AD*ASTRA is the quarterly Newsletter of  AS.IT.AF (Italian and English version are available).

N°0 August 2008

• AS.IT.AF. has born
• Founding Members: Who is who?
• Astronews
• AS.IT.AF. in the Web
• The AS.IT.AF. library

N°1 November 2008

• Apollo 40th Anniversary: Celebration started
• Astrophilately over a coffee
• AS.IT.AF.welcomes Paul and Chris Calle
• What is an Astrophilatelic Collection.
• Luciano Fraschetti, Founder of FDC Roma.

N°2 March 2009

• AS.IT.AF. goes public
• ISS marks 10 years in space
• Thales Alenia Space: a major contribution to ISS (part one)
• What is an Astrophilatelic Collection. 2 – Scope and contents
• Latina stamps from Slovenjia for Apollo 40th, with special postmark

N°3 July 2009

• Apollo: 40 years
• Alec Bartos: AS.IT.AF. Member designs Apollo stamps in Romania for 40th Anniversary
• Thales Alenia Space: a major contribution to ISS (part two)
• LRO returns pictures of Apollo relics on the Moon
• Astrophilately over a coffee
• Criteria for evaluating Astrophilately Exhibits – 1
• Astronews
• In Memoriam: Ottavio Irio Fantini

N°4 October 2009

• 2009: a year full of initiatives
• Homage to the “astrophilatelist” Giovanni Riggi Di Numana
• The Chiavari and Pecetto exhibits: a new “educational” approach
• Astrophilately over a coffee
• The future of human space flights
• It’s time for NASA to get back on track! – Interview with Walter Cunningham (Apollo 7)
• “I Ragazzi della Luna” by Walt Cunningham – book review of the Italian version

N°5 January 2010

• Nodo-3 and Cupola: a “room with a view” added to ISS
• Little known ASTP flown covers
• Astrophilately over a coffee
• Space artist Bob McCall died at 90
• Criteria for evaluating Astrophilately Exhibits – 2
• Astro News

N°6 April 2010

• Presidential note
• Apollo 15: “The problem we brought back from the Moon”
• Cygnus ISS Commercial resupply services by Thales Alenia Space
• Giovanni Schiaparelli celebrated in the 100th Anniversary of his death
• A special postmark accompanies the participation of AS.IT.AF. to ESOF2010
• Astronews

N°7 July 2010

• 25th birthday of Astrophilately
• ESOF 2010 and Celebration for Schiaparelli
• AD*ASTRA splits into two editions
• From Galileo to Schiaparelli: Italian Astronomers on stamps
• Russians on the Moon
• Apollo 7 patch reissued in limited edition with COA

N°8 October 2010

• 25 Years of Astrophilately
• Beatrice Bachmann: The Doyenne of Astrophilately
• The Prague Astronomical Orloj is 600 years old
• AstroNews
• The Italian contribution to space discovery and exploration

N°9-10 July 2011

• Italian stamp to commemorate 50 Years of Manned Space Flight
• AS.IT.AF. welcomes Walter Cunningham as Honorary Member
• “Fifty Years of Manned Space Flight” celebrated in Torino
• Gagarin stamps and postmarks in Italy
• Astrophilatelic Exhibition held in Turin
• AS.IT.AF. pays hommage to Paul Calle
• Astrophilately exhibition at Borgo Faiti (Latina)
• Venezia 2011: four golden medals for astrophilately
• Gagarin Rumanian stamps designed by Alec Bartos
• Yuri A. Gagarin, the first space traveller
• Alan Shepard – the second astronaut in history
• STS-135: Final Launch of the Space Shuttle Program
• Lunar landing: the philatelic side of Apollo 11 mission
• Paolo Nespoli back to Milano

N° 11 December 2011

• Nespoli celebrates the first anniversary of MagISStra
• Italy and Shuttle – Spacelab (part 1)
• Luigi Broglio, the pioneer of the Italian Astronautics
• Paul Calle’s Space Art
• Gagarin commemorated by the Italian Philately
• «I’ve been in the Heaven, but I didn’t see God!»
• John Glenn: the first American in Earth orbit
• How the “Space hackers” remind Yuri Gagarin
• History of Astronomy through the Stamps, by R. Dicati awarded at Philanippon 2011
• AS.IT.AF. sponsors Crescentino exhibition
• VeronaFil 2011: missing the spark of recent years
• AS.IT.AF. booklet: Schiaparelli and exploration of Mars
• AS.IT.AF. booklet: Astronumismatics
• Mars, the Red Challenge

N°12 March 2012

• ATV-2/MagISStra flown cover
• ATV, a new challenging topic for Collectors
• VEGA: the Italian Proud
• Vega at first launch
• Italy and Shuttle – Spacelab (part 2)
• The Secret Mercury Stamp is fifty years

N°13 June 2012

• Twenty years of Italian Astronauts in Space
• Spacehab: the Italian bridge towards ISS
• Sirio: the 1st Italian telecommunication satellite
• 100 years of Wernher Von Braun
• The first official Baikonur Postmark
• The Baikonur-Karaganda fakes

N°14 September 2012

• Neil Armstrong: reluctant, modest Hero
• Luca Parmitano flying to ISS with Mission “Volare”
• Twenty years of Italian Astronauts in space
• The Tethered satellite
• EURECA, the EUropean REtrievable CArrier
• Again on Sirio
• Apollo-Soyuz Test Project
• The postmark of the Sovchoz Baikonur

N°15 December 2012

• APOLLO 17: 40 years ago the last man on the moon
• COLUMBUS: the European laboratory on ISS
• 20 Years of Italian astros in space – special postmark
• IRIS: the Italian launcher in the Shuttle's cargo bay
• INTEGRAL: four tons of technologies
• Soyuz-4/5: the first Baikonur special postmarks
• Soyuz-4/5: the 1st delivery service of cosmic mail
• Four messages in the Kamanin's envelop.

N°16 March 2013

• Ten years since the loss of Space Shuttle Columbia
• MPLM: a tormented success story
• ESA and Telecommunications Satellites
• The SALTO DI QUIRRA Missile Range
• The Baikonur bilingual daily cancel
• NASA’s Orion powered by the ESA’s ATV SM

N°17 June 2013

• Luca Parmitano is now in space
• Fifty years ago the first woman in space
• Astrophilately @ MilanoFil 2013
• AS.IT.AF. commemorates Tereshkova in Turin
• Mercury 13 – Right Staff, but Wrong Sex
• 40th anniversary of SKYLAB Luca Parmitano is now in space

N°18 September 2013

• The 45th Anniversary of the APOLLO 7 patch
• Apollo 7: the Flight of Phoenix
• The Marathon that leads to space
• Women in Space
• Mae Jemison: Our limits are the stars
• IXV, a European experimental re-entry vehicle
• 50th Anniversary of the first… cat in space
• Signature on astrophilatelic covers: pure ornament?
• ASTP Special Baikonur Cancellations
• More ASTP special postmarks in the USSR

N°19 December 2013

• Luca Parmitano back home
• GAIA, the ESA star-mapping spacecraft
• The Flight of Cygnus
• Backdated covers in USSR
• GOCE: Mission accomplished!
• Earth Observation satellites
• A Cosmonaut at the Pole
• Soyuz-Apollo First Day Postmark Moscow, 07.15.1975
• Yet another “Special ASTP Baikonur postmark”?
• Spacelab: “the big opportunity”

N°20 March 2014

• 50 years of European Cooperation in Space
• Earth Observation Activities in Italy
• Feeling Free As the Air
• Why Soviet Special Postmarks design variations?
• The BURAN-Story (Snowstorm)
• Olympic Torch in Space
• Special Russian Postmark for the Soyuz 28 mission

N°21 June 2014

• SENTINEL: a new European monitoring programme
• Commemorating the death of Galileo Galilei
• The BURAN-Story (Snowstorm) – Part 2
• John Houbolt, a pivotal figure in reaching the Moon
• On-board postmark devoted to Tereshkova’s flight
• Philatelic commemoration of Olympic torch on ISS
• Baikonur: the "Science & Space Stele" daily postmark

N°22 October 2014

• BepiColombo integration and functional tests completed
• BepiColombo mission to Mercury
• ISSpresso: An espresso machine for the Space Station
• Janice Voss visits the ISS as a Cygnus Craft
• Yelena Serova, First Russian Woman Cosmonaut on the ISS.
• Voskhod 1. The most absurd adventure in space ever
• Voskhod -1, the first multi-crew space mission, on the stamps
• Baikonur daily postmark "Rocket on the carriage".

 N°23 December 2014

• Astrophilately at the Italian Space Agency
• 50th Anniversary of the launch of San Marco
• Samantha Cristoforetti is out of Planet.
• “WOMEN IN SPACE” at Verano Brianza
• Claudie Haigneré, the first ESA Female Astronaut
• 40th Anniversary of INTASAT, First Spanish satellite
• Rosetta: first mission in history to touch down on a comet
• Galileo at San Marino
• AGROSPACE 2014 throws the challenge to EXPO 2015
• Gagarin and Sputnik in the Baikonur Postmarks

N° 24 March 2015

• IXV Mission - successfully accomplished!
• In Memoriam Achille Judica Cordiglia
• Voskhod-2: the last dramatic chance to beat the Americans
• EVA IS 50 !
• Leonov & Belyayev: “It Takes Two to Tango”
• “WOMEN IN SPACE” at Terracina
• Soviet Space Postmarks: 20th Anniversary of the first spacewalk. Moscow 1985
• My favourite space item

N° 25 June 2015

• Samantha Cristoforetti returns to Earth after her record-breaking ISS Mission
• Gemini: the astronaut sits in the driver seat
• Women in Space – newly published.
• NASA's contribution to the research on the Shroud of Turin
• NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope
• SpaceX Dragon brings to ISS the long-awaited ISSpresso machine.
• Soviet TT&C Supporting ASTP
• San Marco satellite commemorated on the ISS
• ASTP special cancellations. Some additional details

N° 26 September 2015

• Paolo Nespoli on the ISS for the third time
• Gmunden’15: food for thought on astrophilately
• Luca Parmitano: “Captain Neemo” for 14 days
• Galileo: European global satellite navigation system
• WOMEN IN SPACE at Spotorno
• New Horizons visits Pluto
• Fake Soviet Ship Cachet Discovered
• Gagarin's Kiev Special postmark

 N° 27 December 2015

• EXOMARS to start its long trip to Mars
• Philespace 2015 at St. Medard
• Fifty years ago our Diamant first shone.
• ISS: 15 years and counting
• GEMINI: Learning to drive in Space
• Gmunden 2015 - the Juror’s point of view
• Sochi, Playground of the Cosmonauts
• 40th anniversary of ASTP celebrated on the ISS
• Soviet Space Postmarks for the anniversary of. Jangel and Korolev

N° 28-29 June 2016

• Exomars 2016 on its way to Mars
• ASITAF welcomes Paolo Nespoli
• Italian parachutes to land on Mars
• Delivering Exomars: three cargo flights in five days
• The scream of the little Martian
• ALTEC ROCC: ExoMars Rover Operations Control Center
• Italian technology leads the ExoMars space missions
• Sentinel: the Guardian Angel of the Planet
• Prague: Eurospace 2016
• Reflections for an update of the Astrophilately SREV
• Italy in Space
• “IN THE PINK IN THE STARS” at Crescentino
• Gemini pragmatically progresses. Where the Soviets?
• Helen Sharman 25 years ago, the first Briton in space
• Four wheels across the space
• Onboard Cancellation on the orbital station Salyut 6

 N° 30 September 2016

• Franco Malerba, Guest of Honor at Spotorno
• “Scienza F antastica 2016” in Spotorno
• “Italy in Space”: 20 billboards tell 50 years of successes
• Gaetano Arturo Crocco. From Airships to Missiles
• Sputnik-1 e la nascita della navigazione spaziale
• Lo Sputnik nel “Corriere dei Piccoli” russo
• La Medicina Aerospaziale - Spacelab
• Soviet Space Postmarks for Yuri Gagarin

 N° 31 December 2016

• Exomars: failure or success?
• Astrophilately at Bologna 2016
• One year in ASITAF
• 50 years ago the grand finale of GEMINI.
• Gaetano Arturo Crocco: “Missilibus Ad Astra”
• A Tale of Two Baikonurs
• Pamela Melroy: “Try to be true to yourself”
• Soviet Space Postmarks for the Vostok flights

N° 32 March 2017

• 25 years of Italian astronauts in space
• Franco Malerba, the first Italian astronaut
• Apollo 1: the 1st tragedy in the US Space Programme
• The MMARS-1 experiment
• The leap of the Cricket
• The new Board of the FIP Astrophilately Section
• GRILLO - The Italian mail rocket at the Genoa Fair
• Nicola Pecile: in 20 years to the opposite side of the Planet in 2 hours
• BION-10: A Model for the Goals of the International Space Year
• BION-10 nell‘Anno Internazionale dello Spazio
• Soviet Space Postmarks

N° 33 June 2017

• "25 years of Italian Astronauts in space" at Milan
• "25 years of Italian Astronauts in space" at Villarbasse
• Paolo Nespoli ready to launch!
• San Marco 2. The first lift-off from a non-American and non-Soviet launch complex
• From the Descartes Highlands to Turin
• Stratolaunch, the flying launch-pad
• The Great American Solar Eclipse of 2017
• Some Thoughts on Two Astrophilatelic Covers
• Soviet Space Postmarks

 N° 34 September 2017

• 25 years of Italian Astronauts in space
• Sputnik-1: the USSR-USA space race, ignited in Italy
• Fifty years ago the Gemini twin stamp
• TTS project: Something that nobody had even done before
• Stamping the Earth from Space by Renato Dicati
• Some thought on two astrophilatelic covers
• When postmark color makes a difference
• Special Soviet Postmarks

 N° 35 December 2017

• Paolo Nespoli returns to Earth
• 40 years of Voyager, Man’s Farthest Travelled Spacecraft
• Fifty years ago: the first flight of Saturn V
• Space Shuttle And Skylab: A Missed Opportunity
• Analysis of Generic Eclipse Postmarks Across America
• Special Soviet Space Postmarks

 N° 36 March 2018

• Ten Years of AS.IT.AF
• Special Soviet Postmarks

 N° 37 June 2018

• Nespoli Day in Verano
• Luca Parmitano to be the 1st Italian Commander of ISS
• Maurizio Cheli: Mt. Everest, my new great adventure after space‖
• MilanoFil 2018: Philately for Space and Astronomie
• SpaceX's historic Falcon Heavy successfully launch
• Zuma’s Top Secret Mission
• Resupplying satellites with the Space Shuttle
• Special Soviet Postmarks

 N° 38 October 2018

• Apollo 7 opens a 4-years long NASA celebration
• Paolo Nespoli at “Scienza Fantastica 2018”
• WRESAT – 50 years of Australia in Space
• Tiangong 2 China’s Second Heavenly Palace
• Jeff Dugdale’s “DigiDisplays”
• FIP Astrophilately Commission informal Meeting in Prague
• Shuttle Mission STS-95 pictorial cancel
• Special Soviet Postmarks

N° 39 December 2018

• ORION’s European Service Module delivered to NASA
• BepiColombo: European-Japanese spacecraft to Mercury
• Columbus & ATV 10th anniversary
• Space Shuttle: Unflown Science and Technology Missions
• Tianhe-1: China’s Permanently Manned Space Station
• Bangkok FIP Meeting: new Astrophilately Guidelines
• Special Soviet Postmarks

N° 40 March 2019

• A very special cover exclusive to ASITAF members
• InSight lands on Mars, carrying Italian technologies
• Apollo 8 – Merry Christmas from the Moon
• The Unfulfilled Potential of the External Tank
• Anne McClain: to preschool at 3, to learn to be an astronaut
• The Race to The Moon Chronicled in Stamps, Postcards,and Postmarks – Book Review
• Special Soviet Postmarks

 N° 41 June 2019

• Paolo Nespoli in Villarbasse for Moonlanding show
• Apollo Programme: 5 steps towards the Moon
• Calle: Putting their stamp on the Moon
• Calle, the first Honorary Member of ASITAF
• Apollo 11 - First Communion on the Moon
• Christina Hammock Koch
• Soyuz MS-10 Launch Failure in 2018 and implications
• Stratolaunch: a dream doomed to end soon?

 N° 42 September 2019

• EXOMARS 2020. Integration completed at TAS-I
• Rome confers honorary citizenship to Michael Collins
• Parmitano “looks further” with the Beyond mission
• TSV3 Apollo CosmicRay mission
• “China 2019” international stamp exhibition
• Astrophilately in China
• The Bible on the Moon
• Apollo 11 50th anniversary stamps in Romania

 N° 43 December 2019

• Events for the 50th anniversary of the Moonlanding in Italy
• Goodbye, Pietro Pantanella!
• Alexei Leonov, a legend of space
• The Design of the Apollo Lunar Lander
• Moonlanding in San Marino
• Origin of China Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center
• Unexpected US Apollo 11 Postmark Variations
• Special postmark celebrating Apollo 11 in Italy.

 N° 44 March 2020

• Mission accomplished for Luca Parmitano
• The first catholic Bible into Space
• Beware! The ill-famed Baikonur fakes are still up and running!
• Jessica Meir: From the sea to the stars
• Brugherio Exhibition "4 steps on the Moon"
• The "Epic of Apollo" in Moncalvo
• First Chinese Space Mail

 N° 45 June 2020

• Crew Dragon: a new chapter in space exploration
• First Successful Recovery of Chinese Space Mail
• Space Tourism - 1: Space Adventures
• Vatican and Apollo programme
• American special space cancellations in history

N° 46 September 2020

• Scienza Fantastica in Spotorno
• Space Tourism – 2: Virgin Galactic.
• ISS shot by Chinese remote sensing sat Jilin-1
• Beth Moses: the 1st woman on a private spacecraft.
• A coin to commemorate Christa McAuliffe in 2021
• Final test of HAPS at Spaceport America
• From Antarctica to space
• Space mail from Chinese Shenzou-1
• ISS Mission Control Station pictorial postmarks

N° 47 December 2020

• The third structural unit ESM-3 delivered to Bremen
• Rosalind Franklin leaves Turin for final tests in Cannes
• Hayabusa-2: new data on life in the Universe
• Kathleen Rubins: microbiologist turned astronaut
• Space Mail from Chinese Shenzhou-2
• Test of the next-generation Chinese spacecraft
• Is still possible astrophilately in Italy?
• FARSI SPAZIO – review of Paolo Nespoli’s book

N° 48 March 2021

• Yuri Gagarin. Human space exploration era turns 60
• Yuri Gagarin. The astrophilatelic side of Vostok-1 mission
• 40 years ago: the maiden flight of Space Shuttle STS-1
• The first welding of HALO
• From the Penguin Post Office to the ISS
• Salto di Quirra – How it all began
• Space Mail from Shenzhou-3 Mission
• Gagarin Modeling Competition in Moscow

N° 49 June 2021

• Dragon women spacefarers on the Falcon wings
• Bishop: a new room on the International Space Station
• New Board Cancel in the ISS Russian Segment
• SPACE RIDER: the Esa's reusable mini-shuttle
• 50th anniversary of the launch of Salyut 1
• Space flights: little companies grow up
• The Chinese Dragon shrouded in mystery
• Space Mail from China's New Generation Spacecraft Test Ship

N° 50 October 2021

• Cover by Alec Bartos
• Tribute to Jeff Dugdale
• Space Tourism: the next big adventure
• Sirisha Bandla - From Guntur to the edge of space
• Wally Funk - No one has waited longer!
• Our affectionate wishes to PAOLO NESPOLI!
• Space Mail from Shenzhou 4 Unmanned Spacecraft
• Space Mail from Shenzhou 5 First Manned Spacecraft

N° 51 December 2021

• Astrophilately at Milan and Siracusa
• Hayley Arceneaux, the hope on Inspirati④n
• Yulia Peresild – the first actress in space
• ASITAF “spacefood” moves to Istanbul
• From Scott-Amundsen Polar Station to ISS
• French-Soviet ARAKS experiment investigates Magnetosphere
• Space Mail from Shenzhou 6 First Manned Spacecraft

N° 52 March 2022

• Best wishes to Walt Cunningham, who turned 90
• Annual ASITAF Meeting and Board Renewal
• SpinLaunch A giant centrifuge to hurl into space
• Licia-Cube captures collision with asteroid
• A cover flown on Soyuz 9.
• Kayla Barron, a pioneering submariner turned astronaut
• Waiting for ARTEMIS
• San Marco 2: the first satellite from the Malindi platform
• “BACK TO EARTH” by Nicole Stott – book review
• Space Mail from Shenzhou 7 Manned Spacecraft

N° 53 July 2022

• DIVINE COMEDY into space, “to rebehold the stars”
• The growth of a small company: Vaya Space
• From the world’s highest post office to the ISS
• See you Moon!
• The ASITAF: covers IXV (Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle)
• Space Mail from Chinese Shenzhou 8 Unmanned Spacecraft

N° 54 November 2022

• Cristoforetti back to Earth after 170 days
• The growth of a small company: LΛUNȻHER
• LICIACube sends images of the DART Impact
• The ASITAF covers: ExoMars
• Collecting China Space Programme: challenge and fun
• Liberec 2022 - where does Philately want to go?

N° 55 February 2023

• Addio Luigi Bussolino! ASITAF Vice-President
• Walt Cunningham, ASITAF Member, passed away at 90
• Artemis I and ESM: a success Story
• The ASITAF covers: Orion’s ESM
• ArgoMoon, the first Italian sat to orbit the Moon
• Virtual Exhibitions
• The growth of a small company: FIREFLY AEROSPACE

N° 56 March 2023

• 2008: ASITAF was born
• 2009: First ASITAF public event
• 2010: Official competitive astrophilately exhibitions resume in Italy
• 2011: The year of Gagarin
• 2012: Twenty years of Italian Astronauts in Space
• 2013: 50° di Tereskova
• 2014: 50 years of the San Marco satellite
• 2015: First participation in foreign exhibitions
• 2016: The ExoMars adventure begins
• 2017: 25 years of Italian astronauts in space
• 2018: ASITAF turns 10
• 2019: 50th Anniversary of the first moon landing
• 2020: COVID-19 emergency
• 2021: Timid recovery
• 2022: New rules and old mindset in astrophilately

N° 57 June 2023

• StarShip's maiden flight: a successful failure
• DANTE-SAT: the Divine Comedy back in space
• Anna Kikina. The 1st Russian on a private US spacecraft
• The growth of a small company: RELATIVITY SPACE
• A ride on Mars, with your feet on the ground
• Space Mail from Shenzhou 9 and Tiangong 1
• “TO THE STARS” Women Spacefarers Legacy

N° 58 October 2023

• ASITAF annual meeting in BergamoFil and renewal of Board
• ITALY leading player in GALACTIC 01
• The first cover that reached space with Virgin Galactic
• Nicola Pecile, the first Italian astronaut to pilot a spaceplane
• Galactic 03 carries Fossils to Space’s Edge
• Space flights: the little grow up – ASTRA SPACEE
• OSIRIS-REx returns asteroid samples to Earth
• “TO THE STARS” book review
• Space Mail from Shenzhou 10 and Tiangong 1

N° 59 January 2024

• SPACELAB turns 40
• Return to the Moon, with the Italian Industry
• Return to the moon – 1. New Players
• ASITAF space food in Athens with NASA Life in space
• Prague, CR: “Italian cuisine out of the World”
• “The Challenge” on the 62th Cosmonautics Day
• “Space between Science and Fiction”: ALTEC turns 20
• In Poland the first space cryptostamp