The U.S. Postal Service today released two new stamps commemorating NASA’s MESSENGER mission and Alan Shepard’s historic suborbital flight aboard the Freedom 7 capsule on 5 May 1961.  The first spacecraft to orbit Mercury and the Mercury Project that sent the first Americans into space bracket 50 years of U.S. space accomplishments. In comments made at a ceremony unveiling the stamps at the Kennedy Space Center today, NASA’s Deputy Director of Planetary Science Jim Adams said, “It’s an impressive thing to think about how explorers and scientists have worked hand-in-hand.  As exploration and science continue to work together, we all look forward to what the future holds.”