KSC-2011-3299

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- In the Rocket Garden at NASA's Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida, the audience and speakers stand for the Pledge of Allegiance and the singing of the National Anthem by a member of the 45th Space Wing Honor Guard from Patrick Air Force Base in Florida. Also on stage are, from left, Director of Education and External Relations for Kennedy Cheryl Hurst, Center Director Bob Cabana and United States Postal Service official Steve Massey, Mercury Astronaut Scott Carpenter, NASA Administrator, Charlie Bolden, Julie Jenkins and NASA's Deputy Director for Planetary Science, Jim Adams, all in attendance for the United States Postal Service unveiling of two new stamps to commemorate the 50th anniversary of human spaceflight. One stamp commemorates NASA's Project Mercury and Alan Shepard's historic launch on May 5, 1961, aboard the spacecraft Freedom 7. The second stamp honors NASA's MESSENGER, which reached Mercury in March to become the first spacecraft to orbit the planet. The two missions frame a remarkable 50-year period in which America advanced space exploration through more than 1,500 crewed and uncrewed flights. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett