S1904

Space Exploration

Moon, Lunar Orbiter

Collins Cover Announcement 

SPACE EXPLORATION

Moon/Lunar Orbiter

On July 20, 1969 Astronaut Neil Armstrong landed on the moon and, thus far, it is the only heavenly body besides our home planet to experience the footprint of man. Our knowledge of the physical make-up of the moon is excellent. The six U.S. Apollo Lunar landings have brought back 842 pounds of rock and soil taken from the six different locations. These samples are supplemented by material from the eastern edge of the moon gathered by three unmanned Soviet spacecraft.

The surface is covered by a layer of fine powder three to 65 feet deep. In this layer there is also some rocky material. Study has concluded that the moon almost certainly has always been waterless. The interior is divided into layers with an outer crust 37 miles thick and a thick inner mantle of dense rock that extends to a level of about 500 miles from the surface.

A very heavy bombardment of the moon's surface of various space debris took place from 4 to 3 billion years ago. During the last 3 billion years, the surface has remained relatively unchanged compared to the early years of lava flow from the interior and surface bombardment from space. My hand-painted cachet shows this remarkable surface of our nearest neighbor of only 240,000 miles. It also has an excellent large rendition of the Lunar Orbiter as it circles the moon gathering scientific information. The day is approaching when the human race will have a permanent colony on the moon which will be the next logical step after our permanent space station now being built.

An important cover in the COLLINS Solar System Exploration set --the Moon/Lunar Orbiter. Item #S1904. $8.75.

Winter 2026 Mail Sale Commentary 

Lot 20 S1901 — S1910 — Solar System Space Stamps (set of ten covers) — /0/1/91

The USPS "Space Exploration" stamps, issued October 1, 1991, featured the nine planets and Earth's moon with their respective spacecraft, celebrating the solar system and kicking off National Stamp Collecting Month. The heavenly bodies shown are Mercury, Venus, Earth, (Earth's moon), Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto.

The USPS partnered with Paramount Studios to promote the stamps. The studio was celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Star Trek movies and television series. The stamp designs were unveiled on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise, the space vehicle featured in the series.

These stamps show some of the spacecraft and the images of the planets they captured as they flew by. Discoveries continue to be made with the space probes that still travel our solar system."

Each of my ten hand-painted first day covers depicts one of the nine planets plus the Earth's moon. Since Pluto had not yet had a fly-by or been explored by any manmade craft, I depicted the US.S. Enterprise from the show Star Trek.