The history of the postal system is inextricably tied to the history of transport.
At that time rocketry was still in its infancy.
Rockets of that age were gunpowder powered and were primarily used as artillery in battlefields.
Hermann Oberth (center, in profile) demonstrates his tiny liquid-fuel rocket engine in Berlin in 1930.
But it was a young Austrian engineer that became a pioneer in this field.
Friedrich Schmiedl was already experimenting with solid-fuel rockets, and in 1928 undertook experiments with stratospheric balloons.
The rocket was remotely controlled and landed using a parachute.
His second rocket delivered 333 letters.
A graphic from a 1954 science magazine showing the trajectory of Schmiedls rocket mails.
Between 1934 and 1944, Smith made 270 launches, at least 80 of which contained mail.
Both birds survived the trip and were donated to a private zoo in Calcutta after their ordeal.
His next parcel contained a snake and an apple.
A 1934 Indian Rocket Mail.
Photo credit:www.stampcircuit.com
Another Indian Rocket Mail from 1934.
The letters were retrieved, stamped and circulated as usual.
All 3,000 letters were copies of the same written by the Postmaster General.
But it was not to be.
And that was the end of the program.
No further attempts to deliver mail by rockets have been made since then.
One of the mail containers used to carry letters aboard the Regulus missile.
The firing of the Regulus I missile from USS Barbero, June 8, 1959.
