The Sporadic Curmudgeon

Neil Armstrong gets all the glory. Buzz Aldrin was second on the Moon, and poor Michael Collins was stuck playing nursemaid up in the command module. That all happened FORTY YEARS AGO TODAY!!!

Neil’s a great guy, and Michael just about meets the requirements for sainthood, but Buzz is my man. Back when I was working retail, if there was another David on staff, I’d volunteer to put “Buzz” on my nametag in honor of him.

A few years ago, one of those obnoxious “the moon landings were faked” idiots started giving Buzz a hard time. Buzz punched him in the face. Have I mentioned how much I love Buzz Aldrin?

So celebrate today, the 40th anniversary of the greatest achievement we evolved apes have ever accomplished. And if some moron comes up to you blathering about no stars in the pictures, or how was the flag waving if there’s no air, or how come we can see details in the shadows, just ask yourself: What Would Buzz Do?

July 16, 1969 was when Apollo 11 lifted off from Cape Kennedy and headed for the Moon, carrying explorers Michael Collins, Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong. The Saturn V rocket, as big as a skyscraper, rushed into the sky, and all the world watched and hoped.

It’s hard to explain to people, in this age of space stations and Mars rovers, how jaw-droppingly audacious it was. Just a few short years earlier the idea of sending people to another world was sheer science fiction. The onboard computers had less processing power than a cheap cellphone. People still used slide rules for quick calculations. The skin of the Lunar Module was titanium foil; they were constantly afraid they would accidentally put a foot through it.

A lot has been made of how expensive the manned space program is. Here’s something I bet you didn’t know: From Project Mercury through Project Apollo cost less than one year of the Vietnam War, and created hundreds of thousands of American jobs.

These were brave, brave men sitting on top of that monstrous pillar of kerosene and liquid oxygen. They carried with them a dream that had tantalized humanity since the dawn of time: to fly to the Moon.

Here’s to them, and the scores of dedicated and brilliant people that put them there. Godspeed.

A note: The icon I use for the “Space” topic is the Mars rocket designed in 1953 by the designer of the Saturn V, Wernher von Braun.