Moon Poster, Astronaut Lectures, and a Banquet with the Surly Italians

Picture(s) of the Day for 11/6/2010. It's the second day of the 3rd annual Astronaut Autograph & Memorabilia Show (AAMS). I'm currently working on a project to get as many of the surviving Apollo astronauts to sign a large moon poster. (Hey- it's good to have goals, even if they are nerdy ones.) My goal for today was to get all eight of the Apollo astronauts participating in this autograph show to sign the poster. This I successfully accomplished which now brings me up to 14 autographs. There are five more autographs I hope to obtain - Rusty Schweickart/Apollo 9, Tom Stafford/Apollo 10, Dick Gordon/Apollo 12, Ken Mattingly/Apollo 16, and Harrison Schmitt/Apollo 17. There are a couple I won't even pursue- Neil Armstrong/Apollo 11 (he categorically refuses to sign anymore) and Bill Anders/Apollo 8 (he will sign only in exchange for a sizable donation to his aviation museum). Below are photos of the Apollo astronauts who signed my moon poster today.

Al Bean (Apollo 12)


Gene Cernan (Apollo 10 & 17)


Ed Mitchell (Apollo 14)


Charlie Duke (Apollo 16)


Walt Cunningham (Apollo 7)


Fred Haise (Apollo 13)


Jim Lovell (Apollo 8 & 13)


Al Worden (Apollo 15)


In addition to the autograph show, there were a series of lectures held by former astronauts in the Astronaut Encounter Theater.

Hank Hartsfield (Space Shuttle)


Jack Lousma (Skylab, Space Shuttle)


Al Worden (Apollo 15)


The final event for the day was a banquet with the astronauts. I was seated next to Paul Weitz (Skylab, Space Shuttle, Director of Johnson Space Center) and his son Matt. Ironically, Weitz is good friends with my friend Al.


Speaking of Al Worden being the MC, below are pictures of the evening's entertainment. I'm not sure I have the energy to provide a detailed description of the proceedings except to say that the skit focused on what astronauts do when they leave NASA and pursue civilian careers.