Remembering the crew of space shuttle Challenger, part two

And here's the sidebar to the article I did on the anniversary of the Challenger accident, on a seldom-heard counterpart to the Teacher-in-Space Program:

The Teacher-in-Space Program was just the beginning. There was a Journalist-in-Space Program, too. Largely forgotten, the Journalist-in-Space Program would have flown a press representative on a September 1986 space shuttle Challenger flight. Navy Capt. Michael J. Smith, who was named to pilot the mission, which would have been his second spaceflight, died when Challenger disintegrated after lift-off that January. "It seemed like a fantastic opportunity to do some truly original reporting. I mean, if you can't go with Lewis and Clark, perhaps you can head to the next frontier,'' said Frederick K. 'Ted' Conover, who, as a 28-year-old freelance writer from Denver, applied for the program. The Challenger Center notes on its website that in the early '80s, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration was looking for ways to better connect the space program with the public, and came up with the idea of sending a civilian on a space shuttle flight. Conover said for him there would have been endless opportunities to publish articles about the experience, perhaps even a book. "NASA considered sending a journalist, an explorer, or an entertainer, but ultimately decided on sending a teacher as the first civilian in space,'' according to the space-science education center. Byron K. Lichtenberg, 26 April 2011. To be sure, NASA had been sending civilians - non-career astronauts - into space two years after the shuttle made its first launch. In 1983, Byron K. Lichtenberg, a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, flew as a scientist (along with Ulf Merbold of the European Space Agency) on the first Spacelab mission. Others followed, not only other scientists, but representatives of companies (McDonnell Douglas, RCA, Hughes) which built or designed experiments and satellites and of countries (Saudi Arabia, Mexico) which used the shuttle to launch satellites. There were also congressional observers and though not strictly civilians, "manned spaceflight engineers," mostly Air Force personnel selected to accompany classified Department of Defense payloads. Slightly more than 1,700 people applied for the Journalist-in-Space program, said Liz Suckow, a NASA history office archivist. There were household names, familiar to people who read a newspaper or tuned in to a nightly news broadcast as well as freelancers. The program was administered by the School of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of South Carolina. Work progressed even after the Challenger accident. One hundred journalists were selected as regional semifinalists in April 1986 and further pared down the following month to 40 semifinalists, including Conover. The expectation was that out of the 40, there would be a final group of five journalists to be chosen during a week-long evaluation conference in October 1986, Suckow said. As with the Teacher-in-Space program, it could be assumed that a prime and alternate journalist would be selected from the five. But that never happened. The space shuttle's return to flight took longer than an expected year (indeed, the first post-Challenger flight took place in October 1988, 32 months after the accident.) In July, NASA officials issued a statement that the selection process would remain on hold until the agency was able to identify a definite mission which could include a journalist. And that never happened either. "I very much hoped the program would resume after Challenger, though I was not too surprised when it did not: the risks of space travel obviously remained higher than was generally appreciated,'' Conover wrote in an e-mail. "I think the exuberance of the civilian-in-space program was forever tempered by the Challenger tragedy.'' True enough, in the post-Challenger NASA, civilians would find limited flight opportunities. What changed? NASA officials barred payload specialists from the first five flights. The first opportunity for such non-career astronauts would not come until a December 1990 mission devoted to astronomy, following the flight of backlogged payloads which could only be flown on the space shuttle or cargo deemed a priority, just one month shy of five years after the accident. Gerard E. "Jerry" Magilton and Robert J. Cenker of RCA Commercial payloads were banned from being carried on the shuttle, so there would be no opportunities for representatives from companies or countries accompanying such cargo. (Robert Cenker of East Windsor was the last commercial payload specialist, flying on Mission 61C, the flight immediately before the Challenger accident.)   As well, mission specialists - career astronauts - would often take the place of payload specialists - the civilian scientists - on some flights. Including Challenger, 22 payload specialists flew on 12 flights in three years. Just 29 other civilians flew between 1988, when shuttle flights resumed, and 2003, when the last such payload specialist flew.     That last person was Israel Air Force Col. Ilan Ramon, who died - along with the other six astronauts - during space shuttle Columbia's re-entry on Feb. 1, 2003, over the skies of Texas.

Remembering the crew of space shuttle Challenger

The space shuttle program has a special place in my memory. I was in sixth grade when I saw a National Geographic magazine with the cover story, "When the shuttle finally flies." I still have that issue, borrowed and never returned.

I was too young to remember the moon landings and barely remember Skylab from the CBS "In the News" shorts in between Saturday-morning cartoons. So the space shuttle was my program, even more so since it had the potential for anyone to fly on one of the orbiters - and not just the payload specialists, either. Career astronauts included a woman who used to be on welfare, a pro-football player, and a ex-CIA officer who used to also fly on B-52s.

This is an article I wrote for the 25th anniversary of the Challenger accident, little modified. I enjoyed writing this, interviewing three of the crew which launched on the shuttle mission prior to Challenger. I wish I could have interviewed Charlie Bolden, 61C's pilot, but the article was already running long.

Jan. 28 marks the 25th anniversary of the Challenger disaster, which killed seven astronauts - Francis R. "Dick' Scobee, commander; Navy Cmdr. Michael J. Smith, pilot; Ronald E. McNair, Air Force Lt. Col. Ellison S. Onizuka and Judith A. Resnik, all mission specialists; and payload specialists Gregory B. Jarvis and S. Christa McAuliffe - when the spacecraft broke up above Florida in 1986.

At the middle school named for McAuliffe in Jackson, N.J., a student expressed it best on a poster displayed in the hallway: "It is in part because of the excitement over McAuliffe's presence on the Challenger that the accident had such a significant impact on the nation.''
 

S. Christa McAuliffe was a schoolteacher from New Hampshire, the first of what was envisioned to be a line of "private citizens" making the journey into space. Jackson's newest middle school was named after the school teacher because McAuliffe spent her whole life honoring students, school board member Lyle "Peggi' Sturmfels told the Asbury Park Press in 1991.

 

When the building was dedicated in 1993, Grace Corrigan, McAuliffe's mother, was present at the ceremony. Corrigan provided the school with an autographed lithograph of her daughter as well as two patches from the Challenger mission.

 

As well, McAuliffe's iconic quote looms large on a wall in the school's entry foyer: "I touch the future. I teach.''

"She represented every teacher who stood before a group of students and had them see beyond themselves,'' Sturmfels said at that time.

  

And McAuliffe was an inspiration to many people, Barton said to his students. Typical comments resemble that of another student, who wrote on her poster: "Christa McAuliffe is a person I can look up to. She was a woman of bravery, courage and honor.''

To be sure, the entire crew of the Challenger, not just McAuliffe, serve as an inspiration to many people. When in 1987, a memorial to the crew was dedicated at Windward Beach Park in Brick, N.J.,  then-Mayor Daniel F. Newman said he hoped the memorial would provide an opportunity for children to learn about the space program, and the sacrifices Challenger's seven astronauts made for it.

Robert A. Cenker, a resident of East Windsor, N.J., said he remembers that day, perhaps a little better than most Garden State residents. He was a satellite designer for RCA, and in 1986 flew on the space shuttle Columbia, landing just 10 days prior to Challenger's lift-off.

"I trained with Christa, and the entire crew was conducting their terminal countdown demonstration test while we were in isolation for our launch,'' Cenker said by e-mail.

 

During their training, he and McAuliffe, as well as their backups - Gerard E. 'Jerry' Magilton, also of RCA, and Barbara R. Morgan, a teacher from Idaho - had several conversations about the risk of what they were doing, Cenker said.

 

Cenker added: "Christa knew there were potential failures that could cost her life. We both agreed, the potential reward outweights the risk. And though Christa was not formally trained in aerospace technology, she was an intelligent lady who understood what she was getting into.''

  

NEVER ON A FLIGHT

Prior to Challenger, NASA had lost astronauts before, mostly in training. The most notable happened Jan. 27, 1967, when the crew of the first manned Apollo mission - Air Force Lt. Cols. Virgil I. "Gus' Grissom, who flew the second suborbital flight for the United States, and Edward H. White II, who made the first American spacewalk, and Navy Lt. Cmdr. Robert B. Chaffee, who was to make his first spaceflight - died in a fire during a prelaunch test.

   

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration also had close calls from the start. Grissom's spacecraft hatch blew prematurely, causing water to flood not only the capsule, but also seep into his spacesuit. Most people are familiar with the travails of Apollo 13, largely due to the movie which starred Tom Hanks in the role of mission commander Navy Capt. James A. Lovell.

 

However, astronauts had never died on a mission before, not until Challenger.

For NASA, 1986 promised to be a busy year. The space agency flew nine flights in 1985 and plans called at least 13 more missions following Challenger’s flight during the calendar year. A second launch pad at Kennedy Space Center, Fla. as well as another launch site at Vandenberg AFB, Calif., were to have been used in meeting the ambitious agenda.

 

But it had problems not only in launching the last mission of 1985, which became the first mission of 1986 - Cenker's flight on Columbia, known as Mission 61C, which deployed a communications satellite - but also in bringing the mission back to Earth.

 

There were six launch attempts, starting Dec. 18, 1985, and three landing attempts, including a try at bringing the shuttle back a day early. There were also attempts at landing Columbia back at Kennedy Space Center. Columbia finally launched Jan. 12, 1986 and touched down Jan. 18 at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., an alternate landing site.

 

Launching Challenger proved to be just as difficult. Lift-off was originally scheduled for Jan. 22, then slipped twice in two days because of difficulties with 61C. A new launch date was set Jan. 25, but bad weather caused it to be postponed twice more.

 

And it was the bad weather which caused the loss of Challenger and its crew. The cold caused an O-ring, which is used to seal joints in the segmented solid rocket booster, to lose its resiliency. As a result, a combustion gas leak erupted from the booster and impinged on the external tank, destroying it.

The space shuttle itself was destroyed when it was exposed to severe aerodynamic loads which caused it to break apart. 

 

 Fifteen years ago, in an interview with the Asbury Park Press, Cenker made a prescient statement.

  

"The fleet is 10 years older. It doesn't matter how many changes, how many improvements NASA has made … accidents happen. Every time one of those shuttles goes up these days, I say a prayer for the crew,'' Cenker said.

  

 LESSONS LEARNED?

 

"We learned a lot of things with the Challenger accident and we put in place a lot of safeguards after we lost Challenger,'' said retired Navy Capt. Robert L. 'Hoot' Gibson, 61C's commander, who participated in the Challenger accident's investigation.

 

Following Challenger, astronauts would not die on a mission until Columbia broke apart over the skies of Texas, again killing a crew of seven, on Feb. 1, 2003. Those safeguards - methods to manage the space program, the oversight, the rigor with which NASA would conduct everything - were re-learned after Challenger only to be forgotten with the loss of Columbia, Gibson said.

Columbia disintegrated during re-entry. But its problems began on launch, when a piece of foam broke up during ascent and tore a hole in the shuttle's left wing. That hole allowed hot gases inside the largely aluminum wing, melting and causing its failure.

"With Challenger we said, 'Well, it's worked 24 times before, it'll work again.' And in Columbia we did pretty much the same thing. We said, 'Well, it's probably OK, so we didn't check the wing leading edges.' We fell victim to 'we always succeeded before, we'll succeed again,'‚'' said the 64-year-old Gibson, who also served for about two years as chief of the astronaut office.

 

Gibson and U.S. Sen. C. William Nelson, D-Fla., spoke to the Asbury Park Press at the annual Air and Space Gala at the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Garden City, N.Y. The event honored Nelson and saluted the space shuttle and the satellite industry.

 

Nelson also flew on 61C as a 44-year-old member of the House of Representatives and congressional observer. He called what happened on Challenger arrogant.

 

"Arrogance had set in to NASA management. It's like water; communications was going from the top down and they weren't listening from the engineers on the line for that communication to come up to the top,'' Nelson said.

  

END OF AN ERA

Twenty-five years after the Challenger disaster, the space shuttle program is in its twilight. The Challenger accident changed the program’s focus, prohibiting by law commercial payloads and removing most non-career astronauts – as McAuliffe and Cenker were – from flying, but following the loss of a second shuttle, the Columbia Accident Investigation Board called into question the program’s safety.

“Because of the risks inherent in the original design of the space shuttle, because the design was based in many aspects on now-obsolete technologies, and because the shuttle is now an aging system but still developmental in character, it is in the nation’s interest to replace the shuttle as soon as possible as the primary means for transporting humans to and from Earth orbit,’’ the board noted.

Then-President George W. Bush agreed, and in January 2004 issued a new directive for the space agency, changing the program's - and NASA's focus once again.

As part of a new plan to explore space, which included landings on the moon and Mars and the development of a new vehicle to do so, "The Shuttle's chief purpose over the next several years will be to help finish assembly of the International Space Station. In 2010, the Space Shuttle - after nearly 30 years of duty - will be retired from service," the President said at that time.

All three space shuttles, what remains from a fleet of five, were decommissioned in 2011.

Space shuttle Discovery gets placed in the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, Udvar-Hazy facility in April 2012. Photo (c) 2012 Hartriono B. Sastrowardoyo

The three orbiters became exhibits at museums. But there were no replacement for the space shuttle at the time of decomissioning, and for the foreseeable future NASA must rely on Russian Soyuz capsules for US astronauts' access to space. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration Authorization Act of 2010 called for the development of a “multipurpose crew vehicle,” using features, designs and systems from Bush’s proposed astronaut spacecraft, to be operational no later than the end of 2016 - a goal that will not be met.

But while the spacecraft would be used for missions beyond low-Earth orbit, e.g., to the moon and Mars, such missions have time and again been postponed or canceled – indeed, then-Vice President Spiro T. Agnew said at the time of the first moon landing that a manned landing on Mars should be accomplished by the 1990s. (Citing “staggering expense” in the costs of going to space, then-President Richard Nixon instead favored development of what would become the space shuttle.)

Instead, such a new spacecraft would serve as an alternate means of going to and from the space station. The bill also calls for NASA “to the maximum extent practicable” to make use of private industry in bringing cargo and astronauts to space and back for the space agency. The bill also notes in a familiar refrain that commercial services have the potential to lower the cost of going to space.

"If I had my druthers of course we would continue to fly so there would be no interruption'' between the end of shuttle operations and the beginning flights of its (the space shuttle's) replacement, said Nelson, who serves as chairman of the Science and Space Subcommittee, part of the U.S. Senate Committee of Commerce, Science and Transportation.

 

Cenker would also like to see the shuttle continue to fly, at a lower launch rate, until the United States has a replacement.

 

 "I'm a huge fan of commercial space development, but the jury's still out on when they'll actually be ready,'' Cenker said.

 

But there are also safety as well as financial issues said Nelson, who also serves as a member on the Senate Budget Committee.

"We were in a budgetary crisis and the decision was made after the Columbia accident that you fly the shuttle as long as you build the space station,'' which was completed in 2011, Nelson said.

"I know to each of us, the average American, the NASA budget is an incredible amount of money. But keeping in mind that it's less than 1 percent of the U.S. budget'' - it was actually 0.5 percent in fiscal year 2010 - "if NASA completely disappeared tomorrow, the national budget would improve by about one percent,'' Cenker said.

But Cenker also acknowledges the shuttle infrastructure was intended to support many launches each year. And flying the shuttle at a low launch rate only drives the cost of a launch higher.

 

"Recognizing the reality of a budget, any budget, and any money going to support the shuttle program would have to come from other NASA programs,'' he said.

 

Cenker added: "I struggle with the decision (to stop flying the space shuttle.) And I don't have sufficient insight into the details of the issues to resolve that struggle.''

 

Gibson, who flew five times on the space shuttle, has a fondness for the vehicle,
calling it one of the more remarkable advances in aviation.

"You have an airplane that can fly up to space, stay up for two weeks, bring back 20,000 to 30,000 pounds of payload and fly at hypersonic speeds - no airplane has flown as high or as fast,'' Gibson said. "I hate to see it go away.''

Finding the right photo

Those that know me, know that I agonize over finding the perfect photo to get signed by an astronaut. The blue flight suit (BFS) and launch and entry suit (L/ES, also known as the "pumpkin suit" because of its orange color) are nice, but everybody has those. I like finding candid or action photos, one that will give an astronaut pause before autographing. If it's an in-person encounter, maybe that photo can start a conversation.

When I saw that ret. Navy Capt. Michael J. Foreman was going to make an appearance, and that it was OK for me to send my "Space Shuttle: The First 20 Years" book as well as a photo, I narrowed down pictures to one of five:

During the 2010 Tom Joyner Family Reunion, NASA astronaut Mike Foreman, left, space activist and actress Nichelle Nichols, and NASA astronaut Leland Melvin pose for a photo at the Gaylord Palms Convention Center in Orlando, Fla. To encourage student attendees to focus on pursuing careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), NASA featured some of its greatest legends and trailblazers during a panel discussion at the reunion event. In the 1960s, Nichols played communications officer Lieutenant Uhura in the Star Trek television series. Foreman and Melvin are both veterans of two space shuttle missions. NASA's Education Office sponsored the panel discussion and educational activities as part of the agency's "Summer of Innovation" initiative and the federal "Educate to Innovate" campaign.

STS-129 Mission Specialist Mike Foreman is all smiles as he disembarks from a T-38 at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The crew members of space shuttle Atlantis' STS-129 mission have arrived at Kennedy for training related to their launch dress rehearsal, the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test. Launch of Atlantis on its STS-129 mission to the International Space Station is targeted for November.

Attired in a training version of his shuttle launch and entry suit, astronaut Michael J. Foreman, STS-123 mission specialist, takes a moment for a photo during a training session in the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility at the Johnson Space Center.

Astronaut Mike Foreman, STS-129 mission specialist, uses a communication system on the aft flight deck of space shuttle Atlantis while docked with the International Space Station.

Astronaut Mike Foreman, STS-123 mission specialist, takes a brief moment for a photo on the aft flight deck of Space Shuttle Endeavour while docked with the International Space Station. Anchored to a Canadarm2 mobile foot restraint, astronaut Rick Linnehan (visible through a nearby window), mission specialist, participates in the mission's third session of extravehicular activity (EVA).

All of these photos are horizontal, rather than vertical. I don't know. I just prefer photos that way, as it seems to afford a larger area for a person's signature and inscription, if they want. There's also very little dark areas for a signature, avoiding in most cases the question of, "Where would you like me to sign this?"

I could have, but declined to, choose a photo of Foreman training with the STS-120 crew, to which he was assigned prior to the Columbia accident. But none of those photos appealed to me.

In the end, I chose the first photo. Yes, it will mean needing to get it signed my Nichelle Nichols as well as Leland Melvin (incidentally, although I've met him twice, I have just a signed BFS photo of Melvin, which is a story in itself.)

But I decided to go with the first photo because I thought it would be a nice complement to this photo:

I don't remember where I got this photo or where Nichols signed it for me, aside from I used to go to a lot of Star Trek conventions in the '80s and '90s. I do know that later on, Nichols would sign stuff with only her first name, in order to make sure everyone received an autograph (as well as personalize with just the person's first name: "Ben / Love, Nichelle.")

Check out the early shuttle cockpit mockup, particularly the angle of the middle CRT!

One last word: Do not mistake Michael Foreman with Michael Fossum! I almost did, and almost sent the wrong photo....

How has your 2014 been?

How has your 2014 been, autograph-wise?

In the five years I've been rebuilding my collection, it's been a decent year. I added 16 signatures to my "Space Shuttle: The First 20 Years" book, in-person, through the mail, and with the help of family and friends - thanks to everybody.

Those 16 autographs more than met my self-imposed "Astronaut of the Month" standard:

• Umberto Guidoni
• Nicole Stott
• Karen Nyberg - No. 165 overall

  

  Karen Nyberg and Luca Parmitano at the University of Maryland, College Park.

• Doug Wheelock
  
• B. Alvin Drew - No. 155 out of 355 Shuttle astronauts
• Sam Gemar
• M. Rhea Seddon - No. 47 contributor
• Terry Wilcutt - No. 48 contributor
• Bonnie Dunbar
• Rudolfo Neri Vela

  

  Rodolfo Neri Vela, Mexico's first (only) astronaut; flew as a Mission Specialist on STS-61-B. Neri Vela is shown signing my "Space Shuttle: The First 20 Years" book, 13 August 2014 following the Astronaut Encounter at Kennedy Space Center. I was particularly happy for this, since Neri Vela usually doesn't (now) visit outside his country. Photo courtesy Livia C Ferreira DaSilva.

• Edward Lu

  

  With Edward T. Lu, two-time shuttle astronaut and six-month flight engineer on the International Space Station (and the first NASA astronaut to launch and land on a Soyuz. At the DRS Sigint Tech Expo, BWI Airport Marriott, Linthicum Heights, Md., 10 Sept. 2014. Photo courtesy event organizers.

• Robert Stewart
• Mike Gernhardt
• Kathy Sullivan

  

  Kathryn D. Sullivan at Monmouth University.

• Steve Hawley
• Michel Tognini

  

  The autographs of Steven A. Hawley and Michel A-C Tognini meant I had completed getting the signatures of the STS-93 crew in my book (all by me in-person!) - Jeff Ashby was not present at the 15 Years of Science with Chandra event but I had gotten him earlier, as I did with Eileen Collins and Catherine "Cady" Coleman, who were at the event. Hawley wasn't sure where to sign so it would show up so I suggested on top of the page, and Tognini followed suit. In addition to a completed STS-93 crew, Hawley's autograph meant I completed three more crews in my "Space Shuttle: The First 20 Years" book: Mission 41D (n.i. +Resnick), Mission 61C, and STS-31R. (Of those, I also met all of the Mission 61C crew, although not all of the signatures from that flight in my book were directly obtained by me. Boston, Ma., 18 Nov. 2014.

For a total of 178 overall (I've had Jim Lovell, who wrote the foreword sign, as well as 11 others who trained or were selected but otherwise didn't fly on the Shuttle.) Out of the 355 Shuttle astronauts, 33 are deceased, not including three (Sally Ride, Hank Hartsfield and Steve Nagel) who signed my book.

So I'm up to 199/355 Shuttle astronauts, and any further autographs are going to be hard to come by. Many of the astronauts have gone quietly into retirement and don't make many - if any - public appearances now. And with the upcoming birth of my daughter, it'll be difficult to do road trips to meet astronauts.

But it's OK. Because it's been a fun ride.

In addition to my book, I've also gotten signed photos from either Shuttle astronauts I didn't have or astronauts I've met but didn't fly the Shuttle:

• Luca Parmitano

  

  Italian Air Force Maj. Luca S. Parmitano jokingly rolled his eyes when he saw I brought this photo to get signed. Karen Nyberg teased him, "That's what you get for bringing that costume." 26 March 2014 at the University of Maryland, College Park.

• Mike Hopkins

  

  Air Force Col. Michael S. Hopkins was selected in July 2009 as one of 14 members of the 20th NASA astronaut class. He was the first of his class to fly into space, as a flight engineer for ISS Expeditions 37 and 38. Hopkins made an appearance on 1 June 2014 at the World Science Festival in New York, where I got this signed. He asked, "Where did you get this photo?" and explained that he had never seen it before.

• Karol "Bo" Bobko
• Joe Edwards (I didn't have my book for him to sign at the time)
• Mae Jemison

  

  "Wow! Look at that!" - Sen. Cory Booker, who saw this photo as I asked to have it signed. He and Mae C.  Jemison, the science mission specialist on STS-47 Spacelab-J (12-20 September 1992) made an appearance as part of a Students 2 Science presentation 15 Oct. 2014, in East Hanover, NJ. When I previously met Jemison in February 2011 I wasn't in also getting autographed photos as much as signatures in my "Space Shuttle: The First 20 Years" book. This signed photo meant crossing off one item on my bucket list.

• Jeffrey Williams - the subject of a previous post.

And I've re-met another 10 astronauts, missed out on two that I was in the area for, and met another who declined to do autographs. One of those I re-met was F. Story Musgrave, who signed my copy of "NASA Scientist-Astronauts," which had a photo I took of Musgrave 10 years earlier:

I've also had a lot of thru-the-mail successes as well, including these:

• Centaur

  

  A scene that never was - the deployment of a Centaur liquid-fueled upper stage from the Shuttle. I had that signed in-person by Marine Col. (ret.) Dave Hilmers and Navy Capt. Rick Hauck. I figured why not, send it off to Roy Bridges for his signature, and I got it back in less than a month. So now I have the Mission 61F crew less Mike Lounge, whom I never met in-person and also never got the chance to send this for his signature.
  
  After that, I sent it to John Fabian, who was assigned first to Mission 61D/Spacelab 4, and then with that flight's postponment, to one of the Galileo flights before he left NASA. I got it back from Fabian in about a week. Then I sent it to James D. A. "Ox" van Hoften, who returned it in about four months. Now I have two more crew members to go (Dave Walker, who would have commanded the other Centaur flight, Mission 61G, is also deceased) and this will be a crew complete item.

• Don Peterson

  

  This photo shows F. Story Musgrave (red stripes) and Don Peterson making the first Shuttle EVA. Normally Musgrave signs with just his first name, to distinguish his autographs from autopens. But he signed this with his last name unasked. Galloway Township, NJ, 5 Oct. 2014. Then I sent this to Peterson the same day I got it signed by Musgrave, and received it back on 17 Nov. 2014.

• STS-28R

  

  I had bought this litho on the secondary market, already signed by David Leestma and Mark Brown. My plan was to have both this and my Space Shuttle: The First 20 Years book signed by James Adamson and Richard Richards, but I didn't want to chance my book. Both of them sent it back within a week. Brewster Shaw will be a more difficult signature to get, but I'm happy with this litho as it now stands.