A jacket worn by Buzz Aldrin’s historic first mission to the moon’s surface in 1969 was auctioned off to a bidder for nearly $2.8 million recently.
Today the names of Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin will be forever remembered throughout history. These men and their families presumably have not had financial worries for a long time.
However, that was not always the case. Before these heroes walked on the moon, they had a very serious financial problem to solve, which was trying to get Life Insurance.
They were under no illusions that flying to the moon may have been the last thing they ever did. Unfortunately, neither was any insurer.
Try explaining to a Life Insurance underwriter that you plan to blast into space in a rocket fully loaded with refined kerosene. Then you plan to spend three days flying through space, land on the Moon, the get out and hop about for a while, turn around and fly back for another three days, before landing in the middle of the sea.
It’s understandable why they did not get an automatic ordinary rates online decision.
Offered Cover at $50,000
The Apollo 11 crew were reportedly offered Life cover at a premium of $50,000 each. In today’s money that’s around €400,000 per astronaut.
At the time they were on a reasonable federal salary, and obviously they could not afford such a hign premium. So, Armstrong came up with an ingenious idea.
A month before they were set to go to the moon, the three astronauts were locked into a quarantine room, and they got busy providing for their families the only way they could — they signed hundreds of autographs on envelopes emblazoned with various space-related images. These envelopes are now often referred to as ” Apollo Insurance Covers.”
With hundreds of these signed, the crew left them in the hands of trusted friends, to keep for the their family, and under a wave of fanfare they blasted off to the Moon.
These limited edition ‘Covers’ already had incredible value. However, should the team fail to make it back to Earth following their mission, that value would have shot up, and the crew’s families could be provided for with the sale of the covers.
Fortunately, the trip went off without a hitch and all three men went on to live long, healthy lives and all remained alive until Armstrong passed away age 82, and Collins passed away age 90. The Insurance Covers remained with the astronauts for a long time. Some began to appear at auctions from the 1990s, selling for around $20,000 to $46,000.
OK.. Lets get down to earth!
We understand that not everyone has ambitions to fly to space or walk on the moon any time soon, but we at OneLife Insure are still committed to helping you get the best deal on a Life Insurance policy that is most appropriate to suit you and your family’s needs.
That means providing cover that’s built around your own unique circumstances. To get the best advice on how Life Insurance could work for you use please go online and get a quote on your website or call us on to speak to one of our expert advisors to discuss your options.