Wanted to buy: Robert Rank velvet space covers, all types and varieties. Please contact me, i’d love to hear from you !
The document on the left (below) is a proposed advertisement that Robert Rank sent to Joe Fitzpatrick in September 1964 for inclusion in a Space Craft Explorer magazine. The document on the right (below) is taken from a flyer advertising Robert Rank’s velvet space covers, c1965:
Year-by-year issues
1960 | 1961 | 1962 | 1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969
1960 | Back to Year choices
Explorer 8 – 3rd November 1960 (possibly an early Robert Rank space cover, as the design is very similar to some others below):
1961 | Back to Year choices
Ham / Mercury-Redstone 2 / Sub-Orbit Chimp – 31st January 1961:
Alan Shepard / Mercury-Redstone 3 / ‘Freedom 7’ – 5th May 1961:
Gus Grissom / Mercury-Redstone 4 / ‘Liberty Bell 7’ – 21st July 1961:
Mechanical Man / Mercury Capsule- 13th September 1961:
Enos / Mercury-Atlas 5 / Orbital Chimp – 29th November 1961:
1962 | Back to Year choices
Ranger 4 – 23rd April 1962:
Scott Carpenter / Mercury-Atlas 7 / ‘Liberty Bell 7’ – 24th May 1962:
Scott Carpenter Visits New York – 5th Jun 1962:
Telstar – 10th July 1962:
Mariner 2 / Venus Probe Launch – 27th August 1962:
JFK “We Shall Reach The Moon” / First Cape Visit – 11th September 1962:
Tiros 6 – 18th September 1962:
Alouette 1 – 28th September 1962 / Alouette 2 – 28th November 1965:
Wally Schirra / Mercury-Atlas 8 / ‘Sigma 7’ – 3rd October 1962:
Mercury MA-8 – 3rd October 1962 / Gemini 6 – 15th December 1965:
Explorer 14 – 3rd October 1962 / Explorer 26 – 21st December 1964:
Welcome Home / Wally Schirra – 15th October 1962:
Ranger 5 – 18th October 1962:
Note: there is a difference in the wording between the last 2 covers shown above. One says: ‘ROCKET / FIRED / FROM / CAPE / CANAVERAL / FLORIDA’, the other says: ‘ROCKET / FIRED / FROM / VANDENBERG / AIR FORCE / BASE / CALIFORNIA’.
Anna 2 Satellite – 31st October 1962:
Saturn-Apollo / SA-3 – 16th November 1962:
Relay 1 – 13th/14th December 1962 / Relay 2 – 21st January 1964:
Mariner 2 Passes Venus – 14th December 1962 / Mariner 4 Passes Mars – 14th July 1965:
Explorer 18 – 16th December 1962:
Transit 5A – 18th December 1962:
Proposed Ion Ship – 18th December 1962:
1963 | Back to Year choices
Syncom 1 – 14th Feb 1963:
Anniversary John Glenn ‘Friendship 7’ Flight – 20th February 1963 / 20th February 1967:
Stratoscope 2 – 1st March 1963:
Saturn-Apollo / SA-4 – 28th March 1963:
Explorer 17 – 3rd April 1963:
Telstar 2 – 7th May 1963:
Midas – 9th May 1963:
Gordon Cooper / Mercury-Atlas 9 / ‘Faith 7’ – 15th May 1963:
Gordon Cooper Visits Washington – 21st May 1963:
Gordon Cooper Visits New York- 22d 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:
JFK Visits West Germany – 25th June 1963:
JFK Visits West Berlin – 26th June 1963:
USAF Agena ‘Hitch-Hiker’ – 26th June 1963
JFK Visits Ireland – 27th June 1963:
Douglas 200th THOR – 29th June 1963:
USAF Secret Satellite – 29th June 1963:
JFK Visits Italy – 1st July 1963:
JFK Visits England – 1st July 1963:
JFK Meets Pope Paul – 2nd July 1963:
First TV Show by Telstar – 10th 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:
Project Asset 1 & 2 – 18th September 1963:
Transit 5B – 28th September 1963:
TRS Five – 17th October 1963:
Apollo (Pad Abort Test 1) – 7th November 1963:
JFK Visits Cape – 16th November 1963:
JFK Assassination coverage – 26th November 1963:
Explorer 18 & Explorer 21 / Imp A & B – 27th November 1963 / 4th Oct 1964:
Centaur 2 – 27th November 1963 / Centaur 4 – 11th December 1964:
Transit 5B – 5th December 1963:
1st Polaris Launch at Cape Kennedy – 10th December 1963:
Study of Quasars / JFK Symposium – 18th December 1963:
Explorer 19 – 19th December 1963:
Tiros 8 – 21st December 1963:
1964 | Back to Year choices
Relay 2 – 21st January 1964 (see also Relay 1 above):
Saturn I SA-5 – 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:
Project RAM – 10th April 1964:
Transit 5B – 21st April 1964:
Gemini GT-1 – 28th May 1964:
1st Manned Paraglider – 20th July 1964:
OGO 1 – 4th Sep 1964 / POGO 4 – 28th Jul 1967:
Nuclear Detector Satellite Launch – 23rd October 1964:
Mariner 3 – 5th November 1964 / Mariner 4 – 28th November 1964:
San Marco / Scout Launch / Italian Satellite – 15th December 1964:
1965 | Back to Year choices
Ranger 9 – 21st March 1965:
Gemini 3 Launch – 23rd March 1965:
Explorer 27 – 29th April 1965:
Gemini 4 Launch – 3rd June 1965:
Pegasus 3 – 30th July 1965:
Gemini 5 Launch – 21st August 1965:
Gemini 5 – 21st August 1965 / Gemini 11 – 12th September 1966:
Gemini 5 Splashdown – 29th August 1965:
Pope Paul Visits NY & UN – 4th October 1965:
Explorer 29 / GEOS A Geodetic Satellite – 6th November 1965:
Explorer 30 / Solar X-Ray Satellite – 19th November 1965:
Gemini 6 / Mercury MA-8 – 3rd October 1962 – 15th December 1965:
First Rendezvous – Gemini 7 – 4th December 1965 / Gemini 6 – 15th December 1965:
Gemini 7 – 4th December 1965 / Gemini 12 – 11th November 1966:
Gemini 7 – 4th December 1965 / Gemini 6 & 7 Rendezvous – 18th December 1965:
FR-1 Scout Launch French Satellite – 6th December 1965:
Kleuver Flies / Manned LLRV – 13th December 1965:
Gemini 6 – 15th December 1965 / 16th December 1965:
Gemini 6 – 15th December 1965 / Gemini 9 – 3rd June 1966:
1966 | Back to Year choices
Apollo AS-201 – 26th February 1966:
Gemini 8 – 16th March 1966:
Europa 1 (ELDO F4 Launch, Success) / ESRO 2A (Failure) – 24th May 1966:
1st Surveyor Signals from Moon – 2nd June 1966:
Gemini 9 – 3rd June 1966:
Gemini 11 – 12th September 1966:
Japan L-4S Ohsumi 1 – 26th Sep 1966:
Pacific Comsat Lani Bird 1 – 27th Oct 1966 / Pacific Comsat Lani Bird 2 – 11th Jan 1967:
Japan L-4S Ohsumi 2 – 20th Dec 1966:
1967 | Back to Year choices
Apollo 1 Fire – 27th Jan 1967:
Apollo Tragedy – 3rd Feb 1967:
Memorial for Astronaut Elliott See – 28th Feb 1967:
Japan L-4S Ohsumi 3 – 13th Apr 1967:
Surveyor 3 – 20th Apr 1967:
Mariner 5 – 14th June 1967:
TV Show Featuring The Beatles / via Satellite – 25th June 1967:
In Memory Original GT-9 Crew – 29th Sep 1967:
In Memory of Major Clifton C. Williams – 5th Oct 1967:
Apollo 4 – 9th Nov 1967:
In Memory of Robert H. Lawrence – 8th Dec 1967:
1968 | Back to Year choices
Apollo 5 – 22nd Jan 1968:
In Memory of Cosmonaut Gagarin – 27th Mar 1968:
TV by Satellite JBJ Decides not to run – 31st Mar 1968:
Apollo 6 – 4th April 1968:
World mourns loss of RFK on TV by Satellite- 5th/6th June 1968:
Apollo 7 – 11th Oct 1968 / 22nd Oct 1968:
Apollo 7 / First TV on Manned Flight – 14th October 1968:
Apollo 8 – 21st December 1968 / 27th December 1968:
1969 | Back to Year choices
Apollo 9 – 3rd March 1969 / 13th March 1969:
Apollo 10 – 18th May 1969 / 26th May 1969:
Apollo 11 – 16th July 1969 / 24th July 1969:
After this, Robert Rank went on to make Space Voyage covers. Click here for an interesting story about the first year of Space Voyage covers, and how Robert was in contact with someone at NASA in order to obtain images for the covers he was making.