The crew of Apollo 11 who walked on the moon was not allowed back to Earth without going through customs.
From GeoBeats:
Astronauts may be the cream of the pilot crop. Their journeys are adventuresome that make our Earthly jaunts pale in comparison.
But they have to go through customs just like everybody else.
Buzz Aldrin shared a curious piece of space history via Facebook and Twitter on Sunday: the customs form he had to fill out after returning from the moon.
The form, also signed by Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins, was waiting for the astronauts when they arrived at the Honolulu Airport on July 24, 1969.
Their place of departure? “MOON”; their cargo declared? “MOON ROCK AND MOON DUST SAMPLES”.
The form indicated none of the astronauts were sick on arrival, but in response to a standard question asking about conditions on board that could lead to disease, the astronauts indicated, “TO BE DETERMINED”.
Aldrin explained they were waiting to discover whether any mysterious “moon disease” had been contracted before saying for sure.
The Apollo 11 crew wasn’t the last group of space travelers to experience what’s being hailed as a triumph for bureaucracy.
Retired astronaut Chris Hadfield, in a Reddit AMA thread, explained that he and his crew had to pass through customs in Kazakhstan after returning to Earth.
