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Customs Forms for Moon Rocks

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the now-thats-pretty-funny dept.

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."

10 of 121 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Apollo customs form by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4

    Does that cover fully armed ICBM's too if you launch them from one part of the US to another?

  2. Also for asteroids? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5

    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.

  3. Passports? by CBoy · · Score: 5

    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 ? :)

  4. Re:Apollo customs form by peccary · · Score: 4

    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.

  5. 2010 by DeadVulcan · · Score: 4

    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.
  6. It had to be said.... by Rudeboy777 · · Score: 5

    That sound you hear is thousnads of Scientologists gasping at the thought of Xenu getting held up at the border upon his triumphant return.

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    From hell's heart I fstab at /dev/hdc

  7. I would have.... by canning · · Score: 5
    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.

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    I love the smell of Karma in the morning
  8. 10 Excuses for bringing Moon Rock thru customs by Seinfeld · · Score: 5

    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
  9. Re:Doesn't the US own it? by popular · · Score: 4
    http://www.marssociety.org/law_and_governance/moon .asp

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  10. Apollo customs form by macsuibhne · · Score: 4

    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.

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    -- "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?" -- Juvenal