Astronaut Robert Parker Signed UN "Peaceful Uses of Outer Space" First Day Cover View Watchlist >
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Lot # Nasa110S
System ID # 29522555
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Astronaut Robert Parker Signed UN "Peaceful Uses of Outer Space" First Day Cover, 1982
On June 11, 1982, the United Nations issued a stamp acknowledging what the Space Age had made undeniable: that outer space was no longer the exclusive province of superpowers locked in a Cold War race, but a shared frontier governed — ideally — by cooperation and restraint. The 20¢ "Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space" stamp depicted an olive branch against a star field. It was the kind of idealistic gesture that governments make in public while engineers and astronauts quietly get on with the actual work of going there. Robert Parker was one of those people doing the actual work.
A NASA mission specialist and astrophysicist, Parker flew aboard STS-9 (Spacelab 1) in November 1983 — one of the most scientifically ambitious Shuttle missions of the era, carrying the first pressurized laboratory module into orbit. Before his astronaut career, he chaired the NASA Astronaut Selection Board and served as a program scientist at NASA Headquarters. He was not a household name, which is precisely the point: Parker represents the generation of scientist-astronauts who built the operational infrastructure of human spaceflight while Apollo heroes got the monuments. Covers bearing his signature turn up far less often than those of the command-pilot tier. This one is signed boldly in black felt-tip across the open field, the hand confident and unhurried. The cachet at left — a screen-printed astronaut in full pressure suit, flanked by a launching rocket trailing red flame — couldn't have been more appropriate for the man who signed it.
Authenticity
A Certificate of Authenticity from Mesilla Valley Estate Sales will accompany this cover. The signature is attributed to Dr. Robert Parker, NASA mission specialist, STS-9.
Collector's Note
Collector demand for scientist-astronaut signatures from the Shuttle era has grown steadily as the Apollo generation's material saturates the market. Parker's STS-9 mission marked the first flight of Spacelab — a milestone in international scientific cooperation that aligns directly with the UN stamp's theme. The pairing of subject matter, signer, and date gives this cover an internal coherence that most signed philatelic material simply doesn't have.
CONDITION
Very Good. Cover is clean and bright with crisp cachet printing and a sharp First Day cancellation. Light surface toning and a faint spot of foxing at the upper edge; signature is dark and unsmudged. Unaddressed, with an open (ungummed) reverse.
DIMENSIONS / SPECIFICATIONS
- Cover: 3 5/8" × 6 1/2"
- Cachet: UN-SM-3
- Postmark: United Nations, N.Y., June 11, 1982, First Day of Issue
- Stamp: United Nations 20¢, Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space
- Signature medium: Black felt-tip
- COA: Mesilla Valley Estate Sales
