Atoll

A heart shaped atoll for St Valentine's day.  Is that a love boat making its way in the middle?  The card had a rough journey from Russia and arrived with a curl, as can be seen by the marks, however the stamps it came with were in perfect condition:

The two dogs are Belka (Squirrel) and Strelka (Little Arrow). The stamp was issued in October 2010 to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of their space flight.  After being launched into space on 19th August 1960 and sharing the Sputnik 5 capsule with a squirrel, 40 mice, 2 rats and a variety of plants and fungi they spent a day in orbit, the retrorocket fired and the landing capsule and the dogs returned to Earth and  were recovered. The first living animals to survive a space orbit. Strelka later gave birth to 6 puppies, one of which was called Pushinka (fluffy) and was given to President John Kennedy's daughter Caroline by Nikita Khrushchev.  Strelka's line does not end there for the Kennedy family had a dog called Charlie and he and Pushinka produced 4 puppies which Kennedy humorously referred to as the pupniks.

The 1909 painting "At The Dressing Table" is a self portrait by Zinaida E.Serebryakova (1884-1967) and was her breakthrough painting when it was exhibited. Her main subject matter at this time was rural life, for a biography of her life and paintings see here  The stamp was issued in July 2009 for her 125th Birth Anniversary.

Lastly we have the world wildlife stamp issued as part of a set of Rare Animals in October 2007.  This one features the Oriental Stork which is on the red list of  threatened species and now this beautiful bird is only found in Russia and China.  

Thank you Marina for the cards and stamps which are a perfect combination of some of my favourite things - sea, space, art and fauna.