Charles "Pete" Conrad (1930-1999) signed photo on the lunar surface. Pete Conrad was a good signer and participated in commercial signings... although the scale was a lot less in the nineties than it is today. For whatever reason, signed poses from the lunar surface are much less common than other more traditional portrait poses.
Last Saturday we were in Schenectady's Central Park for a charity walk. As we neared the finish line, the kids spotted a playground -- an irresistible magnet. So we let them run wild on the playground... and I was astounded by what I saw. It was like taking a time capsule back 40 years.
Space capsule monkey bars with slide in Schenectady, NY's Central Park.
They still had the same playground equipment that I remember as a kid in the 70s! It has been repainted since, but it brought back grade school memories of visiting the park with my grandparents and climbing on the same space-themed monkey bars as they looked on. I'm sure they were not new when I was playing on them 40 years ago, so my guess is they date to the mid 1960s.
Lunar lander?
This goes to show you how ingrained the space race was in our culture in the 1960s and 70s. It also goes to show you the quality of construction at the time. These things are as sturdy today as they were back then!
What kid wouldn't want to ride a missile?
Forrest Petersen (1922 - 1990) flew five flights on the X-15. He served in World War II, Korea and Vietnam, and retired as a Navy Vice Admiral.
James W. Zollickoffer (1925-2007) whose address label appears on this postal cover had quite a military career himself. Zollickoffer served in the Marine Corps in World War II and Korea.
This Gus Grissom signed photo was on eBay recently. A really unique pose in his Mercury space suit of what must be an uncommon NASA serial number glossy. To my recollection, I have never seen this image signed before.
Unique Gus Grissom signed NASA photograph
Dutch Van Kirk was the navigator of the Enola Gay when it dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima. He was the last surviving member of the Enola Gay crew.
Mr. Van Kirk was a friend to aviation historians and autograph collectors... he will be missed.
X-15 photo signed by eleven of the X-15 twelve pilots. Offered by RR Auction from the Robert Shaw collection.
Even though I review hundreds of space and aviation autographs every month, I always enjoy looking at cool items. Every once-in-a-while something comes along that really knocks me out of my chair... and this X-15 multi-signed photo is one of them.
RR Auction is offering this X-15 photo signed by eleven of the twelve X-15 pilots from the Robert Shaw collection. Robert was a well-known and regarded collector who passed away in 1994.
To my knowledge, no single item exists that was signed by all twelve X-15 pilots due to the untimely death of Mike Adams. So, eleven of the twelve is probably the best you will ever do. In speaking with other seasoned collectors, I am aware of only one other item signed by eleven.
As of this writing, the photo is at $1,612 with over two weeks until it closes. Where it ends will be anyone's guess, but I suspect some deep-pocketed collectors will be battling it out.
As regular readers may have surmised, Apollo 8 may be my favorite Apollo mission. The first voyage to the moon!
I like this Apollo 8 First Day Anderson cover because it has the great stamp block as well as the story of Apollo 8. Of course, it is autographed by mission commander, Frank Borman.
Apollo 8 First Day Cover autographed by Frank Borman.
Kniga postal cover signed by Pyotr Klimuk and Vitali Sevastyanov.
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