Being an astronaut has always been a risky occupation, but there was a lot more that could go wrong back in the days that they rode rockets into space. It was dangerous enough for life insurance providers deny astronauts coverage – which meant that NASA had to find another way to see that family members and dependents would be financially secure in the event that a mission went wrong.
The solution was to produce “Insurance Covers”, which were essentially elaborately designed envelopes that were signed by every member of the rocket crew – a number were given to each crew member on the understanding that the already significant value would substantially increase in the event that they didn’t make it back.
The insurance covers were produced from Apollo 11 to Apollo 16 – their insurance value was never put to the test… but I bet they fetch a handsome sum at auction now.
