Sieger Covers

However, Sieger began selling the covers he received soon after the mission's return, reportedly for $1500 each, and when the whole affair came to light, NASA confiscated the astronauts' 298 surviving covers (two had been destroyed pre-flight), and grounded them permanently. In 1983, hearing of the STS-8 plans, astronaut Alfred Worden sued for the return of the 298 covers, and the crew eventually recovered them. The covers have appeared on the market from time to time since then. In an October 2000 auction, one of the crew covers realized US$14,950.

Perhaps the most common item of astrophilately is the "STS-8 flight cover". In cooperation with the USPS, the shuttle flight STS-8 carried several hundred thousand covers, franked with $9.35 express mail stamps, which were then sold to the public after the shuttle's return. The original plan was to carry 500,000, but the final number was reduced to 261,900, of which 2,523 were damaged during the flight and discarded. The remaining covers were each enclosed in a souvenir folder describing the mission and the cover, and sold for $15.35 each. They were sold out by November 1983, just a few months after the flight.

- Mrs. Nagalakshmi Tadakaluri, Philatelist.

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