STS-41 Landing Cover Signed by Full Discovery Crew, Greenbelt MD 1990

Air mail commemorative cover for the STS-41 landing, cancelled Greenbelt, MD, October 10, 1990, and franked with the 25¢ Marianne Moore "American Poet" stamp. The cachet reproduces the Goddard Space Flight Center Shuttle Tracking Team insignia in blue — a triangular emblem framing a launching orbiter over "SPACE SHUTTLE / NASA," with "STS-41 LANDING" printed below. The reverse is a clean, unaddressed flap.

The front carries four ink signatures: commander Richard N. "Dick" Richards, pilot Bruce Melnick, and mission specialists Tom Akers and Bob Cabana. Flown aboard Discovery in October 1990, STS-41 deployed the Ulysses solar-polar probe — the mission's primary payload and a landmark in heliospheric science, sending the first spacecraft ever to study the Sun's poles. All four crew names on a single mission-dated cover, postmarked the day of landing by the tracking team that brought them home.

CONDITION

Very Good. Cover is clean and bright with sharp cachet printing and a crisp cancellation; all four signatures are dark and well contrasted against the envelope face. Minor handling only — a faint pressure line at the top edge and scattered light specks to the verso.

DIMENSIONS / SPECIFICATIONS

• Cover: 3 5/8" × 6 1/2"
• Postmark: Greenbelt, MD — Oct 10, 1990, AM — 20770
• Franking: 25¢ Marianne Moore, American Poet 1887–1972
• Cachet: Goddard Space Flight Center Shuttle Tracking Team — STS-41 Landing
• Signatures: Four, in ink to front — Richard N. "Dick" Richards, Bruce Melnick, Tom Akers, Bob Cabana
• Certificate of Authenticity issued by Mesilla Valley Estate Sales