https://magazine.uc.edu/editors_picks/recent_features/armstrong/moonrocks.html

  * Skip to main content

  * UC Home
  * Jobs
  * Visit UC
  * Support UC
  * Directories
  * UC Tools
      + Canopy & Blackboard
      + OneStop
      + Student Email
      + UCMail
      + UCFileSpace
      + UC Flex/ESS
      + IT Help
      + UC VPN
      + Concur
      + Success Factors
  * Search term entry Search: [                    ] Go 
    Choose what to search:
      + ( ) Search UC Magazine
      + (*) Search UC Web
      + ( ) Search People
      + close

UC Magazine

UC Magazine

  * CURRENT NEWS
      + Recent UC Headlines
      + National News Clips Archive
  * Issues
      + Creative collisions
  * EDITOR'S PICKS
      + Recent Features
      + UC Rankings
      + Obituaries

Anything to declare?

Trip to moon required Apollo 11 crew to sign U.S. Customs declaration
to enter the country

by Barbara Blum

If you have ever traveled overseas, then returned to the U.S., you
likely filled out a "customs declaration" form on the airplane:

"Are you bringing with you: plants, food, animals, soil, disease
agents, cell cultures or snails? Declare all articles that you have
acquired and are bringing into the United States."

Who would have guessed the regulations would have been enforced so
rigorously in 1969 when three men returned to the U.S. from a rather
long business trip - to the moon and back. After more than 477,000
miles roundtrip, they had to file and sign a "General Declaration"
for the items they acquired on the trip -- specifically, "moon rock
and moon dust samples."

The flight number was typed in as "Apollo 11," and the departure
point was listed as "Moon" with arrival at Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.A.

The Declaration of Health section, asks travelers to list: "Any other
condition on board which may lead to the spread of disease." The
answer was "To be determined."

(First-man-on-the-moon and former UC engineering professor Neil
Armstrong died Aug. 25, 2012, at 82 years of age.)

Editor notes:

Yes, the form really does ask if a person is bringing in snails.

Thanks to UC alumnus Luama Mays, JD '66, for sharing a copy of the
declaration with UC Magazine. Mays was a pilot who befriended
Armstrong while the former astronaut was teaching at UC and Mays was
running an aviation company. Initially Armstrong called him, without
even identifying himself, asking for a ride on Mays old
"bubble-style" helicopter left over from the Korean War. It was
exactly what Armstrong had trained on in preparation for operating
the lunar module. (See entire story.)

* Download the moon manifest pictured above.

RELATED ARTICLES

  * Feature story with 25 photos
  * Wrecks and near wrecks -- Photos and story about Armstrong's fiery
    close calls in the air and mishaps on campus.
  * Memories of goose bumps, getting thrown out of class, more -- UC
    faculty and alumni talk about the Neil Armstrong they knew.
  * Armstrong's private life -- Read thoughts on Armstrong from
    someone who worked closely with him at UC.
  * Armstrong's poem for children -- Armstrong's poem tells children
    where he went on his summer vacation -- to the moon.
  * UC Commencement address -- Read Armstrong's address from 1982.
  * Paper airplanes -- Photos and story about professor Armstrong
    making paper airplanes with the students.

 

Published by University Relations   *   3300 Two Edwards Center   *  
PO Box 210141   *   Cincinnati, OH 45221-0141  *  Contact: UC
Magazine  *  (513) 556-5224

Alerts  Clery and HEOA Notice  Notice of Non-Discrimination 
eAccessibility Concern Privacy Statement Copyright Information (c) 2018
University of Cincinnati
This website offers many PDF files for download, which require Adobe
Reader to view.