Changes....

There have been lots of changes, both personally and space-related. The personal one, well, it's personal and suffice to say my limited time is even more limited.

Space-related, I am down to needling about 130 space shuttle astronauts in my "Space Shuttle: The First 20 Years" book to be complete (355 flyers less 33 deceased [there are 37 deceased astronauts and I have the signatures of four of them] less three people who are basically nonsigners equals 319. I have 192 shuttle astronauts, but I have two on separate pieces of paper I need to get in the book, so 319 minus 190 equals 129.)

This long explanation is my way of saying that even one new astronaut is a milestone for me. Here it is June and I have just seven new signatures in my book. Granted, past years have been buoyed by events such as the Hubble 25 commemoration at Udvar-Hazy in 2015, or 2012's shuttle Discovery transfer, also at Udvar-Hazy, but also, too, any new astronaut I haven't seen or need in my book have been few and far between.

But I have had some remarkable successes.

Before I get into those, there's been another change. Just shy of my 200th signer, I have stopped scanning pages from my "Shuttle: 20 Years" book. I had hoped to include at least Roger Crouch's (No. 199) and Jim Adamson's (No. 200) pages onto my Flickr account, but found that the book was getting too fragile - in fact, the book now lays flat at where Rich Clifford signed it. So unless they can invent a scanner where I don't have to lay the book flat on the glass, you'll just have to take my word that the book was autographed on that page, even though the signature isn't there.

As mentioned, Roger Crouch was No. 199 in my book, someone who had been on my bucket list since he had made appearances at the nearby Discover Family Engineering Day since at least 2012. In fact, I was in Washington, DC in 2014 during the time of the event, but since I didn't have my book with me, I couldn't get his signature. I just wished this year they would have spelled his name right....

A trip to Florida at that time revolved around his appearance. It was a very informal, but well-handled signing. Crouch sat at a table with a stack of pre-signed photos (which he personalized if you wanted) for those who didn't have items. I had my wife's and my copy of "Shuttle: 20 Years" along with two photos. Crouch agreed to sign both books, then decided to sign one of the photos. He also gave us a photo for my daughter (who was present) which now resides in her "Book of Adventures and Stories."

Of course, a trip to Florida wouldn't be complete without a trip to Kennedy Space Center. And who was there at the Astronaut Encounter the day we decided to go? Yup, Roger Crouch.

No. 200 was a TTM to Jim Adamson, whom I knew was a fast signer. I had gotten the OK to send him my book during the summer after I sent him my crew photo (below) for his autograph, but there always seemed to be an astronaut appearance that required my book. I was itching for a signature, though, with the doldrums in astronauts. He signed it the same day it arrived and posted it back in the mail - couldn't ask for better service!

Skipping No. 201 for a moment (Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger), I was really happy for No. 202 - Suni Williams.

Back in 2013 I couldn't stay to meet Williams, who was appearing in Boston-area schools along with Aki Hoshide. This past summer she was also in the Boston-area, but a friend wasn't able to get her signature in my book for me.

Third time's the charm, though, and since I like challenges, I decided to also send a photo showing her among the Commercial Crew astronauts - since they all are, to one degree or another, hard signers.

And now we come to my favorite event so far this year - the Astronaut Social that was a part of the 44th Space Congress, held at the Radisson Resort at the Port, Cape Canaveral, Fla.

Five astronauts were scheduled to be at the social - one of which I didn't have my book. I would have been happy with just one new signature:

Steve Robinson, who flew four shuttle missions, was backup flight engineer for an ISS expedition, and plays a mean guitar (he added the musical note unasked.)

But as the commercial goes, "Wait! There's more!"