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202:, a Secretary of the Indian Airmail Society, combined his work with his interest in rocketry. His first launch was on 30 September 1934, and he experimented with 270 more by 4 December 1944. 80 of these contained mail, and his achievements include the first successful rocket mail sent over a river and the first rocket to carry a parcel. The
69:. The rocket lands by deploying an internal parachute upon arrival. It has been attempted by various organizations in many countries, with varying levels of success. It has never become widely seen as being a viable option for delivering mail, due to the cost of the schemes and numerous failures.
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Despite the
Postmaster General's enthusiasm, the Department of Defense saw the measure more as a demonstration of U.S. missile capabilities. Experts believe that the cost of using missile mail could never be justified. While during the 1920s a letter between Europe and the United States would not
443:
Upon witnessing the missile's landing, Summerfield stated, "This peacetime employment of a guided missile for the important and practical purpose of carrying mail, is the first known official use of missiles by any Post Office
Department of any nation." Summerfield proclaimed the event to be "of
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historic significance to the peoples of the entire world", and predicted that "before man reaches the moon, mail will be delivered within hours from New York to
California, to Britain, to India or Australia by guided missiles. We stand on the threshold of rocket mail."
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436:. Their postage (four cents domestic, eight cents international) had been cancelled "USS Barbero Jun 8 9.30am 1959" before the submarine put to sea. At Mayport, the Regulus missile was opened and the mail forwarded to the post office in
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made the flight, which lasted about 9 minutes and carried US mail from the post office in Mojave to addresses in
California City. This was the first time that a crewed, rocket-powered aircraft was used to carry U.S. Mail.
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vehicles. Such systems would allow package delivery anywhere in the world in 30–45 minutes. This idea has been forwarded by Zubrin and was the original business plan behind
Pioneer Rocketplane (later
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599:'s computerized sunglasses (for a mission briefing) are delivered by a missile with a ground-piercing spike on the nose, fired from a shoulder-mounted tube, at the start of the 2000 film
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speculated in 1954 that using small cruise missiles to rapidly deliver mail might be possible for as little as three times the rate for airmail, in part because they could be
339:" solid propellant mail-carrying rockets interstate, from California, across the Colorado River, and into Arizona. The postal covers were printed for each occasion, and
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to fire shells filled with letters to predetermined landing locations of soft ground. Kleist calculated that a network of batteries could transmit a letter from
379:. A turbojet engine sustained the long-range cruise flight after the boosters were dropped. Twenty-two minutes after launch, the missile struck its target.
150:. Several other launches by Schmiedl occurred through 1932, and similar experiments occurred in several other countries, usually subsidized by philatelists.
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landed on the New Jersey side, less than 100 yards away. This event was preceded by several other successful rocket mail experiments in the early 1930s.
160:. Between 1931 and 1933, he travelled throughout Germany displaying his rocket and claiming that it could be used to deliver mail. After moving to the
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371:– its nuclear warhead having earlier been replaced by two Post Office Department mail containers – targeted at the Naval Auxiliary Air Station at
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supplied Smith with 16 rockets between 23 March 1935 and 29 June 1935. Between them, these "Silver
Jubilee" flights carried over a thousand
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in southern
England, a rocket was launched on 28 July 1934, and a second on 31 July, over a 1600-metre flight path between the
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196:. Both rockets exploded, though most of the smaller second cargo, which included survivors of the first flight, was saved.
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504:), which he co-founded. Zubrin has since left the company, which is now focused on pursuing a somewhat more conventional
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in June 1928. The lecture caused many experimentalists to expect the use of rockets for mail as inevitable, and by 1929
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issued a stamp to celebrate the centenary of Smith's birth, calling him "the originator of rocket mail in India".
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launched the first rocket mail (V-7, Experimental Rocket 7) with 102 pieces of mail between the
Austrian towns of
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363:(USPS), in its search for faster mail transportation, with the only delivery of "Missile Mail". On 8 June 1959,
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was made on 23 February 1936, when two rocket airplanes that were launched from the New York side of the frozen
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strategy. The potential of package delivery with reusable launch vehicles is discussed in Zubrin's book
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suggested using rockets for mail in a 1927 letter, and he lectured on the topic at a meeting of the
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in
Florida. The Regulus cruise missile was launched with a pair of Aerojet-General 3KS-33,000
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material ("stamps") used for (and depicting) rocket mail is part of a specialist branch of
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aircraft the company built as a demonstrator for its reusable rocket engines) from
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921:"On This Day: US Postal Service Attempts "Missile Mail" for First and Last Time"
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During the mid-1950s, "amateur" rocketeers flew a number of zinc dust / sulfur "
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that postal delivery by rocket was viable. After initial demonstrations on the
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was the first to suggest using rockets to deliver mail. While editor of the
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One of the mail containers which was on board the
Regulus missile fired by
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252: in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
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794:"Unique mail delivery method remembered on rocket plane anniversary"
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Gerhard Zucker's Scottish rocket mail was depicted in the 2004 film
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One of the first successful deliveries of mail by a rocket in the
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571:(1973). The character Pirate Prentice receives orders this way.
188:. Around 1.07 m long with a diameter of 18 cm, the rocket
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fame, think that rocket mail, or at least ultra-elite business
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The USPS had officially established a branch post office on
824:. Armed Forces Communications Association. 1959. p. 34
768:" at Encyclopedia Astronautica. Accessed 4 September 2005.
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735:. The British Postal Museum & Archive. Archived from
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experimented in the 1930s with powder rockets similar to
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assisted the Post Office Department, predecessor to the
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arrive for at least a week after mailing, by the 1950s
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for the number-one spot among free webmail services.
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acquired RocketMail in 1997, and assimilated it into
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services. For a brief time, RocketMail battled with
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For the webmail service that became Yahoo! Mail, see
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crossed the Atlantic Ocean in as little as one day.
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and delivered some 3000 pieces of mail to it before
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561:Mail is delivered by rocket in an early chapter of
548:A surplus mail rocket is used to reach the Moon in
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Entering Space: Creating a Spacefaring Civilization
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720:Essays on the History of Rocketry and Astronautics
884:The air up there: more great quotations on flight
722:, NASA Converance Publication 2014, Vol.II, p 109
577:was the name for one of the first major, free
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126:Deutsche Gesellschaft fĂĽr Luft- und Raumfahrt
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782:. Dunblane: privately published. p. 84.
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981:Ellington, Jesse T. and Perry F. Zwisler,
623:The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid
620:mentions missile mail in his 2006 memoir
312:Learn how and when to remove this message
50:was used for one attempt to deliver mail.
978:, 1943, Imperial Stamp Co Ltd, Allahabad
343:at the nearest destination post office.
949:. Aero-News Network. 13 November 2005.
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927:from the original on 26 September 2011
666:from the original on 26 November 2020
7:
888:. McGraw-Hill Professional. p.
461:United States Submarine Force Museum
250:adding citations to reliable sources
120:, but the missiles were unreliable.
27:Mail delivery by rockets or missiles
535:, both in Kern County. Test pilot
390:first day commemorative cover. The
134:United States ambassador to Germany
656:"The Rise and Fall of Rocket Mail"
25:
923:. Finding Dulcinea. 8 June 2010.
880:English, Dave (24 January 2003).
800:from the original on 30 July 2013
662:. Postal Times. 4 February 2019.
414:. The mail consisted entirely of
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997:Rocket Mail flights of the World
953:from the original on 6 July 2007
431:United States Postmaster General
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856:from the original on 9 May 2009
237:needs additional citations for
164:, Zucker tried to convince the
870:, United States Postal Service
544:Occurrences in popular culture
420:President of the United States
1:
983:Rocket Mail Catalog 1904-1967
757:Wade, Mark. (28 March 2005) "
116:were used to deliver mail in
780:Scottish Air Mails 1919-1979
459:is in the collection of the
361:United States Postal Service
533:California City, California
440:, for sorting and routing.
416:commemorative postal covers
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692:Ley, Willy (August 1954).
204:Oriental Fireworks Company
29:
1249:American Air Mail Society
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502:Rocketplane Limited, Inc.
471:Reusable launch vehicles
947:"EZ-Rocket Flies Again"
778:Beith, Richard (1981).
192:were packed with 1,200
694:"For Your Information"
427:Universal Postal Union
399:
369:Regulus cruise missile
51:
1309:Humber-Sommer biplane
976:Rocket Mail Catalogue
764:5 August 2014 at the
602:Mission: Impossible 2
497:single-stage to orbit
483:. Technologists like
438:Jacksonville, Florida
434:Arthur E. Summerfield
385:
377:solid-rocket boosters
373:Naval Station Mayport
98:Berliner Abendblätter
42:
1018:at Wikimedia Commons
990:Rocket and Jet Posts
515:On 3 December 2005,
246:improve this article
130:Jacob Gould Schurman
43:The rocket-launched
1092:Curtis "Jenny" JN-4
739:on 11 December 2005
555:Rocket Ship Galileo
465:Groton, Connecticut
166:General Post Office
102:artillery batteries
94:Heinrich von Kleist
57:is the delivery of
1187:First flight cover
1099:Specific countries
988:Field, Francis J,
821:Signals, volume 13
529:Mojave, California
523:(a rocket-powered
429:, and so on, from
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396:Postmaster General
140:Friedrich Schmiedl
72:The collection of
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1137:Air Mail Facility
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899:978-0-07-141036-6
564:Gravity's Rainbow
423:Dwight Eisenhower
412:Norfolk, Virginia
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16:(Redirected from
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263: –
262:
261:"Rocket mail"
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257:Find sources:
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235:This section
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218:United States
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200:Stephen Smith
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1213:Balloon mail
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992:, 1965, 40pp
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244:Please help
239:verification
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208:event covers
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170:Sussex Downs
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148:St. Radegund
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1289:Boeing P-12
1267:Conveyances
1228:Rocket mail
1223:Pigeon post
1182:Crash cover
1016:Rocket mail
670:18 November
618:Bill Bryson
591:Yahoo! Mail
176:islands of
55:Rocket mail
18:Mail rocket
1337:Categories
1279:Blériot XI
1274:Airco DH.4
1218:Mail plane
704:2 December
642:References
597:Ethan Hunt
575:RocketMail
537:Dick Rutan
337:micrograin
272:newspapers
74:philatelic
32:RocketMail
1164:Philately
521:EZ-Rocket
519:flew its
477:Willy Ley
351:submarine
348:U.S. Navy
302:June 2017
194:envelopes
190:fuselages
174:Hebridean
158:fireworks
80:known as
1358:Rocketry
1208:Aerogram
951:Archived
925:Archived
851:Archived
798:Archived
762:Archived
733:"Rocket"
664:Archived
630:See also
558:(1947).
481:reusable
450:air mail
367:fired a
186:Scotland
88:Pioneers
1343:Airmail
1322:more...
1314:LZ 127
1201:Methods
1126:Ireland
1116:Denmark
1110:Germany
1060:General
1053:Airmail
999:, 1986.
804:17 July
583:Hotmail
579:webmail
525:Long-EZ
457:Barbero
408:Barbero
404:Barbero
394:is the
388:Barbero
365:Barbero
356:Barbero
341:franked
286:scholar
144:Schöckl
110:Breslau
67:missile
1256:French
1254:FISA (
1151:Stamps
1121:Greece
985:(1967)
957:7 June
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828:7 June
743:24 May
698:Galaxy
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132:, the
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854:(PDF)
847:(PDF)
531:, to
487:, of
410:left
293:JSTOR
279:books
182:Scarp
118:Tonga
1077:Mail
959:2011
933:2011
907:2011
894:ISBN
862:2010
830:2011
806:2013
745:2023
706:2013
672:2020
386:USS
354:USS
265:news
180:and
146:and
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567:by
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