PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109. TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

NOTE TO EDITORSDec. 9, 1997

MARS PATHFINDER POSTAGE STAMP CEREMONY SET FOR DEC. 10

JPL and the U.S. Postal Service will celebrate NASA's Mars Pathfinder mission in a brief, 10 a.m. ceremony on Wednesday, Dec. 10, during which the new $3 Priority Mail stamp depicting Pathfinder on the surface of Mars will be unveiled.

This event is not open to the general public, but news media and photographers are invited to attend.

The Pathfinder image selected for the $3 Priority Mail stamp is one of the first to be transmitted after landing on July 4, 1997. In the foreground is the Sojourner rover still folded up and waiting to be released from the petal of the lander. Within a day of landing, Sojourner had exited the lander's ramp to begin its travels around the landing site. Fifteen million stamp sheets have been printed for first day issuance on Dec. 10, with information about the image and the mission printed on the reverse side of the sheets.

Those participating in the ceremony will include the U.S. Marine Corps' Third Marine Corps Aircraft Wing Band, JPL Deputy Director Larry Dumas, NASA Management Office Manager Dr. Robert Parker and Pasadena Postmaster Robert Mysel. Dumas and Dr. Tirso del Junco, chairman of the U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors, will preside over the activities.

For further information about the event, contact the JPL Public Information Office at (818) 354-5011.