{"id":19513,"date":"2015-12-31T01:34:27","date_gmt":"2015-12-30T17:34:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/postal-service-geeks-out-with-space-stamps-for-pluto-planets-the-moon-and-star-trek\/"},"modified":"2015-12-31T01:34:27","modified_gmt":"2015-12-30T17:34:27","slug":"postal-service-geeks-out-with-space-stamps-for-pluto-planets-the-moon-and-star-trek","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/postal-service-geeks-out-with-space-stamps-for-pluto-planets-the-moon-and-star-trek\/","title":{"rendered":"Postal Service geeks out with space stamps for Pluto, planets, the moon and Star Trek"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Pluto
The U.S. Postal Service\u2019s souvenir sheet of four stamps contains two new stamps appearing twice. The first stamp shows an artist\u2019s rendering of the New Horizons spacecraft and the second shows the spacecraft\u2019s enhanced color image of Pluto taken near closest approach. (Credit: Antonio Alcala \/ USPS)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For the first time since 1991, Pluto and the solar system\u2019s eight bigger planets are getting their own postage stamps \u2013 thanks to a U.S. Postal Service cosmopalooza that also spotlights Earth\u2019s moon and \u201cStar Trek.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Pluto stamp pays tribute to NASA\u2019s New Horizons mission, and updates 1991\u2019s speculative view of the dwarf planet. Back then, the legend on the 29-cent stamp read \u201cPluto \u2013 Not Yet Explored.\u201d This time, the four-stamp sheet carries the label \u201cPluto \u2013 Explored!\u201d<\/p>\n

The stamps follow through on a petition that was filed by New Horizons\u2019 fans more than three years ago \u2013 long before the piano-sized probe flew past Pluto on July 14.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe New Horizons project is proud to have such an important honor from the U.S. Postal Service,\u201d New Horizons\u2019 principal investigator, Alan Stern, said today in a NASA news release. \u201cSince the early 1990s the old \u2018Pluto Not Explored\u2019 stamp served as a rallying cry for many who wanted to mount this historic mission of space exploration. Now that NASA\u2019s New Horizons has accomplished that goal, it\u2019s a wonderful feeling to see these new stamps join others commemorating first explorations of the planets.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Views
Eight stamps, each shown twice, feature Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Some show the planets\u2019 \u201ctrue color\u201d \u2014 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. (Credit: Antonio Alcala \/ USPS)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The stamps cleverly sidestep the questions about Pluto\u2019s planetary status. One sheet shows off views of the eight largest planets, from Mercury to Neptune, as seen by NASA spacecraft. The stamps on Pluto\u2019s stand-alone sheet include a rendering of the New Horizons probe and an iconic view of Pluto\u2019s disk, including the bright heart-shaped area known as Tombaugh Regio.<\/p>\n

\u201cViews of Our Planets\u201d and \u201cPluto \u2013 Explored!\u201d will make their official debut as Forever stamps sometime between May 28 and June 4 at the World Stamp Show in New York.<\/p>\n

\"Full
These full-moon stamps capture the brilliant surface of Earth\u2019s only natural satellite. (Credit: Greg Breeding \/ William Gicker \/ USPS)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Postal Service will issue a separate set of circular Global Forever stamps showing the full moon. These stamps, which cost $1.20 each, can be used to mail a one-ounce letter to any country to which First-Class Mail International service is available.<\/p>\n

There\u2019ll also be a set of four Forever stamps commemorating the 50th anniversary of the TV premiere of \u201cStar Trek.\u201d Two of the stamps feature the Starship Enterprise, one shows the silhouette of a crew member in a transporter (let\u2019s hope he\u2019s not wearing a red shirt!), and another stamp features a hand giving the Vulcan salute.<\/p>\n

\"Star
The new Star Trek Forever stamps celebrate the 50th anniversary of the saga\u2019s television premiere. (Heads of State \/ Antonio Alcala \/ USPS)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In a way, the Vulcan sign could be considered a tribute to Leonard Nimoy, the actor who created the split-finger salute as well as the character of Mr. Spock. Nimoy passed away in February at the age of 83, after suffering from end-stage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.<\/p>\n

NASA\u2019s associate administrator for space science, John Grunsfeld, hailed the postal tributes.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom Mercury to Neptune, Pluto and Star Trek, it\u2019s exciting to see that planetary science and space exploration are being celebrated in these new 2016 stamps,\u201d he said. \u201cOn behalf of NASA scientists across the nation, we\u2019re honored that the U.S. Postal Service has chosen to highlight NASA\u2019s New Horizons and 50 years of planetary exploration with these iconic images.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re a stamp fan who\u2019s not a space geek as well, never fear: The Postal Service said its 2016 stamps will feature other subjects, including portraits of 19th-century black activist Richard Allen, jazz\/pop singer Sarah Vaughan and California educator Jaime Escalante; sets that celebrate floral paintings, pets, soda fountain treats and pickup trucks; and tributes to Indiana statehood, the Columbia River Gorge and Puerto Rico\u2019s La Cueva del Indio caves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The U.S. Postal Service\u2019s souvenir sheet of four stamps contains two new stamps appearing twice. The first stamp shows an artist\u2019s rendering of the New Horizons spacecraft and the second shows the spacecraft\u2019s enhanced color image of Pluto taken near closest approach. (Credit: Antonio Alcala \/ USPS) For the first time since 1991, Pluto and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[190,4809,2174,4709,2848,5296,4631],"class_list":["post-19513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-nasa","tag-nasa-new-horizons","tag-new-horizons","tag-planets","tag-pluto","tag-stamps","tag-star-trek"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19513"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19513\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}