On May 5, 1961, Navy Commander Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr.
was launched into space aboard the Freedom 7 space
capsule, becoming the first American astronaut to travel
into space. The suborbital flight, which lasted 15 minutes
and reached a height of 116 miles into the atmosphere,
was a major triumph for the National Aeronautics and
Space Administration (NASA).
(AP) – The United States Postal Service officially announced the
price of Forever stamps and other postage will go up on Jan. 22,
2023. The move has been anticipated for months after Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said in August that increases would be
necessary to keep up with costs. Inflation was expected to add
$1 billion to the Postal Service’s operating budget.
The USPS plans to increase prices of affected postage by 4.2%,
which amounts to a few cents per stamp. The cost of a Forever
stamp would go up 3 cents, from 60 cents to 63 cents. The price
of Forever stamps just went up in July from 58 cents to 60 cents.
A year ago, the stamps cost 55 cents.
Postmaster general Louis DeJoy (65).
On July 1, 1847 Congress authorized our
first prepaid postage stamps so that the
sender, rather than the recipient, paid for
the delivery of the letter.
Our first Postmaster, Benjamin Franklin,
was the first person in the world other
than a head of state to be on a stamp.
US Scott #1 5¢ Franklin (above).
On September 28, 1941, the last day of Major League Baseball’s
regular season, the Boston Red Sox’s Ted Williams got six hits
in eight at-bats during a doubleheader in Philadelphia, boosting
his average to .406. He becomes the first player since 1930 to hit
.400. "I guess I’ll be satisfied with that thrill out there today," he
tells the Boston Globe about hitting .400. "… I never wanted
anything harder in my life."
In addition to his .406 batting average—no major league player
since Williams has hit .400—the left fielder led the big leagues
with 37 homers, 135 runs and a slugging average of .735.
Williams, nicknamed “The Splendid Splinter” and “The Thumper,
” began his big-league career with the Red Sox in 1939.
The Post Office Department issued its first postage stamps
on July 1, 1847.
Initial United States postage rates were set by Congress as part
of the Postal Service Act signed into law by President George Washington on February 20, 1792. The postal rate varied according
to "distance zone", the distance a letter was to be carried from the
post office where it entered the mail to its final destination.
Rates were adopted in 1847 for mail to or from the Pacific Coast
and in 1848 for mail sent from one place in the west to another
place in the west. There were double and triple rates as a letter’s
size increased. There were ship fees which were also added
(i.e. mail to Hawaii). The ship fee, including the ship rate on letters
for delivery at the port of entry, were on a per letter basis, rather
than weight. The United States issued its first postage stamps in
1847. Before that time, the rates, dates and origin of the letter
were written by hand or sometimes in combination with a
handstamp device.
George Washington has appeared on more U.S. postage stamps
than any other person.
Painting depicting the first Pony Express rider arriving in
Sacramento.
On April 3, 1860, the first Pony Express mail, traveling by horse
and rider relay teams, simultaneously left St. Joseph, Missouri,
and Sacramento, California. Ten days later, on April 13, the
westbound rider and mail packet completed the approximately
1,800-mile journey and arrived in Sacramento, beating the
eastbound packet’s arrival in St. Joseph by two days and setting
a new standard for speedy mail delivery. Although ultimately
short-lived and unprofitable, the Pony Express captivated
America’s imagination and helped win federal aid for a more
economical overland postal system. It also contributed to the
economy of the towns on its route and served the mail-service
needs of the American West in the days before the telegraph
or an efficient transcontinental railroad.
