2021 Historic Autographs : Famous Americans

Famous Americans premium trading cards were released on January 12, 2022, by the Historic Autograph & Card Company. The 330-card base set includes 110 Super Short Print high number cards. Each hobby box contains 20 packs with 10 cards per pack.

Famous Americans factory sets contain 330 "Radiant" base parallels that read INSPIRE or HISTORIC. Each factory set "Radiant" parallel card is limited to 250 copies. "Alloy" parallels are limited to 150 copies and "Aurora" parallels are serial numbered #/25.

Vending boxes include 280 base cards, a signature cut, an "Employee's Pick" lenticular card serial numbered #/25, a garment relic card, 25 movie clip insert cards, 5 "Aurora" parallel cards, and 10 "Alloy" parallel cards.

The base series features NASA astronauts Walt Cunningham, Guion Bluford, John Glenn, and Sally Ride. The cut autograph inserts include Neil Armstrong, Walt Cunningham, Guion Bluford, John Glenn, and Sally Ride.

John Glenn is featured in a Project Mercury photograph from October 30, 1964.

"John Herschel Glenn Jr. (1921–2016) was a Marine Corps aviator, engineer, astronaut, and the first American to orbit the Earth. Glenn orbited the Earth in 1962 for four hours, 55 minutes and 23 seconds and said, "To look out at this kind of creation and not believe in God is to me impossible." Glenn retired from NASA in 1964 and served as a U.S. Senator from 1974 to 1999. In 1998, at age 77, Glenn flew into space again on the space shuttle Discovery."

Apollo 7 Lunar Module Pilot Walt Cunningham is pictured with Command Module Pilot Donn Eisele aboard USS Essex (CVS-9) on October 22, 1968.

"Ronnie Walter Cunningham (1932–present) was a fighter pilot in the Korean War, a physicist, and an astronaut. He was the Lunar Module Pilot on the 11-day Apollo 7 mission in 1968, the first manned Apollo mission. After his flight, he became NASA's chief of Skylab. In 1971, Cunningham left NASA to pursue a variety of projects including writing books and advising start-up technology companies. In 2008, he received the NASA Distinguished Service Medal."

Card #323 features the first three African-American astronauts Ronald McNair, Guion Bluford, and Fred Gregory. NASA Astronaut Group 8 was announced on January 16, 1978.

"Guion Stewart Bluford Jr. (1942–present) is an American aerospace engineer, retired U.S. Air Force officer and fighter pilot, and the first African American astronaut. By his fourth flight in 1992, Bluford had logged 688 hours in space. He was inducted into the International Space Hall of Fame in 1997."

Mission Specialist Sally Ride is pictured aboard Space Shuttle Challenger STS-7 in June 1983.

"Sally Kristen Ride (1951–2012) was the first American woman in space. Both an astronaut and physicist, Ride joined NASA in 1978. In 1983, she was a crew member of the Space Shuttle Challenger operating the shuttle's robotic arm. Ride's second Challenger mission was in 1984; she spent more than 343 hours in space. After her astronaut career, Ride was one of the few people at NASA supportive of warnings regarding the Challenger before it exploded. After Ride left NASA, she wrote books and produced educational material. Ride has a U.S. Navy research ship named in her honor, the RV Sally Ride."