Auction Name: 2025 December 11 - 12 Space Exploration Signature® Auction

Lot Number: 50251

Shortcut to Lot: HA.com/6326*50251

Voyager Aircraft Limited Edition, #151/500, Flown Cover Signed by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, with Numbered Certificate of Authenticity. A philatelic relic carried aboard the Voyager aircraft during one of its engineering test flights in 1986, just months before it made history with the first nonstop, around-the-world flight without refueling. This commemorative airmail envelope, franked with a 33¢ Alfred Verville "Aviation Pioneer" stamp, is postmarked Mojave, California, July 9, 1986, the site of Voyager's home base and launch point. The cover bears the printed image of the revolutionary aircraft alongside world record notations and is boldly signed in black ink: "Dick Rutan" and "Jeana Yeager", the pioneering aviators who piloted the mission. The display folder includes a fact sheet titled Voyager Facts detailing the aircraft's specifications, an engineering marvel with a wingspan of 110.8 feet yet weighing only 1,858 pounds empty, powered by twin Teledyne Continental engines, and capable of a staggering 26,000-27,000 miles of nonstop range. Excellent.

The Voyager's 1986-87 record-setting flight remains one of the most important achievements in aviation history, cementing Rutan and Yeager's place among the great explorers of the skies. This cover, carried aboard the aircraft itself, stands as a tangible artifact of that daring effort. From the Family Collection of Jacques Bracke

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