OSIRIS-REx Forever Stamps

Value: 78¢, First-Class Mail Rate (Forever)
First Day of Issue: September 22, 2023
First Day City: Salt Lake City, Utah
Printed by: Ashton Potter (USA) Ltd.
Printing Method: Offset, Microprint
Format: Panes of 20

In 2023, the U.S. Postal Service issued a Forever stamp celebrating NASA’s historic OSIRIS-REx mission — the first U.S. mission to collect a sample from an asteroid and return it to Earth. The mission provides invaluable insights into the formation and evolution of our solar system.

The stamp design features an artist’s rendering of the sample capsule descending by parachute over Utah’s desert, carrying precious material from asteroid Bennu. Created by illustrator Alan Dingman using NASA reference images, the pane also includes Bennu’s surface depicted in the selvage, with outer space above, and four images highlighting key mission milestones.

The First Day of Issue ceremony took place in Salt Lake City, Utah, near the capsule’s actual landing site — a symbolic tribute to the mission’s success.

Launched on September 8, 2016, OSIRIS-REx arrived at Bennu in December 2018. The spacecraft spent nearly two years mapping the asteroid’s surface before performing a precise touch-and-go maneuver in October 2020 to collect samples. Despite a small amount of material escaping, the mission secured the largest asteroid sample ever retrieved and the first by the United States.

The OSIRIS-REx Forever stamp honors not only a triumph of science and engineering but also a giant leap forward in humanity’s quest to understand the building blocks of our solar system.