Obtaining Astronaut Autographs: My Experience

My mother is a fifth grade teacher and proud owner of an amazing collection of astronaut autographs.. She has always been the teacher known to have an affinity for science and technology, with a very specific love of all things related to the NASA program. She has been to Space Camp in Huntsville more times than I can recall; and she spent a few summers teaching a hands-on astronaut camp at the local Children’s Museum. As a kid, my vacations often revolved around space related trips and sightseeing adventures to places like the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, or the Gus Grissom Memorial in Mitchell, Indiana. I remember my little brother being embarrassed on more than one occasion when visitors at one place or another followed us around, mistakenly thinking my mom was an official tour guide.

A few years ago I put together the perfect birthday gift for my mother, and for any other similarly passionate space and science buff. Over the years she had acquired a few autographed photos from astronauts she had had the opportunity to meet at various camps and conferences. But for her 43rd birthday, I surprised her with an extensive collection of well over one hundred photos complete with astronaut autographs, many inscribed specifically to her.

It all started one afternoon when I was perusing eBay. I noticed a large number of existing auctions for NASA photos complete with astronaut autographs. My initial thought was simply to buy a few of these signed photos for her. I seemed like an inexpensive – but extremely meaningful – gift. Perfect. The problem was deciding which auctions to bid on. While I knew the names of the most famous astronauts, I really had just never taken enough of an interest in my mom’s passion to remember who she had met or which of the autographed photos would mean the most to her.

I then did some research and located the central mailing address for all current NASA astronauts. I also found a list of current astronauts as well, and sent off a few letters detailing my mom’s love of science and teaching. Over the next few weeks I mailed out letters to each and every active astronaut in the NASA program, as well as to any retired astronauts that I was able to locate addresses for online. Many of the more famous astronauts have stopped giving autographs, or will only supply their autographs for a fee. I didn’t care. I mailed out my request letter to every astronaut I could find. Then, I waited.

I didn’t have to wait long before a seemingly endless stream of astronaut autographs began arriving at my door. I hadn’t even finished mailing out all the hand-addressed letters, when I began receiving responses in my mailbox. Some astronauts sent signed photos inscribed to my mom. Some sent an extra for me. Occasionally they even sent mission patches or stickers. I was overwhelmed by the number of responses. Each day I looked forward to the mailman’s arrival. Some days he would deliver five or six of these large cardboard backed envelopes to my front door. And this went on for months and even years. More than three years later, well after my mail forwarding order had expired with the post office, an occasional photo still made its way to the door of my new home.

I presented the cloth bound binder full of autographed astronaut photos to my mother the night before her birthday. I just couldn’t stand the suspense any longer. (Keeping a secret this big for so long had been difficult). She cried. She was in shock. She absolutely loved it. It was the perfect gift, not just for her, but for me. The experience of obtaining each of these photos was something I will remember for the rest of my life. I wish, more than the material gift itself, I could have given her the experience. It brought me closer to understanding her passion, and I will never forget that.

This gift idea would be ideal for that quirky member or your family that is interested in science and technology or even history. Or it could be a great letter writing project for the homeschooling family.

You can write to any active corps astronaut at:
Name of Astronaut
NASA-JSC
Astronaut Office Mail Code CB
2101 NASA Road 1
Houston, TX 77058-3696

Information regarding retired astronauts, including mailing addresses and autograph policies can be found under the resource page at www.CollectSpace.com.