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Sale 754

Aerophilately, Rocket Mail and Astrophilately,
Featuring the Johann Strauss & Leo Malz Collections


Unmanned Rocket Test Flights




Lot Photo Description
Lot 6421
United States, 1958 (Dec 13), Gordo monkey flight. Propelled into space aboard a Jupiter ICBM; launched the week NASA announced Project Mercury intended to put an American in orbit; premium Goldcraft artwork.
Estimate $250 - 350.
Current Bid $130
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Lot 6422
United States, 1959 (Sep 9), Big Joe 1 postcard. Great example of the BJ-1 flight on an Atlas postcard; Port Canaveral hand cancel very readable, a wonderful example; included is the "return to port" date (Sep 10) on a Navaho missile postmark, poor contrast but legible; a key item.
Estimate $250 - 350.
Current Bid $130
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Lot 6423
United States, 1959 (Sep 9), Big Joe 1 postcard. Titan postcard with scarce BJ-1 Project Mercury qualification launch date; also a "return to port" Sept 10 postcard showing a Redstone missile, unfortunately the black postmark on a night sky is quite hard to read; key none the less.
Estimate $200 - 300.
Current Bid $100
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Lot 6424
United States, 1961 (Nov 10), Goliath monkey flight. Riding an Atlas ICBM this astrochimp was lost when the booster exploded; Patrick Air Force Base machine cancel; attractive SpaceCraft multicolored art.
Estimate $150 - 200.
Current Bid $80
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Lot 6425
United States, 1961 (Nov 29), Mercury-Atlas 5 Monkey covers. Swanson generic missile with Patrick AFB machine cancel, Harry Gordon add-on to Port Canaveral AM hand cancel, Sarazin Port Canaveral PM hand cancel, and Zazo Port Canaveral AM hand cancel; lot also includes a Jan 20, 1961 colony of chimps work towards upcoming flight,Oct 13, 1969 Sarazin space mice, and photo add-on and printed Nov 10, 1961 Goliath envelope; total of 7 items.
Estimate $250 - 350.
Current Bid $130
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Lot 6426
United States, 1961, Monkey flight in Atlas ICBM. Chimp Scatback was integral to this early Bio Sat mission; green generic Swanson rubber stamp cachet; Patrick Air Force Base machine cancel postmarked once the post office opened the following day; label stain, very scarce and desireable Mercury qualification flight.
Estimate $250 - 350.
Current Bid $130
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Lot 6427
United States, Tough Project Mercury qualification dates. Few collectors paid attention to qualification flights are and therefore absent from many collections; BJ-1 (better example with the Atlas postcard), Thor postcard with the Sep 10 "return to port" date; MR-1A with generic Swanson; MA-3 with generic Swanson; LJ-5B with attractive Rocket fired from Wallops Island; Sarzin MA-2; generic Swanson MR-BD; Sarzin MR-3; and Sarzin MR-4; 9 important items for your collection.
Estimate $500 - 750.
Current Bid $250
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Lot 6428
United States, Project Mercury before John Glenn. Grouping of sub-orbital and unmanned Mercury flight covers; Patrick AFB machine cancel on blank cover postmarked the day before America's first manned spaceflight (MR-3); Port Canaveral hand cancels (one Sarzin capsule up, another capsule down); two Sarzin (MR-4) Phase 2 covers and a Fuerst Virgil I Grissom airmail envelope; two Harry Gordon MA-4 robot covers postmarked at Port Canaveral; and two MA-5 (Enos) envelopes, one a PM Sarzin and the other blank and addressed to Barbara Baker.
Estimate $250 - 350.
Current Bid $130
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Lot 6429
United States, Monkeys, robots, and ballistic space shots. A similar grouping with the exception that one of the Enos cachets is Zaso, and the robots are Sarzin and generic Swanson.
Estimate $250 - 350.
Current Bid $130
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Lot 6430
United States, Sometimes the best man for the job isn't. Ever since humans have flown balloons and rockets, biological specimens and animals have gone along; Sarzin Sally, Amy and Moe (mice) travelled on a 5000 mile ride in an Atlas ICBM (1960), a white rat payload accompanied a sounding rocket from Wallops Island (1964); as part of the Mercury spacecraft qualification series a Rank flocked Ham launch (MR-2), a Sazin Ham launch (1961), and a USS Warrington recovery envelope (SRS), also a Sarzin Enos flight (MA-5) cover; three autographed Scout sounding rocket envelopes from the NASA facility at Wallops Island investigating inner ear biology in frogs (1970); good stuff.
Estimate $250 - 350.
Current Bid $130
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Lot 6431
United States, Mercury and Apollo qualification flights. Unglamorous (but vital) engineering tests; six Mercury and six Apollo; Goldley May 9, 1960 Beach Abort (BA), Hudson Nov 8, 1960 Little Joe 5 (LJ-5), Hudson Mar 18, 1961 Little Joe 5A (LJ-5A), Swanson Apr 25, 1962 Mercury Atlas 3 (MA-3), Swanson Apr 28, 1961 Little Joe 5B (LJ-5B), document cachet Sep 13, 1961 Mercury Atlas 4 (MA-4); Sokolsky May 13, 1964 Little Joe II (A-001), White Sands Dec 8, 1964 Abort 2 (A-002), White Sands May 19, 1965 Abort 3 (A-003), White Sands Jun 29, 1965 Pad Abort Test 2 (PA-2) (2 examples), Orbit Jan 20, 1966 Abort 4 (A-004).
Estimate $300 - 400.
Current Bid $150
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Lot 6432
United States, Mercury qualification flights prior to orbit. A better group of covers and postcards leading up to Glenn's orbital Atlas flight; BJ-1 on a Jupiter IRBM, "return to port" Sep 10 on a Bomarc postcard; BA on Hudson document cachet (beautiful cancel); LJ-5 addressed to Zaso with Hudson rubber stamp; black Swanson generic missile fired for MR-1A; Goldey (sealed with slight wrinkles) for MA-2; Hudson LJ-5A; Harry Gordon attractive MR-BD hand cancel; Swanson generic MA-3; Hudson LJ-5B; Sarzin MR-3; and Swanson MR-4 in green; 12 great examples of important flights.
Estimate $750 - 1,000.
Current Bid $350
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Lot 6433
United States, 1964 (May 13), Little Joe II. The remarkable success of the Saturn, Saturn 1B, and Saturn V was due to extensive qualification testing; HiLite (Tom Dixon) cover postmarked May 13, 1964 for the A-001 abort test; a Rank flockless LJ-II envelope from A-001 also postmarked Satellite Beach later in the month for the SA-6 launch; great looking WSMR cachet and roller cancel from Las Cruces for the May 19, 1965 test of A-003; four copies of the PA-2 pad abort with Sokolsky art in purple; to sweeten the pot a GT-VI Agena scrub with silver Sokolsky is included; 8 covers in total.
Estimate $200 - 300.
Current Bid $100
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