CollectSPACE

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The correct title of this article is collectSPACE. The initial letter is shown capitalized due to technical restrictions.

collectSPACE is an online community of space enthusiasts, founded and facilitated by Robert Pearlman.

The website features news articles regarding past, current, and upcoming space events, a listing of upcoming astronaut appearances ("Sightings"), a storefront ("buySPACE"), collecting resources, and links to other websites. It also features photos and information about items in Pearlman's personal collection, and a message board where registered members can discuss the many points of the hobby; buy, sell, or trade items; or simply pose "What if?" questions in terms of the 'Space Race'.

The website has been ranked by Google and Yahoo as the most popular in its category [1][2],and collectSPACE is cited frequently by the press, including by Forbes [3], The Washington Post [4], USA Today [5], Florida Today [6], The Houston Chronicle [7], MSNBC.com[8] and on CNN[9].

collectSPACE has also published articles by noted journalists, authors and writers including: Andrew Chaikin ("A Man on the Moon"), Kris Stoever ("For Spacious Skies"), James Oberg ("Red Star in Orbit"), Frederick Ordway III ("Imagining Space"), Francis French ("Into That Silent Sea"), David Hitt ("Homesteading Space"), Russell Still ("Relics of the Space Race"), Colin Burgess ("Fallen Astronauts") and Apollo astronaut Walt Cunningham, among others.

Users of the website often abbreviate the website's name to 'cS'

[edit] Website History

  • collectSPACE came online on July 20, 1999, the 30th anniversary of the first moon landing. The original name of the website was planned to be spacememorabilia.com (a logo with that name had already been designed). That particular URL however, was owned (but not yet in use) in 1999 by astronaut Pete Conrad, who died in July of that year. An alternate was therefore sought: collectSPACE. The original website contained a gallery of the editor's collection, a calendar of astronaut appearances, a poll question about Hallmark's final space history-inspired Christmas ornament and a short article about Apollo 11 anniversary toys (written four days before the site came online), and the original tagline for the website was "memorabilia from the conquest of the final frontier", contray to the current tagline is "The Source for Space History & Artifacts". The title for the astronaut appearance calendar, "Sightings" was chosen purposely to divert traffic and meaning of the term from a popular TV show about UFOs.
  • The first space memorabilia auctions that were covered by collectSPACE were held at Christie's East (New York) in September 1999 and Superior Galleries of Beverly Hills, California in October 1999. collectSPACE was the first to webcast space auctions, providing live audio (and one year, video) from Superior's auction floor. Later, the website provided live hammer results (when the auction houses began working with eBay for live online bidding, the webcasts became repetitive efforts and were canceled).
  • The website's message board was added in November 1999. Since its inception, it has attracted a worldwide audience with members posting from all 50 states, 6 of the 7 continents and all spacefaring nations. Individuals of note who have made and responded to posts include former EECOM Sy Liebergot, Project Mercury astronaut Scott Carpenter's daughter Kris Stoever, Gemini/Apollo astronaut Pete Conrad's son Pete Conrad, III, National Air and Space Museum curator Allan Needell, Who's Who in Space authors Michael Cassutt and Rex Hall, and The Surfaris former bassist Andrew Lagomarsino, among others. In addition, numerous astronauts are known to be readers.
  • The first time collectSPACE was mentioned by national media was in December 1999 in connection with the site's role in ceasing an eBay auction for a "moon rock".
  • The first collectSPACE Challenge (contest) was announced in January 2000.
  • In the wake of the 9-11 terrorist attacks, collectSPACE organized Heroes Helping Heroes, a charity auction benefiting the American Red Cross. In partnership with Yahoo! Auctions, collectSPACE offered bidders the chance to have an item of their choice be signed by one of 22 retired astronauts, who volunteered to participate. Bidding was open for ten days, October 1 - 11, 2001, during which five autographs from each astronaut were auctioned. $12,686.10 was raised for the relief fund.
  • Since 2003, collectSPACE has hosted an annual silent auction benefiting the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation. The astronaut experiences and artifacts auction has raised over $180,000 for exceptional college students seeking degrees in science and engineering. Also in 2003, collectSPACE introduced buySPACE, an online marketplace for space history related products and consigned artifacts, in partnership with Countdown Enterprises, Inc.
  • collectSPACE was nominated for the Houston Chronicle's best blog in their Ultimate Houston Readers Pick for 2005.
  • In 2006, collectSPACE's buySPACE was selected by Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin to host a sale of memorabilia and documents from his personal archives. Also in 2006, collectSPACE was the first to reveal the name of NASA's next manned lunar-bound spacecraft, Orion. The website also exposed the project's logo.

[edit] References

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[edit] External links

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