Speaker 1: Buzz, an audio drama for iHeart Podcasts starring John Lithgow
Speaker 1: and Jeffrey Arran 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. Chapter six.
Speaker 2: As Neil, Mike and I stared into space from the
Speaker 2: command module, we didn't even know what we were looking for.
Speaker 2: Was it a relatively harmless piece of debris held in
Speaker 2: orbit by the Moon's gravity and propelled by our own paranoia?
Speaker 2: Or was it a spacecraft sent by some alien force
Speaker 2: from a galaxy far far away. Of course, that couldn't
Speaker 2: have cared less about the petty political squabbles between Earthlings
Speaker 2: and who'd be willing to destroy our planet in order
Speaker 2: to protect theirs.
Speaker 3: There there two o'clock.
Speaker 4: You see you, Mike?
Speaker 5: Is it Beck?
Speaker 6: No?
Speaker 3: Neil? For a second, I thought, guess not.
Speaker 2: Then there was the how, if, and when of Eagle
Speaker 2: unlocking from Columbia, a decision the time and available fuel
Speaker 2: and oxygen was making increasingly crucial for me. It wasn't
Speaker 2: so much a technical decision as it was an emotional one,
Speaker 2: which is why it was a waste of time to
Speaker 2: discuss it with Neil.
Speaker 7: Mike.
Speaker 8: Yeah, bus, If we lose pressure during separation, the command
Speaker 8: module might stay intact. You'd be able to get home.
Speaker 3: Eating shrimp cocktail all the way.
Speaker 8: I'm serious. If Houston doesn't get it figured out to
Speaker 8: a greater degree of probability, would you proceed with separation.
Speaker 3: I never worried about us getting here, but I hate
Speaker 3: the idea of going back alone, of being known for
Speaker 3: the rest of my life as Apollo eleven's only survivor.
Speaker 3: If they don't figure it out, I'd vote to a
Speaker 3: boart and leave the moon to Apollo twelve.
Speaker 8: I can't do that.
Speaker 3: I know you ask what I'd do. I could live
Speaker 3: with a disappointment. I'd still be a husband and father.
Speaker 3: You take it as a failure, The walls come up, and.
Speaker 4: You'd be more.
Speaker 3: Alone than ever.
Speaker 2: Neil kept staring out the window and didn't say a word.
Speaker 3: I wish you could put all of this in some
Speaker 3: kind of perspective. It'd be a lot different.
Speaker 8: I don't want to be different.
Speaker 9: Did Grumm and guys have what they need?
Speaker 6: We had to take the ambient pressure down as close
Speaker 6: to duplicating lunar orbit conditions as we can.
Speaker 9: Get ten solid seconds of stability after undocking and we're
Speaker 9: home free. All right, people, let's do this. Nothing's riding
Speaker 9: on it except the success of the mission and the
Speaker 9: lives of three men.
Speaker 2: Mission Control and the engineers from Grumming had set up
Speaker 2: a full sized duplicate at the command and lunar modules
Speaker 2: to test the undocking procedure.
Speaker 4: T minus five to separation hatches are four, then enabled
Speaker 4: three tunnel clear two triggering. Why an't one go for
Speaker 4: undocking zero separation sequence?
Speaker 9: So that's three dead astronauts. Back to work, boys. We
Speaker 9: do it again and again until we get it right.
Speaker 2: I'm Buzz Aldrin, and this is the story you think
Speaker 2: you know, but you don't.
Speaker 4: Ignition frequent five good five four.
Speaker 2: Three They dave here the angle, land on a tramp
Speaker 2: for m.
Speaker 9: R Bam.
Speaker 2: You're listening to Buzz. This is the story of my
Speaker 2: Greatest achievement.
Speaker 4: Chapter six.
Speaker 5: It is replaced two hours till separation. Cliff and his
Speaker 5: boys may solve this and they may not. What are
Speaker 5: you going to tell the crew? Gene?
Speaker 9: When the model blew up, all I could see were
Speaker 9: three more confidence fundamental question deecon if I were up
Speaker 9: there would I want to know the truth.
Speaker 5: They have to know Gene, and they have to know
Speaker 5: it sooner than later.
Speaker 3: This is Command Module Columbia, much as I'm enjoying Neil
Speaker 3: and Buzz's company. Where are we on the undocking problem?
Speaker 10: We just ran another test. It wasn't entirely successful.
Speaker 8: You're planning to quantify that?
Speaker 4: How are we proceeding?
Speaker 10: We are continuing to explore remedia alternatives.
Speaker 3: And there's something else, something even better.
Speaker 10: The Russians have a Luna fifteen craft in orbit of
Speaker 10: the Moon. There's the possibility of an accidental pollision or
Speaker 10: a deliberate one.
Speaker 4: You've got to be kidding over how reliable is that information?
Speaker 10: Houston Jadrel Bank in England has been monitoring the Luna
Speaker 10: fifteen since it was launched. Any sign of an object
Speaker 10: in your vicinity, we need to know about it as
Speaker 10: soon as possible.
Speaker 11: Over there has been a citing Houston of a Luna
Speaker 11: of something. We're not sure what it is.
Speaker 2: Over Neil may have been commander, but at that point
Speaker 2: my instincts as a fighter pilot took over.
Speaker 4: Mike.
Speaker 8: What are the latest fuel numbers for the RCS Thruster quads?
Speaker 3: We're five percent belunomenal in quad Bravo, but the others
Speaker 3: are fine.
Speaker 8: Why if the Russian craft's coming in, we need to
Speaker 8: get the thrusters ready. Let's take the RCS, select off auto,
Speaker 8: and get ready to hot fire.
Speaker 4: Neil.
Speaker 3: You didn't say anything about that, About what?
Speaker 8: I'm not waiting for Neil to say anything.
Speaker 3: Houston Buzz thinks we sha't take.
Speaker 8: A translator, Neil. We have to hot fire the thrusters
Speaker 8: to create distance from the Luna.
Speaker 4: Now is not the time yet, it is. We don't
Speaker 4: have a procedure from Houston Command.
Speaker 8: Colonel Armstrong. If the Russian craft intersects, we're talking about
Speaker 8: a seven mile a second closure.
Speaker 10: Speed Columbia flight.
Speaker 2: But I wasn't listening to Gene Krantz. This was between
Speaker 2: me and Neil.
Speaker 11: Without knowing where it's going, we could be pushing ourselves
Speaker 11: closer to it.
Speaker 8: If there's one thing I know about Neil, it's rendezvous.
Speaker 4: I know you know about it, Buzz. Everyone knows you know.
Speaker 8: What the hell does that mean?
Speaker 10: If we can sell the data on where it is
Speaker 10: going and when it'll get there, we'll develop contingencies forization too.
Speaker 10: Then we're not going to spin all the wheels, planning
Speaker 10: a procedure that we'll make a bad situation worse.
Speaker 4: Columbia go ahead, Houston.
Speaker 10: Stand by for further instructions.
Speaker 9: Roger that Ludwig said they'd go after each other, jeopardizing
Speaker 9: the mission.
Speaker 5: What's jeopardizing the mission? Gene our technical malfunctions and maybe
Speaker 5: our own incompetence.
Speaker 2: We flew on saying nothing to each other for what
Speaker 2: seemed like hours. It wasn't. All we knew was Houston
Speaker 2: was trying to figure out how to separate Eagle from
Speaker 2: Columbia without killing us, while we kept our eyes peeled
Speaker 2: for the Russian spacecraft, hoping to avoid it so they
Speaker 2: wouldn't kill us. And I thought Korea was a bitch.
Speaker 6: What have you got cliffs here? You think they've solved it.
Speaker 9: It's a new test model.
Speaker 6: There are three for three on clean undock.
Speaker 9: With the procedure change.
Speaker 6: E COMM says we can start to vent early without
Speaker 6: impacting the consumables. N FDO says, there's no effect on
Speaker 6: the trajector.
Speaker 9: Cap Com. Let's get the procedure up to the crew.
Speaker 9: If we can vent the tunnel without a hiccup, we
Speaker 9: may have dodged.
Speaker 7: A bullet Roger that flight director Columbia, Houston. We've got
Speaker 7: another checklist change for you on the undocking procedure over Houston.
Speaker 4: Should we break out the helmets.
Speaker 10: Negative, Columbia, leave the stowed for now, see anybody copy.
Speaker 10: We need you to cycle the repress from auto twice
Speaker 10: and then do the same with the dump valve. Then
Speaker 10: when you extend the probe, we want to see the
Speaker 10: barber pull on pressurization before you retract.
Speaker 3: We can start to cycle the dumb valve. On's neil
Speaker 3: and buzzer in position and the hatches are closed.
Speaker 10: In position.
Speaker 3: They're in position cycling the valve.
Speaker 12: Yim fingers cry, I'm feeling a little deja vous.
Speaker 4: Well, buzz practice makes perfect.
Speaker 10: Also on the end.
Speaker 8: RCS pressurized closing lunar module.
Speaker 3: Hatch closing command module, watch rules.
Speaker 12: Disabled, depressed back to auto, dumb valve open, ah damn venthenomenal, Houston.
Speaker 10: Roger, Columbia.
Speaker 4: We're showing zero pressure and holding fifteen seconds to zero.
Speaker 7: Looks like we're going to the moon.
Speaker 2: Run it again, Gene.
Speaker 9: How many times the rumen may be three for three,
Speaker 9: but we're only one for one. It may have been
Speaker 9: a Fluke.
Speaker 5: We got a checklist a mile long in separation scheduled
Speaker 5: for less than half an hour.
Speaker 9: Run it again, Dick.
Speaker 8: RCS pressurized, closing, lunar module hatch.
Speaker 10: Command module hatch clues.
Speaker 12: Le disabled, depressed, back to auto.
Speaker 8: Dump valve open.
Speaker 4: Pressurization systems looking good, Houston.
Speaker 10: Roger Eagle zero pressure. Excellent job, Neil. We're t minus
Speaker 10: nineteen minutes fifty four seconds to undocking of Columbia and
Speaker 10: Eagle prior to entering lunar orbit.
Speaker 8: Uh oh, there it is again at three o'clock and holding.
Speaker 10: You got Columbia.
Speaker 4: We have a moving object within visual.
Speaker 10: Can you identify? Is it a Russian Luna fifteen over?
Speaker 4: It appears to be tracking on a steady course.
Speaker 10: Eagle.
Speaker 2: Can you identify the Russian run of fifteen negative?
Speaker 4: Houston?
Speaker 8: No identification possible.
Speaker 10: The Houston or we go for undocking regardless?
Speaker 4: What do we do well, Jane.
Speaker 10: Repete Houston. Are we go for undogging and lunar descent
Speaker 10: or do we are board.
Speaker 5: Come on.
Speaker 10: Control in Columbia? Different theature changes. They're putting a tent
Speaker 10: in our RCS, fuel in ausington supplies. Are we go
Speaker 10: for module separation?
Speaker 9: You could run another test. Will the decompression hold or not?
Speaker 9: I believe it will. Don't tell me what you believe,
Speaker 9: Tell me what you know. Fundamental question, Cliff, If you
Speaker 9: were up there, I am mister Krantz.
Speaker 4: We have Sir Bernard online nine oh one.
Speaker 2: Sir Bernard?
Speaker 4: What is it?
Speaker 10: Bad bit of luck?
Speaker 3: Chris?
Speaker 8: And I'm afraid the latest orbit of the Soviet craft
Speaker 8: only increases the possibility of an intercept.
Speaker 12: We're less than ten minutes from separation.
Speaker 8: Our rate of thrust or fuel consumption requires a go
Speaker 8: or abort decision.
Speaker 10: There's no safety in the former and no glory in
Speaker 10: the latter. Makes for a moment of broad high drama,
Speaker 10: doesn't it.
Speaker 2: I'll keep you informed.
Speaker 10: Speaking on.
Speaker 11: Repeat, Houston, where are we on Columbia? Eagle separation running.
Speaker 10: Through final Columbia.
Speaker 2: It was at that time I decided to introduce a
Speaker 2: novel concept in the proceedings.
Speaker 8: Is someone gonna make up their mind?
Speaker 4: Or what.
Speaker 9: Activate the squad boxes?
Speaker 5: Deacon gotcha?
Speaker 9: Eagle, this is flight. You are cleared for separation. You're
Speaker 9: cleared for separation. Testings over.
Speaker 11: This is the real McCoy Roger Houston, buzz and I
Speaker 11: will proceed into the lunar module.
Speaker 3: Come here, palass I gave Mike a hug.
Speaker 2: We knew it might be the last time we'd see
Speaker 2: each other, but we weren't about to say so. Pilot's
Speaker 2: don't do that now.
Speaker 8: When I get back, you better have saved me. Shrimp cocktail,
Speaker 8: You got.
Speaker 4: It, buzz, Come on, Buys.
Speaker 6: We'll know within seconds of the latch actuators triggering whether
Speaker 6: we've lost whole pressure. At that point, we won't have
Speaker 6: very much time to egress before the lunar module gets
Speaker 6: too far away from Mike to catch up with it.
Speaker 6: If everything looks.
Speaker 9: Good, we won't know about subsystem integrity till we're halfway
Speaker 9: down to the surface. There's another thing, Jane flight dynamics.
Speaker 6: If they outgas even a little, it's gonna push them
Speaker 6: off course.
Speaker 9: Look, let's just get them undocked and make sure they
Speaker 9: can still breathe.
Speaker 5: And then there's the Russian craft Jane.
Speaker 9: One disaster at a time.
Speaker 10: Columbia Houston rule zero zero zero zero zero seven zero
Speaker 10: zero zero.
Speaker 11: And Tenata Omni RCS pressurized closing hatch, closing.
Speaker 3: Hatch disabling roll looking good.
Speaker 8: Columbia Cycling complete dumb valve initiate.
Speaker 4: We have nominal depressurization and our go for separation.
Speaker 3: Houston, Copular Meal, you or go for undocking latch retract
Speaker 3: in three two.
Speaker 2: One, Neil hit the switch and the docking mechanisms disengage
Speaker 2: the two spacecraft. As they separated. I could see the
Speaker 2: blackness of space in but was the tunnel between the craft?
Speaker 2: What a sight?
Speaker 4: Houston, we have separation.
Speaker 10: We are go for Luna landing.
Speaker 2: All systems looking good, but all systems worked.
Speaker 10: We're doing explosively compression in the docking assembly.
Speaker 7: Roger Houston. We're reading the same thing.
Speaker 5: There's we're getting buckling in the lunar module pressure health
Speaker 5: and the gimbals are going crazy.
Speaker 9: Umbia, we're seeing on all access rotation in both vehicles.
Speaker 9: Null those rates. Columbia. Can you see Eagle?
Speaker 4: Eagle?
Speaker 7: Are you reading Columbia, Columbia, Eagle, We're still showing rotation.
Speaker 7: Do you have hot fire on your thrusters?
Speaker 2: Over Eagle?
Speaker 9: We need you to stabilize to recover calms. Columbia and
Speaker 9: the Eagle, are you reading us?
Speaker 4: Repeat?
Speaker 9: Colombia and Eagle, this is flight. Are you reading us? Colombia?
Speaker 9: This is Houston. Are you in visual contact with Eagle Capcom.
Speaker 9: Are you receiving nothing on high or Low.
Speaker 4: Eagle?
Speaker 9: Do you have a visual on Colombia? Eagle Colombia, this
Speaker 9: is flight. Please respond.
Speaker 1: Buzz, starring John Lithgow and Jeffrey Errand, is created by
Speaker 1: Stephen Cronish and directed by John Scott Dryden. Chapter six
Speaker 1: is written by Matt Graham and Stephen Cronish. Original music
Speaker 1: is by Sasha Putnam. Sound designed by Elouise Whitmore. The
Speaker 1: 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 Hoff Productions
Speaker 1: and iHeart Podcasts.