Chris Calle (American, B. 1961) "Space Mobile on the Moon" Signed lower left. Original Mixed Media painting on Illustration Board. Provenance: Collection of James A. Helzer (1946-2008), Founder of Unicover Corporation. This painting was originally published on the Fleetwood Maximum Card for the U.S. 45c Surface Rover 20th UPU Congress Series stamp issued November 27, 1989. Can you imagine a young moon child, nose pressed against space station window glass, anxiously awaiting a birthday gift from grandma? A popular thesis on building communities in outer space suggests a mining colony on the moon to mine aluminum and titanium for structural shells, silicon for solar cells, silica for making glass, and oxygen, the most common element in moonrock, for life-support systems and rocket propellant. These raw materials would supply space station building sites in the furthest reaches of the universe. If such a mining colony were established, "moon miners" would undoubtedly want to keep in touch with family and friends back on earth. And grandmas would definitely want to send packages to grandchildren, even on the moon, so a postal system would be a must. Mail would obviously reach the moon via spacecraft, and once on the moon a lunar rover like the one illustrated in this painting would take the place of the trusty, earthbound mail jeep to deliver letters and packages to lunar addresses. Image Size: 16 x 20.5 in. Overall Size: 20 x 25.5 in. Unframed. (B12170)