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The United States Postal Service has issued a stamp commemorating the James Webb Space Telescope

The USPS ceremony memento includes an invitation and program from the first day of the issue event at the Postal Museum. (Image credit: USPS/collectSPACE.com)

The world's largest and most powerful space telescope is now available for purchase at your local USPS. The United States Postal Service (USPS) issued a postage stamp showing NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) on Thursday (Sept. 8). Anton Hajjar, vice chairman of the USPS Board of Governors, was the devoted official at the First Day of Issue event at the Smithsonian's National Postal Museum in Washington, D.C.

At the ceremony, Hajjar stated that the James Webb Space Telescope orbits the sun roughly a million miles distant from Earth. With the introduction of this new Forever stamp, it will now go through the United States postal system. I'm sure you'll agree that the Webb telescope is delivering very amazing photographs! The telescope itself, which we commemorate with our stamp, is a technical wonder that took decades to develop.

The Webb Space Telescope began returning infrared photos and data seven months after its launch in December 2021, changing scientists' understanding of the universe. Among its early scientific achievements were the first direct imaging of an exoplanet and the deepest and highest-resolution infrared picture of the cosmos ever seen (opens in new tab). Based on a computer illustration by artist James Vaughan, the Webb Space Telescope stamp displays the tennis court-sized telescope set against a starscape. The Webb stamp, which is now available in panes of 20, is a Forever denomination, which means it will always be worth the same as the First-Class Mail 1-ounce price.

When anyone who uses these stamps looks at this telescope, I want them to see what I see: its incredible potential to reveal new and unexpected discoveries that help us understand the origins of the universe and our place in it, said Bob Cabana, NASA's associate administrator and a former astronaut, who joined Hajjar at the ceremony. This telescope is the greatest international space research endeavor in US history, and I am excited to see the scientific advances it will enable in astronomy.

Ellen Stofan, undersecretary for science and research at the Smithsonian Institution; Lee Feinberg, optical telescope element manager for the Webb telescope at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center; Erin Smith, Webb telescope deputy observatory project scientist at NASA Goddard; and Elliot Gruber, director of the National Postal Museum, were among those in attendance and participating in the First Day of Issue ceremony.

The USPS not only sells the James Webb Space Telescope stamp for $12 for each pane of 20, but it also has new, related items available from its online shop. Shipping is now done in two envelopes, each stamped and mailed on the first day of release. Philatelists refer to the two collectibles as "first-day covers" because they have either the official first-day-of-issue ink postmark or a digital color postmark. Both cancellations include the stamp's name and issuing data, as well as a hexagonal design that represents Webb's 21-foot-wide (6.4-m) main mirror. The digital color postmark covers the design with "colors of the cosmos."

The Webb first-day cover costs $1.15 apiece. Each digital color postmark costs $2.00.

Uncut "press sheets" of six panes with or without die-cuts are also available ($72 apiece), as is a 15.5 by 12.5 inch (39.4 by 31.8 cm) print of the stamp art framed with one of the stamps ($39.95).

Collectors who were unable to attend the event on Thursday can purchase a "ceremony memento," for $27.95, which contains the event invitation (formed to mimic the Webb Space Telescope's primary mirror) and program, as well as one of the new stamp panes.

The USPS will also react to mail-in requests for the first-day-of-issue postmark. Beginning Thursday, the general public has 120 days to purchase and apply the James Webb Space Telescope stamp to an envelope of their choosing, self-address or address it to others, and ship it inside a bigger envelope to:

FDOI — James Webb Space Telescope Stamp

USPS Stamp Fulfillment Services

8300 NE Underground Drive, Suite 300

Kansas City, MO 64144-9900

The USPS will return the envelope through the mail after attaching the first-day-of-issue postmark. The postmark is free up to a number of 50, beyond which it is 5 cents for every extra postmark. All applications must be postmarked by January 6, 2023.

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