CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- It's been 35 years since the Christmas voyage of Apollo 8, marking the first time humans had circled the Moon.
Now one of the astronauts from that historic flight wonders who will be the next human to return to the Moon, or perhaps become the first to step on Mars, and is doing what he can to keep inspiring the next generation of explorers.
Jim Lovell is a veteran of four spaceflights -- two during project Gemini and two during Apollo. And while his voice is familiar from the dramatic reading of Genesis during Apollo 8, it's his adventure as commander of Apollo 13 that has made him more well known in recent years thanks to the Ron Howard film.
Among autograph hounds Lovell's signature is worth more than a few bucks, a fact the genuine American hero is all too well aware of."I don't really sign things any more unless it's for a good cause," Lovell told SPACE.com.
As chairman of the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation, Lovell is trading his celebrity for cash and using the money to help students who are interested in space program careers pay for college.
Another dozen of his colleagues -- representing astronauts from Mercury to the space shuttle -- are helping by offering their signatures for sale as part of an autograph club recently established by the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation.
For a price of $49.95 per month, a subscriber will get a personalized letter and picture from that astronaut's flight to go with the autograph. Or the whole collection can be purchased for a one-time price of $499.
Lovell and his friends hope that efforts such as an autograph club will provide inspiration to some student out there who, in turn, might one day be asked for his or her autograph because that person was the next to walk on the Moon.
"When I was growing up we didn't have astronauts, of course. But we did have teachers that when I was trying to build rockets in high school, they encouraged me," Lovell said. "That was one of the inspirations that kept me going."
Today's students are living in exciting times when it comes to the world's space programs, Lovell said, despite set backs such as the loss of Columbia and its crew.
"The Columbia accident was a tragedy, but we have tragedies. If you put seven people in a vehicle such as the Columbia, occasionally things happen. We've learned a lot from Columbia that we didn't really know before," Lovell said. "You just got to fix things and move forward."
"We also have an obligation in the form of a space station up there. We have people up there. It's not a case of when should we start flying again, it's a case of let's get flying as soon as possible."
And once flying again, if Lovell were writing the nation's space policy, the next destination needs to be sending humans to Mars -- probably with the help of re-establishing a presence on the Moon along the way.
"A serious project of going to Mars will include the Moon in some manner," Lovell said. "The technology is there. All we need is time, money and effort. And right now it seems like our effort is being put in another direction, along with the time and money."
Interviewed via telephone from his office in Chicago, Lovell spoke with SPACE.com on Dec. 17, the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers' first powered flight.
Acknowledging the swift progress made in aviation and spaceflight to date, Lovell lamented that -- at least in terms of spaceflight -- it appears the pace of progress has slowed during the past few years.
"I'm disappointed we're not farther right now," Lovell said. "But I think we will get our act together. I think the next 100 years is going to see miracles of new technology that is not possible today."
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