S1909

Space Exploration

Neptune, Voyager 2

Collins Cover Announcement 

SPACE EXPLORATION

Pluto/Not Yet Explored

Every once in awhile I like to give my COLLINS collectors something different. A surprise. The unexpected. And so it is with this offering -- the tenth and last of the Solar System Space Exploration Covers. Pluto is almost 3.7 billion miles from the sun and 900 million miles beyond Neptune. It is probably an icy rock with a frozen surface of methane and a temperature that probably never exceeds minus 350 degrees F. It takes 248 years to complete one orbit of the sun.

The planet is shown by itself on the stamp because its distance has presented a barrier to exploration. At first I was going to treat my cachet the same way, but then an idea dawned. Pluto was at the end of our cozy solar system and at the gateway to the stars and outer space, so I thought it was a perfect opportunity to pay tribute to the Starship Enterprise. Its trek through space has sparked the imagination of a generation. Paramount Home Video celebrated the 25th Anniversary of "Star Trek" by holding a joint promotion of the stamps with the Postal Service. (See article below.) The stamp designs, in fact, were unveiled by Mr. Spock from the bridge of the Enterprise. Since Paramount co-sponsored the stamps I thought it would be a fitting and appropriate tribute to them to honor their spacecraft.

And so, with a thank you for twenty-five years of futuristic entertainment and a glimpse of what may actually occur in the centuries ahead, the U.S.S. Enterprise cruises by Pluto on its way to deep space in this final COLLINS Space Exploration cachet. Item #S1910. $8.75.

Space issue unveiled from Starship

"Stamp collecting is logical," says Star Trek's Mr. Spock (actor Leonard Nimoy).

From the bridge of the Starship Enterprise (the Hollywood production set of the upcoming film, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country), the U.S. Postal Service unveiled the designs of 10 cornmorative Space Exploration stamps. The stamps will be issued Oct. 1.

The 29c stamps comprising the horizontal, se-tenant booklet pane of 10 separately feature nine planets in our solar system and the Earth's moon, and the various spacecraft that explored them.

The July 3 unveiling took place at Paramount Studios and was presided over by Postmaster General Anthony M. Frank and Paramount Television Group President Mel Harris. 

The Space Exploration stamps are the centerpiece of a joint promotion by the Postal Service and Paramount Home Video, which is celebrating the 25th anniversary of Star Trek. With Leonard Nimoy serving as spokesman, the theme of the national campaign is "Journey to a New Frontier — Collect Stamps."

Paramount will produce 10 Star Trek stickers and a stamp/sticker display holder. Posters and counter cards featuring the stamps and Mr. Spock will be distributed to post offices and video stores nationwide.

This article appeared in "LINN'S Stamp News"

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.