USSR 1957 Sputnik 1 Stamp

The 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 the natural first page of a space album, and it gives collectors two things to chase: the original November issue and the commemorative overprint released on December 28, 1957.