Shaping the future together

On the occasion of the Association of Space Explorers (ASE) space congress in Noordwijk and Amsterdam from September 30 to October 6, 2024, more than 100 astronauts are coming to our country. They have all completed one or more orbits around the Earth in space. Dutch astronaut André Kuipers is the host of the congress.

Shaping the future together: release date 30 September 2024

OphThe six-stamp 'Shaping the future together' stamp sheet features five trapezoidal atmosphere stamps at the top and one semicircular earth stamp at the bottom. The graphic designer is Lilian Vos of the Vividfblue agency in Amsterdam. The issue consists of 110.000 sheets and was printed by Cator Security Printers in Meaucé La Loupe, France.

Large Earth stamp

The large Earth stamp features a color illustration of the Earth by day, as seen from space: “I depicted the Earth on a stamp only once, because we only have one Earth, right?”

• The stamp sheet depicts the overview effect. It is the perspective from which astronauts look at the fragile Earth and our world from space. They are emotionally moved by the overwhelming, indescribable beauty of the Earth. Their worldview has been fundamentally changed by it.
• This experience aligns with ASE's goal: the Earth must be preserved for future generations. The stamp issue title 'Shaping the future together' stems from this vision.

Small atmosphere stamps

• The five atmosphere stamps together form the atmosphere as a thin shell, containing a color illustration depicting the astronaut's view of the Earth at night from space. The colors of a rising sun, green aurora borealis (as a dynamically moving 'curtain'), and the starry sky with the moon are visible. The dark Earth reflects the light of the rising sun onto clouds and water.
• The stars extend into space on the margin above, where on the left is a photo of the International Space Station (ISS) skimming across the Earth at high speed. In the upper right is a larger version of the moon than the one on the atmosphere stamps. Behind the left window of the ISS observation module, the face of André Kuipers is subtly visible.
• During the expedition in 2011-2012, the crew also saw Comet Lovejoy. The flash illustration of it against the deep black background is located below the title of the stamp sheet in the lower right corner.

Astronaut Kuipers also hosts stamp sheet design!

With the placement of the ISS satellite in the top left of the stamp sheet, designer Lilian Vos literally steps into astronaut Kuipers' space boots. From this perspective, she offers a view of the immeasurable space of the universe, with objects, colors, and their relative positions. When Kuipers saw the stamp sheet for the first time, he remarked: “Wow, what a great shot, I get the same feeling as up there!”

Stamp analytical references

• The trapezoidal shape of the atmosphere stamps corresponds to the contour shape of a satellite due to image space / image repetition.
• Perforation has been added to some of the stamps. On the atmosphere stamp, the position of the perforation indicates the viewing direction from the ISS. On the Earth stamp, the perforation emphasizes the 'terminator', the sharp transition between light and dark.
• On the back of the stamp sheet is a text by André Kuiper about his experience as an astronaut with the overview effect.