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Author
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Topic: Space Shuttle astronaut autopen archive
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Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 12300
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted June 22, 2005 11:38 AM
   
From Craig Sadler (The Space Directory): quote:
Previously, Apollo Autopens were reasonably well documented but Autopens from Shuttle Astronauts were largely ignored. I have tried to correct that with my Autopen guide, and I now have Autopen patterns from about 150 Shuttle Astronauts on the site, but obviously there are still a lot of patterns and Astronauts missing.I will also be producing PDF versions of the Autopen guide that collectors will be able to download for free and print off to take to shows and auctions etc. I am looking to get some more people to contribute to it. It will benefit all collectors, particularly those buying on ebay. If the new guide saves just one person from buying an Autopen as a genuine hand signed original then I will consider the site a huge success.
If anyone has Shuttle-era autopens they can contribute to Craig's efforts, please let him know...[This message has been edited by Robert Pearlman (edited June 22, 2005).] IP: Logged |
collshubby
Member Posts: 591
From: Madisonville, Louisiana
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted June 22, 2005 12:41 PM
I know that I have Rick Husband, and a couple of others. I'll have to dig them up from the deep, dark realm of the autopen drawer.------------------
Brian Peter 385th Bombardment Group
B-17 Bomber "War Horse"
http://warhorse.omegappg.com IP: Logged |
thump
Member Posts: 434
From: washington dc usa
Registered: May 2004
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posted June 22, 2005 12:54 PM
and I just forwarded a new Scott Altman that I picked up at a NASA event that he was at, but had left by the time I arrived. The table that he sat at had a large stack of "signed" lithos, all bearing the same exact signature. I wrote him after the event and mentioned that I had just missed him and he sent a real signed and inscribed litho.IP: Logged |
SpaceDirectory
Member Posts: 23
From: Hertfordshire, England
Registered: Jun 2005
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posted June 22, 2005 01:36 PM
Thanks for sending that Scott Altman in, Jim! I have put it up on the site.I don't have any Rick Husband AP's on the site at the moment, so if you dig that one out, Brian, that would be great! Craig IP: Logged |
jam1970
Member Posts: 237
From: Chillicothe, Ohio, usa
Registered: Mar 2004
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posted June 22, 2005 04:26 PM
I have Kalpana Chawla, Mark Kelly, Michael Massimino, and Peggy Whitson. I also have some crews- I will try and scan them and send them alongIP: Logged |
Mike Dixon
Member Posts: 421
From: Kew, Victoria, Australia
Registered: May 2003
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posted June 22, 2005 08:36 PM
I can readily supply the following crew lithos ...STS 1 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 8 / 26 - 29 / 31 / 37 / 41 / 42 / 47 / 48 / 50 / 51 - 53 / 56 / 58 / 59 62 / 64 - 69 / 73 / 75 / 76 / 78 / 80 - 82 / 84 - 89 / 91 / 96 / 99 / 109. 41B / 41C / 41G / 51A / 51D / 51G / 51I / 51J If this helps, please ctc me offline .... Mike IP: Logged |
sikotic19
Member Posts: 61
From: Chattanooga, TN, USA
Registered: Jul 2001
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posted June 22, 2005 10:41 PM
I have lots of autopenned crew lithos. What size and resolution would you want them scanned to? I'm at work now, but can check what crews I have when I get home.Regards,
Geoff IP: Logged |
SpaceDirectory
Member Posts: 23
From: Hertfordshire, England
Registered: Jun 2005
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posted June 23, 2005 03:23 AM
Hello Geoff,Basically, the higher the resolution the better, scanning at about 200 to 300 dpi should produce excellent results. Thanks to everyone who has sent scans in! Craig IP: Logged |
collshubby
Member Posts: 591
From: Madisonville, Louisiana
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted June 23, 2005 07:46 PM
Craig,I looked and looked, but I cannot find those autopens anywhere! I moved from overseas last year, and I still have stuff in Australia. I think it may be there! Sorry! ------------------
Brian Peter 385th Bombardment Group
B-17 Bomber "War Horse"
http://warhorse.omegappg.com IP: Logged |
SpaceDirectory
Member Posts: 23
From: Hertfordshire, England
Registered: Jun 2005
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posted June 24, 2005 05:15 AM
No problem Brian, thanks for looking.I also want to thank Jim A. Thumpston, Richie Barrett, Mike Dixon, Bob Mcleod and Jammie Wilhelm for all the scans they have sent in the last couple of days, most are available on the site now. Also a big thank you to Robert Pearlman for posting details of the project here. I will be producing PDF versions of the Autopen guides soon that people will be able to download and print off. I would certainly like to hear from you if you think a PDF guide would be useful. Would collectors take the time to print off a PDF guide to carry to shows and auctions etc. or would it better just leaving it as an internet only guide? It seems the shuttle guide will run to about 70 pages long, so that would use a lot of printer ink and be quite an expensive thing to print off. Any opinions welcome! Craig
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Bob M
Member Posts: 916
From: Atlanta-area, GA USA
Registered: Aug 2000
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posted June 24, 2005 06:36 AM
Craig, with some help <G>, has created an excellent and useful resource for astronaut autograph collectors, especially those that collect Space Shuttle astronaut autographs. It's still a work-in-progress and help from other collectors will continue to be appreciated.Among hundreds of standard autopens, you will also find there a number of "oddities, such as an Alan Shepard rubber stamp signature; a rarely seen Gus Grissom secretarial signature; a hand written personalization added to an autopen signature; an Apollo 1 autopenned crew litho; a rare Apollo 16 autopen inscription; and various very real appearing preprinted signatures. Bob Mc. [This message has been edited by Bob M (edited June 24, 2005).] IP: Logged |
Apollo-Soyuz
Member Posts: 508
From: Shady Side, Md
Registered: Sep 2004
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posted June 24, 2005 07:02 PM
Craig- I think a PDF version of the guide would be a very useful tool to the collector of astronaut autographs.  ------------------
John Macco
Vice President
Space Unit
Shady Side, Md. [This message has been edited by Apollo-Soyuz (edited June 24, 2005).] IP: Logged |
SpaceDirectory
Member Posts: 23
From: Hertfordshire, England
Registered: Jun 2005
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posted July 03, 2005 08:11 AM
I have just added about 50 more Autopens to the guide, thanks to Mike Dixon, Geoff Viney and everyone else who sent scans in.I still have lots more to put up, but I am still sorting through them. Thanks everybody! Craig ------------------
Astronaut Autopen Gallery: http://www.spacedirectory.org.uk/html/Astronaut_Autopen_Guide_Autopens.html IP: Logged |
MarylandSpace
Member Posts: 464
From:
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted July 03, 2005 12:33 PM
A guide and these discussions are most useful for all collectors.Russ's Relic's has paid for itself many times over. I am most grateful. Bookmarking the page makes life easier and less expensive. Regards, Garry IP: Logged |
SpaceDirectory
Member Posts: 23
From: Hertfordshire, England
Registered: Jun 2005
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posted July 06, 2005 03:10 PM
I just uploaded the last of the Autopens, the guide now has well over 200 Shuttle astronauts represented! I will start working on the downloadable PDF guides tomorrow. Thanks to everyone who has helped out! Craig ------------------
Astronaut Autopen Gallery: http://www.spacedirectory.org.uk/html/Astronaut_Autopen_Guide_Autopens.html IP: Logged |
SpaceDirectory
Member Posts: 23
From: Hertfordshire, England
Registered: Jun 2005
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posted July 24, 2005 03:25 PM
Hi All,I just put up the first versions of the downloadable/printable Pre-Shuttle and Shuttle Astronaut Autopen guides. The Shuttle guide is quite a big file (4.27MB), so apologies in advance to dial up users! The Pre-shuttle guide is 1.3MB. Please feel free to distribute it as you see fit, particularly to fellow space collectors that don't have the benefit of being members of mailing lists/message boards. You can get them here:
http://www.spacedirectory.org.uk/downloads/index.html Craig
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Astronaut Autopen Gallery: http://www.spacedirectory.org.uk/html/Astronaut_Autopen_Guide_Autopens.html IP: Logged |
SpaceDirectory
Member Posts: 23
From: Hertfordshire, England
Registered: Jun 2005
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posted July 25, 2005 12:30 PM
I just put up a new guide for the STS-105 Crew Lithos, they aren't really Autopens and because they are so convincing I thought I would put them in a guide of their own.You can get it here: http://www.spacedirectory.org.uk/downloads/index.html Constructive critisism and any further information about the STS-105 lithos would be very welcome! Craig ------------------
Astronaut Autopen Gallery: http://www.spacedirectory.org.uk/html/Astronaut_Autopen_Guide_Autopens.html [This message has been edited by SpaceDirectory (edited July 25, 2005).] IP: Logged |
eurospace
Member Posts: 1743
From: Berlin, Germany
Registered: Dec 2000
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posted July 29, 2005 04:21 AM
Craig,Great job, this autopen guide, and most welcome. I remember Simon Vaughan's guide, but that was many years ago. I just xeroxed it to make it more handy and noticed that there might be two proposals to improve it in practical terms:
- most autopens represented are reproduced "larger than life". It might be worthwhile to think whether it wouldn't be better to reproduce them 1:1, especially if you think of printing them out on a transparent sheet to place them on the suspicious item you want to check.
- also, reducing size would make it a thinner document. You could mount the clichés in two columns instead of one. Hope this helps, Jürgen ------------------
Jürgen P Esders
Berlin, Germany
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Astroaddies IP: Logged |
SpaceDirectory
Member Posts: 23
From: Hertfordshire, England
Registered: Jun 2005
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posted July 29, 2005 06:27 AM
Thanks for those suggestions, Jürgen. You are absolutley right about the image sizes, the next release will have smaller images, as this will also make printing the guide easier (and cheaper). To resize all the images will take a fair while, but I hope to have it done within a few weeks (depending on how well my back holds up in this chair). Craig ------------------
Astronaut Autopen Gallery: http://www.spacedirectory.org.uk/html/Astronaut_Autopen_Guide_Autopens.html IP: Logged |
mjanovec
Member Posts: 2024
From: Midwest, USA
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted January 06, 2006 02:52 PM
Does Craig still have his Shuttle Astronaut Autopen site on the internet? I tried clicking on the links presented in this thread and connections could not be made.I'm trying to track down templates for Sally Ride autopens, but would also just like to see the full archive that Craig had assembled. [This message has been edited by mjanovec (edited January 06, 2006).] IP: Logged |
Ken Havekotte
Member Posts: 1172
From: Merritt Island, Florida, Brevard
Registered: Mar 2001
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posted January 06, 2006 07:10 PM
It seems that most of the autopen patters have already been covered here, however, I'll second what Bob McLeod said in an earlier post on this topic. Shepard did have a rubber stamp of his name "Alan Shepard" (2 of the same rubber stamp were produced) that were used throughout the 1990s. It would appear America's first astronaut was also the first to use an autopen of somesort in 1961 after his Freedom 7 space feat. Even throughout his NASA career and after he left the Space Agency, secretaries were known to "sign" for him until the mid-1990s.
In my collection archives, I do believe that Grissom did have a secretarial pattern (2 varieties) and also one for Schirra. Slayton on the other hand, once he left NASA and SSI altogether, did employ the use of a rubber stamp (2 of the same "DK Slayton" were in use) that were the same type used for Shepard, but mostly on letters and other paperwork from the ASF in Titusville, FL. Both had the use of a Multimarx self-inking stamper and Slayton also had a regular rubber stamp device. As for other oddities that Bob referred to, others include; All Apollo crew-signed (AP) portraits--some from Gemini as well-- covering Apollo 1 thru ASTP and many/all of the Shuttle teams. Pre-printed signatures (not APs) were from Apollos 11, 14, 15 (also print-inscribed) and 16 as Bob mentioned. There is also a Skylab litho with all 9 autopens of the Skylab astronauts, the same for ASTP (both U.S. and Russian crewmembers), and the Shuttle ALT/Enterprise teams. Did anyone mention APed letters? Letters from NASA's Astronaut Office (Code CB) from Houston also contained a variety of autopens from Gemini and Apollo crews and even pre-print letters and signatures. If it would help, I'll be happy to include copies of all the above, if needed for the autopen guide. IP: Logged |
DOX32
Member Posts: 82
From: Fairfax, VA USA
Registered: Jul 2004
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posted January 06, 2006 10:08 PM
Is the web site down now.I tried to access it recently with no success. It was an excellent web site and I believe Bob McLeod helped load a lot of other images. A current up to date site for STS autopens would be a great service. This site was excellent. Woody IP: Logged |
mjanovec
Member Posts: 2024
From: Midwest, USA
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted January 06, 2006 10:48 PM
quote:
Originally posted by DOX32:
Is the web site down now.I tried to access it recently with no success. It was an excellent web site and I believe Bob McLeod helped load a lot of other images. A current up to date site for STS autopens would be a great service. This site was excellent. Woody
I tried e-mailing Craig to see if the site had been moved, but my e-mail to him bounced back. Anybody know what happened? Does anyone have the downloadable PDF from Craig's site they could kindly e-mail to me at: trashmark@yahoo.com
[This message has been edited by mjanovec (edited January 06, 2006).] IP: Logged |
spaced out
Member Posts: 1360
From: Paris, France
Registered: Aug 2003
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posted January 07, 2006 03:16 AM
If Craig ever reads this or anyone gets through to him I'd be happy to host his AP guide.IP: Logged |
jam1970
Member Posts: 237
From: Chillicothe, Ohio, usa
Registered: Mar 2004
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posted January 07, 2006 06:49 AM
I have the pre-shuttle and shuttle guides that were given on his site-
The files are very large and he has placed copyright information on the files and pages. We would really need to get the spacedirectory's permission to post these again and even to exchange them by email.
I haven't been able to contact him either.
IP: Logged |
MarkRP
Member Posts: 99
From: Michigan, USA
Registered: Nov 2002
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posted January 07, 2006 09:42 AM
Craig's autopen website can now be found at http://scificards.co.uk/space/html/Astronaut_Autopen_Guide_Autopens.html Mark
[This message has been edited by MarkRP (edited January 07, 2006).] IP: Logged |
SpaceDirectory
Member Posts: 23
From: Hertfordshire, England
Registered: Jun 2005
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posted February 05, 2006 03:56 PM
Hello All,The site is back up for the moment, although for how long I’m not sure. Due to my deteriorating health I haven’t been able to work for almost a year and I fell behind with the hosting bills. Sorry you weren’t able to contact me, but the email addresses are linked to the domain, so when the domain went down email went down with it. As Mark said above, the site is mirrored on another domain that I have as a kind of fall back position – I guess I should have remembered to tell everybody that :-) Craig ------------------
Astronaut Autopen Gallery: http://www.spacedirectory.org.uk/html/Astronaut_Autopen_Guide_Autopens.html IP: Logged |
thump
Member Posts: 434
From: washington dc usa
Registered: May 2004
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posted October 06, 2006 04:34 PM
I can't seem to get the site open, is it still available online?IP: Logged |
Mike Dixon
Member Posts: 421
From: Kew, Victoria, Australia
Registered: May 2003
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posted October 06, 2006 08:27 PM
Jim,As far as I'm aware, it's no longer available. May have to start this exercise from scratch again. Mike IP: Logged |
