Apollo 11 Astronaut Buzz Aldrin Claims He Had To Go Through Customs After His Returning Trip From Moon
Former astronaut Buzz Aldrin shared that all the Apollo 11 astronauts had to fill customs forms when they landed at Honolulu Airport in 1969.
Fifty years ago, a man thought of an idea to step foot on the extraordinary moon and it actually happened. With the successful moon landing of Apollo 11, two very lucky men walked where no man had walked before.
Only one of those men is still alive. That man is none other than 89-year-old Buzz Aldrin who feels nothing but good fortune and gratitude when he looks back to the historic manned moon landing from half a century ago.
A former astronaut and engineer, Aldrin made three spacewalks as pilot of the 1966 Gemini 12 mission, and, as Lunar Module Eagle pilot on the 1969 Apollo 11 mission.
However, Aldrin is now going viral for a reason none of us could even imagine. The famous astronaut who is very active on Twitter shared via a tweet how he had to go through customs after his trip from the moon. He shared a form back from 1969 when they came back from space after making the historic landing on the moon.
¡°Imagine spending 8 days in space, including nearly 22 hours on the Moon and returning home to Earth only to have to go through customs,¡± said Aldrin in his tweet.Imagine spending 8 days in space, including nearly 22 hours on the Moon and returning home to Earth only to have to go through customs! ? #Apollo11 pic.twitter.com/FvtSVwSD1f
¡ª Dr. Buzz Aldrin (@TheRealBuzz) July 28, 2021
People on the internet were surprised to see this custom form and had a lot of interesting replies.
Its not a joke? pic.twitter.com/U0XKNMx3pP
¡ª Daniel Mejia (@dmr0704) July 28, 2021
You wouldn't happen to have any fruit, vegetables, or firewood in that spaceship of yours would you, Dr. Aldrin? We don't want any space bugs ruining our crops.
¡ª RiscV (@MKVRiscy) July 28, 2021
¡ª Lunar Station (@Lunarstation1) July 28, 2021
"I just need to get the moon on the line to confirm a few things. You can have a seat over there. This... might take a while."
¡ª Dominic Lacasse (@DominicELacasse) July 29, 2021
You got to be kidding me. ????
¡ª Roman Marolin (@RomanMarolin) July 28, 2021
¡°Do you have anything to declare?¡±
¡ª Milo (@miloramone) July 28, 2021
¡°Yes. This is stupid.¡±
The form consists of all the details about the Apollo 11 spaceship that landed in Honolulu after its stint on the moon. It also shows the names of the astronauts that have now gone down in history including Neil Armstrong.
When it came to ¡®cargo¡¯ that came back with them, it said ¡®moon rock and moon dust samples.' There were no details about any ailments under the declaration of health but a condition on board was yet to be determined.
People may wonder why was this procedure followed. This was followed to make sure that these astronauts have not brought any germs from the moon that couldn't be taken care of on Earth. The form also stated that the astronauts wore biological containment suits when they walked out from USS Hornet.
With the 52nd anniversary of #Apollo11 coming up, I look back and reflect on our last news conference before launching to the Moon ¨C those are the faces of true wonder and pure excitement! pic.twitter.com/AJ1k2oEWgy
¡ª Dr. Buzz Aldrin (@TheRealBuzz) July 14, 2021
Interestingly, the form surfaced online a few years back. NASA spokesperson John Yembrick confirmed its authenticity. The form is very much real but it was used as a joke. It was posted to the US Customs and Border Protection website in 2009. A news website called SPACE.com and was actually verified by NASA then.
The astronauts also had to spend three weeks in quarantine just to make sure they didn't get any foreign disease with them.
Charles Berry, who was in charge of medical operations during Apollo said that time, "If [the astronauts] came down with anything, whatever it was, a cough, a sniffle, or anything else, we were going to have to prove that it didn't come from the moon. So I think it would be pretty stupid to let somebody just walk into that situation. It would have been a total breakdown of the program."
Building, coordinating and crafting engaging content for lifestyle brand 'Evolve' at Indiatimes. Successfully revamping the lifestyle section including topics such as mental health, relationships, self, skin care, music etc. I collaborate with experts from various fields to gather insights and create well-structured pieces.
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