One for SkyMan.......

[thebeav]

Hi Folks,

I just ran across 'Life' magazines last issue. It was "1972-The Year in Pictures". It's a pretty good issue, and reminds me of all those events from my teen years. Well, there's quite a bit of coverage on the Apollo programs. I was surprised to read that the guys from Apollo 15, David Scott, Alford Worden and James Irwin got into post flight trouble because they smuggled some postage stamps to the moon for some German dealer.

I figured SkyMan must have more info about that one.......

 

Paul

[SkyMan]

The stamps are the so called Sieger (spelling?) stamps.

 

I can not remember the exact details, but basically Dave Scott, the mission commander, was offered by Sieger, a well known European stamp dealer, a chunk of change to take stamps to the surface of the Moon. I believe each crewman got 1/4 of the stamps, and Sieger got the last 1/4.

 

According to Scott, the stamps were only to be sold after all the Apollo missions were completed, but he never got this in writing. Sieger started selling his stamps soon after the mission and TSHTF.

 

Scott never touched base with Deke Slayton, the head of the astronaut office about bringing these stamps along. I also believe (but I am not totally sure) that he did not list them on his PPK (the personal items each astronaut was allowed to bring). In essence, he commercialized taking items to the Moon, which was NOT OK. In the eyes of NASA and the Congress, it was OK to take personal items, but those would be dispersed for free to family, friends and coworkers. Now, things had been becoming more commercial over the last two flights, Apollo's 13 & 14, with crew members bringing Franklin Mint material, but Scott took it to another level.

 

Because of Scott's actions he basically destroyed his AND his crewmates careers. Needless to say, this was particularly harsh on his crewmates, who, being subordinate members of the crew (and remember, everyone on the crew was military), could only say Yes Sir! to him when he talked to them about the scheme.

[thebeav]

Wow, what a shame.

I would have thought that simply being an Apollo astronaut would be enough in the fame and glory department, and would lead to some degree of financial success. I was really surprised that someone would cross this line.

Thanks for the great information !

Paul

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[RWB]

I guess all letters with one of these stamps automatically went "air mail?"