Speaker 1: Buzz an audio drama for iHeart Podcasts starring John Lithgow
Speaker 1: and Jeffrey Arran as buzz Aldron. 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 five, There is the three hundred foot tall Saturn
Speaker 2: rocket that will send Neil Armstrong, buzz Aldrin, and Michael
Speaker 2: Cowns on their journey of a lifetime to the move.
Speaker 3: The weather at Cape Kennedy is perfect, and the countdown
Speaker 3: toward liftoff at nine thirty two Eastern daylight time is proceeding.
Speaker 3: Only he who is awake and has been for over
Speaker 3: an hour, and one can only imagine the thoughts that
Speaker 3: are going through their minds as their months of preparation
Speaker 3: and training has brought them to this point.
Speaker 4: We headed to the launch pad. We had our steak
Speaker 4: and eggs breakfast, and each of us signed one hundred
Speaker 4: or so photos of ourselves that our families could sell
Speaker 4: in case we never came home. For the last time
Speaker 4: before lift off, Neil and I found ourselves alone.
Speaker 5: Neil, I know you wanted me off the mission. I'm
Speaker 5: big enough to forget it.
Speaker 4: He didn't tell me that he'd vouched for my skill
Speaker 4: as a pilot and that he thought I should make
Speaker 4: the trip. That's how big he was.
Speaker 5: Truce, truthy.
Speaker 6: We need to modify the speaking.
Speaker 3: Okay.
Speaker 4: At his console in mission control, Krantz stood wearing his
Speaker 4: signature white vest. Director of Crew Operations Dieke Slayton stood
Speaker 4: next to him.
Speaker 7: Still no location on the Russian craft, assuming it hasn't.
Speaker 6: We're working on an intercept, but their transmission power is
Speaker 6: too low.
Speaker 4: One thing that gave me a modicum of joy was
Speaker 4: the thought of doctor Rachel Ludwig's reaction reading today's newspaper
Speaker 4: and seeing a picture of Neil, Mike and me suited
Speaker 4: up and waving goodbye with the headline to the move.
Speaker 8: Shit, what the hell happened here?
Speaker 9: They emptied it this morning. Your personal effects are in
Speaker 9: the boxes, sorry, bastards.
Speaker 5: Team minus fifteen seconds.
Speaker 10: Guidance is internal twelve eleven.
Speaker 7: Ten nine ignition sequence stock seven.
Speaker 1: Roger six five four three.
Speaker 7: One zero all engines running lift off.
Speaker 3: Job.
Speaker 11: We have a lift off at thirty two minutes past
Speaker 11: the hour. Power clear now.
Speaker 4: All around. I could practically hear the crowds erupting into applause,
Speaker 4: ecstatic groups of proud and well lubricated Houstonians, everyone from
Speaker 4: Japan to Africa and beyond or on cloud nine. Well almost, that's.
Speaker 3: Here.
Speaker 7: Another bubbel Sure, here you go.
Speaker 8: He's you, Bill's oldrin.
Speaker 12: Good luck to you.
Speaker 5: You're gonna need it in the oceans.
Speaker 6: Rolls complete, and the pitches programmed.
Speaker 10: Stand by for mode one.
Speaker 4: Charlie, Mark one, Charlie.
Speaker 10: You are go for staging and you're looking good. Down
Speaker 10: range seventy five miles, sixty miles high speed twenty three
Speaker 10: thousand feet per second, thrust his go all engines.
Speaker 3: Wow, what a sight that is. As a parlow eleven
Speaker 3: rises higher in the atmosphere.
Speaker 8: Where do you get that coat?
Speaker 11: Mommy?
Speaker 8: Oh, your father gave it to me. You look nice.
Speaker 8: Thank you, darling. It's going up to clutch the TV.
Speaker 8: It's going to know.
Speaker 3: Somewhere between Earth and that ghostly orb are three Americans
Speaker 3: beginning a journey that will hopefully take them where no
Speaker 3: human has ever set foot. A journey then will change
Speaker 3: the course of history, and will for those three men,
Speaker 3: change the course of their lives.
Speaker 4: Jeane, what is it, Dieke?
Speaker 6: We got a problem. Malfunction in the capture latch assembly.
Speaker 4: Shit, I'm Buzz Aldrin, and this is the story you
Speaker 4: think you know but you don't.
Speaker 7: Ignition Frequent five.
Speaker 13: Five, the.
Speaker 4: One you're listening to, Buzz, This is the story of
Speaker 4: my greatest achievement, Chapter five. Have we talked to the
Speaker 4: people at Grumham.
Speaker 7: It's their design.
Speaker 6: They're going over the schematics.
Speaker 7: Cliff, what's wrong with the capture latch. It's not capturing,
Speaker 7: which in my book is something of a flaw.
Speaker 8: We thought we had it solved.
Speaker 7: How serious is it If we don't get a fix
Speaker 7: on the undocking procedure, There'll be a pressure surge when
Speaker 7: the lunar modules separates from command that'll tear both modules aboard.
Speaker 6: The crew would never survive memo for you, sir, God
Speaker 6: damn it. What is it the Russians?
Speaker 4: We didn't know about the capture latch assembly problem or
Speaker 4: that we could be attacked by the Russian Luna fifteen spacecraft.
Speaker 4: For us, ignorance was bliss and I was having too
Speaker 4: good a time broadcasting to Earth.
Speaker 5: As the onboard physicist, I'd like to demonstrate one.
Speaker 4: Of the more ethoteric effects of our zero G environment.
Speaker 1: Take the camera, Joan, Why is your husband speaking to
Speaker 1: my husband as if he's a junior officer.
Speaker 8: I don't know, Jan, You'll have to ask him.
Speaker 1: Nil's the commander, bus should show some respect.
Speaker 10: Ah, there you are, Neils, couldn't see you on the camera.
Speaker 11: You're hiding.
Speaker 8: Why does his dad say something? He's the commander. He
Speaker 8: doesn't have to say much.
Speaker 4: Right, Joan.
Speaker 7: So we test in flight or risk the pressure surge, explosion.
Speaker 6: Or abort module separation, in which case the Russians win.
Speaker 8: Come home with our tail between our lake.
Speaker 7: We're gonna get to the moon and bring our people home.
Speaker 4: Krantz had finally reached boiling point.
Speaker 7: We have a flight operations manual, three hundred pages thick.
Speaker 7: The most important thing in it isn't an algorithm or
Speaker 7: a trajectory vector. It's an assumption that before we begin
Speaker 7: any phase of this mission, we ask a fundamental question.
Speaker 7: If I were up there, if my life were on
Speaker 7: the line, would I order a go or no go?
Speaker 7: Stay or no stay? Proceed or abort there's a pressure
Speaker 7: problem during the undocking procedure, we'll solve it. I don't
Speaker 7: expect one hundred percent certainty in this business.
Speaker 4: There's no such thing.
Speaker 7: But I do expect every man in this room to
Speaker 7: answer that fundamental question.
Speaker 4: Down in Jodrell Bank Observatory, Cheshire, England, astronomer Sir Bernard
Speaker 4: Lovell was tracking the progress of the Russian Luna fifteene spacecraft.
Speaker 13: So what have we got the orbital trajectory of Apollo
Speaker 13: compared with the most recent path of the Russian vessel.
Speaker 13: The semi major axis is correct, Yes, sir Edit, well,
Speaker 13: that bird's bloody badly. Put me through to mister Craft
Speaker 13: in Houston right away.
Speaker 3: During my mission, I'm experiencing his mission, my g force.
Speaker 5: I'm going to use that lack of gravity to demonstrate
Speaker 5: the action of a gyroscope, which we all played with
Speaker 5: at school and which is crucial to NAVI gation in space.
Speaker 4: If I spend this can.
Speaker 8: Of hamspread we know what is the Buzz show? He's
Speaker 8: having too much fun.
Speaker 9: I can't say the thing for Mike.
Speaker 8: How can he be so condescended?
Speaker 1: I guess the bottom line is your husband's a genius
Speaker 1: and ours aren't. Right Joan, Jen, why don't we.
Speaker 8: Go make some more cold cuts for the guests.
Speaker 1: I say, Buzz is in charge, and Neil and micro superfluous,
Speaker 1: aren't you going to say anything, Joan.
Speaker 13: We could use more mayo.
Speaker 4: At the same time, tensions were still mounting admission control
Speaker 4: and more mayo wouldn't calm.
Speaker 7: Then we're going to run the entire undocking procedure again.
Speaker 7: But I want it couched in terms of normalcy. I
Speaker 7: don't want the crew alarmed.
Speaker 10: Apollo eleven, this is Houston. We have some new additions
Speaker 10: to your checklist.
Speaker 3: Over.
Speaker 8: Oh God, what is it? New editions usually means trouble.
Speaker 1: We've got a pretty packed schedule, Houston.
Speaker 4: Is this necessary?
Speaker 7: Cut off the squawk boxes?
Speaker 4: Cutting off squawk boxes?
Speaker 1: What where did it go?
Speaker 9: I don't recall them?
Speaker 10: Okay, hold on, We're not fully resolved on the undocking
Speaker 10: pressurization issue. We can't seem to get the pressure in
Speaker 10: the assembly down to zero. There's some concern about stress
Speaker 10: to the modules.
Speaker 3: If you and latch with positive pressure.
Speaker 5: Over, Houston, there's no problem with the procedures. There just
Speaker 5: isn't any slow way to get that depressed to auto
Speaker 5: without making a big bang.
Speaker 4: Neil.
Speaker 5: They're coming up with nothing and they want us to
Speaker 5: fix it.
Speaker 6: Houston will give it a nice stress rehearsal.
Speaker 7: Standby as we power up.
Speaker 8: Eagle so this is missus Neil Armstrong.
Speaker 1: Tom Payn had a squawk box installed at my house
Speaker 1: and it just went silent. Yes, uh no, don't tell
Speaker 1: me it's a coincidence. I know an in flight test
Speaker 1: of the undocking system is not normal.
Speaker 10: That pad RCS slash GNN program twenty two rule zero
Speaker 10: zero zero zero zero seven zero zero.
Speaker 6: Zero antennat omni RCS.
Speaker 4: Pressurized closing lunar module.
Speaker 3: Hatch closing command module hatch.
Speaker 4: Mike used the flight stick to stabilize the two craft.
Speaker 4: He was as talented and confident a pilot as I've
Speaker 4: ever seen, and because he was probably as fine a
Speaker 4: human being as ever put on a flight suit, he
Speaker 4: never got the credit for it.
Speaker 3: I'm disabling my role always disabled.
Speaker 5: Depressed auto I know Neil depressed auto dump valve initiated.
Speaker 4: We all stared at the gauges creeping towards zero, almost there,
Speaker 4: and they stopped. They stopped just above zero, and the
Speaker 4: lunar module shuddered.
Speaker 3: Terminating procedure.
Speaker 4: Houston, We do not repeat, do not have full depressurization.
Speaker 10: Roger Eagle, we see you have an anomaly.
Speaker 3: Anomaly, we have a dysfunction.
Speaker 7: Cliff Cliff yeah, yeah, get the grumming guys in here.
Speaker 7: I want him hands on in the simulator, and I
Speaker 7: want him now, Sir Jesus.
Speaker 4: Over at the Manned Space Center, Chris Kraft was receiving
Speaker 4: news that knocked him for a loop, news that could
Speaker 4: have meant we'd never land on the Moon.
Speaker 12: You're absolutely sure of the Russian spacecraft's current position, Sir.
Speaker 3: Bernard, beyond a doubt.
Speaker 13: Of Russia's ultimate intent. I have no idea except to
Speaker 13: say that if they can be disruptive, they will be,
Speaker 13: and that human life is a commodity they regard as expendable,
Speaker 13: and that's not the least of it.
Speaker 3: I'm afraid.
Speaker 12: Yeah, this is what thirty minutes all, Gene, you got
Speaker 12: a second. I don't want to make your life harder
Speaker 12: than it already is, but you're going to. If we
Speaker 12: undocked the modules without blowing them up, and if we
Speaker 12: enter lunar orbit, Sir Bernard Lovell thinks we could collide
Speaker 12: with Russia's Luna fifteen. Jesus Christ, Luna's trajectories are all
Speaker 12: over the place. We have no idea if, when, or
Speaker 12: where it will land. Whereas our flight plan hands might
Speaker 12: as well have been on the front page of the
Speaker 12: New York Times.
Speaker 7: Because you're saying they're purposely trying to interfere.
Speaker 12: Why else would they be orbiting for three days?
Speaker 6: What the hell is that?
Speaker 3: Do you? Eid? Heard?
Speaker 7: Shrimp?
Speaker 4: Croctail? What one? I'll pass save a few from me,
Speaker 4: will you, Mike?
Speaker 5: They're my favorite.
Speaker 3: Mike.
Speaker 4: You see that what through the window?
Speaker 7: It was there a second ago.
Speaker 3: I didn't see anything.
Speaker 4: Anywhere, descent, irregular movement.
Speaker 5: I didn't see anything either.
Speaker 2: An optical effect from a defect in the glass.
Speaker 5: I'm not buying that space garbage glinting off the sun.
Speaker 4: I know what garbage looks like.
Speaker 6: Whatever it was, it's gone.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 6: Maybe should we tell Houston.
Speaker 5: No, it'll give every UFO not the ammunition to say
Speaker 5: we were seeing things or we were letting aliens follow
Speaker 5: us to the moon. But your commander, Neil, it's your call.
Speaker 4: Neil went quiet. We all did, just three astronauts staring
Speaker 4: out the window of our spacecraft for what we couldn't
Speaker 4: be sure.
Speaker 1: Buzz, starring John Lithgow and J. F. Frey Errand, is
Speaker 1: created by Stephen Cronish and directed by John Scott Dryden.
Speaker 1: Chapter five is written by Matt Graham and Thompson Evans.
Speaker 1: Original music is by Sasha Putnam. Sound designed by Elouise Whitmore.
Speaker 1: The producer is Emma Hearn. The executive producers are Jeremy Fox,
Speaker 1: John Scott Dryden, Stephen Cronish, Howard Stringer and Jason English.
Speaker 1: Buzz is a production of Thoroughbred Studios, gold Hawk Productions,
Speaker 1: and iHeart Podcasts.