A tradition developed by the Russian Cosmonauts since the beginning of their space program says that cosmonauts are not allowed to sign autographs until after they have flown in space. This tradition has caused a serious problem for those autograph collectors who want to have a signature of every person who has ever flown in space. Four Russian cosmonauts have been killed during while on a space flight, and two of those men were rookie cosmonauts. The names of those two men are Georgi Dobrovolsky and Viktor Patsayev, both crewmembers of the fatal Soyuz 11 mission. Since they died on their first spaceflight their autographs are extremely rare (almost non-existent) and when they are seen can sell for thousands of dollars. Beware, fake autographs of these men are know to exist.
*The Apollo 1 mission never made it into space, the crew died when the capsule caught fire about 3 weeks prior to launch.
Yuri P. Artyukhin (Soyuz 14) Died: 8/4/1998
Charles A. Bassett, II () Died: 2/28/1966
Pavel I. Belyayev (Voskhod 2) Died: 1/10/1970
Georgi T. Beregovoi (Soyuz 3) Died: 6/30/1995
David M. Brown (STS-107) Died: 2/1/2003
Manley Lanier Carter, Jr. (STS-33) Died: 4/5/1991
Roger B. Chaffee (Apollo 1*) Died: 1/27/1967
Kalpana Chawla (STS-87, STS-107) Died: 2/1/2003
Laurel B. Clark (STS-107) Died: 2/1/2003
Charles "Pete" Conrad, Jr. (Gemini-V, Gemini-XI, Apollo 12, Skylab 2) Died: 7/8/1999
Lev S. [Demin or Dyomin] (Soyuz 15) Died: 12/18/1998
Georgi T. Dobrovolsky (Soyuz 11) Died: 6/29/1971
Donn F. Eisele (Apollo 7) Died: 12/2/1987
Ronald E. Evans (Apollo 17) Died: 4/6/1990
Theodore C. Freeman () Died: 10/31/1964
Yuri A. Gagarin (Vostok 1) Died: 3/27/1968
Edward G. Givens () Died: 6/6/1967
S. David Griggs (STS-51-D) Died: 6/17/1989
Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom (MR-4, Gemini-3, Apollo 1*) Died: 1/27/1967
Karl G. Henize (STS-51-F) Died: 10/5/1993
Rick D. Husband (STS-96, STS-107) Died: 2/1/2003
James B. Irwin (Apollo 15) Died: 8/8/1991
Yevgeni V. Khrunov (Soyuz 5) Died: 5/19/2000
Vladimir M. Komarov (Voskhod 1, Soyuz 1) Died: 4/24/1967
Vasili G. Lazarev (Soyuz 12, Soyuz 18-1) Died: 12/31/1990
Anatoli S. Levchenko (Soyuz TM-4) Died: 8/6/1988
Oleg G. Makarov (Soyuz 12, Soyuz 18-1, Soyuz 27, Soyuz T-3) Died: 5/28/03
Yuri V. Malyshev (Soyuz T-2, Soyuz T-11) Died: 11/8/1999
William C. McCool (STS-107) Died: 2/1/2003
Ronald E. McNair (STS-41-B, STS-51-L) Died: 1/28/1986
Andrian G. Nikolayev (Vostok 3, Soyuz 9) Died: 7/3/2004
Ellison S. Onizuka (STS-51-C, STS-51-L) Died: 1/28/1986
Robert F. Overmyer (STS-5, STS-51-B) Died: 3/22/1996
Viktor I. Patsayev (Soyuz 11) Died: 6/29/1971
Judith A. Resnik (STS-41-D, STS-51-L) Died: 1/28/1986
Patricia C. Hilliard Robinson () Died: 5/24/2001
Stuart A. Roosa (Apollo 14) Died: 12/12/1994
Nikolai N. Rukavishnikov (Soyuz 10, Soyuz 16, Soyuz 33) Died: 10/18/2002
Francis R. (Dick) Scobee (STS-41-C, STS-51-L) Died: 1/28/1986
Elliott M. See, Jr. () Died: 2/28/1966
Alan B. Shepard, Jr. (MR-3, Apollo 14) Died: 7/21/1998
Georgi S. Shonin (Soyuz 6) Died: 4/7/1997
Donald K. "Deke" Slayton (ASTP) Died: 6/13/1993
Michael J. Smith (STS-51-L) Died: 1/28/1986
John L. Swigert, Jr. (Apollo 13) Died: 12/27/1982
Stephen D. Thorne () Died: 5/24/1986
Gherman S. Titov (Vostok 2) Died: 9/20/2000
Vladimir V. Vasyutin (Soyuz T-14) Died: 7/19/2002
Charles Lacy Veach (STS-39, STS-52) Died: 10/3/1995
Vladislav N. Volkov (Soyuz 7, Soyuz 11) Died: 6/29/1971
David M. Walker (STS-51-A, STS-30, STS-53, STS-69) Died: 4/23/2001
Edward H. White, II (Gemini-IV, Apollo 1*) Died: 1/27/1967
Clifton C. Williams, Jr. () Died: 10/5/1967
Boris B. Yegorov (Voskhod 1) Died: 9/12/1994
Space Shuttle Payload Specialists
Reinhard Furrer (STS-61-A) Died: 9/9/1995
Gregory B. Jarvis (STS-51-L) Died: 1/28/1986
S. Christa McAuliffe (STS-51-L) Died: 1/28/1986
Ilan Ramon (STS-107) Died: 2/1/2003