Space Exploration

World Stamp Expo 2000 opened on July 7, 2000.  Several US postal firsts were issued during the show, including the first round, pentagonal, and holographic stamps.

Sally Ride was born on May 26, 1951, in Encino, Los Angeles, California.  In 1983, she became the first American woman in space, and the third woman overall, after two Soviet cosmonauts.

On May 5, 1961, Alan Shepard became the first American to travel into space when he successfully took a sub-orbital flight aboard Freedom 7.

On March 13, 1781, William Hershel discovered Uranus, the first of the planets to be discovered in modern times.

Nicolaus Copernicus was born on February 19, 1473, in Thorn, Poland. A pioneering astronomer, he suggested that the planets revolve around the sun at a time many believed the planets revolved around the Earth.

On February 7, 1984, two NASA astronauts conducted the first untethered spacewalk – leaving the space shuttle Challenger without being connected by a cable.

Late in the evening of January 31, 1958, the US launched its first satellite, Explorer I. It was an important milestone in America’s space race with the Soviet Union.

On December 21, 1968, Apollo 8 launched from Kennedy Space Center. It was the second manned spaceflight mission in the Apollo program, and the first to leave low Earth orbit, travel around the moon and safely return to Earth.  It was also the first human spaceflight launched from Kennedy Space Center.

Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr was born on November 18, 1923, in Derry, New Hampshire. He was the first American (second person after Yuri Gagarin) to travel into space and the fifth person to walk on the Moon.