On their return to Earth after being the first to reach the Moon, the astronauts of the apollo 11 they became heroes and celebrities, both in the United States and around the world. His feat left endless anecdotes and curiosities that transcended the passage of time, and one of the most striking was carried out by Buzz Aldrin. It is that, after the trip, the second man to walk on the lunar surface he charged just over $30 in travel expenses to NASA.
Said this way it may sound like a joke, but it is not. Days after being on the Moon, Aldrin filed a voucher to NASA asking to be paid $33.31. Request that was approved on August 26, 1969, just over a month after the crew splashed down in the Pacific Ocean.
Buzz Aldrin himself tweeted the “receipt” photos in 2015which became viral due to the peculiar detail of the trip. It indicated that he had departed from Houston, Texas, to Cape Canaveral (Florida), the Moon, the Pacific Ocean, Hawaii, and back to Houston..
Among the vehicles used, mentions of a “government spacecraft” and the USS Hornet stood out. The latter was the aircraft carrier from which the astronauts were rescued after their return. As for the dates, the money claimed corresponded to a broader period than that of the trip to the Moon. per sesince it included from July 7 to 27, 1969.
Buzz Aldrin and his peculiar per diem claim after flying to the Moon
If you’re still wondering why Buzz Aldrin bothered to claim that $33.31, the answer is simple: because i needed the money. Far from being millionaires, the astronauts had regular salaries, and being part of the Apollo 11 mission did not bring them any additional financial compensation. The only extra income they could aspire to was the per diem they were allowed to claim for each day they were away from home. Something that, precisely, was done through this voucher.
At the time, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin were receiving salaries for their ranks of Lieutenant Colonel and Colonel in the United States Air Force, respectively. The former earned just over $17,000 a year, while the latter was just over $18,500. Neil Armstrong, on the other hand, was a civilian hired by the government to work at NASA. Therefore, his salary was somewhat higher and was above $27,000 per year.
According to some records, the value of the per diem that the astronauts could manage was 8 dollars per day. However, if we consider that the request was for a period of 20 days, the final payment of $33.31 translated into a compensation of just over $1.60 per day. Clearly, it wasn’t a get-rich-quick amount, but every bit of income helped.
While all three Apollo 11 astronauts were eligible to claim travel expenses, only Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins would have done so. However, images of the latter’s form have not come to light.
But that was not the only bureaucratic curiosity faced by the crew members on their return to Earth. They also had to fill out a customs form upon arrival in Honolulu, Hawaii.
There they reported the entry of samples of rocks and lunar dust, although the most peculiar thing was the disease section. It was completed with the phrase “To be defined”, since the astronauts still had to undergo a period of isolation to rule out any possible condition contracted on the Moon.