Pillole di Apollo: Assicurazione sulla vita.

Durante la prima missione lunare Apollo 11, i tre astronauti della più importante missione umana della Storia non poterono farsi un'assicurazione sulla vita - anche perché nessuna compagnia assicurativa la avrebbe fatta - e allora per assicurare qualche entrata alla famiglia in caso di incidente mortale, durante la quarantena che precedette il volo, i tre astronauti firmarono 214 buste che consegnarono ad un amico comune chiedendogli, nel caso qualcosa fosse andato storto, di dare le buste alle famiglie. La vendita di quelle buste avrebbe fruttato molto denaro. Per la missione Apollo 11 vennero stampati tre tipi diversi di buste.

Fortunatamente tutti gli astronauti lunari tornarono a casa sani e salvi. Molte buste furono regalate, ma diverse restarono chiuse nei cassetti per lunghi anni fino a quando il mercato del collezionismo cominciò a richiederle e a farne aumentare il valore a dismisura.

E destra nella foto le buste firmate sul tavolo di casa Aldrin. Sono la parte di buste di che l'astronauta ha lasciato alla prima moglie Joan. (Morta nel 2015) 

Oggi le buste valgono diverse migliaia di dollari e sono molto ricercate dai collezionisti.  Anche Neil Armstrong e Michael Collins avevano una dotazione di buste firmate dai tre astronauti. 

L'iniziativa non fu isolata, anche durante le successive missioni, gli astronauti firmavano alcune centinaia di buste che lasciavano alle proprie famiglie. La NASA accettò questo "strano" modo di assicurarsi, consentendo di caricare a bordo un numero preciso di buste. 

Alcune delle "Insurance Cover"

Apollo 15 e le buste non autorizzate

La missione Apollo 15 fu certamente la prima missione a carattere scientifico. Gli astronauti Dave Scott e James Irwing per la prima volta restarono sul suolo lunare per tre giorni, effettuando tre EVA. Come dicevo scientificamente fu un enorme successo per via dei campioni raccolti e la lunga esplorazione effettuata con la prima macchina elettrica portata sulla luna, ma al ritorno si scatenarono una serie di scandali per via di un mercato sotterraneo...  in particolare per degli annulli filatelici eseguiti da Scott su una serie di buste - non autorizzate al volo - e per le quali ricevette un compenso di 7000 dollari. Le 398 buste annullate da Scott sulla luna furono poi rivendute da un commerciante a 1500 dollari l’una, scatenando l'ira della NASA che praticamente espulse i tre astronauti. Recentemente ho incontrato Alfred Worden, pilota del modulo di comando durante Apollo 15 e mia ha riferito di avere avuto un ruolo secondario nella vicenda, ma di averne pagato un prezzo altissimo.

         Houston, 8 dicembre 2010

  

Intorno alla buste della missione Apollo 17, sono girate per anni voci contrastanti sulla provenienza delle stesse e se fossero state firmate prima o dopo il volo. In questa lettera inviata a CollectSpace.com, il  Comandante di Apollo 17 Gene Cernan, chiarisce definitivamente la questione. Non la traduco per evitare di modificare il senso delle sue parole:

"After reading some of the comments in collectSPACE concerning the Apollo XVII crew anniversary covers, the record of these covers needs to be set straight in order to protect my own credibility. Thus I offer you the following history and the intent for which these covers were meant, which you may share with your readers.

The covers in question were given to me a couple weeks prior to our flight by a friend and accepted with no specific intent in mind. Ron Evans and I subsequently agreed to sign most if not all of the covers -- the exact number I don't recall -- prior to the flight. At that time, they had little or no value. The covers were left in the crew quarters along with our personal effects and indeed could have been disposed of in any way our families so desired were we not to return home. 

Although these covers were never considered by either Ron or myself to be "insurance covers" -- and to this day I have never really felt comfortable with those words -- under a loose definition, they could have been assumed to be just that. There was never the intent nor were these covers postmarked at launch. 

At the time, Jack Schmitt chose not to sign the covers either pre or post flight.

Once we returned, I decided to have these covers postmarked on specific milestone days of subsequent anniversaries of our flight to be held as personal memorabilia. I had no definitive plan whatsoever for what I was eventually going to do with these covers. I do not know what Ron did before his death with his covers, but I am certain that his wife, Jan, had some postmarked as well.

As best as I can recall, some months or years before the 10th Anniversary of our flight (which I believe to be the first postmark date), I asked Jack Schmitt to sign them as well to complete the crew signatures. In consideration for him doing so, I returned to him a number of those signed envelopes. What he did with those, I do not know.

Several years ago, I sent to Kim Poor a number of these covers (perhaps as many as 50-75) to make available to collectors as part of other memorabilia he was handling on my behalf.

Last year, two of my Apollo colleagues highly recommended that I meet with David Frohman as someone who could help me inventory and appraise some of my artifacts that I might some day dispose of. These would be artifacts that would not have enough personal meaning to leave to my children and grandchildren. So I did do just that, and David Frohman did, indeed, help me inventory my personal collection, among which were the subject covers. 

However, to set the record straight, these covers weren't just "recently discovered." They have been sitting in my closet for years and offered to collectors by Kim Poor as Anniversary Covers. There never was and is not now an agreement between David Frohman and myself that he be either my exclusive representative or "personal archivist" -- an assumption on his part that is just not true.

His approach to the marketing of these "newly discovered insurance covers" (as he chooses to call them) has created an unfortunate situation where my credibility on this subject has now been challenged. Although nothing in his original Certificate of Authenticity is untrue, I take personal responsibility for the poor wording I was urged to ultimately accept in spite of my personal reservations at the time. Unfortunately, I, without much foresight, or knowledge on the subject, signed the "Apollo 17 Insurance Cover Certificate of Authenticity" without realizing the implications implied in the wording to those in the space collecting community. This has never happened to me before and it won't happen again. 

My only concern now is that the truth be heard and my own personal credibility remains intact. I hope this statement clarifies the true history and intent of these covers".

Sincerely, 

Gene Cernan