Hank Hartsfield Signed STS-4 "Getaway Special Number One" Space Shuttle Cachet Cover, 1982

STS-4 launched on the Fourth of July, 1982 — deliberately. NASA and the White House wanted a spectacle, and they got one: Henry W. "Hank" Hartsfield and commander Thomas Mattingly rode Columbia off the pad at Kennedy Space Center as President Reagan watched from Edwards Air Force Base, where he'd be waiting when they landed seven days later. It was the last time a shuttle flew with ejection seats. The last time the crew wore full pressure suits for ascent. The last flight test before NASA declared the Shuttle operational. STS-4 closed one chapter and opened another.

This airmail cachet cover carries a gold-foil embossed shuttle stack in a blue oval reading "Getaway Special Number One" — marking the first flight of NASA's GAS canister program, which flew its inaugural self-contained payload experiment in Columbia's cargo bay on this very mission. Postmarked Brigham City, UT — June 27, 1982 (the launch date), franked with a 20¢ Ralph Bunche commemorative, and canceled at the post office closest to Morton Thiokol's solid rocket booster plant, whose hardware was strapped to the side of the vehicle when it cleared the tower that morning. Hartsfield has signed the front in bold black marker, adding the inscription "STS 4 – STS 41D" — the two missions that defined his career as a pilot and a commander, the second being the maiden flight of Discovery in 1984.

Hank Hartsfield came to NASA by way of the Air Force's Manned Orbiting Laboratory program — a classified military space station project cancelled in 1969 before it ever flew. When MOL was scrapped, Hartsfield and several of his peers were folded directly into NASA's astronaut corps, their classified test-pilot credentials intact. He waited nearly a decade for his first flight. STS-4 was it: a demanding seven-day shakedown of Columbia with a classified DOD payload, a lightning strike on the pad, and a landing before the President of the United States. Two years later, Hartsfield commanded STS-41-D and introduced Discovery to space. He logged 483 hours in orbit across two missions. He was, in the exact sense of the word, a working astronaut — not a celebrity, not a household name, but one of the people who turned an experimental vehicle into a functional program. Collectors who know the Shuttle era recognize that distinction.

Signed by Henry W. "Hank" Hartsfield in bold black marker on the front of the cover, with the mission inscription "STS 4 – STS 41D" in his hand. A Certificate of Authenticity will be issued by Mesilla Valley Estate Sales for this lot.

CONDITION

Very Good. The cover is clean with crisp gold-foil embossing and a bold, unfaded signature. Light age toning to the paper at the cachet area; envelope remains unsealed and intact, housed in a protective sleeve.

DIMENSIONS / SPECIFICATIONS

• 3 5/8" × 6 1/2"
• Postmark: Brigham City, UT — June 27, 1982 (USPO)
• Stamp: 20¢ Ralph Bunche commemorative
• Cachet: Gold-foil embossed shuttle stack, "Getaway Special Number One / STS-4" oval
• Signed: Henry W. "Hank" Hartsfield, STS-4 Pilot / STS-41-D Commander
• Inscription: "STS 4 – STS 41D" in black marker
• COA: Mesilla Valley Estate Sales