Rocket Mail, 1959 Style

In 1959, the U.S. Postal Service – not known as a bastion of innovation - tried something a little too different: Rocket Mail. It wasn’t intended to replace the neighborhood carrier, but tested as a way of getting large amounts of mail from point A to point B, then delivered the old-fashioned way. The test was on June 8, 1959, when an unmanned missile was launched from a submarine off the coast of Florida. Inside the missile were 3,000 pieces of mail to various VIPs around the country, including a letter from Postmaster General Arthur Summerfield to President Dwight Eisenhower. The missile took off without a hitch, landed as planned, and the mail delivered. Summerfield declared: "Before man reaches the moon, mail will be delivered within hours from New York to … Australia by guided missiles. The price of stamps at the time was eight cents to send a letter overseas. Although catchy in sound, that was the first and only rocket mail delivered via guided missile. (Source: Yahoo News, 06/09/2014)