valentina

Valentina Tereshkova

first woman in space

may day

luna

It was thought that anything like a lander might sink into the dust surface of the moon, but on the 31st of January, 1966, the Luna 9 was launched and 4 days later made its landing proving that the moon was capable of supporting the weight. This stamp shows the lander and its first panorama photograph of the surface of the moon.

for Sunday Stamps - science related

Omsk

c 1935?
Bridge over the River Om with Ilinskaya Church in background, and an elongated aerial in foreground.

Sunday Stamps II - 159

1989, USSR, Samovar

The first samovar factory was founded in Tula by gunmakers moving in a new direction, in 1778. By the mid 1800s, the town had 70 samovar manufacturers. The peak period for production was in the 1880s and Tula became synonymous with samovars. 

for the letter U - USSR

Sunday Stamps II - 137

1971, USSR, Space Exploration

The Lunokhod - "Moonwalker" - was a robotic lunar rover, and this stamp shows the Lunokhod 1, the first remote controlled rover which landed on the moon in 1970. It has a rather cartoonish look here, which I love.  On the lid is a solar cell for powering the batteries. It landed on Sea of Rains and travelled 6.5 miles during its 322 day sojourn. No one knew exactly where it was when the final signals failed, but in 2010 A NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter found it and found that the reflectors are still useful.

for stars, moon or planets

May Day

unsent
printed at Printing Office of USSR Ministry for Communication (Moscow 1979)
artist B Ponomarev

Sunday Stamps II -13

First Day Cover 1962 for 5th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik 1 on October 4th 1957. 

The space age began with the Soviet Union having the first man made object in space and the first satellite to orbit the earth. Sputnik was a metal sphere, 23" in diameter with four external radio antennae and weighing 184lbs. Each orbit took 96 minutes and the signal went on for 21 days until the batteries ran out.

for next week's theme of islands, let's make it a bit more challenging by saying that Great Britain does not count.

for time of exploration: space