Amelia Earhart 1963 First Day Cover — Signed by Ellen Ochoa, Marsha Ivins, Linda Godwin & Eileen Collins (Pre-Flight, USAF Major, Aug 1991) — COA Issued

In August 1991, Eileen M. Collins — then a serving USAF Major, newly selected to the 1990 NASA astronaut class and not yet a flight veteran — signed her rank and date on a 1963 Art Craft First Day Cover honoring Amelia Earhart, postmarked at Atchison, Kansas, Earhart's birthplace. Alongside her inscription sit the signatures of Ellen Ochoa, Marsha Ivins, and Linda Godwin — three more of NASA's pioneering women. The result is one of the most thematically coherent multi-signature covers in American aviation philately: four women who broke barriers in space, signing a cover that honors the woman who broke barriers in the air.

The alignment is deliberate, not accidental. Ochoa would become the first Hispanic woman in space (STS-56, 1993) and later Director of Johnson Space Center. Ivins flew five Shuttle missions (STS-32, 46, 62, 81, 98). Godwin completed four flights and two spacewalks (STS-37, 59, 76, 108). Collins would go on to pilot STS-63 — the first woman to pilot a Space Shuttle — and command STS-93, the first woman to command one. The Earhart cover beneath their signatures carries an 8¢ U.S. Air Mail stamp depicting Earhart herself, issued July 24, 1963, from Atchison. Every element of this piece pulls in the same direction.

The cover was inscribed directly to Major Eileen M. Collins, USAF, dated 16 Aug 91 — placing the signing in the period immediately following Collins's selection to NASA's 1990 astronaut class, before her first spaceflight. The pre-flight, rank-and-date inscription from the future first female Shuttle commander represents exactly the kind of documented moment collectors prize: a career watershed captured in ink, on a cover whose subject could not be more fitting.

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

Multi-signature covers require assembly — someone had to bring this piece to each signer — and thematically curated examples are genuinely uncommon. A cover honoring Earhart, bearing four signatures from pioneering NASA women, with a pre-flight dated inscription from Collins, occupies a very specific intersection of aviation history, space history, and philately. Ochoa and Collins are the marquee names here: both rose to JSC leadership roles, both carried historic "firsts" that defined a generation of American spaceflight. Together on an Earhart cover, with Ivins and Godwin rounding out a remarkable quartet, this is a piece whose story tells itself.

CONDITION

Very Good. The cover is sound with all four signatures crisp and fully legible — Collins's rank-and-date inscription equally clear. Light handling wear to the envelope body; minor toning and foxing spots to the verso consistent with age. The stamp and Atchison postmark are intact. No tears, no folds through the face, no signature smearing.

DIMENSIONS / SPECIFICATIONS

• Cover Size: 3⅝" H × 6½" W
• Stamp: 8¢ U.S. Air Mail, Amelia Earhart commemorative
• Postmark: Atchison, Kansas — July 24, 1963, 9 AM (First Day of Issue)
• Cachet Maker: Art Craft
• Signatories: Ellen Ochoa (blue ink, top); Marsha Ivins; Linda Godwin
• Inscription: "Major Eileen M. Collins, USAF / 16 Aug 91"
• COA: Issued by Mesilla Valley Estate Sales