Stamp Museum >> World Space Stamps >> US Space Stamps >> Project Mercury Commemorative Stamp, 1962
The U.S. Project Mercury Commemorative Stamp: 1962
Project Mercury, 4 cents, Scott Catalog No. 1193, Issued in 1962
Project Mercury was the first manned program on a long, and successful series of subsequent crewed space projects. A product of the Cold War era, Project Mercury was also the first in a series of steps culminating with the first crew to reach the moon.
This beautiful commemorative stamp was issued in 1962 in conjunction with John Glenn's first mission into space where he orbited Earth three times.The stamp design diagramatically shows an illuminated Project Mercury spacecraft in orbit above the earth. While some liberties were taken in the overall design, the appearance of the the earth, and spacecraft offer an unmistakable sense of orbit above, with the somewhat realistic appearance of weather on the planet below.
For further reading, see NASA's The Project Mercury web pages at the Kennedy Space Center.