Speaker 1: Buzz, an audio drama for iHeart Podcasts starring John Lithgow
Speaker 1: and Jeffrey Errand as buzz Aldren. This series is based
Speaker 1: on real events, However, certain characters, names, incidents, locations, and
Speaker 1: dialogue have been fictionalized for dramatic purposes.
Speaker 2: Chapter nine, Sir Bernard's the Russian crafts altitude is dropping rapidly.
Speaker 3: Bass it here.
Speaker 4: At those speeds, She's really coming down much too fast?
Speaker 5: This is it?
Speaker 6: What are you seeing, Sir Bernard?
Speaker 4: The Russian craft's landing is imminent and at a velocity
Speaker 4: which firmly calls into question whether a soft landing is
Speaker 4: indeed in her flight plan.
Speaker 6: Are we talking a hard landing or an impact?
Speaker 4: Well, scarcely much difference between them two at this velocity.
Speaker 5: Houston.
Speaker 6: Time to impact and location.
Speaker 4: Time is seconds. Location is unclear, as are the Russians intentions?
Speaker 6: Impact imminent? Mike, have you gotten a visual on Eagle
Speaker 6: negative capcom Tell them to be on the lookout.
Speaker 7: On the lookout, just tell them tranquility, This is Houston,
Speaker 7: be advised.
Speaker 8: We RIGI Houston, go ahead.
Speaker 5: We are receiving reports that the Russians.
Speaker 7: Impact is in head over.
Speaker 2: Any idea of their location over negative, Are you ordering
Speaker 2: us to evacuate?
Speaker 4: Over?
Speaker 7: Tell them no, negative, Tranquility precede as planned. Just be aware. Over.
Speaker 5: That's about as comforting as a mesh life boat.
Speaker 4: In five seconds to.
Speaker 6: The impact, putting you on speaker.
Speaker 4: Five four three two one. The Russian craft is crashed.
Speaker 7: Tranquility. This is used the Russian vessels crashed into the
Speaker 7: lunar surface. Report your status.
Speaker 8: Over repeating, Neil and Buzz, report your status. Tranquility Base,
Speaker 8: report your status. Are you all right?
Speaker 7: The Russians could have made a direct hit on Tranquility Base.
Speaker 6: Tranquility, this is Mission Control. Please report your status. Jodrell Bank,
Speaker 6: this is Houston. Do you have a location on the
Speaker 6: crash of the Russian spacecraft? Has it impacted? Neil and
Speaker 6: Buzz at Tranquility Base.
Speaker 4: I'm afraid I have no more information than you.
Speaker 2: Two, Gene. If the Russians purposely targeted Tranquility, it would
Speaker 2: be an act of war.
Speaker 6: Contact the White House, the Pentagon, and the CIA.
Speaker 9: Mission Control reading us.
Speaker 6: We read you, Tranquility.
Speaker 5: What is your status unchanged?
Speaker 7: Housdon, You're all right?
Speaker 5: Affirmative? Did you have visual contact with the Russian craft.
Speaker 3: Prior to the crash the negative Houston, no visual when
Speaker 3: did they hit.
Speaker 9: Ago?
Speaker 10: I never did find out where the Russians crashed, and
Speaker 10: if there were cosmonauts on board, well, we were cold
Speaker 10: warriors and I considered them the enemy. Then today, if
Speaker 10: their bodies are still up there, I think of them
Speaker 10: as fellow explorers whose deaths could have been my own.
Speaker 10: I'm Buzz Aldron, and this is the story you think
Speaker 10: you know, but you don't.
Speaker 9: Ignition frequence five six five four are now.
Speaker 5: With the quality Babe here the angle one tall tramp
Speaker 5: for man one bamplate.
Speaker 10: You're listening to Buzz. This is the story of my
Speaker 10: greatest achievement. Chapter nine. After flying a quarter of a
Speaker 10: million miles, Neil and I spent less than three hours
Speaker 10: as lunar tour wrists. We set up some scientific experiments
Speaker 10: that seemed important at the time, and then we did
Speaker 10: what was essential for all time, planting our flag. We
Speaker 10: came in peace on behalf of mankind. But even now
Speaker 10: my heart beats faster because it gave America the wind
Speaker 10: we desperately needed. Then we went back into the lunar
Speaker 10: module for what I assumed would be a routine trip home.
Speaker 10: Routine doesn't begin to describe it.
Speaker 7: Houston.
Speaker 3: We're three minutes to lift off from lunar's surface. Can
Speaker 3: you confirm our scent angles pitch one thirty four and
Speaker 3: yaw minus thirty two over Roger budd.
Speaker 5: A scent angles verified. Eagle activate breaker to engage a
Speaker 5: scent engine. Repeat Eagle, confirm a sent engine engagement.
Speaker 3: Negative engine engagement. What's the ascent engine activation switch is missing?
Speaker 10: Without the activation switch, we couldn't engage the ascent engine,
Speaker 10: and without the ascent engine, we couldn't leave the moon.
Speaker 5: Explain missing.
Speaker 3: Gone, Houston, as in not here. One of us must
Speaker 3: have broken it off when we came back into the
Speaker 3: lunar module.
Speaker 5: Was in me.
Speaker 7: I never made contact with the console.
Speaker 10: Jesus. The lunar module was the epitome of a place
Speaker 10: for everything and everything in its place. Trouble was, everything
Speaker 10: didn't include spare parts and everything. We didn't need to
Speaker 10: lift off the Moon. We'd already tossed out.
Speaker 1: Of the hatch.
Speaker 7: Houston.
Speaker 3: Can you verify that the ascent engines breaker is open
Speaker 3: or closed?
Speaker 5: We're showing it open. Agleins are still armed. Can you
Speaker 5: manufacture a replacement for the break or switch?
Speaker 10: Apollo eleven's three hundred million dollar investment, and two humans
Speaker 10: were in jeopardy because of a broken switch that cost
Speaker 10: a buck and a half. Sir, that there was another
Speaker 10: problem brewing.
Speaker 2: You've got a fuel line blockage and the psis continue
Speaker 2: in a client.
Speaker 10: Our lunar module had become a bomb with the fuse
Speaker 10: already lit.
Speaker 6: Capcom put Tranquility on a confidential status.
Speaker 7: Standby. Tranquility will be back to you shortly.
Speaker 10: Mission control obviously believed that space travel, like marriage, stands
Speaker 10: a better chance of success if information is dispersed on
Speaker 10: a need to know basis.
Speaker 6: What's the cause of the blockage?
Speaker 2: Heres? We can tell it's ice at minus one hundred
Speaker 2: and twenty centigrade. The fuel is frozen in the lines.
Speaker 6: How fast does the PSI rise?
Speaker 2: Two per second? The fuel in the ox hanceil burst
Speaker 2: at three eights all over, So you're saying three minutes,
Speaker 2: that's all we've got.
Speaker 5: Drank qu This is Houston. We have an indication that
Speaker 5: we've frozen up the descent fuel helium heat exchanger. There's
Speaker 5: fuel trapped in the line and the PSI.
Speaker 7: Is increasing over Did he say frozen? That's what it
Speaker 7: sounded like.
Speaker 11: To me, Roger Houston, I understand standby while we coordinate.
Speaker 10: Over, I had been feeling sorry for Mike Collins orbiting
Speaker 10: the moon but never setting foot on it. But at
Speaker 10: least he wasn't dealing with broken switches and clogged fuel lines.
Speaker 10: He'd make it home.
Speaker 6: Burpot, let's burp.
Speaker 5: It repeat, please, Houston.
Speaker 6: Burp the fuel lines to dislodge the blockage, like when
Speaker 6: you burp to clear gas.
Speaker 5: I like to jug a two dollars picture of lone
Speaker 5: Star Elroy.
Speaker 6: You'll have to purge the lines invent the valves simultaneously.
Speaker 6: Over for Roger, can you tell us.
Speaker 5: What sort of contingency we're looking at? If we can't clear.
Speaker 7: The blockage, we can't give you vectors to align the
Speaker 7: abort guidance system. Even if you could get off the
Speaker 7: surface in time, you won't have a rendezvous trajectory for Columbia.
Speaker 7: Your ox and fuel pressures are building up, and you
Speaker 7: need to purge and vent now. There are no other options.
Speaker 7: Roger that, Houston. I'll purge the lines.
Speaker 3: I'll vent the valves.
Speaker 10: With the fuel line pressure still rising and possibly only
Speaker 10: minutes to live. Neil and I started the purge and
Speaker 10: vent procedure.
Speaker 7: Any change in psi Houston, Ox going now, Fuel going now, Tranquility, Houston.
Speaker 7: The pressure is not going down on our end. It's
Speaker 7: increasing rapidly. Over standing by for.
Speaker 5: Go on ags alignment and emergency aboard over.
Speaker 7: You don't have time. Buzz, please vent fuel and ox again.
Speaker 7: It's building back up over Houston.
Speaker 5: We showed thirty psi in the fuel and thirty in
Speaker 5: the oxidizer.
Speaker 9: EGO.
Speaker 7: We're reading psi much higher than that.
Speaker 10: The fuel line pressure was mounting. If we couldn't stop it,
Speaker 10: we'd have to evacuate the lunar module. But that would
Speaker 10: mean a slow death compared to one that was quick
Speaker 10: and painless.
Speaker 6: Eagles gauges are failing. The helium exchanger must be a
Speaker 6: block of ice by now. They need to lean on
Speaker 6: that vent switch as hard as they can.
Speaker 7: Tranquility. The pressure we're looking at it critical. Take the
Speaker 7: master vent switch and hold it open. Don't let it
Speaker 7: go over.
Speaker 5: We're holding it open.
Speaker 2: Capcom pressure still rising. Tell Eagle to keep vent.
Speaker 7: Eagle, you need to ride that vent switch.
Speaker 5: I can't ride it any harder.
Speaker 9: Flight.
Speaker 2: It looks like looks like the precious holding.
Speaker 6: Now there's a slight declined Eagle.
Speaker 7: We're seeing a decline in fuel anox.
Speaker 5: Pressure Roger that Houston pressure is twenty psi on the
Speaker 5: fuel side and twenty two in the OX now down
Speaker 5: to seventeen.
Speaker 6: And twenty flight.
Speaker 7: I think we're in business.
Speaker 6: Tranquility. We are looking good. Fuel line obstruction seems to
Speaker 6: be dislodging over.
Speaker 7: Music to my ears, Houston, can I breathe now?
Speaker 5: Not yet, bus, We still need an ascend engine switch.
Speaker 3: The Oh, that's why you're in charge flight. You think
Speaker 3: of everything.
Speaker 10: The trouble with you, buzz. People told me since I
Speaker 10: was a kid is that you always have to have
Speaker 10: the last word, But the last word almost never is.
Speaker 10: We think there'll always be another chance to say I'm
Speaker 10: sorry forgive me goodbye. But if we didn't fix that
Speaker 10: switch time and oxygen would run out, mission control would
Speaker 10: patch us through to our families, and those words really
Speaker 10: would be our last. Would I remember to thank Joan
Speaker 10: for being a good wife even though I was a
Speaker 10: lousy husband. I thought of the night they made the
Speaker 10: crew selections for Paulo eleven, Joan came home late from
Speaker 10: her theater group. I was in my den, knocking back
Speaker 10: self pity on the rocks.
Speaker 3: Joni, Hey, and I saved my first drink to have
Speaker 3: with you. Oh not just now, honey, I'll freshen mind.
Speaker 10: You can catch up.
Speaker 12: I'm sorry, buzz for what I heard. They picked Neil
Speaker 12: to be commander.
Speaker 3: Rah, it's all over town already.
Speaker 6: Huh.
Speaker 12: Oh, this is Houston. That's the decision final, Buzz. Yeah,
Speaker 12: is the decision final?
Speaker 3: There, it is my doctoral thesis, Orbital rendezvous Procedures. Catchy title.
Speaker 3: Huh someone come loud eh, got me my five beta
Speaker 3: kappa key.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 3: Gyroscopes use nested gimbals and a flywheel that allow a
Speaker 3: craft to measure its orientation in three D space, the
Speaker 3: gyroscope maintaining a fixed position because of its angular momentum.
Speaker 12: They must know you're the best pilot.
Speaker 3: They are, And you've got a three gimbal system, one
Speaker 3: rotating around the X, Y and Z ax is. The
Speaker 3: rings can line up and get stuck because of the
Speaker 3: conservation of angular momentum. Gimbal lock disaster in the making,
Speaker 3: because you lose direction in one of the axes and
Speaker 3: have to rely on manual navigation.
Speaker 12: Honey, honey, listen to me. Neil may be the commander.
Speaker 12: But they're going to come to rely on you. What
Speaker 12: for I don't know, but trust me they will. If
Speaker 12: there's a crisis, you'll come through, maybe save your life.
Speaker 12: Annals and Mikes. That's when they realize they've got the
Speaker 12: right man on this mission.
Speaker 6: Sure you won't have that drink.
Speaker 7: Quar, Mike be advised. We have an update for you
Speaker 7: on the location of the lunar module. We estimate Neil
Speaker 7: and Buzz are about four miles down range. Coordinates are
Speaker 7: plus zero point seven nine niner correction for latitude plus
Speaker 7: one to one point seven to three zero longitude over Roger, that.
Speaker 5: Top ex plenty to coordinates, but I still can't see them.
Speaker 7: Roger, Columbia, confirm when you a visual.
Speaker 6: Teagle. What's the status on the ascent engine switch.
Speaker 3: We've gone through about ten replacements, Houston. Nothing that'll remain
Speaker 3: in position to give me the necessary leverage. Hold on
Speaker 3: a second, Houston. I'm using a pen, a felt tipped pen.
Speaker 3: It might be the right size for it's in the console.
Speaker 3: It's giving me the necessary resistance to stay in position.
Speaker 3: It's fully engaged in the switch.
Speaker 7: Houston.
Speaker 9: We have one chance at this Buzz.
Speaker 5: I know tranquility. For your information, the circuitry looks real
Speaker 5: fine on that of sent engine arm circuit breaker. We
Speaker 5: a go for lunar lift off.
Speaker 3: I'm ready if you are.
Speaker 7: Let's talk with Colombia and go home, Roger.
Speaker 3: Roger Houston master alarm on nine eight seven six engine
Speaker 3: arm ascent proceed. Eagle has left the lunar's surface. He
Speaker 3: advised of the pitch over very smooth, very quiet ride, Roderick.
Speaker 11: We've left behind a replica of our Apollo eleven patch
Speaker 11: and the olive branch.
Speaker 5: Roger, we copy.
Speaker 3: Beautiful.
Speaker 10: I can say, without fear of contradiction, that never before
Speaker 10: in human history did two men owe their lives to
Speaker 10: burket fuel lines in a felt tipped.
Speaker 5: Pen used in Colombia. I'm gonna solid radar lock on
Speaker 5: Eagle four hundred.
Speaker 7: And eighty feet per second, attempting to require visual Roger, Columbia, Eagle,
Speaker 7: can you see Columbia negative?
Speaker 5: Houston. We can't see him yet, Eagle, Columbia.
Speaker 9: I'm coming to activate.
Speaker 5: A navigation leader. There's still no visual on Columbia.
Speaker 10: There they are, I see them.
Speaker 7: Visual contact with Eagle, Roger, Columbia Eagle, you are Gopher, docking.
Speaker 10: That's when I knew we were going to make it.
Speaker 10: After all, orbital rendezvous procedures were my specialty. I'd rehearsed
Speaker 10: them to the point where they were as natural as
Speaker 10: parking my court Vette until.
Speaker 11: Columbia, Columbia, Houston, you're very weak, say again, Eagle, do
Speaker 11: you read.
Speaker 5: We've got a problem? Used in our range is off
Speaker 5: by thirty six minutes. I'm showing a bit of out
Speaker 5: a plain velocity on my cross pointers.
Speaker 4: Mike, We've got a guidance system failure.
Speaker 6: Roger, that Buzz gyroscopes are in.
Speaker 3: Gimbal luck, Columbia and Eagle are drifting.
Speaker 7: Apart, Kison, where are we on fuel?
Speaker 5: Dangerously low?
Speaker 2: Eagle.
Speaker 5: If your darking procedure failed, you won't have enough fuel
Speaker 5: for another try.
Speaker 9: Buzz, You're gonna have to duck with Colombia without the
Speaker 9: benefit of gyros. This will be a manual procedure, and
Speaker 9: it's in your hands.
Speaker 5: You can do it.
Speaker 8: Pal.
Speaker 10: We weren't pals and never would be, but lunar modules
Speaker 10: make strange bedfellows. He could have called me, honey, and
Speaker 10: with our lives on the line, I wasn't gonna rubble.
Speaker 1: Buzz starring John Lithgow and Jeffrey Errand is created by
Speaker 1: Stephen Kronisch and directed by John Scott Dryden. Chapter nine
Speaker 1: is written by Stephen Kronish. Original music is by Sasha Putnam,
Speaker 1: editing and sound design by Elouise Whitmore. The producer is
Speaker 1: Emma Hearn. The executive producers are Jeremy Fox, John Scott Dryden,
Speaker 1: Stephen Cronish, Howard Stringer and Jason English. Buzz is a
Speaker 1: production of Thoroughbred Studios, gold Hawk Productions, and iHeart Podcasts.