Apollo 11 Astronauts Couldn’t Afford Life Insurance, So They Got Creative…and Other Apollo50 Tidbits

Landing on the moon and safely returning it’s visitors might be the most amazing accomplishment of the 20th century. That’s why I also find the ancillary details so intriguing!

Here are a few of my favorite factoids:

• The astronauts couldn’t afford the understandably-expensive life insurance policy, which would have been around $50,000 (over $300,000 in today’s money). So, how did they financially protect their family in case they didn’t make it home? Autographs. Lots and logs of autographs. While quarantined in the days leading up to the launch (can’t have them getting sick, ya know!), they signed hundreds of autographs and had friends send them in the mail so they were postmarked on the date of the launch. Genius!
• Buzz Aldrin’s mother’s maiden name was…you guessed it…Moon.
• There was a speech written for President Nixon to deliver in case they didn’t make it back.
• The astronauts didn’t just land and immediately kick open the door…they had to wait! So Aldrin took the opportunity to take Holy Communion and read the Bible.

This happened a bit before I was born, but I know what was going on in this country at the time. I know that everyone regardless of how they felt about the war and other social issues stopped bickering at least for a week to watch this unfold. It was time of unity, not unlike the days following 9/11. I’m hopeful days unifying days like that aren’t another 50 years away.