RARE CREW SIGNED APOLLO II INSURANCE COVER CREATED TO PROTECT THEIR FAMILIES IF THEY DIDN’T RETURN FROM THE MOON
Apollo 11 Crew-Signed “Type Three” Insurance Cover Originally from the Personal Collection of Mission Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin, with LOA. A philatelic cover with the “Apollo 8” 6¢ stamp (Scott #1371) affixed, bearing a pictorial machine cancellation from Kennedy Space Center dated July 16, 1969, the day that Apollo 11 was launched. The cachet is a color mission insignia with no added text. To the right are the signatures: “Neil Armstrong”, “Michael Collins” and “Buzz Aldrin” vertically in blue felt tip. Excellent.
Included with this cover is a handsome and informative display page stating that this is: “An Official Apollo 11 Insurance Cover – from the Buzz Aldrin Family Space Collection -“. It further states, in part: “The covers were produced to the crew to sign together in pre-flight quarantine, shortly before launch to the Moon, and then leave behind with their families as a form of insurance that could be sold should they fail to return. These covers played an integral role in the flight, giving the crew confidence they had left behind a tangible asset that could be sold, if needed, to raise money for their families. This permitted them to focus completely on their mission, which culminated in mankind’s first historic lunar landing on July 20, 1969.”