Buzz Aldrin's latest memoir, "Magnificent Desolation: The Long Journey Home from the Moon" holds nothing back as Aldrin reveals his struggles with depression and alcoholism following his voyage to the moon. Indeed, the events of July 20, 1969 occupy only about 20 percent of the book, the rest dealing with the inevitable letdown that followed the Apollo 11 mission. This book is honest and, though not as well-written as his previous memoir "Men from Earth," authentic and, for the most part, humble.
This is not to say the book is without flaws. There are places where a little more editing could have been used. Aldrin's seeming disdain in some places for medication to treat depression might be seen as blase. There are times where the moral seems to be that all that is required for a man to beat depression is the love of a good woman. The final third of the book often seems to be promotion for SpaceShare, a non-profit venture to promote civilian space travel.
Still, it is hard to fault him in his zeal for space travel and exploration, and as a rallying cry for progress in these fields "Magnificent Desolation" is valuable. One can forgive the occasional lapses in his humility, such as when he refers to himself as "a visionary often stymied by a bureaucratic maze" (311) if only because he is one of twelve people ever to have set foot on another world. And any voice attempting to rouse us to the greater exploration of space should be considered.
"I believe," he concludes, "that mankind must explore or expire. We must venture outward" Amen.
Showing posts with label space exploration. Show all posts
Showing posts with label space exploration. Show all posts
28 June 2009
21 June 2009
Thinking about Space- Part One
Perhaps it is the interminable delays of the upcoming Endeavour launch, or this weekend's brief New York Times interview with Buzz Aldrin ahead of the release of his new memoir, or the upcoming 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, but I have been thinking about space again. It's not unusual for me to think about space, as I have been a junkie ever since I was a kid, fueled by the twin stars- Wars and Trek- as well as a love of science fiction. I remember watching the first launch of Columbia and when it landed; my fifth grade class stopped everything for the landing, America's first step back into space since Skylab, which had been abandoned in 1974, came home early in 1979. So I thought.
The first sign that this was something less than the exploration of strange new worlds came only a few months after that launch. Living in Newport News, Virginia, we had access to the NASA Langley facitlity, and it was not unheard of for NASA personnel to go to schools and talk to kids. So it was that sometime in the fall of 1981 that my fifth grade class was visited by such a person.
I was pumped. I was space happy. I knew everything there was to know about the Space Shuttle: dimensions, timing of jettisoning solid rocket boosters and fuel tank, range, speed. I drew shuttles constantly; I had a little die cast shuttle with bay doors that opened and had detachable pieces. I longed for a Lego model.
One of the things I knew was that the moon was a quarter million miles away and that the range of the shuttle was about 1000 miles, not even to the Lagrange point where the Justice League's satellite orbited in the comics. So, I asked, was there any way the shuttle could be used to go to the moon. It was, upon reflection, a naive question, but I was in fifth grade after all.
Why would we want to go to the moon, he asked in response, and I was heartbroken.
I know now that he was not sent to crush my spirit, but that he reflected the consensus that, for science, low earth orbit was the place to be. But science is not the only reason to go to space, and it is these other reasons that require us, as Americans and as human beings, to return to the moon and move beyond it. In coming posts I hope to explore what space means to me and the reasons I think manned exploration is important.
The first sign that this was something less than the exploration of strange new worlds came only a few months after that launch. Living in Newport News, Virginia, we had access to the NASA Langley facitlity, and it was not unheard of for NASA personnel to go to schools and talk to kids. So it was that sometime in the fall of 1981 that my fifth grade class was visited by such a person.
I was pumped. I was space happy. I knew everything there was to know about the Space Shuttle: dimensions, timing of jettisoning solid rocket boosters and fuel tank, range, speed. I drew shuttles constantly; I had a little die cast shuttle with bay doors that opened and had detachable pieces. I longed for a Lego model.
One of the things I knew was that the moon was a quarter million miles away and that the range of the shuttle was about 1000 miles, not even to the Lagrange point where the Justice League's satellite orbited in the comics. So, I asked, was there any way the shuttle could be used to go to the moon. It was, upon reflection, a naive question, but I was in fifth grade after all.
Why would we want to go to the moon, he asked in response, and I was heartbroken.
I know now that he was not sent to crush my spirit, but that he reflected the consensus that, for science, low earth orbit was the place to be. But science is not the only reason to go to space, and it is these other reasons that require us, as Americans and as human beings, to return to the moon and move beyond it. In coming posts I hope to explore what space means to me and the reasons I think manned exploration is important.
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