Space Achievement and Exploration
These stamp designs will educate the world about the accomplishments, wonder and excitement of the American space program. They display the achievements of our space program, as well as the infinite possibilities of future space endeavor: Escaping the Gravity of Earth, Landing on the Moon, Exploring the Solar System and Probing the Vastness of Space.
The press sheet poster will contain four panes, plus a central stamp panel. The lower right quadrant features a Priority Mail rate stamp representing American technology solving the problems of escaping the gravitational pull of Earth and learning how to send missions into Earth's orbit. The upper left quadrant moves a notch farther into space, commemorating on an Express Mail rate stamp the Apollo program that culminated in landing American astronauts on the moon. The background image is from the Apollo 16 mission.
Moving farther from Earth, the lower left quadrant represents the exploration of our solar system. These five $1 stamps will be the first pentagonal stamps ever issued by the Postal Service. The upper right quadrant addresses the exploration of deep space. These six stamps will be issued in international rate denominations. The $11.75 stamp in the central panel will be the first circular hologram stamp ever issued by the Postal Service. It features a view of Earth from the Apollo 17 spacecraft and shows the continents of Africa and Antarctica.