Guernsey Press

‘One giant leap’ marked by stamp issue

STAMPS to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landings are to be issued.

Published
Guernsey Post's stamps to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landings.

Guernsey Post will release the stamps that depict key moments from the mission in 1969 that saw American astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin (Buzz) Aldrin become the first people to land on the Moon.

‘We’re really excited to celebrate the Moon landings’ 50th anniversary with stamps that depict some of the key moments – including the first footprint on the Moon – from what is undoubtedly one of the most significant events in our history,’ said Guernsey Post head of philatelic Bridget Yabsley.

It was on 16 July 1969 that Apollo 11 set out on its eight-day mission.

This took its crew on a journey of 935,000 miles.

On 20 July that year, more than 500m. people gathered around television sets and radios to be a part of the event.

At around 4.18pm EDT on landing day, Armstrong landed Apollo 11 with only 25 seconds’-worth of fuel left.

There has been trouble finding a smooth place to land.

He then radioed NASA Mission Control in Houston and said: ‘Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.’

At around 10.56pm that day, he became the first man in history to set foot on something that had not existed on or originated from the Earth.

The stamps and related products will be available to pre-order from 1 July.