The Space Race was a technological competition between the United States and the Soviet Union in demonstrating superiority in aerospace capabilities, including artificial satellites launches, robotic space probes to the Moon, Venus, and Mars, and human spaceflight in low Earth orbit and ultimately landing on the Moon. This blog features my collection of US and Soviet Union space events on covers and press photos.
1971-07-26 USA Apollo 15
An Apollo 15 Insurance Cover from "Bishop" featuring the mission insignia, postmarked at Kennedy Space Center with a machine cancel on July 26, 1971, signed by Dave Scott, Al Worden and Jim Irwin.
Apollo 15, launched on July 26, 1971, was the fourth successful Moon landing. It focused on extended stays and enhanced scientific research. This mission introduced the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV), significantly expanding the astronauts’ exploration range. Commander David Scott and Lunar Module Pilot James Irwin landed near Hadley Rille on July 30. Using the rover, they ventured farther than previous missions, conducting four moonwalks (EVAs) totaling 18.5 hours and collecting 170 pounds (77 kg) of lunar samples. Among their discoveries was the Genesis Rock, believed to be part of the Moon's ancient crust. Scott famously demonstrated Galileo’s theory by dropping a hammer and feather simultaneously to show they fall at the same rate in a vacuum.
Photo: The Apollo 15 crew (from left to right): James Irwin, Alfred Worden, and Dave Scott. The crew poses with their insignia in front of the rocket that will take them to the Moon.
An Apollo 15 Insurance Cover, featuring the mission insignia, postmarked at Kennedy Space Center with a machine cancel on July 26, 1971, Dave Scott, Al Worden, and Jim Irwin. It is accompanied by a signed Letter of Authenticity with detailed account of the history and purpose of these insurance covers. This cover was originally from the personal collection of Al Worden.
Photo: The Apollo 15 crew (from left to right): James Irwin, Alfred Worden, and Dave Scott.
An Apollo 15 launch cover from "Colorano" featuring the Apollo 15 crew, postmarked at Kennedy Space Center with a machine cancel on July 26, 1971.
An Apollo 15 launch cover featuring the mission insignia, postmarked at Kennedy Space Center with a "Mailer's Postmark Permit 15" cancel on July 26, 1971.
Photo: Spectators at Cape Kennedy watching the launch of Apollo 15.
An Apollo 15 cover featuring an illustration of the impact of Apollo 14's third stage on the Moon, postmarked at Houston, Texas, with a machine cancel on July 29, 1971.
After establishing a trajectory toward the Moon, the lunar module (LM) and the command and service module (CSM) separated from the SIVB, which continued on a path toward the Moon and impacted on July 29, 1971. This impact served as a seismic source for the ALSEP seismic stations.
An Apollo 15 moon landing cover from “NASA Manned Spacecraft Center Stamp Club” featuring the mission insignia, postmarked at Houston, Texas, with a hand cancel on July 30, 1971, signed by Dave Scott, Al Worden and Jim Irwin. The cover comes with a letter from the MSC Stamp Club. - RegencyStamps
An Apollo 15 moonlanding cover featuring a lunar chart segment of Hadley Rille repurposed as a cover, postmarked at Houston, Texas with a machine cancel on July 30, 1971.
An Apollo 15 cover featuring the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) first utilized during the Apollo 15 mission, postmarked at Houston, Texas, with a machine cancel on July 31, 1971.
Meanwhile, Command Module Pilot Alfred Worden remained in orbit, operating a suite of scientific instruments in the service module’s SIM bay. These instruments gathered data on the Moon’s surface and environment, including images from a panoramic camera and measurements from a gamma-ray spectrometer, laser altimeter, and mass spectrometer. He also deployed a lunar subsatellite before returning to dock with the lunar module.
Photo: This illustration depicts how the Apollo 15 astronauts will communicate with Earth.
An Apollo 15 cover from "Orbit Covers" featuring the first moon rover expedition, postmarked at Cape Canaveral with a machine cancel on July 31, 1971.
Photo: David Scott with the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) at Hadley Rille on the Moon.
During three sessions of extravehicular activity (EVA) on July 31, and August 1 and 2, Scott and Irwin traveled 17.5 miles in the lunar rover on the Moon. They collected over 170 pounds of lunar samples, established the ALSEP array, obtained a core sample from approximately 10 feet below the lunar surface, and provided detailed oral descriptions and photographic documentation of the geological features around the landing site during their three days (66 hours and 55 minutes) on the lunar surface.
An Apollo 15 cover from "Astro Covers" featuring rover exploration to the Apennine mountains, postmarked at Cape Canaveral with a machine cancel on July 31, 1971.
An Apollo 15 cover from "Sarzin" featuring the lunar surface exploration on the rover, postmarked at Cape Canaveral with a machine cancel on August 1, 1971.
An Apollo 15 cover from "Sarzin" featuring rover exploration to the volcanic craters exploration on the rover, postmarked at Cape Canaveral with a machine cancel on August 2, 1971.
Video: During the final EVA, Commander David Scott conducted a live demonstration for the television cameras. He held up a geological hammer and a feather and dropped them simultaneously. Since they were in a near-vacuum environment, there was no air resistance, allowing the feather to fall at the same rate as the hammer, confirming Galileo's conclusion from centuries earlier—that all objects, when released together, fall at the same rate regardless of their mass.
A first day cover commemorating the release of the twin 8-cent Space Achievement Decade stamps, postmarked at Huntsville, Alabama, with a machine cancel on August 2, 1971, signed by Dave Scott, Al Worden and Jim Irwin. - RRAuction
An Apollo 15 lunar lift-off cover from "Sarzin" featuring the Lunar Module, Falcon, ascended from the moon, leaving its descent stage behind on the lunar surface as intended. This cover was postmarked at Cape Canaveral with a machine cancel on August 2, 1971.
An Apollo 15 cover from "Astro Covers", featuring a photograph of the Command Module, Endeavour, taken from the Lunar Module during rendezvous and docking. This cover was postmarked at Cape Canaveral with a machine cancel on August 2, 1971.
Photo: An instrument and communications systems officer at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston, Texas, observes the lunar module's takeoff from the moon on his television screen in the Mission Control Center.
An Apollo 15 cover from "Solar Covers", featuring the launch of the scientific sub-satellite from Endeavour, postmarked at Cape Canaveral with a machine cancel on August 4, 1971.
The Apollo 15 Particles and Fields Subsatellite (PFS-1) was a small satellite deployed into lunar orbit from the Apollo 15 Service Module. Its primary goals were to investigate the plasma, particle, and magnetic field environment of the Moon, as well as to map the lunar gravity field.
The mission concluded with Worden performing the first deep-space spacewalk during the journey back to Earth. Despite the failure of one parachute, the crew safely splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on August 7.
An Apollo 15 cover from "Solar Covers", featuring Alfred Worden’s historic deep-space EVA, during which he became the first person to perform a spacewalk in deep space, postmarked at Cape Canaveral with a machine cancel on August 5, 1971.
On August 5, 1971, Worden exited the Command Module Endeavour, moved toward the rear of the Service Module, retrieved film cassettes from the cameras in the Scientific Instrument Module (SIM) bay, and then returned to the Command Module.
Photo: Apollo 15 made its splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on August 7, 1971.
An Apollo 15 splashdown cover from "Spacecraft", postmarked at Cape Canaveral with a machine cancel on August 7, 1971.
An Apollo 15 recovery cover from "NASA Manned Spacecraft Center Stamp Club" featuring the mission insignia, postmarked at Kennedy Space Center with a machine cancel on August 7, 1971, signed by Dave Scott, Al Worden and Jim Irwin.
Photo: USS Okinawa, the primary recovery ship for the Apollo 15 astronauts.
An Apollo 15 recovery cover featuring an illustration of the spacecraft’s parachute descent and recovery ship, postmarked aboard USS Okinawa with a hand cancel on August 7, 1971.
An Apollo 15 recovery cover from "Ekas", postmarked aboard USS Okinawa with a hand cancel on August 7, 1971. This hand cancel is a variation with the ship's name at the bottom of the hand cancel.
An Apollo 15 Captain's Cover from the USS Okinawa, postmarked aboard USS Okinawa with a hand cancel on August 7, 1971, signed by Dave Scott, Al Worden and Jim Irwin. - Heritage Auctions
An Apollo 15 recovery cover featuring a magenta “Morris Beck” rubber-stamped cachet, postmarked aboard USS Okinawa with a hand cancel on August 7, 1971, signed by Dave Scott, Jim Irwin, Al Worden and Lt. Fred W. Schmidt, the officer-in-charge of the Apollo 15 Recovery Team.
An Apollo 15 recovery cover featuring a "Commander in Chief Pacific Fleet Post Office" corner card and a magenta “Morris Beck” rubber-stamped cachet, postmarked aboard USS Okinawa with a hand cancel on August 7, 1971.
Photo: Cake-cutting ceremony for the Apollo 15 crew aboard the USS Okinawa.
An Apollo 15 recovery cover, postmarked aboard USS Okinawa with a hand cancel on August 9, 1971, signed by crew members involved in the Apollo 15 recovery.
Photo: The Apollo 15 crew poses with a model of the memorial plaque which they left on the Moon. The crew disclosed the memorial in a post-flight news conference.
In 1970, a German stamp dealer named Hermann Sieger sought to enlist an Apollo crew to transport some philatelic covers to the Moon and back. The Apollo 15 crew agreed to carry one hundred covers in exchange for a payment of $7,000 each. The terms stipulated that the covers would not be sold until after the Apollo program concluded. In addition to Sieger's covers, the astronauts included 300 of their own (298 were carried, as two were destroyed before the flight).
An Apollo 15 Flown Cover from "Sieger" (serial number 069 out of 100) featuring the mission insignia, postmarked at Kennedy Space Center with a machine cancel on July 26, 1971. Also postmarked aboard the USS Okinawa with a hand cancel on August 7, 1971, signed by Dave Scott, Al Worden, and Jim Irwin. In the upper-left corner, a handwritten notation reads, “Landed at Hadley Moon / Jul 30, 1971,” positioned above the signatures of the two moonwalkers, Scott and Irwin.
The cover was sold by Herman Sieger in 1971 and is accompanied by notarized certification on the reverse. At the center of the reverse is a typed statement signed and notarized by Mrs. C. B. Carsey of Harris County, Texas (Houston). In the lower-left corner, H. W. Sieger’s name is stamped, with his signature beneath the handwritten serial number “#069”.
NASA had a policy that required astronauts to obtain permission before bringing any items onto the spacecraft. For reasons that remain unclear, these items were never reported. All the covers were canceled shortly after midnight on the day of the flight, except for this particular one, and were quickly processed through the Manned Spacecraft Operations Building, where they were vacuum-packed and sealed in fireproof fiberglass. The package was then taken to Launch Complex 39A, where Scott placed it in a pocket of his spacesuit. However, these items were not properly documented in the manifest.
After the flight, the crew had the covers stamped and canceled aboard the recovery ship, signing them on the return journey to Houston. Shortly after, the one hundred covers were sent to Siegel in Germany, who promptly began selling them. The astronauts attempted to retrieve the covers but were unsuccessful. Although they returned his payments, a congressional inquiry led NASA to suspend all three from active flight status. The remaining 298 covers were confiscated and held until 1983 when NASA settled Al Worden's lawsuit out of court and returned the covers to the crew.
