The following article appeared in APF News in October 2000.  As astrophilately exhibits are not as numerous as most other classes of competitive philately, there tends to be fewer opportunities to see and understand what this class is all about.  For many collectors, this article was their first exposure to this most interesting and unique field of philately.

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This branch of philately is a relative newcomer to the world of FIP (Federation Internationale de Philatelie). The Special Regulations for Astrophilately of the FIP were only accepted at the Rome Congress in 1985. Yet Rocket Mail was first introduced to the world at the International Airpost Exhibition of 1932, LUPOSTA, by Friedrich Schmiedl and at APEX '34, in London, by Gerhard Zucker.

Historical Context

The rocket has a long history, the first firecrackers date back to Chin Dynasty (221-207 B.C.). Gunpowder (black powder) rockets were used extensively during the Sung Dynasty (960-1279 A.D.). By the early 13^th century gunpowder had reached Europe and in the 18^th century rockets were used as weapons of war. The British fired 2,000 rockets on the city of Boulonge in 1807. In 1841, Golightly took out a patent for a steam driven rocket as a means of flight. Rockets were sometimes used by the British and French biplanes against German balloons.

The pioneers of space travel flourished towards the end of the 19^th century. In Russia, Tsiolkovsky proposed the use of rockets to achieve space flight. Goddard, in the USA, worked on rockets to achieve high altitudes and developed liquid-fuel rockets. In Germany Oberth's famous work, The Rocket into Planetary Space was published in 1923. In early 1927, the German, Society for Space Travel(VfR) was founded. The early successes of the VfR could not be maintained during the Depression.

Between the end of 1932 and 1937, Von Braun worked with a group of researchers in Peenemünde. Here they develop the A-3, a six metre long rocket. By June 1944, enough V-1 had been produced to bomb southern England, some 8,000 "buzz bombs" were launched against London. They were 8 metres long, 0.84 metres in diameter and weighed 2.2 tonne. On the 6^th of September 1944, the first V-2 was launched against Paris. A V-2 was 14 metres long, weighed 12 tonne and had a range of 300 kilometres. After the War, Von Braun moved to the USA to become a top NASA official, leading them into Space with his Saturn V rockets.

A small group of researchers used solid fuel rockets to deliver mail. The first was Friedrich Schmiedl of Austria, who tested mail rockets in the mountains in 1930. Stephen Smith, in India, conducted some 270 experiments, including the transportation of animals, from 1934-45. Others used Stratospheric balloons to investigate high altitudes. Piccard reached record heights.

The Space Age started in 1957, when the USSR launched their first satellite, Sputnik 1, into Space. Sputnik I was a turning point for so many developments in the West. Soon manned flight followed, on 12^th of April 1961, Yuri Gagarin orbited Earth. Within a decade, Neil Armstrong stepped onto the Moon. While today, rockets launch satellites and other vehicles into Space on schedules as regular as train time tables.

Scope and Content of Astrophilately Exhibits

The Astophilatelist collects items (stamps, cancellations, flown mail) to document these events. Thus astrophilately encompasses a wide range of areas such as Astronomy, History, Stratospheric flights that relate to Space research; Rocket Mail; Space research programs of the USA, the USSR, Europe and other countries; Manned Spaceflights; Telecommunication; and Space Exploration.

The Special Regulations for the Evaluation of Astrophilately at FIP Exhibitions provide the following guidance:

An astrophilatelic exhibit is built up on historical, technical and scientific aspects related to space research and space programs (Article 2). Appropriate philatelic material of an astrophilatelic exhibit includes the following:

1. Documents handed over by a postal administration for dispatch by stratosphere balloons, rockets, spaceships, rocket planes, recovery ships, rescue helicopters and other supporting aircraft or vice versa.

2. Stamps, leaflets and vignettes related to rocketmail, postal stationery, Mailgrams and special envelopes and cards of relevance to the different parts of the space program including: the related precursors; the launch, the flight and landing of space travelling objects; and the participating tracking stations, ships and supporting aircraft.

3. Among the special characteristics of Astrophilately are envelopes and cards cancelled by the post office at the place and on the exact date of the special events.

4. An astrophilatelic exhibit may encompass all aspects or relate to a self contained section only to the following:

a)   From the period of pioneers to conquest of space
b)   Rocket Mail
c)   Space programs of :
           USA
           USSR/CIS
           Europe
           Other countries
d)   Unmanned space programs
e)   Manned space programs

5. The text should cover all aspects of the exact technical data, the dates, the place and the purpose or mission of the space objects, including the special activities of the astronauts and cosmonauts involved

Treatment

An astrophilatelic exhibit comprises philatelic material related to space exploration. It does not develop a theme, it is a philatelic study of the scientific and technical progress achieved in conquest of space, chronologically recording the relative events within the different programs. The Astrophilatelist may follow the development of the rocket through the evolution of theories of the Universe, from early mythology and astrology to the development of scientific theories by people like: Plato, Aristotle, Ptolemy, Kopernik, Newton and Einstein. While the contributions from writers like: Cicero, Lucian, De Bergerac, Verne and Wells, inspired many scientists.

The FIP guidelines for evaluating astrophilatelic exhibits are very detailed and contain quite specific statements in respect to what constitutes both acceptable and unacceptable items for exhibiting purposes. Some examples are: envelopes and cards recording splashdowns (landings) should have the postmark of the post office on board of the main recovery ship with the date of recovery of the astronauts and/or space capsule. For recording splashdown/recovery of space capsules, where so far no postmark from the main recovery ship is known (mainly related to precursors of manned spaceflight) the postmark of the respective launching site with date of recovery may be shown. Mail from ships, helicopters and/or airplanes participating in the recovery shall have the postmark with the date during the mission. If there was no post office on board of a participating ship, the postmark of the port of landing or of the nearest supply base after arrival of the ship is valid.

Reproduction of the guidelines in full is not warranted for the purposes of this introduction astrophilately. Interested readers can view both the FIP special regulations and judging guidelines at the FIP’s website http://www.f-i-p.org.xx. Members of NAPE will find these documents incorporated in Special Issue No. 3 of The Asia Pacific Exhibitor which was published by NAPE in conjunction with the APF in April this year.

Evaluation of Astrophilatelic Exhibits at FIP Exhibitions

For astrophilatelic exhibits, the following relative terms are presented to lead the Jury to a balanced evaluation (ref. GREV. Article 5.2):

Literature:
Eustis, N., The Australian Airmail Catalogue, 6^th Edition, 1997
Colle, E., Astrophilatelie Thematik US-Raumfahrt
Ellington-Zwissler, Rocket Mail, Volume 1, 1967
Ellington-Zwissler, Rocket Mail, Volume 2, 1973
Grandela Duran, J., Guerra de Propaganda en los frentes 1936-1939, 1996
Hopferwieser, W., Kosmische Post, 1993
Jatia, D. N., From the Diary of Stephen Smith, 1980
Kaufmann-Bromser, EZ Rocket Mail Update, 1990
Kronstein; M. Rocket Mail Flights of the World, 1986
Riggi di Nomana, G. Manuela die Astrofilatelia, 1988
SAV, Achweiz. Luftpost-Handbuch, 1992Sieger, H., Raketenpost, 1971
Trobas, K., Raketenpost Ing. F. Schmiedl, 1992

Journals:
Austria:  Gmunder Weltraumfreunde
Belgium:  BFC COSMOS
Germany:  Weltraum~Pjilatelie
Nederland:  RFCN Nieuwsbrief
Switzerland:  Space Phil News