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Author
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Topic: Spacefarers' autographs and penmanship
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ColinBurgess
Member Posts: 2187
From: Sydney, Australia
Registered: Sep 2003
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posted 01-21-2026 08:40 PM
   
As a long-time collector of space-related autographs, its kinda sad to see the way many spacefarers (like a couple of these) sign their names these days. Some are really nothing more than a quick stroke of a sharpie, while others are completely unreadable. I look back to the days of the Mercury astronauts and the early cosmonauts, when they seemed to take great pride in writing their full name as a signature, despite signing how many hundreds of thousands of signatures in their lifetime, while the modern-day space travellers probably might only sign a few hundred, and then only reluctantly. There's been a big shift in attitude towards collectors, but sadly it's the way of the world today — many pop and football stars have signatures that look as if they took less than a second to scrawl and yet, if rare, can be sold for a lot of money. It's just an observation, but I still long for the days when an autograph from any space traveller was a beautiful thing to get and treasure. |
Bob M
Member Posts: 2084
From: Atlanta-area, GA USA
Registered: Aug 2000
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posted 01-23-2026 03:16 PM
I completely understand and agree with you, Colin, regarding the usual poorly applied autographs of current space travelers (The signatures above on the poster serve as typical examples). In my case, I reluctantly ended my 35-year space travelers' autograph collection partly because of their poorly applied and generally unreadable signatures (often just scribbles). We long-time collectors were used to much better.It's probably mainly because of commercialization that many space travelers purposely sign poorly to lower the value and desirability of their autographs. That is somewhat understandable. As an example of autograph quality, here are autographs of the commander of the first manned flight to the moon in 1968 and an autograph of the commander of Artemis II, scheduled to be, after Apollo 10, the next planned non-landing lunar flight 58 years after Apollo 8. It is easy to read the first autograph as "Frank Borman". But the second signature, of Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman, gives no hint of who the signer is. This is not to criticize or single out Wiseman's signatures, as he can sign any way he pleases, but it serves as a good example of many current space travelers' signatures.  Kate Rubins demonstrated in 2009 that she could apply a careful and well-formed signature, as shown by the one I received from her shortly after she reported to NASA/JSC to begin her astronaut career. But several years later, her autograph on her portrait changed and was basically just initials.  Many of us long-time space autograph collectors have become discouraged by the poor quality and also by the cost of space travelers autographs, which has made it difficult to continue and for it to end for many. Perhaps that is what many space travelers have intended. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 55858
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 01-28-2026 05:31 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Bob M:
...purposely sign poorly
Maybe some astronauts do as Bob describes, but it is probably good to keep in mind that not every person who chooses a simplified mark does so out of dislike of collectors or the commercialization of autographs.One of the examples that Colin pointed to (I assume) as a "quick stroke of a sharpie" was Jared Isaacman. For comparison, here is a still frame from recent footage of Isaacman signing a replica space station hatch for display at NASA. It is essentially the same two strokes as on the poster shared by Robert (MOL) on the linked thread, but with the addition of Isaacman's call sign ("Rook") and title ("15th NASA Administrator"). That seems to demonstrate that Isaacman's signature is his signature in both formal and casual situations.  |
OV-105
Member Posts: 940
From: Ridgecrest, CA
Registered: Sep 2000
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posted 01-30-2026 01:08 AM
Jeff Hoffman had the doctor's handwriting, it was a bunch of up and down lines. I really think penmanship has gone down for the most part by everyone over time. I have some older 49ers players' autographs and you can tell who it is; get to the 80’s and current and it is hard to tell. Same with some astronauts too. | |
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