Astronaut Stalking

Picture of the Day for 11/5/2010. After three blog entries for November 5, I'm finally getting to the "official" picture(s) of the day. I attended a VIP reception in the evening where my sole purpose was to stalk the astronauts and have my photo taken with them. I met up with my friend Sabrina who I had met at last year's Astronaut Autograph & Memorabilia Show. She is an excellent stalking partner. With her help, I managed to get my photo taken with 11 astronauts, a nurse to the astronauts, and the wife of an astronaut. I'm fixin to post every single last "me with" picture. And yes, you better look at every single last photo. There will be a quiz later.

Al Worden (Apollo 15) and Charlie Duke (Apollo 16)


Fred Haise (Apollo 13). Haise is definitely an NMP (nicest man on the planet).


Jack Lousma (Skylab and Space Shuttle)


Tom Stafford (Apollo 10, Apollo-Soyuz Test Project)


Bruce McCandless (Space Shuttle)


Gene Cernan (Apollo 10 & 17). Cernan is quite the flirt. He asked if I were old enough to be in the presence of the alcoholic beverage in his hand.


Jim and Marilyn Lovell (Apollo 8 & 13). Mingling and having their photo taken with fans is definitely not their "thing." Lovell was much friendlier the next day at the autograph show.


Dee O'Hara (Astronaut Nurse)


Vance Brand (Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, Space Shuttle)


Bill Pogue (Skylab). I just read he is of Choctaw descent. So am I! I wish I had known this at the time so I could have mentioned this to him.


Rhea Seddon (Space Shuttle)


It took the better part of two hours to get all these photos. By the end of the evening, I informed Sabrina I had run out of stalking steam. That statement tickled her funny bone. I also amused her by what I'm coming to learn is a North American speech habit of saying "I know" a lot. Apparently, when I utter this phrase, I give a lilt to it. Once Sabrina pointed this out, I started adding a sweeping arm flourish to accompany the lilt.