Postal Service: ‘Star Trek,’ trucks, planets and Shirley Temple stamps in 2016

This year, with an assist from the United States Postal Service, you can share your fandom for “Star Trek” on the occasion of the television show’s 50th anniversary or propel images of real-life space missions into the world with the just-announced series of 2016 stamps.

The Postal Service provided a preview of its 2016 stamps last week, including the 1960s television series and NASA’s New Horizons mission, plus tributes to Sarah Vaughan, Shirley Temple, trucks, flowers and soda fountains.

“Our stamps articulate the American experience through miniature works of art,” acting stamp services director Mary-Anne Penner said in a news release.

Here are some of the stamps planned for 2016. For more information, go to about.usps.com.

▪ “Star Trek”: Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the TV premiere, with four digital illustrations inspired by classic elements of the program, including the Starfleet insignia, the Starship Enterprise and Spock’s Vulcan salute.

▪ Quilled Paper Heart: The heart shape is made from paper strips of many colors and is surrounded by white paper swirls on a white background.

▪ Botanical Art: 10 floral designs that appeared in an American nursery catalog between 1891 and 1912.

▪ Black Heritage: Richard Allen: Preacher, activist and civic leader (1760-1831), to coincide with the 200th anniversary of Allen’s founding of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church.

▪ Lunar New Year, Year of the Monkey: Artist Kam Mak incorporated elements from the previous series of Lunar New Year stamps: the intricate cut-paper image of a monkey and the Chinese character for “monkey,” drawn in grass-style calligraphy.

▪ Music Icon, Sarah Vaughan: The jazz and pop star is remembered in a Bart Forbes oil painting based on a 1955 photograph by Hugh Bell.

▪ Legends of Hollywood, Shirley Temple: Shirley Temple becomes the 20th inductee into the Postal Service’s Legends of Hollywood series. The stamp art features a painting by Tim O’Brien based on a 1935 still image from “Curly Top.”

▪ Pets: Featuring Eric Isselee photographs representing puppies, betta fish, iguanas, hamsters, goldfish, parrots, guinea pigs, tortoises, rabbits, kittens, corn snakes, mice, hermit crabs, chinchillas, gerbils, dogs, parakeets, horses, cats and geckos.

▪ Indiana Statehood: Celebrating the 200th anniversary of Indiana becoming the 19th state of the Union on Dec. 11, 1816.

▪ Repeal of the Stamp Act, 1766: Commemorates the 250th anniversary of the repeal of the Stamp Act, British legislation that galvanized and united the American colonies and set them on a path toward revolution.

▪ Views of Our Planets: A pane of 16 stamps showcasing some of the more visually compelling full-disk images Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

▪ Pluto, Explored!: In 2006, NASA placed a 29-cent 1991 “Pluto: Not Yet Explored” stamp in the New Horizons spacecraft. In 2015, the spacecraft carried the stamp on its history-making mission to Pluto and beyond. The souvenir sheet of four stamps contains two new stamps, showing an artist’s rendering of the New Horizons spacecraft and one of the spacecraft’s image of Pluto taken near its closest approach.

▪ Jaime Escalante: The California educator who used unconventional methods to inspire his inner-city students, in a digital illustration that resembles an oil painting.

▪ Soda Fountain Favorites: Five illustrations by Nancy Stahl – a double-spoon ice cream cone, an egg creme, a banana split, a root beer float and a hot fudge sundae.

▪ Pickup Trucks: Featuring four iconic American models: the 1938 International Harvester D-2; the 1953 Chevrolet; the 1948 Ford F-1; and the 1965 Ford F-100, rendered by illustrator Chris Lyons.

This story was originally published January 6, 2016 at 1:42 PM with the headline "Postal Service: ‘Star Trek,’ trucks, planets and Shirley Temple stamps in 2016."