Shenzhou 7 Mission, China

Next come two great space-related cards from China...erm, have I mentioned that I have this idea of going to China for a year in September? Nope? Ermm, well, yeah, it's an idea I've been having for a while now...have no idea if it will come true or not, but well, I guess I should start spreading the word slowly so in case it happens it ain't too shocking :)
Though it is my parents who still have no clue about this idea since I am sure they would be the most shocked ones (and most probably disapprove it), but personally I just feel that this is something I have to do...unless I find some freakin' super, extra-paying job here in the meantime...for which the prospects right now are like non-existent....

Anyways, whatever happens, you'll be timely informed - but for now, let's stick to the cards :)

Received these two in a swap 3 years ago, from frankly, have NO idea whom...

They were issued by the State Postal Bureau in 2009, commemorating the Shenzhou 7 Mission - Shenzhou is a spacecraft developed and operated by the People's Republic of China to support its manned spaceflight program.  

There have been 10 missions launched in total, and these two cards commemorate the 7th one which was the third manned spaceflight mission of the Chinese Spaceflight program, carried out by crew members Zhai Zhigang and Liu Boming (I believe that the upper card shows Boming).

It was launched 25 September 2008, by a Long March 2F rocket which lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 21:10 CST. The mission lasted three days, after which the craft landed safely in Siziwang Banner in central Inner Mongolia on 28 September 2008, at 17:37 CST
.

Here is how Shenzhou 7 looked like.
The next mission for Shenzhou 11 is planned for 2016 or later....who knows, maybe it will happen when I'm in China :D

no stamps, since both cards came in an envelope...and this is how the backside lookslike...with something that may be considerd as an printed stamp.

Yuri Gagarin, Italy

This post was supposed to happen 3 days ago, commemorating Gagarin´s travel into space...but due to a number of reasons I didn't manage to do it in time...and not even the next day...or the next...(I actually haven't been able to post anything for like two weeks even though I had some cards already prepared)....as for the reasons...my allergy kicked in and it's been terribly annoying, preventing me from normal functioning...then I had to do deal with some issues out of nowhere....and on top of it prepare for this job interview which took place yesterday....and which I must say was like one of the most disappointing job interviews I have ever had...like EVER!  It was not about something long-term...just one year for this future project...and you know, I was so delighted that I actually entered the shortlisted-candidates....but then because of a few factors my delight went down the drain...and then you leave the building, wandering like lost around the city and you have this sight of armed soldiers, tanks, water-cannons because of the current situation here and the protests going on.....yeah, quite a reality to live in...and when you sum it all up, postcards are not really something you think of...apologies to all waiting a card from me...I promise to put it in the mail in the next few days :)


Anyways, back to Gagarin...as you know, on April 12th, 1961, the charming Gagarin and his Vostok went on a journey into outer space, completing an orbit of the Earth...the first human to have ever done so...yeah, if I ever get asked to name like the 5 most charming men in the world, Gagarin would take one of the spots ;-)

now this maxi-card here was issued by the Italian post in 2011, commemorating the then, 50th anniversary of his journey into space....I have no cards or anything commemorating the 55th unfortunately

Greetings From...

Here comes like one of the coolest GF cards out there....the Black Hole one :)

and one thing is for sure - absolutely zero Postcrossing members and 000 000 people living there :)
The whole Black Hole thing is a really complex thing and I wont get into details now...however, I don't know if you are familiar with some of the recent discoveries about the gravitational waves and the sound they recorded during the collision of two black holes...that was a really big day in the astronomy world I must say...I also attended a lecture on this like a month ago or so, and this Wednesday I will be attending one held by Nagin Cox....ok, that one will have to do nothing with Black Holes and Gravitational waves, but it would be like the first time that I attend a lecture held by someone coming directly from NASA - it is like so super exciting!! She will be talking about all the rovers that have so far visited Mars, including the last one, that is Curiosity and all their findings.

Anyways, with regards to the black holes...here is how it sounds when two of them collide and become one

and that is all thanks to the gravitational waves, and if you wanna get some more technical insight into this and see a computer simulation of two black holes coliding, check out this video

Our Universe is just so never-endingly mind-blowing, isn't it?!!!

and well, this card can't go out with this super-cool-black-hole song :D

Star Wars

Ok, one more card for today...and one that arrived this year...so season of 2016 is officially opened in the labels' section :)

card sent by my Seattle 'mailbox attacker', a.k.a Bryon....and this is an amazing amazing card, showing the Episode IV (New Hope) of Star Wars!! (those are the two Suns of the planet Tatooine)

Ok, a small revelation here...as much as im into space stuff and such, I cannot say I've been that much into the Star War movies (in fact I still havent seen the latest one that was released in December last year (and no, I haven't watched Interstellar either, in case someone was wondering).
HOWEVER, HOWEVER, I am more than thrilled to have received this card...along with the most amazing stamps below ...

and the stamps below (and maybe also the card) arrived due to my comment here on Agi's blog, back in October 2011...yep, 2011!! The comment refers to this Star Wars Post, where I have again stated that I've never been addicted by the Star Wars' Series, but that I'd love to have the stamps...and a nice Seattle fairy grants (part of) my wish...since the rest of the stamps from the set have been dispersed among my Croatian and Serbian pals....so, my dear Croatian and Serbian pals, make sure you watch out your Star Wars stamps and you don't wanna have me invited over to your house as a precaution measure :D :D :D

Speaking of the stamps...the USPS issued this amazing set back in 2007, consisting of 15 stamps in total (geez, that is 12 stamps I should be after in my pals' mail).
So, I was lucky enough to get Princess Leia and R2D2, Han Solo and Chewbacca, aaaaand Luke Skywalker!

Please also notice the USPS cancellation...I rarely notice a cancellation with all those 9 numbers...and in such a clear manner...so, kinda perfect! :)

Thanks a bunch Bryon for this mailbox attack! May the Force be with You! :P

Thanks for reading and see you all...sooner or later :)

Waving to Saturn...can you find me? :D

Hello hello! Foggy Saturday evening here...just came back from the theatre..watched a really good but really sad and touching play and am still under the impressions...and since it is rather late to be doing some cleaning around, it is more wisely to do an update here, don't you think? :)

And I will start today's update with some space cards cos I wanted to share something with you all, in a link somewhere below :)

As some of you know, at the beginning of the year, ok, precisely in March, I signed up for a beginners' course in Astronomy..I didn't really plan it...one day a friend of mine had posted about it on Facebook, got me interested, and I love trying out new stuff and I decided to give this a try...and I am more than glad I did.

It wasn't really easy, cos there is lots of math and physics stuff and my brain is simply NOT programmed in that fashion..it is more of a social sciences brain, but still... I did learn a lot and in a way have the basis to continue learning more...of course, I passed the exam, though papers do not really mean much to me..and eventually became part of the Astronomical Society here in Skopje, which gave me the opportunity to meet great people and be part of some really cool events!

I missed the Gemenids meteor shower that happened very recently, mainly cos it was way too cold and the whole observation was scheduled for 2 am, to last till 5 am, in an area outside Skopje...I do have my regrets now, but I just really wasn't up for it....in August though, I did spend 5 days at our beautiful Prespa Lake for the observation of the Perseid meteor shower and that was one of the most fantastic experiences despite I was really really reluctant about going cos of a number of reasons...

Anyways, what I actually wanted to talk about today was an event that happened this July 19, when the whole world was waving to Saturn! It was the day when the Earth smiled =)
To get more familiar with the event, you can read this article The Day the Earth smiled

Aaaaaaaaandddd....of course, our Astronomical Society did mark this event, and the outcome is this cool video, which few days ago was published on the website of Universe Today! Yippiee!!

Here is the video...can you see ME waving? :P

and this is the article along with the video published on the Universe Today

it may sound like a crazy idea, waving to Saturn, but it was just über cool! :)))

Special thanks to Bryon for surprising me with that Saturn postcard...came so perfect for such an update :)