Author
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Topic: Al Worden's "Falling to Earth" book signings
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divemaster Member Posts: 1376 From: ridgefield, ct Registered: May 2002
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posted 11-18-2011 06:19 PM
quote: Originally posted by MikeSpace: Glad the Cradle of Aviation went well was going to go but the traffic to get to/from NJ to Long Island, it was actually probably easier to go to the NASM signing.
I left my house at 4 p.m. to meet up with Al and the gang at the museum for dinner at 6 p.m. I got there 10 minutes late because of the insane traffic. The trip home was almost an hour shorter. But it was worth it to listen to Al and have a few laughs afterwards. Which reminded me why I hated having an office in Long Island back in the day. My old office is diagonally across the street from the museum. I literally shudder when I see it. Too many arguments went on in that building for my liking. |
hlbjr Member Posts: 475 From: Delray Beach Florida USA Registered: Mar 2006
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posted 11-22-2011 06:55 AM
quote: Originally posted by albatron: Al will be signing his book at the Vero Beach Book Center (Vero Beach, FL) on Saturday, 11/19 at 1:00 p.m.
My wife and I made it to the Vero Book Center signing and it was great. I still find it hard to believe we have such access to an astronaut who flew to the moon! One interesting occurrence during the signing, an elementary school science teacher brought a few space photos for Al to sign to be given as Science Fair prizes. Initially the teacher was told no other signings but Al looked him in the eye and asked how the pictures were going to be used and when he learned they were to be given as prizes to students, he gladly signed them. I prayed silently that this teacher was telling the truth. It was great (as always) to see Al and my wife enjoyed it also. She was a little impressed when Al waved at me when we entered the signing area. I could listen to Al for days if given the chance. |
divemaster Member Posts: 1376 From: ridgefield, ct Registered: May 2002
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posted 11-23-2011 10:13 PM
Al does have a soft spot for certain organizations [as do most of the astronauts]. A Boy Scout leader asked Al if he'd sign a multi piece when he was in NY. Al kindly asked him to hang around to the very end - and he'd take a look after everyone had left. Imagine my surprise when this guy unrolled the Moonwalkers print. I don't think Al wanted to sign it for the obvious reason - but it was for the Boy Scouts. I just sat there biting my lip. |
Hart Sastrowardoyo Member Posts: 3445 From: Toms River, NJ Registered: Aug 2000
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posted 11-23-2011 10:53 PM
quote: Originally posted by MikeSpace: Glad the Cradle of Aviation went well was going to go but the traffic to get to/from NJ to Long Island, it was actually probably easier to go to the NASM signing.
From Toms River to my parents' house on Long Island (Exit 60 on the LIE) takes about three hours. There are a few problems: the West Shore and Staten Island expressways are the main through roads on Staten Island; the Belt Parkway is not only an old road that they're doing construction work, it also runs by JFK so you get the airport traffic. It also doesn't help matters that both the Southern State and Meadowbrook parkways, while having no truck traffic, are essentially 1930s roads handling 21st century traffic (e.g., little to no acceleration/deacceleration ramps on the exits.) The trip to Cradle of Aviation can be done in two hours with no traffic from central NJ, but I always count on three. |
Fezman92 Member Posts: 1031 From: New Jersey, USA Registered: Mar 2010
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posted 11-23-2011 10:57 PM
quote: Originally posted by Hart Sastrowardoyo: The trip to Cradle of Aviation can be done in two hours with no traffic from central NJ, but I always count on three.
For me with traffic and the time I would be able to leave, it would be a four (or five) hour drive and we would get home late at night/early in the morning which wouldn't work because my mom is a teacher. I am trying to get the Franklin Institute to hold one. |
divemaster Member Posts: 1376 From: ridgefield, ct Registered: May 2002
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posted 11-26-2011 10:33 PM
I try to get to the Cradle of Aviation museum whenever possible. Too bad it didn't exist when I worked around the corner. It is underfunded and has a spectacular collection of artifacts. I'm just amazed at how many people in the tri-state area don't even know that it exists. Al practically filled the IMAX theater for his talk - and, whenever an astronaut speaks, they always get a great turnout. In all honesty, I wish they had been awarded Enterprise, but I know that, financially, it was impossible. But if you live in the NY area, make a point to go. You won't be disappointed. I know that Al was suitably impressed with the museum (as are all of the astronauts who have appeared there). |
Hart Sastrowardoyo Member Posts: 3445 From: Toms River, NJ Registered: Aug 2000
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posted 11-27-2011 10:11 AM
quote: Originally posted by divemaster: Too bad it didn't exist when I worked around the corner. It is underfunded and has a spectacular collection of artifacts.
Slightly off-topic, but when did you work around the corner? I visit the museum now more, living in New Jersey, then when I did living on Long Island - and I got my drivers' license in 1986/87. I remember when they had the T-46 model and a life-size (?) mockup of one of the shuttle proposals. Somewhere in the recesses of my parents' basement are my photos of the museum back then. |
albatron Member Posts: 2732 From: Stuart, Florida Registered: Jun 2000
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posted 11-27-2011 11:18 AM
quote: Originally posted by hlbjr: It was great (as always) to see Al and my wife enjoyed it also.
I wish you had said hello to this Al. |
Tonyspace Member Posts: 120 From: Edison, New Jersey Registered: Nov 2002
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posted 11-29-2011 06:26 PM
quote: Originally posted by divemaster: Imagine my surprise when this guy unrolled the Moonwalkers print. I don't think Al wanted to sign it for the obvious reason - but it was for the Boy Scouts. I just sat there biting my lip.
Why bite your lip? Ask me and I would have told you which troop in New Jersey owns it. It was donated by a woman in Maryland whose son was in the New Jersey troop many years ago. It one of the first Moonwalkers prints with nine autographs.Dave Scott signed it at the Rutherford, NJ show years ago and at that time I had the scouts with me. The story goes on and I don't want to repeat the whole story. Nine months out of the year it hangs in the scout room and the other three months it's at my house. Al Worden is and will always be a true gentlemen. I hope your lip is okay. |
mjanovec Member Posts: 3811 From: Midwest, USA Registered: Jul 2005
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posted 11-30-2011 12:19 PM
quote: Originally posted by Tonyspace: Why bite your lip?
Perhaps because Al Worden didn't walk on the moon. Some might view his signature on such a piece as being a little odd. |
GerryM Member Posts: 244 From: Glenside PA Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 11-30-2011 01:37 PM
quote: Originally posted by mjanovec: Perhaps because Al Worden didn't walk on the moon. Some might view his signature on such a piece as being a little odd.
You can make a great thread here of choice pieces ruined by adding signatures that totally don't belong. My favorite was someone had a a choice unpersonalized Apollo 11 crew signed photo and had Scott Carpenter sign it also. Sadly,,,more signatures isn't always better.Gerry Montague / Astronaut Archives |
Spacefest Member Posts: 1168 From: Tucson, AZ Registered: Jan 2009
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posted 11-30-2011 11:43 PM
How about the moon globe signed by Leonov, Kubasov, and Tereshkova? |
divemaster Member Posts: 1376 From: ridgefield, ct Registered: May 2002
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posted 12-03-2011 10:26 AM
quote: Originally posted by Hart Sastrowardoyo: Slightly off-topic, but when did you work around the corner?
I worked "around the corner" in that big glass building with sloping front when it first opened in the early 1990's. The company that I worked for at the time was one of its original occupants (it still had that "new building smell"). |
FFrench Member Posts: 3161 From: San Diego Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 03-27-2012 06:52 PM
Here's another talk and book signing event by Al, in the Las Vegas area. The "Space: A Journey To Our Future" exhibition includes an Apollo 15 moon rock returned to earth by Al, and a lot of other cool stuff. |
Dave Clow Member Posts: 236 From: South Pasadena, CA 91030 Registered: Nov 2003
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posted 03-28-2012 01:34 PM
quote: Originally posted by GerryM: You can make a great thread here of choice pieces ruined by adding signatures that totally don't belong.
It's a fine line. My feeling is that items ought to tell a coherent story — "internal logic" is the writer's term for it. How that's defined is a matter of personal interpretation. I can understand how Carpenter's signature on an AS-11 crew shot breaks the internal logic; on the other hand, I'm perplexed by the exclusion on some items in the general category of Apollo flights of the astronauts who didn't fly in Apollo, but who did unquestionably support the missions as CapComs or support crews. Jerry Carr was in the CapCom chair when Apollo 12 got nailed by lighting — is that not part of the story? Likewise Jack Lousma for 13 and Bruce McCandless for 11. And regarding the Soviets on a moon globe, well, it's enough to say that their presence in the race helped to drive our effort, and one must remember after all that they saw the Far Side before we did; hence the names on the Sea of Moscow and Tsiolkovsky, among others. |
FFrench Member Posts: 3161 From: San Diego Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 04-06-2012 12:34 PM
In addition to that forthcoming Las Vegas event, here's a newly-scheduled talk by Al in Maryland - information here and here. Looks like a relatively short drive for folks in the Baltimore and Philadelphia areas. |
Fezman92 Member Posts: 1031 From: New Jersey, USA Registered: Mar 2010
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posted 04-06-2012 02:46 PM
Only a 2 hour drive and more importantly it is after school gets out. |
Fezman92 Member Posts: 1031 From: New Jersey, USA Registered: Mar 2010
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posted 06-11-2012 06:13 PM
Well I won't be able to make it down. Car got into a fender bender so it will be in the shop that day. Oh well. |