David S. Ball has been a stamp collector for 40 years. When he joined the Space Unit in 1987, he became a space event collector of classic U.S. manned and unmanned space covers with a special interest in experimental flight. His first book, American Astrophilately: The First 50 Years won the top literary award from the American Philatelic Society in August 2010.

In 1993, Ball led an expedition that reexamined the 1967 crash of X-15 #3. The findings were published in Quest Magazine in 1994 and videotaped interviews were included in the Space Craft Films X-15 DVD set released in 2006.

“In Their Prime,” an astrophilatelic study of Prime Recovery Ships prepared by Ball, was one of about two dozen Digital Philatelic Study exhibits at the American Stamp Dealers Association Fall Mega Show held in New York in 2006. In the long history of postal exhibitions, this was the first virtual exhibit. “In Their Prime” was awarded the Viewers Choice Award for the best exhibit at the show.

Ball married into the NASA family. His father-in-law, William J. O’Donnell, was the public affairs officer at the NASA Headquarters from Schirra’s Mercury flight to the first flights of the Space Shuttle.