Incredible form from 1969 shows Neil Armstrong had to go through customs after moon landing

The Apollo 11 astronauts were given a hero’s welcome after returning from the moon, but they had to do something very mundane first.

It was one of the most significant moments in human history, but an incredible form signed by the first men to walk the moon shows they had to go through customs just like your average Aussie traveller returning from a week in Bali.

However, instead of declaring they’d stuffed one too many bottles of discount rum in their suitcase, the Apollo 11 astronauts — Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins — said they’d brought back moon rocks, moon dust and other lunar samples.

That’s according to the customs form they signed in Hawaii upon their return to Earth on July 24, 1969 — which is being shared on social media as the world gears up to celebrate 50 years since the moon landing.

Apollo 11 U.S. Customs form after first moon landing by astronauts, 50 years ago: pic.twitter.com/ARYxgg07pk

— Michael Beschloss (@BeschlossDC) July 16, 2019

Elsewhere on the form, they detailed their flight route with Cape Kennedy (now Cape Canaveral) in Florida as the starting point with a stopover on the moon.

Interestingly, their disease exposure status was listed on the customs form as “to be determined” — even though nobody fell ill on the historic journey.

In an interview with SPACE.com, NASA spokesman John Yembrick said it took two more days for the astronauts to return to Hawaii on July 26, where they were welcomed with a July 27 ceremony at Pearl Harbor.

He said NASA transported them to Houston, quarantine trailer and all, and they emerged from isolation three weeks later.

It took 400,000 people to put Apollo 11’s astronauts on the moon a half-century ago.

That massive workforce stretched across the U.S. and included engineers, scientists, mechanics, technicians, pilots, divers, seamstresses, secretaries and more who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to achieve those first lunar footsteps.

Some of them will be taking part in festivities this week to mark the 50th anniversary.

One of them is navy frogman Clancy Hatleberg — who was the first to welcome Apollo 11’s moonmen back to Earth.

The Telegraph newspaper that was published on Monday, July 21, 1969, tells Brisbane residents details about the Moon landing.

His mission on July 24, 1969, was to decontaminate Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins and their command module, Columbia, immediately after splashdown in the Pacific.

The astronauts needed to be quarantined. Otherwise, who knows what moon germs might escape.

It may seem silly now, but the possibility of lunar bugs was “a really serious concern” back then, according to Mr Hatleberg, who was 25 at the time and fresh from an underwater demolition team rotation in Vietnam.

Mr Hatleberg was one of four frogmen on the recovery team who jumped into the ocean from a helicopter. The others secured the capsule, then moved upwind in a raft. That’s when Mr Hatleberg moved in, carrying disinfectant.

Covered in a protective garment, Mr Hatleberg momentarily opened Columbia’s hatch to toss in a bag with three of the outfits.

The mission is regarded as one of the most important moments in human history. Picture: NASA via AP

Once the astronauts had the grey garments on, they emerged from the capsule one by one onto a waiting raft. The first spaceman out offered his hand to shake.

Mr Hatleberg paused — shaking hands was not part of the NASA protocol he’d practised. He told AP in an interview he recalled thinking, “I was the last person who could screw the whole thing up.” Mr Hatleberg shook hands anyway.

Once the astronauts were wiped down by Mr Hatleberg with a potent bleach solution, they were lifted into a helicopter and flown to the USS Hornet, where their quarantine mobile home awaited them along with President Richard Nixon.

Mr Hatleberg scoured Columbia before it too was transported to the aircraft carrier. He cleaned the raft and the flotation collar that had been around the spacecraft, then punctured them and watched them sink with his own decontaminated garment, any moon bugs swallowed by the sea.

The crew of the Apollo 11, from left, Neil Armstrong, commander; Michael Collins, module pilot; Edwin E. "Buzz" Aldrin, lunar module pilot. Picture: NASA via AP

“There were so many other people whose jobs were more important than mine,” Mr Hatleberg said.

Looking back, he’s still in awe at what the Apollo astronauts accomplished.

“They were the ones who risked their lives to take that giant leap for all mankind. They’re the heroes and they always will be — in my heart.”

Mr Hatleberg — who at 75 is working again as an engineer in Laurel, Maryland — said he always thought Mr Aldrin was the first one he helped from the capsule.

That is until a year or so ago, he said, when a Hornet curator pulled out old footage and zoomed in on the name tag.

It read Armstrong.

Fifty years after humanity first set foot on it, the moon is set to treat Earthlings to a partial lunar eclipse tomorrow.

Starting 6.01am (AEST) tomorrow a section of the moon’s right-hand side will disappear from view.