Brewster Shaw Signed Space Shuttle First Day Cover, Kokomo Indiana 1982 View Watchlist >
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Lot # Nasa47
System ID # 29230521
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Brewster Shaw Signed Space Shuttle First Day Cover, Kokomo Indiana 1982
February 7, 1982: Columbia had only just completed its second mission two months prior, and the Shuttle program was still raw and electric — not yet routine, not yet taken for granted. Someone in Kokomo, Indiana was paying close attention. They brought this Barlen cachet envelope to the stamp club station that morning, applied a 20¢ flag definitive, and got it postmarked on a day when the word "shuttle" still carried the particular voltage of the impossible made real. At some point after that, Brewster H. Shaw Jr. signed it in bold black ink — full signature, unhurried, filling the lower half of the envelope with the confidence of a man who would go on to fly three of those vehicles.
The cover itself is a 1981 Barlen production: a color illustration of orbiter Enterprise banking above the curve of the Earth, bracketed by the words "United States of America — Space Shuttle" in the red-and-blue graphic language of early NASA public affairs. The postmark is a clean Kokomo, Indiana 46901 circular date stamp, Feb. 7, 1982, with a companion pictorial Kokomo Stamp Club Station cachet showing the orbiter from below. Shaw piloted STS-9 aboard Columbia in 1983, then commanded STS-61-B (Atlantis, 1985) and STS-28 (Columbia, 1989) before moving into senior leadership at NASA Headquarters and Boeing's Shuttle and ISS programs. Signed early-Shuttle-era covers from commanders and pilots — as opposed to mission-specialist signatures — occupy the sharper end of space philately collecting.
Authenticity
Mesilla Valley Estate Sales guarantees this signature authentic and will issue a Certificate of Authenticity to the winning bidder.
CONDITION
Very Good. Envelope is clean and bright with crisp printing and a bold, unfaded signature. No creasing, toning, or foxing of note; corners square.
DIMENSIONS / SPECIFICATIONS
- Envelope: 3 5/8" × 6 1/2"
- Postmark: Kokomo, Indiana 46901 — Feb. 7, 1982
- Cachet: Kokomo Stamp Club Station
- Stamp: 20¢ USA Flag over Supreme Court definitive
- Cachet Design: © 1981 Barlen
- Signature: Brewster Shaw (black ink) — Certificate of Authenticity issued to winning bidder