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Author
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Topic: Favorite autograph(s) in your space collection
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COR482932
Member Posts: 212
From: Cork, Ireland
Registered: Mar 2012
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posted 03-24-2012 03:03 PM
   
The other day I received three personalised photos from Apollo 13 LMP Fred Haise. Along with personalisations from Gene Kranz, Bob Crippen, Chris Kraft and Guy Bluford that I also have, I would have to say that these are my most precious autographs in my collection.So I was just wondering what other people thought their favourite autographs were? |
dogcrew5369
Member Posts: 750
From: Statesville, NC
Registered: Mar 2009
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posted 03-24-2012 04:01 PM
My most beloved autographs would be: an Alan Bean Apollo 12, Charlie Duke Apollo 15, Fred Haise Apollo 13, Gene Cernan nice inscription in his book, a couple Tom Marshburns (he's from my town), and NASA photos of Peggy Whitson, Janice Voss, Marsha Ivins, Joe Tanner, Norm Thagard, John Phillips, Vladimir Titov and Bill Shepherd on a Columbia litho in person, Owen Garriott, John Glenn, Eileen Collins, Pam Melroy and Hoot Gibson with nice inscriptions. All these autographs are inscribed to myself. I could go with some nice aviation autographs dear to me, but I know this is purely space. |
COR482932
Member Posts: 212
From: Cork, Ireland
Registered: Mar 2012
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posted 03-24-2012 05:17 PM
Yeah that's a great collection. I only started collecting at the end of the year, and when I was waiting for my first request from Gene Kranz in January, little did I know that now I would have people like Fred Haise, and hopefully there's more to come because I'm only 15. I hope to get Scott Carpenter when I build up a little bit of money. |
Hart Sastrowardoyo
Member Posts: 3445
From: Toms River, NJ
Registered: Aug 2000
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posted 03-24-2012 06:23 PM
Always the next one, because that's the one I've been looking for! |
onesmallstep
Member Posts: 1310
From: Staten Island, New York USA
Registered: Nov 2007
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posted 03-28-2012 03:56 PM
I'll have to say Hank Hartsfield, the first astronaut I ever met; the crew of Apollo 11; Alan Bean signing his first space art book; Scott Carpenter, making a NY appearance with Charlie Duke and signing both a Mercury-era portrait and his biography; the late James Webb, whom I met after the Apollo 11 10th anniversary in DC and was unrecognizable (except to me!); John Glenn; and Eileen Collins. |
schnappsicle
Member Posts: 396
From: Houston, TX, USA
Registered: Jan 2012
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posted 05-03-2012 09:48 AM
Over the past 42 years, I've collected every autographed photos of Mercury, Gemini and Apollo astronaut. Naturally, I have many duplicates. My favorite is an Alan Bean that I got him to sign at last year's Spacefest. It's the mini pan of him taking photos of the LM's footpads. I asked him to tell me a little about the photo. Instead of telling me, he wrote an entire paragraph just above his signature.A few minutes later, I turned to Ed Mitchell and asked the same thing. He didn't seem to want to say or write very much. All he gave me was "Me and the TV". I'll give him a second chance at Spacefest IV. Basically, an autograph doesn't have to be expensive to be valuable. It's all in the eye of the beholder. Incidentally, I hate personalized autographs. While it's great to see my name on a picture, I won't live forever. Someday my daughter will have to sell my photos. It'll be a lot easier (and far more profitable) for her if I leave my name off the photos. That's just my personal opinion. |
Apollo 8
Member Posts: 176
From: Vienna, Austria
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 05-03-2012 11:14 AM
My favourite autograph? - John Glenn! And maybe Franz Viehböck, who was our first (and so far only) Austrian in space.Two weeks ago I received an Apollo 8 suitup picture, autographed by Frank Borman. I bought this autograph and so it is not personalized. But it means much to me, because Apollo 8 is the first space mission I can remember. I framed this autograph together with a beautiful Lion Brothers Apollo 8 patch and an Apollo 8 25th Anniversary Commemorative Patch. Talking about the Apollo era my goal was to collect one astronaut´s autograph per flown mission. An Apollo X Tom Stafford autographed picture is still missing. If I could find one, maybe the one with Tom Stafford ans Snoopy, this would become another favourite to me... |
Fezman92
Member Posts: 1031
From: New Jersey, USA
Registered: Mar 2010
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posted 05-03-2012 12:10 PM
Right now my favorites are John Glenn, the 134 flight directors, and one of the Canada Arm operators. I would love to get the 134 crew signatures because I saw that flight in person and it helped me through a rough patch in my life. |
fredtrav
Member Posts: 1673
From: Birmingham AL
Registered: Aug 2010
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posted 05-03-2012 01:46 PM
My favorite is a cover, Second Man Orbit Shot, signed by M. Scott Carpenter with "Mercury Astronaut" added underneath and also signed by Wernher Von Braun who added "Mercury Obstetrician" underneath his signature.
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Space Geek FL
Member Posts: 20
From: Inverness, FL, USA
Registered: Oct 2011
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posted 05-03-2012 04:04 PM
I have many that I really like but my favorite is a photo of myself and John Young taken at the STS-107 Memorial Service, I sent it to him at JSC and he was kind enough to personalize it. My favorite multi signed item is a 1/72 space shuttle Discovery model that has over 75 signatures on it...and counting. |
Rick Mulheirn
Member Posts: 4167
From: England
Registered: Feb 2001
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posted 05-03-2012 05:08 PM
My favourite autograph is an uninscribed Armstrong WSS litho I received through the mail in the mid 80s, largely because I am lucky to still own it.My approach to autographs back then could best be described as "scatter gun". I had written to a number of astronauts with no thought given to their accomplishments or "pecking order". My primary area of interest at the time was hardware. Furthermore, I was not familiar with "best practice" or the etiquette of autograph requests in those days ie. mailing photos, a sae, return postage etc. I simply wrote to Mr Armstrong at an address in Lebanon, Ohio I had somehow stumbled across in a book. The signed litho turned up on my door step some 6 or 7 weeks later in a Johnson Space Center brown envelope. I had seen an autopen machine on tv during a BBC Apollo documentary and presumed, since this had come from JSC it must have been an autopen. I dismissed the signature and gave the litho away to a colleague. Remember, this was way before the internet as we know it; no collectSPACE and no exemplar studies. Some weeks or months later I mailed two 10x8 photos to the same address, along with a self addressed envelope and payment for return postage. Six weeks later both photos were returned; one was signed, one was not. The package included a note from Mr Armstrong's administrative assistant explaining that the signed litho had a genuine signature. It had simply been forwarded to JSC for mailing to minimise the personal costs. Safe to say I managed to retrieve the signed litho which is now stored with the confirming letter! It is displayed on my website. |
jemmy
Member Posts: 176
From:
Registered: Dec 2010
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posted 05-04-2012 03:59 AM
Great story, website and collection Rick.
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englau
Member Posts: 110
From: tampa, florida, usa
Registered: Mar 2012
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posted 05-26-2012 12:58 AM
Well, mine isn't from an astronaut, but from Christa McAuliffe's mother (Grace Corrigan).I first became interested in space when I was 8 years and wrote to Grace long after Christa passed on. Grace not only sent me a photo of Christa that she signed, but also a 2 page note to me. Later on she even sent me a book by mail after I visited her town. It just has a lot more meaning wrapped into it than any other signatures that I have acquired because I know she took the time to get to know me and make sure I gained something very thoughtful back then! |
Steve Zarelli
Member Posts: 731
From: Upstate New York, USA
Registered: Mar 2001
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posted 05-26-2012 07:22 AM
This thread needs photos!  |
englau
Member Posts: 110
From: tampa, florida, usa
Registered: Mar 2012
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posted 05-28-2012 09:15 PM
Agreed. Here's mine. The Buzz one, not sure about authenticity. Given to me by my dad. The others are signed and written in person.  
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icarkie
Member Posts: 618
From: BURTON ON TRENT /England
Registered: Nov 2002
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posted 05-29-2012 01:30 PM
quote:
Originally posted by englau:
It just has a lot more meaning wrapped into it than any other signatures that I have acquired because I know she took the time to get to know me and make sure I gained something very thoughtful back then!
Great post.Mine would be my first Alan Bean (thanks to Al Hallonquist). I met Al Bean later here in the UK and my other John Glenn. For a collecting point of view John Glenn has been a top guy over the last 50 odd years... |
Hart Sastrowardoyo
Member Posts: 3445
From: Toms River, NJ
Registered: Aug 2000
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posted 05-29-2012 03:03 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Steve Zarelli:
This thread needs photos!
Well, here's my collection, focusing on Shuttle-era astronauts. Still got a few to scan and upload. |
Tykeanaut
Member Posts: 2212
From: Worcestershire, England, UK.
Registered: Apr 2008
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posted 05-30-2012 03:11 AM
Impressive! |
nasamad
Member Posts: 2121
From: Essex, UK
Registered: Jul 2001
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posted 05-30-2012 10:54 AM
Mines easy, a set of 12 photos signed by the staff of the orbiter processing facilities. They took so much care to sign for me and write nice messages. You can't put a price on that! |
Blackarrow
Member Posts: 3118
From: Belfast, United Kingdom
Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 05-30-2012 06:31 PM
I probably should say the personal letter to me signed by Neil Armstrong in 1971, or the personalized and signed WSS picture of Neil Armstrong from 1984, but on balance I think the full-page handwitten letter signed by Jim Irwin thanking me for a copy of a newspaper article I wrote based on an interview with him in 1983 on one of his many visits to Northern Ireland. It has a special position in my collection. |
sikotic19
Member Posts: 80
From: Chattanooga, TN, USA
Registered: Jul 2001
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posted 06-03-2012 05:20 PM
Hart, after looking at your collection (nice by the way) I realize we were both at a booksigning in Nashville in 2002. I know because I have an amazingly similar autograph from Taylor Wang even down to the date. I even remember seeing you as you were the only other person I noticed with a book signed by other astronauts. |
spacerock1
New Member Posts:
From:
Registered:
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posted 06-03-2012 06:02 PM
As only a 16 year old, my favorites would have to be my John Glenn portrait (computer inscribed, Charlie Duke index card, and Jerry Ross portrait. The Jerry Ross has a very nice inscription and he drew a little smiley face in his helmet. |
Hart Sastrowardoyo
Member Posts: 3445
From: Toms River, NJ
Registered: Aug 2000
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posted 06-03-2012 06:19 PM
quote:
Originally posted by sikotic19:
I even remember seeing you as you were the only other person I noticed with a book signed by other astronauts.
Thanks, but that wasn't me.Here's the genesis of my Space Shuttle: 20 Years book. I originally was trying to get the National Air and Space Museum copy, one signed by six astronauts plus the author. Even though I contacted the museum many times and received assurances that such a copy would be available, I never was able to secure such a copy. I forget where it was I heard that a bookstore in Nashville would be offering a copy signed by Wang and Hoot Gibson, but I ordered it and got it through the mail. That's the copy I have — I never was in Nashville, and though I may have been willing, there's no way I could have made it to Tennessee at the time, due to personal issues. As time went on I realized I may have gotten the better book... because Wang is such a hard signature to get. And as you know, Hoot couldn't make it, but I was able to get him in 2010 when I interviewed him for an article on Challenger's 25th anniversary. (Probably the only other "comparable" copy would have been to get the copy signed by William Thornton.) And as an aside, Massimino was the first astronaut I saw after the book was published. I was disappointed that I did not have the book handy so he could sign it. Even though Mass did other New York-area appearances, I finally got his signature — in 2011, in Boston! There are about less than a dozen astronauts on my bucket list, those that I've met but didn't sign the book, either because I met them before the book publication or I wasn't able to get an autograph from them for whatever reason. But I'm narrowing down that list. As of this weekend I should have 122 signatures in that book (either itself or on additional pages.) That includes 112 who actually flew on the shuttle, plus 10 shuttle-related: astronauts during time of Group 8 to 19 who never flew the shuttle into orbit (such as Haise), alternates/backups, others who trained but never flew, and Lovell, who did the foreword. |
COR482932
Member Posts: 212
From: Cork, Ireland
Registered: Mar 2012
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posted 06-03-2012 06:58 PM
Since I started this topic a while back, I have watched my collection grow in size. In the last month or so, I have received a few signatures from a few Space Shuttle and Apollo Astronauts to add to my collection. I am only 15 and only started collecting at the start of the year. Since this topic is still about the favourite autographs in my collection, I thought I might share with you my Top 10 autographs in my collection: - Fred Haise
- Gene Kranz
- John Glenn
- Frank Borman
- Edgar Mitchell
- Bob Crippen
- Guy Bluford
- Mike Mullane
- Richard Truly
- Kevin Ford
All of these are through the mail and for free, with the exception of Edgar Mitchell who charges $60 so I had to save up for like two months!  |
sikotic19
Member Posts: 80
From: Chattanooga, TN, USA
Registered: Jul 2001
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posted 06-04-2012 07:24 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Hart Sastrowardoyo:
Thanks, but that wasn't me.
Well I wonder who it was I saw at the book signing? I have a book called the History of NASA that I was already collecting autographs in when the Space Shuttle book came out and it's the show piece of my collection. About halfway down there is a picture of Taylor Wang at that booksigning and a link to my copy of the Space Shuttle book. I think I have 15 autographs in mine now. |
schnappsicle
Member Posts: 396
From: Houston, TX, USA
Registered: Jan 2012
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posted 06-04-2012 03:30 PM
Back in 1972, I put a photo of Dave Scott working the drill at the ALSEP site in an envelope and mailed it to his house. I knew where he lived because I saw the trucks parked in his yard during the Apollo 15 mission. A few weeks later, I received my first astronaut autograph in the mail. I still have that photo hanging on my wall. Naturally, it's my favorite, not only because it was my first, but because he was so tremendously nice in honoring all my latter requests through the mail. I even got one 8 months after he moved to California. I thought for sure I'd never see that one again.Since I lived in Houston at the time, I looked up the addresses of other astronauts in the phone book, many of whom were actually listed. I sent a photo to Rusty Schweickart and asked him to sign my picture. Instead of an autograph, he sent me a card which read "Unfortunately, I do not sign autographs mailed to my house. If you want me to sign something, please mail it to my work address..." That's how I got the NASA address. Along with Schweickart, I also managed to get the Apollo 17 crew as well as the last 4 Apollo crews. Almost 40 years later, I was looking at all the pictures I had in my collection. As I was looking them up online, I found out how cheaply I could complete my astronaut autograph collection, which I finally did this past week. Had I not received a positive response from Scott, I never would have begun collection all the pictures that adorn my wall today. |
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