Scientists on Reddit

Buzz Aldrin

Apollo 11 astronaut, second person on the Moon

u/BuzzAldrinHere ↗AMA only

How we know it's theirs

The 2014 r/IAmA AMA, posted from this account

We retrieved 2 posts and 65 comments from u/BuzzAldrinHere, all from 2014, most often in r/IAmA.

Best moment

A redditor wrote in r/IAmA

On “I am Buzz Aldrin, engineer, American astronaut, and the second person to walk on the moon during the Apollo 11 moon landing. AMA!”

What's the most frightening moment that you have ever experienced in space?

u/BuzzAldrinHere replied

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I believe it was after leaving the surface of the moon and completing a successful rendezvous with Mike Collins in the command module, as we approached connecting / docking, the procedures in the checklist said one thing, and I thought maybe doing it a slightly different way, rolling and pitching instead of something else, and I thought that was better on the spur of the moment! It turns out that it was not a good thing to do, because it caused the platform to become locked, and we were not able to use the primary thrusters, the primary guidance, to control the spacecraft, to its final few feet to dock and join the other spacecraft. That was my mistake. I suggested to my commander that we do it differently, and it was his mistake to assume that i knew what I was talking about. So we both made mistakes - brought about by me! We recovered successfully on the "abort guidance" system.

(I don't admit that to many people)

(but I'm sure the mission controllers in Houston, while it was happening or certainly afterwards, they certainly knew what had happened, but fortunately they didn't squeal on us)

More moments

A redditor wrote in r/IAmA

On “I am Dr. Buzz Aldrin, back again on reddit. I am an aeroastro engineer, and crew member of humanity's first landing on the moon. AMA!”

Hi Buzz. I read that there was no plan B to get you off the moon in case of equipment failure, and you'd be simply left to die. What was your personal plan if this would of happend?

u/BuzzAldrinHere replied

To continue trying to fix the problem until the lack of oxygen caused us go to sleep.

A redditor wrote in r/IAmA

On “I am Buzz Aldrin, engineer, American astronaut, and the second person to walk on the moon during the Apollo 11 moon landing. AMA!”

Col Aldrin, what went through your head when you first looked back and saw the Earth from space?

u/BuzzAldrinHere replied

"Where are the billions and billions and billions of people, on what I'm looking at? We're the only 3 that are not back there."

And we didn't get to celebrate. Because we were out of town.

A redditor wrote in r/IAmA

On “I am Buzz Aldrin, engineer, American astronaut, and the second person to walk on the moon during the Apollo 11 moon landing. AMA!”

Is there any experience on Earth that even compares slightly to having been on the Moon?

u/BuzzAldrinHere replied

My first words of my impression of being on the surface of the Moon that just came to my mind was "Magnificent desolation." The magnificence of human beings, humanity, Planet Earth, maturing the technologies, imagination and courage to expand our…

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My first words of my impression of being on the surface of the Moon that just came to my mind was "Magnificent desolation." The magnificence of human beings, humanity, Planet Earth, maturing the technologies, imagination and courage to expand our capabilities beyond the next ocean, to dream about being on the Moon, and then taking advantage of increases in technology and carrying out that dream - achieving that is magnificent testimony to humanity. But it is also desolate - there is no place on earth as desolate as what I was viewing in those first moments on the Lunar Surface.

Because I realized what I was looking at, towards the horizon and in every direction, had not changed in hundreds, thousands of years. Beyond me I could see the moon curving away - no atmosphere, black sky. Cold. Colder than anyone could experience on Earth when the sun is up- but when the sun is up for 14 days, it gets very, very hot. No sign of life whatsoever.

That is desolate. More desolate than any place on Earth.