed on to international stamp dealers at a discount because their content might be of interest to future generations of collectors ?

Worthless Issues ? A response to this suggestion is that it really all depends on your attitude to stamp collecting. Issues from the Trucial States are listed in WEEBAU in considerable detail and in Lollini catalogues. Stanley Gibbons also lists a lot of such issues but says for example of Ajman ….. “From June 1967 very many stamp issues were made by a succession of agencies which had been awarded contracts by the Ruler, sometimes two agencies operating at the same time. Several contradictory statements were made as to the

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Umm Al Qiwain : left “History of Aeronautics” 28 stamps in a block issued on 10.12.72

Umm Al Qiwain :above Apollo 11-17 15.8.72 produced with white or pink

border and also as part of larger sheet showing Apollo landing photographs

Umm Al Qiwain above right—one of a set of 6 for Apollo 12 issued on

19.11.69

Ajman : one of a set of six issued 25.1.71, showing Tycho Brahe

Sharjah : 15. 12.1972—one of 6 such sheets marking both the Apollo

series and the signs of the zodiac in exotic Eastern styles, here Apollo 7

and 8 and Scorpio (?) and Sagittarius

34

validity of some of these issues which appeared 1967-

72 and for this reason they are only listed an abbreviated form.” There then follows a list of the equivalent of more than one set issued per week for the single year of 1971: see panel opposite for detail. But consider this—are you collecting for fun, because it’s relaxing and entertaining and educational or are you hoping to mount a competitive exhibit at local or national level, where standards matter more ? Depending on which kind of collector you are, your answer and attitude will be different. Of course the issues are not worthless if stamps from the Trucial States territories help you to tell the story of say, Apollo 12 and you want an image no other “proper” stamp can provide. You know that the monetary value of your stamp or mini-sheet is less than that of a bus-ticket, but so what, if they serve your purpose and you have not paid over the odds for them?

Similar Phenomena Since The stamps of The Trucial States in the mid-60s were, of course, only the first examples of money being made out of willingly gullible stamp collectors which continues to happen to this day and this journal regularly makes a point of advising members of the Caveat Emptor status of certain issues. Today a similar practice appears to be operational in the stamp issuing policy of a number of relatively tiny states which are part of the former Soviet Union where stamps for our theme and no doubt for many other themes are made available by respectable dealers. You have perhaps seen (as I have) curious names of territories such as Bashkortostan, Tadjikistan, Altai, Karelia, Mordavia, Urals, Komi, North Ossetia, Boctotchiaia, Kalmoukia, Tuva, Tchuvachie, Sakha*, Bashkirie, Bouriatie, Abkhazia*, Inguschetia, Marie El, Nakhitchevan, Daghestan and Oudmurtie as you browse through various leaflets and brochures providing astrophilatelic materials. And who has not been suspicious of the stamps issued by any number of territories on, say, the continent of Africa or of those so frequent Commonwealth omnibus issues produced by respectable agencies ? Do we really think all the stamps which come in our monthly New Issues

packages are actually appearing on the regular mail of those countries whose names are given in their design ? Surely not ! However, one major difference between many of the stamps referred to above and those produced by the Trucial States is quality of design and production, which both makes them much more acceptable to our albums from an aesthetic perspective and also insidiously suggests that they are indeed kosher. The ghost of Finbar Kenny lives on !

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*Sakha Republic (Yakutia) is situated in the northeast of Asia, it has an area of 3103,2 thousands sq. km which is 20 % of Russian territory. Yakutia's population is about 1 million, more than 120 nationalities live in the republic. Yakutsk is a capital of Sakha Republic, its population is about 250 thousands **The Republic of Abkhazia is an autonomous part of Georgia (“Government in exile”)

Panel quoting this list

+ comment on the quality of

these issues from a design

point

Examples cut out from

Abkhazia and Sakha from

Lollini booklets

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Ever Seen These or Their Like Postally Used ?

Note the Overprinting of the issue below in order to create another variety for purchase.

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From Dr Ross Smith, Australia Hello Jeff, Congratulations on another great (No 71) issue. The coloured covers continue to impress. I would, however, like to make a small correction to one of your letter writers, Jürgen Esders whom I know from the Space Unit. He writes that 'The X-15 .... reached space altitude earlier than Gagarin (or Mercury)'. This is incorrect. The first X-15 flight to reach the USAF's height required to gain Astronaut wings (50 miles) occurred on 17 July 1962 with Robert White as the pilot. This is well after the flights of Gargarin and Mercury's 3 to 7. Other X-15 pilots to gain their 'Astronaut' wings were, in order, Walker, Rushworth, Engle, McKay, Dana, Knight, and Adams. R.J.S 24.9.06 PS I've already contacted Jürgen and he replied as follows: Ross, That is fine with me and you are of course right. Jürgen

From Alexander Zheleznyakov, St Petersburg, Russia

Dear Mr. Dugdale, At the end of September 2006 in the Moscow publishing house "Yauza"- "EXSMO" my new book Secret Space. Myths and Phantoms in Orbit was published. It includes numerous myths and legends, surrounding the process of space exploration and also gossips and hearsay about "astronauts - phantoms", allegedly executed space flights, which remain unpublicised I wouldn't have written this book, had it not been for a request in your letter five years ago where you asked me to express my point of view about such astronauts taking part in supposed space flight before Yuri Gagarin. At that time I stated my thoughts in the article "Gagarin Was Still The First", which appeared in the October 2001 issue of Orbit. Then in the July 2002 issue of your magazine the continuation of the article was published. After that I seriously devoted myself to this theme of "phantom astronauts". Now I'm glad to be able to inform you about the final result of this work. In the book preface I noted, that your invite had given me impetus to write the book Secret Space. Myths and Phantoms in Orbit . Thank you very much for this and I'm looking forward to our further cooperation.

A.B.Z. 8.10.06

From Margaret Morris, Glasgow Dear Jeff Re the item “You Say Potato” on page 9 of this issue which you wrote to me about giving me a preview, I have not had an opportunity to read Bill Goldsmith's article but will try to get hold of a copy. I am in the middle of rewriting my Halley Comet display in time for 24 October to show to the Glasgow PS and might get some inspiration from this. The last time I showed the display was in 1987 and it is in serious need of bringing up to date.

Readers Respond

Re pronunciation of the surname, I have to tell you that I was brought up on the traditional pronunciation and would never have dreamt of rendering it as "Hailey"-to-rhyme-with-"Bailey". Then in 1985 I heard about the Halley's Comet Society which was bring formed by Brian Harpur and I joined that. There was only one rule - that members had to pronounce the name as "Hawley". I must confess that I compromised. When I talk about Halley or give a display involving the comet, I tell everyone at the start about the HCS and the requirement on pronunciation. Having once mentioned "Hawley", I then revert to my usual preference which is as the word "rally". Is this cheating? I suppose so. My main reason for wanting to join the HCS was that there was going to be a big shindig in London when the plaque was unveiled in Westminster Abbey. I got an invite to that and was in the choir stalls when all the bigwigs went past. It was great fun. The present Earl of Rosse presided later at a party where the wine had a special Comet label - so guess who creamed off an empty for her collection of astronomical memorabilia/ephemera !! M.M. 9.10.06

From Dr. Boris Spassky Russian State Scientific Center of

Robotics and Technical Cybernetics, St Petersburg, Russia

Dear Mr. Dugdale, Well-known Russian historian of cosmonautics Alexander Zheleznyakov will be fifty on the 28th of January 2007. At the present time the administration of Saint-Petersburg Institute for Robotics and Technical Cybernetics, where he works, is preparing for the jubilee. As far as we know, your magazine has often published articles by A. Zheleznyakov. In this connection we will be grateful if you kindly publish on behalf of the editors congratulations to Alexander Zheleznyakov in the January 2007 issue of your magazine as well as one of his works – the article “The Jump from Stratosphere”. Together with this letter we are sending some short biographical information and the text of the article “The Jump from Stratosphere” (translated by Boris Spassky) and one of the latest photos of A. Zheleznyakov. If requested additional materials will be sent to your address. Hope to mutual understanding and your help. Respectfully yours,

B.S. 11.10.06

The above referred to items are on the last two pages of this edition.

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Nature itself has put into a man an eternal striving for being the first. To accomplish something that stirs up the blood, excites the imagination, leads to new borders – that is the aim to which people sometimes unfairly referred to as adventurers, fortune hunters, madmen strive. There are a few of them in our particularly rational age. But therewas a time… In this article I would like to tell you not about “ordinary” space flight but about an experiment in the course of which new equipment designed for future runs to orbit was to be tested. It is interesting in itself. However there are two another reasons make me to touch this topic. Firstly, the tests run not in a planned way and regretfully resulted in tragedy. Secondly, Piotr Dolgov who entered the chronicle of the space age not only as a researcher of space equipment but as a “phantom cosmonaut” allegedly perished during unsuccessful flight to space in October of 1960 was a participant of that experiment. Now it’s time to dot "i's" and cross "t's" and tell what had really happened to that legendary person. More than 40 years ago an experiment striking in its courage was held in the USSR – a parachute jump from the stratosphere. Despite of a lot of other affairs taking place during those years they didn’t keep it in dark, though it fell in the category of space equipment testing – an extremely secret sphere of activity of Soviet scientists and engineers. As early as in several days after its realization all Soviet newspapers informed their readers about it. Maybe the death of one of researchers was the reason for its newsworthiness? But maybe the desire to catch up and overtake America served its purpose? We will not guess at it because far from all is known about this record jump even many years later, and all those facts which became the common knowledge are worthy of recollection.

“Volga” The main goal of the experiment was realization of full-scale tests of outfit and systems of emergency escape of flying vehicles (aircraft and spacecraft). The giant stratosphere balloon more than a hundred meters height was built for this purpose. The apparatus was named “Volga” in view of the place of future tests – Volga coastal steppes. Two crews were preparing to the flight (as for a space flight). Well-known Soviet parachutists major Yevgeni Andreyev and colonel Piotr Dolgov were included in the prime crew. Dolgov became a tester of the parachute systems at the end of 1940s. And before this the officer of landing force passed through difficult roads of the Great Patriotic War, distinguish ing himself in the battles for Hungary and Austria and because of his courage being awarded with the orders of Lenin, Red Banner, Red Star and many others. Before flight on board of “Volga” he had thousands parachute jumps behind him had established eight world records, participated in experiments on the verge of possible. Moreover Dolgov managed to show himself as designer of escape systems of flying vehicles. By the way, during his projected jump from stratosphere he had to test parachute deployment automatic system of his own construction. One can find his name among those who prepared first Soviet

cosmonauts as well as in another list, but I shall about that later. The second member of the crew Yevgeni Andreyev was also well-known in the circle of specialists. Like Dolgov he became a tester in the end of 1940s. A pupil of legendary Soviet parachutist Vasili Romanuk he had sustained an extremely serious trauma of the hip. At that time the question of amputation arose and doctors have been insisting on it. But Andreyev was obstinate, retaineed his foot and further managed to return to the work of tester – one of the rare precedents in the world practice.

Lazarev in Back-Up Crew The backup crew included Vasili Lazarev and Ivan Kamyshev. In addition to the flight training both had medical education. Later Vasili Lazarev became world famous for the space flight on board of spacecraft Soyuz-12 and became a “participant” of the only Soviet suborbital flight, in the “Soyuz anomaly” in April 1975 The task of the back-up crew in addition to the immediate preparation of the experiment was a test flight on the stratosphere balloon “Volga” with the maximum climb and following landing (during the main experiment the landing was not foreseen). Alas, I didn’t manage to ascertain either the precise date or the height which Lazarev and Kamyshev reached. Most likely the preliminary flight took place approximately a month or a month and a half before the main experiment. The testers were kitted out in the same outfit Andreyev and Dolgov were to wear later, had the same survival aids, but could use them only if worst comes to worst, that is, if there was a threat to their life . It’s unfair that the flight of Lazarev and Kamyshev is indeed forgotten. There were not so many flights like this in the history of Russian (Soviet) aeronautics and any of them is of interest not because of its record results but because the very fact of such flight. And now about the “main” experiment. The stratosphere balloon “Volga” lifted-off from the military airdrome situated in the outskirts of the town of Volsk on the 1st of November 1962, 7:44 Moscow time. In 2 hours and 20 minutes it reached the maximum height of 25,458 meters and the command to start “work” was received from the earth.

Andreyev Jumps First Yevgeni Andreyev was the first who catapulted from the stratosphere balloon gondola. His task was testing of the emergency escape system (analogue of the space capsule) and evaluation of possibility of free fall in rarified atmosphere layer in serial stratospheric outfit “KKO-3”. Andreyev covered 24 kilometers in a free fall and deployed the parachute only at the height of 900 meters. Everything was over successfully and the descent took little more than 6 minutes. At some parts of the descent the parachutist reached the speed of 900 kilometers per hour. Just imagine the speed of a jet airliner and it will be clear with what one can compare Andreyev’s fall.

JUMPING FROM THE STRATOSPHERE by Alexander Zheleznyakov

Pyotor Dolgov ex Encyclopaedia Astronautica

ORBIT

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ORBIT

Regular contributor to Orbit Alexander Zheleznyakov was born on the 28

th of

January 1957 in Leningrad (nowadays Saint-Petersburg). In 1980 he graduated from Leningrad Polytechnic Institute by M.I. Kalinin as an engineer-physicist. From 1980 till 1981 he worked in Leningrad for the “Impuls” company. From 1983 till 1989 he worked in Leningrad for the “Krasnaya Zarya” company as an engineer, senior engineer, deputy head of department, head of department. Then from 1989 till 2001 he worked in Special Design Bureau “Raduga” as a head of department, head of division, Deputy General Director, First Deputy General Director, and acting as General Director. Since 2001 he has been working as an Adviser of Director and Chief Designer of Institute for Robotics and Technical Cybernetics. Since 1997 A. Zheleznyakov has devoted himself to the study of local history and world cosmonautics in parallel with his main work. He is an author of ten books (“Soviet cosmonautics: chronicles of crashes and catastrophes”, “Mysteries of rocket catastrophes”, “Myths and phantoms on orbit” “«Mir Station»: from the triumph to…” and others) and three hundred articles on history of world cosmonautics. He is Member of Russian Space Academy by K.E. Tsiolkovsky. Member of Russian Federation of Cosmonautics. Member of Union of Journalists of Russia. He has been awarded the medal “In memory of 300 anniversary of Saint-Petersburg” (2004), medals of Russian Federation of Cosmonautics. Additionally he is Laureate of the literature prize sponosored by Alexander Belyaev for publications on the history of cosmonautics.

Dolgov then left the cabin. He was in the high-altitude full pressure suit “SI-3M”, the prototype of the modern space outfit. Among his tasks was a test of the special parachute system, which provided the automated opening of the canopy at given altitude. In accordance to the idea of designers (which included Dolgov) was a system which could save a flyer or a cosmonaut in an emergency situation, for example, if he becomes unconscious. Dolgov was departing from the “Volga” cabin himself without use of a catapult and here the tragedy happened, as recognized several minutes later. After Andreyev’s jump because of the catapult response and because of the strong blasts at high altitudes the gondola started swaying, and Dolgov while leaving it accidentally struck his helmet against the shell. The glass didn’t withstand the collision, a small crack appeared and all air immediately leaked out, the blood boiled in his veins and the tester perished. But the equipment continued working, as designed. The canopy deployed at a high altitude cautiously and gently carried the parachutist to earth. But not a single person who watched the descent even supposed that Dolgov was already dead. The absence of communication with the pilot caused some excitement but in the first moment this was written off to a equipment failure, which was not so uncommon in that time. IWithin 38 minutes Dolgov’s body landed on the ground. Hurrying to the landing area the searching groups found, using the terminology of those years, “the parachutist with no sign of life”. For courage and heroism shown during testing of new survival aids of the crews of flying vehicles Piotr Ivanovich Dolgov and Yevgeni Nikolaevich Andreyev were conferred with the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Dolgov receiving the title posthumousl, of course.

Phantom Cosmonaut ? And now something about the rumours and gossip around Dolgov’s name and about his space flight allegedly taking place in October 1960. Dolgov had never been a cosmonaut though he wanted so much to watch our planet from space. As I mentioned before, he perished not in space, though rather close to its border. And not in October 1960 but on the 1st of November 1962. By the way this is an additional proof of the “validity” of information, which occasionally circulates about pre-Gagarin flights. One has got it all wrong.

The jumps of Yevgeni Andreyev and Piotr Dolgov was the last significant event in the history of stratospheric conquest. After this during more than 30 years no one has climbed so high and no one tried to parachute from such a height. Only recently the announcements about preparation of the unique and record experiments in the USA, Great Britain, France, Australia, Spain, and Russia have appeared. But no one has yet managed to pass from the stage of planning to the stage of experiment. We are waiting and hoping that during the 21st century someone will continue the traditions of the past century and new feats of the stratospheric conquerors will be entered in the testimony of history.