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David Bowie’s status as a starman remains undiminished after a set of postage stamps commemorating the late singer was launched into the stratosphere.
A 10-stamp set celebrating some of David Bowie’s most famous and iconic album covers has been created to honour the singer who died from cancer in January 2016, aged 69.
The Press Association reports via The Guardian that 52 sets of the stamps have been launched towards the edge of space via a series of specially designed helium balloons. Both the volume and the destination of the stamps bear a special significance. The number was chosen to represent that amount of years Bowie worked as a professional musician while the stratosphere is a nod to Bowie’s 1976 movie, The Man Who Fell To Earth.
The flight reached 34,100m at a vertical speed of about 12mph. After the balloons burst, the stamps will have started to descend at nearly 200mph, slowing to approximately 8mph by the time they reached the ground.
Now here’s the thing: stamps were all postmarked with a special edition red handstamp of the thunderbolt from the cover of Bowie’s 1973 record Aladdin Sane. Fans who correctly guess where “the stamps that fell to earth” landed - you see what they did there? - can win one of the limited edition first day covers.
The stamp set features images from album covers including Hunky Dory, Aladdin Sane, ‘Heroes’, Let’s Dance and Earthling.
As previously reported on Gigwise, the David Bowie vault is slowly being thrown open with two previously unreleased albums being scheduled for release on Record Store Day. Cracked Actor (Live in Los Angeles 1974) is a three-album set recorded on the Philly Dogs Tour in September 1974 and Bowpromo is a single-sided release that recreates a rare 1971 pressing that featured seven Bowie tracks on its A-side.
