Autographs in the mail
by Jürgen P Esders

Prof. Dr. Lawrence DeLucas, (STS-50/USML-1 PS), Center for Biophysical
Sciences and Engineering, University of Alabama at Birmingham, MCLM 262,
1530 3rd Avenue South, Birmingham, Alabama 35294-0005, USA. Prof. DeLucas
signs items sent to him and sends out signed photos.

Two complete shuttle crews have been assigned by NASA:
STS-100: Kent V. Rominger (Commander), Jeffrey S. Ashby (Pilot), John L.
Phillips, Scott E. Parazynski, Chris A. Hadfield, Umberto Guidoni, Yuri
Lonchakov (MS)
STS-104: Steven W. Lindsey (Commander), Charles O. Hobaugh (Pilot), Janet
L. Kavandi, Michael L. Gernhardt, James F. Reilly

Two missions specialists for two further missions were equally assigned:
STS-107: Michael P. Anderson, Kalpana Chawla, David M. Brown, Laurel B.
Clark (Mission specialist), Ilan Ramon (Israel) (Payload specialist);
Commander and pilot will be assigend later.
STS-109: Hubble Repair Mission: John M. Grunsfeld, James H. Newman, Richard
M. Linnehan, Michael J. Massimino (Mission specialist). Commander, pilot
and bord engineer will be assigned later.

Dr. Eugene Trinh, (backup 51B, STS-50/USML-1), NASA Headquarters, 300 E
Street SW, Washington, DC 20546, USA.

Shugdermidijn Gurraggchaa, Mongolian cosmonaut on Soyuz 39, has been become
Defence Minister of his country.

Donald R. Puddy, former JSC Flight Director): 2422 Guilbeau Ln., Seabrook,
TX 77058. Puddy signs items sent to him; he is equally a stamp collector.

The 18th group of Astronaut candidates have reported to the Johnson Space
Center on August 26. Seventeen astronaut candidates - seven pilots and ten
mission specialists - were selected by NASA as Astronaut Group 18. Fourteen
are male, three female.
Pilots are: Dominic A. Antonelli, Lt. (USN), Eric A. Boe, Maj. (USAF),
Kevin A. Ford, Lt. Col. (USAF), Ronald J. Garan, Maj. (USAF), Douglas G.
Hurley, Maj. (USMC), Terry W. Virts, Capt. (USAF), Barry E. Wilmore, Lt.
Cmdr. (USN).
Mission specialists are: Michael R. Barratt, M. D., Robert L. Behnken,
Stephen G. Bowen, Lt. Cmdr. (USN), B. Alvin Drew, Andrew J. Feustel, Ph.
D., Michael T. Good, Major (USAF), Timothy L. Kopra, Maj. (USAF), K. Megan
McArthur, Ph. D., Karen L. Nyberg, Ph. D., Nicole P. Stott.
According to press reports, the rookies will be shielded from the public
and the press until their training is complete. In other words: they will
probably not be given their fan mail and autograph requests either. In any
case, portrait lithographs will not be available for some time to come. My
recommendation: wait until late 2001 before sending an autograph request.

Mars Rafikow, unflown member of the first 1960 cosmonaut selection, has
died on July 23rd, 2000.

Curtis L. Brown, a shuttle veteran with six flights on his log, has left
NASA this spring. Brown was now an airline pilot, sources at the JSC told
Astrophile.

Yuri Glazkov, Deputy Director of the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training
Centre, at Star City near Moscow, has retired. Glazkov is succeeded by Col.
Vasili Tsiblyev.

Several Peenemündian rocket pioneers of Wernher' von Braun's group have
passed away during the summer:
. Hermann Kurzweg has died on June 29th, 2000. He was 92 years old. Kurzweg
had built a supersonic windtunnel in the 30s, to test the World's first
ballistic rocket, German A4. Kurzweg worked for the Naval Ordinance
Laboratory, as Professor at the University of Maryland and as Deputy
Director for Aerodynamics and Flight Mechanics for NASA in the 60s. Kurzweg
concluded his career with NASA as Director for Research in the Office for
Advanced Research and Programs Programme, retiring in 1974.
. Walter Wies(e)mann, an accountant in von Braun's group, passed away on
July 11th, 2000. Wiesemann was the youngest member of the group.
. Rudi Beichel, another rocket scientist, already died on October 25th,
1999, according to his wife Hildegard.
Another rocket pioneer closely involved with von Braun's group, US General
John G. Zierdt, passed away on June 30th, 2000. Zierdt had led the
"Redstone Arsenal" at Huntsville in its early days and was 87 years old.

Col. Gary E. Payton, military payload specialist on STS-51C; is now a Vice
President, Engineering and Operations, for ORBIMAGE. Address: 21700
Atlantis Boulevard, Dulles, VA 20166.

Lt.Col. James D. Halsell, jr., after his last STS-101 mission, has now
moved to fly a desk: Manager, Space Shuttle Launch Integration, Code MK,
Bldg. M6-0399, Rm. 3103, NASA Kennedy Space Center, Kennedy Space Center,
FL 32815.

Richard F. Gordon now asks $25 for each autograph (raised from $20).

Vance D. Brand, astronaut veteran from ASTP, STS-5 and 35, is now Deputy
Director of Aerospace Projects in NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at
Edwards, Calif.

Dr. C. Michael Foale, Assistant Director (Technical), Johnson Space Center,
Astronaut Office, Code AC2, Bldg. 1, Room 935A, Houston, TX 77058, USA.

Dr. Samuel T. Durrance, 770 Kerry Downs Cir., Melbourne, FL 32940-1774,
USA;

Robert R. Gilruth, a key figure in the management of manned spaceflight
during the Mercury-, Gemini- and Apollo program, has died in
Charlottesville, Virginia, on August 17th, 2000. Gilruth was 86 years old;
he was suffering from Alzheimer's disease for years. Gilruth was a leading
figure in the establishment of the launch centre at Wallops Island and
served as Director of the Manned Spaceflight Center (later renamed Johnson
Space Center) at Houston for 10 years from 1961 onwards.

Commander Joe Frank Edwards, Jr. (Pilot, Group 15, STS-89); Enron Broadband
Services, Inc., PO Box 1188, Houston TX 77251-1188, USA.

A paying guest will fly to MIR next year. Amsterdam based MirCorp could win
American businessman Dennis Tito to put 20 Million Dollars for a one week
flight on the table. Tito is a Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of Wilshire
Associates in Santa Monica, California; an investment company. His address:
Dennis Tito, Chairman/C.E.O., Wilshire Associates Inc.., Headquarters, 1299
Ocean Avenue, Suite 700, Santa Monica, CA 90401-1085. Titov autographs
items sent to him.