Pluto Stamp Watch: Stamp Petition Gains More Than 10,000 Signatures

By Tariq Malik
published

Proposed New Horizons Stamp
Artist Dan Durda's concept for a U.S. postage stamp honoring the New Horizons mission to Pluto. The probe's team has launched an online petition to make the stamp a reality (Image credit: NASA/SWRI/Dan Durda)

This story was updated at 12:57 p.m. EST on March 9.

The dwarf planet Pluto may be at the edge of our solar system, but an effort on Earth is seeking to put the icy world in mailboxes across the country — in stamp form.

An online petition backed by scientists with NASA's New Horizons mission is pushing for new postage stamp for Pluto and is hoping to hit 100,000 signatures by March 13, which is the 82nd anniversary of Pluto's discovery.

So far, the effort has gained the support of more than 10,600 Pluto fans since the petition launched on Feb. 1. SPACE.com is tracking the new Pluto stamp effort through its March 13 deadline. The petition, hosted at Change.org, will be submitted to the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee of the U.S. Postal Service.

Click here to read or sign the Pluto stamp petition "Honor New Horizons and the Exploration of Pluto with a USPS Stamp."

"The Pluto postage stamp petition may mark a first," said Robert Pearlman, editor of SPACE.com partner site collectSPACE.com. "While NASA has collaborated with the U.S. Postal Service dating back to the 1962 'Project Mercury' secret stamp released to celebrate John Glenn's orbital spaceflight 50 years ago this week, the New Horizons campaign may be the first time that a NASA mission has taken an active role campaigning for a new stamp."

"It is the first I can remember NASA soliciting the public's help in having a commemorative stamp issued," Pearlman said.

The first Pluto stamp was issued in 1991. It consisted of an artist's depiction of Pluto emblazoned with the phrase: "Not Yet Explored."

NASA's New Horizons mission aims to change that. The unmanned probe is flying NASA's first expedition to Pluto and is due to fly by the distant world and its four moons in July 2015. The $700 million spacecraft will take the first-ever close up photos of Pluto, its largest moon Charon and three other satellites when flies within 6,200 miles (10,000 kilometers) of the planet.

Direct link for Pluto stamp petition:
http://www.change.org/petitions/usps-honor-new-horizons-and-the-exploration-of-pluto-with-a-usps-stamp

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Tariq Malik
Tariq Malik
Editor-in-Chief

Tariq is the Editor-in-Chief of Space.com and joined the team in 2001, first as an intern and staff writer, and later as an editor. He covers human spaceflight, exploration and space science, as well as skywatching and entertainment. He became Space.com's Managing Editor in 2009 and Editor-in-Chief in 2019. Before joining Space.com, Tariq was a staff reporter for The Los Angeles Times covering education and city beats in La Habra, Fullerton and Huntington Beach. In October 2022, Tariq received the Harry Kolcum Award for excellence in space reporting from the National Space Club Florida Committee. He is also an Eagle Scout (yes, he has the Space Exploration merit badge) and went to Space Camp four times as a kid and a fifth time as an adult. He has journalism degrees from the University of Southern California and New York University. You can find Tariq at Space.com and as the co-host to the This Week In Space podcast with space historian Rod Pyle on the TWiT network. To see his latest project, you can follow Tariq on Twitter @tariqjmalik.