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CONTACT: Robert Pearlman
press{at}collectspace.com

ASTRONAUTS OFFER EXPERIENCES, ARTIFACTS AT AUCTION TO BENEFIT
STUDENTS
Astronaut Scholarship Foundation and collectSPACE.com Organize Sale
to Raise Scholarships

Titusville, FL (May 1, 2003) - The Astronaut Scholarship Foundation
(ASF), in cooperation with collectSPACE, the leading online community
for space memorabilia collectors, debuted today the online catalog 
http://www.collectspace.com/auction> for its first Astronaut
Experiences and Space Memorabilia Silent Auction.

Bidding begins May 24, simultaneously online and in Washington, DC at
a astronaut-studded gala hosted by Sims & Hankow Enterprises at the
Capital Hilton Hotel.

More than 15 former NASA astronauts are participating in the auction
by consigning personal possessions or lending their time by taking
part in activities with winner bidders.

"This is the first time the members of the Astronaut Scholarship
Foundation have, in a major effort, offered personal items or
services to be sold at a silent auction," said James Lovell, Apollo
13 commander and Chairman of the Foundation. "We became involved only
because we have confidence in the sponsors and their ability to
produce a first-rate event that will greatly benefit our
scholarships."

"We are honored to host this auction for the Astronaut Scholarship
Foundation," said Robert Pearlman, editor and founder of
collectSPACE.com. "Collectors can now help students succeed in their
studies by doing what already comes naturally, buying astronaut
memorabilia and experiences."

For his part, Lovell contributed both an Apollo 13 mission emblem
that flew to the Moon and a private dinner with him and his wife. "I
also wanted to contribute something more personal, and I hit on the
idea on hosting a dinner for four, along with my wife Marilyn, at my
restaurant, Lovell?s of Lake Forest, in the Chicago suburbs. I look
forward to sharing a meal with the top bidders," said Lovell.

Robert Crippen, four-time flier including as pilot of the first Space
Shuttle launch, is offering to take four people on a personal tour of
the Kennedy Space Center. Skylab and Shuttle astronaut Owen Garriott
will guide a similar tour at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in
Huntsville, Ala..

Apollo 15?s Al Worden will play a round of golf with his lot's
winner.  John Glenn, the first American to orbit and the oldest
person to venture into space aboard a shuttle 37 years later, will
hold a telephone conversation with another lucky bidder.

Before he died in 1998, Alan Shepard, America?s first man in space
who later walked on the moon on Apollo 14, left two items to the
Foundation, with instructions that they one day be sold to raise
money for the scholarship program. Alan had been chairman of the
Astronaut Scholarship Foundation for its first 13 years, until Lovell
succeeded him in 1997. The items are rare models of his Mercury
Freedom 7 capsule and the Antares Lunar Module that he steered to the
surface of the Moon.

The models were presented to Shepard by the manufacturers of his two
spacecraft - the Mercury by McDonnell Aircraft in 1961, and the Lunar
Module by Grumman Aerospace in 1971. These are exquisitly-crafted
replicas that are the centerpieces of Foundation?s auction items.

Among the other astronauts consigning items or experiences are Buzz
Aldrin (Apollo 11), Mike Collins (Apollo 11), Edgar Mitchell (Apollo
14), Charles Duke (Apollo 16), Skylab astronauts Jack Lousma, William
Pogue, Jerry Carr, and Paul Weitz, and Space Shuttle commander Rick
Hauck.

Through the years, the Foundation has awarded more than $1.5 million
in scholarships to 158 college science and engineering students. ASF
currently awards $144,500 annually to 17 students.

"Our short-term goal is to increase the annual payout to $200,000,"
said Lovell. "This auction should help us meet that target."

About the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation
The Astronaut Scholarship Foundation is a non-profit organization
established in 1984 by the six surviving members of America?s
original Mercury astronauts and Mrs. Betty Grissom, widow of the
seventh, Gus Grissom, William Douglas, Project Mercury M.D. and
businessman Henri Landwirth. The Astronaut Scholarship Foundation?s
goal is to facilitate the United States in retaining its world
leadership in science and technology by providing scholarships to
upper level college students and those pursuing masters or doctorates
in the fields of science and engineering. The ASF?s headquarters is
located at the Astronaut Hall of Fame, which is adjacent to Kennedy
Space Center in Titusville, Florida. For more information, call
321-269-6119 or visit http://www.astronautscholarship.org/

About collectSPACE.com
Founded on July 20, 1999, the 30th anniversary of the first Moon
landing, collectSPACE.com http://www.collectspace.com/> is the
leading website dedicated to space memorabilia and artifacts. The
site features an exclusive astronaut appearance calendar, original
news articles and interviews, a directory of space collectors
worldwide and an online memorabilia consignment shop, buySPACE.

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