Write up! Now you can send a letter to space for just R40

The Chinese postal service is breaking new ground, allowing citizens to write letters to space, at the cost of about $3 (R43).

According to Global Times, the service was recently launched by the China Space Administration and China Post.

Those keen to get their letter-writing skills on, like it is 1982, can buy a space letter kit. The kit includes a special space letterhead, postage-paid envelope and two postcards with space images.

And you don't even need to worry about an address, the envelope is already addressed to “the space post office”.

The letter can be dropped off at any post office and will then be scanned and sent to the Chinese space station.

It gives a whole new meaning to “air mail”.

The US space agency has a service where children can have an astronaut pen pal.

Redtri explains that young aspiring spacemen and women can pick an astronaut “pal” on the  NASA’s website.

Then write away, asking for advice or an autograph, to: NASA Johnson Space Center, CB/Astronaut Office, Houston, TX 77058.

In 2012, astronaut Don Pettit decided that the International Space Station should have an address: Node 2, Deck 5, ISS, LEO 51.603.

Business Insider reported that Pettit detailed the inspiration behind the address in a blog post.

“My sleep station, a coffin-sized box, is located in the fifth deck space of Node 2. From an Earth-based perspective, I pop out of my sleep station as if I were coming out of the floor. I am thus situated on the International Space Station (ISS) in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) with an orbital inclination of 51.6 degrees (the angle of our orbit plane to the equator) and an average altitude of 400 kilometres.”

“51.603" would be the space zip code. The first three digits of the space zip code (516) refer to the orbital inclination. The last two digits (03) are a designator for your particular space station.”