USPS To Issue ‘Star Trek’ Stamps To Celebrate 50 Year History

Today the United States Postal Service announced that they will be celebrating 50 years of Star Trek with new “forever” stamps issued this fall. The official dedication ceremony for the stamps will take place at the Star Trek: Mission New York conference held at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center on Friday, September 2, 2016.

The new Star Trek stamps, under license by CBS Consumer Products, features four different digital illustrations inspired by the classic show which premiered on September 8, 1966. They were designed by Heads of State of Philadelphia, under the art direction of Antonio Alcalá of Alexandria, VA. The four stamps offered are the following.

• The Starship Enterprise inside the outline of a Starfleet insignia against a gold background
• The silhouette of a crewman in a transporter against a red background
• The silhouette of the Enterprise from above against a green background
• The Enterprise inside the outline of the Vulcan salute (Spock’s iconic hand gesture) against a blue background

The #StarTrekForever stamps from @USPS are beaming to @startrekmission #StarTrek #StarTrekNY pic.twitter.com/yvcKVINIF3

— Star Trek (@StarTrek) June 22, 2016

The Star Trek: Mission New York event is expected to draw thousands of fans and will feature special exhibits showing off replicas of some of the show’s sets and props, special guests and fan news.

The “First Day of Issue Ceremony” for the Star Trek stamps will include officials from the USPS as well as a special guest speaker. Then, fans will have the opportunity to purchase the stamps, as well as other USPS merchandise, at the USPS booth. Fans unable to make the trip to New York will be able to pre-order stamps during the first week of August at usps.com/shop, with delivery happening shortly after September 2. Other special USPS stamp collections offered later this year include “Soda Fountain Favorites,” a tribute to Jaime Escalante, “Pickup Trucks” and “Pets.”

The Star Trek stamp announcement comes just days after news that actor Anton Yelchin, who played the role of Chekov in the upcoming movie, Star Trek: Beyond, died in a freak auto accident at his home in San Fernando Valley. The 27-year-old was pinned under his five-ton Jeep Cherokee vehicle. It is said that Star Trek Beyond will be dedicated to the actor when it premieres in theaters on July 22. Beyond is the third in the current re-boot of the movie series. All in all, there have been 13 Star Trek movies that wouldn’t have been made possible without the original TV show.

This man. Forever. #AntonYelchin ?? https://t.co/yWe3LOOZ1C

— lindsey. (@liiindseyy) June 20, 2016

Earlier this year, CBS announced that it, too, would create a re-boot of the original TV show to appear during the 2016-2017 TV season. Rod Roddenberry, son of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, will serve as an executive producer for the new show, joining Trevor Roth, Alex Kurtzman, Heather Kadin, and Bryan Fuller.

“Gene Roddenberry, the Great Bird of the Galaxy, left a finely feathered nest for all who love Star Trek to enjoy,” said Fuller.

“And it is only fitting that Rod Roddenberry and Roddenberry Entertainment join our new Trek adventure to ensure that his father’s legacy of hope for the future and infinite diversity in infinite combinations runs through our tales as Gene Roddenberry intended.”

“Moral dilemmas, human issues, complex characters and a genuine sense of optimism: These are the cornerstones of Star Trek and are what have made it such an influential and beloved franchise for the last 50 years,” said Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry.

“While I will always be humbled by its legacy and the legions of fans who are its guardians, it’s a genuine honor to be joining a team of imaginative and incredibly capable individuals whose endeavor it is to uphold the tenets of Star Trek’s legacy while bringing it to audiences in a new era and on a contemporary platform.”

Though the new Star Trek is expected to have a special preview on CBS TV in early 2017, the show is being made exclusively for the network’s CBS All Access digital subscription service and is the service’s first original series.

[Image via United States Postal Service]