Did you know that there are actually people who believe Buzz Aldrin didn't really walk on the moon and the United States government faked the entire moon landing?
Buzz Aldrin, second man on moon, sets sights on Mars mission The Australian
October 31, 2015
Troy Bramston
Senior Writer and Columnist
Sydney
Buzz Aldrin in an official NASA portrait from the time of the Apollo 11 mission. Source: News Corp Australia
When Buzz Aldrin arrived in Australia in October 1969 on a world tour with fellow Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins, the three intrepid space explorers agreed on one thing: the girls in Perth had the shortest miniskirts they had seen.
Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon, is returning to Australia next month for several live interactive shows to recount his historic voyage to the moon and advocate his latest mission: colonising Mars.
“I hope I can inspire younger generations with a very sound plan for going to Mars, for their education and for their sense of pride and achievement, with the whole world working together for what may be the greatest achievement of human travel that one could ever conceive,” Aldrin tells Inquirer in an interview.
The 85-year-old wants to recapture that sense of pioneering spirit of adventure, scientific discovery and global excitement that sent him and his fellow crew members blasting 385,000km into space to walk on the surface of the moon, then return safely to Earth in July 1969.
He pays tribute to US president John F. Kennedy, who pledged — amid a Cold War space race with the Soviet Union — to land a man on the moon.
In September 1962, Kennedy described it as “the most hazardous and dangerous adventure on which man has ever embarked”. At that time the technology needed for such a feat had not yet been invented.
“We responded to the challenge of our president to reach the moon but nobody’s been back there since those missions,” Aldrin says. “Now we are talking about how we can get to Mars with a much smaller budget than we used to get to the moon.
“But how can we realistically think that America can be a great leader again if we are not able to pay for it?”
Buzz Aldrin will visit Australia next month for several live interactive shows to advocate his latest mission: colonising Mars. Read more about An Evening with Buzz Aldrin here.
That 1969 world tour was a celebration of scientific achievement, human courage and imagination, and political leadership that for one brief moment seemed to unite humankind in a common endeavour. The Australian reported that on the astronauts’ arrival in Sydney, where they were greeted by a crowd of 3000 people, prime minister John Gorton said their “achievements and exploits will last for all time”.
Seeing the Earth from space and then orbiting or landing on the moon have been described by several astronauts as emotionally charged, often deeply religious, experiences. Aldrin — having studied in depth the rotation of the Earth, sun and moon — says he did not share these feelings. But he nevertheless wanted to make a symbolic gesture to mark the occasion.
“I was quite aware of the major significance of what we were attempting to do,” he says. “I understood the spatial aspects of departing a planet and heading for its moon. So I asked the preacher at my church, the Presbyterian Church, for permission to serve myself communion on the surface of the moon.
“I was cautioned not to say anything about that because it might embarrass NASA. So it was not until many years later that it was made public.”
Aldrin describes the incredible sight as a tiny vessel hurtled through the vast expanse of the galaxy at astonishing speed towards the moon.
“There was a very spectacular view when the moon, now much larger that the sun, passed in front of the sun and became an eclipse of the sun,” he says.
“With the aurora of the rays of the sun much smaller than the diameter of the moon, you could see the rays of the sun coming out from around this black circle that was the moon. When you are in orbit around the moon, you know you will lose contact with the Earth on the back side and then you will regain contact.
“You see an Earthrise and know that is going to happen. I was conscious of these dimensional aspects and I guess that’s why I would say that maybe I didn’t have, good or bad, the same reason to have such a surprising view of being between the Earth and the moon.”
Colonel Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin Jr says fortune, perhaps more than anything else, was behind his selection for the Apollo 11 crew. “When I was first selected as an astronaut, I knew there were these opportunities off into the future, but it somehow didn’t just quite feel real,” he says.
After graduating from West Point military academy with a degree in science in 1951, he joined the US Air Force and flew 66 combat missions in Korea. In 1963, Aldrin completed a doctoral thesis in astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology titled “Guidance for manned orbital rendezvous”. In October that year he was selected by NASA to begin training as an astronaut.
“It was my doctoral thesis at MIT that was instrumental in my getting selected as an astronaut,” Aldrin says. “My thesis was on man’s orbital rendezvous. The methods of doing that were essentially adopted, with some modifications, to be the way that rendezvous could be done in the Gemini program.”
In November 1966, Aldrin was a part of the last Gemini mission into space alongside commander Jim Lovell. This included a five-hour space walk that set a record.
A few years later, he was selected for Apollo 11. Armstrong (who died in August 2012) and Collins also had participated previously in Gemini missions.
Aldrin has great respect for the more demure Armstrong, who was mission commander in July 1969, and Collins, and acknowledges the unique bond they shared with each other.
“Neil and I worked very closely as we were teamed together on the back-up crew for the first Apollo (
mission that went to the moon (in 1968). Mike Collins was originally scheduled to be on that flight but he had to schedule a back operation because of pinched nerves, so he wasn’t on that crew. But Neil and I really wanted him to join us on the crew of Apollo 11.”
Aldrin says he can’t help but feel destiny also may have played some part in his selection as an astronaut who walked on the moon. “I marvel very much that my mother was born the year that the Wright brothers flew in 1903 and her maiden name was Moon (Marian Moon),” he says.
“My father (Edwin Aldrin Sr) was an early aviator who knew pilots who flew fighter planes around the world. He knew Orville Wright and Charles Lindbergh and many others.”
It is not every day that you get to interview an astronaut. Not surprisingly, my nine-year-old-daughter and seven-year-old son had many questions. For example, was he scared about “riding a fireball” — as Aldrin has described it — into space?
“My answer to that is fighter pilots don’t get scared unless there is an enemy behind us or somebody shooting at us,” he says.
“A rocket lifting off from the Earth is not the same, but you become especially alert and aware to detect anything going wrong. We had trained for it. I was less concerned about landing on the moon because we don’t need power to do that, but you certainly do when you are taking off.”
Aldrin piloted Eagle, the lunar module that landed on the moon. While Collins orbited in the command module, Columbia, Armstrong and Aldrin performed their historic moonwalk.
As the world watched the grainy black-and-white television feed beamed from Parkes in western NSW, Armstrong made his famous statement, “That’s one small step …”
Armstrong was the first man to walk on the moon. About 15 minutes later, after Aldrin climbed down the ladder, he was able to claim another first. Adjusting to his one-sixth gravity environment, he took the opportunity to pee in his suit. He describes it as a symptom of nervousness.
He surveyed the silvery-grey dust, the craters all around and the crystal clear curving blue horizon a half-mile away. “Beautiful view!” Aldrin said. “Isn’t that something!” replied Armstrong. “Magnificent sight out here.” Then, Aldrin said: “Magnificent desolation.”
Aldrin says it was easier to walk on the moon than they had thought. He must have been asked a million times how it felt to tread on the lunar service. He concedes that he still doesn’t have a satisfactory answer. In many ways, it is impossible to put into words. “I was an engineer, not a poet,” he said later.
Since the 1960s, 24 men have been to the moon and 12 men walked on its surface. Aldrin wants to get the surviving moon veterans together. “I’ve not been very successful because they are very competitive people. There’s not quite the same togetherness as a group as there is with a crew on a mission,” he says.
“What does a man do for an encore after walking on the moon?” Aldrin asked in his terrific book, Magnificent Desolation (2009). The moon landing changed his life forever. But it was not all positive.
There was little time to process the magnitude of the experience. A 45-day world tour beckoned. The media intrusion became almost unbearable.
Aldrin quit NASA in 1971, aged just 42, having logged almost 290 hours in space. Before long he was gripped by an “inner turmoil” that lasted decades. He drank too much and became depressed; his marriages fractured. His mother committed suicide, which Aldrin says was in part linked to his fame. There have been other tragedies. He has been frank about this in several memoirs.
Aldrin does not believe we should return to the moon. His sights are set on a US-led permanent human presence on Mars by 2035. However, the moon could be a launching pad for Mars. He sets out a detailed plan in his book, Mission to Mars (2013). It is a vision he is articulating to anyone who will listen.
NASA recently announced a plan for colonising Mars by the 2030s. However, Aldrin doubts there is the necessary political commitment. “We need to be much more unselfish and futuristic for the benefit of the people, not for the benefit of the politicians,” he says.
The 50th anniversary of the moon landing — July 20, 2019 — could provide the impetus to get serious about mounting a mission to Mars.
“This could and should be a period of special reflection backward and forward, and would be a very appropriate occasion to make a commitment again for America to lead international moves within two decades to land on Mars,” Aldrin says.
Live on Stage Australia is bringing Aldrin to Sydney and Melbourne next month for two Mission to Mars shows. But he is already planning his next visit. He has diving off Queensland’s Lizard Island and seeing Uluru on his to-do list. “One of these days I will not only get to Lizard Island but to Ayers Rock,” he says.
Living in the shadow of the moon has not always been easy. But Aldrin is energised by the next frontier of space travel: the Red Planet. He shows no sign of slowing down. He appears regularly on TV, endorses products and tweets almost daily to 900,000 followers.
“I refuse to fade away,” Aldrin says. “Knowing that I will die sometime puts a time limit on my ability to serve my country, which has always been the driving force for my education, my brain power, my creativity.
“I am very proud to have been able to have had a family and a life that spans flying combat aircraft to landing on the moon and now planning the foundation for occupying Mars.”
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/columnists/buzz-aldrin-second-man-on-moon-sets-sights-on-mars-mission/story-fnbcok0h-1227588729890
