Postcards sent from outer space

BEIJING - Think getting a letter from the other side of the globe is cool? Imagine getting one from space.

In a new marketing ploy by China's postal service, people can write letters that will be sent digitally to the Tiangong-1 space lab. From a special e-mail box onboard, the letter will be sent back to Earth and then delivered to the receiver in printed form.

"New media has dealt a heavy blow to the traditional postal service. The number of people writing letters dropped significantly in recent years," Sun Buxin, director of the Haidian district post office in Beijing and executive director of the China Space Post Office, said on Thursday.