Welcome to the Astrophilately Commission of the Fédération Internationale de Philatélie
The aim of this website is to be the first port of call for; exhibitors, judges and all who are interested in Astrophilately.
The website contains the contact information for the members of the Bureau and the national delegates to the FIP Astrophilately Commission and various handy details about exhibiting,exhibitions, references and links to other useful sites.
Latest News
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Urgent, we need more Astro exhibits for EFIRO 2024 which is being held in Romania from 16 - 19 April 2024. We need more exhibits to ensure that Astrophilatey remains viable as a Class at FIP International exhibtions!! The EFIRO organising committee has extended the time for you to get your entry form in till the 9th of December. Click EFIRO 2024 application form to enter.
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India's Chandrayaan-3 becomes 1st probe to land near the lunar south pole.
The spacecraft touched down softly near the Moon's south pole on August 23, notching a huge milestone for the nation. India is now the fourth country to stick a lunar landing, after the United States, the former Soviet Union and China.
Below are some of the covers prepared for the flight.
Thanks go to our Bureau Member Madhukar Jhingan
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The next FIP International Exhibition that will include an Astrophilately Class will be EFIRO 2024 held in Bucharest, Romania 16 -19 April 2024
Click here to download the entry form: EFIRO 2024 application form
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Astrophilately Class Results 2023
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IBRA 2023 Jury
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The Astrophilately Jury Team for IBRA 2023 will be:
Ivar Sundsboe (NORWAY) Bedrich Helm (CZECH REP.) Charles Bromser (AUSTRALIA)
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The Kunming 2023 19th All-China Philatelic Exhibition report may be found on the Reports page
Mr Zhao Xiaoguang (right), first vice president of the All-China Philatelic Federation, and Mrs Jiao Xiaoguang (left), vice president of the All-China Philatelic Federation and Jury Chairperson, award the jury medal & certificate Lin Da 'an
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We will have eight exhibits competing at IBRA 2023, a list of the exhibits may be found on the IBRA website (https://ibra2023.de/en/ausstellung-en/ausstellerverzeichnis-en/), in the Astrophilately Class Section.
This will be the first time the new Guidelines will be applied to the Exhibits.
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The Annual reports for the period 2022 - 2023 may be found on our Reports page
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Vale Jean-Louis Lafon
Sadly, our dear friend Jean-Louis Lafon passed away on 29 January 2023. Jean-Louis was the Astrophilately Commission delegate for France from 1998 to 2013 and our Commission Secretary from 2000 to 2008.
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Vale Beatrice Bachmann
Sadly, Beatrice Bachmann passed away on 19 November 2022.
Beatrice was the driving force behind the establishment of Astrophilately as a class at FIP. She became the inaugural Astrophilately Chairperson in 1985, a position she held until 2000. Her exhibit "From the Beginning of Space Exploration to Space Mail" was awarded Large Gold medals and was in the court of honour at the Washington 2006 International Stamp Exhibition. In 2018 Beatrice received the Lifetime Achievement Award for her services to Astrophilately.
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| LIBEREC 2022 ASTROPHILATELY RESULTS | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CLASS 9E: ONE FRAME EXHIBIT (ASTROPHILATELY) | ||||||||||||
| 842 | McMahon | Ian | Australia | Canberra Tracking Stations | 80 | V | ||||||
| 843 | Aguiló | Antoni Rigo | Spain | Pegasus: Rockets Launched from Airplanes | 76 | LS | ||||||
| CLASS 10: ASTROPHILATELY | TOTAL | Medal | SP/FEL/GP | |||||||||
| 844-848 | Hopferwieser | Walter | Austria | Space Mail | 91 | G | SP Material | |||||
| 849-853 | Klackl | Heinz | Austria | From "Vostok" to the Scheduled Deorbitting of Space Station "MIR" | 74 | S | ||||||
| 854-858 | Van Oppens | Bart | Belgium | America, a Space Nation | 80 | V | ||||||
| 859-863 | Delmon | Luc | France | French Participation in Space Exploration | 75 | LS | ||||||
| 864-868 | Lentin | Alain | France | European Experiments with Sounding Rockets | 71 | S | ||||||
| 869-873 | Lachhein | Stephen | Germany | How Mankind's Dream to Reach for the Stars Became Reality | 85 | LV | ||||||
| 877-881 | Bussolino | Luigi Carlo | Italy | United Europe In Space | 77 | LS | ||||||
| 882-886 | Cavallaro | Umberto | Italy | Italy in Space | 82 | V | ||||||
| 887-891 | Cavallaro | Umberto | Italy | China - a Long March to the Moon | 84 | V | ||||||
| 892-896 | Della Maddalena | Pietro | Italy | The Manned Space Flights: USA and Russia since 1958 to the ISS | 85 | LV | ||||||
| 897-901 | Matteassi | Stefano | Italy | USA - from the Study of a Spaceplane to the Shuttle | 84 | V | ||||||
| 902-906 | Rega | Annibale | Italy | Russian Human Mission to Space Station from 1974 to 2021 from Salyut 3 to ISS | 85 | LV | ||||||
| 907-911 | Toniaccini | Giorgio | Italy | The Experimental Space Stations | 75 | LS | ||||||
| 912-916 | Bartos | Vadim- Alexandru | Romania | Soviet International Manned Spaceflights | 76 | LS | ||||||
| 917-921 | Romanescu | Paul | Romania | Skylab Orbital American Station | 73 | S | ||||||
| 922-926 | Markand | Dave | United Kingdom | The Rocket Mails Of India 1934-44 | 88 | LV |
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Tha Astrophilately jurors for the LIBEREC 2022 exhibtion are
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|---|---|---|---|
| Charles Bromser (AUS) | Ivar Sundsbro (NO) | Stefan Bruylants (BE) | Julius Cacka (CZ) |
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Just 3 weeks to go to get your entry forms in for IBRA 2023!!
Exhibitors outside BDPh should send an application to their National Commissioner. To find out who that is go to 🙁List of National Commissioners) . He or she will also be happy to answer your questions around IBRA 2023.
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The following exhibits have been entered in the LIBEREC 2022 European Stamp Exhibion:
| Class 10 | Astrophilately | ||||
| Frame Number | Name | Country | Exhibit Title | Class | Frames |
| 844-848 | Walter Hopferwieser | AT | Space Mail | 10 | 5 |
| 849-853 | Heinz Klackl | AT | From “Vostok” to the Scheduled Deorbitting of Space Station “MIR” | 10 | 5 |
| 854-858 | Bart Van Oppens | BE | America, a Space Nation | 10 | 5 |
| 859-863 | Luc Delmon | FR | French Participation in Space Exploration | 10 | 5 |
| 864-868 | Alain Lentin | FR | European Experiments with Sounding Rockets | 10 | 5 |
| 869-876 | Stephen Lachhein | DE | How Mankind’s Dream to Reach for the Stars Became Reality | 10 | 8 |
| 877-881 | Luigi Carlo Bussolino | IT | United Europe In Space | 10 | 5 |
| 882-886 | Umberto Cavallaro | IT | Italy in Space | 10 | 5 |
| 887-891 | Umberto Cavallaro | IT | China – a Long March to the Moon | 10 | 5 |
| 892-896 | Pietro Della Maddalena | IT | The Manned Space Flights: USA and Russia since 1958 to the ISS | 10 | 5 |
| 897-901 | Stefano Mateassi | IT | USA – from the Study of a Spaceplane to the Shuttle | 10 | 5 |
| 902-906 | Annibale Rega | IT | Russian Human Mission to Space Station from 1974 to 2021 from Salyut 3 to ISS | 10 | 5 |
| 907-911 | Giorgio Toniaccini | IT | The Experimental Space Stations | 10 | 5 |
| 912-916 | Vadim-Alexandru Bartos | RO | Soviet International Manned Spaceflights | 10 | 5 |
| 917-921 | Paul Romanescu | RO | Skylab Orbital American Station | 10 | 5 |
| 922-926 | Markand Dave | GB | The Rocket Mails Of India 1934-44 | 10 | 5 |
| 842 | Ian McMahon | AU | Canberra Tracking Stations | 9E | 1 |
| 843 | Antoni Rigo Aguiló | ES | Pegasus: Rockets Launched from Airplanes | 9E | 1 |
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Lin Da' An joins us as a co-opted Bureau member from China
Alec Bartos joins us as a co-opted Bureau member from Romania
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During the 76th FIP Congress on the 9th of August 2022, the FIP national federation delegates voted that the status of Astrophilately be changed from a Section to a Commission
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The 76th FIP Congress elected the following candidates to the new Board:
President: Dr Prakob Chirakiti (Thailand)
Vice President for the Americas: Reinaldo Macedo (Brazil)
Vice President for Europe: Yigal Nathaniel (Israel)
Vice President for Asia: Richard Tan (Singapore)
Director for the Americas: Aldo Samama Y Samame (Peru)
Director for Europe: Peter Suhadolc (Slovenia)
Director for Asia: Abdulla Khoory (UAE)
The motion to change Astrophilately from a Section to a Commission was carried.
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The delegates' meeting held during the Jakarta 2022 World Stamp Championship on Sunday 7th August elected the below delegates for the new Bureau and confirmed the Minutes of our March 22 Zoom meeting.
Astrophilately Commission Bureau for the period 2022 - 2024
| POSITION | CANDIDATE | COUNTRY |
| Chairperson | Charles Bromser | Australia |
| Secretary | Chee Hui Tan | Malaysia |
| Members | Christian Schmied | Switzerland (FEPA) |
| David Ball | USA (FIAF) | |
| Madhukar Jhingan | India (FIAP) |
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We will hold a delegates' meeting during the Jakarta 2022 World Stamp Championship on Sunday 7th August from 13:00 to 15:00. Delegates will be voting for the next Astrophilately Bureau.
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The new Astrophilately guidelines have been approved by the FIP Board during the 144th FIP Board meeting in Lugano on 22 May 2022
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Astrophilately Zoom meetings of February and March minutes are now available in the Meetings tab of the website
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| LONDON 20222 International Stamp Exhibition Results | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ross Newton | Australia | Apollo 13 - A Successful Failure | 82 | V |
| Ramu Machapalli Srinivasa | India | Rocket Mails of India | 83 | V |
| Markand Dave | India | The Rocket Mails of India | 88 | LV |
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FIP Astrophilately Qualifying Seminar
From Astrophilatelic Basics to the New Guidelines
During the LONDON 2022 International Stamp Exhibition (19-26 February) there will be a number of FIP Qualifying Seminars. The Astrophilatelic Seminar will be held on Monday, 21 February from 14:00 to 16:00 at the Business Design Centre Islington.
Charles Bromser
FIP Astrophilately Commission Chairperson
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European Stamp Exhibition & Polar Salon LIBEREC 2022 13 - 16 October 2022
Liberec 2022 wiil be a Specialised European Stamp Exhibition and Polar Salon to be held at the Wellness hotel Babylon, Nitranska 1, 460 07 Liberec, Czech Republic. You will be able to enter your astrophilately exhibit into either Class 10 Astrophilately or into Class 9E Astrophilately.
Charles Bromser
FIP Astrophilately Commission Chairperson
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Astrophilately exhibits at the NOTOS 2021 exhibition.
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Luxembourg
Welcome to Andree Trommer-Schiltz our new delegate from Luxembourg.
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Vale Ben Ramkissoon
Dear friends,
This morning I got the sad notice that our friend, Dr Reuben Ramkissoon passed away at the age of 91.
Ben was the foundation US delegate to the Astrophilately Section and was an active member in the Section from 1986 to 2014.
Ben, Beatrice, Peter & George the 1st Astrophilately Section Bureau Members
He exhibited his award winning US space collection at many national and international exhibtions. His exhibit The Devlopment of the United States Lunar Exploration was invited to the Court of Honour in the Washington 2006 FIP World Exhibtion.
Ben was the leading light for Astrophilately in the US, as the president of the ATA Space Unit for many years and he wrote the Astrophilately Exhibiting section of the American Philatelic Society's Manual of Philatelic Judging.
He was a true gentleman, always ready to help.
Our thoughts are with his family.
Charles Bromser
FIP Astrophilately Commission Chairperson
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Happy 50th Birthday to KOSMOS
KOSMOS Members at the 2020 AGM (a ZOOM version this year)
Congratulations to the Czech space philately society KOSMOS on its 50th anniversary. KOSMOS was founded in 1971, as a section in the Union of Czech Philatelists (SČF) and is one of the oldest space philatelic groups in the world.
Prague EUROSPACE 2016, a national exhibition with international participation
KOSMOS has held four national exhibitions since 1995, three had international participation and one with FEPA recognition. The group holds regular promotional displays and produces and award winning journal.
EUROSPACE 2016 opening ceremony
Well done
Charles Bromser
FIP Astrophilately Commission Chairperson
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ASTROPHILATELY ONE-FRAME ENTRIES NEEDED!!!
Entries are now invited for CAPEX 22, the first International One-Frame Exhibition to be held in Toronto Canada, June 9-12, 2022 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.
CAPEX 22 will have up to 400 One Frame exhibits. The exhibition will also include a Literature class with both Print and Digital Literature exhibits welcome. Further information is available at www.capex22.org . A copy of the IREX is attached. (Not to be confused with the virtual exhibition Canpex 21, CAPEX 22 will be a face-to-face exhibition). CAPEX 22 is a FIAF exhibition with FIP Recognition.
As an international exhibition, exhibits entered must meet the following criteria:
- Entries awarded at least 75-points (vermeil medal) at national exhibitions since Jan 1, 2015 or which have been exhibited at exhibitions with, FIP, FIAF, FEPA or FIAP patronage, will be eligible.
- Entries awarded at least 75-points (vermeil medal) at national virtual exhibitions since Jan 1, 2020, will be eligible.
One Frame Classes: Traditional, Postal History, Postal Stationery, Aerophilately, Astrophilately, Thematic, Maximaphily, Revenue, Modern (21st Century in Traditional, Postal History, Postal Stationery or Revenue), Picture Postcard, Open, Youth and Other Non-FIP formats (First Day Covers, Charity Seals and other Cinderellas, Illustrated Mail, etc.)
CAPEX 22 frame fees are: US$125 per exhibit (one-frame), Youth entries Free and Literature entries US$80.
Entries need to be submitted using the on-line form at www.capex22.org by 30 November.
Charles Bromser
FIP Astrophilately Commission Chairperson
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The International Stamp Exhibition IBRA has been postponed to 2023 due to the COVID 19 virus.
Charles Bromser
FIP Astrophilately Commission Chairperson
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IBRA 2021
The next FIP International Stamp Exhibition that will have an Astrophilatelic Class is the International Stamp Exhibition IBRA 2021. The exhibition will be held in Essen (Germany), from 6-9 May. Now is the time for you to enter, I have attached the IBRA2021 ApplicationForm_engl for your convenience. We need as many exhibits as possible so please enter.
Charles Bromser
FIP Astrophilately Commission Chairperson
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London 2020 International Stamp Exhibition Postponed
In line with UK Government guidelines, it is now impossible for the London 2020 exhibition to happen in May 2020. Although all the details are not fully defined, the exhibition will
go ahead at the same venue on the earliest feasible dates available:
19 to 26 February 2022.
Frank Walton RDP FRPSL
Chairman, London 2020 Organising Committee
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Congratulations to Walter & Lin Da’An with their Large Gold & Gold respectively
The China 2019 World Stamp Exhibition Astrophilately results:
| ASTROPHILATELY | ||||||
| Country | No Frames | Title | Lname | Total | Medal | |
| Austria | 8 | From Pioneer rocket mail to space mail | Hopferwieser | Walter | 95 | LG |
| China | 5 | Shenzhou spaceships | Wang | Ruowei | 87 | LV |
| China | 8 | From spaceflight precursors to space mail | Lin | Da’an | 91 | G |
| China | 5 | Shenzhou spacecraft | Guo | Yanming | 83 | V |
| China | 5 | China manned spaceflight & deep space exploration | Chen | Ensheng | 80 | V |
| Russia | 5 | Vladimir Dzhanibekov Cosmonaut Artist | Kirillov | Vasiliy | 73 | S |
| Switzerland | 5 | Manned space station | Leu | Ernst | 80 | V |
| Switzerland | 5 | The first man steps on the moon | Schmied | Chris | 82 | V |
Charles Bromser
FIP Astrophilately Commission Chairperson
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Astro Update – May 2019
Eight exhibits were selected for the Astrophilately Class for the China 2019 World Stamp Exhibition next month.
1 – Austria
4 – China
1 – Russia
2- Switzerland
Charles Bromser
FIP Astrophilately Commission Chairperson
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Astro Update – April 2019
Hot off the press, Walter Hopferwieser’s English version of his magnum opus, Pioneer Rocket Mail & Space Mail compendium and catalogue. A must for any serious astrophilatelic collector. 540 pages in full colour.
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FIP Qualifying Seminar –
There will be a FIP qualifying seminar held during the China 2019 World Philatelic Exhibition in Wuhan on 14 June 2019 from 14:00 – 15:30.
Charles Bromser
FIP Astrophilately Commission Chairperson
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Astro Update – March 2019
FIP Accredited Astrophilately Jurors List
Charles Bromser
FIP Astrophilately Commission Chairperson
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Astro Update – January 2019
The FIP Astrophilately Section is now a Commission.
I passed the cross-accreditation for Astrophilately during Bangkok 2018 World Stamp Exhibition and successfully completed the 3-day training at the FIP Jury Academy.
Charles Bromser
FIP Astrophilately Commission Chairperson