posted 06-08-2002 10:50 AM               

I'm a builder. I specialize in taking down old pre-Civil War houses that are in jeopardy of being destroyed and rebuilding them in a different location for people who will appreciate them. I'm the old house guy who dreams of going into space... go figure!

So, what do you guys do to pay for this hobby?

posted 06-08-2002 11:07 AM            

I'm married to a gal I knew in junior high school and otherwise spend my time working on my Olds Cutlass, drinking scotch, and playing with my telescope.

Mostly, I just like hanging out with my wife. No kids yet, but probably soon.

posted 06-08-2002 12:52 PM               

If they ever ask for volunteers to go to Mars... I hope you guys don't mind me being first in line.

posted 06-08-2002 01:34 PM               

I have two great daughters. My oldest is looking at colleges for engineering - her aspiration is to work for NASA with a tour on the ISS (who says you can't live vicariously through your kids?).

posted 06-08-2002 01:36 PM               

I work for the local electricity network so we dig holes on live cables to mend them, not the greatest of jobs but the pay is good and the guys I work with are a good laugh (even though I do get ribbed about my hobby and one of the guys was sure Louis Armstrong was first to walk on the moon!).

posted 06-08-2002 04:20 PM            

To suppliment my income I started an equipment rental business working with the entertainment industry out here in Hawaii to support my beautiful wife and brilliant 6 year old son. My new business has proved very lucrative, and allows me to participate in this wonderful hobby of collectingSPACE.

We own an 8" Dobsonian telescope that we use very often to view the heavens out here in paradise. My son is very much into space exploration. He has been to two shuttle launches in his short little life so far, and looking forward to the July 19 launch. He actually knows quite a bit more about the Apollo program than most college graduates. Recently he had the honor/opportunity to meet and spend a short period of time with Buzz Aldrin, when he and Lois came to visit our wonderful island. Buzz presented him with an Apollo 11 crew patch and was explaining to my son the symbolism of "the Eagle and Olive branch".

That was a very special moment for both my son and I.

Thanx for letting me share my stuff with everyone!

posted 06-08-2002 07:47 PM               

My wonderful wife cares for our two young daughters (ages 2 and 6 months). I spend the vast majority of my free time with the three of them. I am still very close to my folks, who live just a short distance from our home. My dad actually designed and made by hand each of the zippers that were used on the Apollo J-missions.

Claim to fame (?): I am related by marriage to the bass player for The Who. Maybe one day I'll be lucky enough to meet him!

posted 06-08-2002 07:54 PM               

I hope to be included in the next astronaut selection (or the next, or the next...)

I'm single and just turned 29. I began collecting astronaut autographs in 1991, but I only recently began collecting seriously.

posted 06-08-2002 10:42 PM               

I can't complain too much though, at least I HAVE a job these days!

I am also a freelance flight instructor, ham radio operator, amateur astronomer, scuba diver (my newest sport!), Ebay addict, and pretty much an all around geek.

I'm single and live with my 2 rabbits and cat. I have yet to find a women that understands me and my odd interests.

posted 06-09-2002 10:03 AM               

First autographs were the full crew of Apollo 17 at President Nixon's inaugural parade in 1973. Gene Cernan was outside a big tent looking at the Lunar Rover that they would be riding down Pennsylvania Avenue, and I went up to congratulate him on a very successful mission, not having anything to sign I ran to a stand and bought a postcard of some monument or such and returned just in time to have him sign it before they were leaving. Ron Evans was inside the tent with Harrison Schmitt and Gene disappeared with my postcard, returning a few minutes later with a complete crew autographed item. Always a class guy in my opinion is Eugene Cernan!! (And no, I dont have that anymore either, I was 19 and it got stolen from my dorm room at college, nicely framed and matted with the Apollo 17 patch.)

posted 06-09-2002 11:22 AM               

Got into space, I dunno, about twenty years ago when they started doing shuttle launches. Really got into it, collecting autographs and such, mebbe about five years after that. And now that I have a decent car and an odd schedule I'm seeing the astronauts when I can, when they make appearances between Boston and DC. The recent Sally Ride appearance in Summit, NJ, for example, I did an article on it which made their local paper (New Providence-Berkeley Heights Independent Press).

posted 06-09-2002 11:51 AM               

I work for a small cargo/logistics company and I travel a little bit for work. (I am writing this from a cargo station in Atlanta right now.)

My memory goes back as far as the Apollo 1 fire. I recall all of the Apollo missions as a child. I had a telescope etc... a young geek!

I figured my fiancee, Brenda, a kindergarten teacher, was the right girl when she drove with me the 500 odd miles across the desert from Huntington Beach to Tucson to meet Jim Lovell at Novaspace last year. (She ended up talking to Mrs. Lovell about kids and having a great time.)

I started collecting about three years ago when I met Buzz Aldrin at the Richard Nixon library. (I paid the shocking sum of $10 for an autographed WSS Kodak at the event!) That hooked me! In retrospect, I guess I should have bought two.

I am fortunate to live about 100 miles from Edwards AFB/Dryden. Thus, I try to attend events up there and meet the various flight test pilots. They are all wonderful people.

We are also lucky to have the Superior/Aurora auctions here in SoCal. I get to meet some of the wonderful collectors at these events too.

------------------
Warm Regards

Douglas Henry

posted 06-09-2002 02:27 PM               

I am equally freelancing as journalist for Germany's oldest aerospace monthly, Fliegerrevue (reporting on shuttle missions, mainly).

German citizen, male, 44 years old, living in Belgium since 1985.

posted 06-09-2002 04:19 PM               

I am 48 years old. I own an insurance agency in Massachusetts. My wife and I just celebrated our 20th anniversary (most people say she is a saint and I would have to agree).

Yes, my business helps pay for my hobbies, but it took me a lot of years to get to that point.

Collecting space memoriabilia is one hobby. I started collecting space related artifacts, because the Space Race was just starting (Freedom Seven) and everyone was excited. My excitment just hasn't cooled off yet.

My collection includes flown artifacts from both the US and Soviet space programs as well as books, models, signatures and paintings.

I used to fly, but have been diving for a number of years (I can get weightless easier). Have visited a number different dive related places throughout the world (I will be diving the Bikini Atoll atomic bomb wrecks in October) and just completed a book on introductory diving (a lot of us seem to write). My wife and daughter dive with me (when I am not penetrating a cave or wreck), so it is a family affair.

I also collect marine and aviation artifacts that include salvaged pieces from wrecks in the Northeast as well as marine and aircraft models.

Most of my hobbies relate to a love of history and I enjoy meeting and interviewing people who have participated in historical events.

Keep collecting.

posted 06-09-2002 08:56 PM               

When heavy metal music hit the airwaves I decided to become a rock star, and spent the next 10 years playing in metal bands, where I met my wife (who I've been with for 17 yrs. now). I came close a time or two to living out my dreams as a recording musician, but 2 daughters, and pressing matters at home changed my directions.

My official title at work is flexographic engineer, but I'm actually a printer. Not a glorious job, but it pays well, and has good 401K. I spend some weekends playing in an old time rock and roll band.

I have collected autographs for years, but I have only been collecting astronauts for about the last 5.

I also enjoy hunting, amateur astronomy, science fiction, and baseball.

posted 06-09-2002 09:37 PM               

I have two children. My son is going into his senior year of college in September and plays Division I lacrosse for Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, CT. My daughter just graduated high school and will be attending Quinnipiac University in Hamden, CT. She will be majoring in Biochemistry and hopes to attend optometry school after getting her four year degree. I have been married for 26 years to the same wonderful woman. She believes my collecting is an obsession but she knows it keeps me out of trouble.

posted 06-09-2002 10:23 PM               

Unfortunately the mid-70's was a bad time for the aerospace industry with the huge manpower reductions that followed the conclusion of the moon flights, so I had to find work in a much different industry and have been there ever since. Though I never got to work in the aerospace field, I did get a flavor for it in some of my thermo, dynamics, and propulsion classes during my university years and enjoyed it a lot.

With that background, and a keen interest in history, collecting space memorabilia is a natural outlet for my spare time and cash. Call me a middle-ager trying to recapture the memories of one of mankind's greatest adventures, and a piece of my youth too!

posted 06-09-2002 11:51 PM               

Got interested in space in 1977, while on a vacation to Florida my parents took me to see Star Wars. I was so amazed by it I wouldn't shut up, so my Dad took me over to the cape to see the real thing. I never looked back.

Skipped school to watch the first shuttle launch and started collecting space in the mid-1980s. Wanted to become an astronaut or a spy, and wound up somewhere in between. My job provides ample opportunities to acquire stuff for my collection, and when I'm not hunched over my telescope I'm either sailing, rowing, biking, or playing rugby.

I collect mostly autographs, flown bits, and patches, and just about anything associated with the Canadian space program. What I love about it the most is that I still get that sense of amazement that hit me as a kid in '77 whenever I add something to my collection.

Best,

posted 06-10-2002 08:20 AM               

I was just old enough to remember seeing the moon landing and still have all my newspaper clippings from the 60's and 70's. I can blame my father for getting me back into collecting, since he gave me signed copies of Return to Earth and The Right Stuff for Xmas 5yrs ago! I have an almost complete WSS collection (ex. Young) and "on the moon" collection (ex. Young). Only 3 or 4 books away from having a signed copy of every book written by Mercury to Apollo astronauts.

posted 06-10-2002 01:18 PM               

After spending the bulk of my 20's doing the 'starving artist' thing I finally broke through into the music industry three years ago. As well as releasing my own tracks, I now remix and produce more mainstream artists.

My lifelong ambition is nearing fruition as I'm halfway through recording my own album for EMI.

Given the transient success of most musicians I'm currently buying space memorabilia like a madman before the money runs out...

posted 06-10-2002 05:01 PM               

Jim Lovell used to fly out of here in his Beech Barron. The only time that I saw him was when he had a stuck microphone and he was jamming up the frequency. That was 2 years ago.

I'm also a private pilot with a couple of ratings attached to it.

The first astronaut I ever met was Hoot Gibson. We met at the BIG Oshkosh Fly-in back in 1990 and I've met about 15 others since.

posted 06-10-2002 05:35 PM            

I've been fascinated by anything to do with space exploration as far back as I can remember, probably started by my father helping me to cut out pictures of Yuri Gagarin's and Alan Shepard's flights (still got them!). I don't remember a great deal about Gemini, but the Apollo fire is a very clear memory.

Apollo 8 was a tremendous thrill to follow on TV, and the build-up to Apollo 11 was memorable. We were on a family holiday in Switzerland (where I saw the launch) and we made it back home about 40 minutes before "Eagle" landed. I never doubted for a minute they would do it - I'm glad I was a bit young to appreciate fully what could (and almost did!) go wrong.

Over the past 20 years I have met 7 Apollo astronauts, including 5 Moonwalkers. I interviewed Jim Irwin here in Belfast in 1983 for a local newspaper (a great day) and more recently interviewed John Young in Edinburgh for a short article in "Spaceflight" magazine (another great day).

Two of my biggest regrets are never getting to see a Saturn V launch, and not getting to meet Pete Conrad - the whole Apollo 12 crew were coming to England in 2000. (It was great to meet Alan Bean and Dick Gordon, but...)

posted 06-10-2002 11:41 PM               

I was born October 3, 1957, the day before Sputnik was launched and turned 5 years old the day Wally Schirra flew Sigma 7. Could this be why people keep telling me I have nothing in my head but space?

I've been collecting space stuff off and on since 1969 when I bought a pack of Apollo 11 photos for 5 cents at the local grocery store. Still have them, including Buzz Aldrin's signature on his WSS photo that I got from him in person... my first astronaut! Wow!

I got seriously collecting about 5 years ago, mostly photos, autographs and some flown stuff. I am working on a collection of signed portraits of all the astronauts from Mercury through ASTP.

I intend to pass this on to my 3 year old daughter. My otherwise wonderful wife does not share my interest in space since they don't sell space stuff at Macy's.

While I'm at it, I'd like to thank all of you here at collectSPACE for all your help and advice in getting photos signed through the mail. One I sent to Jerry Carr just arrived today. Almost a year ago I sent a Mercury photo to John Glenn which he signed and returned. I was quite surprised to find an envelope from him in my mail last week. On his own he sent me two Shuttle photos of himself, one signed to me and one to my daughter. How cool!

This may be getting out of hand so I'll end for now. Thanks again for all the help!