posted 05-02-2001 08:50 AM               

I am currently conducting background research and outlining what will be the first volume of interviews with America's space pioneers, including all of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo astronauts, as well as key personnel from those missions.

My goal is to interview one individual per month, preferably in person, beginning in September, 2001. In order to "interview" deceased astronauts, I am going to be referencing past interviews they conducted (fully annotated and credited, with full permissions) which I will then assemble into completed interviews that are comparable in length to those I conduct in-person.

By way of introduction, I am an experienced interviewer who was first published at the age of 17 in a Los Angeles trade newspaper. In subsequent years my interviews with authors and others have appeared in STARLOG MAGAZINE and SCIENCE FICTION CHRONICLE, while my short fiction has appeared in the now-defunct TWILIGHT ZONE MAGAZINE--all before the age of 25. On an interesting note, among my interview subjects was John Barnes, Buzz Aldrin's co-author for the TIBER books. In addition, at the age of twenty I served as a journalist and full-time Entertainment Editor for two Georgia newspapers, THE SOUTHEAST GEORGIAN and the CAMDEN COUNTY TRIBUNE. In addition to entertainment news and film reviews, I covered items as diverse as PR pieces, to more serious columns on subjects including cocaine trafficking through Florida and nuclear submarine deployments from South Georgia.

I am a former member of the prestigious SCIENCE FICTION WRITERS OF AMERICA, the GEORGIA PRESS ASSOCIATION and THE NATIONAL WRITERS UNION.

Within the next few months I will be launching www.RichardStarr.com so that interested parties can track progress on the project, tentatively titled HOW THE FUTURE WAS: INTERVIEWS WITH AMERICA'S SPACE PIONEERS: THE MERCURY, GEMINI AND APOLLO MISSIONS.

If anyone is interested in assisting with this project, I am looking for the following:

1. Past interviews with deceased astronauts, the more uncommon the better.

2. Contacts with astronauts who would be willing to participate in such a project. Please, no shuttle, Cosmonaut or ISS astronauts at this time. If the first volume is a success, then I will be assembling a second book focusing on post-Apollo space figures.

3. Suggestions for questions that you, my fellow space enthusiasts, feel may have been overlooked in previous interviews, or which you would like to see asked in new in-depth interviews.

4. Any and all research material you feel inclined to spare and which you feel will be of help in conducting thorough and revealing interviews. Anything in this arena is welcome, but PLEASE do not unduly inconvenience yourself. Any assistance you can provide is appreciated, as the legwork for this project will be ENORMOUS.

Thank you all for the great information and reading on the subject of collecting "space." I've enjoyed visiting CollectSpace for some time, and now I'm proud to be a member.

All responses from interested parties may be directed to:

richardstarr@cfl.rr.com

Again, thank you all!

Best,
Richard Dean Starr

posted 05-02-2001 04:59 PM               

Off the top of my head I'd like to know what Frank Borman might have choosen as a name for Apollo 8 had he been allowed to do so.

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Happy trails,
Wayne Edelman

posted 05-02-2001 05:58 PM               

As for others replying to this announcement, I do hope they sound off with questions and comments. I would like to better gauge the potential response to a book of this type.

I think that existing interviews and autobiographies have largely done a fine job of profiling the astronauts and other major players in the American space program. However, in HOW THE FUTURE WAS:INTERVIEWS WITH AMERICA’S SPACE PIONEERS, I'm hoping to give the reader the feeling that he or she is personally having a conversation with the individual being interviewed. I will be striving for a conversational flow that is engaging and highly readable…something that in my experience is not always the case with interviews, regardless of the subject.