[meteorite-list] Postal Service Honors NASA Planetary Discoveries with 2016 Stamps

[Ron Baalke]

http://www.nasa.gov/feature/postal-service-honors-nasa-planetary-discoveries-with-2016-stamps
 
Postal Service Honors NASA Planetary Discoveries with 2016 Stamps
December 30, 2015

The U.S. Postal Service has previewed the New Year's series of stamps 
highlighting NASA's Planetary Science program, including a do-over of 
a famous Pluto stamp commemorating the NASA New Horizons' historic 2015 
flyby. 

[Image]
Pluto Explored! In 2006, NASA placed a 29-cent 1991 "Pluto: Not Yet Explored"
stamp in the New Horizons spacecraft. In 2015 the spacecraft carried the 
stamp on its history-making mission to Pluto and beyond. With this stamp, 
the Postal Service recognizes the first reconnaissance of Pluto in 2015 
by NASA's New Horizon mission. The souvenir sheet of four stamps contains 
two new stamps appearing twice. The first stamp shows an artists' rendering 
of the New Horizons spacecraft and the second shows the spacecraft's enhanced 
color image of Pluto taken near closest approach.
Credits: USPS/Antonio Alcala  Copyright 2016 USPS

The Postal Service on Wednesday released a preview of its new 2016 stamps, 
which include an image of Pluto and the New Horizons spacecraft, eight 
new colorful Forever stamps of NASA images of solar system planets, a 
Global Forever stamp dedicated to Earth's moon as well as another postal 
treat for space fans: a tribute to 50 years of Star Trek.

"U.S. Postal stamps express the enthusiasm and personality of senders 
to favorite themes in our society. From Mercury to Neptune, Pluto and 
Star Trek, it's exciting to see that planetary science and space exploration 
are being celebrated in these new 2016 stamps," said John Grunsfeld, NASA's 
associate administrator for science in Washington. "On behalf of NASA 
scientists across the nation, we're honored that the U.S. Postal Service 
has chosen to highlight NASA's New Horizons and 50 years of planetary 
exploration with these iconic images."

[Image|
Pluto Explored. (left to right): New Horizons Principal Investigator Alan 
Stern of Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), Boulder, Colorado; New Horizons’ 
Deputy Project Scientist Leslie Young, SwRI; Johns Hopkins University 
Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) Director Ralph Semmel; Annette Tombaugh, 
daughter of Clyde Tombaugh, who discovered Pluto in 1930; and New Horizons 
Co-Investigator Will Grundy, Lowell Observatory, Flagstaff, Arizona hold 
a print of the 1991 Pluto stamp - with their suggested update - on July 
14 at APL in Laurel, Maryland.
Credits: NASA/Bill Ingalls

The Pluto stamps are of special significance to NASA and the New Horizons 
team, which placed a 29-cent 1991 "Pluto: Not Yet Explored" stamp on board 
the spacecraft. On July 14, New Horizons carried the tiny postage stamp 
on its history-making journey to Pluto and beyond, as members of the mission 
team celebrated with a large print, striking the words "not yet."     
 
"The New Horizons project is proud to have such an important honor from 
the U.S. Postal Service," said Alan Stern, New Horizons principal investigator 
from the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado. 'Since the 
early 1990s the old, 'Pluto Not Explored' stamp served as a rallying cry 
for many who wanted to mount this historic mission of space exploration. 
Now that NASA's New Horizons has accomplished that goal, it's a wonderful 
feeling to see these new stamps join others commemorating first explorations 
of the planets."

The souvenir sheet of four stamps contains two new stamps appearing twice. 
The first stamp shows an artist's rendering of NASA's New Horizons Pluto 
flyby spacecraft and the second shows the spacecraft's enhanced color 
image of Pluto taken by New Horizons near its closest approach to Pluto.

The view - which is color enhanced to highlight surface texture and composition 
- is a composite of images from New Horizons Long Range Reconnaissance 
Imager (LORRI), combined with color data from the imaging instrument Ralph 
that clearly reveals the now-famous heart-shaped feature stretched across 
Pluto's surface; this feature has been named Tombaugh Regio in honor of 
Pluto's discoverer, Clyde Tombaugh. Antonio Alcala of Alexandria, Virginia 
was the art director for these stamp designs.

"Our stamps articulate the American experience through miniature works 
of art," said Acting Stamp Services Director Mary-Anne Penner. "Our diverse 
stamp topics for 2016 are sure to appeal to everyone, and with the New 
Year just around the corner, now is a perfect time to get started in stamp 
collecting. It's an educational hobby the entire family can enjoy."

The "Pluto Explored!" stamps will be dedicated in late May of 2016 at 
the World Stamp Show in New York.

Other space-themed stamps highlighting NASA images of the solar system 
planets, Earth's moon, and popular culture in the 2016 collection include:

[Image]
Views of Our Planets

With this pane of 16 Forever stamps, the Postal Service showcases some 
of the more visually compelling historic, full-disk images of the planets 
obtained during the last half-century of space exploration. Eight new 
colorful Forever stamps, each shown twice, feature Mercury, Venus, Earth, 
Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Some show the planets' "true 
color" - what one might see if traveling through space. Others use colors 
to represent and visualize certain features of a planet based in imaging 
data. Still others use the near-infrared spectrum to show things that 
cannot be seen by the human eye.
Credits: USPS/Antonio Alcala Copyright 2016 USPS

[Image]
The Moon

Taken as the full moon rises, the image captures the brilliant surface 
of Earth's only natural satellite. Issued at the price of $1.20, this 
Global Forever stamp can be used to mail a one-ounce letter to any country 
to which First-Class Mail International service is available.
Credits: USPS/Greg Breeding under the art direction of William Gicker 
Copyright 2016 USPS

[Image]
Star Trek

Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the television premiere, the new Star 
Trek Forever stamps showcase four digital illustrations inspired by the 
television program: the Starship Enterprise inside the outline of a Starfleet 
insignia against a gold background, the silhouette of a crewman in a transporter 
against a red background, the silhouette of the Enterprise from above 
against a green background, and the Enterprise inside the outline of the 
Vulcan statue against a blue background. The words "Space... he Final Frontier," 
from Captain Kirk's famous voice-over appear against a background of stars.
Credits: USPS/Heads of State under the art direction of Antonio Alcal
Copyright 2016 USPS