It sounds like the travel deal of a lifetime as the estimated cost was of $33.31 to go from the moon and back for Buzz Aldrin, who tweeted some of his NASA forms. Astronaut Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin has recently posted travel papers of his trip to the moon, detailing the costs and some of the samples brought back in 1969.
The “travel voucher” is a piece of memorabilia back from July, 1969, when Apollo 11 flied to the moon and back, achieving a historical feature for mankind to be a mark in our history. Buzz Aldrin has walked upon the moon, but that does not mean he successfully evaded the paperwork.
In an amusing mix of the boring forms and exciting terms such as “moon samples”, the astronaut displayed his travel expenses and logs upon returning to Earth. It cashed in at $33.33 spent, so it’s quite clear that he didn’t pitch in on the rocket fuel. Perhaps on the beef jerky.
Besides the joking implications of the tweet, it was likely that all the costs were attributed to private cars to take him to the NASA platform from the airport and back. The pattern was simple, from Houston, to Cape Kennedy, to the moon, landing in the Pacific Ocean, travelling to Hawaii and the back to Houston, Texas.
Taking inflation into account, the over $33 will now account for $217, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which is still a bargain for such an exciting trip, even if it does not account for room service or turn down service. However, all meals were included.
In his Tweet, Buzz Aldrin showed the forms that him, along with Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins had to sign upon their return home, who declared things such as “moon rocks” and “moon dust” as part of their cargo. The document regarding the astronauts’ health is marked as a worrying “to be determined” and the astronaut jested that it’s still to be decided 46 years later.
Once returned back to earth, the three astronauts of Apollo 11 were kept three weeks into quarantine, during which they were not allowed outside contact just in case there was any trace of moon germs on them. While they were kept away from their families, they were placed in special “biological isolation garment”, which Buzz also shared a picture of.
It’s not the most diverse travel itinerary ever posted online, but it’s certainly one of the most historical and at a very low price apparently.
Image source: cnn.com
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