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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."

15 of 168 comments (clear)

  1. If the odds are against you by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    bet against yourself?

    1. Re:If the odds are against you by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      What is the big need for insurance? I guess they could have tripped in the studio, or had a light fall on them.

    2. Re:If the odds are against you by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

      bet against yourself?

      This is the entire crux of life insurance anyway.

      You buy life insurance because your wager is that you're going to die at any moment

      Insurance companies wager that you're not going to die for a very long time...or at least long enough to rake in a decent profit.

    3. 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.

    4. 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?

    5. 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.

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

    I see what you did there :)

  3. 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...

    2. Re:Its kind of really sad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

      If that group of people didn't want to take the risk, they could have stepped back. There would have been no shortage of applicants to replace them. If an astronaut with a family is not insurable, then perhaps people with families that depend on them shouldn't ride into space on tons of rocket fuel.

    3. Re:Its kind of really sad by kasperd · · Score: 4, Interesting

      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...

      I agree, that's what NASA should have done. But even if they didn't guarantee it beforehand, they might still be able to provide the funds after the fact. Is there any documentation on what happened in those (three?) cases where NASA missions did result in fatalities?

      --

      Do you care about the security of your wireless mouse?
    4. Re:Its kind of really sad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Damn right! I hate people who stick their necks out and take risks. They should have spent their careers fixing printers and ducking work in a cubicle somewhere like responsible and productive members of society and not be so irresponsible.

      This is something the science-y liberals will never understand. We have it good enough, dammit. We don't need someone to rock the boat and cause people to hope and dream of better things for themselves and the species.

    5. Re:Its kind of really sad by Lumpy · · Score: 4, Funny

      How very republican of you.

      God damned astronauts... trying to suck from the public teat!

      --
      Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
  4. Fulfilling The Kennedy Dream by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Ask not what your Life Insurance can do for you, Ask what you can do for your Life Insurance.

  5. 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.