Scott No: 425
Serial number: S33
Values in set: 1
Date of issue: September 10, 1959
Denomination: 8
Designer: Liu Shuoren
Size of stamps: 28*22mm
Perforation: 11.5
Sheet composition: 100(10*10)
Printing process: Photogravure
Printing House: Beijing Postage Stamp Printing Works

S33 "Soviet Space Rocket" special stamp was issued on September 10, 1959. The set consists of 1 stamp, printed by photogravure, designed by Liu Shuoren, and printed by the Beijing Stamp Factory. Stamp size 28 mm × 22 mm, perforation gauge 11.5, 100 stamps per sheet (10 × 10), with a total face value of 0.08 yuan for the set; Space Rocket in Flight 8 fen, circulation 9 million copies, without gum throughout the set.

Theme of the Set

On January 2, 1959, the Soviet Union successfully launched a space rocket. The rocket reached the vicinity of the moon, making it the first deep-space vehicle in the history of human spaceflight to fly toward the moon, marking humanity's entry into a brand-new stage of space exploration. At the time China and the Soviet Union had close scientific and technological exchanges, and the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications issued this stamp to celebrate the milestone achievement of the Soviet Union in the aerospace field and to record the historic moment of humanity's advance into the cosmos. It is also one of New China's earliest space-themed stamps.

Stamp Design and Historical Background

Space Rocket in Flight

Against a deep navy-blue cosmic background, an all-red rocket speeds forward, with the letters "CCCP" printed on its body and a bright flame trailing from its tail. The design is paired with concentric circular orbit markings simulating the rocket's trajectory and symbolizing the orbits of celestial bodies, intuitively expressing the rocket's posture flying through interstellar space and concisely presenting this aerospace feat that astonished the world.

Artistic Design Features

The set uniformly adopts a horizontal format and photogravure printing, with strong color contrasts; the deep blue background sets off the bright red rocket, giving striking visual impact. The composition is concise and modern, discarding complicated elements and using dynamic lines to express the rocket's sense of speed as it breaks through the sky, with the orbital rings adding a scientific atmosphere. The characteristics of the times are distinctive; it is both a tribute to aerospace scientific and technological achievements and a historical imprint of the Sino-Soviet friendly scientific and technological cooperation of those years.