Autographs in the mail

(Column by Jürgen P. Esders)

Dr. Franklin R. Chang-Diaz, Ph. D., (STS-61C, 34, 46, 60, 75, 91), Advanced
Space Propulsion Laboratory, Code CB-ASPL, Johnson Space Center, Houston,
TX 77058, USA. (A + B, F, G),

Ernst Messerschmid, German payload specialist on STS-61A, has now
officially been named head of the European Astronaut Centre (EAC) at
Cologne. He reported for duty on January 1st, 2000. Since November 1st,
1999, former French cosmonaut Jean-Pierre Haignéré is Director of EAC's
Astronaut Office. ufgabe zum 1.1.2000 an. At the same date, two former
French astronauts were formally detached to EAC: Claudie André-Deshays
(Soyuz TM24) and Michel Tognini (Soyuz TM 15, STS-93). While André-Deshays,
who is a physician, will deal with medical questions, test pilot Tognini
will be working on the European Robot Arm for the International Space
Station. Another new face showed up at EAC early this year: Belgian
astronaut candidate Frank De Winne began training. In late 2000/early 2001,
a yet unnamed Italian astronaut candidate will join the European Astronaut
Corps.

Dr. Capt. Richard F. Gordon, Jr., Gemini- and Apollo-veteran astronaut, is
now charging $20 for his autograph. His address: 63 Antelope Dr., Sedona,
AZ 86336-7150, USA.

Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Ulf Merbold, European astronaut veteran with three
spaceflights (STS-9, 42, ESA cosmonaut Soyuz TM 17), now works at the
European Space Technology Center at Noordwijk in the Netherlands:
ESA/ESTEC, Postbus 299, NL-2200 AG Noordwijk, Netherlands.

Col. (ret.) Richard A. Searfoss, shuttle veteran with three spaceflights
(STS-58, 76, 90), left NASA back in 1998 and now works for United Space
Alliance: United Space Alliance, Two Corporate Plaza, 2625 Bay Area Blvd.,
Houston, TX 77058, USA.

Dr. Edward G. Gibson, Skylab astronaut, can no longer be reached at the
"Apollo Aviation Associates" address mentioned in my list. Apparently he
now lives in Phoenix, Arizona:

Cmdr. Stephen S. Oswald has left NASA effective January 31st, 2000. There
are no informations about his immediate professional plans.

Capt. Richard N. Richards, M/S H46S-A527, Reusable Space Systems, The
Boeing Company, 5301 Bolsa Ave, Huntington Beach, CA 92647-2099, USA.
Richards is a sporadic autographer.

Capt. William G. Gregory, Manager, Business Development, Honeywell Space
Systems, 21111 N 19th Avenue, P.O. Box 52199, Phoenix, AZ 85072-2199, USA;

Edgar D. Mitchell, Apollo-14 moonwalker, has raised his prices: he is
asking $25 now for each of his autographs.

Dr. Mary L. Cleave, Ph. D., has been promoted to Deputy Associate
Administrator (Advanced Planning), Office of Earth Science at NASA
Headquarters. Her address there: Code AS, Room 7R86, Washington, D.C.
20546-0001, USA.

Eugene Cernan has raised prices for multiple signed items. He wants $100
each for them instead of his usual $50 per autograph.

Col. Henry W. "Hank" Hartsfield Jr., Managing Director, NASA Training
Operations, Raytheon Systems Co., P.O. Box 6171, Arlington, TX
76005-6171, USA.

BGen. Dr. Fred P. Lewis, (DOD Weather Officer PS candidate for
"Pathfinder"), Director of Weather, Deputy Chief of Staff, Plans and
Operations, HQ USAF/XOWE, 1490 Air Force Pentagon, Washington, DC
20330-1490, USA. General Lewis autographs items sent to him.

Umberto Guidoni, Italian ESA astronaut, has now officially been named as a
crew member for STS-100. Guidoni, who flew as a payload specialist on
STS-75, will accompany the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (Raffaello), an
Italian paid ISS module. Earlier Scott Parazynski and canadian astronaut
Chris Hadfield were assigned to this mission.

Vladimir Federovich Utkin, Russian rocket pioneer, died on February 15th,
2000, after long illness. Utkin was 76 years old. Utkin started his career
in Mikhail Yangel's construction bureau in the Ukrainian city of Yuzhnoe
and still served as Director of TsNIIMash (Central Scientific Research
Institute for Machine Construction) at the moment of his death. The Tsyklon
and Zenith rockets as a number of satellite (such as ocean research
satellite Okean) were amongst his achievements.

Alan L. Bean has again raised his prices. Autographs on philatelic covers
are now $50. His other prices: flat items up to 8"x10": $30; flat items
larger as: $ 35; books, baseballs and other three-dimensional items: $45,
Beta cloth/Namensschilder: $100. A signed photo provided by Bean is $ 40.
Foreign customers pay an extra surcharge $35 on each order. Bean justifies
this surcharge as compensation for queuing in the post office and filling
customs forms; mail regulations, however, do only require customs forms for
items of 16 oz. and more, and orders accompanied by a self-addressed and
stamped envelope do not require queuing either.

Eleven cosmonaut candidates have successfully passed the final exams of
their cosmonaut training:
Air Force: Konstantin Valkov, Dimitri Kondratyev, Alexander Skvortsov,
Maxim Surayev, Roman Romanenko, Sergei Volkov
RKK Energya: Fedor Yourtchikin, Oleg Skripotchka, Mikhail Kornienko.
Khrunitchev: Sergei Moshenko.

The first Russian ISS crews have been named: 2 cosmonauts each will fly
the "Soyuz taxi" in the early part of ISS construction and inhabitation. A
third passenger can be added for a short term mission. From 2004 onwards
the "Soyuz taxi" wil be replaced by the Crew Return Vehicle (CRV) currently
in development. "SoyuzTaxis" have to be replaced every six months.
Crew 1: Talgat Musabayev/Nadezhda Kuzhelnaya
Crew 2: Valeri Tokarev/Sergei Revin

Col. Ronald J. Grabe has received a promotion and is now Executive Vice
President, General Manager, Orbital Sciences Corp., Launch Systems Group,
21700 Atlantic Boulevard, Dulles, VA 20166, USA.

Brig. Gen. Frank K. "Pete" Everest, Jr., (Former NASA Test Pilot, X-1, X 1
A/B/D, X-4 Bantam, X-5, X-2, X-3); 1244 E. Barbary Coast, Tucson, AZ
85749, USA. General Everest signs material sent to him and sends out signed
photos; however, a SASE is mandatory.

Paul D. Scully-Power can no longer be reached at the Queensland Science and
Technology Council address.

Donald R. McMonagle, veteran on three shuttle missions and manager for
Space Shuttle Launch Integration at the Kennedy Space Center, has left NASA
on January 14th. McMonagle flew on STS-39 (April 91), STS-54 (Jan. 1993)
and STS-66 (Nov. 1994). Director of Quality, Pratt & Whitney Aerospace,
Space Propulsion Operations, 17900 Beeline Hwy., Jupiter, FL 33479, USA.

Capt. (Ret.) Winston E. Scott, (Group 14, STS-72, -87), Vice President for
Student Affairs, Florida State University, P.O. Box 1340, 313 Westcott,
Tallahassee, FL 32306-1340, USA. Captain Scott autographs items sent to him
and sends out signed lithos.

Col. Gary E. Payton, military payload specialist on STS-51 C and currently
Director, Space Transportation Div., NASA Office of Space Access &
Technology, will leave the agency this spring and work for private
industry.

The crews of the first six ISS residence crew missions were listed by French
aerospace weekly Air & Cosmos:

BGen. Michael A. Hamel, (Manned Spaceflight Engineer (MSE) Program, DoD),
Commander, 821 Space Group, Buckley Air National Guard Base, 400 N. Beaver
Creek St., Buckley ANGB, CO 80011, USA. General Hamel autographs items sent
to him and sends out signed photos.

Chuck Yeager does not autograph covers commemorating the 50th Anniversay of
his record breaking X1 flight at this moment. The retired test pilot first
wants to sell signed covers of his own collection, at $100 a piece. A flown
cover commemorating the 25th Anniversary of the Breaking of the Sound
Barrier is available for the same price:
http://www.jps.net/siegfried/yeager

Maj. Ivan Bella, (Slovak cosmonaut, Soyuz TM 29), signs items sent to him
and sends out small signed photos. Two addresses: office: 33. Letecká
základna, 33rd Air Force Base, 901 01 Malacky, Slovak Republic; home: Cesta
Mláde e 34, 901 01 Malacky, Slovak Republic. Join an addressed return
envelope and a $5 bill for return postage.

Fred W. Haise, Apollo 13 veteran, no longer signs autographs by mail.

Col. Karol J. Bobko, has a new job: Vice President, Product Development,
Johnson Engineering Corp., 555 Forge River Rd., # 150, Webster, TX
77598-4336, USA.