Buzz Aldrin

Rated: B
Buzz Aldrin is one of my true life heroes. He flew to the moon, walked on it, took some great pictures on it and return safely to earth with Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins. Each astronaut played a critical role. Buzz brought the first food and first drink ever to be taken on the moon's surface: a thimble full of wine and a wafer to celebrate communion. Wow! As his latest book written in his 80's, Dr. Aldrin offers a series of guiding principles for the reader to follow as he has throughout his life. Simple ideas. Good ideas backed with stories of how they have worked in his life. As I write this review, Buzz is now 94 -- just got married again.… (plus d'informations)

In some regards, this book is brilliant. In others (and the reason for the 3-star rating), it is emblematic of why manned space exploration is stalled. The grand scope and long-term vision that Aldrin lays out can both inspire and cause a kind of fatigue. The feeling that, if we want to get to Mars we have to do A, B, C and D through Q, creates an impression of enormous costs and a realization of how unlikely that any organization funded by Congress is to be capable of it.
For my money, the second edition of [a:Robert Zubrin|983409|Robert Zubrin|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]'s [b:The Case for Mars: The Plan to Settle the Red Planet and Why We Must|10203128|The Case for Mars The Plan to Settle the Red Planet and Why We Must|Robert Zubrin|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348793532s/10203128.jpg|2128996] is much more realistic and inspiring.… (plus d'informations)

A book written by Buzz. American astronaut who became the second person to walk on the Moon. Aldrin graduated with honors from West Point in 1951 and subsequently flew jet fighters in the Korean War. Upon returning to academic work, he earned a Ph.D. in astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, devising techniques for manned space rendezvous that would be used on future NASA missions including the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. Aldrin was selected for astronaut duty in October 1963 and in November 1966 established a new spacewalk duration record on the Gemini 9 mission. As backup Command Module pilot for Apollo 8 he improved operational techniques for astronautical navigation star display. Then, on July 20, 1969, Aldrin and Neil Armstrong made their historic Apollo 11 moonwalk.… (plus d'informations)