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| A Sally, Amy and Moe biological spaceflight launch cover from "Sarzin", postmarked at Port Canaveral with a hand cancel on October 13, 1960. Although the hand cancel is dated October 13, 1960, the cover bears U.S. Scott #1165, the 4¢ Gustaf Mannerheim stamp, which was not issued until October 26, 1960 — 13 days after the Sally, Amy and Moe launch. This cover is a suspected backdated example. |
On October 13, 1960, an Atlas D (71D) launched from Cape Canaveral carrying three black mice—Sally, Amy and Moe—inside an experimental reentry vehicle designed to study the effects of radiation, weightlessness and reentry on living organisms. The mice traveled approximately 650 miles into space, passing through the Van Allen radiation belt before the nose cone returned to Earth and was recovered in the South Atlantic, about 5,000 miles downrange. All three mice survived the flight in good condition. The experiment was an important early American biological spaceflight test and contributed to the growing body of knowledge needed to prepare humans for spaceflight.
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| Photo: Sally, Amy, Moe - the three mice that flew into space. |
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| A Sally, Amy and Moe biological spaceflight launch cover from "Sarzin", postmarked at Port Canaveral with a hand cancel on October 13, 1960. This variety, showing an attempted correction of the year numeral "1" to "0" in the October 13, 1960 Port Canaveral hand cancel. |
(Reference from
SPACE: Three Black Mice)
