John glenn upper volta stamp9/26/2023 ![]() "In fact, the new press was being used to print the Project Mercury stamp." "At the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, a rumor was spread that a new multicolor Giori press was locked away for printing test runs of multicolored money," the USPS later recounted in a 2005 release. Another engraver who did the lettering worked on weekends. The picture engraver also gave the impression he was on leave, but came in at night. The stamp's designer, Charles Chickering, worked from home to create the blue and yellow depiction of Friendship 7 circling the Earth while all along claiming to be on vacation. Just over 400 people knew the secret, about half of them postal inspectors. ![]() Knowledge of the Project Mercury stamp project was kept on a need-to-know basis. "None of the postmasters knew what the closely guarded packages contained until the word was given from Washington. "Designed and printed under tight security precautions at the Bureau of Engraving and printing, the stamp was distributed well in advance of the flight to more than 300 large postal installations, where it was held intact until the flight was completed," the department stated. Keeping the production and distribution of more than one million postage stamps a surprise though, required some creative logistics. The Post Office Department wanted to keep the stamp a secret in case the mission failed.
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