Romania 2009
Apollo 11
Romania commemorated the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing with an individual stamp plus two interesting and attractive sheets, all created by the noted Romanian stamp designer Alec Bartos.
Central to the individual stamp is an image of Aldrin coming down the ladder of the lunar module, photographed by Neil Armstrong who was already on the surface. Composited onto the sky above him are the Command and Service modules in orbit around the Moon and the distant Earth. The stamp is circularly perforated and lies on a square background. This background image is actually part of a view of the Moon that was taken from space by Apollo 11 – the photograph appears in full on another circular stamp at the centre of the associated mini sheet (illustrated below).
Stanley Gibbons catalogue number:
6970
Note: This individual stamp was also issued as a sheet of 8 which included a circular label depicting Aldrin’s bootprint. The stamps and label were superimposed on an image of the Moon taken during Apollo 11’s return to Earth; this image of the Moon also appears on another circular stamp at the centre of the mini sheet, below.
This sheet of eight does not have an SG catalogue number.
Issued along with the individual stamp above was this mini sheet incorporating illustrations of the Apollo 11 crew and their historic journey. At its centre is a circular stamp depicting the famous imprint of Aldrin’s boot, superimposed on an Apollo 11 photograph of the Moon; because this view was taken from out in space, it includes some of the far side of the Moon that we do not see from Earth. (This same image was used as the background for the eight-stamp sheet mentioned above.)
The surroundings of the mini sheet offer a pictorial narrative of the Apollo 11 mission in seven stages, as follows:
1. Liftoff of the Saturn V rocket
2. The command and service modules in lunar orbit, photographed from the lunar module Eagle
3. Eagle as seen from the command module
4. Armstrong and Aldrin arranging the US flag on the lunar surface, filmed by a 16-mm camera in the lunar module
5. The top stage of Eagle back in lunar orbit, with the Earth in the distance
6. The command module descends to Earth under parachutes after re-entry (this is actually Apollo 17 descending, not Apollo 11)
7. Splashdown and recovery – the astronauts wait in a rubber dinghy to be picked up by helicopter.
Stanley Gibbons catalogue number:
MS 6971