【誰にともなしに、独り言レス―その3332】
それまで宇宙旅行土産が売りに出されていたのは問題視されてなかったのに、アポロ15 が見過ごされずに懲罰対象になってしまったことに関して、アル・ウォーデンはインタビュー（Apollo 15's Al Worden on Space and Scandal Smithsonian Magazine October 12, 2011）に―
Those postal covers were sold a couple of months after the flight and quickly became public knowledge. So, I think NASA management felt they had to do something. There had been a similar incident the previous year, when the Apollo 14 crew allegedly made a deal with Franklin Mint to bring silver medallions into space. But NASA kind of smoothed that over because the [astronaut] involved was Alan Shepard, (the first American in space] who was a little more famous than we were. The government never said that we did anything illegal, they just thought it wasn’t in good taste.
と、アポロ15 の仕儀は違法（illegal）ゆえにでは決してなく、たしなみを欠くと言うか、はしたなくも品が悪い（it wasn’t in good taste）と裁断されたのだけれど、直前のアポロ14 の件（Franklin Mint medals）には（あの）アラン・シェパードであるがゆえに（もっと品が悪い感じがする？にも拘らず） NASA は何の文句も付けてはいなかったと語っている。
切手スキャンダルに限って言うなら、元凶（事の起こり）は切手コレクターのディック・ゴードン夫人 Barbara Gordon, a stamp collector and the wife of Richard ‘Dick’ Gordon (the Apollo 12 astronaut, who at that time was the backup pilot for Apollo 15) らしく、ウォーデン（Al Worden’s Falling to Earth－その2913参照）によれば―
Jim Irwin added some postal covers to his PPK[Personal Preference Kits], too, and made sure Deke knew about them. He carried a few covers with a shamrock logo on them, many of which he gave to NASA friends after the flight. He even took more than eighty covers as a personal favor for Barbara Gordon, Dick Gordon’s wife. She was an avid collector, and although her covers took up a good amount of Jim’s PPK weight allowance, that was the kind of generous guy he was. Those envelopes flew on the mission and were given right back to Barbara.
