Returning to Earth after being the first to reach the Moon, the astronauts apollo 11 they became heroes and celebrities both in the United States and around the world. His feat left endless anecdotes and curiosities, timeless, and one of the most striking was committed Buzz Aldrin. This is that after the journey, the second person to set foot on the lunar surface he charged NASA just over $30 for travel expenses..
Saying this may sound like a joke, but it’s not. A few days after being on the moon, Aldrin applied. voucher to NASA with a request to pay $33.31. The request was approved on August 26, 1969, just over a month after the crew splashed down in the Pacific.
Buzz Aldrin himself tweeted photos of the “receipt” in 2015.went viral thanks to a peculiar detail of the trip. It stated that he had flown from Houston, Texas, to Cape Canaveral, Florida, to the Moon, to the Pacific Ocean, to Hawaii, and back to Houston..
Among the vehicles used, references to “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 was for a broader period than the moon flight period. as suchsince it included from 7 to 27 July 1969
Buzz Aldrin and his peculiar claim to per diems 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 money. Far from being millionaires, the astronauts received a regular salary, and participation in the Apollo 11 mission did not bring them any additional financial compensation. The only additional income they could count on was the daily allowance they were allowed to claim for each day spent away from home. Something that exactly was made through it voucher.
At the time, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin were paid for their ranks of Lieutenant Colonel and Colonel in the United States Air Force, respectively. The former made just over $17,000 a year, while the latter earned just over $18,500. Neil Armstrong, on the other hand, was a civilian hired by the government to work for NASA. Therefore, his salary was slightly higher and amounted to more than $ 27,000 a year.
According to some records, the cost of per diem that the astronauts could afford was $8 per day. However, when you consider that the request was timed for 20 days, the final payment of $33.31 turned into compensation of just over $1.60 per day. It is clear that this was not the amount that one could get rich quick, but any grain of income helped.
While all three Apollo 11 astronauts were eligible to claim travel reimbursement, only Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins could do so. However, images of the latter’s form have not been found.
But this was not the only bureaucratic curiosity that the crew members faced upon returning to Earth. They also had to complete a customs form upon arrival in Honolulu, Hawaii..
They reported the arrival of samples of rocks and lunar dust, although the most bizarre was the disease section. It was amended with the phrase “To be determined” as the astronauts still had to go through a period of isolation to rule out any possible disease contracted on the Moon.
Source: Hiper Textual
