[APOLLO 11]. CREW SIGNED ALDRIN FAMILY INSURANCE COVER

ORIGINALLY FROM THE ALDRIN FAMILY SPACE COLLECTION

APOLLO 11 - ALDRIN FAMILY CREW SIGNED INSURANCE COVER

POSTMARKED ON THE LUNAR LANDING DAY - JULY 20, 1969

An Apollo 11 Life Insurance Cover measuring approximately 4 by 6 inches with a cachet featuring two astronauts exploring the lunar surface with their Lunar Module and planet earth in the background. Postmarked at Houston, Texas on the date of the Apollo 11 lunar landing and moon walk, July 20, 1969. The envelope is displayed on a typed provenance letter on Buzz Aldrin Family letterhead.

SIGNED BY NEIL ARMSTRONG, BUZZ ALDRIN, AND MICHAEL COLLINS

With Aldrin Family typed provenance letter, which reads:

"Prior to Apollo 11's launch, crew members Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins were presented with special Apollo 11 Postal Covers by the NASA Manned Spacecraft Center Stamp Club. 

The Covers were produced for the crew to sign together in pre-flight quarantine, shortly before the launch to the Moon, and then leave behind with their families as a form of life insurance that could be sold should they fail to return. 

In the pre-launch hours, the crew signed the Covers and gave them to a trusted emissary. Some of the Covers were then postmarked at the Cape on July 16, 1969, the day of launch, with the remainder postmarked in Houston on July 20, 1969, the day of landing.

The signatures of Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin were therefore affixed to this Postal cover within days of Armstrong and Aldrin's first historic walk on the Moon!

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."