Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey Brainstuff. Louren
Speaker 1: Vogelbaum Here. Buzz Aldrin may forever be remembered as the
Speaker 1: second human being two step foot on the Moon during
Speaker 1: the Apollo eleven mission in nineteen sixty nine, but to
Speaker 1: dismiss Aldren as history's most famous second place finisher is
Speaker 1: to ignore his genius, his bravery, and his tireless advocacy
Speaker 1: for crude space exploration. For the article of this episode
Speaker 1: is based on How Stuffworks. Spoke with space historian and
Speaker 1: author Rod Pyle, who's met and interviewed Aldren a number
Speaker 1: of times and never ceases to be amazed by the
Speaker 1: former astronaut's active engagement with the future of spaceflight, especially
Speaker 1: as he's now ninety three years old. Pyle said, he
Speaker 1: stands Ramrod straight, and he's full of energy and ideas.
Speaker 1: Buzz thinks more clearly about the stuff than people my
Speaker 1: age times three. Born Edwin Eugene Aldrin Junior in Montclair,
Speaker 1: New Jersey, in January of nine, teen thirty, Aldren earned
Speaker 1: his famous nickname from his little sister Feyanne, who called
Speaker 1: him Buzzer instead of brother. He legally changed it to
Speaker 1: Buzz in the early nineteen eighties. In a bit of
Speaker 1: poetic foreshadowing, Aldren's mother's maiden name was Marion Moon. Aldrin
Speaker 1: was a stellar athlete and a straight A student, graduating
Speaker 1: one year early from high school. His father, a colonel
Speaker 1: in the Air Force and himself an aviation pioneer, had
Speaker 1: high expectations for Buzz and secured him a spot at
Speaker 1: the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. But Aldren wanted to
Speaker 1: go to West Point, says Pyle, because that's where the
Speaker 1: flying was happening. After graduating third in his class from
Speaker 1: West Point with a degree in mechanical engineering, Aldren enlisted
Speaker 1: in the Air Force and shipped off to the Korean War,
Speaker 1: where he flew sixty six combat missions and earned the
Speaker 1: Distinguished Flying Cross. Aldren learned about the fledgling astronaut program
Speaker 1: from Ed White, who he met during a tour of
Speaker 1: duty flying F one hundreds in Germany. A Buzz wanted in,
Speaker 1: but NASA was excluded recruiting test pilots, not combat pilots,
Speaker 1: and the space organization rejected Aldron's first application. Not to
Speaker 1: be deterred, Aldron figured out another way. In he knew
Speaker 1: that one of the biggest engineering unknowns of spaceflight was
Speaker 1: how to dock with another vehicle in orbit, so he
Speaker 1: decided to become an expert in that. He earned a
Speaker 1: PhD from MIT in astronautics with a thesis titled A
Speaker 1: Line of Sight Guidance Techniques for Manned Orbital Rendezvous. When
Speaker 1: he applied to NASA a second time in nineteen sixty three,
Speaker 1: Aldrin won a spot and became the first astronaut with
Speaker 1: a doctoral degree. His fellow astronauts called him Doctor Rendezvous.
Speaker 1: At NASA, Aldron lived up to his nickname, taking command
Speaker 1: of the rendezvous and docking preparations for the Gemini missions.
Speaker 1: His first spaceflight was Gemini twelve, the very last Gemini
Speaker 1: mission before the launch of the Apollo program. He and
Speaker 1: James Lovell rocketed into orbit on November eleventh of nineteen
Speaker 1: six with two critical missions, docked with the Agena spacecraft
Speaker 1: and conduct the longest spacewalk to date. That first task
Speaker 1: might have been a failure if not for Aldrin's speedy
Speaker 1: math skills. The astronauts were approaching the Agena about seventy
Speaker 1: five miles or two hundred kilometers out and closing fast
Speaker 1: when their computerized tracking system went down. Luckily for NASA,
Speaker 1: one of the men on the Gemni twelve crew had
Speaker 1: spent the last six years calculating orbital trajectories. Pile said,
Speaker 1: for a lot of people that would have been a
Speaker 1: mission ender, but Buzz pulled out a sextant, a pencil,
Speaker 1: a pad of paper, and a slide rule and calculated
Speaker 1: the trajectory by hand. They rendez food and docked with
Speaker 1: the Agena, using less fuel than anybody had previously using computers.
Speaker 1: Then came the spacewalk A, known in NASA parlance as
Speaker 1: extra vehicular activity or EVA A. Pile says that previous
Speaker 1: spacewalks hadn't gone as planned. Astronaut Gene Cernan almost didn't
Speaker 1: make it back from his Gemini nine eva A, suffering
Speaker 1: from poor visibility through a fogged adviser, no handholds on
Speaker 1: the ship's exterior, and dangerous levels of exhaustion. A Gemini
Speaker 1: twelve was NASA's last chance before Apollo to prove its
Speaker 1: astronauts could make critical repairs in orbit, but Aldrin didn't
Speaker 1: think the top brass was taking it seriously enough to
Speaker 1: prepare for his EVA. Aldrin was one of the first
Speaker 1: astronauts to use underwater training extensively. Pile says that NASA
Speaker 1: didn't have its own neutral buoyancy pool yet, so they
Speaker 1: sunk pieces of the Gemini trainer in the deep end
Speaker 1: of a pool at a private boys' school in Maryland.
Speaker 1: A Pile said, Buzz was a scuba enthusiast, so he
Speaker 1: just poured himself into the training and was there all
Speaker 1: the time. He was really aggressive about it. All that
Speaker 1: preparation paid off. Aldron spent more than five hours conducting
Speaker 1: spacewalks on the Gemini twelve mission. He moved around the
Speaker 1: ship effortlessly thanks to special handholds and foot restraints that
Speaker 1: Aldrin himself had designed. He performed tes maneuvers with tools,
Speaker 1: and even cleaned the windows for fun. Buzz was so
Speaker 1: relaxed outside the capsule that he even snapped the very
Speaker 1: first space selfie. He brought his clunky camera out during
Speaker 1: the first EVA and pointed it at Earth, joking to
Speaker 1: mission control, Okay, tell everyone down there to smile. Then
Speaker 1: he balanced the camera on the edge of his hatch
Speaker 1: and aimed it at himself. Now let me raise my
Speaker 1: visor and all smile, said Aldron. Posing for these slightly
Speaker 1: awkward but historic selfie. After Gemini twelve, Aldrin was slotted
Speaker 1: for Apollo eleven, along with Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins.
Speaker 1: Pile explains that Dieke Slayton, who was in charge of
Speaker 1: scheduling astronauts NASA at the time, swore that it was
Speaker 1: simply the bluck of the draw that Aldrin and Armstrong
Speaker 1: were picked for Apollo eleven, and that Armstrong was the
Speaker 1: first step foot on the lunar soil. Pile said those
Speaker 1: guys were both uniquely qualified. A Buzz was the orbital
Speaker 1: dynamics guy who figured out the EVA. Neil was the
Speaker 1: incredible X fifteen pilot who was known for extreme flying
Speaker 1: skills if you read between the lines, though, and Neil
Speaker 1: is the guy with almost no ego and best suited
Speaker 1: to be the first on the Moon. There was pushing
Speaker 1: and pulling up until the last few months about who
Speaker 1: was going to be out first. Aldrin's father really wanted
Speaker 1: his son to be the first human on the moon,
Speaker 1: and Buzz lobbied hard for the honor, arguing that his
Speaker 1: position in the lunar module offered easier access to the hatch.
Speaker 1: But once NASA shows Neil Pile says Buzz swallowed his
Speaker 1: pride and dutifully executed the mission. While Armstrong's one small
Speaker 1: step for Man quote has been immortalized, Aldren's description as
Speaker 1: he took his own first steps on the Moon was poetic.
Speaker 1: He said, beautiful, beautiful, magnificent desolation. Returning home, Aldron and
Speaker 1: the Apollo eleven crew were celebrated as global heroes. A
Speaker 1: Pile explained that of the three, while Buzz eventually ridged
Speaker 1: his fame the most, he wasn't prepared for the rebound effect.
Speaker 1: After such an intense emotional high. How do you follow that?
Speaker 1: Pyle said, he descended into a deep depression. Buzz talks
Speaker 1: openly about this in his memoir Returned to Earth. His
Speaker 1: first marriage failed, he had a drinking problem. Money was tight.
Speaker 1: At one point he was actually selling used cars to
Speaker 1: make ends meet, but then Aldron found sobriety and his
Speaker 1: post NASA calling. He spent every day of the past
Speaker 1: four decades promoting the future of crude spaceflight. And who
Speaker 1: better than Buzz Aldrin Apollo eleven hero to make the
Speaker 1: case for humankind's return to the Moon and beyond. Aldron
Speaker 1: isn't just a rocket booster if you'll forgive the pun,
Speaker 1: he's very much still an engineer and adventurer at heart.
Speaker 1: In the nineteen nineties, Buzz developed an ingenious scheme for
Speaker 1: transporting astronauts to Mars called the Aldron Mars Cycler. The
Speaker 1: cycler is a hypothetical cross between a space station and
Speaker 1: a space craft continuously orbit the Sun in a path
Speaker 1: that periodically intersects with each the Earth and Mars. Astronauts
Speaker 1: could shuttle to and from the cycler without burning too
Speaker 1: much fuel. Buzz also launched the Aldron Family Foundation with
Speaker 1: his son Andrew to help inspire and prepare the next
Speaker 1: generation of astronauts through steam education that is, science, technology, engineering, arts,
Speaker 1: and mathematics. He was also a twenty ten contestant on
Speaker 1: Dancing with the Stars at age eighty and recorded a
Speaker 1: semi satirical rap called Rocket Experience with Snoop Dogg around
Speaker 1: the same time, and of course, he lent his name
Speaker 1: to Buzz light Year. In the Toy Story series, A
Speaker 1: Pile described a phone conversation with Aldrin as the equivalent
Speaker 1: of sitting in on a graduate level course in aerospace engineering.
Speaker 1: He said, Buzz has a plan for everything. You do.
Speaker 1: Get the sense that there's three or four brilliant minds
Speaker 1: in there, all competing for the same mount and that's
Speaker 1: just how smart he is and how driven he is.
Speaker 1: Today's episode is based on the article second to None.
Speaker 1: Here's the Buzz on buzz Aldrin on HowStuffWorks dot Com,
Speaker 1: written by Dave Ruse. The brain Stuff is production by
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