It was a Good Day for Astronauts

 

they had a great display of books for Astronaut Al Worden…

As you might have guess I went to a book signing.  The person signing was one of the astronauts who raced for the moon, Al Worden.

Around the other side of the book store I found seats set up for people who were coming for the signing…  The seats got filled and there was standing room only.  That made me feel really good to have a good showing for such a small town as Vero Beach.  I was most glad to see that our Original Astronauts from Mercury/ Gemini and Apollo are not forgotten.

Mr Worden remarked that he flew to the moon 40 years ago when he was a young lad of 40.  I thought he looked rather well for a man of 80 and he had plenty of spirit left in him too!

I noticed a small pin on his jacket and zoomed in…. this is what i learned about it..

The object in the image which is depicted heading for the moon from the Earth is an astronaut pin. Astronauts were given a silver version of this pin when they were accepted into the astronaut corps; and were given a gold version of the pin after their first space flight.

Astronaut Worden talked for about an hour and then opened for questions before sitting down to autograph books…

 

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When the book signing was over I came and had a package waiting for me. I was expecting it but wasn’t sure if it would come today or Monday… inside the box was an absolutely fabulous gift from my girlfriend Michelle…  it’s a 11x14 photo of a painting by Astronaut Alan Bean!

…ahhhyup… autographed!

(the flip side of the picture… note the small photo of Alan Bean in his spacesuit?.. well I met Alan Bean once and guess what photo I had  him sign!?)

Oh yeah!  Now I have TWO Alan Bean signatures!   And I couldn’t be more thrilled…

ok.. well maybe I can be… that will be after I get the Alan Bean “painting” matted and framed and hung on my wall !!!   I can’t wait!