Having read the book i can say even if you havent traveled 260,000 miles to the moon you will still be able to relate to the insightful realistic and hopeful wisdom he shares in the book. And while it may have been a coincidence his mothers name was mary andrews upon but his grandfather and father served in the army air force. And then to become enamored and was two years old when his father took him on his first airplane ride and a chronic the when they landed on the moon on july 20th invade the historic moonwalk was also named to the eagle. A was a Fighter Pilot and one on to earn a doctorate from m. I. T. And nasa would turn him down. To secure eight spots out of 6,000 occupants and then to become a Rhodes Scholar applied twice but not accepted. To make a bed dramatically different had enough failed to become a Rhodes Scholar and in the ambitious city that is a vicious. It to be the Guiding Principles to take the apollo o levin mission awarded the president ial medal of freedom as well as the champion for veterans. And then to draw awareness to the cause that says get your ass to mars. [laughter] if a bloody kitschy be possible for impossible tonight and Mission Control director thanks for joining us. Please give a warm welcome. [applause] [applause] thanks for coming tonight to. This is the second house of worship this year. And i was still grateful there is to of them right there. He has the original nt has the limited edition i have been working with buzz eight and a half years and i will say a few years ago people would say how long have you worked together he would say not long enough . He doesnt say that anymore. [laughter] i kind of call myself his mother. My title says manager Mission Control director to buzz aldrin he calls me the Mission Control director but i have no control. [laughter] you will see that shortly. I will try but i guess we have to figure out where to start she told your whole life story so what can i touched on . Should we go back to the beginning . Adam and eve . [laughter] philippines . Earlier than that. My father . He graduated from school at age 15. And then went to clark university. With robert goddard. So he got a masters and networking and a doctorate degree in through world war i. He was writing his thesis. Imbrued bootstrapped his way and the first assignment. And now was to the philippines. And was an aide to billy mitchell. There are a few more old people. But that is the Army Chaplain by the way that he married jessie ross who became jesse moon to have two older daughters and a son and then they come home and come back again. And then they would to work through the pyramids. So finishing up the air corps Engineering School to become right field on the air force base. Between 1920 and 26 with the aviation officers from world war i and those were the big leaders from world war ii. Things were a little slow in getting a job with the oil company and guess where the offices are in new york . Thirty Rockefeller Plaza and somebody comes along to say would you like to play a role or a cameo . Of course,. If you havent seen it you must go watching a. We have a ball. And want to get your life because really have so much time and they have questions when some point it decided to have children that he was first and then baby does came along. People always ask how did you get the name does . They assume from a Fighter Pilot . That came later. So how did you get the name . My sisters could not pronounce the brother. So buzz. That is where it started. Ever since. And just so you know, his legal name is buzz aldrin and he changed in the 80s so i say the legal name to save that is what it says on the internet. [laughter] said he did the first ride at age two in the high end jan model plane propeller. 12 passengers. Painted to look like an eagle with a head in the wings and tail. The name of the spacecraft landed on the moon. I like eagles. [laughter] interestingly his father space to people like the right brothers any space bird really well because he is from that era. We had a basement of the early aviators. There is a producer or something and hollywood by the name of jimmy doolittle, you didnt know that did you . No i did not. He was a boxer. But he was also a test pilot. He was the one who was the first to have a hood over his singleseat seaplane, he cannot see out at all. Just instruments. He took off, flew around, came in and landed. Firstperson to fly an airplane totally on instruments. He also was the first to do an outside loop. Even i have not tried that. Now, an inside loop this way and then you come around, and outside loop is this way. The g forces are this way and you get kind of red. I have not tried that. You still have time. Who has an airplane . [laughter] hes thinking im going to jump ahead for a second. We are at eight airshow thing a couple of years ago and they had the blades flying around and the blades are like the blue angels and theyre like acrobatic. And they take him up in this plane and they show up in lacked inr like buzz, do you want to go up . And that . No well put them in a flight flight suit. They take them up, they go up and once he was up there they started doing about its and said buzz do you want to try one . So they had him do one of those stalls, and install and fall. Its called a falling leap. And you feel like that. So he does that and then they have him do all these loops and other things. I can see it in the sky and they said so how many times have you done that . And he said i have never done that before. [laughter] tomorrow. Okay lets go back a little bit again, i know you love jimmy do little but lets your life. Lets jump ahead a little bit. He goes through school and graduated he went to west point at 17. Actually he was quite rebellious because his father wanted him to go to the naval academy. And you do not go . Why . Thats thats a long story. Will dont tell the long one. West point teachers leadership. Leadership. [laughter] theres probably navy people in this audience and i dont want to piss anyone off. Where are we . Certain people may have heard of the severance river. I went to severance school. Try to pass the exams and get into west point. Well the reason he usually says he get seasick. And thats why he did not go in the navy, the naval academy. But actually youve rebelled against rebelled against your dad and went to west point. And that was at the age of 17. 17 and a half. Almost the youngest, not quite. See, 1947 and i was born in 1930. 1947 was the unification act, that is when they split up the services and put them under the defensive department. So so the air force became a separate service. They did not have an air force academy, however we knew that when we graduated that one quarter from west point in one quarter fromtown would be granted the great privilege of joining the air force. So that is how that happened people. Okay where are we have. Lets jump jump ahead. We dont have that much time. See became a Fighter Pilot, you went to korea, shut down a couple of be for that is a couple of important things. What happened . Have you heard of oxford, england . Rhodes scholarship, i failed wants at west point and went to Pilot Training just about to go to korea and they were looking for preachers, theology students i think in the east coast, the south. I didnt make it again. I tell you my career what had been a little bit different. You think . If i had gone over there. We went to oxford last year for the reunion and we were meeting some Rhodes Scholars and he was saying to me what you think would have happened if i wouldnt have gone to the moon . I remember there is this one instructor at nellis, the fighter Gunnery School in las vegas. He knew i was going to go and try for this Rhodes Scholar again and he said oh i hope he gets it because hes going to get over there korea and some chinese guy is going to say i have a Rhodes Scholar, bank bank. That reminds me of my favorite story of un johnson. Can you tell it fast . You tell long stories. So the congressman was his wingmen in korea and you know the yalu river. I know that river. I know. Nevermind. The yalu river is the Northern Edge of north korea. And that is who we were working, fighting against. On the other side is manchuria. You are not supposed to fly their but the russian pilots and the North Koreans were over there and occasionally some of our boulder fighter commanders would lead a flight. They were shooting down a couple of megs, north of the river. After about a week the commander got shut down north of the river. It he was a pow. One of the west point guys who is flying on his wing the investigating board comes along and wants to know all of the details. And so he told them the truth of where they were. He messed up the rest of his career for a letter in his file were telling the truth. So you learned a lot of lessons like this in and out of the military. [laughter] okay, well lets get you to space. Can we get you to space . Another so much to tell but i want to give these people and i think they have questions. Im going to tell you right now, do not do not ask them what it felt like to walk on the moon. Unless youre a kid, if your kid is okay. [laughter] i tell the kids it was squishy. [laughter] there, you have your answer. Okay, lets get to space. Before we get to space he was the korea and then he was the air force academy and then he went to germany. He served with ed white who died in the apollo one fire. But they are behind me on west point on the track team and when i got in that squadron we, the two of us represented the squadron in nato gunnery exits. So i knew i could shoot better than he could. [laughter] he called you up and said im going to apply for that astronaut program. But thats not true, he left and went to michigan and then he pulled me up to 1962 and their looking for some more astronauts , they have a mercury seven and they had said i have all this, qualified and so im going to apply. And i said well, i can shoot better than you can. And i am mit and i am working on rendezvous in space. I think that nassau would like to know how to do that. Maybe i could help them out. So i applied. [laughter] but you know you are pretty stubborn so you try to gang, right. If at first you do not succeed, try, try again. Dont sound so excited about it. But you got accepted, third group of astronauts and yet your microphone is going all wonky so just be careful. And then you became an astronaut, we all know that. So lets talk about gemini them. Originally you almost were not going to fly in gemini because will i help to train the guides. Mcdonnell Douglas Built a mercury spacecraft and they belted a little bigger so they could put two people in it and it became the gemini spacecraft. So they had figured out different ways of rendezvous and some other people were pretty bold and you lift off and go right straight toward him. And neither of these were very good. But mine was better. Well we wont go into all the details but it was a Fighter Pilot type rendezvous. And i worked in training some of them so i went to the boss and i said i would like to really fly in one of these flights and do a rendezvous. And he said nothing. The list comes out in and jim lovell and i are on the backup crew for ten. Okay so when that flies they have a crew for 11 and 12 so the backup crew becomes the prime crew. Im 13 but there wasnt any 13. Thats what you call it deadend assignment. Woe is me. So buzzes the first to train underwater, but when did you do that . My backyard neighbor charlie bassett, really topnotch test pilot in our class, he was on the prime crew and the snowstorm in st. Louis they did not quite make the turn and they crashed into the hangar where the craft was, ironically most of them were killed. So that is the primary crew. The backup crew takes over and now the crew was going to fly does not have a backup crew. Oh, but here is level and aldrin, we became the backup crew. Now that means there is a crew for ten, 11, and we are going to fly on the last one. That is the way things happen sometime. Im going to fix your mike, its making a lot of noise. Okay were running out of time so you have to speeded up. I can call someone with my theory may. [laughter] i know youd guys the Senate Hearing we are at last year and his phone rang and i said no, no actually thought it was some friends of ours calling to get him to wrap the story up. Then i looked i do think it is funny that ted cruz was the guy who is leading it he said let us know if it is from the International Space station. Okay we have to get up to space. So chop, chop. Yes. Will lets just get you up to space. I remember the first time i talk to you said it was so easy my grandma couldve done it. Maybe your grandma. [laughter] but i bet i got something you havent heard. Oh oh, no. On our mission we rendezvoused and docked with the gina spacecraft. We were scheduled to throw a switch which would like the engine and it would take us at much higher. To do what . To get up hires everybody looks smaller. It didnt work. Not everything happens the way but there were several different interesting evas, extra vehicle or activities. The spacewalk, really its floating outside the attempt spacecraft. The spacecraft go in orbit 1700e you. So i did three different spacewalks, 55 and a half hours and set the record the last one no lets go to the first one. I dont know is that where you are citing or were you sightseeing all the time . Know, the first one was taking some night photography of ultraviolet so they would fly the spacecraft up very carefully and by that time i opened the hatch and i was standing in the hatch, i did not have a seatbelt as a matter of fact, but i was hooked up. You had seatbelts right . So anyway he shuts off the thrusters and says if that thruster goes forward trying to take a picture thats not so good. So i reach back, theres a camera mounted between my hatch and his hatch which close cameras here, so id take a 52nd or 102nd exposure and we did that for one night, then we had a free pass during the daytime, nothing really scheduled. I am standing in the hatch with the hatch open, i have this camera and im looking down at the astrodome and other things, i look at this camera and it has this lever, and i wonder what what happened if i click. We took some more pictures, that night that was the first selfie in space. [laughter] and if you havent seen it its right here in the book. It is, its right there in the book while the lighting is not very good. The sun is in the wrong direction to see what that was lovells fault that he was in charge of that. Okay, so lets jump up to apollo no because i want to give people a little time to ask questions. The interesting thing and try to tell this one fast,. Will there is a backpack and an old chicken and they were afraid theyre going to have a not so success and they canceled the thing. I assured them i knew what what i was doing. Training underwater, the first guy, so what were you say next . He wanted to be George Clooney and gravity. While this is november, were still given talks and speeches, they called it in the barrels, youre in the barrel, youre given speeches, but we came back from a flight so into january of 67 we came back from a trip with rt 38, we got outside and the crew chiefs, two of them were very sad. We lost the apollo one crew on the launchpad they had a fire hall, all three of them were killed. Including my very good friend, ed white. That caused a bit to evade delay. Before the next flight could be ready to take place. And that was october of 68, apollo seven, first command module flight neil and i were assigned on the backup crew for a flight and things were switched around because it looked as though the soviets had flown around the moon empty and they did it the second time and everybody thought that they would put cosmonaut and do that. So they shifted the second flight and the foreman as the commander and gail and i were on the backup crew. The one time lovell was with us but then he moved up to take mikes place so it was borman, lovell and andrews that flew to the moon on apollo eight and to read from the bible, genesis, on christmas eve. It is quite a moving experience and then were into 69, of march, apollo nine flew the lander in earth orbit, apollo ten in may flew the lander in lunar orbit, sort of a dress rehearsal to the next flight which was apollo 11. Now what you do not know is that back up a couple of years, 1967. This is the story want you to tell quickly. The lunar comes off the assembly line, one, two, three, four, five, they are all over weight. For a landing. Yours was . Well number five was overweight. Accept the manager wanted his wanted to land on the moon so he thought he could adjust the books a little bit and trim a little weight here and there. He went to see the Program Manager george, if if i can reduce the weight will you let it be a lander . Of course i will. And so, because we like to have at least a one more landing opportunity before the end of the decade. So, land five reduce the weight and it became the space craft that apollo 11 had. Had he not reduce the weight, the first land they would have been lunar module six, apollo 12, midseptember. It did not happen that way. My good friend davis,. Hes the one that was dedicated the book too. The dedication i dedicate this this to the dreamers, the outofthebox thinkers and fruit of the pants innovators like me, hugh davis, charlie bassett, ed weight, and stephen hawking. But my dear friends the apollo 11 crewmates Michael Armstrong and. Of unfortunately he passed away about a week before this book came out. He was very innovative. He he was not just a maintenance officer in korea. While i was lying he was taking care of airplanes and different wing and then he did some different test jobs with nasa and ended up being the Program Manager of one of the landing spacecraft did you in korea we really so i tie on a number of things of flying airplanes, using drop tanks, those are always big things in space except when you use such an enormous one as this big shuttle did. Okay lets talk about the shuttle program. Lets get you on the move because your low on time and i want people to ask question. We will not talk about the whole trip to the moon. I want to talk about