To celebrate the 46thanniversary of the 1969 moon landing, Buzz Aldrin has tweeted pictures ofcustoms formsandtravel vouchersthat he and the rest of the Apollo 11 crew had to complete during their pioneering journey to the moon. These include expense claims of $33.31 and a declaration of the cargo “moon rock and moon dust samples”.
It appears that the moon landing was treated like any other business trip, with flight details and expenses listed in detail, although it is unclear what exactly the $33.31 expense was used for. It was probably for car hire between airports on the way to Cape Kennedy, where the astronauts embarked, but if you’re sending someone to the moon you think they could splash out on some nice wheels for them.
The official travel voucher states that the government provided “meals and quarters” throughout the trip, with a “government spacecraft” being noted as one of the aircrafts used.
Aldrin also tweeted an image of the customs form that he had to sign on return to the United States, with country of departure simply stated as “moon” and flight number specified as “Apollo 11”. Not many people will have that on their passport…
It wasn’t all plain sailing for the returning crew though, because if you’ve ever experienced airsickness just imagine the Apollo 11 crew felt. Aside from “airsickness or the effects of accidents” the form asks if the astronauts were returning with any infectious disease. Aldrin’s response - “moon disease TBD”.