The first man on moon stamp – USA, 1969 was launched to commemorate one of the greatest achievements of the human history – Man’s landing on the moon
Apollo mission
The Apollo program was the third United States human spaceflight program carried out by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which succeeded in preparing and landing the first humans on the Moon from 1968 to 1972.
Apollo ran from 1961 to 1972, with the first crewed flight in 1968. It encountered a major setback in 1967 when an Apollo 1 cabin fire killed the entire crew during a prelaunch test. After the first successful landing, sufficient flight hardware remained for nine follow-on landings with a plan for extended lunar geological and astrophysical exploration. Budget cuts forced the cancellation of three of these. Five of the remaining six missions achieved successful landings, but the Apollo 13 landing was prevented by an oxygen tank explosion in transit to the Moon, crippling the CSM. The crew barely returned to Earth safely by using the lunar module as a “lifeboat” on the return journey.
The moon landing
Apollo 11 (July 16–24, 1969) was the American spaceflight that first landed humans on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin landed the Apollo Lunar Module Eagle on July 20, 1969, at 20:17 UTC, and Armstrong became the first person to step onto the Moon’s surface six hours and 39 minutes later, on July 21 at 02:56 UTC. Aldrin joined him 19 minutes later, and they spent about two and a quarter hours together exploring the site they had named Tranquility Base upon landing. Armstrong and Aldrin collected 47.5 pounds (21.5 kg) of lunar material to bring back to Earth as pilot Michael Collins flew the Command Module Columbia in lunar orbit, and were on the Moon’s surface for 21 hours, 36 minutes before lifting off to rejoin Columbia.
About the First man on moon stamp – USA, 1969
The first man on moon stamp was issued by USA in 1969. While few events compare to the famous actions of Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Edwin Aldrin Jr, during the Apollo 11 mission, the release of the stamp celebrating the Moon landing marked an important event for the philatelic world.
The stamp, released on September 9, 1969, was made from the same master die that the astronauts took with them to the moon. Additionally, it was the largest stamp the United States had issued up to that point.
The stamp’s designer, Paul Calle, had previously designed the 1967 Accomplishments In Space stamp featuring NASA’s Gemini Program.
In addition to his work designing postage stamps, Calle was a professional sketch artist for NASA. He had sketched the astronauts as they prepared for their mission and also watched the Apollo 11 launch at Cape Kennedy. His design for the Moon Landing Issue stamp illustrates an astronaut stepping out of the Lunar Module on to the surface of the Moon.
In the three weeks following the announcement of the stamp’s release, the Post Office Department received over 500,000 requests for first day cancelled covers of the stamp. One fifth of these requests came from overseas.
One Washington, DC, based newspaper stated in a release about the stamp, “All people it seems wanted to have their own souvenir of man’s boldest adventure into space.”