BUZZ ALDRIN QUOTES II
American astronaut (1930- )
I wasn't immediately taken with the idea of space travel. I was in Germany flying supersonic F100s in 1957, the year of Sputnik. We were on nuclear alert in case the Soviet Union invaded Europe. Sputnik going over our heads -- neek-neek-neek -- was not of much interest. But in 1959, Life magazine showed pictures of the Mercury spacecraft and talked about selecting the first astronauts. I hadn't trained as a test pilot so I didn't think I'd be eligible. But in 1963 NASA relaxed the requirements and focused more on academic achievements, which put me near the top of the list.
BUZZ ALDRIN
The Big Issue, Sep. 10, 2013
Once you've been first, it cannot be done again. Not by you, not by anyone else.
BUZZ ALDRIN
Esquire, Jan. 2003
It's not the value of the rocks we brought back, or the great poetic statements that will be uttered. Those things aren't remembered. It's that people witnessed that event. We are not going to justify going to Mars by what we bring back.
BUZZ ALDRIN
Magnificent Desolation
When you're part of the pioneering effort, there's a focusing of an individual's concentration and level of attention that is at the exclusion of a lot of other things. It's kind of gun-barrel vision.
BUZZ ALDRIN
attributed, Rocket Men: The Epic Story of the First Men on the Moon
We were probably not as lighthearted as Clooney and Sandra Bullock. We didn't tell too many jokes when people were in some position of jeopardy outside the spacecraft, but I think that's the humanity coming through in the characters. This movie gave great clarity to looking down and seeing the features of Earth ... but there weren't enough clouds, and maybe there was too precise a delineation from space.
BUZZ ALDRIN
on the movie Gravity, The Hollywood Reporter, Oct. 11, 2013
I was exhilarated, but also guarded. We were on show. There was nobody around for hundreds of thousands of miles. But there was a camera and a radio and many millions of people watching. We were aware of that, and that causes you to focus your attention and make sure you aren't making mistakes. You're on stage, but it's a very unusual stage.
BUZZ ALDRIN
"Buzz Aldrin: Down to Earth", Psychology Today, May/June 2001
Let me say, as I sit here before you today, having walked on the moon, that I am myself still awed by that miracle. That awe, in me and in each of us ... must be the engine of future achievement, not a slow-dimming light from a time once bright.
BUZZ ALDRIN
testimony before congressional hearing held at the Air and Space Museum, May 9, 1997
The first time I applied to be an astronaut, NASA turned me down. I was not a test pilot, they said, and at that time, NASA wanted only test pilots. Other people, no matter how bright or talented, need not apply. Sure, I was disappointed, but I was determined and I knew the sky was not the limit, so I applied again.
BUZZ ALDRIN
No Dream Is Too High: Life Lessons From a Man Who Walked on the Moon
I inherited depression from my mother's side of the family. Her father committed suicide. She committed suicide the year before I went to the moon.
BUZZ ALDRIN
New York Times, Jun. 15, 2009
Bravery comes along as a gradual accumulation of discipline.
BUZZ ALDRIN
"What I've Learned", Esquire, January 2003
I'm convinced that sending people to Mars is so expensive that if you go once and bring the people back and then go again and bring the people back, we're eventually going to run out of money. But what if we send people the first time and they don't come back? What if they stay there?
BUZZ ALDRIN
Vanity Fair, Jul. 2010
We have the ability, at such high fidelity, to simulate the physical world through computers. But when the spiritual world or human behavior comes into play, we don't have a very good model for that at all.
BUZZ ALDRIN
"What I've Learned", Esquire, January 2003
My petite little platinum blonde beauty of a wife suddenly turned into a public-relations dynamo. "The business is Buzz!" she proclaimed, and indeed so it became.
BUZZ ALDRIN
"The Dark Side of the Moon", GQ, January 2015
There were actually 4 people in the Apollo 11 spacecraft ... but we got hungry.
BUZZ ALDRIN
"Buzz Aldrin's Moon Scoops", The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, May 4, 2016
Throughout history we've dreamed of the moon, and wondered if people would ever go there. The magnificence of our achievement for humanity was that we were there. But when I looked around I saw the most desolate sight imaginable. No oxygen, no life, just the lunar surface that hasn't changed for thousands of years--and the blackness of the sky. It was the most desolate thing I could ever think of. And that's why I said those words: the magnificence of the achievement and the desolation of where we were.
BUZZ ALDRIN
"Buzz Aldrin Hates Being Called the Second Man on the Moon", National Geographic, April 18, 2016
What comes after the moon? I think you can guess: Mars.
BUZZ ALDRIN
Mission to Mars: My Vision for Space Exploration
The future is about wings and wheels and new forms of space transportation, along with our deep-space ambition to set foot on another world in our solar system: Mars. I firmly believe we will establish permanence on that planet. And in reaching for that goal, we can cultivate commercial development of the moon, the asteroid belt, the Red Planet itself and beyond.
BUZZ ALDRIN
"Buzz Aldrin: Pioneers Will Always Pave the Way With Sacrifice", Time, November 7, 2014
The view from space is like having a globe on your desk -- it's a broadening experience.
BUZZ ALDRIN
"Holidays in Space Only 20 Years Away", Space, November 19, 1999
When I returned from the Moon, I fell into a series of depressions and bouts with alcohol because I had great difficulty finding something meaningful to do. After you have done what no human beings have done in all of history ... it is hard to get excited about a "normal" job or a mundane military career. So for a while, I experienced a roller coaster of emotions, and it wasn't until I returned to what I was passionate about -- space exploration -- that I truly found my equilibrium again.
BUZZ ALDRIN
No Dream Is Too High: Life Lessons From a Man Who Walked on the Moon
Each flight designs their own symbolic patch. I was interested in finding something special and symbolic about humans going to land on the Moon for the first time. I couldn't come up with something individual but we finally came up with the idea of using the symbol of our country, the eagle, looking ready to land on the Moon, with an image of Earth behind it. It was suggested the eagle carry an olive branch in his beak, an image of peace. But that was rejected because it looked too aggressive, with the open claws of the eagle reaching out for the Moon. So we put the olive branch in its claws and that's how the badge ended up.
BUZZ ALDRIN
The Big Issue, Sep. 10, 2013