Posts: 109
From:
Registered: Jul 2010

Posts: 3811
From: Midwest, USA
Registered: Jul 2005

posted 08-16-2010 02:05 PM               

---

John Young does his commercial signing for Novaspace (aka Astronaut Central).

Young did sign some shuttle montage photographs for the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation for the 25th anniversary of Columbia's first launch. He has also consigned some of his personal artifacts to previous Heritage Auctions, including some photos he has signed.

His signature was added to the Moonwalkers print (also sold by Novaspace) after he retired from the astronaut corps, so I guess that is perhaps the only commercially-available print series that contains his signature (though many copies were sold prior to him signing for Novaspace, so several out there in the marketplace may be still missing his signature). Otherwise, there are no other official commercially-available signed items available with Young's signature that I'm aware of.

Keep in mind that Young was still an astronaut until the end of 2004 and was not able to partake in any commercial signings until after he retired, and has signed almost exclusively for Novaspace since his retirement. He participates in occasional mail-in signing events for them, about once every 18 months, it seems (give or take a couple months). So if you have your own item you want him to sign, that's basically your only opportunity these days.

Posts: 282
From: PA
Registered: Apr 2004

posted 04-30-2013 05:17 PM               

---

I know John Young signed one specific image for free during his recent time at NASA, and he signed other things for Novaspace.

When did he stop signing other stuff (for free, I imagine) and revert to signing only the one specific image?

Posts: 1091
From:
Registered: Sep 2003

Posts: 202
From: Bogangar NSW Australia
Registered: May 2018

posted 05-23-2021 04:32 PM               

---

As I build my collection of Apollo astronaut signed books I notice I have seen very few signed by John Young. Are they rare or have I been looking in the wrong places?

I have seen a few lately where there is multiple signatures.

Posts: 177
From:
Registered: Aug 2018

posted 05-23-2021 05:23 PM               

---

I would consider John Young signed books to be among the rarest available, for several reasons. He only wrote one book, and it was written toward the end of his life. He didn't do any book tours or promotional appearances for it. And by that point, his was a difficult signature to obtain anyway. He participated in a few private signing events, but I doubt many people sent in books, instead preferring photos and other collectibles/artifacts.

I'm sure they exist, but I've never seen a signed copy of "Forever Young" for sale. And it's sometimes possible to find his signature in other types of books, usually signed by several people. But that's not the same. I have a NASA booklet signed by him, but that isn't a real book, and he wasn't the author.

I can't think of a more rare signed space book than "Forever Young." Except maybe an Armstrong-signed copy of "Wingless on Luna"; but I wouldn't count that, because it wasn't published in the traditional sense.

Posts: 4363
From: England
Registered: Feb 2001

posted 05-23-2021 06:22 PM               

---

I may be wrong but I think “Forever Young” was published after his last private signing event.

I know Charlie Duke has a signed copy: he mailed his own copy to Young for signing. Charlie went on to say that by this time Young was quite ill and while he was more than happy to sign for his friend it was very much an exception.

Posts: 177
From:
Registered: Aug 2018

posted 05-23-2021 06:46 PM               

---

I think you're correct, Rick. The book was published in 2012. I was thinking that Novaspace did a signing with John between 2013-2015, but I just checked, and I can't find one later than 2009.

The book was published 6 years before John's death. I didn't realize that his health was in poor condition for so long. That makes me really sad.

Posts: 59
From: QLD, Australia
Registered: Apr 2014

Posts: 2179
From: Essex, UK
Registered: Jul 2001