Saturday, October 29, 2016

Legends of Kyrgyzstan - Yeti, and 50th Anniversary of the First Spacewalks

Second postal operator in Kyrgyzstan is KEP - Kyrgyz Express Post, and they have few really, really nice stamps! That's why i ordered this two sets of beautiful stamps.

I've never seen before stamps with Yeti, and these are beautiful!

This series is intended to attract the attention of as many people from the Kyrgyz Republic. It is also dedicated to the Yeti - a peculiar character, well known around the world. In the folklore of Nepal, the Yeti is an ape-like entity taller than an average human that is said to inhabit the Himalayan region of Nepal, Bhutan and China, and also India, Mongolia and Russia. Stories of the Yeti first emerged as a facet of Western popular culture in the 19th century.

At a 2011 conference in Russia, participating scientists and enthusiasts declared having "95% evidence" of the Yeti's existence. However, this claim was disputed later; American anthropologist and anatomist Jeffrey Meldrum, who was present during the Russian expedition, claimed the "evidence" found was simply an attempt by local officials to drum up publicity.

Stamps are issued on 19.05.2016.

Souvenir sheet consists of two stamps depicting the "spacewalks" of the Soviet cosmonaut Alexey Leonov and the American astronaut Edward White. Issue date is 02.07.2015.

Alexey Arkhipovich Leonov became the first human to conduct extravehicular activity, exiting the capsule during the Voskhod 2 mission for a 12-minute spacewalk. At the end of the spacewalk, Leonov's spacesuit had inflated in the vacuum of space to the point where he could not re-enter the airlock. He opened a valve to allow some of the suit's pressure to bleed off and was barely able to get back inside the capsule.

During the Gemini 4 mission on June 3, 1965, Ed White became the first American to conduct a spacewalk. The spacewalk started at 3:45 p.m. EDT on the third orbit when White opened the hatch and used the hand-held maneuvering oxygen-jet gun to push himself out of the capsule. The EVA started over the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii and lasted 23 minutes, ending over the Gulf of Mexico. Initially, White propelled himself to the end of the 8-meter tether and back to the spacecraft three times using the hand-held gun. After the first three minutes the fuel ran out and White maneuvered by twisting his body and pulling on the tether.


Very nice of KEP for using one of Yeti stamps on cover!


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