The feature stamp on this hand drawn and hand painted . . . and, perhaps, One-of-a-Kind . . . FDC by S. A. Tan is the PO's 1962 Project Mercury stamp, Scott # 1193.
About the inspiration for the feature stamp : NASA's Project Mercury program started in 1961 and continued into 1963. Specifically, it was on May 5, 1961 (just 3 weeks after Soviet cosmonaut Yuro Gagarin became the first man in Space) when U.S. astronaut Alan Shepard piloted a Mercury space capsule, named Freedom 7 on a sub-orbital 302-mile flight. Then, on February 20, 1962 . . . which also happens to be this cover's exact official first day of issue cancellation date . . . the first U.S. manned Space flight was launched into orbit. On board was the great John Glenn, who completed three complete orbits around the Earth before landing in the Atlantic Ocean. Then, finally, on May 15, 1963, the final Project Mercury flight was manned U.S. astronaut L. Gordon Cooper, who accomplished 22 orbits around the Earth in a mind-boggling time of only 34 hours and 20 minutes.
About the feature stamp,
itself : on this one, we see the
Project Mercury space capsule soaring through the Earth atmosphere . . . in a dreamy setting that
looks as if it came straight out of a science-fiction movie.
About the hand drawn and hand painted cachet : on this utterly amazing, all-over cachet, we see a spaceship jetting from Mother Earth to a distant planet in the never-ending expanse of The Final Frontier, accented with glowing space particles, just like those seen as a background setting on the feature stamps, itself.
About the cancellation site : and how about that
ever-so-clever, theme-related cancel from, of all places, Florida's Cape
Canaveral, the home of Cape Canaveral Space Center.
(Yes, admittedly, the cancel site and date is hard to read, due to the dark hand painted colors but, still, if you look closely, they are visible.)
About the Scarcity Factor : this cover is unnumbered, so possibly, it is a One-of-a-Kind item.
All in all, definitely, an FDC that is so totally out-of-this-world.
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