Returning from the moon

Returning from the moon

from Gulliver

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HERE'S A nice story for business travellers frustrated by paperwork: when the Apollo 11 astronauts returned from the moon, they filled out a customs form and declared their cargo. Here it is, via Space.com and America's National Aeronautics and Space Administration:

I promise you this is real. But the story is more complicated than it might appear. Mssrs Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins did not actually have to fill out this form—they did so on a lark, presumably knowing it would amuse future travellers like ourselves. Mission accomplished, no?
My favourite bit of this is the line asking whether there was "any condition on board which may lead to the spread of disease", and someone has typed "TO BE DETERMINED". It seems very science-fiction-esque, but this was actually a real concern. NASA has an expert who studies the health effects of moon dust, and the Apollo 11 astronauts were quarantined upon their return from the moon. Here's Space.com's Tariq Malik:

Apollo 11 splashed down 920 miles (1,480 km) southwest of Hawaii and 13 miles (21 km) from the USS Hornet, a Navy ship sent to recover the crew. It took a two more days for the astronauts to actually return to Hawaii on July 26, where they were welcomed with a July 27 ceremony at Pearl Harbor.
The catch? The astronauts were trapped inside a NASA trailer as part of a quarantine effort just in case they brought back any germs or disease from the moon. They even wore special biological containment suits when they walked out on the deck of the USS Hornet after being retrieved.
NASA transported them to Houston, quarantine trailer and all, and they emerged from isolation three weeks later. 

The truth, alas, is less fun than the joke. Then again, if you were going to spend three weeks cooped up in an isolation trailer, you might need a laugh, too.