ASCENSION ISLAND

Ascension Island is an isolated volcanic island, 7°56' south of the Equator in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is about 1,600 kilometres (1,000 mi) from the coast of Africa and 2,250 kilometres (1,400 mi) from the coast of Brazil. It is governed as part of the British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha,^[2] of which the main island, Saint Helena, is around 1,300 kilometres (800 mi) to the southeast. The territory also includes the sparsely-populated Tristan da Cunha archipelago, some 3,730 kilometres (2,300 mi) to the south, about halfway to the Antarctic Circle. 

The island is named after the day of its recorded discovery, Ascension Day. It was an important safe haven and coaling station to mariners and for commercial airliners during the days of international air travel by flying boats. During World War II it was an important naval and air station, especially providing antisubmarine warfare bases in the Battle of the Atlantic. Ascension Island was garrisoned by the British Admiralty from 22 October 1815 to 1922. The main island has an area of approximately 88 km². A volcanic peak rising from 100 km (62 mi) west of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, much of the island is a wasteland of lava flows and cinder cones; forty-four distinct dormant craters have been identified.

The island is the location of RAF Ascension Island, which is a Royal Air Force station, a European Space Agency rocket tracking station, an Anglo-American signals intelligence facility and the BBC World Service Atlantic Relay Station. The island was used extensively as a staging point by the British military during the Falklands War. Ascension Island hosts one of four ground antennas that assist in the operation of the Global Positioning System (GPS) navigational system (others are on Kwajalein Island, Diego Garcia, and Cape Canaveral). NASA operates a Meter Class Autonomous Telescope (MCAT) on Ascension Island for tracking orbital debris, which is potentially hazardous to operating spacecraft and astronauts, at a facility called the John Africano NASA/AFRL Orbital Debris Observatory.

it issues its own postage stamps, which provide a source of income for the island from sales to overseas collectors, as well as being used for domestic and international postage. Originally mail was carried on an irregular basis as ships called. A datestamp was in use from February 1858, and in 1863 the Union Steamship Co. began regular carriage of mail, continuing until 1977. On 3 March 1867 British postage stamps became valid for Ascension mail and continued in use until 1922, when Ascension became a dependency of Saint Helena.  On 2 November 1922, nine stamps of St. Helena overprinted "ASCENSION" replaced British stamps. These were followed up in 1924 by a series of 12 using the St. Helena design but inscribed for Ascension. In 1934 a pictorial series of ten engraved stamps depicted various views of the island. In 1938 the pictorials were re-issued with a portrait of George VI replacing his father's image. Various colour and perforation changes ensued, with the last being issued in February 1953. 

A new definitive series of 13 in 1956 resembled the previous stamps, but was a little taller, and used maps and pictures of native animals in addition to local scenes. No further stamps were issued until 1963 when there was a series of 14 featuring birds. From 1963 on, commemorative and special issues started to appear more frequently. In the 1990s the typical policy was to issue 5-6 sets per year, each consisting of 4–5 designs.

Beautiful Airmail Registered covers from the remote island called Ascension Island ! It was a thrilling moment when i receive these two perfect covers with recently adopted blue UPU barcode label system for registered letters. Ascension islands issue beautiful stamps every year for the promotion of philately. All letters goes via  Royal Mail GB , so they affix an extra barcode label for registered letters. The first cover also has an extra Royal Mail label, I carefully removed and affixed on the backside of the cover.