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Author
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Topic: Astronaut autographs, anyone?
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Bob M
Member Posts: 2072
From: Atlanta-area, GA USA
Registered: Aug 2000
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posted 12-06-2025 06:24 PM
   
It seems that the popularity of collecting autographs of astronauts, cosmonauts and taikonauts, and basically that of anyone who has flown in space, has diminished for some time. Mostly gone are the days of active discussion about astronaut autographs and also the activity of mailing out requests for autographs (one collector/dealer even sent out regular and updated astronaut address lists for years). Now, it is mostly a lack of positive responses, especially from the NASA Astronauts at Johnson Space Center, who for many years were a reliable source for replies through the mail. There are many categories collectors have specialized in, with a popular one being autographs of space travelers from all countries. With over 630 individuals who have experienced orbital spaceflights (with over 700 total, including sub-orbital space flights), there are plenty of autographs to collect and pursue. Here are some of the many autograph categories of individuals involved in spaceflight: - All space travelers - orbital (630+), sub-orbital and overall (700+)
- Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and Skylab flown astronauts (41)
- All flown astronauts through Shuttle (388)
- NASA Astronauts - from Group 1 to 24 (370)
- Space Shuttle flown astronauts (355)
- Women who flew on orbital space flights (80+)
- Apollo lunar astronauts (24)
- Apollo moonwalkers (12)
And now, here is the "ultimate category" that certainly very few are involved in, specializing in autographs of everyone who has undergone official government spaceflight training, regardless if they have flown in space or not. One person's collection goes back many years, but years ago his ultimate collection was over 75% complete.Here is a sheet autographed by the entire 44-member NASA Astronaut class of 1996/Group 16 (including ten international astronauts; one who did not fly; three guys named Kelly; and three of the STS-107/Columbia astronauts).  44 is a lot of autographs, but is only about 6% of all those who have flown in space and only about 11% of astronauts who have flown on NASA spaceflights through the shuttle. This indicates the huge amount of various autographs needed in most of the autograph categories listed above. Good luck with your collecting. |
yeknom-ecaps
Member Posts: 967
From: Northville MI USA
Registered: Aug 2005
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posted 12-06-2025 10:34 PM
Other categories include military only programs like the MOL pilots and the Manned Spaceflight Engineers. Or NASA astronauts by branch of the military.Teacher/Educator in space. Payload specialists. And of course the X-15 astronauts. Plenty of ways to go big or small with a collection! |
Axman
Member Posts: 843
From: Derbyshire UK
Registered: Mar 2023
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posted 12-07-2025 05:16 AM
The category I collect is of Astronauts and Cosmonauts from Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, X-15, Vostok, Voskhod and early Soyuz programs "on cover". I regard any launch cover, tracking covers, primary ship recovery ship covers, or Insurance covers for a mission the astronauts actually flew as the qualifying criteria, plus any official Moscow postmarked Kniga cover for the cosmonauts. (I don't regard signatures on index card or paper slips glued to a cover as suitable for my collection - for me, the signature must be applied directly to the body of the envelope.)There are 76 astronaut and cosmonaut signatures in total in this category. However 3 are impossible to find: Dobrovolsky, Patseyev, and Adams. So there are 73 available to collect.
I have managed to obtain all 23 Russians and 39 of the Americans, giving me 62 in total. I have yet to find the following 11: Gus Grissom, Ed White, Neil Armstrong, William Anders, Robert White, Joseph Walker, Robert Rushworth, Joe Engle, John McKay, Bill Dana, and William "Pete" Knight. | |
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