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Customs Forms for Moon Rocks
regen writes "I found a very interesting document while doing some research for work. This Customs Declaration has to be one of the strangest ever filled out. It is the declaration filled out by the crew of Apollo 11 for bringing Moon rocks into the United States.
A news article by Independent News confirms that this document is real."
Does that cover fully armed ICBM's too if you launch them from one part of the US to another?
object: express delivery for the Yucatan peninsula
date: 65,000,000 B.C.
contains: large amount of the iridium element
notes: package is very heavy, do not drop.
Another interesting document which has been mentioned elsewhere: the text of a speech which was prepared for President Nixon (by William Safire, no less) in case there was some sort of disaster that marooned Armstrong and Aldrin on the lunar surface, complete with additional instructions about the protocol to be followed. Though the speech was (thankfully) never needed, it remains an interesting footnote to what will probably be remembered as NASA's most successful series of missions.
Eric
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Be who you are...and be it in style!
Check out NASA's version of the story.
Actually Slashdot is kind of out-of-date on this one. The Register had this story about a month ago and I'm pretty sure I saw it linked in a post here on Slashdot a day or two before that.
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.
July 24, 1969
Honolulu, Hawaii
Customs Agent: Citizenship?
Astronaut: American.
C: How long away?
A: About a week.
C: Anything to declare?
A: Nope.
C: Would you mind opening your bag, sir?
A: Uh, okay.
C: Would you mind explaining this, sir?
A: It's a rock.
C: No, sir. Would you mind explaining this white powder?
A: Huh?
C: What are you, playing dumb? What's this white powder?
A: It's just a dust sample. It goes with the rock.
C: It goes with the rock. What's that supposed to mean?
A: I don't understand.
C: Do you have a problem with your hearing, sir? I asked you to explain this white powder.
A: I picked that up while I was away.
C: Did you, now? And where might you be coming from?
A: The moon.
C: The moon.
A: That's right, the moon.
C: So this rock is from the moon, right?
A: That's right.
C: And this white powder --
A: It's moondust.
C: Oh, I see. It's MOONdust. Would you come with me, sir?
A: What, now?
C: Yes. Now.
A: But I have to report for debrief --
C: DOWN ON THE FLOOR! NOW!!
"The deep-fried Mars bar is a symptom of a wider crisis." -- Nutritionist Ann Ralph, on the Scottish diet
The capsule and astronauts were soused with disinfectant foam, and subsequently put in quarantine for weeks.
They were soused, huh? I'm not surprised that they were confined, ANYONE drinking disinfectant foam probably needs to be locked up, and given a very thorough mental examination.
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"Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
Why? What would they do if they found one? Roll over and start screaming, "WE SURRENDER!"?
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"Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
You know, I read your post and thought "He's right, but he should be able to provide a reference...". So I went to look for one, but it seems according to the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature and NASA You're just plain wrong. The name of Earth's moon is "Moon". Luna just happens to be the Italian word for it.
I believe the astronauts were placed in quarantine for a week or two afterward in order to make sure they didn't have any diseases.
"When you sit with a nice girl for two hours, it seems like two minutes. When you sit on a hot stove for two minutes, it
It's obvious why. Collins stayed up during the mission while the other two went down. They just got so used to those positions, it carried over to form-signing.
Now the question is, how long will it be before the first interplanetary cavity search?
If it were serious, the correct flight number would be on the form.
The form said that they arrived in Honolulu on "Apollo 13". In fact they arrived by ship on the USS Hornet, so that millitary shipping number is what should be on the form. Since it isn't, this form can't be a serious document.
sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
Bleah. I shouldn't post before the first caffeine of the day. You knew what I meant, anyway. :-)
sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
You'd think you'd double-check on such a historic form, but..
-bugg
You think they'd hesitate letting in a moon rock? I doubt it. That's green cheese man! Those frenchies LOVE their cheese, especially if it is of an unusual/disturbing color.
Did they think they wouldn't be able to find the astronauts or NASA again if they didn't fill out customs paperwork? Do government agencies typically need to fill out such paperwork for other instances? Could they have been rejected and sent back to the moon? Who at the Hawaii airport decided that Cuban cigars, textiles from China, and moon rocks all fit into the same category?
It's just strange - will they do the same thing when people start going into space on their own? Will the Microsoft/Disney/Pepsico shuttle be required to declair if it has any fruit on board?
The Good Reverend
I'm different, just like everybody else.
hehe
Imagine the noise he'll make when he receives his fully body cavity search....
1. Microbeskis 2. Space Viruskis 3. Hundreds of thousands of itty-bitty flying debriskis. 4. Thousands of pieces of deadly, smouldering projectileuskas
Dude, calm down. Isn't it much more likely that this reflects no policy, only random bureaucratic confusion? Chances are some relatively minor functionary brough up the customs question, nobody had any idea what the answer was, and some other functionary decided to have the form filled out just to cover their ass.
Besides, I'm sure the official U.S. position on "moon ownership" is already sufficiently well documented elsewhere.
Any sufficiently well-organized community is indistinguishable from Government.
Trust me, if you're launching ICBMs from one part of the U.S. and targeting another part, you have much more important things to worry about than Customs declarations!
Any sufficiently well-organized community is indistinguishable from Government.
Are they required to show passports that they are American citizens? If they lost them/can't prove it, are they sent back to the moon ? :)
And besides, you wouldn't want them to try to smuggle in any illegal aliens, would you?
KFG
Luna is the Latin/Italian word for moon. Do you call this planet Terra by any chance?
If it were French, the custom agents would have had to make sure there was no Swastikas inscribed on the rocks.
Hopefully I didn't put any [] around my words.
Why yes, yes I do: "That's one small step for man..."
I don't believe that it was entirely tongue-in-cheek. When I last studied the customs laws, in the context of exporting and importing cryptographic "munitions", I noted that there was an exception provided for both the export, and import, of rockets which are launched from within the US borders. IOW, if you launch a rocket from Florida into outer space and it re-enters in Albequerque, no import declaration need be filed.
I'm reminded of the movie, 2010, when the deteriorating political situation required the American astronauts to be "recalled" to Discovery. It's just so eerily believable...
How territorial we humans are.
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Accountability on the heads of the powerful.
Power in the hands of the accountable.
I think they maxed out their exemptions on this trip.
Judging the appraised value of moon rocks, the customs duty on said articles'd be enough to put the Armstrong family in hock to Uncle Sam for a few generations...
--- Jump!! Fire!! Bullet time!! - Lego version of the Matrix
Is it considered 'exporting' to take a strong crypto package to the Moon? To the International Space Station?
Actually, I thought that the rules made it so that you were allowed to export certain, specifically approved products overseas. AFAIK, PGP is the only exportable product still. Yes/no?
That sound you hear is thousnads of Scientologists gasping at the thought of Xenu getting held up at the border upon his triumphant return.
From hell's heart I fstab at /dev/hdc
checked them too. I mean come on, there travelling with a guy who's middle name is Buzz. Moon dust........ sure it's moon dust.
And don't be forgettink evil space fungus...
End of lesson. You may press the button.
I love the smell of Karma in the morning
10. Hey, some guy on the moon paid me 50 bucks to bring this back 9. This isn't my suitcase! 8. I brought this moon rock with me on the trip out 7. You can have half if you let me go 6. No, no, this is a piece of the Berlin Wall 5. Hey, aren't you going to check Armstrong? 4. Lunar customs didn't have a problem with it! 3. This is a paperweight - didn't you see the pictures of all that stuff flying around the capsule? 2. What's the tax on a rock anyway? 1. This is just moon cheese - take a bite!
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If you ever drop your keys into a river of molten lava, forget 'em, because man, they're gone. -- Jack
Boy, this has to take some kind of award for existentialist flame-bait. I know Luna is the name of the Earth's only natural satellite the same way I know Mars is the name of the next planet out, Charon is the name of Pluto's only moon, and Sol is the place-name of the particular somewhat dim and average star that happens to be at the center of this particular solar system. That's what it's called.
Have you ever heard anyone look up at the sky and say "Hey, there's Moon?" Of course not, because "moon" isn't a name, even when it's capitalized. It's a description. Yeah, we use it, just like we use the contraction "America" to refer to what is really the United States of America, not the American continent.
True, in normal talk we know which particular moon the Moon is, but this was a customs declaration form. Think like a bureaucrat, man! You're supposed to get details like this right or there isn't any point.
Brackets contain world's first nanosig, highly magnified:[.]
Where do I get a beowulf cluster of moon rocks?
Man on the moon, naked and petrified!
Hot moon rocks down my pants
All your moon rocks are belong to us!!
Moon rocks suck, just like Open Source software.
Moon rocks suck, just like Microsoft.
Wait, I have a patent on moon rocks, they better pay up!
The Moon Rock Association of America is trying to limit our fair use of Moon Rocks!
Peer to peer is a much better model for distributing moon dust.
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Article II of the Outer Space Treaty of 1967 expressly forbids property clains to outer space, including the moon. In any case, the russians were first to get a flag there -- they crashed several of the Luna probes onto the moon, first in '59 and later in '65. At least one of these was filled with lots of little Soviet flags which were intended to spill out on impact. The Soviets also made several soft landings, and were first to land a lunar rover. The Luna Mission Profile is available online.
Tony.
-- "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?" -- Juvenal
If you live in the Bay Area, a contemporary copy of the customs declaration (probably required in triplicate) can be seen on USS Hornet, the aircraft carrier (now a floating museum in Alameda) that hauled many of the Apollo capsules out of the Pacific and took them to Hawaii. It was clearly done as a tongue in cheek thing by US Customs, and possibly to cop a little reflected glamour from the moon shot. Incidentally, there was a very real concern about the astronauts bringing "moon bugs" back with them. The capsule and astronauts were soused with disinfectant foam, and subsequently put in quarantine for weeks.
-- "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?" -- Juvenal
I for one welcome our new SCOviet Russian overlords to whom all our base are belong.
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"May the forces of evil become confused on the way to your house"
-George Carlin