In June 1972, a scandal involving the crew of NASA's Apollo 15 became publicly known. The crew—David Scott, Alfred Worden, and James Irwin—had carried about 400 unauthorized postal covers into space a
A "Sieger cover"
The Apollo 15 crew – left to right, David Scott, commander; Alfred Worden, command module pilot; James Irwin, Lunar Module pilot
Commander Scott cancels an envelope on the Moon
Apollo 15 Mission Commander David Scott
Jack Swigert
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John Leonard Swigert Jr. was an American NASA astronaut, test pilot, mechanical engineer, aerospace engineer, United States Air Force pilot, and politician. In April 1970, as command module pilot of A
Apollo 15 postal covers incident
…chose to take no action, "and whatever happened to them was kept quiet". Among the astronauts interviewed in NASA's investigation was Apollo 13's Jack Swigert, who denied any dealings with envelopes; after he subsequently admitted he had, Low removed him from Apollo-Soyuz. Kraft suspended some 15 astronauts…
Swigert in 1971
Swigert wearing his Air Force flight suit with a 118th Fighter Squadron, Connecticut Air National Guard patch
Swigert (right) with the "mailbox" rig improvised to adapt the Apollo 13 command module Odyssey's square carbon dioxide scrubber cartridges to fit the Apollo Lunar Module Aquarius, which took a round cartridge
Swigert during suit-up before the launch of Apollo 13, April 11, 1970