Posts: 983
From: Edgewater, MD
Registered: Oct 2012

posted 06-23-2018 06:42 PM               

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I was wondering if anyone had any experience in obtaining autographs of the named commercial crew members, as well as advice in how to obtain autographs of Robert Behnken, Eric Boe, Christopher Ferguson, Sunita Williams and Douglas Hurley through the mail?

I have a small item that I would like to have signed by them. Thanks!

Posts: 3446
From: Toms River, NJ
Registered: Aug 2000

Posts: 1761
From: Atlanta-area, GA USA
Registered: Aug 2000

posted 08-27-2019 07:39 AM               

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I'd like to learn if anyone has information, good or bad, about autograph results from either SpaceX or Boeing regarding astronauts training with them.

Astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley are training at SpaceX for the Crew Dragon DM-2 fight and astronauts Chris Ferguson, Mike Fincke and Nicole Mann are training at Boeing for the Starliner CST-100 flight.

As those of us who collect astronaut autographs know, most of the astronauts now in training at SpaceX and Boeing are not good about signing, especially through the mail, and I do wonder if things may have changed with them at all.

Astronauts Behnken, Hurley, Fincke, Mann, Josh Cassada and Victor Glover, especially, have not been good about signing in the past and I have to wonder if anything has changed with them, with them now involved with private spaceflight companies.

Posts: 3305
From: MA, USA
Registered: Sep 2002

Posts: 1761
From: Atlanta-area, GA USA
Registered: Aug 2000

posted 08-27-2019 01:35 PM               

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I haven't mailed any requests myself to either SpaceX or Boeing for astronaut autographs, but certainly would expect that others have and wonder if anyone has gotten any response or just nothing?

If there is in effect a no signing policy, then I do wonder if either company has responded to collectors to advise them of such perhaps with their returned requests?

Too busy as a reason for not signing? The Space Shuttle astronauts, both individually and entire crews, were generally good about responding to autograph requests while training, even close to their flights.

And I do wonder if even the SpaceX head man, Elon Musk, has responded to autograph requests? If he hasn't, then prospects for any autograph cooperation by others is doubtful.

Posts: 44010
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 08-27-2019 05:36 PM               

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Almost all Starliner crew training is done at Johnson Space Center. Boeing located its simulators and mockups at JSC and contracted NASA's Flight Operations Directorate to run its Starliner mission control. The astronauts spend very little, if any time at Boeing.

SpaceX crews train at the company's Hawthorne headquarters, but are not stationed there. They are invited out to California for training sessions and then return to JSC.

Beyond the test flights (and even then, in the case of Starliner's CFT mission), the majority of the crew training is for living and working aboard the International Space Station, which involves neither company. The crews may spend more time overseas at ESA, Roscosmos and JAXA facilities then they do at the companies launching them.

Posts: 2623
From: Berlin, Germany
Registered: Dec 2000

Posts: 1761
From: Atlanta-area, GA USA
Registered: Aug 2000

posted 08-28-2019 09:09 AM               

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Thanks, Robert and Juergen, for your comments and information about SpaceX's and Boeing's involvement with "their" astronauts.

Robert's information indicates that sending astronaut autograph requests to either SpaceX or Boeing would not be recommended and autograph requests should be sent instead to JSC/CB.

And no one would know better than Juergen about astronaut signing habits, so prospects aren't good for autographs from the JSC Astronaut Office of the SpaceX and Boeing astronauts, but still worth a try.

I cringed when the names of the astronauts selected for the SpaceX and Boeing manned space flights were announced, as from past experience I knew that it would have been hard to have selected a group of more difficult signers. It's really a Who's Who of non-signers.

Posts: 1519
From: Cape Canaveral, FL
Registered: Mar 2010

posted 08-28-2019 01:21 PM               

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They aren't Boeing or SpaceX astronauts (except Ferguson), they are NASA astronauts. They are NASA employees flying on Boeing or SpaceX vehicles. Therefore, Boeing and SpaceX would not be their location for mail.

And for corporate astronauts like Ferguson, the JSC Astronaut Office will have nothing to do with his mail. His would be at Boeing.

Posts: 1455
From: Kew, Victoria, Australia
Registered: May 2003

posted 08-28-2019 06:17 PM               

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I couldn't tell you how hard it was for me to complete my orange spacesuit individually signed portraits for the STS-135 crew.

Three were really quick. Took five years for the last one, but with the assistance of Bryan McKay and one of his contacts, completed the task. Probably my best framed piece.

Posts: 2623
From: Berlin, Germany
Registered: Dec 2000

Posts: 44010
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

Posts: 603
From: Cabot, Arkansas, USA
Registered: Sep 2010

posted 05-28-2020 07:32 PM               

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Getting anything from the Astronaut Office at JSC is difficult. It is as if they no longer care about public outreach.

I can't recall the last time I got anything other than an autopen from them. I have pretty much quit wasting my postage.

Posts: 1519
From: Cape Canaveral, FL
Registered: Mar 2010

Posts: 44010
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 05-29-2020 10:18 AM               

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While that is partly a factor (John Young used to warn new astronaut candidates classes about not signing for just such a reason), the primary factor is budget constraints.

Astronauts no longer have the mail room support, nor an unlimited supply of lithos to send out.

Posts: 2762
From: Stuart, Florida
Registered: Jun 2000

posted 06-02-2020 09:24 PM               

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Totally true Robert. I've sent a few things in the last year to CB, and no response. Previously reliable astronaut signers.

Plus, with tracking, it shows delivered, but to the box. So it gets there, but then disappears in the void.

Posts: 601
From: Orting, WA
Registered: May 2000