Becoming the space buff

Ed White: Didn't know what I was seeing, but couldn't stop watching.

I never planned to become the space buff. Like most people of my generation, I was fascinated by spaceflight and the race to the moon. Then, I grew up and largely forgot it.

I’m too young to remember Sputnik, and I only have vague memories of John Glenn’s Mercury flight. (I was told to bring a picture of him in to kindergarden…but didn’t know who he was.)

But I do recall being transfixed watching film of Ed White’s 1965 spacewalk on TV, presumably broadcast shortly after his return on Gemini 4. I don’t think I knew what I was seeing—but I couldn’t stop looking just the same.

In elementary school, I continued to follow the space program through “My Weekly Reader.” But at home, even at that young age, I tried to read the space stories in the New York Times.

By the time of Apollo, I was watching pretty closely. After Apollo 10 flew, I wrote to astronaut Gene Cernan, asking about the flight and (precociously) if I could have the picture of Snoopy that he broadcast live during the flight. Cernan sent me 2 notes and some official NASA photos…both of which are now lost.

Still, I continued to watch and read. After the first shuttle flight, piloted by the incredible John Young, I lost interest. Even though the shuttle was different and impressive, our astronauts were only circling the earth. To me, it seemed redundant.

In 1999, my wife showed me an article in the New York Times, about an auction of historic space memorabilia at Christie’s. I started going to these auctions and bidding at other online. I put together a diverse collection of artifacts and papers, and began reading about space, especially space history.

I loaned some of my artifacts to museums. Finally, I put up two space-related websites: The Museum of Space Travel and this site: The Space Buff.

Are you a space buff? What’s your story?!