NY
Chapter's 8th Space Stamp & Autograph Show
The NY Chapter of the Space Unit will have it's 8th
Space Stamp & Autograph Show on April 13 at the First German Sports Club,
60-60 Metropolitan Ave, Ridgewood NY. It is easy to get to, there will be
plenty to see and buy, plus a space Cancel. If you need more directions or a
table contact Carmine Torrisi at ctorrisi1@juno.com
BELGICA
2001 World Stamp Exhibition Space Unit Member wins Large Gold
.....Report by Jürgen P. Esders (International Director)
Astrophilately now counts a 2nd Large Gold exhibit in its ranks. For the
2nd time since the Astrophilately class was introduced, Space Unit's
International Director for the Asia/Pacific Region, Charles Bromser
harvested this rarely attributed highest award available for his "Pioneer
Rocket Mail" collection.
Space Unit's President Emeritus, Ben Ramkissoon, achieved his first Gold
Medal for "Development of the US Lunar Exploration". Two other Space Unit
Members, Stefan Bruylants and Walter Hopferwieser, were awarded large
Silver and Large Vermeil medals, respectively.
Lifetime Space Unit member Béatrice Bachmann had been the first person to
win a Large Gold Medal in Astro, back in 1994 on PHILAKOREA 94. Her
fabulous collection "From the beginning of space exploration up to space
mail" could be admired at Brussels as well - the first time ever an Astro
collection was exhibited in the FIP Championship Class. In this class,
exhibits that have been awarded three previous Large Gold Medals on
international level can be shown and automatically receive another Gold
medal.
The high level of awards achieved confirms the increased recognition of
Astrophilately by traditional philately.
The Space Unit successes are listed in detail:
Name |
Country |
Exhibit title |
Medal won |
BRUYLANTS, Stefan | Belgium | European space activities | Large Silver |
BROMSER, Charles | Australia | Pioneer Rocket Mail | Large Gold |
HOPFERWIESER, Walter M. | Austria | From rocket mail to space mail | Large Vermeil |
RAMKISSOON, Reuben A. | USA | The development of the US lunar exploration | Gold |
|
Space Unit Meeting in October 2000 at Madrid
SpaceFest 2000
SpaceFest 2000 will be held September 8, 9 & 10th in Titusville, Florida - located 5 miles north of The Kennedy
Space Center and home of Space View Park, a premier launch viewing area. A Space Collectors Market will be open
for buying, selling and trading all
three days of the event. In support of SpaceFest 2000, NASA/KSC has scheduled a launch the morning of September
8th to kick off the festivities (the schedule can be seen at
http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/countdown/).
We would love to see you there!!!
Patricia Barber
US Space Walk of Fame Foundation
(321) 269-7717
6th Annual NY ATA Space Unit Chapter Postcard, Autographs & Stamp Show
April 15th 2000. It will be held again at the Elk's Lodge 82-10 Queens Blvd. , Elmhurst NY. The Post Office
will be there and a Space Cancel honoring the 30th anniversary of the 1st Flight of
the X 24 B. If you need dircetions or other information, please contact Carmine Torrisi at ctorrisi@aol.com
or call 718 386 7882 after 6 pm.
Annual
General Meeting of the Space Unit at AMERICAS 99
The prestigious LESTER E. WINICK award for excellence in the promotion
of astrophilately was awarded to long-time Space Unit auction coordinator and Vice-President, Tom
Steiner, as was announced at the annual general meeting of the Space Unit convened at the AMERICAS 99
exhibition at Orlando, Florida, February 26, 1999.
Tom Steiner became the second winner of the award which was created to honor the large contribution to astrophilately
made by Les Winick, President-Emeritus of the organization. Last year's awardee was Ray E. Cartier, who served
as Vice-President of the Unit, and currently serves as Chapter and Awards Chairman, as well as the driving force
behind the
Mars Study Unit.
President Ramkissoon also announced the first winner of the BERNICE SCHOLL AWARD--newly
elected International Director, Jürgen Peter Esders, who contributed the
outstanding feature article in the ASTROPHILE for January, 1998, "La Coupole History Centre", an article
devoted to the history of the V-2 rocket and its influence in this area of France during World War II.
The Bernice Scholl Award was created to honor the memory of long time treasurer and associate editor, who served
untiringly and faithfully for the Space Unit over two decades.
While a larger number of members came to the exhibition, twenty members and guests were present for the Annual
General Meeting. President Ben Ramkissoon introduced two of the Space Unit Officers in attendance, Steve Durst,
Treasurer; and Bob Glass, Director. Members were also given an opportunity to introduce themselves and state their
collecting interests before the assembled group.
Figure 1 illustrates a cover created for the meeting, and shows the signatures of those attending the meeting.
Ben gave an overview of the work of the unit, including reports from the secretary, treasurer, computer coordinator,
chapter chair, and auction coordinator.
Ample time was given for informal meeting among members and guests. A special time was set up on Saturday for a
member trading session, as well as an opportunity to visit dealer booths and to look at the interesting and informative
array of exhibits. At the show, members found some early and exciting space covers, including: a flown Nike R-18
rocket cover cancelled July 16, 1948, from Las Cruces, New Mexico; a cover for the first day of postal service
at Patrick Air Force Base dated March 1, 1952; and a Goldey redstone rocket launch cover, cancelled July 21, 1959,
at Port Canaveral, Florida.
There were ten exhibits in the Aerophilately and Astrophilately section, but only one was related to astrophilately.
Ben's exhibit on DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNITED STATES LUNAR EXPLORATION was awarded a Large Vermeil medal and
continues to set the standard for excellence for space cover exhibits. Members may be interested in knowing that
the exhibits at AMERICAS 99 were evaluated according to the international (FIP) standards.
A number of gift items were made available to members and guests attending the meeting. These consisted of covers
donated by Stamp Collector (Krause Publications), another member who preferred to remain anonymous (ASTP anniversary
covers), and Ken Havekotte (Friendship 7/STS-95 decals), as well as the special awards previously noted.
Because of a change in the planned schedule of the meeting proceedings, upon adjournment a group of six members
journeyed to the Kennedy Space Center, where a special tour was arranged by member Ken Havakotte.
The tour began at the Center of Space Education, and included visits to the Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF),
the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), and the impressive transfer isle (low and high bays), the Mobile Launcher
Pad (MLP), crawler-transporter pen, and travel along the crawl way towards Pad 39B. A drive along the Pad B perimeter
road allowed maximum appreciation of the activities and processes relating to the launch of the Space Shuttle (STS).
Before returning to the KSC Visitors' Center and the Center for Space Education, the tour was routed to the Pad
B Launch Control Center (LCC). Ample time was allowed for on-site observations and as well, questions were welcomed
and graciously
answered.
Tour members included Les and Barbara Winick, Ben and Connie Ramkissoon, Mrs. Jerome Krause, and Ken Havekotte.
The tour was a magnificent opportunity to see some of the inner workings of the Kennedy Space Center manned spacecraft
activities that are ongoing and which will move NASA into the next decade. It was an unprecedented opportunity
to enjoy the camaraderie of our friends and at the same time take in all the sights. All agreed that this meeting
was one of the best in the area in the last several years.
Figure 1
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First Overseas Space Unit Meeting - May 1st, 1999
Thirty space collectors attended the first overseas Space Unit meeting.
The International Director wants to serve the overseas members and that‘s
what I did during the World Stamp Exhibition IBRA 99 in the German city of
Nuremberg. IBRA 99 was the first international stamp exhibition in Germany
for 25 years. With Germany providing the highest single national delegation
amongst the Space Unit‘s overseas‘ membership, this occasion seemed the
most appropriate choice to call for a meeting. Jointly with the German
astrophilatelists‘ club Weltraum Philatelie e. V., I invited all overseas‘
members for the afternoon of May 1st.
The outcome was spectacular: 30 space collectors turned up, more than on
any other meeting of this kind in previous years. Most visitors were from
Germany, as to be expected, but we equally had collectors coming from
Austria, the Netherlands, France, Switzerland, and even Russia. Most
prominent members were Beatrice Bachmann from the FIP, the Chairman of the
German club, Peter Wilhelm, and the Chairman of the Austria‘s Gmünder
Weltraumfreunde, Walter M. Hopferwieser. 8 of the 30 participants were
Space Unit members: Florian Noller, Gert Meinl, Peter Wilhelm, Gerd
Hollenbach, Sergei Chizhov and myself fro Germany, Bart A. Beimers from the
Netherlands, aforementioned Walter M. Hopferwieser and Oleg Poliakov from
Moscow. There were many familiar faces, some of which I had seen last
twenty years ago. Other names were known by correspondence for years, and I
now met the real person behind it.
The room initially booked was much too small, but we were lucky and could
move to a larger one where another meeting had just ended. We began with a
slide show from my visit to Baikonur Cosmodrome in March 1992 - I had
attended the launch of Soyuz TM 14 there, a joint Russian-German mission.
Russian members present could add interesting details to the impressions I
had won seven years ago. After the slide show had ended, each and every one
was browsing through the large boxes of covers with space covers from all
over the world several members had carried. Pricing of older space covers,
the exploding prices for Chinese space covers, the first European space
mail with Ariane V, authenticity questions with Russian space covers were
amongst the topics overheard during this afternoon.
Jürgen P. Esders
30 astrophilatelists and Space Unit members meeting during the IBRA 99 World Stamp Exhibition at Nuremberg, Germany | Veteran cosmonaut Gherman Titov grants an autograph to Space Unit member Gerd Hollenbach |
April 17, 1999 from 10 - 4 at the Elk's Lodge 62-10 Queens Blvd. Elmhurst NY. The Post Office will be there and a Space Cancel honoring the 30th Anniversary of Apollo 11 will be offered free. If you would like a table at this show contact Carmine Torrisi ctorrisi@aol.com
Midwest Region SU Chapter Annual Meeting (second of two) in conjunction
with
ChicagoPex '98
November 8, 1998 from 11am - Dr Ben Ramkissoon presided at the meeting. Members and guests signed a illustrated
cover as a souvenir of the meeting.
Exhibition Awards included:
Youth: | Christina Carbonaro | Space Exploration | Silver |
Jenniger Kelly | A Space View | Silver-Bronze | |
Literature | Handbooks Class | ||
Chas J Vukotich Jr | Space Craft Covers | Silver | |
Literature | Periodicals Class | ||
Mark Bloom, editor | The Astrophile | ||
Jeff Dugdale, editor | Orbit |
Meeting of Washington SU Chapter in conjunction with
VAPEX '98 , 75th Anniv. Meeting American Airmail Society and FISA
1st Week November, 1998 - Members and guests signed a illustrated cover as a souvenir of the meeting. Dr Ben Ramkissoon received the prestigeous AAMS George W. Angers Award for his contributions to aero- and astrophilately.
Awards for Space Exhibits Included:
Competitive Class | Dr Reuben A. Ramkissoon | Development of the US Lunar Exploration | VAPEX Gold AAMS Gold SU Gold |
Youth Exhibit Awards | |||
Michael Ollies | Exploring our Solar System | VAPEX Vermeil AAMS Gold CAS award |
|
Ben Heyler | The Race through Space | VAPEX Silver AAMS Silver |
|
Christopher Doan | Flying High in Outer Space | VAPEX Silver-Bronze AMMS Silver | |
Display Class | Daniel C. Olsen | To Conquer the Sky (Maximum Cards) | VAPEX Silver AAMS Silver |