Red Square, Moscow, Russia

Russian troops marched across Red Square in a huge military parade on Sunday, May 9, 2015 to commemorate the 70th anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany.

Western leaders including those from U.S. and U.K. boycotted the parade over the Ukraine crisis. Nonetheless, President Vladimir Putin was joined by 30 foreign leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping and United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. During the 60th anniversary in 2005, 53 heads of state, including President George W. Bush, attended the Victory Day ceremony at Red Square.

Postcard RU-3105343 from Russia was a vintage postcard showing Red Square in Moscow with Saint Basil's Cathedral on the left and Kremlin Palace on the right.

Saint Basil's Cathedral, Moscow, Russia

RU-3443849 came from Russia with two postcards showing various landmarks in Moscow, one of which features Saint Basil's Cathedral, once a Orthodox church and now a part of the State Historical Museum in Red Square in Moscow, Russia. The building, located in immediate proximity of the Kremlin Palace, is officially known as the Cathedral of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos on the Moat. Built from 1555 to 1561 on orders from Ivan the Terrible to commemorate the siege of Kazan, it was once the tallest building in Moscow until the completion of the Ivan the Great Bell Tower in 1600. Shaped as a flame of a bonfire, the Cathedral has a unique design with eight side churches surrounding around the ninth church of Intercession in the center. It was recognized as part of the Kremlin and Red Square UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1990.

Earth Observation from Space

Fifty five years ago, the U.S. satellite Explorer VI was launched by a Thor DM-18 Able III rocket from Cape Canaveral's LC-17A site in Florida on August 7, 1959.  It took the first black-and-white photo of the planet Earth from space, showing a portion of the ocean and the cloud cover over the Central Pacific Ocean. It started an era of the earth observation from space.

Postcard US-1893434 to Russia was one of the six limited edition IKONOS Collector cards from Space Imaging 2003 International Image Festival. It shows the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour on the northern bank of the Moskva River, a few blocks southwest of the Kremlin, in Moscow, Russia. By comparing the image card with the recent satellite image from the same area on Google Maps, you can find out those changes in the area over the past 10 years.

Dawn Over Moscow

Postcard RU-2410688 from Russia shows a beautiful dawn over the Khoroshevsky District, part of the North-Western Administrative Okrug in Moscow where many historical and cultural monuments are located. In the middle of the picture on the card is the Triumph Palace Building, a 57-story 1,000-unit luxury apartment building that was once the tallest building in all of Europe at 264.1 m or 866 ft until 2007.

With a stamp featuring one of the three 2014 Olympic Winter Games mascots "the Polar Bear", the postcard's arrival coincides the closing of the Games in Sochi.