Pan Am ‘First Moon Flights’ Club
Between 1968 and 1971, Pan American World Airways issued over 93,000 “First Moon Flights” Club cards to people eager to reserve a seat on the first commercial flight to the Moon. The cards were free. I was a proud member.
“First Man on the Moon” Stamp - First Day of Issue
The idea for the club originated with a waiting list that reportedly began in 1964, when Austrian journalist Gerhard Pistor asked a travel agency in Vienna to book him a flight to the Moon. The agency forwarded his request to Pan Am, which accepted the reservation two weeks later and replied that the first flight was expected to depart in the year 2000.
On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong became the first human to set foot on the Moon.
Just weeks later, on September 9, 1969, the U.S. Postal Service issued a 10-cent postage stamp depicting an astronaut walking on the Moon’s surface. Called the “First Man on the Moon” stamp, it was the largest U.S. stamp issued up to that time. According to the National Postal Museum, it was made from the same master die the astronauts had taken with them to the Moon.
Pan Am sent members of the “First Moon Flights” Club a “First Day of Issue” envelope featuring the stamp. I was thrilled to receive mine and have kept it all these years. I now doubt I’ll ever make it to the Moon — but it was an exciting thought while it lasted.
Sadly, Pan Am didn’t survive. It declared bankruptcy in 1991.
