posted 06-25-2024 03:50 PM               

I received possibly astronaut Steve Thorne's last autograph. I received his shipment from Johnson Space Center (JSC) containing a signed letter, signed portrait and signed cover, all shown here, only two days before he died. His letter was dated on May 19, 1986, I received his shipment on May 22th and he was killed in a small plane crash on May 24th. I was shocked to read in the newspaper of his death only three days after receiving his autograph; it was somewhat surreal.

He was a passenger in a small stunt plane that crashed at an airshow in Santa Fe, New Mexico on May 24, 1986. He was still an astronaut candidate when he died but posthumously was given full NASA Astronaut status.

He was one of 13 members of NASA Astronaut Group 11/Class of 1985 and the only one not to fly on the space shuttle. By not being a flown astronaut and dying early, his autograph is certainly scarcer than most of those NASA astronauts who flew and thus were better known.

For all those brave/foolish/ambitious enough to pursue autographs of all the NASA astronauts from Group 1 through Group 23 (Hello! Anyone out there doing this?!), autographs of NASA astronauts, such as Steve Thorne and Patricia Hilliard Robertson of NASA Group 17 (who had a tragic fate similar to Thorne's), would be a real challenge to find (and afford).

It's hard enough to find autographs of all the NASA astronauts from all 23 groups who flew in space, but to include those who did not fly, makes it much more difficult, and because of the mostly poor signing habits of the last two to three NASA astronaut classes, completion is all but unattainable.

I was one of the brave/foolish/ambitious (pick one) collectors who tried for completion and for many years and many groups did quite well (it was a big challenge, but doable), but the last two groups have defeated me.

There are many NASA astronauts besides Thorne and Hillard who never flew for various reasons, and finding many of their autographs can be a huge challenge. The group includes, among others, Ed Givens, C.C. Williams, John Bull, F. Curtis Michel, Phil Chapman, Ted Freeman, Charles Bassett, Roger Chaffee, Elliot See, Brian O'Leary, Mike Smith, Yvonne Cagle and Gus Loria.

With the great difficulty and challenge of pursuing autographs of all the NASA astronauts (330 through Group 20), it is certainly much more popular to concentrate on autographs of just those that have flown and just be satisfied with those you can acquire. You'll need good luck and serious dedication in either case.

posted 10-26-2024 07:13 PM               

Robertson (1963-2001) was a physician and a member of Astronaut Group 17/Class of 1997. It was a large class, with several international candidates, and 31 NASA Astronaut Candidates. All flew in space but Hilliard and Neil Woodward, who resigned before flying. Like with Hilliard Robertson, his autograph will prove difficult to find. His autographed portrait is included here below Hilliard Robertson's.

Shown above is a cover that Hilliard Robertson nicely signed for me as Patricia Hilliard (her signed portraits seem very hard to find). She wasn't married prior to her being selected as an astronaut candidate and signed as Patricia Hilliard, and later as Robertson.

Sadly, like Steve Thorne, she perished before flying in space and also as a result of a small plane crash.

As a cruel coincidence, she died on the same day, May 24, exactly 15 years after Steve Thorne - on May 24, 2001. She died in a small plane crash while flying as an instructor at Wolfe Air Park, in Manvel, Texas.

Cmdr. Neil Woodward, USN (Ret.) also never flew in space and resigned from the US Navy and NASA in 2008. A Neil Woodward autographed NASA portrait is shown above.

Too many astronauts perished as a result of plane crashes and other accidents before they had a chance to fly in space. Perhaps the most famous is Clifton C. Williams, who was training as the Apollo 12 LMP when he was killed in an automobile wreck. The honor of being the third moonwalker was then passed on to Alan Bean who replaced Williams on Apollo 12.

posted 10-27-2024 10:15 AM               

Bull was a naval aviator who got selected to the 1966 astronaut class. He was named to the LTA-8 vacuum chamber test of the LM in 1968 along with Jim Irwin. However, he came down with a sinus condition and was replaced by a Grumman consulting pilot on that test. He was subsequently diagnosed with pulmonary disease and resigned from the astronaut corps in July 1968. He continued as a researcher and manager at NASA Ames until his retirement in 1989.

Being the rocketplane geek that I am, I’d say that there’s a branch of unflown astronaut autograph collecting that would be unflown rocketplane pilot autograph collecting! We talked about Chuck Yeager’s X-1 backup, Bob Hoover, in a recent Autographs of the Past regarding X-1 Pilots. Hoover never got to fly the X-1 after he broke both legs ejecting from an F-84 fighter plane.

Scott Crossfield had a backup North American Aviation pilot on the X-15, Al White (no relation to USAF X-15 pilot Bob White) who never got to fly the X-15. He autographed the cover below for Crossfield’s March 17, 1960 X-15 flight along with Crossfield and CC Bock. White flew chase for this mission.

posted 10-27-2024 12:57 PM               

All three resigned from the astronaut corps and never flew in space. But John Bull, a NASA Group 5 selection in 1966, was assigned in 1967 to the astronaut support crew of the second planned Apollo/Saturn V flight (later to become Apollo 8) and chosen as LMP for LTA-8, a lunar module simulation thermal vacuum chamber test before he left the astronaut office in 1968.

The GT-6 recovery ship cover, I believe, had been signed by Bull and O'Leary during the late 1960's when they were still active astronauts. Early signatures of Bull as an astronaut are known of two varieties along with Graveline as well. In my opinion, I would say signatures of Bull and O'Leary, overall, are not that common.

I've got other signed covers, photos, and letters by all three and from other early unflown astronauts if there is any interest in seeing other signed material here.

posted 10-29-2024 04:07 PM               

Shown here are autograph examples of Clifton C. Williams (who often signed as CC Williams) and Edward Givens. Autographed portrait photos of both Williams, and especially Givens, are rarely encountered (Evidently, Givens signed this cover when blank, that was then held to be canceled for his flight that never happened, and then after his death canceled for Apollo 11.)

Also shown are autograph examples of two much later NASA Astronauts who didn't fly in space: Christopher "Gus" Loria and Yvonne Cagle. Loria was the original STS-113 PLT, but because of a severe back injury was removed from that flight and permanently grounded. Cagle was a member of NASA Group 16/1996 and retired from NASA in 2008. Both Loria's and Cagle's autographs are not easy to find.

The Loria signed cover was acquired from a fellow collector who obtained Loria's autograph in person. The Cagle signed portrait was bought on eBay and the cover was signed for another collector at a public appearance.

posted 11-04-2024 08:31 AM               

Not sure who the other signatures are besides Mike Massimino.

posted 11-04-2024 02:40 PM               

It's an unusual group of autographs, as Massimino was not a crew member of STS-102 and the two other signatures are not of known or flown astronauts/cosmonauts.

posted 11-05-2024 03:44 AM               

There appears to be no direct connection to STS-102/Discovery by signing astronauts Rick Linnehan, Mike Massimino, Patricia Hilliard-Robertson, and Fernando Caldeiro. More likely at the time they were all assigned as NASA astronaut representatives or ambassadors at the VIP site on early launch day morning when the signatures were obtained by a space fan.

An interesting side bar is the autograph of Caldeiro, similar to Robertson as another unflown astronaut, in which both lost their lives before they flew in space.

posted 11-05-2024 09:45 AM               

Ken is probably correct that both Linnehan, Caldierio, plus Robertson and Massimino, were representatives or family escorts and signed the cover in person while at KSC for the STS-102 launch. And it was probably signed at the Apollo/Saturn V Center where many family members and VIP's gather for launch viewing.

Here are examples of both Linnehan's (on a cover for his STS-78 flight) and Caldiero's autographs, with Caldiero's signature very different and more carefully applied than his signature on the -102 cover.

posted 11-06-2024 11:48 AM               

Jacques' Apollo 11 first day cover above is nicely signed by "D E Graveline MD / Scientist Astronaut / NASA" and rarely do I see an autograph of Gus Lorie and Yvonne Cagle that Bob just posted on a pair of NASA portrait lithos and shuttle emblem covers.

During his retirement years "the Doc," along with doing some public astronaut signing appearances, did sign space material in a similar way, of which I only have a handful of material with related inscriptions. When asked about a dozen years ago by a close friend of Graveline, all three of us living here on Merritt Island, Florida, if I would be interested in a personal or private signing. I turned the offer down since "the Doc" had never made a space trip.

Perhaps not too well known was why he retired so soon from the astronaut program. "The personal reasons" NASA mentioned on his official bio were later revealed by astronaut boss Deke Slayton. It was "an impending divorce" at the time in 1965 with Graveline's first wife, Carole, which the space agency did not want to reveal to the public of their supposedly damaged squeezy-clean astronaut image.

Still, though, there was another NASA scientist astronaut of that same Group 4, astrophysics Frank Curtis Michel, selected in June 1965 until his leaving the space program four years later right after the first manned lunar landing goal had been achieved. He even took off a year before leaving the astronaut office to work on a research grant. During his return, Michel said he saw the writing on the wall that he would never fly on a mission soon nor explore the moon, and resigned. That privilege, in fact, did go to scientist astronaut (geologist) Dr. Harrison "Jack" H. Schmitt in 1972.