Items17The creator’s order
  1. 1USSR 1957 Sputnik 1 StampUSSR 1957 Sputnik 1 StampThe stamp that starts the whole theme. The Soviet post issued this 40-kopek design about a month after the October 4, 1957 launch, and Yevgeny Gundobin kept it beautifully simple: a deep blue globe circled by the thin white line of Sputnik's orbit, with the launch date printed in the corner. It is…0
  2. 2USSR 1961 First Man in Space Stamps (Yuri Gagarin)USSR 1961 First Man in Space Stamps (Yuri Gagarin)Yuri Gagarin flew on April 12, 1961, and the Soviet post had commemorative stamps on sale the very next day, with a second Gagarin stamp following on April 14. The set carries the slogan of the moment, a man of the Land of Soviets in space, across bold poster-style scenes: Gagarin's portrait, a…0
  3. 3US 1962 4c Project Mercury StampUS 1962 4c Project Mercury StampFew stamps have a better backstory. The Post Office printed this 4-cent design in secret and shipped it in sealed packets to postmasters in 305 locations, to be opened only if John Glenn's flight succeeded. At 3:30 p.m. on February 20, 1962, after Friendship 7 came home, the word went out and the…0
  4. 4USSR 1963 Valentina Tereshkova Vostok 6 StampsUSSR 1963 Valentina Tereshkova Vostok 6 StampsThe first woman in space got her own stamps within days of her flight. This June 1963 design by I. L. Levin sets Valentina Tereshkova's portrait beside the date of the Vostok 6 launch, June 16, 1963, and a line calling her the world's first woman cosmonaut, with the spacecraft's orbit sweeping…0
  5. 5USSR 1965 Voskhod 2 First Spacewalk StampUSSR 1965 Voskhod 2 First Spacewalk StampAlexei Leonov left Voskhod 2 on March 18, 1965, and became the first person to walk in space. This wide 10-kopek Soviet stamp shows him in an orange suit tumbling away from the spacecraft on his tether, with the date of the walk printed in the panel beside him. Its long, horizontal format gives…0
  6. 6US 1967 5c Accomplishments in Space StampsUS 1967 5c Accomplishments in Space StampsPaul Calle drew one astronaut floating beside the Gemini 4 capsule and split the scene across two stamps, giving the Post Office its first attached pair with a continuous design. Collectors know them as the Space Twins. The artwork was based on photographs of Ed White's spacewalk, down to the…0
  7. 7US 1969 6c Apollo 8 Moon Orbit StampUS 1969 6c Apollo 8 Moon Orbit StampThe stamp that brought Earthrise to the mailbox. Issued in Houston on May 5, 1969, it reproduces the photograph the Apollo 8 crew took as they orbited the Moon over Christmas 1968, the Earth hanging above the gray lunar horizon. It is the quiet companion to the Moon landing airmail issued four…0
  8. 8US 1969 10c First Man on the Moon Airmail StampUS 1969 10c First Man on the Moon Airmail StampThe centerpiece of most space collections, and the only stamp here whose printing tool has been to the Moon: the engraved master die for this 10-cent airmail flew with the Apollo 11 crew. The stamp itself went on sale on September 9, 1969, showing an astronaut stepping down from the lander with…0
  9. 9US 1971 8c Decade of Space Achievement StampsUS 1971 8c Decade of Space Achievement StampsRobert McCall's attached pair marks the first decade of American spaceflight and was issued on August 2, 1971, the day the Apollo 15 crew left the Moon. The left stamp shows a landing craft on the lunar surface under a blazing sun with Earth beyond; the right shows two astronauts aboard the Lunar…0
  10. 10US 1975 10c Apollo-Soyuz StampsUS 1975 10c Apollo-Soyuz StampsA rare piece of Cold War cooperation on paper. The United States and the Soviet Union each issued stamps for their first joint space venture, the American pair going on sale on July 15, 1975, and the two artists split the story between them: Robert McCall painted the Apollo and Soyuz craft after…0