Robert L. Stewart Signed STS-41B Spacewalk Cover — Grumman Cachet, Feb 9 1984, with COA

On February 7, 1984, Robert L. Stewart pushed off from the cargo bay of Space Shuttle Challenger and flew. No tether. No umbilical. Just a nitrogen-jet backpack called the Manned Maneuvering Unit and open space in every direction. He and Bruce McCandless became the first human beings to fly freely untethered in orbit — the photographs of McCandless floating against the curve of the Earth are among the most reproduced images in the history of spaceflight. Stewart's EVA that day lasted nearly six hours. Two days later, he did it again. The cover in this lot was postmarked at the Bethpage, N.Y. post office on February 9, 1984 — while Stewart was still in orbit on his second spacewalk.

The cover originates from Grumman Aerospace Corporation, the Long Island manufacturer responsible for building the shuttle's wing structures. Its blue cachet reads "GRUMMAN AEROSPACE CORP. BETHPAGE N.Y. — BUILDER OF THE SHUTTLE WING / STS-11 SPACEWALK" — a house cachet Grumman issued to mark the mission and celebrate its own role in the program. Franked with a pair of 10¢ "People's Right to Petition for Redress" definitives and bearing a clean Bethpage USPO circular-date cancellation, it is signed in pencil by Stewart himself: "Bob Stewart, Astronaut STS-41B." The Grumman connection is the differentiating detail here — not a generic philatelic cachet, but a cover issued by the company that built the wings of the orbiter Stewart flew on.

Robert L. Stewart was a U.S. Army aviator, combat veteran, and test pilot before NASA selected him in 1978 as part of the eighth astronaut class — the group that would fly the shuttle era's defining early missions. STS-41B launched February 3, 1984, aboard Challenger. The mission's primary legacy is the pair of untethered MMU EVAs by Stewart and McCandless, a demonstration that changed how astronauts would work in space for the next decade. Stewart flew once more, on STS-51J in 1985 — the first dedicated Department of Defense shuttle flight — before leaving NASA to return to Army service, eventually retiring as a Brigadier General. He is a decorated soldier and a genuine first: one of the two men who flew free of a spacecraft before any safety line existed to bring them back.

A Certificate of Authenticity will be issued by Mesilla Valley Estate Sales and accompanies this lot.

Signed STS-41B covers are plentiful on the philatelic market. What separates this one is the Grumman Aerospace source cachet — issued not by a commercial cachet maker but by the company whose engineers built the structure Stewart flew on. The Bethpage postmark, dated while the mission was still active, adds a layer of contemporaneity that dealer-circulated covers rarely carry. For the collector assembling a serious EVA or early-shuttle run, this is the version to hold.

CONDITION

Very Good. Envelope is clean with crisp cachet impressions and a sharp, fully legible cancellation. Pencil signature reads clearly though it runs light in places. Minor handling wear to edges; reverse is blank and unmarked.

DIMENSIONS / SPECIFICATIONS

• Cover: 3 5/8" × 6 1/2"
• Postmark: Bethpage, N.Y. USPO, Feb 9 1984
• Postage: Pair of 10¢ "People's Right to Petition for Redress" definitives
• Signature: "Bob Stewart, Astronaut STS-41B" (pencil)
• COA: Issued by Mesilla Valley Estate Sales