In 1969 Buzz Aldrin went to the moon. Today, the government is reimbursing him $33 in expenses.
The space tourist was on a business trip when he went to the moon. Just like any other American coming home from a business trip out of the county, NASA required astronaut Buzz Aldrin to fill out an expense report and a customs form when he got back from the moon, according to Quartz.
The paperwork that Aldrin recently shared publicly included signatures from himself and a Honolulu customs inspector and a very unique itemized itinerary: Florida to Moon to Pacific Ocean to Hawaii to Houston.
Also on the travel voucher is mention of the USS Hornet, which was misspelled on the paperwork, the ship that picked up Aldrin and the Apollo 11 crew after they landed in the Pacific.
The expense report included exactly $33.31 in “travel expenses” which is equal to about $215 today. The list included costs of having to drive his own car to and from Ellington Air Force Base in Houston. All of the rest of his travel, including to the moon and back, was covered.
On his way back from the moon, Aldrin was required to declare to customs the items he was bringing back from the moon which included: rock and dust samples weighing 50 lbs. in total.
Astronauts today are still required to go through the same process of customs in the country that they land in. In recent history, Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield revealed on Reddit AMA that NASA kept his passport here on Earth while he was in space then returned it to him when he touched back down in Kazakhstan.
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