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Author
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Topic: Autographs from the Past: Astronaut Bill Anders
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Bob M
Member Posts: 1921
From: Atlanta-area, GA USA
Registered: Aug 2000
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posted 06-10-2024 10:25 AM
   
Our Space Autographs From the Past series continues with an autograph tribute to Apollo 8 astronaut Bill Anders, who died in a plane crash on June 7 at age 90.Bill Anders' autograph actually doesn't quite qualify for our series of autographs as being from the past, unusual and seldom seen, but two of the three do qualify. Those who have pursued his autograph can say it's seldom seen — many will agree that his autograph is the hardest to find of all the Apollo flown astronauts. Like many veteran space autograph collectors, I actively pursued his autograph and through the years was able to obtain the ones I needed through various means, from expensive purchases to meeting him in person. As an autograph tribute to the historic Bill Anders, I have shown here five Anders' autographs from my collection: an in person signed portrait from 1999, two individual signed covers and two Apollo 8 crew signed covers. Actually, early in Anders' astronaut career, he was a fairly good signer and much of his autograph material we see came from his earlier time as an astronaut. But that ended and later autograph requests to him through the mail typically never returned. But in more recent years he agreed to sign anything for around $2,500 for charity.  This Bill Anders NASA portrait was signed in person for me in 1999 at the Kissimmee, Florida airport during the spectacular Gathering of Mustangs and Legends P-52 Mustang aircraft fly-in — also attended by the legendary Chuck Yeager, who, like Anders, arrived via a P-52 Mustang.  These two covers display Anders' early autograph style, with his complete "William A. Anders" signature, but on covers unrelated to his Apollo 8 flight (you get what you can).  These two Apollo 8 launch covers are signed by the crew, with the top cover cacheted with the Apollo 8 crew emblem. The bottom cover is from the Space City Cover Society of Houston, with both covers exhibiting his standard "Bill Anders" style signature. His later autograph examples varied greatly, as shown on the portrait litho above. Bill Anders' autograph is a must for an Apollo astronaut autograph collection and they can be found, but forgeries are a major problem and probably greatly outnumber authentic examples. Thank you, Col. Anders, for your service to our nation and for the autographs you left us. |
Joel Katzowitz
Member Posts: 883
From: Marietta GA USA
Registered: Dec 1999
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posted 06-10-2024 02:42 PM
Bob, I really appreciate your timely post regarding Bill Anders and his signing history.I have a Bill Anders autograph story that I'm pretty sure I posted on cS a number of years ago. Anders lived right next door to my cousins in upstate NY in small town called Cazenovia. Until his recent passing my cousin kept in touch with him and was invited to visit him in Washington on several occasions. At some point, maybe 10 years ago, I wrote to Anders, mentioned my cousins, and my deep interest in the space program. Eventually he wrote me back and included his signature on a piece of illustration board. I took my mat cutter and then mounted the earthrise image along with the Apollo 8 mission patch and had it framed. It's one of my favorite possessions. |
Bob M
Member Posts: 1921
From: Atlanta-area, GA USA
Registered: Aug 2000
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posted 06-11-2024 11:23 AM
Interesting story of your success in obtaining Col. Anders' autograph, Joel, with some family-related help.I'm sure everyone here would like to see a photo of your Anders presentation display. It would be interesting to see the autograph you received. When signing in his later years his autographs varied greatly. His signing reluctance resulted from his great desire to prevent his autograph from being commercialized. But the resulting scarcity resulted in those available being quite expensive. |
Joel Katzowitz
Member Posts: 883
From: Marietta GA USA
Registered: Dec 1999
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posted 06-11-2024 06:41 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Bob M:
I'm sure everyone here would like to see a photo of your Anders presentation display.
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Ken Havekotte
Member Posts: 3831
From: Merritt Island, Florida, Brevard
Registered: Mar 2001
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posted 06-15-2024 06:36 AM
Another astronaut legend gone by! Nice Gen. Anders tribute by Bob and Joel.With only a single spaceflight by Bill Anders, what a flight it was ... Man's first lunar orbital flight with that awesome and iconic captured "Earthrise" over-the-moon photograph that Anders snapped! As for myself, I only have about 25 different or so Anders' signed pieces, some of which can be seen here. Note the signed SpaceShots trading card, letter, and order form by Anders to the son of America's first spacewalker Ed White:  |
kosmo
Member Posts: 540
From:
Registered: Sep 2001
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posted 06-15-2024 11:55 AM
I have a few Bill Anders autographs, one from the Apollo 8 recovery, one from May of 1969, and one from the Reno Air Races in 2005. His autograph didn’t change to much in that time frame. 
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Joel Katzowitz
Member Posts: 883
From: Marietta GA USA
Registered: Dec 1999
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posted 06-16-2024 04:39 AM
Wow Ken, the content of the letter from Anders to Edward White III is amazing.One other observation that's always intrigued me is the orientation of the earthrise image. As I'm sure most space geeks know, the image was shot as the spacecraft rounded the the side of the moon with it's "horizon" vertical. At some point the image was re-oriented with the moon's horizon in a horizontal format and that became the norm. A friend of mine did some design for Anders and spent some time at his house in Seattle. He sent me some photos with included Anders' hangar and aircraft, his home, and his earthrise framed photo on his living room wall. It shows the horizon in it's vertical format as it was originally captured on film. |
Axman
Member Posts: 497
From: Derbyshire UK
Registered: Mar 2023
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posted 06-16-2024 05:33 AM
I'm intrigued! Did Anders' display show Earth on the left or the right?I ask because many published and Internet photos which purportedly show the original orientation, have Earth on the right, which would mean South at the top, but Apollo 8 circled the moon in a clockwise direction (when looking from celestial north) which places Earth on the left in a photo standardised to a north at top orientation. |
bobslittlebro
Member Posts: 272
From: Douglasville, Ga U.S.A.
Registered: Nov 2009
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posted 06-16-2024 06:49 AM
Nice tribute Bob. All of the signed items are great. |
Joel Katzowitz
Member Posts: 883
From: Marietta GA USA
Registered: Dec 1999
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posted 06-16-2024 07:03 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Axman:
Did Anders' display show Earth on the left or the right?
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Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 52718
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 06-16-2024 07:10 AM
When was this photo taken? I am guessing it was before 2013.For the 45th anniversary of the mission, NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio at Goddard Space Flight Center, using data from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, recreated Anders' view. Andrew Chaikin assisted with (and narrated) the recreation and all three Apollo 8 crew members agreed — their view had Earth on the right. |
Axman
Member Posts: 497
From: Derbyshire UK
Registered: Mar 2023
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posted 06-16-2024 07:26 AM
Their subjective opinion of it may well have placed Earth on the right. And any number of factors can contribute to that subjectivity, such as the orientation of the camera in the astronaut's hands, and the orientation of the astronaut within the spacecraft, on top of the orientation of the spacecraft towards the lunar surface.However, from a celestial mechanical view with the Solar System orbiting the galaxy counter clockwise, then celestial north being upwards, as Apollo 8 exited from behind the moon, the Earth would have been to the left of moon's horizon... And, moreover, I'm very glad to see that Bill Anders understood that... |
Joel Katzowitz
Member Posts: 883
From: Marietta GA USA
Registered: Dec 1999
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posted 06-16-2024 10:00 AM
To answer Robert's question of when the photo was taken in Anders' house, the metadata says my friend took it on March 20, 2002.And yes, I think Anders would know the correct composition of the elements in his photo. |
Bob M
Member Posts: 1921
From: Atlanta-area, GA USA
Registered: Aug 2000
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posted 06-16-2024 10:38 AM
Thanks Tim, and Joel, Ken and Tom for the additional Bill Anders autographs which show his interesting autograph and some of its variations. And, Ken, you say you "only" have about 25 Anders autographs?! They are hard to come by and after many years of trying, believe I have about 8. Bill Anders and John Glenn were in two very different categories when it came to providing autographs (night and day). But we are most grateful for those Col. Anders left us; we just have to look harder for them. |
Ken Havekotte
Member Posts: 3831
From: Merritt Island, Florida, Brevard
Registered: Mar 2001
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posted 06-16-2024 11:45 AM
In checking over my kept autographs, Bob, of Major General Anders (USAFR), it's now just 20 or 21 as some had been sold or traded off that I kept copies of. During the later Apollo years, of which I could kill myself now, I had Anders sign a NASA litho of "Earthrise" over the moon area. It had been signed in his original signature format, which was my favorite version, but also had an Apollo 8 FDI cancel on it as well. In thinking more about it now, it might had been best in not having him sign the photo with a first day cancel added. It's no longer with me. |
micropooz
Member Posts: 1778
From: Washington, DC, USA
Registered: Apr 2003
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posted 06-29-2024 12:14 PM
Sorry I’m late to the party, gang! Well, I’ve only got two Anders autographs and they provide an interesting example of the variation in his autographs. Below is an Apollo 8 crew autographed insignia cover obtained by the late Jane Beville with a more classic Anders signature. And below is an Apollo 8 crew signed Beck USS Yorktown PRS cover, with what I like to refer to as the "miffed Anders signature." The cover had the Borman and Lovell signatures on it when I got it. Then in 1993, JSC had an Apollo 8 25th Anniversary celebration with the crew there. And Anders sat down to give autographs! I got in line with the cover below (and one other). The guy right in front of me in line was one of our less-ethical brethren, and he plopped down about an inch-thick stack of photos in front of Anders to sign. Anders got mad and emphatically yelled at the autograph line that he would only sign one item per person. So I chose this cover and got this very different signature from Anders right after he got miffed…  |
gareth89
Member Posts: 630
From: Ireland
Registered: May 2014
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posted 06-29-2024 01:25 PM
Wow, as soon as I saw your Beck Yorktown cover the signature reminded me of this "signed" cover I picked up a while back. Unusual Anders signature that I've yet to have authenticated, though opinions have been mixed! 
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kosmo
Member Posts: 540
From:
Registered: Sep 2001
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posted 07-12-2024 08:54 AM
Rare late 60’s early 70’s Shell advertising poster has the Earth on the left, and even mentions that "this is exactly how the Apollo 8 astronauts saw the Earth (left) and Moon (right)." So fairly early on, Earth rise was being shown correctly. |
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