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Author Topic:   Largest collection of astronaut autographs
Robert Pearlman
Editor

Posts: 47836
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 02-12-2022 07:15 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
A 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 Dixon
Member

Posts: 1594
From: Kew, Victoria, Australia
Registered: May 2003

posted 02-12-2022 08:03 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Mike Dixon   Click Here to Email Mike Dixon     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Michael Wright's collection would have to come close.

Michael Wright
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Posts: 32
From: Aberdeen, Scotland
Registered: Aug 2000

posted 02-14-2022 07:43 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Michael Wright   Click Here to Email Michael Wright     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Thanks 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 Havekotte
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Posts: 3392
From: Merritt Island, Florida, Brevard
Registered: Mar 2001

posted 02-14-2022 08:54 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Ken Havekotte   Click Here to Email Ken Havekotte     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I 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?

MartinAir
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Posts: 148
From:
Registered: Oct 2020

posted 02-14-2022 09:13 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for MartinAir   Click Here to Email MartinAir     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Interesting! 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 M
Member

Posts: 1805
From: Atlanta-area, GA USA
Registered: Aug 2000

posted 02-15-2022 06:07 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Bob M   Click Here to Email Bob M     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
My 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.

All times are CT (US)

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