So did you know that the Postal Service used a missile to deliver mail? Well they did!
"On June 8, 1959, in a move that Postmaster General Arthur A. Summerfield heralded as 'of historic significance to the peoples of the entire world,' the Navy submarine USS Barbero fired a guided missile carrying 3,000 letters towards the naval auxiliary air station in Mayport, Florida. Racing along at about 600 miles per hour, the guided missile traveled the more than 100 miles from the deck of the submarine off the coast of Florida to the air station in about 22 minutes."Wouldn't it be cool to get your mail delivered to you in minutes, instead of days? Maybe not your bills but all the fun stuff like packages or magazines.
Unfortunately this experiment didn't stick and was a one time thing. Granted, I can see where some issues and concerns would arise.
You can read the entire article here: http://www.usps.com/postalhistory/_pdf/MissileMail.pdf
Can you imagine if this option was available today? Direct mail would be a completely different concept.
--L
Very interesting! On a related topic, when I was at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in DC about a month ago, I participated as a live audience member during their webcast commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the first airmail flight. It was made between Petaluma and Santa Rosa on February 17-18, 1911. History is cool. :)
ReplyDeleteHistory is very cool!
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