When stamps went to the moon

A "Sieger cover"

Did you know that some stamps have actually travelled to the Moon and back? It sounds incredible, but it's true!

Back in the 1960s there was a Space Race with the USA and the USSR obsessed with beating the other. The USSR put the first satellite in space - Sputnik. They also put the first man (Yuri Gagarin), the first woman (Valentina Tereshkova) and the first dog (Laika) in space. Things got even better for the Soviets when Alexei Leonov became the first person to spacewalk. It seemed that the USSR was unstoppable. But the Americans didn't give up despite the USSR's initial successes. In 1961 President Robert F Kennedy had pledged to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade. The Apollo 8 mission in 1968 saw a team of astronauts (Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders) go into lunar orbit - basically, they spent 20 hours orbiting the moon. And the following year the Apollo 11 team of Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins succeeded in achieving what President Kennedy had dreamed about.

The astronauts on the Apollo 11 mission weren’t just carrying science equipment. They also carried souvenirs, including postal covers with stamps on them. These were postmarked on the day of the launch and again when they returned. The envelopes became unique souvenirs of the first Moon landing. The National Space Centre tells us more: "This first day cover was produced in 1969 to commemorate Apollo 11. The stamp was designed by Paul Calle, who was one of the first artists chosen for the NASA Art Program. The aim of the programme was to record the development of Space Exploration from an artist’s perspective. Calle was with the Apollo 11 crew as they prepared to launch, documenting the historic day as it unfolded.

"Calle actually designed the stamp before the mission but managed to capture Neil Armstrong’s first steps from the lunar module onto the surface with remarkable accuracy. The master die for the stamp was carried to the Moon with the Apollo 11 crew. They also took a “moon letter” to be hand cancelled on the lunar surface with a “Moon Landing USA Jul 20 1969” postmark. In the end the crew were too busy to do this while on the Moon, instead they completed the task on the return journey.

"Once back on Earth, the die was used to make the printing plates for the postage stamps to be issued by the United States Post Office. They were released on 9 September 1969 and also carry a second postmark identical to the one the astronauts used on the moon letter."

It's amazing to think that the crew of Apollo 11, in the excitement of being the first humans to step onto the surface of the moon, were expected to handstamp these covers while there. It seems a ridiculous idea, because it wouldn't have been very practical and it would be obvious they would be "too busy" with more important work. However, these covers were definitely taken to the moon, which in itself is pretty awesome when you think about it.

I am sure you're asking the same question I did when I first heard about this: why do it? What would be the point of taking envelopes into space with special stamps, landing on the moon and then hand-stamping them?

What the National Space Centre doesn't tell us is that 294 covers were created (why not 300?) which were "insurance covers". These were signed in advance by the astronauts and postmarked on the day of the launch. The covers were kept with their families for safekeeping, so didn't actually go to the moon. Going to the moon was dangerous - after all, no-one had done it before - and people at NASA wanted the covers to be a form of life insurance. If the worst happened, these rare pieces of philatelic history could be sold to help the astronauts' families.

There were also another 214 signed covers, and these were flown to the moon. These were intended as personal items for the astronauts. This was all done officially and you can see why it was actually a pretty good idea especially as, if successful, the mission would be the first time any human had stepped foot on the moon. These were intended to be highly limited edition souvenirs of one of the most important events in human history.

What is interesting is that the Moon Landing stamp had been designed and printed, but not officially released, before the launch. Clearly the US Postal Service was banking on a successful mission! Many more commemorative first day covers were created, which were postmarked on the day of issue (9th September 1969) and, retrospectively, with the date of the moon landing (20th July). These are neither rare nor valuable, but still great to have in your collection.

Two years later some more stamps arrived on the moon but this time it was very controversial! In 1971, the Apollo 15 mission carried out the fourth moon landing. David Scott, Alfred Worden and James Irwin not only landed on the moon but collected important data using a range of scientific equipment. The crew also brought the Genesis Rock back to earth. On the way back, Worden performed the first ever spacewalk in "deep space". So, all in all, it was very successful. The following year it was discovered that the Apollo 15 crew had carried 400 stamped covers to the moon on their mission, without any approval from NASA. They had done this simply to make money. It was a huge scandal at the time! Basically, the astronauts had taken payment from a German stamp dealer called Hermann Sieger who went on to sell them at very high prices. The media took a dim view and so did many Americans. More importantly, NASA disapproved of the commercialisation of the mission and none of the astronauts went into space again. The stamps were banned from sale for years. NASA impounded them, although eleven years later released them back to the astronauts.

Today, if you can get hold of one of these Sieger covers, they are worth a fortune! In 2014 one sold for $55,000.

Alfred Worden later admitted the astronauts were wrong."In hindsight I had broken an unspoken trust", he said. Why does this matter?

I think it's an important part of history that we need to remember. The fact that stamps have been on the moon tells us an incredible story. With the Apollo 11 mission, it is mainly a story of marking an important milestone in human history. However, it also reminds us that it was not certain the mission would be successful and it was highly dangerous - so dangerous that it was feared the astronauts may not survive it. The Apollo 15 controversy is interesting for different reasons and it shows the power of commercial interests. It also opened up a moral debate that still rages years later. For me, while stamped covers were taken to the moon for different reasons, it's still pretty amazing that it happened at all.

I often say that stamps tell us about the world we live in. Sometimes they tell us about worlds beyond it as well. Who knows? Maybe one day, we’ll see stamps travelling to Mars.