posted 09-13-2006 03:56 PM               

Last weekend, the annual Space Days have been held in Neubrandenburg, Germany. Guests were Viktor Gorbatko, Alexander Alexandrov and Valeri Tokarev. I have been there Friday evening till Sunday after breakfast, so I didn't attend all the events.
Collectorwise, most of Germany's and the Netherlands' usual suspects were around, among whom Collectspace members Christoph Kaspari and myself of course.

The "official" rule for autograph seekers was 5 free autographs per cosmonaut per day, additional autographs would have to be paid for.
Allegedly, this rule has been established Friday afternoon, after during a lunch-time press conference some overenthusiastic German collectors had harassed the cosmonauts with some giant piles of items to sign. Friday evening, there was "cosmonaut reception" with dinner and a subsequent signing session, and the organizing committee kept a real strict eye on our observance of their "5-autographs-a-person" rule.

On Saturday morning, a lecture / discussion with several IMHO very valid arguments against some Moon Hoax theories took place. This lecture was not only open to the participants of the weekend event but also for (paying) general public. Believe it or not, but 30 % of the audience actually believed that the lunar landings never had
taken place !

I didn't attend all lectures that day. At 12.30 h, there was a photo session where one could have ones photo taken with the cosmonauts, for 12 EUR, and get them back signed later in the evening. I didn't
have mine taken but managed to get hold of a new bunch of Gorbatko's autographs. The next autograph session was at 16.30 h, and suddenly everything, even exceeding 5 autographs per person, was very willingly signed by all cosmonauts for free ! I got all my stuff signed. After that, two other collectors and I sneaked into the nearby local TV store to watch the STS-115 launch on a 10 000 Euro giant plasma screen TV ... but somehow this event didn't really attract the attention of the general shoppers who were around in that store ...

Meanwhile, the cosmonaut discussion was going on in the main event hall, that was quite interesting. Each of the cosmonauts told of his space experiences, there was a Russian film shown about Gorbatko, exciting ! In the evening, there was dinner again.

Sunday morning some more lectures were given, including one by Valeri Tokarev, but
these took place without me as I wanted to be home in the western Netherlands again at a humane time. Maybe other attendants can tell the group if I have missed something ? I sat at the same table as Valeri Tokarev during breakfast BTW, he more than happily answered many questions from everyone and sometimes (with asking, of course) helped himself with coffee from someone else's table. I wonder if these other people had also been participants of "our" event or if
they even realized that they were sharing their coffee with someone who had spent half a year on the International Space Station ... !

All the best, Kirsten

posted 09-14-2006 04:49 PM               

The event has been announced in the Collectspace Sightings section for months in advance. I downloaded my submission form via the link on Collectspace.

Next year, the 23rd Space Days in Neubrandenburg will take place the 2nd weekend of September 2007. Planned guests (presently) are Pham Tuan from Vietnam and Arnaldo Tamayo Mendez from Cuba.

Announced early enough ?

All the best, Kirsten