Space Shuttle: 20 Years "The Hair Memo" page
When I heard that Marsha Ivins was going to be at the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Garden City, N.Y., I just had to go. I had met Ivins at Villanova University in 2001 or 2002, prior to "Space Shuttle: The First 20 Years" coming out, and thus was on my "bucket list" of astronauts whose signatures I needed in the book. I thought it a long shot at meeting her again.
I opened up the book to a page where I had other autographs. Ivins flipped to its cover and remarked, "I took that photo." She then flipped through the book, commenting, "I used to know where all my pictures were... I took that one, that was a satellite we deployed, and I took that one, he was my commander on one of my flights."
She finally stopped and signed on a photo of her on "The Hair Memo" page which interestingly was about her. NASA officials, seeing a photo of Ivins with her long hair splayed out due to weightlessness, said that due to safety reasons, an astronaut who has long hair should not have it extended and flowing while on the space shuttle.
Ivins signed, unasked, with her middle initial: "Marsha S. Ivins." The other autographs that day I saw didn't have that. There's always something unique or different about the signatures I get!
Seeing how Mario Runco authored the essay and he is on my "must get" list - Runco lived in New Jersey - I got him to sign this page. Runco, a former New Jersey State Trooper (really!) flew on three shuttle flights: STS-44/Atlantis; STS-54/Endeavour; and STS-77/Endeavour.
Runco was one astronaut I had been trying to get for almost the last five years, ever since I found out he appeared at a Scout camporee in Sea Girt, NJ in 2007.
Runco appeared at a previous camporee in 2004, and I was prepared to meet him when it was held again in 2011, but Runco was not one of the guest attendees then.
I was also happy to get Runco's signature not only because his was one I had been chasing, but also because I met retired Air Force Col. Ronald J. Garan Jr. the week before but he had to go into a meeting afterward and couldn't sign. Of the two other astronauts I met beforehand in 2012, I already had their autographs. So a new one was uplifting. (The date following Runco's autograph is cut off in the scan.)
Interestingly, one of the astronauts I met during the last Kids Week on the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum was retired Air Force Col. Terrence "Tom" Henricks, one of Runco's crewmates on STS-44.
So on this page:
Marsha Ivins. Flew on five shuttle missions, and was one of six women to do so.
Mario Runco. Flew on STS-57, the first Spacehab mission.
Total this page: Two signatures. Runco was the No. 32 contributor.
An aside: I used to have a 1986 NASA Fact Files with astronaut biographies, and up until 2001 or 2002 stopped using it for in-person as well as by-mail signings. Reason was two people didn't sign it: One was Jim Adamson, who instead sent me a signed photo when I sent the booklet to him... and the other was Ivins, who signed only one thing for me at Villanova, a photo which I still have.
Space Shuttle: 20 Years "The Hair Memo" page
When I heard that Marsha Ivins was going to be at the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Garden City, N.Y., I just had to go. I had met Ivins at Villanova University in 2001 or 2002, prior to "Space Shuttle: The First 20 Years" coming out, and thus was on my "bucket list" of astronauts whose signatures I needed in the book. I thought it a long shot at meeting her again.
I opened up the book to a page where I had other autographs. Ivins flipped to its cover and remarked, "I took that photo." She then flipped through the book, commenting, "I used to know where all my pictures were... I took that one, that was a satellite we deployed, and I took that one, he was my commander on one of my flights."
She finally stopped and signed on a photo of her on "The Hair Memo" page which interestingly was about her. NASA officials, seeing a photo of Ivins with her long hair splayed out due to weightlessness, said that due to safety reasons, an astronaut who has long hair should not have it extended and flowing while on the space shuttle.
Ivins signed, unasked, with her middle initial: "Marsha S. Ivins." The other autographs that day I saw didn't have that. There's always something unique or different about the signatures I get!
Seeing how Mario Runco authored the essay and he is on my "must get" list - Runco lived in New Jersey - I got him to sign this page. Runco, a former New Jersey State Trooper (really!) flew on three shuttle flights: STS-44/Atlantis; STS-54/Endeavour; and STS-77/Endeavour.
Runco was one astronaut I had been trying to get for almost the last five years, ever since I found out he appeared at a Scout camporee in Sea Girt, NJ in 2007.
Runco appeared at a previous camporee in 2004, and I was prepared to meet him when it was held again in 2011, but Runco was not one of the guest attendees then.
I was also happy to get Runco's signature not only because his was one I had been chasing, but also because I met retired Air Force Col. Ronald J. Garan Jr. the week before but he had to go into a meeting afterward and couldn't sign. Of the two other astronauts I met beforehand in 2012, I already had their autographs. So a new one was uplifting. (The date following Runco's autograph is cut off in the scan.)
Interestingly, one of the astronauts I met during the last Kids Week on the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum was retired Air Force Col. Terrence "Tom" Henricks, one of Runco's crewmates on STS-44.
So on this page:
Marsha Ivins. Flew on five shuttle missions, and was one of six women to do so.
Mario Runco. Flew on STS-57, the first Spacehab mission.
Total this page: Two signatures. Runco was the No. 32 contributor.
An aside: I used to have a 1986 NASA Fact Files with astronaut biographies, and up until 2001 or 2002 stopped using it for in-person as well as by-mail signings. Reason was two people didn't sign it: One was Jim Adamson, who instead sent me a signed photo when I sent the booklet to him... and the other was Ivins, who signed only one thing for me at Villanova, a photo which I still have.