Astronaut Autographs

A. Generally, almost all astronauts that are currently working for NASA will send a signed lithograph of themself if requested for an autograph. This is possible because NASA gives them these picture for just that reason. Howvever, retired astronauts, most notably those from Mercury through Skylab, will not provide pictures. If you want an autograph, you will have to send the picture, or an index card if you wish. Because they do not have a supply of pictures, many retired astronaut will not send an autograph unless a picture (or something similar) is enclosed. An exception to this are some retired Shuttle astronauts, who will provide a picture. When writing to cosmonauts in Star City, they will usually provide a small signed black and white picture / postcard, or an index card.

A. As a service to the public, the Johnson Space Center currently provides certain pictures free to the public. These pictures are, however, resticted to astronaut portraits and crew pictures. For individual astronaut portrait, write to the Astronaut Office; for crew pictures, write to the Public Affairs Office (addresses for these are available on the Resources page). All that is required is that you write a letter requesting the pictures you want -- you cannot request multiple copies of the same item, and they will not fill bulk orders. Currently, JSC is the only NASA center to provide this sevice to the public.

A. As stated above, the Johnson Space Center has individual portraits and crew pictures of most astronaut and crews from Mercury through to the Space Shuttle. Some exceptions to these include most Gemini missions, Apollo 11 and 13, and a couple Shuttle missions. These are not actual photographs, but lithographs, like those provided by most current astronauts for autograph requests.

A. NASA / JSC information sheets state that they are unable to fill "bulk orders." Therefore, although they give no exact limit, you should not request too many pictures. I will hazard a guess and say ten or so should be the most per request. Keep in mind that the less pictures you request, the more likely you are to receive those pictures (ie if you ask for a lot, they might not send them all). Remember that this is a free service provided by NASA, which they are not obligated to provide, and should not be abused, period. Currently, they are the only NASA center to do this, and it would be very unfortunate if they had to discontinue it because of too many requests.

Q. Do you need to send an SASE when writing to astronauts at NASA or comsonauts in Star City, Russia?

A. Generally, the answer is no. Both NASA and the Russian Space Agency provide free mail service for current astronauts and cosmonauts, and RSA actually provides it for retired cosmonauts as well, so it is not required. Although it is not necessary, sending an SASE when writing c/o the Astronaut Office would possibly speed up response time.

Q. Do you need to send an SASE to retired astronaut when requesting an autograph?

A. YES! Not only will it greatly increase your chances of getting a reponse, it is also very impolite not to. Retired astronauts do not get free mail service like those at NASA. Often times they must pay for this out of their own pocket, and as such many will simply not honor the request without a stamped envelope. Also, because astronauts are busy people, you should also pre-address the return envelope (9x12). Make sure to put the appropriate amount of postage on the envelope, or include enough International Reply Coupons (IRCs) if your live in a country outside where you are writing to.

A. I have yet to hear of a retired astronaut who would specifically autopen an item sent to him or her. That said, I doubt many astronauts even have an autopen mahcine in their possesion with which to do it, and writing an autograph would probably be simpler anyway. However, be aware of autopens from the Astronaut Office. These are not uncommon, as NASA has many on file if a particular astronaut can not personally respond to your request.

A. No. Because of the shear number of emails they would receive, their email addresses are not available to the public. Even if they were, I would advise against emailing them autograph requests, because they probably would not seem as genuine as a nice letter through the regular mail.

Q. Do you have an address where I could write to get an autograph from Neil Armstrong?

A. Unfortunately, due to an over-whelming number of requests, Mr. Armstrong has discontinued signing autographs through the mail for collectors. For the same reason, many other original astronauts have also stopped signing, or charge big bucks for their autographs.

A. First off, autopens are very rarily inscribed. Therefore, if you get an uninscribed signed picture from the Astronaut Office, it very well may be an autopen. A few characteristics to look for are: 1) Uniform thickness; real autographs have varying thickness as the writers hand comes off the picture slightly. 2) Blotch marks at the beginning and / or ends of letters, where the autopen machine presses harder. 3) A slight waviness of letters; in some cases this is very noticable, in other cases it is not, but it is caused by the machine shaking slightly.

These points can be used as a guide, however, the only sure way to tell if an autograph is indeed an autopen is to compare it with another known autopen patern. Two excellent sites, Jeremy Theoret's and Stephen Beck's, provide complete guides for autopen detection and scans of many paterns for each astronaut.

Note: Any autograph of an original astronaut received through JSC in recent years (except for Young who still works there) is almost definitely an autopen.

As a matter of the ethics of collecting autographs, I refuse to sell any autographs which I have received free through the mail or in-person. Therefore, I really have no knowledge on the value of any autographed items. I would suggest you consult with another experienced collector, or pick up a copy of a book like "The Sanders Price Guide to Autographs".

A. Unfortunately, all my autograph experience to date has been with astronauts and other space related people -- I have not ventured into the world of aviation autographs....yet. That said, I don't have any address for aviators, but would refer you to Signed Commemmorative Covers website.

A. I maintain a fairly comprehensive list of astronaut and cosmonaut addresses that have worked for me in the past year or so. However, if you desire more and / or other address not listed there, I highly recommend picking up a copy of Jürgen Esders Address List. For more information on this list, check out my Resources page under "Addresses".