Stamp Profile

Austria
UN Space Conference in Vienna

Issue Date: 09/08/1982

On November 17, 1978, the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 33/16 calling for a second UN conference on the exploration and peaceful utilisation of outer space (UNISPACE 82). In November 1980, the General Assembly accepted the invitation of the Austrian government to host the conference in Vienna from August 9 to 21. The first UN Space Conference was also held in Vienna in 1968.

From that time until 1982, space technology had progressed considerably, and undreamed-of perspectives had opened up for the future. These new opportunities and their significance for mankind and future generations were among the topics to be discussed at this major conference.

While the conference was held at Vienna's Hofburg conference centre, a space exhibition was organised at the Viennese Messepalast fair centre featuring demonstrations of satellite transmission. The public was informed about the state of the art in space technology and the success of its peaceful utilisation to the benefit of mankind. The stamp shows the take-off of a rocket.

© Austria Post Office

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Austria
Austro Mir 91 - The First Austrian in Space

Issue Date: 02/10/1991

On the occasion of a state visit in 1987, then Soviet Foreign Minister Ryschov laid before the Austrian government a proposal to coordinate a joint Soviet- Austrian mission to the Mir space station. In spite of the high financing costs, the Council of Ministers decided to accept this offer on April 5, 1988 and in October the relevant treaty was signed.

This treaty marked the birth of the Austro Mir Project. Lift off to the space station occurred using a Soyus- TM-rocket, in which engineer Franz Viehboeck traveled as the first Austrian in space. A series of technical and medical experiments were performed in cooperation with Soviet astronauts and one thousand of these commemorative stamps illustrating the space station accompanied the team on their flight.

© Austria Post Office

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Austria
100th Birthday of Space Pioneer Hermann Potocnik

Issue Date: 27/11/1992

The stamp's motif gives away its theme. The discoveries of space pioneer Hermann Potocnik are closely linked to modern communications technology. Hermann Potocnik, born the son of an imperial navy doctor on December 22, 1892 in Pola, Istria, is considered the inventor of the geo-stationary synchronized orbital path, one of the fundamental basis of modern satellite and communications technology.

The path of orbit, at an altitude of roughly 36,000 kilometers, guarantees optimal transfer of radio waves. For many years, however, international recognition for this pioneering discovery was denied Potocnik. Only during a congress from April 24-25, 1976 was the significance of his discovery to contemporary space exploration and space travel confirmed, albeit posthumously, before an audience of aerospace scientists, cosmologists, and political and economic personalities.

Already in 1929 Potocnik wanted to establish a manned space station on this orbital route, however, at the time it was not known that it is unsuitable for manned flights since it is situated outside earth's magnetic field and influenced by solar winds. Potocnik, who published under the pseudonym Noordung died on August 27, 1929 at the age of 37.

© Austria Post Office

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Austria
Astronomer Johannes Kepler

Issue date: 05/11/1953

This stamp shows the most important teacher working at a Protestant school during the Reformation age in Austria. It is the famous mathematician and astronomer Johannes Kepler who is the originator of modern astronomy and discovered the three eponymous Kepler's laws of planetary motion.

He was born in the city of Württemberg on December 27, 1751 and died in Regensburg on November 15, 1630. From 1593 to 1598 he taught at the Protestant Ständeschule in Graz and from 1612 to 1626 at the Landschaftsschule in Linz, which had been founded by the Protestant estates of Upper Austria. Since Luther's time, the relations between church and school had been very close and almost indissoluble. According to the Protestant view, the Bible representing the word of God isthe basis of Christian faith and life.

Therefore, Dr. Martin Luther translated the Bible into German and demanded from the nobility and the city administrations the establishment of schools so that young people could learn languages and the art of readingin order to be really able to benefit from the translated Bible in their creed and life.

© Austria Post Office

 

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