Armstrong and Aldrin landed on the moon in 1969 without life insurance. They signed first-day mailers as a backup plan, which now fetch up to $30,000.
Mission Commander Neil Armstrong and pilot Buzz Aldrin landed the Lunar Module Eagle on the Moon on July 20, 1969. Armstrong was the first to the dusty surface, and Aldrin joined him about 20 minutes later. The next day, the astronauts joined Michael Collins in the orbiting command module and all returned safely to Earth. But it was a dangerous mission, and the astronauts hadn’t been able to afford life insurance policies that covered such risks. Instead, before liftoff, the astronauts had signed hundreds of first-day mailers, knowing they would be valuable collector’s items if they didn’t survive the mission. It was the best they could do to provide for their families.
In the event of a disaster:
The practice of signing postal covers like makeshift insurance policies ended with Apollo 16. Today, Apollo 11 covers fetch the highest prices, up to $30,000 USD.
The astronauts gave the covers to friends, who had them post-stamped on significant days, especially launch day and the day they landed on the moon.
To have value, an Apollo 11 cover needs the correct postmark, a printed image of the Apollo 11 crew emblem or the lunar surface, and a letter of authenticity from one of the astronauts.
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