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Space Issue

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$1 Cross-section of sun single

The Postal Service issued five unique stamp panes celebrating space achievement and exploration in July of 2000. This special issue consists of the following panes: Probing the Vastness of Space; Escaping the Gravity of Earth; Exploring the Solar System; Landing on the Moon; and a fifth circular pane, Space Achievement and Exploration.

All the panes were printed by Sennett Security Products in the gravure process. 1.695 million panes of each were issued.

Reference: Postal Bulletin (June 1, 2000)

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60-cent Probing the Vastness of Space sheet of six

The Postal Service issued a souvenir sheet featuring six individual 60-cent Probing the Vastness of Space commemorative stamps in Anaheim, California, on July 10, 2000. The stamps, designed by Richard Sheaff of Scottsdale, Arizona, are based on photographs described below. These six stamps were issued in international rate denominations and address the exploration of deep space.

The 2.4-meter optical telescope is a conceptual drawing of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope by artist Vincent Di Fate. The radio interferometer is a photograph by David Nunuk depicting the National Science Foundation's very large array on the plains of San Agustin, west of Socorro, NM. The image of the twin 10-meter optical and infrared telescopes at W.M. Keck Observatory on Manua Kea, HI, is from a photograph by David Nunuk. The optical telescopes from the National Science Foundation's Cerro Tololo Inter- American Observatory, east of La Serena, Chile, are from a photograph by Roger H. Ressmeyer. The 100-inch Hooker Optical Telescope from Mount Wilson Observatory, near Pasadena, CA, is from a photograph by John Bedke, courtesy of Huntington Library. The 302-meter radio telescope at the National Science Foundation's Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico is from a photograph by David Parker. In the selvage is a digitally enhanced image from the Hubble Space Telescope depicting the gaseous pillars in the stellar nursery known as the Eagle Nebula, courtesy of the Space Telescope Science Institute.

Reference: Postal Bulletin (June 1, 2000)

Jill Piazza and Daniel Piazza, National Postal Museum

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$1 Exploring the Solar System sheet of five

The Postal Service issued an Exploring the Solar System souvenir sheet featuring five 1-dollar commemorative stamps in Anaheim, California, on July 11, 2000. These stamps, designed by Richard Sheaff of Scottsdale, Arizona, are based on different images of the Earth's sun, as described below.

These five stamps represent the exploration of our solar system and are the first pentagonal stamps ever issued by the U.S. Postal Service. They depict (clockwise from the top) an image of a solar eclipse from a satellite by Dan McCoy; an illustrated cutaway view of the sun by artist Jim Lamb; a digitally restored NASA image of sunrise from space, courtesy of Stock Solution; an image made by Skylab on December 19, 1973, of a solar eruption, courtesy of Solar Physics Group/Naval Research Laboratory; and a photograph from Earth of the sun in a partly cloudy sky by Craig Aurness, courtesy of Corbiss. The selvage is a montage of Saturn and several of its moons imaged by Voyager I in November 1980, courtesy of NASA.

Reference: Postal Bulletin (June 1, 2000)

Jill Piazza and Daniel Piazza, National Postal Museum

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$3.20 Escaping the Gravity of Earth sheet of two

The Postal Service issued two 3.20-dollar Escaping the Gravity of Earth commemorative stamps on a souvenir sheet in Anaheim, CA, on July 9, 2000. The stamps were designed by Richard Sheaff of Scottsdale, Arizona.

These two Priority Mail stamps feature holograms of the International Space Station and represent American technology solving the problems of escaping the gravitational pull of Earth and learning how to send missions into Earth's orbit. The hologram on the left stamp is based on a computer-generated NASA image. The hologram on the right stamp is based on a NASA artist's conception of the International Space Station. The selvage photograph depicts astronauts David Leesma and Kathryn Sullivan in the open cargo bay of the Challenger space shuttle during an October 1984 mission.

Reference: Postal Bulletin (June 1, 2000)

Jill Piazza and Daniel Piazza, National Postal Museum

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$11.75 Space Achievement and Exploration single

The Postal Service issued an 11.75-dollar Space Achievement and Exploration souvenir sheet featuring a circular commemorative stamp, the first ever issued by the U.S. Postal Service, in Anaheim, California, on July 7, 2000. The stamp was designed by Richard Sheaff of Scottsdale, Arizona, and based on NASA reference material.

This Express Mail stamp features a hologram of the Earth, another first for the U.S. Postal Service. The text encircling the stamp reads "Space Achievement and Exploration" and "World Stamp Expo 2000." This stamp was the first issued in the Space Achievement and Exploration Commemorative Series and was the first to be unveiled at the World Stamp Expo 2000 in honor of America's space program.

Reference: Postal Bulletin (June 1, 2000)

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$11.75 Landing on the Moon single

The Postal Service issued an 11.75-dollar Landing on the Moon souvenir sheet with one commemorative stamp in Anaheim, CA, on July 8, 2000. The stamp was designed by Richard Sheaff of Scottsdale, Arizona.

This sheet features a single stamp with a hologram of a lunar lander based on computer and three-dimensional models from NASA. The selvage photograph was taken by astronaut John W. Young during the Apollo 16 mission in April 1972. It depicts astronaut Charles M. Duke, Jr. on the surface of the moon with a lunar rover in the background.

Reference: Postal Bulletin (June 1, 2000)

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