Buzz Aldrin Quotes

The person you love is 72.8% water, and it hasn't rained for weeks.

Neil Armstrong was the first man to walk on the moon. I am the first man to piss his pants on the moon.

It takes vast willpower, luck, and skill to be the first. But it takes a gigantic heart to be number two.

Mars is there, waiting to be reached.

I believe that every human has a finite number of heart-beats. I don't intend to waste any of mine running around doing exercises.

Q. Your idea of the perfect day … A. Sleep in. Meet Buzz Aldrin for brunch. Head over to Jet Propulsion Lab and watch them control the Curiosity Mars rover. Dinner with the writing staff of Doctor Who.

On 20 July 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the surface of the moon. In the months leading up to their expedition, the Apollo II astronauts trained in a remote moon-like desert in the western United States. The area is home to several Native American communities, and there is a story – or legend – describing an encounter between the astronauts and one of the locals. One day as they were training, the astronauts came across an old Native American. The man asked them what they were doing there. They replied that they were part of a research expedition that would shortly travel to explore the moon. When the old man heard that, he fell silent for a few moments, and then asked the astronauts if they could do him a favour. ‘What do you want?’ they asked. ‘Well,’ said the old man, ‘the people of my tribe believe that holy spirits live on the moon. I was wondering if you could pass an important message to them from my people.’ ‘What’s the message?’ asked the astronauts. The man uttered something in his tribal language, and then asked the astronauts to repeat it again and again until they had memorised it correctly. ‘What does it mean?’ asked the astronauts. ‘Oh, I cannot tell you. It’s a secret that only our tribe and the moon spirits are allowed to know.’ When they returned to their base, the astronauts searched and searched until they found someone who could speak the tribal language, and asked him to translate the secret message. When they repeated what they had memorised, the translator started to laugh uproariously. When he calmed down, the astronauts asked him what it meant. The man explained that the sentence they had memorised so carefully said, ‘Don’t believe a single word these people are telling you. They have come to steal your lands.

Bravery comes along as a gradual accumulation of discipline

Jeg tenkte på ting jeg hadde lest. At den som skal dø, mister sansene i minuttene før. En etter en. Først smakssansen, senere evnen til å lukte. Så forsvinner synet. Berøringssansen. Hørselen. Opplevelsen av smerte. Som å slukke lysene og gå fra kontoret for dagen, låse etter seg og miste nøklene på vegen hjem.

To me, that is one of the most important principles of life: Never leave your friends behind.

KEEP IN MIND THAT progress is not always linear. It takes constant course correcting and often a lot of zigzagging. Unfortunate things happen, accidents occur, and setbacks are usually painful, but that does not mean we quit.

Magnificent, magnificent desolation.

You’re the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” What he meant by that, of course, is that the people with whom you repeatedly choose to associate will have an enormous impact on you, either positively or negatively.

ты что, пытаешься найти самого себя? Но вдруг тот, кого ты найдёшь, тебе не понравится, а придётся прожить с ним всю жизнь?

La persona che ami è fatta per il 72,8% d'acqua e non piove da settimane.

Remember, your mind is like a parachute: If it isn’t open, it doesn’t work. So keep an open mind!

Regardless of how you believe the universe was created, it is there waiting for humans to explore.

MYTH506. | There is an American flag on the Moon. According to Buzz Aldrin, one of the astronauts who was on the Moon, he and Neil Armstrong accidentally placed the original American flag too close to their spacecraft, and when they took off, the flag was blown away.

Albert von Szent-Györgyi, the Hungarian Nobel Prize–winning physiologist who first discovered the benefits of vitamin C, was fond of saying, “Discovery lies in seeing what everyone sees, but thinking what no one else has thought.” That

How desperate is it possible to be That's something that's never been researched. There are no statistics. There are no graphs to compare oneself with. No diagrams with uplifting figures. I could still change my mind. Go back to bed. It'll sort itself out all this I thought. No it won't I thought. It really won't.

Ir à lua e voltar não é tão desafiador quanto retornar à terra e ter de lidar com a humanidade.

Much more than talent or a pleasant personality, perseverance and persistence will open doors for you, if you simply keep working toward your goal and refuse to give up.

Humanity is destined to explore, settle, and expand outward into the universe.

Любимый твой на 72,8 % состоит из воды, а дождя вот уже как несколько недель не было.

But failure is not a sign of weakness. It is a sign that you are alive and growing.

Cultures can’t remain static,” says Buzz Aldrin, the second man to step onto the moon. “They evolve or expire, explore or decline.

Simply put, I was without a career, and I was feeling the aftereffects of it all. As always, I was standing by, ready for liftoff, but I needed to realign my direction and find a new runway.

Instead of taking a bow for walking on the moon, Colonel Buzz Aldrin, PhD, told his admirers, “It’s something we did. Now we should do something else,” apparently no more satisfied than if he had painted a fence. His desire was not to bask in his glory but to find “something else”—the next big challenge that could hold his interest. This perpetual need to identify a goal and calculate a way to reach it was perhaps the most important factor in his historic success. But it’s not easy having so much dopamine coursing through the control circuits. It almost certainly played a significant role in Aldrin’s post-lunar struggle with depression, alcoholism, three divorces, suicidal impulses, and a stay on a psychiatric ward, which he described in his candid autobiography, Magnificent Desolation: The Long Journey Home from the Moon.

One truth I have discovered for sure: When you believe that all things are possible and you are willing to work hard to accomplish your goals, you can achieve the next “impossible” dream. No dream is too high!

Мы с Йорном много говорили о прошлом. Он сказал, что любить кого-то — это все равно что плыть в одной большой лодке, и если один разлюбил, то надо подождать, пока лодка пристанет к берегу, чтобы другой мог добраться до суши.

Вот так мы и сидели по вечерам в комнате Эннен. Я и человек, которого ты всегда мечтал повстречать. И человек этот до одури слушает «Кардиганс». А я думаю о том, что именно тебя мне нужно было встретить много лет назад и обнять.

Here is one way to conceptualize NASA's heroic era: in 1961, Kennedy gave his "moon speech" to Congress, charging them to put an American on the moon "before the decade is out." In the eight years that unspooled between Kennedy's speech and Neil Armstrong's first historic bootprint, NASA, a newborn government agency, established sites and campuses in Texas, Florida, Alabama, California, Ohio, Maryland, Mississippi, Virginia, and the District of Columbia; awarded multi-million-dollar contracts and hired four hundred thousand workers; built a fully functioning moon port in a formerly uninhabited swamp; designed and constructed a moonfaring rocket, spacecraft, lunar lander, and space suits; sent astronauts repeatedly into orbit, where they ventured out of their spacecraft on umbilical tethers and practiced rendezvous techniques; sent astronauts to orbit the moon, where they mapped out the best landing sites; all culminating in the final, triumphant moment when they sent Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to step out of their lunar module and bounce about on the moon, perfectly safe within their space suits. All of this, start to finish, was accomplished in those eight years.

Если бы мне разрешили загадать одно-единственное желание, я пожелал бы, чтобы ничего не менялось. Чтобы все навсегда так и осталось. Чтобы все было предсказуемо.

Het vereist enorme wilskracht, mazzel en vakkundigheid om eerste te worden. Maar er is een reusachtig hart voor nodig om nummer twee te zijn.

Fear paralyzes in many ways, but especially if it keeps you from responding wisely and intelligently to challenges. The only way to overcome your fears is to face them head-on.

Pick an amazing dream and go for it. Don't merely make a living; make a life. Launch out farther than you've ever gone before. Today, you have a shot at forever.

Het was een dinsdag. Het was niet anders. De dag van de middelmaat. Het paradepaardje van de nutteloze dagen.

Always be open to advice from others, but what matters most is who you want to be, not merely what you want to do—

En in de lente van 1979 besloot ik in al die drukte in de wereld te verdwijnen, nummer twee te worden, iemand die nuttig wilde zijn in plaats van op te vallen, die deed wat hem gevraagd werd. Maar dat is uiteraard een gedachte achteraf, dat het toen begon, een poging het beginpunt van een leven vast te pinnen. Alleen in de fictie, in films en romans kun je het exacte tijdstip van een verandering vaststellen. In de werkelijkheid komt de keuze geleidelijk, de gedachte ontwikkelt zich stukje bij beetje en misschien was het pas ergens in de brugklas dat ik actief besloot om onzichtbaar te zijn.

Время от времени над покатыми вершинами круглых гор вспархивают стайки птиц — чаек и тупиков, а потом, паря прямо над самой поверхностью воды, они исчезают в изгибах заливов. И еще овцы. Овцы. Овцы. Овцы в горах.

Пятница. С пятницами надо поосторожней. Они обещают слишком уж многое. Они словно рецензия на кинофильм. Лишь в редких случаях предсказанное ими сбывается. Большинство пятниц — просто-напросто продолжение недели.

All work is noble, if it is legal and ethical, so do your best, whether you are first, second, or last. Never lose an opportunity, a job, an election, a competition, or anything else because you were too lazy to give it your best effort.

THESE ARE A FEW OF MY FAVORITE life lessons that I learned as a result of walking on the Moon and the preparation that took us there—the guiding principles that have helped keep me going since returning to Earth. • The sky is not the limit … there are footprints on the Moon! • Keep your mind open to possibilities. • Show me your friends, and I will show you your future. • Second comes right after first. • Write your own epitaph. • Maintain your spirit of adventure. • Failure is always an option. • Practice respect for all people. • Do what you believe is right even when others choose otherwise. • Trust your gut … and your instruments. • Laugh … a lot! • Keep a young mind-set at every age. • Help others go beyond where you have gone. I hope these lessons will be as helpful to you as they have been to me. Take it from a man who has walked on the Moon: Be careful what you dream—it just might come to pass, so be prepared. Apollo is the story of people at their best, working together for a common goal. We started with a dream, and we can do these kinds of things again. With a united effort and a great team, you too can achieve great things. I know, because I am living proof that no dream is too high!

В тот вечер, полтора месяца назад, когда я в канун нового года очутился в море и начал пробиваться сквозь толщу воды, в голову мне пришла одна мысль. По-моему, именно тогда, очутившись под водой, я влюбился. В этом мире нет ничего нового, но под водой начинается совсем другая песня.

Vader leek wanhopig. 'Maar, Mattias , je weet dat het onmogelijk is geen sporen na te laten. Er is altijd iemand die je ziet. Altijd iemand die zich je herinnert. Altijd iemand die van je houdt. Bijna altijd. Dat is gewoon zo.' 'Dat is het niet. Het is niet zo dat ik geen sporen wil achterlaten, ze hoeven alleen niet zo zichtbaar te zijn. Ik hoef geen handafdruk in cement. Ik hoef niet geïnterviewd te worden om wat ik doe. Is dat zo erg? Dat je geen behoefte hebt om gezien te worden? Niet iedereen wil vooraan staan. Er zijn ook mensen nodig die nummer twee willen zijn.

Если кто-то умирает на Фарерах, не нужно дополнительно отпрашиваться с работы. Люди приходят на похороны, потому что с каждым умершим численность населения уменьшается. Теперь одного из них ты уже точно не встретишь по дороге домой. Не стало человека, который говорил на одном с тобой языке.

Он ушел, а я сидел как истукан на диване, уставившись через окно на воду, на море, и ждал, что вода вот-вот поднимется, разобьет окна, осыплет меня стеклянными осколками, заполнит комнату и вынесет меня из дома. Но этого не произошло: море спокойно лежало голубым пледом, укрывающим мир, а в лицо мне светило солнце.

На ее ресницы, должно быть, опускались снежинки, и она могла бы смахнуть их своими красными варежками, но не смахивала. Сняв одну варежку, она потерла нос, затем надела ее назад и поежилась от холода. Я долепил снежок и закинул его на крышу. Шлеп. А потом она обняла меня и поцеловала. И я обнял ее. Вот так, на малый сочельник, мы с Хелле и начали встречаться.

Дороги казались мне знакомыми, хотя пейзаж здесь был довольно однообразным: зелень и сырость, так что мне захотелось прилечь где-нибудь на холме. Трава была очень влажной, и казалось, водой с нее можно напиться, втянуть в себя ее влагу, не думая о том, что она может оказаться грязной, со ртутью и отходами тяжелой промышленности. Мне захотелось лечь там и дождаться дождя, который непременно начнется, вопрос только — когда.

All work is noble, if it is legal and ethical, so do your best, whether you are first, second, or last. Never lose an opportunity, a job, an election, a competition, or anything else because you were too lazy to give it your best effort. Certainly, you need rest and recreation, but keep those in balance with hard work. Remember, while you are partying, someone else is working hard to succeed. It’s okay to be second, as long as you do the absolute best you can do.

Ты приносишь из «Гардероба А» пиво, протягиваешь бутылку отцу, а тот открывает ее найденной на столе зажигалкой. Такого тебе еще не доводилось видеть, ты полагал, что он только открывалкой умеет пользоваться. В отце ты узнаешь себя, ты сам станешь именно таким, от этой мысли тебе спокойно, и ты улыбаешься. Внезапно ты понимаешь, что именно из таких мелочей и состоят окружающие и твое непонимание их — это цена, которую ты, стараясь быть неуязвимым, платишь за то, что от них отстраняешься.

El 20 de julio de 1969, Neil Armstrong y Buzz Aldrin ponían un pie sobre la superficie de la Luna. En los meses que antecedieron a su expedición, los astronautas del Apolo 11 se adiestraron en un remoto desierto de aspecto lunar del oeste de Estados Unidos. La zona es el hogar de varias comunidades de americanos nativos, y hay una historia (o leyenda) que describe un encuentro entre los astronautas y uno de los habitantes locales: Un día, mientras efectuaban actividades de adiestramiento, los astronautas se encontraron con un anciano americano nativo. El hombre les preguntó qué hacían allí. Le contestaron que formaban parte de una expedición de investigación que muy pronto viajaría para explorar la Luna. Cuando el anciano oyó esto, quedó en silencio por unos momentos, y después les pidió a los astronautas si le podrían hacer un favor. —¿Qué quiere usted? —le preguntaron. —Bueno —dijo el anciano—, la gente de mi tribu cree que en la Luna viven espíritus sagrados. Me preguntaba si ustedes les podrían transmitir un mensaje importante para ellos de parte de mi pueblo. —¿Cuál es el mensaje? —preguntaron los astronautas. El hombre pronunció algo en su lenguaje tribal, y después les pidió a los astronautas que lo repitieran una y otra vez hasta que lo memorizaron correctamente. —¿Qué significa? —preguntaron los astronautas. —¡Oh!, no puedo decírselo. Es un secreto que solo nuestra tribu y los espíritus de la Luna pueden conocer. Cuando volvieron a su base, los astronautas buscaron y buscaron hasta que encontraron a alguien que podía hablar el lenguaje tribal, y le pidieron que tradujera el mensaje secreto. Al repetir lo que habían aprendido de memoria, el traductor empezó a reírse ruidosamente. Tras calmarse, los astronautas le preguntaron qué quería decir. El hombre les explicó que la frase que habían aprendido de memoria con tanto cuidado decía: «No os creáis ni una palabra de lo que esta gente os diga. Han venido para robaros vuestras tierras».

Мне казалось, что стоит лишь приехать сюда, и ты найдешь все, что искал, что потерял, все пропавшие ключи, нужные телефоны и лотерейные билеты, все свои лучшие заграничные куртки, сбежавших котят и улетевших птиц, всех, кто однажды утром бросил свои дома и уехал, кто ходил вместе с тобой в школу и с кем ты так и не попрощался в последний школьный день, потому что думал, что ничего не изменится и вы по-прежнему останетесь друзьями и будете общаться всю жизнь. Возможно, все это ты нашел бы здесь, в стране утраченного, забытого и потерянного по дороге.

On 20 July 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the surface of the moon. In the months leading up to their expedition, the Apollo II astronauts trained in a remote moon-like desert in the western United States. The area is home to several Native American communities, and there is a story –or legend –describing an encounter between the astronauts and one of the locals. One day as they were training, the astronauts came across an old Native American. The man asked them what they were doing there. They replied that they were part of a research expedition that would shortly travel to explore the moon. When the old man heard that, he fell silent for a few moments, and then asked the astronauts if they could do him a favour. ‘What do you want?’ they asked. ‘Well,’ said the old man, ‘the people of my tribe believe that holy spirits live on the moon. I was wondering if you could pass an important message to them from my people.’ ‘What’s the message?’ asked the astronauts. The man uttered something in his tribal language, and then asked the astronauts to repeat it again and again until they had memorised it correctly. ‘What does it mean?’ asked the astronauts. ‘Oh, I cannot tell you. It’s a secret that only our tribe and the moon spirits are allowed to know.’ When they returned to their base, the astronauts searched and searched until they found someone who could speak the tribal language, and asked him to translate the secret message. When they repeated what they had memorised, the translator started to laugh uproariously. When he calmed down, the astronauts asked him what it meant. The man explained that the sentence they had memorised so carefully said, ‘Don’t believe a single word these people are telling you. They have come to steal your lands.

On 20 July 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the surface of the moon. In the months leading up to their expedition, the Apollo 11 astronauts trained in a remote moon-like desert in the western United States. The area is home to several Native American communities, and there is a story – or legend – describing an encounter between the astronauts and one of the locals. One day as they were training, the astronauts came across an old Native American. The man asked them what they were doing there. They replied that they were part of a research expedition that would shortly travel to explore the moon. When the old man heard that, he fell silent for a few moments, and then asked the astronauts if they could do him a favour. ‘What do you want?’ they asked. ‘Well,’ said the old man, ‘the people of my tribe believe that holy spirits live on the moon. I was wondering if you could pass an important message to them from my people.’ ‘What’s the message?’ asked the astronauts. The man uttered something in his tribal language, and then asked the astronauts to repeat it again and again until they had memorised it correctly. ‘What does it mean?’ asked the astronauts. ‘Oh, I cannot tell you. It’s a secret that only our tribe and the moon spirits are allowed to know.’ When they returned to their base, the astronauts searched and searched until they found someone who could speak the tribal language, and asked him to translate the secret message. When they repeated what they had memorised, the translator started to laugh uproariously. When he calmed down, the astronauts asked him what it meant. The man explained that the sentence they had memorised so carefully said, ‘Don’t believe a single word these people are telling you. They have come to steal your lands.’ Empty Maps

Maar je ziet het als je oefent. Je contouren die dunner worden, je silhouet dat vervaagt. Je bent nog niet helemaal verdwenen. Dat duurt een hele poos. Jaren. Maar je verdwijnt. Je verdwijnt voor jezelf, wordt een ander, elke dag. Je bent niet wie je ooit was. De microscopisch kleine cellen die je gezicht vormen op de foto die je ouders in de kamer hebben hangen, zijn weg, vervangen door nieuwe. Je bent niet meer wie je was. Maar ik ben er nog wel, de atomen wisselen van plek. Zo is het ook met de mensen van wie je houdt. Met bijna stilstaande snelheid verkruimelen ze in je armen en je zou willen dat je je aan iets bestendigs in hen kon vastklampen, hun skelet, hun tanden kon vastpakken, de hersencellen, maar dat kun je niet, want bijna alles is water en het heeft geen zin dat vast te houden. Alle sporen verdwijnen, stukje bij beetje. En later verdwijnen de sporen die ze hebben achtergelaten, het huis waarin ze woonden, de tekeningen die ze voor je maakten, de woorden die ze op briefjes schreven. De herinneringen waarmee je achterblijft zullen uiteindelijk ook loslaten, als oud behang, en mettertijd zal het niet meer mogelijk zijn om antwoord te geven op de vraag of er op deze planeet aan de rand van dit perifere zonnestelsel ooit leven is geweest.

[...] è lei che incontri, prima o poi, in autobus, sul treno, sull'aereo, lei a cui non fai caso finché non sei seduto, lei il cui sguardo incroci all'improvviso e arrossisci, ti viene caldo, perché non ci si può innamorare così in fretta, non è così che succede, solo per l'aspetto esteriore, con uno sguardo, ma invece succede e tu sei sull'autobus e pensi che dovresti andare laggiù in fondo, dire qualcosa, pensi, dovresti scendere alla sua stessa fermata, perché non incontrerai mai più una persona più bella di questa. E se solo trovi il coraggio, se adesso dici qualcosa, se scendi insieme a lei, vai da lei, l'abbracci, allora forse, forse o di sicuro, avrai incontrato l'unica persona nell'universo che può fare di te l'essere più felice che sia mai esistito. Invece non lo fai. Non scendi quasi mai alla stessa fermata. Non ti alzi nell'autobus per dirle o dirgli qualcosa. Rimanete seduti, vi guardate o distogliete lo sguardo, fino a che uno di voi due non scende e qualche ora dopo hai già dimenticato tutto, fino a un mattino di dieci, vent'anni dopo, quando di colpo senti di nuovo la stessa fitta, te la rivedi davanti e sai che quel giorno dovevi cogliere la palla al balzo, dire qualcosa. Non l'hai fatto, e l'unica cosa che ti rimane è la certezza che almeno una volta, per un istante nella vita sei stato amato così, senza riserve, senza pretese. Un solo istante, come schioccare due dita. Melodrammatico.

In January 2004 President George W. Bush put NASA in high gear, heading back to the moon with a space vision that was to have set in motion future exploration of Mars and other destinations. The Bush space policy focused on U.S. astronauts first returning to the moon as early as 2015 and no later than 2020. Portraying the moon as home to abundant resources, President Bush did underscore the availability of raw materials that might be harvested and processed into rocket fuel or breathable air. “We can use our time on the moon to develop and test new approaches and technologies and systems that will allow us to function in other, more challenging, environments. The moon is a logical step toward further progress and achievement,” he remarked in rolling out his space policy. To fulfill the Bush space agenda required expensive new rockets—the Ares I launcher and the large, unfunded Ares V booster—plus a new lunar module, all elements of the so-called Constellation Program. The Bush plan forced retirement of the space shuttle in 2010 to pay for the return to the moon, but there were other ramifications as well. Putting the shuttle out to pasture created a large human spaceflight gap in reaching the International Space Station. The price tag for building the station is roughly $100 billion, and without the space shuttle, there’s no way to reach it without Russian assistance. In the end, the stars of the Constellation Program were out of financial alignment. It was an impossible policy to implement given limited NASA money.

All the many successes and extraordinary accomplishments of the Gemini still left NASA’s leadership in a quandary. The question voiced in various expressions cut to the heart of the problem: “How can we send men to the moon, no matter how well they fly their ships, if they’re pretty helpless when they get there? We’ve racked up rendezvous, docking, double-teaming the spacecraft, starting, stopping, and restarting engines; we’ve done all that. But these guys simply cannot work outside their ships without exhausting themselves and risking both their lives and their mission. We’ve got to come up with a solution, and quick!” One manned Gemini mission remained on the flight schedule. Veteran Jim Lovell would command the Gemini 12, and his space-walking pilot would be Buzz Aldrin, who built on the experience of the others to address all problems with incredible depth and finesse. He took along with him on his mission special devices like a wrist tether and a tether constructed in the same fashion as one that window washers use to keep from falling off ledges. The ruby slippers of Dorothy of Oz couldn’t compare with the “golden slippers” Aldrin wore in space—foot restraints, resembling wooden Dutch shoes, that he could bolt to a work station in the Gemini equipment bay. One of his neatest tricks was to bring along portable handholds he could slap onto either the Gemini or the Agena to keep his body under control. A variety of space tools went into his pressure suit to go along with him once he exited the cabin. On November 11, 1966, the Gemini 12, the last of its breed, left earth and captured its Agena quarry. Then Buzz Aldrin, once and for all, banished the gremlins of spacewalking. He proved so much a master at it that he seemed more to be taking a leisurely stroll through space than attacking the problems that had frustrated, endangered, and maddened three previous astronauts and brought grave doubts to NASA leadership about the possible success of the manned lunar program. Aldrin moved down the nose of the Gemini to the Agena like a weightless swimmer, working his way almost effortlessly along a six-foot rail he had locked into place once he was outside. Next came looping the end of a hundred-foot line from the Agena to the Gemini for a later experiment, the job that had left Dick Gordon in a sweatbox of exhaustion. Aldrin didn’t show even a hint of heavy breathing, perspiration, or an increased heartbeat. When he spoke, his voice was crisp, sharp, clear. What he did seemed incredibly easy, but it was the direct result of his incisive study of the problems and the equipment he’d brought from earth. He also made sure to move in carefully timed periods, resting between major tasks, and keeping his physical exertion to a minimum. When he reached the workstation in the rear of the Gemini, he mounted his feet and secured his body to the ship with the waist tether. He hooked different equipment to the ship, dismounted other equipment, shifted them about, and reattached them. He used a unique “space wrench” to loosen and tighten bolts with effortless skill. He snipped wires, reconnected wires, and connected a series of tubes. Mission Control hung on every word exchanged between the two astronauts high above earth. “Buzz, how do those slippers work?” Aldrin’s enthusiastic voice came back like music. “They’re great. Great! I don’t have any trouble positioning my body at all.” And so it went, a monumental achievement right at the end of the Gemini program. Project planners had reached all the way to the last inch with one crucial problem still unsolved, and the man named Aldrin had whipped it in spectacular fashion on the final flight. Project Gemini was

One of the keys to a successful life in any field is learning to take responsibility for ourselves, rather than waiting for someone else to do something for us.

It’s a bitter joke, but you’re right,” he said. “I suppose a species that all got along perfectly with each other would never make it to the stars, because they’d never argue enough to make their ideas work. And a species that thought everything through first wouldn’t get there because they’d never get around to it. So the galaxy will eventually be ruled by impetuous bickerers.

The urge to explore has propelled evolution since the first water creatures reconnoitered the land. Like all living systems, cultures cannot remain static; they evolve or decline. They explore or expire . . .

Let me hypothesize a political scenario on the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11’ s landing on the moon, in 2019. The U.S. President, whoever that may be, takes the opportunity to direct the future of human space exploration, pioneered by Americans, by stating in a speech: “I believe that this nation should commit itself, within two decades, to establish permanence on the planet Mars.

When Buzz [Aldrin] first walked on the Moon,” he says, “I’ll bet he was thinking that in forty years we’ll be walking on Mars. But we’re not, and we’re not close. Space travel is still primitive. Our rate of spaceflight is pathetically low: less than one flight every two months. Rather than go on to Mars, we have retreated to low Earth orbit.

Not every astronaut struggled postspace like Buzz Aldrin did. Several parlayed sideways rather than stopping their momentum. Earth orbiter John Glenn went into politics. Alan Shepard, America’s first man in space and the fifth to stand on the moon, became a successful businessman. Alan Bean, who moonwalked in the Apollo 12 mission, became a painter. And Apollo 15 spaceman James Irwin found fulfillment in helping others as a minister. Each parlayed his momentum into something that kept the wheels of life turning. Happy astronauts catch waves that lead to the moon, and then use the momentum to switch ladders to fulfilling careers on earth. Depression-avoidant entrepreneurs use levers to get massively rich, then parlay the momentum to build more things. But when Bear Vasquez tried to parlay his momentum for more, he got nowhere. What did he do wrong?

On 20 July 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the surface of the moon. In the months leading up to their expedition, the Apollo 11 astronauts trained in a remote moon-like desert in the western United States. The area is home to several Native American communities, and there is a story – or legend – describing an encounter between the astronauts and one of the locals. One day as they were training, the astronauts came across an old Native American. The man asked them what they were doing there. They replied that they were part of a research expedition that would shortly travel to explore the moon. When the old man heard that, he fell silent for a few moments, and then asked the astronauts if they could do him a favour. ‘What do you want?’ they asked. ‘Well,’ said the old man, ‘the people of my tribe believe that holy spirits live on the moon. I was wondering if you could pass an important message to them from my people.’ ‘What’s the message?’ asked the astronauts. The man uttered something in his tribal language, and then asked the astronauts to repeat it again and again until they had memorised it correctly. ‘What does it mean?’ asked the astronauts. ‘Oh, I cannot tell you. It’s a secret that only our tribe and the moon spirits are allowed to know.’ When they returned to their base, the astronauts searched and searched until they found someone who could speak the tribal language, and asked him to translate the secret message. When they repeated what they had memorised, the translator started to laugh uproariously. When he calmed down, the astronauts asked him what it meant. The man explained that the sentence they had memorised so carefully meant ‘Don’t believe a single word these people are telling you. They have come to steal your lands.

NN respirava con regolarità e le lancette dell'orologio avanzavano indisturbate, un secondo alla volta, io pensavo all'universo, che se fossi partito in quel momento, per esempio verso il centro della Via Lattea, alla velocità della luce, mi ci sarebbero voluti vent'anni per arrivare, mentre NN, stesa in quel letto, avrebbe dovuto aspettarne 30.000 prima di vedermi tornare. Ma nessuno può viaggiare a quella velocità. Erano le cose che pensavo quando ero triste. Einstein badava a che non ci allontanassimo troppo gli uni dagli altri.

I was voted as one of the top 25 guest stars in the entire history of the show. So I guess being second is not so bad!

Seeking help when I was suffering with depression after returning from the Moon was a lifesaver for me—perhaps, literally. Several people in my family, including my own mother, had committed suicide, so I wondered if there was a genetic predisposition that might cause me to follow their examples. Fortunately, I found excellent doctors and friends who encouraged me and helped me to recognize that I was not trapped by the past, that I could be responsible for my own decisions, and that my emotional health was much more important than my career.

This sort of thing sometimes causes people undue distress, as in the recent MIT Technology Review cover, featuring moonwalker Buzz Aldrin with the headline “YOU PROMISED ME MARS COLONIES. INSTEAD I GOT FACEBOOK.” But, in fairness, a Mars colony would cost a few trillion dollars, while Facebook is free. And, it’s worth noting that the choice of Facebook is a bit crafty. Imagine if they’d picked Wikipedia: “YOU PROMISED ME MARS COLONIES, AND ALL I GOT WAS ALL OF HUMAN KNOWLEDGE INDEXED AND AVAILABLE TO EVERYONE ON EARTH FOR FREE.

Nevertheless, I was convinced that I could be selected as an astronaut. Ed White had been accepted, and we had flown together in the Air Force during the cold war between the Soviet Union and the United States. I knew Ed was a good fighter pilot, and I was, too. “I can shoot gunnery as well as if not better than Ed can,” I said. “I’m going to apply to be an astronaut.

Più amici metti insieme, più saranno i funerali a cui finirai per dover andare. Più persone da rimpiangere quando scompariranno. Quanto più ti esponi, tante più pietre potranno tirarti. Ma chi è solo delude solo se stesso. Questo, pensavo.

Anyone who saw Albert Einstein trudging along the sidewalks of Princeton University with a briar pipe hanging out of his mouth might have assumed the odd fellow in the old, frumpy overcoat and socks that didn’t match was a hobo.

Before rejoining Jim inside, I opened the hatch and grabbed three bags of waste products and sort of pitched them over my shoulder, straight up.

The sky is not the limit, because there are footsteps on the Moon.

Stai cercando te stesso? Pensa se quello che trovi non ti piace, e devi viverci per il resto della vita

Maar, Mattias, je weet dat het onmogelijk is geen sporen na te laten. Er is altijd iemand die je ziet. Altijd iemand die zich je herinnert. Altijd iemand die van je houdt. Bijna altijd. Dat is gewoon zo.

... terwijl ik mijn gezicht in de spiegel bekijk. Dat verandert van dag tot dag. Sommige dagen meer dan andere. Niet veel, natuurlijk, maar als je goed kijkt, als je oefent, je concentreert, dan kun je de minuscule veranderingen in de huid zien, de rimpel in mijn voorhoofd die in de loop van de nacht is veranderd, misschien maar een halve millimeter. Maar je ziet het. Als je oefent. Je contouren die dunner worden, je silhouet dat vervaagt. Je bent nog niet helemaal verdwenen. Dat duurt een hele poos. Jaren. Maar je verdwijnt. Je verdwijnt voor jezelf, wordt een ander, elke dag. Je bent niet meer wie je ooit was. De microscopisch kleine cellen die je gezicht vormen op de foto die je ouders in de kamer hebben hangen, zijn weg, vervangen door nieuwe. Je bent niet meer wie je was. Maar ik ben er nog wel, de atomen wisselen van plek, niemand kan de bokkensprong van de quarks controleren. Zo is het ook met de mensen van wie je houdt. Met bijna stilstaande snelheid verkruimelen ze in je armen en je zou willen dat je je aan iets bestendigs in hen kon vastklampen, hun skelet, hun tanden kon vastpakken, de hersencellen, maar dat kun je niet, want bijna alles is water en het heeft geen zin dat vast te houden. Alle sporen verdwijnen, stukje bij beetje. En later verdwijnen de sporen die ze hebben achtergelaten, het huis waarin ze woonden, de tekeningen die ze voor je maakten, de woorden die ze op briefjes schreven. De herinneringen waarmee je achterblijft zullen uiteindelijk ook loslaten, als oud behang, en mettertijd zal het niet meer mogelijk zijn om antwoord te geven op de vraag of er op deze planeet aan de rand van dit perifere zonnestelsel ooit leven is geweest.

Het was een dinsdag. Het was niets anders. De dag van de middelmaat. Het paradepaardje van de nutteloze dagen

Dus dronk ik die avond wat ik maar te pakken kon krijgen, tot de schone glazen op en de flessen leeg waren, tot ik een hoofdkussen was, vol luchtige vulling en met een zachte kussensloop eromheen, ik pakte mijn problemen in in dromen en stuurde ze weg, stopte ze in flessen en gooide de post in zee, ...

En dan denk je dat je het nooit meer zult vergeten, vanaf vandaag ga je je erom bekommeren, vanaf vandaag zal het anders worden. Maar dat gebeurt niet, je vergeet het als je de bladzijde omslaat en dan is de gedachte alweer verdwenen, ...

Nu had ik de kans, de mogelijkheid om alles wat verkeerd was gelopen was weer goed te maken, opnieuw te beginnen. Ik hoopte denk ik dat hij gewoon binnen zou lopen, in een van de oude stoelen zou gaan zitten en dat dan het gesprek als vanzelf tegen de muren zou weerkaatsen, zoals dat het geval was geweest voordat ik vertrok. Ik zou willen dat alles had stilgestaan, zoals het stof van vorig jaar in de raamkozijnen. Maar bijna niets staat stil. Want de bergen heffen zich, de continenten verschuiven elk jaar, en ouse vriendschappen roesten in de regen.

Nu had ik de kans, de mogelijkheid om alles wat verkeerd was gelopen was weer goed te maken, opnieuw te beginnen. Ik hoopte denk ik dat hij gewoon binnen zou lopen, in een van de oude stoelen zou gaan zitten en dat dan het gesprek als vanzelf tegen de muren zou weerkaatsen, zoals dat het geval was geweest voordat ik vertrok. Ik zou willen dat alles had stilgestaan, zoals het stof van vorig jaar in de raamkozijnen. Maar bijna niets staat stil. Want de bergen heffen zich, de continenten verschuiven elk jaar, en oude vriendschappen roesten in de regen.

Was het een overhaast besluit? Was het laffer dan trekvogels? Nee, dat was het niet. Soms moet je gewoon weggaan. Af en toe moet je alle schepen achter je verbranden en vertrekken. En alleen kapiteins die bang zijn voor hun reputatie gaan met het schip ten onder. Ik stond klaar om in de reddingsboot te stappen.

Maar ik wilde niemand voor de voeten lopen. Voor de voeten van degenen die vooraan wilden staan, voor iedereen zichtbaar, geen kwaad woord over hen, alle hulde aan de mensen die dat durven, die in alle openbaarheid hun best doen, ... Ook zij zijn radertjes. Niet minder belangrijk, maar meer zichtbaar. Ik voelde alleen niet de behoefte om gezien te worden, om je te horen zeggen dat ik goed was. Want ik wist wel wanneer ik dat was.

Neil Armstrong became the first human to step on the moon and was closely followed by Buzz Aldrin.

When you were a kid playing in your backyard, who did you pretend to be, Han Solo piloting the Millennium Falcon, or Buzz Aldrin going to the bathroom in his astronaut pants?

My father, Edwin Eugene Aldrin, was an engineer and an aviation pioneer—and a friend of Charles Lindbergh and Orville Wright.

Phobos is the innermost moon of Mars, only 16.7 miles (26.9 kilometers) in diameter but the larger of the two moons. Diminutive Deimos is a little over 7 miles (11 kilometers) in breadth. Scientifically, both Martian moons are oddballs. There is continual dispute as to where they came from. Just how did they get there? Conjecture about them being captured asteroids or cogenerated with Mars is debatable. These two objects are a cosmic detective story, and we need more clues to sort out their true nature. Years ago I stirred up a little more than Phobos dust by calling attention to a strange feature spotted on that moon. I termed this oddity a monolith, a very unusual structure. While there are those who view it as a large, rectangular boulder, visiting Phobos can categorize this curious creation, put there by the universe, or God if you prefer.

I have a message in a time bottle for the candidate who wins the 2016 election for the U.S. presidency. There’s opportunity to make a bold statement on the occasion of the July 2019 50th anniversary of the first humans to land on the moon: “I believe this nation should commit itself, within two decades, to commencing American permanence on the planet Mars.

Die avond had ik een functie. Ik vulde een vacuüm. Ik was groen. Een kleine groene vlek in het blauwe schilderij. Ik was het verlaten eiland dat maakt dat de oceaan er zo groot uitziet.

Er zijn vergeten plaatsen. Net zoals er vergeten mensen zijn. Op die plaatsen vind je degenen die al vergeten waren voordat iemand zich hen herinnerde. Daar vind je degenen die nooit beroemd werden, van wie niemand ooit gehoord heeft, van wist, degenen die achterbleven toen het leven doorging. Dat is het eigenlijke niemandsland. Daar zijn geen voormalige beroemdheden, daar zijn geen astronauten die alleen maar oud en vergeten zijn. Daar zijn alleen degenen van wie je in principe al dacht dat ze niet bestonden.

The airless moon receives more than 13,000 terawatts of solar power. Harnessing just one percent of that sunlight could satisfy Earth’s power needs. Criswell

Average people tend to think about merely maintaining the status quo; unsuccessful people think about simply surviving. Innovators and explorers think about what might be possible.

My MIT rendezvous studies really paid off. I knew that the critical key to our success would be our ability to separate the lunar landing module from a launch-and-reentry “mother ship,” a command module, land it on the Moon’s surface, then lift off and reliably rendezvous the two spacecraft in orbit around the Moon, a risky maneuver. If it failed, there would be no way to rescue the astronauts who had landed. Luckily, my MIT work was exactly what was needed to help figure out these complicated rejoining procedures. I thought about space rendezvous; talked about space rendezvous; ate, slept, and dreamed about space rendezvous so much that I became known to my astronaut peers as “Dr. Rendezvous.” Mercury

To succeed in any environment, you have to believe in yourself. You must have an unshakable confidence in your own ability to achieve your goals and get the job done.

The fact that reality doesn’t match what you want or expect isn’t reality’s fault. Besides, authenticity is overrated. When you were a kid playing in your backyard, who did you pretend to be, Han Solo piloting the Millennium Falcon, or Buzz Aldrin going to the bathroom in his astronaut pants?

While there, I was somewhat surprised to learn that our next foray into space would include an orbiter with wings and with wheels that could land on a runway, as well as a booster, also with wings and wheels to land on a runway. The program had generated great interest. At the meeting, at least seven aerospace manufacturers touted their rockets and boosters on which they were already working. They had models built in 1970 regarding the seven configurations and stages of the program to follow Apollo. Today, we would be delighted to have a fully reusable orbiter to take the crew only, a booster to get them there, and then a return to Earth for both of them. We’d love to have that. Why don’t we have that? Because of a grave design flaw. When I studied the models, I observed that the boosters in the models had windows. That was a surprise to me. After all, why would you want windows in a booster with nobody in it? I was informed that a crew of two astronauts would travel inside the booster to the space station, and then return in the booster to land back on Earth. I worried about the crew in the booster during launch and said so. I thought it was unwise because of the expense, but even more so because of the danger to the astronauts.

I knew there were wire cutters on board Gemini 9, so I made a suggestion that one of the astronauts do a space walk outside the spacecraft and use the wire cutters to cut the cables to release the Angry Alligator and get it to unlock. I knew that time was of the essence and that the system worked on hydraulics, so if the cable could be released, it might be a quick solution. Unfortunately, perhaps because of my semi-inebriated condition, my suggestion didn’t make much sense to my superiors.

Gentry conjures up a story about meeting moon-walking astronaut Buzz Aldrin at a party at the Malibu home of Los Angeles Clippers’ owner Donald Sterling. “So it’s a full moon, beautiful night,” says Gentry, “and I’m trying to think of something to say to this famous guy, and finally I say, ‘Buzz, damn, you ever look up and see the moon and think to yourself how people stare at it all the time and write poems about it, and you walked on it? You walked on it.’ “And Buzz looks at me and shrugs and says, ‘No. Fuck no.’ ” Gentry shakes his head. “Damn, you can even be cynical if you walked on the moon,” he says. “Isn’t that something?