Astronaut Sally Ride (U.S. 2018)

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The latest updates appear at the bottom. [Latest July 2.] This was the initial release from the U.S. Postal Service:

Sally Ride America’s first woman in space, Sally Ride (1951–2012), inspired the nation as a pioneering astronaut, brilliant physicist and dedicated educator.

This stamp will be issued May 23rd in La Jolla, Calif., where she lived until her death at the age of 61 in 2012. More on Sally Ride can be found at Wikipedia.

[USPS advisory, March 21]
U.S. Postal Service to Dedicate Sally Ride Forever Stamp

WHAT: First-day-of-issue dedication ceremony for the Sally Ride Forever stamp. The event is free and open to the public. Please share the news using the hashtags #SallyRideForever and #AstronautStamps.

RSVP for the ceremony: Click here.

WHO:

  • Megan J. Brennan, Postmaster General and Chief Executive Officer
  • Pradeep K. Khosla, chancellor, University of California San Diego
  • Billie Jean King, tennis legend and champion of social justice; friend of Sally Ride
  • Ellen Ochoa, first Hispanic woman in space and director of the Johnson Space Center; friend of Sally Ride
  • Tam O’Shaughnessy, co-founder and executive director of Sally Ride Science at University of California San Diego; widow of Sally Ride
  • Becky Petitt, vice chancellor for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, University of California San Diego

WHEN: Wednesday, May 23 at 5 p.m. PDT

WHERE: The Price Center, University of California San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla, CA 92093

Followers of the U.S. Postal Service’s Facebook page can view the ceremony live at facebook.com/USPS.

BACKGROUND: America’s first woman in space, Dr. Sally Ride (1951–2012) inspired the nation as a pioneering astronaut, brilliant scientist, and dedicated educator.

On June 18, 1983, Ride launched through Earth’s atmosphere aboard space shuttle Challenger, becoming the first American woman to reach space. For six days, she worked closely with her four male crewmates, proving to the world below that women were just as adept as their male counterparts in the final frontier.

Ride was the only person to sit on the investigative panels for both the Challenger and Columbia accidents. As a professor, she used her experience as an astronaut to explain complicated physics principles. In 2001, she cofounded a company devoted to fostering interest and skills in science, technology, engineering, and math among young people, particularly girls.

Through her love of science and determination to improve our world, Ride left a lasting impact on generations of students and the future of American space exploration.

After the stamp dedication ceremony, Sally Ride Science at UC San Diego will celebrate the occasion with a panel discussion on Women in Leadership at 6:30 p.m. Visit Sally Ride Science at UC San Diego for more information.

The panel discussion will feature King, Ochoa and former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Lynn Sherr serves as the moderator. —VSC

Updated April 2, 2018:

Ride’s NASA biography says she was a stamp collector!

Updated April 15:
On May 23, 2018, in La Jolla, CA, the U.S. Postal Service® will issue the Sally Ride stamp (Forever® priced at the First-Class Mail® rate) in one design, in a pressure-sensitive adhesive pane of 20 stamps (Item 477300). The stamp will go on sale nationwide May 23, 2018.

America’s first woman in space, Dr. Sally Ride (1951–2012), inspired the nation as a pioneering astronaut, brilliant physicist, and dedicated educator. The stamp art, sketched first in charcoal and then rendered in oil paint, features a colorful portrait of Ride in her light blue space suit with a dramatic depiction of a space shuttle lifting off in the background. Art director Ethel Kessler designed the stamp with artwork by Paul Salmon.

Availability to Post Offices: Item 477300, Sally Ride (Forever Priced at the First-Class Mail Rate) Commemorative Pane of 20 Stamps: Stamp Fulfillment Services will make an automatic push distribution to Post Offices™ of a quantity to cover approximately 30 days of sales.

How to Order the First-Day-of-Issue Postmark:
Customers have 120 days to obtain the first-day-of-issue postmark by mail. They may purchase new stamps at their local Post Office or at The Postal Store® website at usps.com/shop. They must affix the stamps to envelopes of their choice, address the envelopes (to themselves or others), and place them in a larger envelope addressed to:

FDOI – Sally Ride Stamp
USPS Stamp Fulfillment Services
8300 NE Underground Drive, Suite 300
Kansas City, MO 64144-9900

After applying the first-day-of-issue postmark, the Postal Service will return the envelopes through the mail. There is no charge for the postmark up to a quantity of 50. There is a 5-cent charge for each additional postmark over 50. All orders must be postmarked by September 23, 2018.

Philatelic products for this stamp issue are as follows:

  • 477306 Press Sheet with Die-cut, $90.00.
  • 477310 Digital Color Keepsake, $11.95.
  • 477316 First-Day Cover, $0.94.
  • 477321 Digital Color Postmark, $1.65.
  • 477330 Ceremony Program, $6.95.

Technical Specifications:

Issue: Sally Ride Stamp
Item Number: 477300
Denomination & Type of Issue: First-Class Mail Forever
Format: Pane of 20 (1 design)
Series: N/A
Issue Date & City: May 23, 2018, La Jolla, CA 92037
Art Director: Ethel Kessler, Bethesda, MD
Designer: Ethel Kessler, Bethesda, MD
Typographer: Ethel Kessler, Bethesda, MD
Artist: Paul Salmon, Burke, VA
Modeler: Joseph Sheeran
Manufacturing Process: Offset, Microprint
Printer: Ashton Potter (USA) Ltd. (APU)
Printed at: Williamsville, NY
Press Type: Muller A76
Stamps per Pane: 20
Print Quantity: 20,000,000 Stamps
Paper Type: Nonphosphored Type III, Block Tag
Adhesive Type: Pressure-sensitive
Processed at: Ashton Potter (USA) Ltd. (APU)
Colors: Black, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, PMS 7687
Stamp Orientation: Vertical
Image Area (w x h): 1.085 x 1.42 in/27.56 x 36.07 mm
Overall Size (w x h): 1.225 x 1.56 in/31.12 x 39.62 mm
Full Pane Size (w x h): 7.12 x 8.14 in/180.85 x 206.76 mm
Press Sheet Size (w x h): 21.36 x 25.295 in/542.54 x 642.49 mm
Plate Size: 180 stamps per revolution
Plate Numbers: “P” followed by five (5) digits
Marginal Markings:
Front: Header: SALLY USA RIDE • Plate numbers in two corners
Back: ©2017 USPS • USPS Logo • Two barcodes (477300) • Plate Position Diagram • Promotional Text

For Jim Sutton, regarding nametags: It appears the actual nametag, at least for this flight, read just “Sally.”

Updated May 9th:
The link for first-day ceremony reservations was added above… or click here.

Updated July 2nd:
The Scott Catalogue number for this stamp is 5283.

8 thoughts on “Astronaut Sally Ride (U.S. 2018)”

  1. One of the few bright spots in an otherwise ridiculously awful 2018 Stamp Program. I was also hoping for an Apollo 8 stamp, but at least we got this.

  2. Agreed. Apollo 8 would be nice. Sally Ride is a good choice also, but how long do we have to wait for Neil Armstrong and John Glenn?

    • Good question. The Postal Service just changed the rules to a 3 year wait until after death. That means no John Glenn stamp until 2019. It’s ridiculous that this rule apparently didn’t apply to stamps like the one for Oscar de la Renta. Apparently, the first American to orbit the Earth and a life of public service takes a back seat to a fashion designer.

      The Armstrong stamp is overdue. He’s been dead for over 5 years. Apparently the first man on the Moon takes a back seat to popsicles.

      It’s sad and pathetic.

  4. Really like the subject, but do not like the artwork. Would photos have been that hard to get a hold of?

    Also, though not sure of NASA’s name tag format, think how the name tag done is wrong. I thought NASA only did last name (except if more than one astronaut of same last name went up, then I think initial of first name on tag).

    • I think the nametag is “artistic license.” A NASA photo of Ride on her first flight shows the nametag with just “Sally.” I can’t figure out how to put a picture in this reply, so I’ll put it in the main story above.

  5. I spoke to the Customer Relations Coordinator in San Diego today and she advised that the PMG would not be attending the ceremony. Disappointed.

Comments are closed.