Viet Nam Cong-Hoa Commemorative Covers of American Mercury & Gemini Astronauts

VIET NAM CONG-HOA (Republic of Vietnam) in 1961 and 1962 honoured American astronauts Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom (not shown here), John Glenn, Wally Schirra and Scott Carpenter. North Vietnam issued space related stamps and special cachets as well, but for Soviet cosmonauts and various Soviet satellites in the 1960s.

ALAN B. SHEPARD - VIET NAM CONG-HOA (Republic of Vietnam) issued two commemorative stamps in 1957 of hunters on elephants. One of those stamps was affixed to this special cover of American astronaut Alan Shepard, postmarked 24 May 1962, Saigon.

 

Alan B. Shepard (1923 – 1998) became the second person and the first American to travel into space and, in 1971, he became the fifth and oldest person to walk on the Moon, at age 47.

JOHN GLENN - VIET NAM CONG-HOA (Republic of Vietnam) commemorated the First Orbit of the Earth by American Astronaut John Glenn, Lt. Col. USMC, with a special cachet, printed in Saigon in English, Vietnamese and Chinese. It depicted Lt. Col. Glenn in his spacesuit and the rocket lifting off on 20 February 1962.

Affixed is a 50 cent stamp commemorating the Fifth Anniversary of the Republic of Vietnam (Issued 26 October 1960, with French-Style Cancellation: "Saigon, Viet-Nam, 20 February 1962".

John Glenn was later and for many years a US Senator from Ohio. After retiring from the US Senate, at an advanced age, John Glenn made a Second Visit to Outer Space.

SCOTT CARPENTER - VIET NAM CONG-HOA (Republic of Vietnam) issued four commerative stamps in 1957 regarding the 9th Colombo Plan Conference Saigon. These stamps had different colours based on their face value. One of those stamps was affixed to this special cover of astronaut Scott Carpenter, postmarked 5 May 1961, Saigon.

Scott Carpenter was an American test pilot and astronaut who was one of the seven original astronauts in NASA's Project Mercury. On 24 May 1962,  Carpenter completed America’s second orbital spaceflight during the Mercury-Atlas 7 mission. Carpenter flew the mission after doctors grounded the prime crew member, astronaut Donald K. “Deke” Slayton, due to a minor heart condition. Naming his spacecraft Aurora 7, Carpenter completed three orbits of the Earth, conducting several experiments including photography of the planet. A problem with the spacecraft’s attitude and the late firing of its retrorockets during the critical reentry burn resulted in Aurora 7 splashing down 250 miles off course. Carpenter waited in his life raft for more than an hour before rescue teams recovered him and flew him safely to the prime recovery ship, the U.S.S. Intrepid aircraft carrier.

WALLY SCHIRRA - VIET NAM CONG-HOA (Republic of Vietnam) issued the cachet of Wally Schirra and Sigma-7 rocket lifting off. Affixed to this cover was a stamp from a series of famous buildings, issued by the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) on 25 December 1958 and 7 September 1959. This particular stamp featured the Saigon Museum.

Walter Marty Schirra Jr. (1923 – 2007) was an American naval aviator, test pilot, and NASA astronaut. In 1959, he became one of the original seven astronauts chosen for Project Mercury, which was the United States' first effort to put humans into space. On October 3, 1962, he flew the six-orbit, nine-hour, Mercury-Atlas 8 mission, in a spacecraft he nicknamed Sigma 7, becoming the fifth American and ninth human to travel into space. In December 1965, as part of the two-man Gemini program, he achieved the first space rendezvous, station-keeping his Gemini 6A spacecraft within 1 foot (30 cm) of the sister Gemini 7 spacecraft. In October 1968, he commanded Apollo 7, an 11-day low Earth orbit shakedown test of the three-man Apollo Command/Service Module and the first crewed launch for the Apollo programme.