AN EVENING WITH BUZZ ALDRIN
Philip Mantle
October 30, 2008
A packed audience waited in anticipation as the 6 o´clock start time came around. We weren´t kept waiting for long. At around 6.05 pm, after a brief introduction, Buzz Aldrin took the stage and received a standing ovation. The three or four hundred people in the audience had waited patiently and they wee not to be disappointed.
It was soon apparent to the attendant audience that there was much more to Buzz Aldrin than his historic trip to the Moon. Born in 1930 his father was already an aviation pioneer. Buzz had his first flight in his father´s private plane at the age of two and he was hooked. Aldrin was educated at the military academy of West Point graduating with honours in l951. He immediately joined the air force. He served as a fighter pilot in the Korean War and flew over 60 combat missions in Sabre jets shooting down two enemy aircraft. According to Aldrin, these Sabre jets were the best aircraft he had ever flown. After the end of the war Aldrin returned to education. This time it was MIT where he obtained his doctorate in astronautics. It was l963 when Aldrin was selected by NASA as one of their astronauts.
In November 1966 Aldrin set a record for space walking during his flight on Gemini X11. Aldrin commented how beautiful it was to be floating in space and moving at 17,000 mph and looking back at the big blue marble, planet Earth.
Of course Aldrin is known by most people as the second man on the Moon. It was July 20 l969 when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin made their historic walk on the Moon. Magnificent desolation was Aldrin´s description of the lunar landscape. While talking about the Apollo 11 Moon landing Aldrin had a few words for those who believe that the whole things was a hoax, "We went there, go ask the Russians, they know" was his quip. It goes without saying that this historic event is truly a landmark event in human history. Aldrin made it quite clear that they were not there to represent #the USA, or any government, but they were there to represent the whole of mankind.
It would seem that the euphoria that awaited the returning astronauts and the fact that Aldrin´s mother had committed suicide a year before Apollo 11, were all too much for Aldrin. He openly admitted that he fell into depression and alcoholism but he had now been free of this problem for over 30 years.
In l988 Aldrin married his wife Lois who was with him during this presentation. Since his return from the Moon Aldrin was still involved in space research and had many strings to his bows. He´d even found the time to author two books. The first, a science fiction novel entitled ´Encounter With Tiber´ even had a forward by Arthur C. Clarke.
Aldrin spoke with passion concerning the future of manned spaceflight pointing out that if man should journey to Mars then there is no point in just pone or two astronauts going there. Space he said should be for as many people as possible. If we can´t get a lot of people to Mars then we should wait until we can stated Aldrin in no uncertain terms.
The entire lecture was punctuated with warmth and humour. When speaking about the iconic photo of himself standing on the Moon´s surface he had often been asked why this one photograph was sp special. With a smile on his face Aldrin said it was simple why this one photograph was so special and he could sum it up in three words: "Location, location, location". The audience roared with laughter.
Aldrin admitted that both the Apollo program and the Space Shuttle had not lived up to expectations. He hoped that mankind would soon return to the Moon and set up a permanent base on Mars. His lecture ended with a rapturous round of applause and another standing ovation.
There was of course time for a question and answer session. In answer to one question about the speed and thrust required for take off in the Saturn Five rocket Aldrin brought more laughter to the audience when he said that "We flew at 7 inches to the gallon". For those interested in the UFO subject he was asked to explain the unidentified light they observed on the way to the Moon. Aldrin was of the opinion that it was one of the panels from the rocket that had been jettisoned earlier but he could say conclusively that it was one of the panels but this was the most likely explanation.
All in all it was a well presented and well illustrated lecture enjoyed it would seem by most people in the audience. My only complaint was that it total, it was only an hour long. My only other complaint I should say was that it was £20.00 per ticket so I don´t want to hear any complaints about future UFO DATA conference tickets prices.
The organisers hope to try and entice Neil Armstrong next time and they thanked everyone for making the evening a success. I exited quickly with my ´I´ve met Buzz Aldrin´ fridge magnet tucked safely into my pocket. If Neil Armstrong does make an appearance, and judging by the success of this event, they are going to need a bigger venue.
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