Romanian Space Stamps

During the height of the Soviet space program in the 1960s, countries throughout the Communist bloc issued stamps commemorating the achievements of the Soviet Union in space. One of these countries was Romania. Throughout the decades of Communist rule, Romania issued a number of stamps and stamp series that commemorated nearly every aspect of the Soviet space program. Satellites, unmanned rocket launches, manned space flights and the cosmonauts that made history were all commemorated on Romanian stamp issues during the Space Race. That space stamp tradition has continued well into the Romania of today. Also, some of Romania's stamps commemorate the contributions Romania itself gave to space travel and exploration. These stamps not only celebrate the lives and achiements of Romania's space pioneers, but also tell the world a little about their fascinating stories!

During the 1950s and early 1960s, Romania issued numerous stamp issues and commemoratives commemorating the Sputnik and Luna missions. When Yuri Gagarin made his historic flight in 1961 and became the first man in space, commemoratives were issued a mere week later celebrating the milestone.

A series of stamps from 1963 commemorating the Vostok 5 & 6 missions, which took place - and concluded - on June 19th of that year.

In June of 1963, the Soviet Union made space history not once but twice. On the 21st of June, Valery Bykovski returned to Earth in Vostok 5 and Valentina Tereshkova blasted off in Vostok 6. Bykovsky set the endurance record for the time by spending 5 days in orbit around the earth (and returned to Earth on the same day Valentina blasted off into space) while Tereshkova was the first woman in space. These were two historical milestones for the Soviet space program and both were made on the same day! They were both honored by the Romanian postal service not long afterwards in the stamps above.

Two Romanian spcae stamps from 1965-66.

Of course the spacecraft themselves were commemorated in Romanian postage stamps! On the left are stamps from two separate series: The "Satellite" series of 1965 and the "Space" series of 1966. These series honored the various spacecraft and space missions carried out worldwide during those years, including the USSR's Venera ("Venus"), Voskhod, and Luna ("Moon") missions, France's FR-1 launch, and America's Gemini missions.

The stamp on the left commemorates the Soviet Venera-3 mission to Venus, which was the USSR's first attempt to land a probe on the surface of Venus. The mission was ultimately a failure, but it was commemorated on stamps worldwide, including this one.

Also in 1965, NASA's successfully launched the Intelsat-1, or "Early Bird" satellite. This was the first commercial communications satellite and was noteworthy, among other things, for broadcasting the Gemini 6 splashdown and Our World, the very first satellite TV special. The stamp on the right comes from the "Satellites" series of 1966 and commemorates this historic satellite launch.

This series is noteworthy in that it stayed "neutral" in the Space Race and honored the achievements made in space by both East and West.

Two stamps from 1982 commemorating Romania's "founding fathers of space".

In 1982, the Romanian postal service issued two stamps commemorating its own "founding fathers" of space travel: Henri Coandă and Hermann Oberth. Both of these men are national heroes and without them, space flights may never have become a possibility.

Coandă was a pioneer of aerodynamics and an inventor who, among other things,  is said by some to have invented the world's first jet in 1910. Coandă's achievements have been a source of pride for the Romanian people over the years. So much so that a commemorative stamps has been issued in Romania honoring his achievements as recently as 2010!

Hermann Oberth was one of the pioneers of rocket propulsion in the 20th century. He came to Germany as a young man in the 1910s and a decade later, became involved with the Verein für Raumschiffahrt (or "The Spaceflight Society" in English), which also included fellow space pioneers Wernher Von Braun (who he also mentored) and Capt.Walter Dornberger among its ranks. However, Oberth remained in Romania throughout the 1920s and 1930s. In 1938, he relocated to Germany and worked in Hitler's rocket program during World War II. In the 1960s, he came to the US and worked for Von Braun at NASA and helped develop the Saturn-V rocket. Oberth made many other achievements in space travel during his lifetime and all of these achievements led to him being honored on postage stamps back home in Romania.

A Romanian airmail stamp from 1963 dedicated to Laika. This stamp features artwork used on an earlier stamp from 1959 .

There is one Soviet space pioneer whose flight into space was initially celebrated across the Communist bloc and has since been commemorated all around the world. That pioneer is Laika, the first dog into space and the first creature to orbit the earth.

In 1957, the Soviet space authorities wanted to test the effects of space flight on a living creature. For these tests they selected Laika, a stray dog from the streets of Moscow, to be placed on board Sputnik-2 and put into orbit around the earth until it re-entered Earth's atmosphere and disintegrated. Sadly enough, Laika would ultimately die during this mission and it wasn't known until 2002 that she died six hours into the mission from overheating and stress.

Over the years, postage stamps have been issued around the world commemorating her flight and her ultimate sacrifice. Romania has issued a number over the years, including the one above.

During the 1970s-80s, many more space stamps were issued in Romania. These included stamps commemorating the flight of Romania's first cosmonaut. When Dumitru Prunariu blasted off into space aboard Soyuz-40 in 1981, it was cause for celebration across the country...as well as a cause for issuing a special commemorative!

There have been other space stamps issued by the Romanian postal service since the glory days of the Space Race. These have honored the achievements made by the men and women from all around the globe who have given their all - and sometimes their lives - to explore the realms of space. They include those men and women from Romania itself who have made their own entries into the annals of space and flight history, but have remained largely unknown in the West.

Sources:
-http://www.spaceandastronomystamps.com/rou.xhtml (A listing of all Romanian space stamps issued from 1957 to 2011.)

Italian 1967 Resistance on the Piave Commemorative Stamp

One of the most decisive and historic battles in the Italian theater of World War I was the Battle of the Piave River in 1918. During the course of the previous autumn, Italian forces had suffered some major setbacks at the Battles of Caporetto and Longarone. They were driven out of modern-day Slovenia by Austro-Hungarian and German forces and were now facing an invasion at their own doorstep.

On June 15th, 1918, that invasion by Austro-Hungarian Forces (with German approval) finally took place. The Italians set up a defensive line along the Piave River in northeast Italy and, with a little help from Mother Nature and an Allied offensive along the Asiago Plateau, held down the invaders. On the 23rd of June, the Austro-Hungarian forces retreated. When the battle was over, 60,000 of their soldiers had died and nearly 80,000 Italian soldiers were killed or wounded. This battle was also the beginning of the end of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. To this day the Battle of the Piave River is still held dear in Italian memory and is even commemorated in a popular folk song.

On the eve of the 50th anniversary of the battle in 1968, Poste Italiane released a special stamp commemorating this battle. The Resistenza sul Piave ("Resistance on [the] Piave") stamp of 1967 is a very solemn one. On the face of this 50 lire stamp we can see a lone Italian soldier standing on the banks of the river and watching the sunrise amidst all the devastation of war.

This stamp is a very powerful tribute to those that fought and died in that bloody battle fought nearly a century ago....

1964 Bulgarian Coup/Partisan Power Commemorative Stamp

One of the most dramatic events in Europe during the final days of World War II was the Bulgarian coup d' état of 1944. This coup, which was supported by the USSR (which had just invaded the northeast of the country), is not very well-known in the West. 

For those who aren't familiar with the events of this coup, here they are in a nutshell: At the end of August, the Axis government of Bulgaria, facing an imminent Soviet invasion, switched its allegiance to the Allies. On the 5th of September, Moscow declared war on Bulgaria and invaded the northeast of the country. Over the course of the next two days, unrest broke out across the country. On the 9th of September, a nationwide uprising largely led by Communist groups, partisans and workers broke out against both the Bulgarian monarchy and the national government. As a result of the coup, the monarchy and government were swept from power and the Red Army halted its advance in northeast Bulgaria since there was no need to topple the government by force.

Twenty years after the coup, Bulgarian Posts issued a 20-year commemorative of this turning point in Bulgarian history, as well as 20 years of the People's Republic of Bulgaria. This stamp features a World War II-era partisan in a Red Army-type uniform brandishing a PPsH submachine gun and standing guard over a scene of modern Bulgaria. On the left of the stamp we see the flag of the Bulgarian Communist Party and the date of the coup - or the Socialist Revolution of 9 September as it was commonly known prior to 1989.

This stamp commemorates an event not widely known outside of Bulgaria itself and is a shining example of the dramatic stamps issued by Bulgaria Posts during the days of Communist rule.

Philippines 1964 Agricultural Land Reform Commemorative Stamps

A 6 sentimo 1964 Philippine agricultural reform stamp with a 5s overprint.

In 1963, Philippines president Diosdado Macapagal signed into effect the Agricultural Land Reform Code. This bill made sweeping reforms to the nation's agricultural system and made farmers a lot less beholden to the traditional landlord system that had existed for centuries. Rather than paying the landlord a percentage of their annual harvest for lease to the landlords, they could now pay a fixed annual rental fee. Among the provisions under the new bill, farmers were given the option to purchase their land and establish their own farms, were protected by national labor laws, were protected from illegal interest rate hikes, and poor famers were given assistance from the newly-established Land Bank of the Philippines to purchase their land if they could not afford to purchase it from the revenue generated by their harvests. This bill has remained one of President Macapagal's greatest achievements and been amended several times over the past few decades.

A year later, the Bureau of Posts (forerunner to the modern-day Philpost) released an issue of three stamps commemorating Macapagal's achievement. This issue features artwork depicting Macapagal signing the bill into effect and a farmer's hand breaking free from the chains that bound him. It was featured in a series of 3, 6, and 30 sentimo stamps. All feature the same artwork, but are printed in different colors. The 3s stamp is green, the 6s stamp blue, and the 30s stamp is red.

All in all this is a very symbolic stamp issue commemorating a great milestone in Filipino history.

Links:
-http://www.philippinestamps.net/RP1964.htm#RP1964

Psy Postage Stamps Coming to Korea!

For those of you who collect Korean stamps, you probably don't want to miss a new series of stamps coming to South Korea on March 18th. This series features none other than the internationally-famous Korean rap sensation himself, Psy! This series honors Psy for his 2012 worldwide phenomenal dance hit "Gangnam Style" and is licensed through his agency, YG Entertainment. This marks the first time a stamp series issued has been issued honoring a YG performer.

The stamps are known, appropriately enough, as "Psy stamps" and feature Psy in his many iconic poses and dances. They can be found at post offices across Seoul, as well as at YG's own e-shop and through the Korean stamp and art retailer Postar.

For more about the series, check out the links below:

-http://www.allkpop.com/2013/02/psy-to-celebrate-surpassing-of-1-3-billion-views-with-the-release-of-his-own-postage-stamps   (Blog post from All K-pop about the stamps.)
-http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/k-town/1551300/psy-fronts-korean-cosmetics-brand-appears-on-postage-stamps (Article from Billboard about the "Psy marketing sensation" in Korea...specifically these stamps and his line of cosmetics for young men that's becoming a hit in the Korean marketplace.)

1967 Portugese Fatima Stamp

On 13 May 1917, three shepherd children in Fátima, Portugal received an apparition from the Blessed Virgin Mary in which she appeared brighter than the sun. Over the course of the next six months, She made six further appearances over the next six months in which She instructed the children to perform acts of penance and selfless acts to save the souls of sinners. She also revealed three secrets to the children, which were revealed to the world over time. Also, Fátima itself became a place of pilgrimage, which it remains to this very day.

Fifty years after the apparitions, the Portugese postal service released a set of fiftieth-anniversary commemoratives of the Fátima apparitions. These commemoratives depict images of Mary, her Acension into Heaven, the Sanctuary of Fátima, and in the stamp above, the doves of the Holy Spirit bringing the crown of Mary upon the Capela Das Aparições ("Chapel of Apparitions") at Fátima.

Link:
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_Fátima