Buzz Aldrin's Moon Walk Cost Him $33

The former astronaut has been tweeting old documents
By Elizabeth Armstrong Moore,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 4, 2015 6:03 AM CDT
Updated Aug 4, 2015 6:31 AM CDT
Buzz Aldrin's Moon Walk Cost Him $33
Buzz Aldrin aboard the Lunar Module moments after walking on the moon on July 20, 1969.   (Neil Armstrong/Corbis)

After the Apollo 11 crew got done taking their steps and leaps on the moon, they had a few hoops to jump through back on Earth—specifically, customs and a 21-day quarantine to be sure they weren't carrying any unknown pathogens. This and more is coming to light now that Buzz Aldrin, who with Neil Armstrong became the first humans to walk on the moon back in July 1969, is posting photos of old documents on Twitter and Facebook, reports the Guardian. One particular gem: his $33.31 travel expense report, which amounts to roughly $215 in today's dollars, though it appears to be mainly Earth-related expenses for, say, driving his own car to and from Ellington Air Force Base in Houston, Texas, reports Quartz.

"After splashdown and before the Apollo 11 crew went into quarantine we had to get into BIG suits—Biological Isolation Garments, so the lunar dust we brought back wouldn't give people on earth our moon germs," he tweeted. "I always found it funny that the rags used to wipe us down that were covered with moon dust were dropped in the ocean. So the poor underwater creatures got our moon germs instead. Maybe this is fodder for a Godzilla movie. I claim the movie rights!" Aldrin brought back 50 pounds of rocks and dust in total, and while it may have been more of a joke than anything to go through customs, today it's a requirement for any astronaut in whatever country they splash down in. (Have you seen Aldrin's epic Stonehenge pic?)

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