Work in progress – May 2020. I don’t have many early Robert Rank covers yet, would be interested in finding more if anyone can help?
Year-by-year issues
1960 | 1961 | 1962 | 1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969
1960 | Back to Year choices
Explorer 8 – 3rd November 1960 (seems too early to be Robert Rank but the design is very similar to others, see below):
1961 | Back to Year choices
Mechanical Man / Mercury Capsule- 13th September 1961:
1962 | Back to Year choices
Ranger 4 – 23rd April 1962:
Telstar – 10th July 1962:
Mariner 2 / Venus Probe Launch – 27th August 1962:
Tiros 6 – 18th September 1962:
Alouette 1 – 28th September 1962 / Alouette 2 – 28th November 1965:
Explorer 14 – 3rd October 1962 / Explorer 26 – 21st December 1964:
Ranger 5 – 18th October 1962:
Relay 1 – 13th/14th December 1962 / Relay 2 – 21st January 1964:
Mariner 2 By Pass – 14th December 1962:
Explorer 18 – 16th December 1962:
Transit 5A – 18th December 1962:
1963 | Back to Year choices
Syncom 1 – 14th Feb 1963:
Stratoscope 2 – 1st March 1963:
Explorer 17 – 3rd April 1963:
Telstar 2 – 7th May 1963:
Midas – 9th May 1963:
Mercury MA-9 – 15th May 1963:
Radose Surcal 1B Secret – Thor Agena D – 15th June 1963:
Transit 5a – Scout – 15th June 1963:
Tiros 7 – 19th June 1963 / Tiros 8 – 21st December 1963:
USAF Agena ‘Hitch-Hiker’ – 26th June 1963
TV by Relay / JFK Visits England – 1st July 1963
Midas 9 / TRS 4 – 18th July 1963
Syncom 2 – 26th July 1963 / Syncom 3 – 19th August 1964:
Little Joe 2 – 28th August 1963:
TRS Five – 17th October 1963:
Apollo (Pad Abort Test 1) – 7th November 1963:
JFK Assassination coverage – 26th November 1963:
Centaur 2 – 27th November 1963 / Centaur 4 – 11th December 1964:
Transit 5B – 5th December 1963:
Tiros 8 – 21st December 1963:
1964 | Back to Year choices
Relay 2 – 21st January 1964 (see also Relay 1 above):
Apollo – 29th January 1964:
Ranger 6 – 30th January 1964 / Ranger 7 – 28th July 1964:
Ariel 2 – 27th March 1964:
Gemini 1 – 8th April 1964 / Gemini 2 – 19th January 1965:
Gemini GT-1 – 28th May 1964:
OGO 1 – 4th Sep 1964 / POGO 4 – 28th Jul 1967:
Mariner 3 – 5th November 1964 / Mariner 4 – 28th November 1964:
1965 | Back to Year choices
Ranger 9 – 21st March 1965:
Pegasus 3 – 30th July 1965:
Gemini GT-5 Launch – 21st August 1965:
FRi Scout Launch French Satellite – 6th December 1965:
1966 | Back to Year choices
Gemini 8 (not marked ‘LUNAR VOYAGE CACHETS’, but clearly is related) – 16th Mar 1966:
Europa 1 (ELDO F4 Launch, Success) / ESRO 2A (Failure) – 24th May 1966:
1st Surveyor Signals from Moon – 2nd June 1966:
Pacific Comsat Lani Bird 1 – 27th Oct 1966 / Pacific Comsat Lani Bird 2 – 11th Jan 1967:
1967 | Back to Year choices
Mariner 5 – 14th June 1967:
1968 | Back to Year choices
TV by Satellite JBJ Decides not to run – 31st Mar 1968:
World mourns loss of RFK on TV by Satellite- 5th/6th June 1968:
1969 | Back to Year choices
No covers yet