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Author
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Topic: EB: Apollo 1 crew autopen lithograph
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streetsnake
Member Posts: 180
From: Ohio
Registered: Oct 2012
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posted 04-10-2019 04:14 PM
   
For sale on eBay, an Apollo 1 crew portrait NASA lithograph with autopen signatures. |
Chuckster01
Member Posts: 873
From: Orlando, FL
Registered: Jan 2014
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posted 04-10-2019 07:22 PM
It is my understanding that after the fire NASA destroyed all of the crew autopen lithographs that were on hand and deleted the autopen signatures from the machines. Only the one sent out before the fire survived. These are very hard to come by. |
streetsnake
Member Posts: 180
From: Ohio
Registered: Oct 2012
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posted 04-10-2019 07:32 PM
Thank you for that information. I did not know the specific protocol. I appreciate you sharing that with us. |
Ken Havekotte
Member Posts: 2914
From: Merritt Island, Florida, Brevard
Registered: Mar 2001
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posted 04-10-2019 08:53 PM
That's correct, Chuck, as NASA no longer had Apollo 1 autopen-crew signed lithographs available just for the asking. In addition, as you pointed out, the space agency discontinued the usage of all autopen-signature types and facsimiles of those NASA astronauts no longer with us.During my many decades of space collecting, going back to the later Gemini flights, I've only seen 3-5 separate AS-204 autopen-crew signed lithos! I did let one of them go in a major space auction by RR last year, or it may had been in 2017, along with an autopen-crew signed non-cancelled cover. So it would appear that not too many astronaut autograph collectors at all were able to obtain them from MSC or KSC before the tragic spacecraft fire broke out in late Jan. 1967. Other extremely hard-to-find crew signed autopen-lithos would have to be some of the Gemini flight crews, for sure in my book, the first two manned Gemini crews of GT-3 and 4. |
Chuckster01
Member Posts: 873
From: Orlando, FL
Registered: Jan 2014
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posted 04-11-2019 04:59 AM
Ken, I am not sure if you recall I got my Apollo 1 autopen from you many years ago and thanks to another cS member I got my Gemini GT-4 autopen last year completing my collection of every mission from Mercury through to the end of the Apollo program.As it took me almost 20 years to collect them I do not believe many complete sets showing every autopen signature example and every individual crew have been amassed by a single collector. I am happy to say I am one of them. |
Ken Havekotte
Member Posts: 2914
From: Merritt Island, Florida, Brevard
Registered: Mar 2001
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posted 04-11-2019 06:46 AM
Oh my gosh, Chuck, you are correct as I now do recall. You did in fact get one of my extra Apollo 1 autopen-crew signed lithographs. Did you also get/have all the different autopen variants of the Apollo crews? For example, I know there were two different autopen-types and photos used for the crews of Apollo 10, 13, 14 (just one photo though), and I think 15 that I'll recheck on. But for Apollo 11, there may be three different patterns, that I'll recheck on later. |
Dirk
Member Posts: 933
From: Belgium
Registered: Jul 2003
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posted 04-11-2019 02:42 PM
Some years ago I found this scan (not the litho), with autopen signatures. I do have a litho with an autopen Grissom signature. |
Ken Havekotte
Member Posts: 2914
From: Merritt Island, Florida, Brevard
Registered: Mar 2001
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posted 04-11-2019 04:09 PM
Most interesting Dirk, however, I am a bit confused as to why this particular unpublished glossy(?) photo contained autopen signatures of the crew. Was it perhaps an internal NASA release with the autopen set included? If so, it's the first that I have seen, or just maybe, it wasn't by the space agency, but perhaps a private release of some kind. What else do you know about it, Dirk? |
Hart Sastrowardoyo
Member Posts: 3445
From: Toms River, NJ
Registered: Aug 2000
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posted 04-11-2019 06:39 PM
I believe that to be a later issue, combining the glossy with autopens of the crew. (Perhaps by scanning the autopens onto the photo then printing it out?) I don't remember where, but I got it as a bonus (perhaps from an eBay purchase) and I had hung it in my new workspace around 2012 before selling it. |
Dirk
Member Posts: 933
From: Belgium
Registered: Jul 2003
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posted 04-12-2019 03:57 AM
No idea any more how and when I got it. But I bought it years ago from a US seller, as it is still in a plastic map as we do not have them here. Signatures are indeed part of the photo. |
RMH
Member Posts: 577
From: Ohio
Registered: Mar 2001
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posted 04-13-2019 08:20 AM
I thought I got an autopen copy of the Apollo 1 crew from JSC back in the 1980s. I'm not sure how else I would have acquired it. My autopens differ from that in the original post in that Grissom's is in black ink while White's and Chaffee's are in blue ink. Are the two color ink versions an oddity? |
Chuckster01
Member Posts: 873
From: Orlando, FL
Registered: Jan 2014
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posted 04-13-2019 04:36 PM
Many different pens where used in the autopen machines. Not all of the lithographs where made the same day or at the same time. In the Gemini and Apollo days it was very common to have multiple pens used on a single autopen signed item. This practice made them look hand signed so much so on some lithographs and covers that people still argue that some are hands signed to this day (until you show them another one). |
Dirk
Member Posts: 933
From: Belgium
Registered: Jul 2003
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posted 04-14-2019 03:03 PM
This my Grissom autopen (signed in ball point). Strange is that on the back his name is also written, hard to see on the normal scan, but better if I make a negative scan.I suppose this was done by the original owner of that litho.  
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streetsnake
Member Posts: 180
From: Ohio
Registered: Oct 2012
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posted 04-15-2019 06:15 AM
Ending today at 5:00 EDT. |
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