BUZZ ALDRIN Orange County OC Gazette
Buzz Aldrin: How’s the weather down there in my previous home?
Amy Hood: It’s great down here!
BA: We were down there recently visiting a famous 97-year-old Irvine Cove pilot—Bruce Del Mar—and we were just amazed at the expansion along the coast. We have fond memories of Emerald Bay and Table Rock. I love the whole lifestyle of Orange County and it was nice to get back there after living there for about 15 years. It was great.
AH: What’s your favorite thing about Orange County?
BA: The very positive outlook of the people, and the gorgeous sceneries of nature.
AH: The space race back in the ‘60s created such an amazing sense of unity in the United States. Is there a way that we can generate that same desire for bold achievement that engenders such a unity, today?
BA: Boy that’s a real burning question. How we create that stimulating inspiration in such a pioneering effort as rocketing people into orbit just less than 50 years ago, when the president said we’re going to send somebody to the moon and bring them back—those are pretty exciting and sudden departures. I think we should contemplate moving beyond that slow moving object of the moon, to things that are just specks of light or beyond. We have to start thinking of the inspiration and excitement involved in those pioneering ventures that may be somewhat akin to Star Trek: Voyager, minus the warp 7 capability and beaming people up and down.
AH: It’s the 41st anniversary of the Lunar Landing. Do you still remember what it felt like lifting off?
BA: It’s difficult to communicate to people who are not in the space business: We were focusing on the job at hand and the responsibilities of doing the best that we possibly could in this once in a lifetime opportunity. It’s kind of hard to grasp for someone who just thinks about it on the spur of the moment; They want to think of it in a more esoteric, philosophical, poetic, or inspirational way, which I might put in the category of daydreaming while you screw up.
AH: Once you guys got into space and had time to sit and think, did the magnitude of it hit you then, or were you still just trying to think about the job at hand?
BA: We contemplated a lot of that for the 6 months before and as it got closer and closer that increased with intensity. But then, you don’t want to get distracted from the issues of the moment. If anything, I found myself thinking, “How am I going to explain this when I’m giving a speech to the joint session of Congress?” Which is a frightening thought.
AH: That’s pretty amazing that you were more afraid of giving a speech than being in outer space.
BA: Not for a fighter pilot who’s shot down enemy airplanes!
AH: It seems like you’re not afraid of anything. Do you have any fears?
BA: Oh yeah [laughs]. A lot of human ones. Not living up to my own standards and expectations and opportunities. Right now I feel I’m kind of trying to respond to the opportunities that I think are out there to make a difference in the space program, the nation, and our world. It’s kind of a big change from a little toe head who played the Wizard of Oz in the 6th grade.
AH: What was the most beautiful thing you saw?
BA: The sites that only 24 human beings have been able to see. The backside of the moon, coming around and seeing earth rise, is classic. But also having the moon—large in the black sky—eclipse the sun was quite dramatic. Not just a small borderline that we see from earth, but a huge cover-up viewed from a non-terrestrial stability point from somewhere in-between. The realization of being between these objects that predominate so much of our ordinary lives and being out there between all three of them (the sun, earth and moon), you have to come to grips with which way is up or down, and is there any?
AH: Was there ever any doubt in your mind that you might not make it home?
BA: We had to face the fact that successfully landing on the moon was probably about a 60% probability. But within that 60%, I think we all believed that whether we landed or not, we would probably get back with a 95% success rate. We landed 6 out of 7 times that we set out to land on the moon and we didn’t lose anybody in space during the Apollo program.
AH: When you guys walked out of the lunar module and onto the moon, did you think you might see some other form of life?
BA: Well we were just kind of hoping that Mike Collins might find out where we were on the surface [laughs]! But other than that, no. There might have been a germ or two that if we brought it back, it might have bothered a lot of people back on earth, but that’s why we were in quarantine. We thought it was an extremely low probability that, even if there were some life forms, they would be threatening to us or to earthlings. But it was a precaution that gave us a little bit of breathing room after we returned, so we didn’t mind that.
AH: When you got back were you surprised at all the attention on this and you from around the world?
BA: We went along with whatever came along, being impressed more and more as things unfolded. To travel around the world and see the reaction of people and the reaction that was recorded on TV was pretty inspiring and hard to really put into total focus.
AH: I heard you have a new iPhone and iPad App out, “Buzz Aldrin’s Portal to Science and Space Exploration.” Give me the hard sell on that.
BA: It’s the best buy you’ve ever come by if you have an interest in what’s “out there” and how to get there. It’s not free. I’m still trying to live on Air Force retirement pay, which does not maintain the standard of living that I cultivated down in Orange County! It’s been doing well and it’s on an iPad now. We’ve updated a few things like posts from my recent trip to the Galapagos, diving with members of Sea-Space Symposium. These are very crucial times for the future of human space flight within the United States and for the continuation of leadership that we’ve established at considerable expense and sacrifice, 40…50 years ago. It’ll be 50 years this coming May that President Kennedy sent us on the way to the moon. I’m expecting to use my App with my Twitter [therealBuzz] to help inform the American people about why the administration is taking the steps that they are, and what may come out of things in the future. Hopefully what will emanate from that is a two-phase program between now and 2019, and onto the 2030s decade that will result in the permanence of humans on the planet Mars. We need all the references to data that can help people understand that. I think that’s what the App is all about.
AH: What’s one word that best describes you?
BA: Futurist. I guess since being Second Lieutenant in Korea I’ve been identified with the bigger picture. Not just looking at operating one aircraft as a member of a flight that flies together in twos or fours, but seeing where that fit into the bigger picture of squadron group wing, total Air Force picture, total war effort during the Korean War.
AH: What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever gotten?
BA: Take advantage of everything that comes along and have a positive, expansive outlook.
AH: You’ve said, “I envision an opportunity for everyone here, or at least our children, to visit space personally.” Do you still see space as our modern day “Manifest Destiny?”
BA: Well I sure hope so. Ever since crawling down from the trees, I think creatures have looked up and marveled at what’s out there, asking questions of great wonder that we are beginning to find the answers to. Like birds flying - we’ve somewhat caught up with that and their eyesight of looking down and spying rabbits; We’ve developed rockets, and spacecraft, and telescopes that have reached way out there that have been deployed by orbital spacecraft. So we’ve really uncovered quite a bit about what’s out there. My children’s book “Look to the Stars” describes the constant contributions that have been made throughout the ages to our understanding of where we are in the universe and how we can begin to move outward to other objects. I also have two projects, one of which is called “Education Ambassadors,” and the other, “Space Prizes” or a lottery for space experiences. The improving of our STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) education is the purpose of StarBuzz Education Ambassadors. The purpose of StarBuzz Space Prizes is to afford opportunities for experiences on the fringe of getting towards space for more and more people at nominal investment opportunities.
AH: What was the most terrifying moment while you guys were up there?
BA: I don’t think there was one. There could have been, and the classic worst thing that anyone could think of is running into the tower on lift off, which would rip apart the hydrogen/oxygen and create a big ball of fire.
AH: Were you ever worried when you were trying to land the lunar module and Neil had to manually take over to find a safe place to land?
BA: Well it was a planned manual guidance with great aid from the computer all the way, but there was a redirecting from wherever the computer thought it was and from what it thought it was going to do, to what our better judgement said we ought to do. As a result we extended the time and ran lower on fuel. So that gets to be a time critical situation (laughs) where you might have to do something drastic… like turn around and head back home!
AH: Do you keep in touch with Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins? You guys had to have created a bond that was different than any other in your life because of the circumstances.
BA: That is certainly true and I wish it were stronger amongst the 24 human beings who came along at the time to be given that opportunity to serve their country and experience something that no one’s experienced before. There ought to be some closer bonding together and sharing. I find that the bond between those 18 living of the 24, compared with about the same number that was in our fighter squadron over 50 years ago in Germany, we had much more coherence in that fighter squadron (getting together once a year) than exists among the competitiveness, the human ego’s aggressiveness, and obvious human jealousies that exist. Not everyone gets top billing and that’s quite understandable and it should be. But apparently where there are just few opportunities like that, both the public and others tend to accentuate the differences rather than the similarities between people. And I think that’s kind of regrettable.
AH: What was harder, training for Apollo 11 or Dancing with the Stars?
BA: Well we had a career, and years broken down into six months specific, and then increasingly aware training that was spaced throughout the day, without real periods of testing measurement and performance except when the time came to lift off and do the job. Now that’s not the case with three or four hour sessions of dancing once a week trying to get 90 seconds of a choreographed routine stuck in your mind and appendages so that they look very natural. (laughs)
AH: You’re probably one of the greatest heroes of all time. So many people look up to you. Who was your hero growing up?
BA: I grew up in an aviation family and my parents associated with a number of people of renown in that business. Going into teenage years, a contemporary of my father carried out the bombing raid on Tokyo -Jimmy Doolittle – and he has always been quite a role model. Whether one wants to be an aggressive boxer or an extrovert or a seasoned technical manager, or a cool pilot flying around the pylons in risky airplanes – whether you want to do that or not, at least you’re impressed by someone who has done it that you have some connection with.
AH: Three things you couldn’t live without:
BA: A toothbrush, a phone, and a cup of coffee.
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Buzz Aldrin is a highly decorated military veteran who has explored everything from 13,200 feet below the sea (the wreckage of the Titanic) to 250,000 miles into space (the surface of the moon and beyond); He’s rapped with Snoop Dogg, yelled at the moon with Tina Fey on 30 Rock, and done the cha-cha on Dancing with the Stars; He is an inventor, an adventurer, and a scholar; But above all, Aldrin is a dreamer. Where others see boundaries and impossibilities, he sees the future. Where most fear because they don’t understand, he sees an opportunity to learn. If he can dream it, he will do it.
{ INTERVIEW BY AMY HOOD }
Celebrating The 41st Anniversary Of The Lunar Landing With The Man Who Made It Possible.
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