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What The Apollo 11 Crew Did For Life Insurance

Posted by samzenpus on from the sign-your-life-away dept.

Back in 1969 insurance companies weren't very optimistic about the odds of an astronaut making it back to earth after being launched in a rocket to the moon. The cost of life insurance for the Apollo 11 crew was astronomically high so they came up with a clever solution. A month before launch, the astronauts signed hundreds of autographs that were to be sold if they didn't make it back. From the article: "About a month before Apollo 11 was set to launch, the three astronauts entered quarantine. And, during free moments in the following weeks, each of the astronauts signed hundreds of covers. They gave them to a friend. And on important days — the day of the launch, the day the astronauts landed on the moon — their friend got them to the post office and got them postmarked, and then distributed them to the astronauts' families. It was life insurance in the form of autographs."

7 of 168 comments (clear)

  1. Astronomically high? by zakkie · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I see what you did there :)

  2. Its kind of really sad by tanveer1979 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    A group of people embark on a journey which is indeed a giant leap for our entire species. And their kind can't even provide their familes with basic security.

    --
    My Aurora : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o91ZsGwJYyg
    FB : https://www.facebook.com/TanveersPhotography
    1. Re:Its kind of really sad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I perfectly agree. More practically, why couldn't NASA guarantee an annuity to their families shouldn't they return home?
      I don't think it would have been so detrimental for NASA's balance sheet...

  3. Military officers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    A group of people embark on a journey which is indeed a giant leap for our entire species. And their kind can't even provide their familes with basic security.

    All of them were military officers with over 20 years. Wouldn't their families have gotten at least their retirement or something?

    And I'm sure the President would have at least ordered somethign special or worked the system so that the families would have gotten some portion of the military pay.

  4. Re:If the odds are against you by RazzleFrog · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Not sure if you are being sarcastic or what but you realize that when you take a million dollar life insurance policy out it isn't so that your family is rich if you die. It's to replace the years of missed earning opportunities with your passing.

  5. Re:If the odds are against you by GrumpySteen · · Score: 4, Insightful

    That bottom 50% includes unemployed, homeless, people who make far less than poverty level income, children, retired people with no income, etc.

    You're actually complaining that people with no income aren't paying their fair share of income taxes.

    Could you be more of a douche?

  6. Re:If the odds are against you by Lord+Lemur · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I know feeding a troll is always a bad idea, but please tell me, are you high or 16? Seems like your a huge fan of the neo-con revisionism. Note how those poor little rich folks have had tax cut after tax cut for 50 years. The top rate has fallen from over 90% to... what did Mitt pay, 12%? There is no such thing as a rich man who got there with out our wonderfully fubar federal government. The environment for that wealth creation came from all of us, schools, roads, labor, et al. If you think a progressive tax is a pox upon long term viability, look at Somalia. Does our system blow, hell yes. Is a progressive federal system the best we have seen on this planet, by far.