1 00:00:01,840 --> 00:00:08,000 Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey Brainstuff. Louren 2 00:00:08,039 --> 00:00:12,920 Speaker 1: Vogelbaum Here. Buzz Aldrin may forever be remembered as the 3 00:00:12,960 --> 00:00:15,440 Speaker 1: second human being two step foot on the Moon during 4 00:00:15,480 --> 00:00:18,880 Speaker 1: the Apollo eleven mission in nineteen sixty nine, but to 5 00:00:18,960 --> 00:00:22,680 Speaker 1: dismiss Aldren as history's most famous second place finisher is 6 00:00:22,720 --> 00:00:26,360 Speaker 1: to ignore his genius, his bravery, and his tireless advocacy 7 00:00:26,440 --> 00:00:30,800 Speaker 1: for crude space exploration. For the article of this episode 8 00:00:30,800 --> 00:00:33,320 Speaker 1: is based on How Stuffworks. Spoke with space historian and 9 00:00:33,400 --> 00:00:36,560 Speaker 1: author Rod Pyle, who's met and interviewed Aldren a number 10 00:00:36,560 --> 00:00:39,159 Speaker 1: of times and never ceases to be amazed by the 11 00:00:39,200 --> 00:00:43,080 Speaker 1: former astronaut's active engagement with the future of spaceflight, especially 12 00:00:43,159 --> 00:00:46,519 Speaker 1: as he's now ninety three years old. Pyle said, he 13 00:00:46,600 --> 00:00:49,680 Speaker 1: stands Ramrod straight, and he's full of energy and ideas. 14 00:00:50,240 --> 00:00:52,519 Speaker 1: Buzz thinks more clearly about the stuff than people my 15 00:00:52,600 --> 00:00:58,560 Speaker 1: age times three. Born Edwin Eugene Aldrin Junior in Montclair, 16 00:00:58,640 --> 00:01:01,840 Speaker 1: New Jersey, in January of nine, teen thirty, Aldren earned 17 00:01:01,840 --> 00:01:04,680 Speaker 1: his famous nickname from his little sister Feyanne, who called 18 00:01:04,760 --> 00:01:07,760 Speaker 1: him Buzzer instead of brother. He legally changed it to 19 00:01:07,800 --> 00:01:10,520 Speaker 1: Buzz in the early nineteen eighties. In a bit of 20 00:01:10,560 --> 00:01:16,320 Speaker 1: poetic foreshadowing, Aldren's mother's maiden name was Marion Moon. Aldrin 21 00:01:16,480 --> 00:01:19,319 Speaker 1: was a stellar athlete and a straight A student, graduating 22 00:01:19,360 --> 00:01:22,639 Speaker 1: one year early from high school. His father, a colonel 23 00:01:22,640 --> 00:01:25,520 Speaker 1: in the Air Force and himself an aviation pioneer, had 24 00:01:25,600 --> 00:01:28,200 Speaker 1: high expectations for Buzz and secured him a spot at 25 00:01:28,240 --> 00:01:31,959 Speaker 1: the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. But Aldren wanted to 26 00:01:31,959 --> 00:01:34,720 Speaker 1: go to West Point, says Pyle, because that's where the 27 00:01:34,760 --> 00:01:38,760 Speaker 1: flying was happening. After graduating third in his class from 28 00:01:38,800 --> 00:01:41,959 Speaker 1: West Point with a degree in mechanical engineering, Aldren enlisted 29 00:01:42,000 --> 00:01:44,119 Speaker 1: in the Air Force and shipped off to the Korean War, 30 00:01:44,440 --> 00:01:47,280 Speaker 1: where he flew sixty six combat missions and earned the 31 00:01:47,319 --> 00:01:52,680 Speaker 1: Distinguished Flying Cross. Aldren learned about the fledgling astronaut program 32 00:01:52,760 --> 00:01:54,760 Speaker 1: from Ed White, who he met during a tour of 33 00:01:54,840 --> 00:01:58,360 Speaker 1: duty flying F one hundreds in Germany. A Buzz wanted in, 34 00:01:58,800 --> 00:02:03,240 Speaker 1: but NASA was excluded recruiting test pilots, not combat pilots, 35 00:02:03,440 --> 00:02:08,120 Speaker 1: and the space organization rejected Aldron's first application. Not to 36 00:02:08,120 --> 00:02:11,679 Speaker 1: be deterred, Aldron figured out another way. In he knew 37 00:02:11,680 --> 00:02:14,720 Speaker 1: that one of the biggest engineering unknowns of spaceflight was 38 00:02:14,720 --> 00:02:17,800 Speaker 1: how to dock with another vehicle in orbit, so he 39 00:02:17,880 --> 00:02:20,760 Speaker 1: decided to become an expert in that. He earned a 40 00:02:20,760 --> 00:02:24,640 Speaker 1: PhD from MIT in astronautics with a thesis titled A 41 00:02:24,680 --> 00:02:30,040 Speaker 1: Line of Sight Guidance Techniques for Manned Orbital Rendezvous. When 42 00:02:30,040 --> 00:02:32,639 Speaker 1: he applied to NASA a second time in nineteen sixty three, 43 00:02:33,040 --> 00:02:35,880 Speaker 1: Aldrin won a spot and became the first astronaut with 44 00:02:35,919 --> 00:02:40,640 Speaker 1: a doctoral degree. His fellow astronauts called him Doctor Rendezvous. 45 00:02:41,760 --> 00:02:44,720 Speaker 1: At NASA, Aldron lived up to his nickname, taking command 46 00:02:44,800 --> 00:02:48,120 Speaker 1: of the rendezvous and docking preparations for the Gemini missions. 47 00:02:49,080 --> 00:02:52,360 Speaker 1: His first spaceflight was Gemini twelve, the very last Gemini 48 00:02:52,400 --> 00:02:56,400 Speaker 1: mission before the launch of the Apollo program. He and 49 00:02:56,520 --> 00:02:59,720 Speaker 1: James Lovell rocketed into orbit on November eleventh of nineteen 50 00:02:59,760 --> 00:03:03,880 Speaker 1: six with two critical missions, docked with the Agena spacecraft 51 00:03:03,960 --> 00:03:09,040 Speaker 1: and conduct the longest spacewalk to date. That first task 52 00:03:09,160 --> 00:03:11,360 Speaker 1: might have been a failure if not for Aldrin's speedy 53 00:03:11,400 --> 00:03:15,160 Speaker 1: math skills. The astronauts were approaching the Agena about seventy 54 00:03:15,200 --> 00:03:18,120 Speaker 1: five miles or two hundred kilometers out and closing fast 55 00:03:18,400 --> 00:03:23,040 Speaker 1: when their computerized tracking system went down. Luckily for NASA, 56 00:03:23,240 --> 00:03:25,200 Speaker 1: one of the men on the Gemni twelve crew had 57 00:03:25,200 --> 00:03:30,560 Speaker 1: spent the last six years calculating orbital trajectories. Pile said, 58 00:03:30,960 --> 00:03:32,600 Speaker 1: for a lot of people that would have been a 59 00:03:32,639 --> 00:03:35,720 Speaker 1: mission ender, but Buzz pulled out a sextant, a pencil, 60 00:03:35,840 --> 00:03:38,160 Speaker 1: a pad of paper, and a slide rule and calculated 61 00:03:38,160 --> 00:03:41,320 Speaker 1: the trajectory by hand. They rendez food and docked with 62 00:03:41,320 --> 00:03:45,440 Speaker 1: the Agena, using less fuel than anybody had previously using computers. 63 00:03:47,960 --> 00:03:50,760 Speaker 1: Then came the spacewalk A, known in NASA parlance as 64 00:03:50,920 --> 00:03:55,400 Speaker 1: extra vehicular activity or EVA A. Pile says that previous 65 00:03:55,440 --> 00:03:59,840 Speaker 1: spacewalks hadn't gone as planned. Astronaut Gene Cernan almost didn't 66 00:03:59,840 --> 00:04:02,680 Speaker 1: make it back from his Gemini nine eva A, suffering 67 00:04:02,720 --> 00:04:05,920 Speaker 1: from poor visibility through a fogged adviser, no handholds on 68 00:04:05,920 --> 00:04:10,880 Speaker 1: the ship's exterior, and dangerous levels of exhaustion. A Gemini 69 00:04:10,920 --> 00:04:13,920 Speaker 1: twelve was NASA's last chance before Apollo to prove its 70 00:04:13,920 --> 00:04:17,680 Speaker 1: astronauts could make critical repairs in orbit, but Aldrin didn't 71 00:04:17,680 --> 00:04:21,120 Speaker 1: think the top brass was taking it seriously enough to 72 00:04:21,120 --> 00:04:23,720 Speaker 1: prepare for his EVA. Aldrin was one of the first 73 00:04:23,800 --> 00:04:28,480 Speaker 1: astronauts to use underwater training extensively. Pile says that NASA 74 00:04:28,520 --> 00:04:31,400 Speaker 1: didn't have its own neutral buoyancy pool yet, so they 75 00:04:31,440 --> 00:04:33,720 Speaker 1: sunk pieces of the Gemini trainer in the deep end 76 00:04:33,720 --> 00:04:36,839 Speaker 1: of a pool at a private boys' school in Maryland. 77 00:04:37,160 --> 00:04:40,200 Speaker 1: A Pile said, Buzz was a scuba enthusiast, so he 78 00:04:40,320 --> 00:04:42,560 Speaker 1: just poured himself into the training and was there all 79 00:04:42,600 --> 00:04:47,000 Speaker 1: the time. He was really aggressive about it. All that 80 00:04:47,080 --> 00:04:51,000 Speaker 1: preparation paid off. Aldron spent more than five hours conducting 81 00:04:51,040 --> 00:04:54,120 Speaker 1: spacewalks on the Gemini twelve mission. He moved around the 82 00:04:54,120 --> 00:04:57,279 Speaker 1: ship effortlessly thanks to special handholds and foot restraints that 83 00:04:57,360 --> 00:05:01,120 Speaker 1: Aldrin himself had designed. He performed tes maneuvers with tools, 84 00:05:01,200 --> 00:05:05,440 Speaker 1: and even cleaned the windows for fun. Buzz was so 85 00:05:05,560 --> 00:05:08,240 Speaker 1: relaxed outside the capsule that he even snapped the very 86 00:05:08,279 --> 00:05:12,080 Speaker 1: first space selfie. He brought his clunky camera out during 87 00:05:12,120 --> 00:05:15,120 Speaker 1: the first EVA and pointed it at Earth, joking to 88 00:05:15,160 --> 00:05:19,440 Speaker 1: mission control, Okay, tell everyone down there to smile. Then 89 00:05:19,480 --> 00:05:21,320 Speaker 1: he balanced the camera on the edge of his hatch 90 00:05:21,360 --> 00:05:24,280 Speaker 1: and aimed it at himself. Now let me raise my 91 00:05:24,360 --> 00:05:27,560 Speaker 1: visor and all smile, said Aldron. Posing for these slightly 92 00:05:27,600 --> 00:05:33,719 Speaker 1: awkward but historic selfie. After Gemini twelve, Aldrin was slotted 93 00:05:33,720 --> 00:05:36,799 Speaker 1: for Apollo eleven, along with Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins. 94 00:05:37,520 --> 00:05:40,240 Speaker 1: Pile explains that Dieke Slayton, who was in charge of 95 00:05:40,240 --> 00:05:43,320 Speaker 1: scheduling astronauts NASA at the time, swore that it was 96 00:05:43,360 --> 00:05:45,960 Speaker 1: simply the bluck of the draw that Aldrin and Armstrong 97 00:05:46,000 --> 00:05:48,760 Speaker 1: were picked for Apollo eleven, and that Armstrong was the 98 00:05:48,760 --> 00:05:53,760 Speaker 1: first step foot on the lunar soil. Pile said those 99 00:05:53,760 --> 00:05:56,960 Speaker 1: guys were both uniquely qualified. A Buzz was the orbital 100 00:05:57,040 --> 00:06:00,240 Speaker 1: dynamics guy who figured out the EVA. Neil was the 101 00:06:00,279 --> 00:06:03,520 Speaker 1: incredible X fifteen pilot who was known for extreme flying 102 00:06:03,520 --> 00:06:06,919 Speaker 1: skills if you read between the lines, though, and Neil 103 00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:09,839 Speaker 1: is the guy with almost no ego and best suited 104 00:06:09,839 --> 00:06:12,360 Speaker 1: to be the first on the Moon. There was pushing 105 00:06:12,400 --> 00:06:14,520 Speaker 1: and pulling up until the last few months about who 106 00:06:14,560 --> 00:06:19,920 Speaker 1: was going to be out first. Aldrin's father really wanted 107 00:06:19,920 --> 00:06:21,760 Speaker 1: his son to be the first human on the moon, 108 00:06:22,160 --> 00:06:24,880 Speaker 1: and Buzz lobbied hard for the honor, arguing that his 109 00:06:24,920 --> 00:06:28,240 Speaker 1: position in the lunar module offered easier access to the hatch. 110 00:06:29,000 --> 00:06:32,000 Speaker 1: But once NASA shows Neil Pile says Buzz swallowed his 111 00:06:32,120 --> 00:06:37,599 Speaker 1: pride and dutifully executed the mission. While Armstrong's one small 112 00:06:37,600 --> 00:06:41,400 Speaker 1: step for Man quote has been immortalized, Aldren's description as 113 00:06:41,440 --> 00:06:43,880 Speaker 1: he took his own first steps on the Moon was poetic. 114 00:06:44,640 --> 00:06:52,760 Speaker 1: He said, beautiful, beautiful, magnificent desolation. Returning home, Aldron and 115 00:06:52,800 --> 00:06:56,560 Speaker 1: the Apollo eleven crew were celebrated as global heroes. A 116 00:06:56,640 --> 00:07:00,359 Speaker 1: Pile explained that of the three, while Buzz eventually ridged 117 00:07:00,360 --> 00:07:03,520 Speaker 1: his fame the most, he wasn't prepared for the rebound effect. 118 00:07:03,600 --> 00:07:06,960 Speaker 1: After such an intense emotional high. How do you follow that? 119 00:07:08,720 --> 00:07:12,480 Speaker 1: Pyle said, he descended into a deep depression. Buzz talks 120 00:07:12,520 --> 00:07:15,560 Speaker 1: openly about this in his memoir Returned to Earth. His 121 00:07:15,600 --> 00:07:18,800 Speaker 1: first marriage failed, he had a drinking problem. Money was tight. 122 00:07:19,360 --> 00:07:21,880 Speaker 1: At one point he was actually selling used cars to 123 00:07:21,880 --> 00:07:26,480 Speaker 1: make ends meet, but then Aldron found sobriety and his 124 00:07:26,520 --> 00:07:30,040 Speaker 1: post NASA calling. He spent every day of the past 125 00:07:30,080 --> 00:07:34,040 Speaker 1: four decades promoting the future of crude spaceflight. And who 126 00:07:34,040 --> 00:07:36,800 Speaker 1: better than Buzz Aldrin Apollo eleven hero to make the 127 00:07:36,800 --> 00:07:41,760 Speaker 1: case for humankind's return to the Moon and beyond. Aldron 128 00:07:41,800 --> 00:07:44,720 Speaker 1: isn't just a rocket booster if you'll forgive the pun, 129 00:07:45,040 --> 00:07:48,239 Speaker 1: he's very much still an engineer and adventurer at heart. 130 00:07:48,960 --> 00:07:51,920 Speaker 1: In the nineteen nineties, Buzz developed an ingenious scheme for 131 00:07:51,960 --> 00:07:56,320 Speaker 1: transporting astronauts to Mars called the Aldron Mars Cycler. The 132 00:07:56,440 --> 00:07:59,360 Speaker 1: cycler is a hypothetical cross between a space station and 133 00:07:59,400 --> 00:08:02,640 Speaker 1: a space craft continuously orbit the Sun in a path 134 00:08:02,720 --> 00:08:07,240 Speaker 1: that periodically intersects with each the Earth and Mars. Astronauts 135 00:08:07,240 --> 00:08:09,760 Speaker 1: could shuttle to and from the cycler without burning too 136 00:08:09,840 --> 00:08:14,720 Speaker 1: much fuel. Buzz also launched the Aldron Family Foundation with 137 00:08:14,800 --> 00:08:17,720 Speaker 1: his son Andrew to help inspire and prepare the next 138 00:08:17,760 --> 00:08:22,960 Speaker 1: generation of astronauts through steam education that is, science, technology, engineering, arts, 139 00:08:23,000 --> 00:08:26,560 Speaker 1: and mathematics. He was also a twenty ten contestant on 140 00:08:26,680 --> 00:08:29,560 Speaker 1: Dancing with the Stars at age eighty and recorded a 141 00:08:29,600 --> 00:08:33,199 Speaker 1: semi satirical rap called Rocket Experience with Snoop Dogg around 142 00:08:33,200 --> 00:08:36,199 Speaker 1: the same time, and of course, he lent his name 143 00:08:36,240 --> 00:08:40,560 Speaker 1: to Buzz light Year. In the Toy Story series, A 144 00:08:40,600 --> 00:08:43,840 Speaker 1: Pile described a phone conversation with Aldrin as the equivalent 145 00:08:43,880 --> 00:08:47,240 Speaker 1: of sitting in on a graduate level course in aerospace engineering. 146 00:08:47,920 --> 00:08:51,360 Speaker 1: He said, Buzz has a plan for everything. You do. 147 00:08:51,480 --> 00:08:54,160 Speaker 1: Get the sense that there's three or four brilliant minds 148 00:08:54,160 --> 00:08:56,959 Speaker 1: in there, all competing for the same mount and that's 149 00:08:57,120 --> 00:08:59,920 Speaker 1: just how smart he is and how driven he is. 150 00:09:04,840 --> 00:09:07,679 Speaker 1: Today's episode is based on the article second to None. 151 00:09:07,760 --> 00:09:10,480 Speaker 1: Here's the Buzz on buzz Aldrin on HowStuffWorks dot Com, 152 00:09:10,520 --> 00:09:13,080 Speaker 1: written by Dave Ruse. The brain Stuff is production by 153 00:09:13,080 --> 00:09:15,440 Speaker 1: Heart Radio in partnership with how stuffworks dot Com. It 154 00:09:15,480 --> 00:09:18,280 Speaker 1: is produced by Tyler klang A. Four more podcasts from 155 00:09:18,280 --> 00:09:21,400 Speaker 1: my heart Radio visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or 156 00:09:21,400 --> 00:09:23,160 Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.