In Brief:

January 12, 2000
Web posted at: 4:16 p.m. EST (2116 GMT)

The Space Shuttle Program today joined video games, the Cabbage Patch Kids dolls and 12 other American memories as part of the U.S. Postal Service's "Celebrate the Century" program; the 15-stamp series was unveiled today at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Florida.

The stamps, which are available at post offices across the country starting Wednesday, were selected by the public during nationwide balloting in February 1999. The stamps highlight significant events of the 1980s.

The text on the gummed side of the space shuttle stamp reads, "Space Shuttles have transformed U.S. space exploration. These reusable crafts can launch satellites and house labs for scientific experiments. Columbia, the first Space Shuttle, was launched April 12, 1981."

European space consortium Arianespace's revenue fell 11 percent last year, but officials attributed the decline to a temporary drop in the satellite launching market.

Arianespace chief financial officer Gerhard Schulz said Wednesday that revenues in 2000 should be higher than last year.

"The market is clearly taking off again," he said. Revenues dropped to $1.01 billion, from $1.12 billion in 1998, said Arianespace, the commercial arm for Europe's Ariane rocket.

The company still expects to report a profit for 1999, chief executive Jean-Marie Luton told a news conference.

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