Portal:Spaceflight/Selected article/Week 47 2007

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Astrophilately is the area of philately connected with astronomy and efforts to reach outer space, both manned and unmanned. Topics of interest include postage stamps, cancellations, and covers connected to various projects. Examples include rocket mail, dating from as early as the 1930s, and mail actually carried on space flights, a practice that began with Project Apollo missions, and has continued since then. Specialists distinguish astrophilately from topical collecting with a space theme; astrophilatelic items are those with direct connections to space missions, whether or not they include any special pictorial depiction.

The Fédération Internationale de Philatélie Section for Astrophilately includes covers and cards cancelled at launch sites, tracking stations, mission control facilities, research laboratories, and recovery ships. Many, though not all, such items have cachets produced for the mission; others are recognisable only with specific knowledge of the postmark location and date corresponding to a launch. (more...)