Buzz Aldrin ‘Insurance' From Moon Landing Mission To Fetch £5700 At Auction

An ‘insurance’ stamp covering Buzz Aldrin for the Apollo 11 moon landing is expected to fetch £5700 ($8900) at auction.

The Apollo missions were considered so dangerous that it was impossible for the astronauts to find anyone that would give them life insurance.

In an effort to provide some financial support for the families of astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, ‘Insurance Covers’ were produced.

A cover is an envelope or package - in this case a special Apollo 11 design - bearing postage stamps that have been ‘cancelled’ with a postmark.

Created in conjunction with the Manned Spacecraft Center Stamp Club in Houston, Texas, the covers were not officially recorded by NASA but were signed by Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins with the intention of selling them off to collectors.

This particular cover is being offered by Bruce Forrest, who bought it off Joan Aldrin after her divorce from Buzz.

Forrest, who is selling the item on Astro-Auction.com, said: “Basically, the astronauts couldn’t get life insurance, so they gave their families signed covers, in case the mission failed.

"I bought my cover through Peach State who worked directly with Joan Aldrin, who had all the insurance covers when she and Buzz got divorced.”

Apollo 11 insurance covers were affixed with the Scott 1371 six-cent postage stamp, which depicts the Apollo 8 Earthrise and the words ‘In the beginning God’.

There were three types of cover for the Apollo 11 mission, which were postmarked at different stages, and 500 covers were made for each astronaut.

Astronaut and Apollo 10 commander Tom Stafford had possession of the Apollo 11 covers when the crew launched.

He arranged for some of them to be cancelled on launch day at Kennedy Space Center and then carried all of them in his T-38 back to Houston.

He then arranged for the remainder to be postmarked in Houston on the day of the moon landing.

The covers were then distributed to the three ‘Apollo 11’ families.

(Credit: David Aspinall/Caters)