Lodewijk van den Berg
Lodewijk van den Berg, a payload specialist who flew on STS-51-B/Challenger, is one of the more harder autographs to get.
I was lucky to get him through a friend via venue, at a function where he was the guest speaker (at an organization where his wife serves.)
However, that was before I decided to also get signed photos of space shuttle astronauts. I had a similar photo to this but sold it a while ago, and his signature on a 51B crew photo (which was nice, but completing that photo would have extremely difficult.) And van den Berg doesn't reply thru the mail (I sent him a photo but have yet to receive it back.)
I was fortunate enough to find this photo, which the seller said was obtained in-person in 1985. His employer, EG&G, made the card as can be determined by the wording on the reverse.
Van den Berg was an unlikely candidate to be an astronaut. There needed to be eight names submitted to NASA and between van den Berg and EG&G, they could come up with only seven.
Van den Berg added his name to the list of potential astronauts almost as an afterthought, given that he had poor eyesight and was 53 years old at the time. But after successfully completing a 452-part questionnaire and a grueling, three-day physical evaluation, van den Berg, a chemical engineer, became one of NASA’s primary candidates.
There were three selection rounds while trying to find the payload specialist. The first was a few questions about the nature of the mission; only things that the most qualified people would be able to answer correctly. Because of his extensive knowledge of the machine and the fact that this mission was proposed by van den Berg, this round was quite easy for him.
The second round was a physical training and mental challenge round where each candidate is tested to the ends of their abilities in strength, both intellectual and corporeal. Because of the other candidates’ heart problems combined with his own capabilities, van den Berg was in the final two.
NASA traditionally trains two astronauts for the same mission in case the first choice astronaut is unable to carry out the mission.
van den Berg was chosen as the first choice trainee and it was decided he would be the prime payload specialist for the Challenger mission. This came to a shock to van den Berg and his peers. He was one of the oldest rookie astronauts to date.
Lodewijk van den Berg
Lodewijk van den Berg, a payload specialist who flew on STS-51-B/Challenger, is one of the more harder autographs to get.
I was lucky to get him through a friend via venue, at a function where he was the guest speaker (at an organization where his wife serves.)
However, that was before I decided to also get signed photos of space shuttle astronauts. I had a similar photo to this but sold it a while ago, and his signature on a 51B crew photo (which was nice, but completing that photo would have extremely difficult.) And van den Berg doesn't reply thru the mail (I sent him a photo but have yet to receive it back.)
I was fortunate enough to find this photo, which the seller said was obtained in-person in 1985. His employer, EG&G, made the card as can be determined by the wording on the reverse.
Van den Berg was an unlikely candidate to be an astronaut. There needed to be eight names submitted to NASA and between van den Berg and EG&G, they could come up with only seven.
Van den Berg added his name to the list of potential astronauts almost as an afterthought, given that he had poor eyesight and was 53 years old at the time. But after successfully completing a 452-part questionnaire and a grueling, three-day physical evaluation, van den Berg, a chemical engineer, became one of NASA’s primary candidates.
There were three selection rounds while trying to find the payload specialist. The first was a few questions about the nature of the mission; only things that the most qualified people would be able to answer correctly. Because of his extensive knowledge of the machine and the fact that this mission was proposed by van den Berg, this round was quite easy for him.
The second round was a physical training and mental challenge round where each candidate is tested to the ends of their abilities in strength, both intellectual and corporeal. Because of the other candidates’ heart problems combined with his own capabilities, van den Berg was in the final two.
NASA traditionally trains two astronauts for the same mission in case the first choice astronaut is unable to carry out the mission.
van den Berg was chosen as the first choice trainee and it was decided he would be the prime payload specialist for the Challenger mission. This came to a shock to van den Berg and his peers. He was one of the oldest rookie astronauts to date.