US #3190a
2000 Space Shuttle Program – Celebrate the Century (1980s)

• Part of the ninth sheet in the Celebrate the Century stamp series issued from 1998-2000
• Commemorates America’s space shuttle program
• Includes text on the back with historical details

Stamp Category: Commemorative
Series: Celebrate the Century
Value: 33¢ First Class Mail Rate
First Day of Issue: January 12, 2000
First Day City: Titusville, Florida
Quantity Issued: 90,000,000
Printed by: Ashton Potter (USA) Ltd.
Printing Method: Offset, Intaglio
Format: Panes of 15
Perforations: 11.5
Tagging: Block tagging

Why the stamp was issued: To honor the technological advancements and history-making accomplishments of the space shuttle program

About the stamp design: Pictures artwork by Robert Rodriguez based on a photograph of space shuttle Columbia. Includes the following text on the back: “Space shuttles have transformed US space exploration. These reusable crafts can launch satellites and house labs for scientific experiments. Columbia, the first space shuttle, was launched April 12, 1981.”

First Day City: The First Day of Issue Ceremony was held at Kennedy Space Center in Titusville, Florida.

About the Celebrate the Century series: The USPS launched the Celebrate the Century series in 1998 to mark the end of the 20th century and herald the arrival of the 21st. The series includes 10 sheets of 15 stamps (150 in total), with each honoring important moments from a different decade (1900s, 10s, 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s). At the time of completion, it was the longest and most ambitious commemorative stamp series in US history.

History the stamp represents: The first space shuttle to launch into space was the Columbia on April 12, 1981. Apollo astronaut John Young was aboard for the 54.5-hour test mission.

From then on, the space shuttle program had 133 successful missions and just two failures (the Challenger disaster in 1986 and Columbia disaster in 2003). The space shuttle is the only winged, manned crat to achieve both orbit and landing, and the only reusable manned spaceship to make multiple flights into orbit.

Over the years, shuttle missions aided Spacelab, helped construct and repair the International Space Station, service the Hubble Telescope, and carried various satellites and observatories into Earth’s orbit. Each mission’s crew consisted of five to seven people – in all, over 600 people flew on shuttle missions.