Thanks!

A school in Britain was offering one of 100 postcards of Helen Sharman, that country's first astronaut, to people who contacted them. Even though I am not from there, I dropped them an email, and they responded favorably. Upon closer inspection there are pen skips in the autograph but I'll lean to this being a signature printed as part of the card since I don't have another example to compare it to.

Still nice, and this went to my daughter's adventure book*. I do have a signed envelope with Sharman (she signed an envelope with the autographs of four of the Skynet astronauts), and this makes up for a signed photo I used to have of her.

*My daughter's adventure and story book is filled not only with stories I made up, ticket stubs, "passport stamps," and flyers from various events we've attended, but also signed photos of (primarily) female astronauts (both met and obtained from friends) as well as some of the male astronauts she's met. When she gets older and asks, "Who is that?" I plan to tell her of their accomplishments and what they did to get there. Not everyone can be an astronaut, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't work hard to do the best and be the best you can and should be, I'll tell her.

Meeting Peggy Whitson

I haven't been here in a while simply because there hasn't been (much of) any new astronaut sightings lately. I added just eight more astronauts to my "Space Shuttle: The First 20 Years" book last year, four of them through friends. That's the smallest number of astronaut autographs I've added to my book since 2009 (seven), when I started rebuilding my collection.

And it's not that I've been busy with homelife, either, and seen mentions of astronauts that I couldn't attend (aside from Terry Virts' book signing tour, and the "Hidden Figures" premiere in New York City, which I found out after the fact.) There simply aren't as much new astronauts (e.g., astronauts I haven't seen) making the rounds. 

And on the TTM front, I've been discouraged there as well by the lack of responses, so I haven't tried in a while either writing to various astronauts whose signatures I'm lacking.

This past Saturday, 24 February, though, was not only about me. My daughter was with me and since I like getting signatures from female astronauts to inspire her when she grows up, I had a smaller photo for Whitson to sign for her adventure book.

By happenstance, I caught that Whitson would be at an earlier presentation on the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum - and that was the event where she would be signing. (Her second presentation allowed for only impromptu, on the fly autographs as Whitson had a plane to catch.)

Autographs were limited to one per person. My daughter obviously counts, so I placed the photo on a clipboard to not only make it easier for her to carry, but also for her to feel important, I told her. Then I corrected myself.

"Not feel. You are important," I said. You say, 'I am important. I am beautiful. I am strong.'"

The photo of my daughter standing in her tiptoes watching Whitson sign her picture is one I'll treasure and place in my parent's memory book for this year.

Also in the theater, but as an attendee and not a guest was Tony Antonelli. He signed both my wife's and my book, but my daughter didn't get his autograph and she looked so disappointed! Not that I had anything for Antonelli - that day was one of the few events where I didn't carry any extra photos, just in case.

Lesson learned. Incidentally, Whitson was the No. 22 astronaut she's either met or seen, but her first autograph she's gotten for herself (with some help, of course.) I think she's gotten the bug....

AHOF induction weekend

So, didja go to the Astronaut Hall of Fame induction weekend?

No? You missed out on a great autograph opportunity!

This year's inductees were Shuttle mission specialists Michael Foale and Ellen Ochoa - neither of whom I had met (although Ochoa signed my "Space Shuttle: The First 20 Years" book) - and both were scheduled signers!

To put things into perspective, in 2015 the inductees were John Grunsfeld, Steve Lindsey, Kent Rominger and Rhea Seddon. Yet, of those listed, only Seddon was signing - and a book signing, at that. (Not to knock the other astronauts, but the ones autographing that weekend were Dick Covey, Bob Crippen, Frank Culbertson, and Al Worden.)

It was, as a friend put it, very nice of Foale and Ochoa to do a signing.

As the commercial says, "But wait! There's more!" Also signing this year were Brian Duffy (last time we met was at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, October 2003), Loren Shriver (whom I met at the Hubble 25 commemoration in April 2015), and Jim Wetherbee (previously met in May 2013 at a leadership forum in New York City.)

As well, the Astronaut Encounter space traveler was John Blaha. (Side note: Norm Thagard was the Encounter astronaut earlier that week. Unfortunately, no one I knew was going to be there then, otherwise I would have gotten my Mir photo additionally signed by three U.S. astronauts who stayed there: Thagard, Blaha, and Foale!

Mir as seen during the STS-63/Discovery mission. I added U.S. residents John Blaha and Mike Foale to the photo.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

What was nice this visit to the Kennedy Space Center was the Disney-esque PhotoPass, run by Picsolve. Have a picture taken by a KSCVC photographer, have your band scanned, and all your photos are in one place.

When I saw a photog near the NASA logo ball, I figured, "Why not." That's the top photo. And the photographer also took pictures during the autograph signings (but not at the Encounter signings, although I did Tweet them that they should.)

First up were the signings by Shriver, Ochoa, and Wetherbee, in that order. I was about a dozen people from the front of the line, which gave me time to order the stuff I wanted signed. (The night before, I placed pieces of paper between the pages I wanted signed in the "Shuttle: 20 Years" book.)

For some reason, I'm fuzzy on this point but I believe the limit was four items per person per astronaut (!) Although I brought extra items for all the astronauts who were listed as attending (but not necessarily) signing that weekend, including a cover depicting the STS-31R crew patch - a mission on which Shriver was the pilot - I limited myself to two items per astronaut, with the exception of Foale.

I thanked Shriver for signing at the Hubble 25 commemoration as well as now, and handed him a photo as well as a cockpit diagram gatefold from a Shuttle Training Aircraft training manual.

That diagram has become my catchall for Shuttle pilots and commanders to sign. I forgot to get Scott Altman's autograph on it when I saw him at Space Congress last year, but added Shriver and three other pilots/commanders - Wetherbee, Duffy, and Blaha.

For those keeping track, Ochoa was the No. 171 astronaut I've met - defined by some sort of conversation between myself and that person.

Ochoa, a four-time Shuttle mission specialist (STS-56/Discovery, 66/Atlantis, 96/Discovery,  and 110/Atlantis), is the second female director of the Johnson Space Center, and that facility's first Hispanic director (as well as the first Hispanic female astronaut.) I asked Ochoa if, with the change in presidential administrations, if she would remain as JSC director, and Ochoa replied she would.

I've met Wetherbee three times now - all in the month of May! At my first encounter, May 2006 in Princeton, NJ, he either wasn't signing or didn't have time to. Seven years later to the day I caught Wetherbee at the end of his presentation at a leadership conference. He used his own Sharpie, asking if he should personalize the photo I brought, and added his missions unasked.

Wetherbee is the only astronaut to command five Shuttle flights. Unless you had prior experience, you had to start as a pilot (which he did), and there are very few U.S. astronauts to have flown six missions as Wetherbee has done.

Among his flights was STS-63/Discovery, the "near-Mir" mission. This was a flight to check out the rendezvous and navigation procedures with the Russian space station, and included a close approach to within 10 meters from Mir's docking port.

The pilot of STS-63, Eileen Collins - this was the first flight of a female NASA astronaut in the right-hand seat - wrote an essay about that mission in the "Shuttle: 20 Years" book. I asked Wetherbee to sign that page, and he added unasked, "Eileen was awesome!"

That done, it was time for lunch before queuing up for the last two scheduled astronauts, Duffy and Foale. This go-around, perhaps in the interest of time - Shriver, Ochoa, and Wetherbee were still signing close to two hours later, the handlers said that Duffy and Foale would not be personalizing, and that there would be a limit of two items per astronaut - although one could (and myself and others did) queue again.

Brian Duffy then ....

In 2003, I interviewed Duffy for British Interplanetary Society's "Spaceflight" magazine when he made his appearance at the Franklin Instiute.

Duffy had recently retired from NASA, going to work for Lockheed Martin. During 2003, Lockheed brought Duffy and at least two other astronauts - Dan Brandenstein, whom I missed, and Rick Hieb, whom I also interviewed for "Spaceflight" - to the Franklin Institute.

... And Brian Duffy (and myself) now.

C. Michael Foale had long been on my bucket list of astronaut autographs. He does few appearances here in the States, and frequently does presentations in England, where he's originally from. He was the No. 172 astronaut I've met.

In addition to "Shuttle: 20 Years," and the Mir photo above, Foale completed an STS-63 photo which I had previously signed by Bernard Harris.

Years ago, a co-worker gave me a bunch of lithos and photos, including this one. I don't know why, but I wasn't too keen on the image, but it grew on me the more I looked at it. The same photo appears in Harris' autobiography, "Dream Walker: A Journey of Achievement and Inspiration."

Blaha was the last astronaut of the day - I don't remember the last time I met half a dozen space travelers in one place, perhaps at the Hubble 25 Years commemoration.

I've attended previous Astronaut Encounters, and to the best of my recollection, it was a maximum of one personal item, plus however many photos (at $9.99 each) one wished to purchase, which they would sign.

Those photos, however, tended to be the standard portrait shots, either in their flightsuit, jacket and trousers, or spacesuit. They're OK, I suppose, but I prefer action or candid shots.

This time, though, it was a maximum of three personal items. In addition to a copy of "Shuttle: 20 Years," the Mir photo seen above (interestingly, neither Foale nor Blaha opted or asked for a silver or gold marker to sign it, choosing instead to fit their signature on the available space on the Earth), I had a really neat item signed by Blaha, who was the No. 173 astronaut I've met:

This is the cover for the Mission 61H Flight Data File. Scheduled for launch June 24, 1986 on Shuttle Columbia, 61H would have seen the deployment of three satellites - two of them commercial (Palapa B3 for Indonesia and Westar 6S) and Skynet 4A, a military satellite, for Great Britain - and the flight of Material Science Lab-4.

Crew would have been Michael Coats, commander (and who was at Kennedy Space Center the day of the Foale and Ochoa's induction but not the gala dinner); Blaha as pilot, and mission specialists Anna Lee Fisher (who signed this June 4, 2016 at an event in Brooklyn Bridge Park, NY), James Buchli and Robert Springer, as well as payload specialists Nigel Wood of Great Britain and Pratiwi Sudarmono of Indonesia - the first astronauts from those countries.

The Challenger accident in January 1986 postponed or canceled many flights. A law against flying commercial satellites on Shuttle meant Wood and Sudarmono would ultimately never fly, although both the Russians and U.S. experessed interest in flying Sudarmono, who among other scientific backgrounds was a microbiologist.

If you went, how did you do with the autographing sessions that weekend?

Remembering Georgy Grechko (1931-2017)

Cosmonaut Georgy Grechko and the author, March 1993.

This one in particular saddens me.

Grechko was the first cosmonaut I met - and I had the fortune of meeting him twice.

Back in 1990, ICon was doing a series of science and science-fiction conventions at what was then known as SUNY-Stonybrook. That year, Deke Slayton (which is another story) and Grechko were there.

I didn't know how to get photos, so I did the next best thing. I found a copy of the "Almanac of Soviet Manned Space Flight" (which I still have!) and waited in line for Grechko's signature.

When Grechko saw the book, he exclaimed, "Soyuz!" as he saw the line drawing of his spacecraft. He excitedly thumbed through it, and I asked whether or not he wanted a copy. His handler replied the best thing would be to send Grechko one through his address, not through the embassy. Grechko took out his business card, signed that (and I still have it, too!); and I did send him a copy of the almanac.

Second time was at Ocean County College in New Jersey. I was heavily into Star Trek at time, and wrote articles for an international Trek news magazine.

Knowing Grechko was a spacecraft designer, I presented him a copy of the "Star Trek: The Next Generation" technical manual. A photo of that made the local paper (and yes, that is my Starfleet Press Corps badge I'm wearing.)

I never got him to sign that picture, unfortunately, not wanting to lose the only copy I had (I since located the first-generation print), despite a friend taking it to two Association of Space Explorers meetings.

Damn. Despite meeting him only briefly, and many years since those encounters, I will miss him.

Adidasovsky! BOOM. [Drop mic]

Yes.

Left, Ron Sega, two-time Shuttle mission specialist, and Sergei Krikalev, six-time flyer, including two Shuttle missions. Krikalev and Sega both flew on STS-60, and it is on a page with an essay by Charlie Bolden talking about that flight that they signed. Colorado Springs, Colo., 2 April 2017.

Sega and Krikalev were my No. 201/202 Shuttle astronauts in my "Space Shuttle: The First 20 Years" book, since I don't know who signed first. (Although I suspect it was Sega, since Krikalev signed underneath him.)

Sega and Krikalev were the No. 214/215 overall autograph in the book as well.

I also sent two photos to be signed. One was a photo of Krikalev coming through the hatch of the International Space Station on STS-88. The other was my STS-60 crew photo, which needed just Sega's autograph.

I had bought the photo signed by Krikalev and Jan Davis. Then, slowly but afterward picking up the pace, I sent it to the remaining crew members for their autographs. Ken Reightler, the pilot. Then Charlie Bolden, the commander. 

Almost two years later, in late January 2017 I finally sent it to Franklin Chang-Diaz for his signature. At that point I considered it crew complete, as Sega can be a hard autograph to obtain (waaaay long ago I had written him and got - I believe - a signed photo.)

And then I saw that Sega would be doing an appearance at an event with "Astronaut and Cosmonaut Meet-N-Greets – Get autographs, ask questions or take selfies with true space heroes!" I asked, got the permission to send my book and photos, and here we are.

As mentioned, Krikalev had already signed the photo, and, "Mr. Krikalev seemed to get a kick out of seeing the photo with his signature, and showed it around to his fellow Russians who were with him. He said he didn’t know when he signed it. :)" 

How many more?

Who is this person and might he be the No. 201/202 to sign?

I posted elsewhere that I didn't want to jinx it, but I *might* have two more signatures to add in my "Space Shuttles: The First 20 Years" book. I was asked, essentially, how many more?

My answer: It depends.

My Shuttles: 20 Years book includes not just the astronauts who flew on that vehicle, but backups, prime crewmembers who didn't get to fly (e.g., their mission was canceled post-Challenger, for one), those that were trained, named, or selected but didn't fly (such as the majority of Manned Spaceflight Engineers), one astronaut who flew the Shuttle only for atmospheric tests and not into orbit (Fred Haise), an astronaut who wrote the foreword (Jim Lovell) and those who were active between the time of the first group of Shuttle astronauts (such as Alan Bean) to Group 19, the last class to fly Shuttle.

But to make things easy, there were 355 people who flew on the space shuttle. Of them, 33 are deceased whom I don't have (39 have died, including 14 from Mission 51L/Challenger and STS-107/Columbia.)

I just got my 200th Shuttle astronaut signature, so 355-33-200 = 122 space shuttle astronauts whom I don't have. That includes 41 people from countries outside the US (and whom I don't have much of a chance of getting unless they visit the US), so that leaves 81 Americans. At least three of them are non-signers, either because they don't sign at all or because of health issues.

In total, I have 213 signatures in my book. That includes three on separate pieces of paper, two of which I'm very confident I can get to sign my actual book. (And I met one of them a second time, too, but for some reason didn't think to get him to autograph my Shuttles:20 Years volume!)

That said, there's a larger pool of people when you count in backups, otherwise trained but didn't fly, or otherwise named but didn't fly, trained/named and waiting for a flight, including from countries outside the US.

My friend has a copy of "Who's Who in Space," and regularly travels for both work and personal reasons. I'm not sure how many names are in there - and it's a version that's 30 years old, and he's added signatures of various astronauts since then - but he has 589 autographs. He just emailed me the other day, in fact, and said it's a tough road trying to get 11 more for an even 600 - not that he'll stop then.

Anyway, tune in either late Sunday or sometime Monday to find out if I got word I was successful in adding two more autographs to my book. I also have a lead into one more, at an event in mid-April....

2017 K-12 STEM Symposium

I'm usually good when it comes to finding astronauts who are keynote speakers. However, I owe a tip of the hat to my friend, who found an event I had somehow missed: the 2017 K-12 STEM Symposium which featured (among other speakers) Larry DeLucas, payload specialist on STS-50/Columbia, the first US Microgravity Laboratory flight.

Grabshot of Larry DeLucas.

An astronaut? At a Saturday event, with no work worries (aside from getting only three hours of sleep?) And it's free? With tables to peruse? Poyekhali!—Let's go!

My friend and I were walking the hallways checking out the exhibits when I spotted whom I *thought* was Larry DeLucas walking by. (To be fair, I saw he was also wearing the pin of his new company, The Aerospace Corporation, which resembled the Avengers logo!) We caught up with him, he needed help checking in; I walked with him to the front of the school and got him settled.

The event was held at the Nysmith School for the Gifted in Herndon, Va., just down the road from the Smithsonian National Air and Space Udvar-Hazy museum and nearby a new housing complex whose streets bore names like Neil Armstrong, Earhart, Sally Ride and Endeavour.

About 3,000 people showed up,enough to utilize overflow parking at an office complex across the street. I don't think too many people knew those offices included Sierra Nevada, makers of the Dream Chaser spaceplane under development!

Ben said he felt great being 311 years old.

 Later we again ran into DeLucas  and had two nice chats with him. My friend talked about his macular degeneration (DeLucas is an optometrist and flew with a detached retina!), and I talked with him about his spaceflight and preparation.

Wish I had one of those photographic memories, because DeLucas gave some great insights - he and Al Sacco, his backup who later flew on the second US Microgravity Laboratory flight - are great friends but were really competitive, understandably, for one of the two payload specialist spots on STS-50. Sacco would ask a question, then DeLucas would follow up with a question of his own so as to not to appear less smart!

STS-73 Mission and Payload Specialists. Al Sacco is second from left.

What I did not know was that Roger Crouch was also vying for STS-73/Columbia, Sacco's flight. (DeLucas said he opted not to fly again, owing to the rigors of training and being away from family.) DeLucas successfully made the case that Sacco, as a backup, knew the experiments better. (Crouch had been the backup for STS-42/Discovery, the first International Microgravity Lab, and later flew on STS-83/Columbia, the first Microgravity Science Lab. However, due to a problem with Columbia, the shuttle was brought back early. An unprecedented decision was made to refly the experiments and the crew en masse, so Crouch wound up with a second flight, STS-94, also flown on Columbia.)
 

Roger Crouch, Discover Engineering Family Day

DeLucas also knew Bob Phillips, who was a prime payload specialist for Spacelab 4, which was postponed first due to the many delays in launching the shuttle in the mid-'80s, then by the Challenger accident.

The flight later morphed to Spacelab Life Sciences-1, flown as STS-40/Columbia in 1991. By that time, Phillips was medically disqualified as well as to old to fly when it finally launched. (We had been talking about the right age, quote unquote, to flying people in space, particularly researchers.) DeLucas didn't know Phillips had died just four years ago.

He happily signed for us - I was trying to find a vacant room so as not to draw a crowd but settled for the back of the auditorium. We were one of the only ones to get an autograph because talks ran late, DeLucas was the penultimate speaker, and afterward had to catch a cab back to the airport (He had arrived that day, and had been away from his house six of the seven days the past week!)

Because of the condition of the book, I no longer scan the relevant photos from my copy of "Space Shuttle: The First 20 Years." But DeLucas was the No, 200 (out of 355) Shuttle astronaut to sign, No. 213 overall in the book, and the No. 170 astronaut I've met.

For those of you keeping track at home, you may recall a previous post where I gave the number of astronauts met as No. 168. Who then was No. 169? Not Christina Koch, whom I just heard but didn't interact.

No. 169 was Dan Barry, whom I met in September 2016 at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York City.

As part of the Game Changers series of talks, Barry talked about the future of space exploration. He flew on three Shuttle missions - STS-72/Endeavour, STS-96/Discovery and STS-105, also a Discovery mission - and about 100 people showed up for a great presentation.