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Thursday 20 May 2021

1850) Space Exploration - Cosmonauts Yuri Gagarin (12.04.1961), Dumitru-Dorn Prunariu (14.05.1981), Romania: Romfilatelia has issued a set of two stamps of the values of Lei 2.20, Lei 19.50 depicting the exciting theme: Date of Stamp set issue: 14.05.2021:

1850) Space Exploration - Cosmonauts  Yuri Gagarin (12.04.1961), Dumitru-Dorn Prunariu (14.05.1981), Romania: Romfilatelia has issued a set of two stamps of the values of Lei 2.20, Lei 19.50 depicting the exciting theme: Date of Stamp set issue: 14.05.2021:

About Space Exploration - Anniversaries Stamps, Romania: 

"Romfilatelia" (Romanian Post) takes one through these postage stamps into the exciting field of Space Exploration - Anniversaries, and the Space Odyssey in particular two historic events in which Dumitru-Dorin Prunariu (Romanian), on 14.05.1981 and Yuri Gagarin (Russian), on 12.04.1961, took part.

The strange manifestations/unusual experiences:

Being presence in extra-terrestrial space can cause strange manifestations, from distorted thinking to strange feelings of disorientation.

As he headed for the established area of the orbital flight, Cosmonaut Gherman Titov had the impression that his body was rotating through the air. “I suddenly felt like I was going head over heels and then I was flying with my feet up”, he said later. In reality, there is no rolling - the feeling was simply an illusion.

For many astronauts, these sensations tend to disappear after a few days in space, but others suffer from disturbing feelings throughout their journey. “I knew I was standing... and yet I felt upside down, despite the fact that everything was normally oriented around me” - this is how an astronaut described his experience aboard the Spacelab space station.

Trying to illustrate the phenomenon of “spatial disorientation”, the graphics of the Space Exploration Anniversaries postage stamps issue, introduced into circulation by Romfilatelia on 14.05.2021, aims to suggest to the viewer the feeling of weightlessness felt by cosmonauts.

The Commemorative Stamps:

This postage stamp set, includes two stamps, an imperforated Souvenir Sheet and a First Day Cover, and celebrates the 60th Anniversary of man’s first flight into space (Yuri Gagarin - 14.04.1961) and 40 years since the first space trip in which a Romanian cosmonaut - Dumitru-Dorin Prunariu took part (14.05.1981).

The first stamp with the face value of Lei 2.20 is dedicated to the first cosmonaut of mankind, Yuri Gagarin (Russian):

He is depicted aboard the Vostok spacecraft with which he flew on 12.04.1961. The silhouette of the Vostok spacecraft is in the background, and in the lower right corner, inside the 60 (years) Gagarin logo, the vintage insignia of the Vostok mission is visible.

The second stamp of the Space exploration. Anniversaries postage stamps issue, with the face value of Lei 19.50 depicts Dumitru-Dorin Prunariu (Romanian):

Dumitru-Dorin Prunariu is seen in  a cosmonaut suit. Also seen on the stamp are details from the technical plans of the Soiuz rocket and the 40th anniversary (Prunariu) logo.

About Dumitru-Dorin Prunariu:

Born on 27.09.1952, in Brașov, Dumitru-Dorin Prunariu graduated in 1976 from the Polytechnic University of Bucharest, specializing in Aeronautical Engineering. 

In 1978, he was selected for the Intercosmos programme, a space flight training programme, and between May 14th and 22nd, 1981, he participated, along with the Russian cosmonaut Leonid Ivanovich Popov, in a space flight aboard the Soyuz - 40 spacecraft and spent a week aboard the Salyut - 6 Orbital Complex, conducting a series of scientific experiments.

The Souvenir Sheet (SS) of the Space Exploration, Anniversaries postage stamps issue, with the face value of Lei 31.50, illustrates in a stylized manner the first Romanian cosmonaut, Dumitru-Dorin Prunariu, in a suggested state of weightlessness, floating aboard the Soyuz 40-Salyut 6-Soyuz T4 orbital complex, with his camera.

The technical drawing in the background reproduces details of the technical plans of the Soyuz rocket and of the Soyuz 40-Salyut 6-Soyuz T4 orbital complex, on board which the Romanian cosmonaut carried out his activity for 7 days, 20 hours, 41 minutes and 52 seconds. Along with the simulated perforation that suggests space orbits, one can find the official anniversary logo of the Romanian cosmonaut - 40 (years) Prunariu.

In addition to the compositional elements described above of each stamp, the borders of the Mini-Sheets (MS) depict the Earth seen at night from the space. 

In the lower right corner, thematic collectors can see the silhouette of the American STS-1 (Space Transportation System-1) Columbia spacecraft, which made its first flight 40 years ago on 12.04. 1981.

A First Day Cover (FDC) at left shows two Cosmonauts in outer space. The FDCis titled "COSMONAUTICA ANNIVERSARI". 

At top right are affixed the two cancelled postage stamps issued in the set.

In the same spirit of “space disorientation”, knowing that “there is no up and down in the space”, the illustration of the First Day Cover of the postage stamps issue shows an astronaut during EVA (Extravehicular Activity), along with the two anniversary logos - 40 (years) Prunariu and 60 (years) Gagarin.

The image of the “First Day” Postmark contains stylized space elements, the profile of a cosmonaut, a celestial body, cosmic orbits and the symbol of a rocket in the form of a space vector, an element often found in the logos of many space agencies.

The cancellation is of Bucharest Post office and the cancellation date is - "14.05.2021".

The Full Sheets (FS) of 32 Stamps of the two variants.

Technical details

Issue Date: 14.05.2021

Designer: Alex Bartos

Process: Offset

Colours: 4 Colours

Size:  48 x 33 mm; 33 x 48 mm

Values: Lei 2.20, Lei 19.50








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8 comments:

  1. Rajan Trikha has commented:
    "Thanks for sharing thisšŸ‘†šŸ‘"

    ReplyDelete
  2. Vinod Khurana has commented:
    "Excellent post".

    ReplyDelete
  3. Vikram Bhatnagar has commented:
    "Eye opening description! Thanks! šŸ‘"

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Vikram. I was quite fascinated by this unusual description of experiences in space. In the volume of information that I receive every day from my friends and mints, this post got lost somewhere in the maze. I searched for it for a full day, before I found it and wrote this piece.

      Delete
    2. Vikram Bhatnagar has further commented:
      "It really made for a wonderful read!"

      Delete