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T O P I C R E V I E WRobert PearlmanA new temporary exhibition at the Brno Technical Museum in the Czech Republic bills itself as being "based around one of the largest collections of astronaut signatures in the world." "They Invited Us All to Space" currently includes 572 autographs. "The exhibition reminds us that in the entire space era of mankind, which began with Yuri Gagarin in April 1961, 511 men and 68 women from 38 countries have so far gone into orbit," said Tomáš Přibyl, curator of the Aviation and Space section of Brno Technical Museum. Tomáš is a member of the collectSPACE community, but how does this collection stack up against others'? Are there other similar museum displays?Mike DixonMichael Wright's collection would have to come close. Michael WrightThanks very much for the name check. It looks to be a very interesting collection – but I would say that my own is more complete (but I would say that wouldn't I!). I have now taken the decision to stop updating my "All Space Voyagers" page. I feel that after 60 years of space travel the time is right to draw a line. I shall continue to try to collect, particularly from the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo era, and will continue to update the site with autographs and artifacts from those individuals and missions that inspire me. Ken HavekotteI know that our own Bob McLeod has also been working on a similar autograph collection of all space fliers since Vostok to present. As for myself, I stopped pursuing such a collection when the Russian Soyuz flights got to become so many during the 1990's and with so many international flight crew participates, and, with China joining the arena of those human space-fearing nations at the time. One question though is that have all the signatures been verified as genuine? MartinAirInteresting! The blue banner reads "The largest collection of astronaut signatures in the Czech Republic." The collection has been recognized in the local Czech book of records.Bob MMy congratulations, Tomas, on your collection, and with it shown in such an impressive display and especially on your many years of dedication in assembling such an impressive collection.Others of us have also been involved in collecting astronaut, cosmonaut and space voyager autographs - in my case since 1972 - and I have, like Tomas, experienced much success, too much disappointment and many years of effort/time/expense used in building my collection.But all things must come to an end, and I have decided to end my decades-long space voyager autograph collection at space voyager number 565, Victor Glover, who flew on SpaceX Crew-1 in November 2020.There were many reasons that resulted in my decision, chief among them is the continuing difficulty in obtaining autographs of first-time fliers, with many not signing at all and even when some do, often their autographs are no more than a careless scribble. With so many people scheduled to fly and many more certainly to fly in the years to come, continuing such a collection, at least for me, would be an exercise in futility and disappointment. But certainly an autograph can be obtained now and then, with cosmonaut autographs for sale. But my collecting goal has been to obtain autographs of every space voyager, with the only exception the two doomed rookie cosmonauts on Soyuz 11, and not just continue with an autograph here and there with "holes" in my collection. And Ken has mentioned authenticity, and authenticity of our autographs is of utmost concern and importance, with hundreds of autographs in such huge collections coming from so many and varied sources.
"They Invited Us All to Space" currently includes 572 autographs. "The exhibition reminds us that in the entire space era of mankind, which began with Yuri Gagarin in April 1961, 511 men and 68 women from 38 countries have so far gone into orbit," said Tomáš Přibyl, curator of the Aviation and Space section of Brno Technical Museum.
"The exhibition reminds us that in the entire space era of mankind, which began with Yuri Gagarin in April 1961, 511 men and 68 women from 38 countries have so far gone into orbit," said Tomáš Přibyl, curator of the Aviation and Space section of Brno Technical Museum.
Tomáš is a member of the collectSPACE community, but how does this collection stack up against others'? Are there other similar museum displays?
I have now taken the decision to stop updating my "All Space Voyagers" page. I feel that after 60 years of space travel the time is right to draw a line. I shall continue to try to collect, particularly from the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo era, and will continue to update the site with autographs and artifacts from those individuals and missions that inspire me.
As for myself, I stopped pursuing such a collection when the Russian Soyuz flights got to become so many during the 1990's and with so many international flight crew participates, and, with China joining the arena of those human space-fearing nations at the time.
One question though is that have all the signatures been verified as genuine?
Others of us have also been involved in collecting astronaut, cosmonaut and space voyager autographs - in my case since 1972 - and I have, like Tomas, experienced much success, too much disappointment and many years of effort/time/expense used in building my collection.
But all things must come to an end, and I have decided to end my decades-long space voyager autograph collection at space voyager number 565, Victor Glover, who flew on SpaceX Crew-1 in November 2020.
There were many reasons that resulted in my decision, chief among them is the continuing difficulty in obtaining autographs of first-time fliers, with many not signing at all and even when some do, often their autographs are no more than a careless scribble. With so many people scheduled to fly and many more certainly to fly in the years to come, continuing such a collection, at least for me, would be an exercise in futility and disappointment.
But certainly an autograph can be obtained now and then, with cosmonaut autographs for sale. But my collecting goal has been to obtain autographs of every space voyager, with the only exception the two doomed rookie cosmonauts on Soyuz 11, and not just continue with an autograph here and there with "holes" in my collection.
And Ken has mentioned authenticity, and authenticity of our autographs is of utmost concern and importance, with hundreds of autographs in such huge collections coming from so many and varied sources.
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