I was ten years old when Apollo 11 landed on the moon. It captured my imagination, and like a lot of kids I dreamed of traveling through space. I could describe in detail how the Apollo rocket functioned and was mesmerized by any news that had to do with the moon landing. I was even on Captain Satellite, a local TV show for kids!
So I had to read the autobiography of Buzz Aldrin, the second man on the moon. He’s 80-years old now, and still going strong on Dancing with the Stars. The guy’s life is amazing: a West Point graduate, an ace fighter pilot during the Koren War (he shot down two enemy MiGs), and the holder of a doctorate from MIT. All that before he landed on the moon with Neil Armstrong!
The first few chapters describe the moon landing and the tremendous response afterward (which he was not prepared for). But the book primarily covers his life after the moon landing when he dealt with his own personal hell of depression and alcoholism. It ruined his marriage, and he remarried too quickly, resulting in another divorce. Finally, through good counseling and the help of Alcoholics Anonymous, he bulldozed his way through his problems. It came at a price, of course, and he still admits to having bouts with depression. But he says he is healthier now than at anytime since returning from the moon.
The books pays a great deal of attention on Buzz the celebrity, including anecdotes about Buzz Lightyear, hobnobbing with the rich/famous, being a “ladies man” in the wild atmosphere of 1970’s Los Angeles, and hiring an attorney to stop people from using his image without permission. At times it’s a bit much and I wanted to skip parts that felt narcissistic. But I suppose they are important parts of his life, and this is his autobiography. Ultimately, hey, the guy walked on the moon … I’ll give him some slack.
The real purpose of the book is to leverage his celebrity to push his ideas for space exploration. He has a dream of space tourism and bemoans that other countries are way ahead of us in this arena. He slams NASA and their short-sighted view on things, and can’t believe Congress doesn’t do more to fund space exploration. He makes some good points.
Aldrin is a scientist at his core. He’s not a philosopher, not a poet, not even a particularly good writer. So there are times when it would have been nice to go deeper on such issues as depression, addiction, or even celebrity worship. Aldrin has experienced them all and I’m sure he has some great insights to share. He tries, but I feel like it comes up a bit short at times. This is balanced by fascinating insights about the future of space travel.
I admire Colonel Aldrin and consider him a true American hero. His walk on the moon united the world and gave us all something to be proud of. He was an honest and hard working man who excelled at virtually everything he did. He persevered through afflictions that few of us can imagine.
So, as I said, he’s a hero. A real one. And now he’ll have to overcome his greatest challenge: compete on Dancing with the Stars at the age of 80. Somehow I think they’ll rename it Dancing with the Moon before long.