Exactly 20 years ago, on November 20, 1998, the “Zarya” Functional Cargo Block formed the very first module of the International Space Station after being orbited by the Russian “Proton” rocket-carrier from Baykonur Cosmodrome. The “Marka” joint-stock company of the Russian Federal Communications Agency issued the postal stationery (a post card) to celebrate 20 years of the International Space Station. The 20 November 2018 marks a very special date in the ISS’s calendar, as it has now officially been orbiting the Earth for twenty years.

Total edition is 13 000 post cards.

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On November 21, 2018 at 01:43 UTC the “Vega” rocket-carrier was launched from Kourou Cosmodrome in French Guiana. The rocket orbited the “Mohammed VI-В” French-built, Moroccan-owned military surveillance satellite.

On November 19, 2018, at 23:40 UTC the “Long March –2D” (“Changzheng-2D”) rocket-carrier was launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Jiuquan, Gansu Province, the northwest of China. The rocket orbited the “Shiyan-6” satellite as the main payload on the launch. The space vehicle will be used for conducting space environment exploration experiments. The four smaller secondary payloads aboard the rocket included the 45-kilogram “Jiading-1” (OKW-1) satellite; the “Tianzhi-1” satellite; the “Tianping 1A” and “Tianping 1B” satellites. This “Long March-2D” space start was China’s 34th space launch attempt of the year, further extending a record pace of activity for the country’s space program. All but one of China’s launch attempts have been successful.