Space News
space history and artifacts articles

Messages
space history discussion forums

Sightings
worldwide astronaut appearances

Resources
selected space history documents

  collectSPACE: Messages
  Patches & Pins
  NASA Emblems: A Guide to Collecting (Herron)

Post New Topic  Post A Reply
profile | register | preferences | faq | search

next newest topic | next oldest topic
Author Topic:   NASA Emblems: A Guide to Collecting (Herron)
Besixdouze
Member

Posts: 235
From: Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Registered: Jan 2011

posted 12-01-2011 08:13 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Besixdouze   Click Here to Email Besixdouze     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Anybody out there able to provide a review of this new offering?
NASA Emblems: A Guide to Collecting [Kindle Edition]
by Russell Herron

For millennia humankind has wondered at the stars and planets that can be seen in the night sky. In the second half of the 20th century, we made our first explorations beyond our native planet. A major contributor to this exploration has been and still is the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration commonly known as NASA.

Over the 50+ years that NASA has been actively involved in space exploration, it has carried out hundreds of missions. Most of the missions have been identified by art work which is used on objects ranging from the space craft itself to uniforms and sometimes cocktail glasses. The emblems are most commonly found on cloth patches and lapel pins but they also appear on commemorative coins, china, and a host of other souvenir products.

Collecting these emblems can be an interesting way to explore the history of space flight and the science of the cosmos. Each emblem is a work of art in its own right and it also tells a story of the mission and the people who made it possible.

This guide serves as an introduction for the beginning collector of NASA Emblems and may clarify some questions for the experienced collector. It provides the introduction to an avocation that can last a lifetime.

I'm assuming it's the same Russell Herron associated with Galactic Voyager.

My initial impression, from viewing the previews, is that it doesn't add much to what has already been well documented elsewhere but I'd be interested in hearing what other Kindle owning members think. And the answer to the question 'do you have any connection with the author?' is No.

mama04
Member

Posts: 151
From: Haarlem, N-H, Netherlands
Registered: Sep 2010

posted 12-01-2011 01:06 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for mama04   Click Here to Email mama04     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Well, I bought it to check it out and... It isn't very good I'm afraid. I really wanted to like it but it just doesn't add anything. It just covers the basics, nice to read once but nothing special.

Tykeanaut
Member

Posts: 2212
From: Worcestershire, England, UK.
Registered: Apr 2008

posted 12-01-2011 02:14 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Tykeanaut   Click Here to Email Tykeanaut     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Try and get hold of an edition of Space Patches by Judith Kaplan and Robert Muniz. ISBN 0-8069-6294-1 It's a book from 1986 but quite a good read.

hoorenz
Member

Posts: 1031
From: The Netherlands
Registered: Jan 2003

posted 12-01-2011 02:26 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for hoorenz   Click Here to Email hoorenz     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Although it has a lot of mistakes, yes, Kaplan is very inspiring. We should put a list with mistakes online somewhere.

Just downloaded this Herron guide and it is not good. Actually, it leaves me with more questions than answers.

By the way, Kaplan is not one of the three(!) books included in the literature list. For some reason, one of them is "Soyuz" by Shayler and Hall. There is nothing about patches, let alone NASA patches in that book.

Besixdouze
Member

Posts: 235
From: Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Registered: Jan 2011

posted 12-01-2011 02:43 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Besixdouze   Click Here to Email Besixdouze     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I have the Kaplan, the Still and the Lattimer guides and was hoping this might expand on what they had to offer but it seems I was right in my original assumption. Thanks for the input though. Looks like there is still a niche here to fill.

Jacques van Oene
Member

Posts: 861
From: Houten, The Netherlands
Registered: Oct 2001

posted 12-01-2011 08:10 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Jacques van Oene     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Well what would you (collectSPACE readers) like to see or read in a book about space patches?

spaced out
Member

Posts: 3110
From: Paris, France
Registered: Aug 2003

posted 12-02-2011 01:45 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for spaced out   Click Here to Email spaced out     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
John Bisney has a book about space patches in the works which should be leagues ahead of any existing published works on the subject.

In the meantime just about everything there is to know about space patches is covered by a Jacques & Erik's site, Gene's site and my own.

I have had people ask me if intend to produce a book and obviously it would be fairly easy to convert the contents of my site into book form and publish it. There seems to be a certain prestige associated with being the author of a book as opposed to the author of a website.

The problem as I see it is that the content of the printed book would be out of date almost immediately. New discoveries are made at regular intervals, old suspicions confirmed, others disproved by new facts. A book can summarize the state of knowledge at a particular time but only a website can really stay accurate and provide up-to-date information.

I'm certainly looking forward to buying and reading John's book but at the same time I'd be just as happy, and no less impressed with his work, if he were to publish his findings in the form of a website.

Jim Behling
Member

Posts: 1463
From: Cape Canaveral, FL
Registered: Mar 2010

posted 12-02-2011 09:06 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Jim Behling   Click Here to Email Jim Behling     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by spaced out:
In the meantime just about everything there is to know about space patches is covered by a Jacques & Erik's site, Gene's site and my own.
Huh? That is little myopic. Manned spaceflight does not have monopoly on space patches. Delta II has more patches than all of NASA manned flights combined. There is a larger world out there with ELV launches or even shuttle payload patches.

spaced out
Member

Posts: 3110
From: Paris, France
Registered: Aug 2003

posted 12-02-2011 12:09 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for spaced out   Click Here to Email spaced out     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Ok Jim, you got me there. I must admit I was only thinking in terms of US manned space mission patches.

So you need a book that covers all patches from every manned and unmanned mission ever launched... That's going to be one BIG book.

mama04
Member

Posts: 151
From: Haarlem, N-H, Netherlands
Registered: Sep 2010

posted 12-02-2011 02:07 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for mama04   Click Here to Email mama04     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Although I have to admit that it probably is impossible to have a book that includes every patch ever made, I wouls still very much like to have one. Perhaps I am old fashioned but I kinda like the feeling of a book. My ideal book would be a mix of Chris' excellent website, Jacques' excellent website and would include front and back scans, the story behind he design, estimated value (difficult to keep updated), etc.

Perhaps a PDF would be even better, that way I could carry it with me on my iPad. I for one would be more than willing to help and put in the required time and effort to make it happen...

benguttery
Member

Posts: 547
From: Fort Worth, TX, USA
Registered: Feb 2005

posted 12-02-2011 03:00 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for benguttery   Click Here to Email benguttery     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Any thoughts on David Duke's book? I bought the paper copy when he first produced it and then asked to buy an electronic copy when revised. The electronic copy works great on the iPad.

mama04
Member

Posts: 151
From: Haarlem, N-H, Netherlands
Registered: Sep 2010

posted 12-02-2011 03:27 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for mama04   Click Here to Email mama04     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
David's book is fairly good. I have been working with him on improving it. He's currently working on a vastly better, larger version of his book that will include back scan's. I've a pdf version of a few of my additions. It still needs a lot of work but it's certainly a good effort.

GoesTo11
Member

Posts: 1309
From: Denver, CO
Registered: Jun 2004

posted 12-02-2011 03:32 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for GoesTo11   Click Here to Email GoesTo11     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by spaced out:
John Bisney has a book about space patches in the works which should be leagues ahead of any existing published works on the subject.

Has this book been referenced here on another thread? This is the first I've heard of David Duke's, as well. More info on both would be much appreciated. Thanks!

fredtrav
Member

Posts: 1673
From: Birmingham AL
Registered: Aug 2010

posted 12-02-2011 04:06 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for fredtrav   Click Here to Email fredtrav     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I too like a book to hold and reference. The ideal solution might be to have a book and included in the price would be access to a website where it is updated on some sort of regular basis.

mama04
Member

Posts: 151
From: Haarlem, N-H, Netherlands
Registered: Sep 2010

posted 12-03-2011 01:47 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for mama04   Click Here to Email mama04     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
The reference to David Duke's book is here: Patch catalog: "Space, The Final Frontier Cloth Patches" by David and Iris Duke. He offered it for sale on eBay a while ago. Not sure if he has any copy's left, but I could always ask for you if interested.

His work is a work of love, he and his wife Iris put a lot of time and effort into it. It's far from perfect however, for once his numbering system is quite difficult to understand. I still don't get it, but that could be me. It is however the best book out there. If we could combine it with all the knowledge of this forum and the expertise of it's members it could be great. Combine it with the websites of Chris and Jacques and perhaps a few others ou there, it could and would be fantastic.

hoorenz
Member

Posts: 1031
From: The Netherlands
Registered: Jan 2003

posted 12-03-2011 04:31 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for hoorenz   Click Here to Email hoorenz     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
The past 1.5 years, we have been experimenting with a Flickr account. It is still in its first stages, but you can have a look here. We started the account when we received Duke's book and realized something like this should be done online (see the discussion about Duke's catalogue). The project has been sleeping for a while, but we picked it up again recently.

Our Flickr account is not really a collector's guide, but it is meant to become an overview of patches and the information about them, basically the same idea we had when starting our website Spacepatches.nl in 1998. Again, this is just an experiment and you would still find mistakes, omissions and inconsistencies. We hope to polish and improve it the coming year.

For what it is now:

On the left side (big images) you see the latest images uploaded (sorry, no back sides). We are doing this pretty randomly, when time permits, and quality of the images is also varying a bit. On the right, you can browse the images by category.

Although the navigation is something to get used to, we chose Flickr because it is easy to make sets and categories and add (and change) descriptions, to have a patch appear in more than one set and to re-arrange categories. We can work on it from different locations and also, it is possible for visitors to add comments, which can next be included in the descriptions.

We are trying to add new pictures every week, but as you can understand, it will take many months or even years to "complete" and we would, at one point, certainly need the help of others to provide images of areas that we do not collect ourselves. Maybe in a couple of years we can transfer everything outside of Flickr to our own website, but for now, the flexibility of such an online photo gallery works out very well.

benguttery
Member

Posts: 547
From: Fort Worth, TX, USA
Registered: Feb 2005

posted 12-03-2011 01:30 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for benguttery   Click Here to Email benguttery     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Totally agree an online solution is the best. Whether it is Flickr or not, I don't know. By the way, the Flick images look great!

Online allows for rapid discussion and better images than books do.

Recall we've discussed putting together catalogs by various patch makers such as Cargo Bay, Hunt, etc.?

The ability to contribute and comment is vital.

butch wilks
Member

Posts: 333
From: Lowestoft, Suffolk, UK
Registered: Mar 2007

posted 12-03-2011 04:22 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for butch wilks   Click Here to Email butch wilks     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I too would like to recommend the book by David and Iris Duke as a good patch guide.

You can get it from time to time on eBay, and they do put a heads up on here to when they are go going to put some of them on eBay.

You can get an update from them too. I got one for the book I got off them some time ago for only $2 for 10+ pages.

Some of you may have this book and I'd like to add to what has been put down here to it being a good guide. It has a good all round look at most of the patches that are out there.

As to patches guide on the web I'd recommend too the web pages by spacepatch.nl and the ones by spacedout too, as being two of the best you can look at as a guide. Well done guys.

galacticvoyager
New Member

Posts: 4
From: Houston, Texas, USA
Registered: Dec 2011

posted 12-16-2011 11:43 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for galacticvoyager     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
For the record, I am the author of the book discussed here. I appreciate the feedback from the knowledgeable participants in this forum.

This little book was intended for the beginning collector and doesn't contain much information for long time, expert collectors. My goal was to summarize the extensive documentation available into a concise introduction for the person who is getting started in the hobby.

It is my intention to update this volume annually, so any suggestions regarding what should be included as well as any corrections that are needed will be greatly appreciated.

From the discussion, it seems that using the term "Guide" in the title caused many to assume the book was a comprehensive catalog of all mission patches ever made. As this in not the objective of the book, I am thinking that the next edition should be retitled as "NASA Emblems: An Introduction to Collecting". Let me know what you think.

All times are CT (US)

next newest topic | next oldest topic

Administrative Options: Close Topic | Archive/Move | Delete Topic
Post New Topic  Post A Reply
Hop to:

Contact Us | The Source for Space History & Artifacts

Copyright 2020 collectSPACE.com All rights reserved.


Ultimate Bulletin Board 5.47a





advertisement