The UK celebrates Philae comet lander success with special Royal Mail postmark stamp

The United Kingdom is celebrating the successful landing of the Philae on the comet with a commemorative special postmark stamp, which is affixed to all letters delivered by the Royal Mail to England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The commemorative stamp has a special ink postmark celebrating the landing of Philae on the comet, and it also contains a congratulatory message to the European Space Agency (ESA) for their efforts and success.

According to Andrew Hammond, an official with the Royal Mail, “We’re thrilled to be marking the European Space Agency’s fantastic achievement with one of our special postmarks.” And of a truth, the UK has a right to be thrilled with the success of the Philae comet lander because she was one of the major contributors to the design and construction of the space probe before it was deployed with the Rosetta 10 years ago to orbit the comet.

The congratulatory message on the stamp postmark reads: Celebrating the first ever landing on a comet. Congratulations to the European Space Agency.

According to Hammond, “the Philae mission has captured the public’s imagination and excitement about space exploration, and we’re pleased to be recognizing this historic moment in this unique way.” That was very correct because millions of people worldwide are attracted to the events leading up to the launching of the Philae and thousands more now follow Philae on Twitter and watch ESA’s live webcasts of the mission milestones.

“Great news!” the UK postal service wrote on Twitter. “Our #Cometlanding postmark will also feature on mail delivered on Monday, too!”

The Philae bounced twice on the face of the comet before finally securing itself behind the shadows of a cliff. Its present location behind the shadows of the cliff is preventing direct sunlight from recharging its depleted solar panel batteries, and this has caused to enter into an “idle” sleep mode until the comet is able to move closer to the sun to enable the robot probe recharge its solar batteries for normal functions again.