Philatelists Push Petition For Pluto Probe Postage

Hugh Pickens writes "Space.com reports that an online petition directed at the USPS and its Citizen Stamp Advisory Committee (CSAC) hopes to collect 100,000 signatures or more by March 13, the 82nd anniversary of the announcement of Pluto's discovery as the New Horizons robotic spacecraft gets closer to flyby Pluto and its moons in 2015. 'This is a chance for us all to celebrate what American space exploration can achieve though hard work, technical excellence, the spirit of scientific inquiry, and the uniquely human drive to explore,' reads the petition. Whether or not the New Horizons team is successful in getting the USPS to honor their spacecraft's mission, the probe will have delivered a stamp to Pluto. New Horizons includes nine stowaways including one of the 1991 'Not Yet Explored' Pluto stamps together with other mementos including a Florida quarter, a small container with an ounce of the ashes of Clyde Tombaugh, discoverer of Pluto, and a small segment of 2004 Ansari X Prize winner SpaceShipOne, the first privately-funded crewed spacecraft. 'Why nine mementos? I bet you can guess,' says Dr. Alan Stern, New Horizons' Principal Investigator adding why he wanted to send one of the Pluto stamps on the mission. 'Pluto may not have been explored when that stamp set came out, but we were going to conquer that,' says Stern. 'I wanted to fly it as a sort of 'in your face' thing.'"

Comments

Re:Your taxpayer dollars at work

[Sarten-X]

My plans for death (though I have yet to find a good legal way to have them fulfilled) are to have all recyclable parts (joint replacements, etc.) removed and reused/recycled, all acceptable organs donated, and the remainder of my body being donated to research and/or education, with the exception of my head (sans eyeballs and/or whatever was donated), which will be involved in its own ritual.

I intend that a significant portion of my fortune (you know, once I have a fortune) will go to whomever can bring about the most absurd use of my head in a publicly-visible manner. I'm particularly fond of being shot from a cannon on a skyscraper into water. My head must also sit, preserved, in an easily visible location of the heir's primary residence for a year, either before or after the absurdity.

My goal in life is to become influential enough to make these plans legal. My goal in death is to make the world a weirder place.