April 12, a postage stamp with an overprint dedicated to the 55th anniversary of the first human flight into space to be issued
2016 marks the 55th anniversary of the first human flight into space, a remarkable date for the Russian cosmonautics.
On 12 April 1961, the Soviet space pilot Yuri Alexeevich Gagarin became the first man in the world to perform a flight into space. Gagarin made one orbit around the Earth for 1 hour 48 minutes in the
Vostok orbital spaceship and safely returned home.
Yuri Gagarin was awarded a title of the Hero of the Soviet Union and 12 April started being celebrated as the World Aviation and Astronautics Day.
The name of the Earth’s first cosmonaut is given to a city of Gagarin (former Gzhatsk), a crater on the far side of the Moon, asteroid 1772, FAI Gold Medal (awarded since 1968) and a square in Moscow. There are streets, avenues, squares, boulevards, parks, clubs and schools named after Gagarin in many Russian cities.
[overprint on stamps]
The 2009 postage stamp “the 75th Birth Anniversary of Yuri Gagarin” has an overprint of the new face of 31 RUB, and the stamp sheet margins feature the following text: “12 April 2016 — the 55th anniversary of the first human flight into space”.
Additionally, FSUE PTC “Marka” will manufacture an illustrated cover with a stamp sheet.
Design: A. Moscovets.
Circulation: 125,000 stamps (12,500 sheets).
April 12, a postcard with an original stamp dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the launch of the first artificial Moon satellite to be issued as part of Space Conquest series
Luna-10 automatic station was launched from the Baikonur space-vehicle launching site on 31 March 1966 with
Molniya-M carrier rocket.
The space vehicle was developed on the basis of
Luna-9 automatic station. An attached pressurized module — an artificial Moon satellite — was installed at
Luna-10 instead of an automatic lunar station. Its mass amounted to 240 kg, and the very satellite was equipped with a scientific research apparatus.
Luna-10's active shelf life was 56 days. Over this period, it made 460 orbits around the Moon and conducted 219 communication sessions with the Earth.
The scientists managed to undertake a whole set of studies and to receive photos of the far side of the Moon during the satellite’s circumlunar orbital flight.
The postcard with an original stamp depicts a symbolic image of a carrier rocket being launched into space. The main image features the Luna 10 automatic interplanetary station, which became the world’s first artificial Moon satellite.
Additionally, FSUE PTC “Marka” will manufacture a special cancellation postmarks for Moscow, Khimki (Moscow Oblast) and Baikonur central post office.
Design: A. Drobyshev (stamp), R. Komsa (illustration).
Circulation: 30,000 copies.
April 15, a postage stamp dedicated to the 300th anniversary of the postal and courier communication of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation to be issued
In 1716, Peter I approved the “Military regulations”, which provided for creation of field post in the army. It was the first time the personnel of the Russian army field post were defined.
Later on the “field courier” service that substituted old-Russian “tsar’s messengers” and “faithful heads” expanded drastically, mainly at times of wars, particularly during the Seven Years' War under Empress Elizabeth and during Turkish wars under Catherine the Great.
However, “field couriers” were not allotted in a particular institution for a long time and their job was carried out by laymen. It was only Paul I who laid the foundation of a field courier corps by issuing a decree on 17 (28) December 1796. In it, he approved the corps personnel, the wages, uniform and equipment.
The size and staff structure of the corps was constantly changed at various times depending on the tasks to carry out.
Thus, Alexander I decree established a new staff of the Courier Corps in June 1816. The corps was divided into З squadrons, each consisting of a captain, 6 junior officers and 30 couriers. In 1904, the Corps staff was increased by 16 officers and 10 couriers.
After the October Revolution, the system used in the Russian Army was taken as a basis of the field post communication in the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army since the creation of the Red Army up to 1922. In 1918, a Service of External Communication at the Command Squad Directorate of the All-Russian General Staff was established. It provided for delivery of governmental and military mail across the country, to headquarters of fronts and military command regions.
During the Great Patriotic War, an extraordinary scale of combat operations forced a switch of the existing delivery structures to war footing and a mobilization of all the postal communication capacity behind the lines and at the front. The field post amounted to more than 90% of all mail.
Nowadays postal and courier communication of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation provides for control of troops and navy by delivering secret and postal correspondence (telegrams) to headquarters of military units, troops, commands and military educational institutions.
The postage stamp bears an image of the
Memorial to the Front Mailman sculpture by A.I. Ignatov in Voronezh (M.B. Grekov Studio of Military Artists).
Additionally, FSUE PTC “Marka” will manufacture a first day cover and a first day postmark for Moscow.
Design: S. Kapranov.
Face value: 21 RUB.
Size of stamp: 32.5×65 mm, size of sheet: 146×146 mm.
Form of issue: sheet of 8 (4×2) stamps.
Circulation: 240,000 stamps (30,000 sheets).
April 22, a postage stamp dedicated to Kislovodsk Sanatory Health Resort Park, a gem of the Caucasian Mineral Waters resort region, to be issued
Kislovodsk Sanatory Health Resort Park is the largest man-made site in the European part of Russia. The park was established in the Olkhovka River valley, on the slopes of the Dzhinalsky Ridge in 1823 at the order of General Alexey Yermolov.
The park comprises unique architectural, historical and cultural monuments, more than 250 species of local and exotic trees and bushes, as well as the famous Narzan mineral spring. More than 800 species of various flowering grass and gramineous herbaceous plants grow on the meadows. The park provides particularly favorable conditions for terrainkur, landscape therapy, aerophytotherapy and prospects for climatotherapy development.
In 2015, the Kislovodsk Sanatory Health Resort Park complex was listed as a Cultural Heritage Object of Federal Importance.
The postage stamp features one of the Park’s cultural heritage objects, Cascade Stairs (1936, architectures L.S. Zalesskaya and K.A. Shevchenko).
Additionally, FSUE PTC “Marka” will manufacture an illustrated cover with a block of four stamps sheet and first day covers with cancellations (Moscow and Kislovodsk, Stavropol Krai) inside.
Design: N. Karpova.
Face value: 23 RUB.
April 27, a postage stamp dedicated to the 150th anniversary of notary office to be issued
150 years ago, Emperor Alexander II signed a “Statute on Notary Office”, according to which notaries became an independent legal institution.
The Notary Office in Russia is a public institution that certifies arrangements and validates various documents (wills, powers of attorney, document copies, etc). The notary plays an important and significant role in civil-law transactions, performing on behalf of the state such functions as protecting rights and legitimate interests of citizens and legal entities, safeguarding interests of the state and ensuring security of economic activity.
The postage stamp features a title page of the Statute on Notary Office and a facsimile of Emperor Alexander II against the background of the Palace Square in St Petersburg.
Additionally, FSUE PTC “Marka” will manufacture a first day cover and a first day postmark for Moscow.
Design: S. Ulyanovskiy.
Face value: 19 RUB.
Size of stamp: 42×30 mm, size of sheet: 160×190 mm.
Form of issue: sheet with illustrated margins of 14 (3×5) stamps and a coupon.
Circulation: 364,000 stamps (26,000 sheets).
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