posted 03-12-2016 07:09 PM               

I've worked events at all different types of venues, including at the National Air and Space Museum, where you might be surprised how quickly a crowd can form out of seemingly nowhere. One moment, there is just one person around, the next there are dozens.

posted 03-12-2016 07:21 PM               

Last year Udvar-Hazy held a Hubble 25 commemoration, with most of the astronauts having an organized signing - two tables, two astronauts per table. At least a dozen astronauts did "formal" autographs (including an impromptu signing by Altman and perhaps one other astronaut at the end), and two others signed on the fly.

One chose not to sign. I did not approach that person, suspecting they only wanted to sign through their outside company and/or representative. And that was fine.

The formal signings were (I believe) in blocks of one hour each, which surprisingly was enough time to get stuff signed by two astronauts, queue up again, then get another two astronauts. Even with brief conversation and the occasional photo with the astronaut.

posted 03-14-2016 10:39 AM               

That said, it's both right and wrong to blame eBay (and other auction sites, as well as other venues) for the current state and mindset of autograph givers and seekers. Astronaut autographs have been for sale — even by the astronauts themselves — long before eBay came around. Certainly eBay may have been the most popular and arguable the most successful of the auction sites.

But for the most part, it's a buyers market on eBay. Just look at the number of items that are being relisted and/or have their price lowered. Just because someone's asking even $300 for an autograph doesn't necessarily mean they're going to get it — and the asking price is what many people are wrongly fixated on.

And without the buying of autographs many of us wouldn't be able to get that missing piece. And let's face it, in today's economy, things happen. Either one can pay your obligations or have a signed photo sitting in a frame.

People are still respectful. For the most part people understand that getting autographs is as much making it a good experience for the next person as it is for getting something for you.

Five years ago, most of the STS-134 crew plus two other astronauts were Johns Hopkins University. The lecture room if I recall correctly had a max capacity of 300 people. Afterward, we all followed the crew out, where they went into a room. We formed an impromptu and orderly queue, hoping that they would come out and sign down the line for everybody.

posted 04-20-2016 12:25 PM               

But to me, it's secondary to meeting and talking with them. I got to talk with Al Worden at an event in Seattle, when they sat him right next to me before his talk (and nobody else recognized him). I asked him about the little things that never make the books, such as when and how he got his gold astronaut pin and some stuff like that. That memory is worth MUCH more then the signature I got on his book after the event was over. He wasn't signing anything else, and I was fine with not even getting the book signed.

I got a call from Al Bean a while back, out of the blue, in response to a letter I'd sent him. That moment, to me, is priceless. I would have cheapened it had I asked if I could send him something to sign for me.

I don't buy autographs, either. And I'd never dream of selling any I've gotten in person.

posted 04-20-2016 01:50 PM            

Alan Bean has always been a very sociable person, always. Al Worden not the opposite but one on one no where near an event happening, notta. Buzz Aldrin used to be a nice person until just before he divorced his last wife, as well as Harrison Schmitt in the early years, "Greed"(?) seems to have taken over.

Seems against my "religion" to pay for an autograph, especially at the ridiculously outrageous prices many astronauts charge, far more than established sports stars or others who rely on their popularity to make not just a living but millions.

posted 04-20-2016 06:27 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Wehaveliftoff:
Good couple of points. Meeting them is and can be something, but you do it so many times it can just be another meeting

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quote:

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Alan Bean has always been a very sociable person, always.

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quote:

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"Greed"(?) seems to have taken over.

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posted 04-20-2016 07:32 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Wehaveliftoff:
...as well as Harrison Schmitt in the early years

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posted 04-20-2016 08:34 PM               

I have to say that if I'd been signing autographs for several decades, like many astronauts have done, I think I'd get to the point of a no autograph policy, as well. That has to get really old after a while. Or, perhaps I would charge an exorbitant fee simply to discourage autograph hounds (and I admit to being one myself).

posted 04-22-2016 07:57 PM               

I've told this story before, but at one event which featured astronauts as speakers, I approached one and introduced myself. They were sitting next to another astronaut and I got introduced to them as well.

I asked the first astronaut for an autograph. They declined, saying they don't sign - by mail, in-person - at all. I thanked them for their time, and the second astronaut signed for me, noting that in-person was the only way to do so, as they don't sign TTM.

posted 04-27-2016 08:21 AM               

I believe Bean has changed his policies lately, but a few years ago, he filled up a 16x20 print of the soil sample photo with his recollections of the moment the photo was taken. He's as much an artist with his pen as he is with his paint brushes.