Mail postmark space

The Chinese postal industry hopes to boost business growth with services that allow customers to send mail with space postmarks.

Thien Cung - 1 (Photo: Orbiter.ch)

According to information on the Chinese space program website, customer emails will be sent to a computer on the Thien Cung-1 spacecraft. The computer will then send it back to China Post Office underground in Beijing.

The email of the customer will then be printed on paper, placed in the cosmic envelope and postmarked by a new galaxy and sent to the recipient.

Yang Liwei, director of the "Space Post" program, said it was the latest initiative of the Chinese postal industry to attract more customers and more Chinese people to use online services.

The Thien Cung - 1 unmanned spacecraft was put into orbit in September, as part of China's plan to build an ambitious manned space station by 2020.