The first people on the Moon did not have confidence that they would return to Earth sometime. Landing on the earth satellite could be the last event in their lives. But still they flew. However, before the flight had to resort to tricks to provide families financially in cases of death.
Now everything is not so bad
If your profession is connected with space flight, then you need to understand that you always risk your life. Yes, in the modern world everything is a little calmer, but the danger is still present. It’s about the Apollo mission, so consider the astronaut situation.
During each space flight, one should think about the fate of the family, which can be left without a breadwinner. Modern astronauts have insurance. For example, Colin Robertson from the life and health insurance group points to FEGLI (for civil servants), and Marcus Chalfant adds SGLI, as many astronauts are also military (for example, pilots) .
No insurance from NASA
At the time of developing the Apollo program, the mission members had a completely different situation. After all, it is not just about traveling into space, but the first visit to another world. Too high the chances of death in flight. No one could say for sure that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin would even touch the moon at all. Therefore, representatives of NASA or any insurance agency could not afford to provide insurance for a large amount. How to get out of the situation?
Create insurance yourself
Astronauts of the Apollo 11 mission decided to provide their families on their own. They understood that their flight would still be a valuable event, even if they never returned to Earth. Therefore, it was decided to sign a huge stack of postal envelopes so that in case of death it was possible to sell them at auctions for big money.
For storage even hired a special person. Moreover, this procedure was repeated until the completion of Apollo 17. It is important to understand that the very essence of the insurance cover is to leave the last message for relatives and friends. The crew members signed them literally before the start, and one of the astronauts (authenticated) left the signature on the back side. So there were those who limited themselves to only one envelope, and did not sign for the sale of hundreds.
Postscript
Fortunately, the flight of Apollo 11 ended in triumph. But collectors are still buying these envelopes with a great desire, because everything that has any involvement in the lunar missions is valuable. Of course, the highest price was set for the signatures of Apollo 11 crew members, because it was the first mission.
