The annual
Space Unit meeting was held at the Baltimore Philatelic Society stamp show,
August 31 through September 2, 2013, in Hunt Valley Maryland. The venue is a four star resort hotel and a
superb venue for stamp and space cover collectors, guests, and friends. Major astrophilatelic venues are nearby and
include the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum and Steven F. Udvar-Hazy
Air and Space Museum, and National Postal Museum, all close by in Washington,
D.C.; Fort McHenry, Battle of Baltimore, 1812, where the U.S. national anthem
was written verifying, "…the rockets’ red glare” during British rocket attacks
on the fort; and last, this historic venue, Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, where
the first powered airplane flight was made in 1903 by aviators and brothers,
Orville and Wilbur Wright, also within easy driving distance of the Washington,
D.C. metropolitan area.
ANNUAL
SPACE UNIT MEETING, BALPEX, HUNT VALLEY, MARYLAND
Fifty-five
Space Unit members, guests, and visitors attended this year’s BALPEX Philatelic
Exposition included Tom Steiner, SU President, Steve Durst, SU Vice-President,
John Macco, former SU Vice-President, Dick Morain, member and USCS President,
David Ball, member and USA FIP Delegate, Woody Witt, member and cachet maker,
Dave Blog, member, John Shue, member and cachet maker, Pete Sarmiento, National
Air and Space Museum docent and member, Barbara Chisolm, space cover dealer and
new member. Sister philatelic
organization, the Universal Ship Cancellation Society officers and members were
invited to join the Space Unit officers and members to hear an informative
space monkey and recovery ship presentation by Captain Joe Guion, U.S. Navy,
Retired. Captain Guion was the
Commanding Officer of USS Kiowa and responsible for the recovery of space
monkeys Able and Baker in the Atlantic Ocean, May 28, 1959, at the dawn of the
modern space age, and setting the stage for manned spaceflights by Project
Mercury astronauts in the near future.
Captain
Guion in command of USS Kiowa recovered astromonkeys Able and Baker, on May 28,
1959, in the Atlantic Ocean near Puerto Rico after the monkeys epic Jupiter
missile flight to a 360 miles apogee, 1,700 miles down the Air Force Eastern
Test Range from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
The space monkeys splashed down successfully near Puerto Rico, and were
recovered at sea by USS Kiowa after their 16 minute space flight. At our annual SU meeting, Captain Guion
presented a film of the actual recovery of Able and Baker space monkeys by his
crew and their post recovery activities.
After his excellent presentation, Captain Guion graciously signed photos
and covers of Space Unit members for his mission and he further reminisced on
how to properly recover space monkeys in rough seas. It was a thoroughly entertaining ending to a
historic space flight with astromonkeys.
Would astronauts do better than Able and Baker?
A full
array of astrophilatelic awards were offered to participants at BALPEX, our
annual Space Unit meeting. An in depth
critique was provided by officiating judges at the BALPEX exhibitors' post
exhibiting meeting. Space Unit members
and exhibitors David Ball and John Macco earned Gold and Silver medals for
their significant space cover exhibits. "Americans in Space: Projects Mecury,
Gemini, and Apollo;” and "Apollo-Soyuz Test Project,” respectively.
SPACE UNIT
ACTIVITIES IN 2013
The
"Astrophile” Journal. Our editor
continues to have challenging health issues affecting our publishing of the
"Astrophile.” We have lost some progress
in regaining our publishing schedule of three, 96 page "Astrophile” issues per
year. This last year, we published two
"Astrophile” journals, but the third journal, on schedule to be published in
early December, was delayed due to severe illness and then the death of our
editor’s father requiring his absence to be with his Dad and his family. Subsequently we then missed meeting this
year’s schedule. I anticipate regaining
our schedule this next year and are presently off to a good start in
accomplishing this.
Major
articles appearing in the "Astrophile” issues of 2013 were varied and covered
the range of astrophilatelic topics including: Special In Memoriam Issue of the
"Astrophile” for Remembering Astronaut Neil Armstrong (Died August 25, 2012),
Remembering Neil Armstrong by Buzz Aldrin, Dragon C-2 Space Mail, Discoverer 17
and the first Satellite Letter, Who was Barbara Baker?, Flown X-15 Rocketplane
Covers, the Secret First Day of the Project Mercury Stamp, Soviet Postmark
Design Difference Mystery, Sputnik-3 Final Orbit Postmark Mystery Resolved,
"All Spacecraft Systems Go! The Orbital Flight of John H. Glenn, Jr., Early
U.S. Tracking Station Network, 1946 to 1963, The First Rocket Racing League
Rocket Mail, First Cape Canaveral Launch, Judging Astrohilatelic Exhibits,
Unmanned Satellites on Postage Stamps: Aeros I and II, Azur, and Dial-Wika, and
Cape Kennedy and Satellite Beach Local Post Issues.
Our Space
Unit exhibitor, author, and distinguished astrophilatelist, David Ball has
recently won two gold medals in stiff competition at major philatelic show
venues, the first Gold medal was awarded at the National Philatelic Exposition
(NAPEX) Washington, D.C.; and a second gold medal was awarded at the Baltimore
Philatelic Exposition (BALPEX), Baltimore, Maryland. David’s tremendous experience, sound judgment
and keen ability to get things done will be an outstanding addition to the important
work being accomplished in astrophilately by the FIP. The officers of the Space
Unit also hope it will also facilitate USA astrophilatelists being active and
contributing partners with FIP delegates and members.
Space Unit
Membership and Major Meetings.
Membership of the Space Unit continues steady at 410 members from the
U.S.A. and the international community. Space Unit chapter meetings were held
at six major astrophilatelic venues in 2013.
Space Unit members held substantive and informative meetings at the
following stamp show venues. Shows
marked with an asterisk (*) are among the most prestigious astrophilatelic
shows in the U.S. : Texas Philatelic Exhibition March 1-3, 2013, Arlington,
Texas; Springfield Exposition, March 2-3, 2013, Springfield, Virginia; National
Philatelic Exhibition, May 31-June 2, 2013, Washington, D.C.*; American
Philatelic Society Stamp Show, August 8 -11, 2013, Milwaukee, Wisconsin*;
Baltimore Philatelic Exposition, August 30-September 1, 2013*; and the Chicago
Philatelic Exposition, November 22-24, 2013, Chicago, Illinois*.
Space Cover
of the Week (SCOTW) Web Site under www.collectspace.com. The Space Cover of the Week web site is
organized under originator Robert Pearlman’s parent web site,
www.collectspace.com. The web site is
open to all web denizens to read articles posted weekly or contributed by other
astrophilatlists reviewing space stamps and space covers on a near real time
basis. The six major contributors to the
SCOTW web site are Space Unit members Bob McLeod, Dennis Dillman, Steve Durst,
Tom Steiner, David Ball, and John Macco. SCOTW web site topics in 2013 included
the following items: USS Yorktown Apollo 8 Recovery, Insurance Covers and
Populations Produced, Far Out-Pioneer 10 and Voyager 1, Help Identifying /
Translating Chinese Space Sheet, Skylab Prime Recovery Ships, 15 Years of the
Zarya Module, Sam and Mrs, Sam Monkeynauts, Pioneer Venus Parachute Test, and
ISS-Dragon and ISS-Soyuz, Houston Pictorial Postmarks. It is anticipated that this forward reaching
effort by Space Unit members to the social media interested world wide web
community users will draw in younger interested astrophilatelists and will
appeal to a younger more computer oriented group of collectors. And we feel it will also bode well for our
future.
Webmaster
Ross Smith’s Web Site for the Space Unit.
Space Unit member Ross Smith continues to impress and amaze us with the
depth and breadth of his efforts and web postings on the Space Unit website,
http://www.space.space-unit.com. Access
to the SU web site is free, and available to anyone to call the site up and can
access it via the Internet using the site link shown above Reprint articles from the "Astrophile”
available at the "Articles” selection button.
Other articles from our archives are often shown and further generate
interest in the astrophilatelic community such as these varied and interesting
space stamp and space cover related articles:
"Soyuz
Flights to the International Space Station”
authors,
members John Macco and Jim Roth
SU web site
link:
http://www.space-unit.com/articles/soyuz_flights_to_the_iss.pdf
"U.S.
Stratospheric Balloon Flights in the 1950’s to 1960’s, Precursors to Manned
Spaceflight”
author,
member Beatrice Bachman
SU web site
link:
http://www.space-unit.com/articles/manned_pioneer_flights_in_the_usa.pdf
"Theodore
von Karman, 1881-1963, Father of Modern Aerospace Science”
author,
member Bill York
SU web site
link: http://www.space-unit.com/articles/karman/theodore_von_karman.doc
"A Study of
NASA VIP Cards” and Associated VIP Card Update for this Study
author,
former SU President and member, Ray Cartier
http://www.space-unit.com/articles/vip_cards/vip_cards-01.htm
Steve Durst
Vice
President, Space Unit
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