Recovery Major Events

Date	Postmark	Event	Comments
28 Jan 1986	Cape Canaveral	Flotilla of 28 Ships - Challenger Operations Begin	Canaveral Port Authority Corner Card
5 Feb 1986	Cape Canaveral	First Recovery Phase - USCGC Dallas Retrieves 12 tons of debris	Printed Cachet - Green
12 Feb 19864	Cape Canaveral	USS Opportune - Lead Recovery Ship - Joint Search by 28 Recovery Ships	Printed Cachet - Blue & Unusual USS Opportune Lead Recovery Ship Cachet
2 Mar 1986	Cape Canaveral	Left Booster Found	Space Voyager Cover
6 Mar 1986	Jacksonville	Recover Challenger FLT 51L Debris	Commanding Officer USS Preserver Corner Card
12 Mar 1986	Kennedy Space Center	Cabin Crew & Astronaut Remains Returned to Port by USS Preserver	Space Voyager Cover
12 Mar 1986	Cape Canaveral	USS Opportune Lead Recovery Ship - Joint Search by 28 Recovery Ships	Printed Cachet - Green
10 / 12 Mar 1986	Kennedy Space Center	USS Preserver finds Challenger's compartment and Astronaut Remains	Commanding Officer USS Preserver Corner Card - 2 postmarks
20 Mar 1986	Cape Canaveral	USS Preserver Lead Recovery Vessel Recovery Operations Ended	Printed cachet - Blue
28 Mar 1986	Cape Canaveral	USS Koelsch - 2.5 ton piece of Challenger SRB recovered	Commanding Officer Corner Card
13 Apr 1986	Kennedy Space Center	Key Section of Right Booster Found	Space Voyager Cover
15 Apr 1986	Cape Canaveral	Stena Workhorse Brings Right Booster to Port	Space Voyager Cover
18 Apr 1986	Cape Canaveral	USS Opportune Lead Recovery Ship - Crew Compartment Recovery Operations Ended	Printed cachet - Black
27 May 1986	Cape Canaveral	USS Opportune Lead Recovery Ship - Spartan-Halley Payload Recovery Operations Ended	Printed Cachet - Purple
30 May 1986	Cape Canaveral	SRB Retrieval Ship Independence - External Tank Recovery	Printed Cachet - Blue
28 Aug 1986	Cape Canaveral	USS Opportune Lead Recovery Ship - TDRS Payload Recovery Operations Ended	Printed Cachet - Green & Unusual USS Opportune Lead Recovery Ship Cachet
28 Aug 1986	Kennedy Space Center	Sarzin Cover - Ocean Search for Challenger Debris Ends	Printed Cachet & S/H Photo

Recovery Force Ships

Ship	Postmark	Date	Comments
UTC Freedom Star	Kennedy Space Center	28 Jan 1986	Boudwin Cover - With submersible 'Scorpia' - Souvenir Cover Only
UTC Freedom Star	Kennedy Space Center	3 Mar 1986	Boudwin Cover - Resumes Search - Souvenir Cover Only
UTC Liberty Star	Kennedy Space Center	28 Jan 1986	Boudwin Cover - With submersible 'Sprint' - Souvenir Cover Only
UTC Liberty Star	Kennedy Space Center	3 Mar 1986	Boudwin Cover - With Submersible 'Orion' Aboard - Souvenir Cover Only
UTC Independence	Kennedy Space Center	28 Jan 1986	Boudwin Cover - With submersible 'Recon IV' - Souvenir Cover Only
UTC Independence	Kennedy Space Center	3 Mar 1986	Boudwin Cover - With Submersible 'Deep Drone' Aboard - Souvenir Cover Only
USNS Range Sentinel	Orlando Cape Canaveral Kennedy Space Center	27 Jan 1986 28 Jan 1986 28 Jan 1986	Master USNS Range Sentinel Corner Card & Ship's Cachet
USNS Redstone	Kennedy Space Center Mobile AL	28 Jan 1986 28 Jan 1986	Master USNS Redstone Corner Card & Ship's Cachet - KSC Cover includes KSC Philatelic Society Cachet
USS Sampson	USS Sampson	3 Feb 1986	Ship's Cachet
USS Koelsch	USS Koelsch	3 Feb 1986	Ship's Cachet
USS Koelsch	Cape Canaveral	28 Mar 1986	Commanding Officer Corner Card - 2.5 ton piece of Challenger SRB recovered
USS Semmes	USS Semmes	4 Feb 1986	Ship's Cachet
USS Underwood	USS Underwood & Jacksonville	4 & 5 Feb 1986	Ship's Cachet
USS Guam	USS Guam & New Orleans USS Guam	8 & 10 Feb 1986 26 Mar 19864	Ship's Cachet
USS Simpson	USS Simpson	11 Feb 1986	Ship's Cachet
USS Aubrey Fitch5	USS Aubrey Fitch	11 Feb 1986	Ship's Cachet
USS Aubrey Fitch	USS Aubrey Fitch & Jacksonville	12 & 14 Feb 1986	Ship's Cachet
USCGC Sweetgum	Jacksonville Hampton Roads Cape Canaveral (red cachet) Cape Canaveral (black cachet)	18 Feb 1986 2 Apr 1986 12 Apr 1986 12 April 1986	Commanding Officer Corner Card & Ship's Cachet
USCGC Harriet Lane	Jacksonville	19 Feb 1986	Commanding Officer Corner Card & Ship's Cachet
USCGC Dallas	New York	19 Feb 1986 19 Mar 1986	Ship's Cachet - Signed by ship's Commander
USCGC Point Roberts	Detroit4 Jacksonville Jacksonville	3 Feb 1986 19 Feb 1986 2 Apr 1986	Commanding Officer Corner Card
USS Preserver	Orlando Jacksonville Orlando	24 Feb 1986 6 Mar 19864 31 Mar 1986	Commanding Officer Corner Card
USS Preserver	Kennedy Space Center	10 & 12 Mar 1986	Commanding Officer Corner Card - Challenger's Compartment and Astronaut Remains Found
USCGC Bear	US Navy FPO 84051	27 Feb 1986	Commanding Officer Corner Card & Ship's Cachet
USS Sunbird	Orlando	5 Mar 1986 31 Mar 19864 16 Apr 19864	Ship's cachet
USCGC Tampa	Hampton Roads	12 Mar 1986	Commanding Officer Corner Card & Ship's Cachet
NR-12	Groton CT Submarine Base	26 Mar 1986 17 Apr 1986	Cover marked 25 Mar 1986 - Very Rare Cover marked 17 April - Very rare
Johnson Sea-Link 21	Kennedy Space Center	20 Mar 1986	Dive # 1279 - Detailed Info Cachet - Marked 11 Mar 1986 - Ship's cachet on back - Rare Cover
Johnson Sea-Link 21,4	Patrick AFB	2 Apr 1986	Dive # 1292 - Detailed Info Cachet & small Johnson Sea-Link 2 Cachet - Dive 28 Mar 86 - Ship's cachet on back - Rare Cover
Johnson Sea-Link 21	Patrick AFB	2 Apr 1986	Dive # 1293 - Detailed Info Cachet & small Johnson Sea-Link 2 Cachet - Dive 28 Mar 86 - Ship's cachet on back - Rare Cover
Johnson Sea-Link 21,4	Kennedy Space Center	14 Apr 1986	Dive # 1308 - Detailed Info Cachet & small Johnson Sea-Link 2 Cachet - Dive 11 Apr 86 - Ship's cachet on back - Rare Cover
Johnson Sea-Link 21,4	Kennedy Space Center	14 Apr 1986	Dive # 1310 - Detailed Info Cachet & small Johnson Sea-Link 2 Cachet - Dive 13 Apr 86 - Ship's cachet on back - Rare Cover
Johnson Sea-Link 21,4	Kennedy Space Center	14 Apr 1986	Dive # 1311 - Detailed Info Cachet & small Johnson Sea-Link 2 Cachet - Dive 13 Apr 86 - Ship's cachet on back - Rare Cover
Johnson Sea-Link 21,5	Kennedy Space Center	8 Apr 1986	Dive # 1312 - Detailed Info Cachet & small Johnson Sea-Link 2 Cachet - Dive 15 Apr 86 - Ship's cachet on back - Rare Cover
Johnson Sea-Link 11,4	Cape Canaveral	22 Apr 1986	Dive # 1744 - Detailed Info Cachet & small Johnson Sea-Link 1 Cachet on back- Dive 18 Apr 86 - Extremely Rare Cover
USCGC Dauntless	Miami	20 Apr 1986	Commanding Officer Corner Card
R/V G.W. Pierce	Fort Lauderdale	21 Apr 1986	Ship's Corner Card
USS Kittiwake	USS Dahlgren	2? Apr 1986	Ship's cachet plus 'Welcome Home from Challenger Debris Retrieve Mission' cachet Only 2 seen - probably Rare
MSV Stena Workhorse	Orlando	23 Apr 1986	Ship's Cachet - Master's Signature on Back
USS Opportune4	Orlando	1 May 1986 6 May 1986	Ship's Cachet
USCGC Cherokee4	Hampton Roads	7 May 19863	Ship's Corner Card plus 'Coast Guard Cutter' Embossed Seal
R/V Paul Langevin III	Fort Lauderdale	18 Aug 1986	Ship's Corner Card
R/V Paul Langevin III4	For Lauderdale	22 Aug 1986	Marked 2-11-86 to 8-15-86
Involvement Unknown
USCGC Point Charles	U/K	24 Feb, 25 March, 10 April, 22 April	Covers not seen
Not Involved
USNS Observation Island4	Seattle	4 Feb 1986	Ship's Corner Card and Cachet

Cachets

Date	Description of Cachet	Colours	Type
15 Apr 1986	KSC - Sarzin Cachet? - Shows diagram of Right SRB	Black	Printed
15 Apr 1986	KSC - Boudwin Cachet - Found parts of Critical Right SRB	Pple & Green	Rubber Stamp