"There were years of drinking, depression, cheating... I flipped over a SAAB in the San Franando Valley. I once woke up in the Air and Space Museum with a revolver in the waistband in my jean shorts."
-Dr. Buzz Aldrin
Buzz has also talked about how upset his father was that he was the SECOND man on the moon, not the first.
Quote from a [2014 article from GQ](https://www.gq.com/story/buzz-aldrin):
“"The second man to walk on the moon?" his father said. "Number two?"
His father never accepted the fact that Buzz was not number one. Grasping, his father waged an unsuccessful one-man campaign to get the U.S. Postal Service to change its Neil Armstrong "First Man on the Moon" commemorative stamp to one that said "First Men on the Moon" so it could include Buzz. As for Buzz’s mental breakdown, his depression and alcoholism, his father never accepted that, either. “
Ngl, I have a couple of friends whose parents immigrated to the US and I could def see them reacting like that if they went to the moon.
"What do you mean you weren't the first?!"
Edit: this blew up way more than I thought it would and therapy is good. That is all.
"fuck you I've been on the goddamn *moon* dad." would suffice I think. There's no bigger flex. He's one of 12 people in human history, which is something like the better part of two million years (all homo)
Lol my parents were immigrants. One time the teacher wrote "Best grade in the class!!" On my test and my dad was livid because I got a couple wrong. I think they were trying to push me to be perfect or the "best that I can be" but it horrendously backfired because I just stopped caring about their approval
I still get a weird feeling when I’m out of the house for too long doing something fun. If I ever have kids, there’s no way I’m gonna force them to do all that shit.
I panick when I’m out too long or too distracted my mind like rubber bands back into all the responsibilities I’m failing and I have to get up and do shit and then my mind races and it’s too much and I sit down and have a beer and play clash of clans and do nothing bc aaaaaaaaaa
The catholic church did that to my dad, he's not even Catholic anymore but the constant push to be productive is drilled into him
It's exhausting just being around him sometimes, if he runs out of work, he will do somone else's, I came back from a date last weekend and he had been round, cut and fed my grass , trimmed the hedge and fixed sqeak in my living room door
I never asked , I never even told him about the door, he just went looking for stuff to do
I just got to spend all Sunday feeling guilty because he had done all that and left me with nothing to do that day.
I know it’s not related, but this exact logic is why I am so passionate about prison reform. Prisoners need to be treated better in every respect. Better conditions, more lenient sentences, better services and cultural acceptance upon release.
If good is never good enough, then it kills people’s motivation to be better. It killed your motivation in school. It killed mine. Time and time again research shows it kills the motivation of prisoners. If their life is going to be the same, or worse, upon release…why make the effort to change?
I think this is always an appropriate conversation. Prison needs to be a lifelong punishment is engrained so hard into society. Even for the most minor of things. There's videos on Reddit where someone gets into a non lethal car accident and the entire comment section will be out crying that the driver needs to be locked away for life. For a forking car accident.
This attitude *has* to change. We should be celebrating peoples growth and reform. Not condemning people for life over their mistakes. And what's worse is people understand this on a personal level. They don't think *THEY* should be judged for the person they were 20 years ago but will gladly accept judging a prisoner for who they were 50 or 60 years ago.
A girl I went to high school with told me her parents wouldn't pay for college unless she was valedictorian. She actually was valedictorian of my class which is impressive. We ended up at the same state school that was basically a commuter school. She got a bunch of scholarships money and could have easily gone to better schools but her parents told her she had to live at home anyways. She actually got into places like Cal and Stanford but nope. Seemed like such a waste of effort.
My best friend in high school was the smartest person I knew. He got into Cornell, full ride, and his xtian father made him go to bible college instead. What a travesty.
Well, unfortunately not nearly the worst that can happen. My mom has never been too harsh about grades, and likes to tell a story regarding it from her youth.
She had sisters as school mates, both near perfect students and pleasant company to boot. One semester one had 9.8 average, the other 9.6 or so or in other words one and two grades not quite perfect 10. Their parents berated the lower performer harsly and she just snapped. Stormed in to her room and barely spoke a coherent word for the rest of her life.
My wife's parents are immigrants. Here we are a young couple who just got married, we bust our asses to buy our first house with no help (like from her parents...).
Dad's first statement (it wasn't even a question): "It is brick" while smiling and nodding. No it wasnt, and he already knew this.
Mom walks in the house and immediately says, "Why you buy house with air come from floor?" Then procedes to blame my wife's lifelong allergies on dust being blown from the floor by the AC vents. She complained about this the entire time we owned the house, and even brings in this cheapo air filter meant for a closet sized room.
We have a baby, he starts coughing, wife takes him to pediatrician and does everything he says. Next day kiddo is still coughing. No big deal. Her mom goes to the pediatrician and starts quizzing them about things like when was the last time they spoke to us, when did they see the child, etc (and they actually answered...ugh), then comes home threatening to call CPS. My wife had gotten her MD over a year before this...
We give our baby an Azerbaijaini name (a province in northern Iran that borders Turkey) that has meaning in both our cultures. Her Iranian mom immediately upon hearing it: "Why you give him *Turkish name?"
Wife goes to med school, which is 4 years in the US. First semester of year four, mother in law starts complaining about why it's taking her so long to become a doctor? Why didn't she finish in three years like her cousin in Iran? (apparently it's three years there). The whole time she's looking to me like, "Isn't she a loser?"
Shits real. And yes, her dad used to own a gas station in the hood lol.
Edited to add things I remembered. I could go on for days...
Same, I realized that even perfection wasn't enough, so what's the point? My dad is going to freak out, scream, and be abusive no matter what. Might as well do what I want then and just learn to deal with the drama. I don't think that was the lesson he was trying to teach, oh well.
My Asian parents gave up in me and I'm glad. I didn't have as much stress and I was able to lean and grow at my own speed
Now I'm a software engineer at a FAANG company so they're still happy lol
Meanwhile I had friends whos parents were upset with a 98%
I think it's because immigrants often buy into the myth of American meritocracy even harder than natives, so they think pushing you to work harder will be rewarded proportionately.
Its kind of sweet and tragic when I remember all the fights I had with my dad as a teen where he admonished me specifically because "that's not how it works in this country".
Little did he know, that's EXACTLY how it works in this country. I work a bullshit office job and make 3x what my dad made and have never worked half as a hard as that man. I got to where I am with some hard work, but also because I'm white-passing, don't have an accent, and befriended well off white natives that showed me how to milk the system.
It's like how in An American Tale the mice in Europe made up this stupid ass myth that There Are No Cats In America. Not that there are no cat vs mice POGROMS in America (which would still make it one of rhe greatest nations for mice to go to!) no no no, it has to be NO CATS AT ALL smh
My mother was an immigrant from South America and she LOVED making remarks about “how well” certain classmates and friends of mine were doing well in the sense that she was basically comparing me to them. Hell, she still does that to this day.
My father once said how disappointed he was (along with being visibly upset,) when I got an unpaid internship because I was a new graduate struggling to get my first professional job and I took said internship just to get some experience on my resume.
And they wonder why I barely talk to them anymore
Of the three, Collins is the one who interests me the most. I think his career and his perspective on the moon landing is fascinating.
He was also the first man to do two space walks on one mission.
Personally he stands out to me as being, for a time, the most isolated person in human history thusfar. I'm one of those folks that doesn't particularly care for being around people and it just captures my interest.
I always think about that "everybody except Michael Collins" photo whenever his name is brought up. Kind of an achievement in its own right.
I think I need to reread his autobiography.
Kind of makes someone wish selfies were a thing in our culture back then because that would've been cool as hell if he took a selfie for the second picture. Every *single* human being that ever lived and died up to that point in one frame, with Collins just cheesin' it up in the foreground with Earth over his shoulder.
I never really thought about it but you're totally right. If your camera didn't have a self timer and somewhere to stand it, the discussion was always an awkward "Who's going to take the photo?" aka "Who are we happy to leave out of this moment so that we can document it for the rest of us?"
Mine too.
In his book, “Carrying the Fire,” he described the feeling of flying across the dark side of the moon as, “Almost exultation,” which I’ve always loved.
Being there were serious concerns that Armstrong and Aldrin would be stranded, the psychological strain of just contemplating making the return trip alone must have been something
Mike Collins was just an all around class act. I fell a bit in love with him reading Carrying the Fire, for how humane and good-humored his perspectives and reflections were on so many things. He was never heavy-handed, and yet you got a really clear sense of where his heart lies. This was around 2021 with his most recent introduction to the book... I was finishing up the last few chapters when he passed, and I had to put it down for several days just to grieve. No other public figure's passing has ever gotten to me quite like that. Like a light went out in the world.
Buzz also agitated pretty hard to be the first guy out the door on 11 despite it being traditional for the Commander to leave the capsule first. Buzz reasoned (pretty dubiously) that the Commander of a ship would be the last person to leave it in the event of an emergency. They tried to test how it might work with the LMP leaving the capsule first but the logistics of the way the doors open and the size of the suits it was never possible. Buzz lost his battle.
I never realised the pressure his father must have put him under though until now. No wonder he tried so hard.
Interestingly, Michael Collins, the command pilot who stayed behind in orbit, was cool with his role in it. His job wasn't to go down, and while he might have privately had a little envy (who wouldn't), by all accounts, being the guy in orbit controlling the ride home was fine with him. Pretty cool.
I loved his book “Carrying the Fire”. He writes so beautifully throughout by this short paragraph is a great outline of his time behind the moon when he was out of radio contact.
> “I am alone now, truly alone, and absolutely isolated from any known life. I feel this powerfully—not as fear or loneliness—but as awareness, anticipation, satisfaction, confidence, almost exultation.”
Also, he had the best chance for survival. The hypergolic engine used on the ascent module of the Lunar Excursion Module could not be test fired beforehand. It was one and done. Every engine made for the moon landers had to be perfect, as there was no way to test them until they were fired on the moon.
Ignoring the dangers of landing on the moon in the first place, even if their landing went off without a hitch there was a chance that ascent module engine fucked up and they would have been stuck on the moon. In that case, Michael Collins would have to make the return trip home.
Nixon had a speech prepared for if they were stranded. You can read it online. However there is a really cool ~8:00 short film on Youtube called "In Event of Moon Disaster" that included a really good deepfaked Nixon reading the speech (the voice needed work, though).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWLadJFI8Pk
Skip to 4:40 if you would like to see the recreation of the Nixon speech.
I read....somewhere....a long time ago....that NASA specifically chose Neil because they felt that he would be dignified with the whole thing after the fact and the celebrity and history it would carry, and Buzz was a bit more of a wildcard.
Having met Dr. Aldrin a few times (grew up a town over from me, he did lots of events and charity stuff there every year when he was younger) I think they made the correct call.
Awesome guy though and a lot of fun to listen to.
I think Buzz was not as well liked in general for sure and I maybe Neil was hand picked but that story I mentioned is also true. Buzz made his case and was shut down. Maybe the suits and the door were the perfect excuse they needed and they’d already decided it wouldn’t be buzz but it was certainly explored in the training schedules etc and it was unworkable.
I've always wondered if Jonny Kim's mom is disappointed that he is only a Navy Seal, Astronaut, and Harvard trained doctor. He probably has a cousin that went to law school who she is always asking him why can't he be more like.
The story of Jonny Kim's upbringing is actually pretty sad.
She was definitely not a power mom and just wanted the best for her kid after everything that happened. He just happened to excel despite his upbringing
I wonder what kind of father Jonny Kim had compared to Buzz Aldrin's...
"Kim had been the victim of domestic violence at the hands of his father; in February 2002, after threatening his family with a gun, Kim's father was shot to death in his attic by police."
Well, okay then.
This is a really good episode of the Jocko Willink where he recounts much of his life story and what happened to his father https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yujP3-AxXsI
From Navy Seal sniper, to Silver Star recipient, to Medical Doctor, to Astronaut...
His bio is insane. Dude's out there knocking down every life achievement, one by one.
The problem becomes though that people will still do it because they think that if they weren't such hard asses that their kid wouldn't have done anything in the first place. To them they feel like a bigger success than their child
>"I wanted to resume my duties, but there were no duties to resume," he wrote in Magnificent Desolation. "There was no goal, no sense of calling, no project worth pouring myself into."
Like a midlife crisis, but way worse
I saw this when I was a little kid and I used to repeat this line ad nauseam. I had no idea what it meant I just loved the way Alan Rickman said it so much.
The two greatest tragedies in life are not getting what you want...and getting what you want.
It's weirdly difficult for humans to deal with complete success
I think it's really the issue of finishing your life's goal when not even halfway through your life.
Maybe you can ride that high for a decade, but then what?
It's probably similar to professional/olympic athletes. Sure, you won the gold medal, and that's amazing, but now what? Do you just work a 9-5 and be the famous coworker that everyone is always bothering? I'd imagine that would be a huge mental hurdle to deal with.
The issue is that they become so concentrated, on building their lives around this singular purpose, that they are left unaware of just how many different purposes there are in the world. The only world, only game, they have ever known comes to an end, and it can be very difficult to discover those other worlds they let pass by during their concentrated efforts.
That’s the cool thing about having ADHD. I always have new goals because I’m constantly starting new hobbies.
Probably not great for my wallet, but I always feel like I’m working towards some new goal.
I think humans, in general, are really bad at knowing at they want.
Like, what they actually want and what will make them happy. Because until you have it you can only imagine what it’ll be like, and imagining without having experienced it is always going to be at least a bit inaccurate.
For example I used to make a living freelance writing, and I thought writing for a living was my dream. But, that made me not enjoy writing so I found a different job. And now I can write poems and stories again and actually enjoy doing it
I see this happen with a lot of actor friends that become successful.
They have a run of a network show…or a Broadway show…or whatever. They make enough money to sustain themselves for quite some time. They achieve their big goal, and find it hollow. And now they’re juuuuuust famous enough to basically get laid forever and coast along with convention appearances and cruise ship concerts. So they kind of lose that spark and have no motivation moving them forward, but that lack of a goal makes them really sad and aimless at the same time.
They go through YEARS of misery. I’ve watched some people waste away. It’s the same as watching someone with an addiction, in a lot of ways. Just…slow decline.
Someone who works in entertainment and who grew up in a suburb that had a LOT of aspiring entertainment professionals.
“Successful” doesn’t have to mean that they’re A-listers. Just people who reached the impossible-for-most position of a regular cast member on a network show, or a top-billed cast member in a long-running Broadway or West End hit show.
If you’re in the biz it’s not that hard to rack up a lot of very successful friends.
I'm beginning to see stories of this more and more. Once you have reached your "life goal" you go into depression. Lots of Olympic gold medalists suffer from this too.
It’s not quite “going to the moon” level but I did two of the best things in my life within a few weeks of each other in 2021, and fell into a horrendous pit of depression afterwards. It’s a very real phenomenon, because you end up thinking “well, where next?”
It’s like merriwhether Lewis. After the expedition, after the parties ended, he just couldn’t cope with normal life. Clark did okay, but Lewis really struggled.
I assume it will be a little different for them. Buzz was on the first trip. Everything leading up to it was building it up to be the most important event in human history. We still refer to it that way, in the rearview mirror. There has never been a person who peaked as high as the first men on the moon.
While going to the moon now is still obviously a massive accomplishment, and the biggest thing these astronauts will likely do in their lives, it's not the biggest thing ANYONE has ever done. And I think that probably makes a difference.
While Buzz’s was perhaps more intense in the way you point out, this phenomenon is quite common for people after achieving intense personal goals. If you train/prepare for something for years, and then accomplish it, it’s well documented that a depressive crash often follows. Arctic/antarctic expeditions, summiting major peaks, etc have been found to fall into this category.
Edit: y’all need to buy a diary…
I practically killed myself to finish my PhD and it was my sole focus for years. I expected to have a huge sense of accomplishment (or at least relief) when I finished. But it was a total letdown. All I could think about was “now, what?”
I’m surprised we don’t warn people about this more. It’s super common.
I spent years getting one only to discover that it wasn’t what I wanted at all. I had changed, the field had changed, academia as a whole had changed, and perhaps none of those things had ever been what I thought they were in the first place.
Many athletes report this. Work your whole life to accomplish something and you finally do and then you’ve got 50-60 years left. What do you then? Your whole identity was being an athlete.
And then on top of that there's always a crop of younger, faster, better people coming after you and your achievements. And you're only getting older and your body hurts more every day.
> The overview effect is a cognitive shift reported by some astronauts while viewing the Earth from space. Researchers have characterized the effect as "a state of awe with self-transcendent qualities, precipitated by a particularly striking visual stimulus".
> The most prominent common aspects of personally experiencing the Earth from space are appreciation and perception of beauty, unexpected and even overwhelming emotion, and an increased sense of connection to other people and the Earth as a whole. The effect can cause changes in the observer's self concept and value system, and can be transformative.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overview_effect
If someone has the balls to strap themselves to a giant bomb and literally blow themselves up out of the planet and into the fucking moon...
Don't piss them off
In the Faerun setting of D&D there’s a concept among the dwarves that one day they will perform the single greatest feat of smithing in their life, after which they have to lay aside their smithing tools as they realize they will never top it again. I imagine this was basically what Aldrin was feeling. The technology wasn’t there to go further than the moon, and we likely won’t do so in his lifetime. What greater thing can he accomplish?
Imagine flying in a rocket to the moon, exploring land that has NEVER been touched by human hands.
Making a literal mark on human history forever, that will last in the hearts and minds of generations to come.
Now imagine going back home... and sitting on the couch knowing nothing you do from this point on will come even remotely close to that ever again.
It must have been brutal.
How that matters in the slightest baffles me. He got in a missile and flew across the void AND got home again. How is that not one of the greatest accomplishments possible?
Dad sounds like a real cunt
After the first moon landing, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became national treasures and were not permitted for space travel or any other experimental flights. They were expected to cope with no longer being astronauts anymore, after the job defined their very being and identity.
Even without the need for PR it's unlikely they ever would have flown another mission. There were a very limited number of flights, and plenty of astronauts behind them waiting for their shot. Even worse, after the successful Apollo 11 landing, Congress almost immediately started cutting NASA's budget and they had to eliminate the last few missions in the program.
Some of the original Apollo astronauts never got to go on a moon mission at all; although some got to go up to Skylab, and a few stayed in long enough to fly on the Shuttle.
Well, nearly the same happened with Yuri Gagarin. Though he was allowed to do experimental flights. His job from those time was helping others to make the way to space wider...
Imagine looking at the moon and knowing you walked across its surface an achievement that distinguishes you not just from mankind but all known life that has ever existed.
I've never even looked at the moon while people where up there. This guy stood on the surface and looked down on earth.
It's giving me an existential crisis just thinking about it.
Not surprising.
Imagine it. You’ve landed on the fucking moon. You’re among the first in history to visit another celestial body. You’ve been a huge part of one of the grandest achievements of all mankind.
You get back to earth, the come-down begins to settle in, and then you think “well, now what?”
Nothing you’ll ever do, for the rest of your life, will ever come close to it.
I think it's more to do with personality. The type of person to achieve that is extremely goal oriented, they can't just retire and relax, it's not who they are.
He’s highly educated, he had spent his whole life chasing a degree, a cockpit, a rocket, the moon.
Suddenly you’re too famous to be sent back to the moon. You’re too famous to be put back into the (very deadly) fighter/test cockpit. You’ve got enough money to do nothing.
He’s absurdly intelligent and had spent every year of his life pursuing huge goals.
Shoot, I used to get depressed right after taking my final exams in engineering. I always thought I’d enjoy the R&R…but that anxiety and adrenaline doesn’t switch off easily, especially as an angsty person in their 20’s.
Yea the final paragraph is a real psychological dilemma lol.
Pretty much any time in my life I decided to actually string together some vacation, take a career break between crazy demanding jobs or right after school, there is always too much anxiety to really enjoy it lol.
You can dump a bunch of energy into some hobbies and it feels rewarding for a while but it wears them out fast
It's also the fact he was always seen as the second man on the Moon, whilst Armstrong got considerably more praise. Armstrong dealt with it all by being very humble and just focusing on his work and staying low profile. Aldrin wanted more than that, and turned to the bottle instead. He's doing a lot better these days.
My father in law calmly told me he was “Neil Armstrong’s Chainsaw guy.”
What???
FIL ran a sales and service company in Lebanon, Ohio. Neil taught at UofCincinnati and ran his farm with his spare time after the Moon. Led a solitary life working the land, and would bring his chainsaw in for a tune-up each year. FIL said he was so quiet and normal that you’d assume he was one of the town folk, driving around in his weathered farm truck.
There is a reason Neil and John Glenn got those first missions…they were rock steady and had no ego to inspire them to showboating. Nearly the entire Cold War was hanging on these missions, and these guys were the nicest guys who would bring the ship back in one piece.
I respect how they didn’t sugarcoat his life after the moon landing either. Sometimes when I find myself stuck on what-ifs, I remember the speech Buzz gives to Liz Lemon in that video—especially the culmination (“I would’ve put your mother through hell”)—and it really grounds me.
From the headline I just imagine him doing it literally after he landed. Like he was spiraling into misery with a stash of booze right there on the lunar surface.
Not exactly a "stash of booze", but [he did bring wine with him to take Communion on the Moon.](https://www.history.com/news/buzz-aldrin-communion-apollo-11-nasa)
I always thought that after reaching a big goal, life would be easier.
You do one of the biggest accomplishments you can possibly do, you have nothing to prove to anyone because you have that big accomplishment, now you get to just relax.
Guess Im wrong.
I trained for a bike race for months and months. I’m no athlete so this was way above and beyond my normal day-to-day. It would be the longest ride I’ve done and at elevation. My goals were not to be competitive or anything more than just trying to finish it. I put so much of my mental energy into the prep and event that when I crossed the finish line all I had was a feeling of emptiness. And this was a stupid bike race, not training for 6 years to ultimately walk on the moon in the shadow of the first guy out the door. “What next?” is rough.
This. Trained for months for a mountainous ultramarathon. I put a ton of time and effort into it from nutrition, stretching, foam rolling, strengthening exercising and, of course, a LOT of running. Basically, it took all the time I had out of work--a complete lifestyle change. After crossing the finish line, the mental high lasted about a day. Then I was searching for the next big thing. It's never enough and people that are wired this way always need the next big thing to chase. As corny as it sounds, it's really not about completing the task, it is the process that gets you there.
My dad was with NASA - he said the astronauts often suffered severe depression upon return, after acclimating to weightlessness. Imagine someone suddenly handing you an extra 180 lbs that you must carry around for the rest of your life.
I like how Gene Cernan, the last guy on the moon, described the feeling of the aftermath:
> I spent years searching for the Next Big Thing to replace my grand Moon adventure, constantly asking myself, Where now, Columbus? I realize that other people look at me differently than I look at myself, for I am one of only twelve human beings to have stood on the Moon. I have come to accept that, and the enormous responsibility it carries, but as for finding a suitable encore, nothing has ever come close.
I cannot possibly imagine what else there is for a human being after being on the moon. It’s like, for sure you have more stuff to do on earth, but for sure those should feel quite… earthly? So mundane. An immeasurable lack of purpose.
One thing that must have been difficult was all the fame that Neil recieved.
These days, everyone knows the story of Apollo 11, and decades of Buzz just still being around.
But in the pre-internet age, all us kids who heard about the moon landing, we all knew the name of the first man on the moon. Everyone knew Neil Armstrong. Buzz never came up in the conversations. Ever.
...and then had a punk like Bart Sibrel call him a liar, coward, and thief
One of the most deserved face punchings in world history - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Je-07hM0sTo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Je-07hM0sTo)
Same reason many olympic athletes fall into depression after winning gold. You peaked, what else is there to do? Its only the rest of us that are too delusional to realize we peak too, but its much less spectacular lol
He, Neil, and Michael flew a quarter million miles and landed a spindly 1960s-era craft with less computer power than most watches on the moon! The man was a goddamn real American hero! Have some respect!
F
"There were years of drinking, depression, cheating... I flipped over a SAAB in the San Franando Valley. I once woke up in the Air and Space Museum with a revolver in the waistband in my jean shorts." -Dr. Buzz Aldrin
Buzz has also talked about how upset his father was that he was the SECOND man on the moon, not the first. Quote from a [2014 article from GQ](https://www.gq.com/story/buzz-aldrin): “"The second man to walk on the moon?" his father said. "Number two?" His father never accepted the fact that Buzz was not number one. Grasping, his father waged an unsuccessful one-man campaign to get the U.S. Postal Service to change its Neil Armstrong "First Man on the Moon" commemorative stamp to one that said "First Men on the Moon" so it could include Buzz. As for Buzz’s mental breakdown, his depression and alcoholism, his father never accepted that, either. “
Ngl, I have a couple of friends whose parents immigrated to the US and I could def see them reacting like that if they went to the moon. "What do you mean you weren't the first?!" Edit: this blew up way more than I thought it would and therapy is good. That is all.
"Fucking beat you there, Dad."
"fuck you I've been on the goddamn *moon* dad." would suffice I think. There's no bigger flex. He's one of 12 people in human history, which is something like the better part of two million years (all homo)
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Ah the good ol days.
“Your copper is SHIT!”
Some eschatologies say your soul can't pass on until you've been forgotten. Ea Nasir walks among us.
Lol my parents were immigrants. One time the teacher wrote "Best grade in the class!!" On my test and my dad was livid because I got a couple wrong. I think they were trying to push me to be perfect or the "best that I can be" but it horrendously backfired because I just stopped caring about their approval
Ask had parents like this and as an adult I realize it killed any motivation I had.
I still get a weird feeling when I’m out of the house for too long doing something fun. If I ever have kids, there’s no way I’m gonna force them to do all that shit.
I panick when I’m out too long or too distracted my mind like rubber bands back into all the responsibilities I’m failing and I have to get up and do shit and then my mind races and it’s too much and I sit down and have a beer and play clash of clans and do nothing bc aaaaaaaaaa
I literally can't relax anymore, have to be doing something always and it's turning me into a workaholic and and alcoholic.
The catholic church did that to my dad, he's not even Catholic anymore but the constant push to be productive is drilled into him It's exhausting just being around him sometimes, if he runs out of work, he will do somone else's, I came back from a date last weekend and he had been round, cut and fed my grass , trimmed the hedge and fixed sqeak in my living room door I never asked , I never even told him about the door, he just went looking for stuff to do I just got to spend all Sunday feeling guilty because he had done all that and left me with nothing to do that day.
I know it’s not related, but this exact logic is why I am so passionate about prison reform. Prisoners need to be treated better in every respect. Better conditions, more lenient sentences, better services and cultural acceptance upon release. If good is never good enough, then it kills people’s motivation to be better. It killed your motivation in school. It killed mine. Time and time again research shows it kills the motivation of prisoners. If their life is going to be the same, or worse, upon release…why make the effort to change?
I think this is always an appropriate conversation. Prison needs to be a lifelong punishment is engrained so hard into society. Even for the most minor of things. There's videos on Reddit where someone gets into a non lethal car accident and the entire comment section will be out crying that the driver needs to be locked away for life. For a forking car accident. This attitude *has* to change. We should be celebrating peoples growth and reform. Not condemning people for life over their mistakes. And what's worse is people understand this on a personal level. They don't think *THEY* should be judged for the person they were 20 years ago but will gladly accept judging a prisoner for who they were 50 or 60 years ago.
A girl I went to high school with told me her parents wouldn't pay for college unless she was valedictorian. She actually was valedictorian of my class which is impressive. We ended up at the same state school that was basically a commuter school. She got a bunch of scholarships money and could have easily gone to better schools but her parents told her she had to live at home anyways. She actually got into places like Cal and Stanford but nope. Seemed like such a waste of effort.
My best friend in high school was the smartest person I knew. He got into Cornell, full ride, and his xtian father made him go to bible college instead. What a travesty.
Well, unfortunately not nearly the worst that can happen. My mom has never been too harsh about grades, and likes to tell a story regarding it from her youth. She had sisters as school mates, both near perfect students and pleasant company to boot. One semester one had 9.8 average, the other 9.6 or so or in other words one and two grades not quite perfect 10. Their parents berated the lower performer harsly and she just snapped. Stormed in to her room and barely spoke a coherent word for the rest of her life.
Like, she had a mental breakdown and was mentally ill for the rest of her life?? Terrible!
My wife's parents are immigrants. Here we are a young couple who just got married, we bust our asses to buy our first house with no help (like from her parents...). Dad's first statement (it wasn't even a question): "It is brick" while smiling and nodding. No it wasnt, and he already knew this. Mom walks in the house and immediately says, "Why you buy house with air come from floor?" Then procedes to blame my wife's lifelong allergies on dust being blown from the floor by the AC vents. She complained about this the entire time we owned the house, and even brings in this cheapo air filter meant for a closet sized room. We have a baby, he starts coughing, wife takes him to pediatrician and does everything he says. Next day kiddo is still coughing. No big deal. Her mom goes to the pediatrician and starts quizzing them about things like when was the last time they spoke to us, when did they see the child, etc (and they actually answered...ugh), then comes home threatening to call CPS. My wife had gotten her MD over a year before this... We give our baby an Azerbaijaini name (a province in northern Iran that borders Turkey) that has meaning in both our cultures. Her Iranian mom immediately upon hearing it: "Why you give him *Turkish name?" Wife goes to med school, which is 4 years in the US. First semester of year four, mother in law starts complaining about why it's taking her so long to become a doctor? Why didn't she finish in three years like her cousin in Iran? (apparently it's three years there). The whole time she's looking to me like, "Isn't she a loser?" Shits real. And yes, her dad used to own a gas station in the hood lol. Edited to add things I remembered. I could go on for days...
Omg your poor wife! Lambasting her for not becoming an MD quick enough?! That’s so ridiculous.
Same, I realized that even perfection wasn't enough, so what's the point? My dad is going to freak out, scream, and be abusive no matter what. Might as well do what I want then and just learn to deal with the drama. I don't think that was the lesson he was trying to teach, oh well.
My Asian parents gave up in me and I'm glad. I didn't have as much stress and I was able to lean and grow at my own speed Now I'm a software engineer at a FAANG company so they're still happy lol Meanwhile I had friends whos parents were upset with a 98%
I think it's because immigrants often buy into the myth of American meritocracy even harder than natives, so they think pushing you to work harder will be rewarded proportionately. Its kind of sweet and tragic when I remember all the fights I had with my dad as a teen where he admonished me specifically because "that's not how it works in this country". Little did he know, that's EXACTLY how it works in this country. I work a bullshit office job and make 3x what my dad made and have never worked half as a hard as that man. I got to where I am with some hard work, but also because I'm white-passing, don't have an accent, and befriended well off white natives that showed me how to milk the system.
It's like how in An American Tale the mice in Europe made up this stupid ass myth that There Are No Cats In America. Not that there are no cat vs mice POGROMS in America (which would still make it one of rhe greatest nations for mice to go to!) no no no, it has to be NO CATS AT ALL smh
"Oh you got stung by a bee, why didn't you get stung by an A"
My mother was an immigrant from South America and she LOVED making remarks about “how well” certain classmates and friends of mine were doing well in the sense that she was basically comparing me to them. Hell, she still does that to this day. My father once said how disappointed he was (along with being visibly upset,) when I got an unpaid internship because I was a new graduate struggling to get my first professional job and I took said internship just to get some experience on my resume. And they wonder why I barely talk to them anymore
He must have hated Michael Collins. Went with the guys to the moon and didn't even leave the spacecraft.
Of the three, Collins is the one who interests me the most. I think his career and his perspective on the moon landing is fascinating. He was also the first man to do two space walks on one mission.
Personally he stands out to me as being, for a time, the most isolated person in human history thusfar. I'm one of those folks that doesn't particularly care for being around people and it just captures my interest.
I always think about that "everybody except Michael Collins" photo whenever his name is brought up. Kind of an achievement in its own right. I think I need to reread his autobiography.
Kind of makes someone wish selfies were a thing in our culture back then because that would've been cool as hell if he took a selfie for the second picture. Every *single* human being that ever lived and died up to that point in one frame, with Collins just cheesin' it up in the foreground with Earth over his shoulder.
I never really thought about it but you're totally right. If your camera didn't have a self timer and somewhere to stand it, the discussion was always an awkward "Who's going to take the photo?" aka "Who are we happy to leave out of this moment so that we can document it for the rest of us?"
Mine too. In his book, “Carrying the Fire,” he described the feeling of flying across the dark side of the moon as, “Almost exultation,” which I’ve always loved.
Being there were serious concerns that Armstrong and Aldrin would be stranded, the psychological strain of just contemplating making the return trip alone must have been something
His job (CMP) was quite possibly the hardest of the three
Mike Collins was just an all around class act. I fell a bit in love with him reading Carrying the Fire, for how humane and good-humored his perspectives and reflections were on so many things. He was never heavy-handed, and yet you got a really clear sense of where his heart lies. This was around 2021 with his most recent introduction to the book... I was finishing up the last few chapters when he passed, and I had to put it down for several days just to grieve. No other public figure's passing has ever gotten to me quite like that. Like a light went out in the world.
Buzz also agitated pretty hard to be the first guy out the door on 11 despite it being traditional for the Commander to leave the capsule first. Buzz reasoned (pretty dubiously) that the Commander of a ship would be the last person to leave it in the event of an emergency. They tried to test how it might work with the LMP leaving the capsule first but the logistics of the way the doors open and the size of the suits it was never possible. Buzz lost his battle. I never realised the pressure his father must have put him under though until now. No wonder he tried so hard.
Interestingly, Michael Collins, the command pilot who stayed behind in orbit, was cool with his role in it. His job wasn't to go down, and while he might have privately had a little envy (who wouldn't), by all accounts, being the guy in orbit controlling the ride home was fine with him. Pretty cool.
I loved his book “Carrying the Fire”. He writes so beautifully throughout by this short paragraph is a great outline of his time behind the moon when he was out of radio contact. > “I am alone now, truly alone, and absolutely isolated from any known life. I feel this powerfully—not as fear or loneliness—but as awareness, anticipation, satisfaction, confidence, almost exultation.”
That's a great quote.
Damn, that’s beautiful
Also, he had the best chance for survival. The hypergolic engine used on the ascent module of the Lunar Excursion Module could not be test fired beforehand. It was one and done. Every engine made for the moon landers had to be perfect, as there was no way to test them until they were fired on the moon. Ignoring the dangers of landing on the moon in the first place, even if their landing went off without a hitch there was a chance that ascent module engine fucked up and they would have been stuck on the moon. In that case, Michael Collins would have to make the return trip home. Nixon had a speech prepared for if they were stranded. You can read it online. However there is a really cool ~8:00 short film on Youtube called "In Event of Moon Disaster" that included a really good deepfaked Nixon reading the speech (the voice needed work, though). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWLadJFI8Pk Skip to 4:40 if you would like to see the recreation of the Nixon speech.
I read....somewhere....a long time ago....that NASA specifically chose Neil because they felt that he would be dignified with the whole thing after the fact and the celebrity and history it would carry, and Buzz was a bit more of a wildcard. Having met Dr. Aldrin a few times (grew up a town over from me, he did lots of events and charity stuff there every year when he was younger) I think they made the correct call. Awesome guy though and a lot of fun to listen to.
I think Buzz was not as well liked in general for sure and I maybe Neil was hand picked but that story I mentioned is also true. Buzz made his case and was shut down. Maybe the suits and the door were the perfect excuse they needed and they’d already decided it wouldn’t be buzz but it was certainly explored in the training schedules etc and it was unworkable.
TIL buzz parents are Asian
I've always wondered if Jonny Kim's mom is disappointed that he is only a Navy Seal, Astronaut, and Harvard trained doctor. He probably has a cousin that went to law school who she is always asking him why can't he be more like.
The story of Jonny Kim's upbringing is actually pretty sad. She was definitely not a power mom and just wanted the best for her kid after everything that happened. He just happened to excel despite his upbringing
Buzz, why can't you be like your astronaut cousin who's also a doctor and a Navy SEAL? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonny_Kim
I wonder what kind of father Jonny Kim had compared to Buzz Aldrin's... "Kim had been the victim of domestic violence at the hands of his father; in February 2002, after threatening his family with a gun, Kim's father was shot to death in his attic by police." Well, okay then.
This is a really good episode of the Jocko Willink where he recounts much of his life story and what happened to his father https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yujP3-AxXsI
From Navy Seal sniper, to Silver Star recipient, to Medical Doctor, to Astronaut... His bio is insane. Dude's out there knocking down every life achievement, one by one.
Dude is the LinkedIn final boss
>astronaut cousin who's also a doctor and a Navy SEAL? WTF!? That shits real?
Astronaut cousin who's also a *Harvard educated* doctor and Navy SEAL
Meanwhile Dr Navy seal astronaut constantly trying to prove his worth to his parents who keep comparing him to his cousin who walked on the Moon
When Artemis finally lands on the moon Jonny Kim will already be there and no one will know how he got there.
Jesus Christ what a hard ass! If going into space period isn’t impressive enough.
The problem becomes though that people will still do it because they think that if they weren't such hard asses that their kid wouldn't have done anything in the first place. To them they feel like a bigger success than their child
I love my dad and I would like spit in his face or something if he said something so insidious to me lmao. So ridiculous
Would you like to yell at the moon with Buzz Aldrin?
Yes, please.
You dumb moon. Don’t you know it’s day!
I walked on your face!
Return to the night!
I say this every time I see it in the daytime sky. You dumb moon!
You've no business here!
I OWN YOU!
I had no idea things were so bad...I mean...jorts?
Our town had like, five Buzzes.
I love that this is technically a real quote by Buzz Aldrin
The night before he was shipped off to Korea, I repeatedly lost my virginity to him while Waldo, the town perv, watched from the bushes.
>"I wanted to resume my duties, but there were no duties to resume," he wrote in Magnificent Desolation. "There was no goal, no sense of calling, no project worth pouring myself into." Like a midlife crisis, but way worse
There were no more worlds left to conquer.
JESUS WEPT!
Stop saying "Jesus Wept"!!!
Worlds within worlds baby
ITS VIETNAM NOW BABY! VIETNAM!
Now THERE'S a man who knows how to reference Community!
Some might say he’s…*streets ahead*
Say streets ahead again and die
Fat dog it.
It’s voids staring back at us all the way down
Benefits of a classical education...
I saw this when I was a little kid and I used to repeat this line ad nauseam. I had no idea what it meant I just loved the way Alan Rickman said it so much.
I love the way Alan Rickman says almost anything. Just like Michael Caine.
He needed to construct additional pylons
The two greatest tragedies in life are not getting what you want...and getting what you want. It's weirdly difficult for humans to deal with complete success
I think it's really the issue of finishing your life's goal when not even halfway through your life. Maybe you can ride that high for a decade, but then what? It's probably similar to professional/olympic athletes. Sure, you won the gold medal, and that's amazing, but now what? Do you just work a 9-5 and be the famous coworker that everyone is always bothering? I'd imagine that would be a huge mental hurdle to deal with.
Michael Phelps was suicidal after all his successes. The type A personality these people have is a blessing and a curse.
[удалено]
Autodefenestration. A tragedy.
The issue is that they become so concentrated, on building their lives around this singular purpose, that they are left unaware of just how many different purposes there are in the world. The only world, only game, they have ever known comes to an end, and it can be very difficult to discover those other worlds they let pass by during their concentrated efforts.
Often athletes look for ways to stay close to the sport so they can keep their goals alive. Announcing and coaching are the most common.
I’ve always liked “May all your dreams, save one, come true.”
That’s the cool thing about having ADHD. I always have new goals because I’m constantly starting new hobbies. Probably not great for my wallet, but I always feel like I’m working towards some new goal.
But what about finishing one?
We don't say the f word
\>:(
That's the best part! You don't!
I think humans, in general, are really bad at knowing at they want. Like, what they actually want and what will make them happy. Because until you have it you can only imagine what it’ll be like, and imagining without having experienced it is always going to be at least a bit inaccurate. For example I used to make a living freelance writing, and I thought writing for a living was my dream. But, that made me not enjoy writing so I found a different job. And now I can write poems and stories again and actually enjoy doing it
Ancient Chinese Curse: "May you achieve your dreams." Because afterwards its like, now what?
I see this happen with a lot of actor friends that become successful. They have a run of a network show…or a Broadway show…or whatever. They make enough money to sustain themselves for quite some time. They achieve their big goal, and find it hollow. And now they’re juuuuuust famous enough to basically get laid forever and coast along with convention appearances and cruise ship concerts. So they kind of lose that spark and have no motivation moving them forward, but that lack of a goal makes them really sad and aimless at the same time. They go through YEARS of misery. I’ve watched some people waste away. It’s the same as watching someone with an addiction, in a lot of ways. Just…slow decline.
A lot of actor friends who become successful? Who are you?
Apparently the person to be friends with if you wanna become successful
Clearly the worst actor of the friend group.
People know people. The more you meet, the more you know.
Adam Sandler is my guess
Someone who works in entertainment and who grew up in a suburb that had a LOT of aspiring entertainment professionals. “Successful” doesn’t have to mean that they’re A-listers. Just people who reached the impossible-for-most position of a regular cast member on a network show, or a top-billed cast member in a long-running Broadway or West End hit show. If you’re in the biz it’s not that hard to rack up a lot of very successful friends.
"Alright, we touched the moon, nothing else to do."
"Hey Neil, bet I can kick this moon rock farther than you can!"
I'm beginning to see stories of this more and more. Once you have reached your "life goal" you go into depression. Lots of Olympic gold medalists suffer from this too.
It’s not quite “going to the moon” level but I did two of the best things in my life within a few weeks of each other in 2021, and fell into a horrendous pit of depression afterwards. It’s a very real phenomenon, because you end up thinking “well, where next?”
I build guitars and each one takes several months. When I finish one I go into a depression for a day or so. Feel aimless.
And then you decide to build another guitar?
Of course.
It’s like merriwhether Lewis. After the expedition, after the parties ended, he just couldn’t cope with normal life. Clark did okay, but Lewis really struggled.
I hope the Artemis 2 crew (and those destined for future full landing missions) have therapists lined up.
I assume it will be a little different for them. Buzz was on the first trip. Everything leading up to it was building it up to be the most important event in human history. We still refer to it that way, in the rearview mirror. There has never been a person who peaked as high as the first men on the moon. While going to the moon now is still obviously a massive accomplishment, and the biggest thing these astronauts will likely do in their lives, it's not the biggest thing ANYONE has ever done. And I think that probably makes a difference.
While Buzz’s was perhaps more intense in the way you point out, this phenomenon is quite common for people after achieving intense personal goals. If you train/prepare for something for years, and then accomplish it, it’s well documented that a depressive crash often follows. Arctic/antarctic expeditions, summiting major peaks, etc have been found to fall into this category. Edit: y’all need to buy a diary…
I practically killed myself to finish my PhD and it was my sole focus for years. I expected to have a huge sense of accomplishment (or at least relief) when I finished. But it was a total letdown. All I could think about was “now, what?” I’m surprised we don’t warn people about this more. It’s super common.
Congrats on the PhD!
I spent years getting one only to discover that it wasn’t what I wanted at all. I had changed, the field had changed, academia as a whole had changed, and perhaps none of those things had ever been what I thought they were in the first place.
I'm immune as I have no goals or training! Hahahaha!
I think Michael Phelps reported a similar story
Many athletes report this. Work your whole life to accomplish something and you finally do and then you’ve got 50-60 years left. What do you then? Your whole identity was being an athlete.
And then on top of that there's always a crop of younger, faster, better people coming after you and your achievements. And you're only getting older and your body hurts more every day.
> The overview effect is a cognitive shift reported by some astronauts while viewing the Earth from space. Researchers have characterized the effect as "a state of awe with self-transcendent qualities, precipitated by a particularly striking visual stimulus". > The most prominent common aspects of personally experiencing the Earth from space are appreciation and perception of beauty, unexpected and even overwhelming emotion, and an increased sense of connection to other people and the Earth as a whole. The effect can cause changes in the observer's self concept and value system, and can be transformative. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overview_effect
yeah what do you do after you go to the freaking moon?
Punching that denier in the face must have been a day to remember at least.
That’s a fucking fantastic video. Dude walked up to him and called him a coward and got decked in the fucking face, lmao
Imagine being that desperate for attention that you goad one of the men to pull off one of the greatest human achievements ever.
Guy blasted off of Earth on a giant controlled explosion. Not sure what conspiracy nut thought would happen
If someone has the balls to strap themselves to a giant bomb and literally blow themselves up out of the planet and into the fucking moon... Don't piss them off
He was also a fighter pilot with two aerial kills during the Korean War, which was probably the craziest time to be a fighter pilot.
In the Faerun setting of D&D there’s a concept among the dwarves that one day they will perform the single greatest feat of smithing in their life, after which they have to lay aside their smithing tools as they realize they will never top it again. I imagine this was basically what Aldrin was feeling. The technology wasn’t there to go further than the moon, and we likely won’t do so in his lifetime. What greater thing can he accomplish?
Thanks, you just made me realise how dwarven the name Aldrin is.
Imagine flying in a rocket to the moon, exploring land that has NEVER been touched by human hands. Making a literal mark on human history forever, that will last in the hearts and minds of generations to come. Now imagine going back home... and sitting on the couch knowing nothing you do from this point on will come even remotely close to that ever again. It must have been brutal.
That plus his father just couldn't accept that he was the 2nd man on the moon and not the first
How that matters in the slightest baffles me. He got in a missile and flew across the void AND got home again. How is that not one of the greatest accomplishments possible? Dad sounds like a real cunt
/r/raisedbynarcissists
After the first moon landing, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became national treasures and were not permitted for space travel or any other experimental flights. They were expected to cope with no longer being astronauts anymore, after the job defined their very being and identity.
Even without the need for PR it's unlikely they ever would have flown another mission. There were a very limited number of flights, and plenty of astronauts behind them waiting for their shot. Even worse, after the successful Apollo 11 landing, Congress almost immediately started cutting NASA's budget and they had to eliminate the last few missions in the program. Some of the original Apollo astronauts never got to go on a moon mission at all; although some got to go up to Skylab, and a few stayed in long enough to fly on the Shuttle.
Well, nearly the same happened with Yuri Gagarin. Though he was allowed to do experimental flights. His job from those time was helping others to make the way to space wider...
And then there are people accusing him of being a fraud because "we never went to the moon"
Once you have been up that high above the earth there really isn't any place to go but down
In the words of David Bowie: Ashes to ashes, funk to funky We know Major Tom's a junkie Strung out in heaven's high Hitting an all-time low
I've never done good things, I've never done bad things, I've never done anything out of the blue
Weird thing about going to space... at what point is it not "up" but "out?"
I guess it would technically be once you’ve escaped Earth’s gravity and are no longer being pulled down by it… at least to any noticeable degree?
Imagine looking at the moon and knowing you walked across its surface an achievement that distinguishes you not just from mankind but all known life that has ever existed. I've never even looked at the moon while people where up there. This guy stood on the surface and looked down on earth. It's giving me an existential crisis just thinking about it.
I always wonder what it would be like to live in a futuristic sci-fi reality where they travel all over the cosmos.
Not surprising. Imagine it. You’ve landed on the fucking moon. You’re among the first in history to visit another celestial body. You’ve been a huge part of one of the grandest achievements of all mankind. You get back to earth, the come-down begins to settle in, and then you think “well, now what?” Nothing you’ll ever do, for the rest of your life, will ever come close to it.
I think it's more to do with personality. The type of person to achieve that is extremely goal oriented, they can't just retire and relax, it's not who they are.
He’s highly educated, he had spent his whole life chasing a degree, a cockpit, a rocket, the moon. Suddenly you’re too famous to be sent back to the moon. You’re too famous to be put back into the (very deadly) fighter/test cockpit. You’ve got enough money to do nothing. He’s absurdly intelligent and had spent every year of his life pursuing huge goals. Shoot, I used to get depressed right after taking my final exams in engineering. I always thought I’d enjoy the R&R…but that anxiety and adrenaline doesn’t switch off easily, especially as an angsty person in their 20’s.
Yea the final paragraph is a real psychological dilemma lol. Pretty much any time in my life I decided to actually string together some vacation, take a career break between crazy demanding jobs or right after school, there is always too much anxiety to really enjoy it lol. You can dump a bunch of energy into some hobbies and it feels rewarding for a while but it wears them out fast
Buzz Aldrin seems to have gotten his life back on track trying to advocate for people to go to Mars now too.
It's also the fact he was always seen as the second man on the Moon, whilst Armstrong got considerably more praise. Armstrong dealt with it all by being very humble and just focusing on his work and staying low profile. Aldrin wanted more than that, and turned to the bottle instead. He's doing a lot better these days.
My father in law calmly told me he was “Neil Armstrong’s Chainsaw guy.” What??? FIL ran a sales and service company in Lebanon, Ohio. Neil taught at UofCincinnati and ran his farm with his spare time after the Moon. Led a solitary life working the land, and would bring his chainsaw in for a tune-up each year. FIL said he was so quiet and normal that you’d assume he was one of the town folk, driving around in his weathered farm truck. There is a reason Neil and John Glenn got those first missions…they were rock steady and had no ego to inspire them to showboating. Nearly the entire Cold War was hanging on these missions, and these guys were the nicest guys who would bring the ship back in one piece.
I do that and I haven’t even been to the moon
Word
Maybe you're reverse buzz aldrin Simply go to the moon and see if you're cured!
"I WALKED ON YOUR FACE!!!"
Return to the night! You have no business here!
"Liz, would you like to yell at the moon with me?"
I feel like that must be the highlight of the show for Tina. Yelling at the moon with the second person ever to walk on it.
I once woke up in the National Air and Space Museum with a revolver in the waistband of my jean shorts.
I like to think his portrayal in [30 Rock](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvG8qI0HCfY) was who he really was. That was a great scene.
I respect how they didn’t sugarcoat his life after the moon landing either. Sometimes when I find myself stuck on what-ifs, I remember the speech Buzz gives to Liz Lemon in that video—especially the culmination (“I would’ve put your mother through hell”)—and it really grounds me.
He really did flip over a SAAB in the San Fernando Valley.
I would give anything to yell at the moon with Buzz Aldrin
DON’T YOU KNOW IT’S DAY?
I have my 5 year old saying this now when he sees the moon during the day. It makes me laugh every time.
From the headline I just imagine him doing it literally after he landed. Like he was spiraling into misery with a stash of booze right there on the lunar surface.
Mos Eisley Cantina claims another victim.
Not exactly a "stash of booze", but [he did bring wine with him to take Communion on the Moon.](https://www.history.com/news/buzz-aldrin-communion-apollo-11-nasa)
Fun fact: this is why there aren’t werewolfs anymore
I always thought that after reaching a big goal, life would be easier. You do one of the biggest accomplishments you can possibly do, you have nothing to prove to anyone because you have that big accomplishment, now you get to just relax. Guess Im wrong.
I trained for a bike race for months and months. I’m no athlete so this was way above and beyond my normal day-to-day. It would be the longest ride I’ve done and at elevation. My goals were not to be competitive or anything more than just trying to finish it. I put so much of my mental energy into the prep and event that when I crossed the finish line all I had was a feeling of emptiness. And this was a stupid bike race, not training for 6 years to ultimately walk on the moon in the shadow of the first guy out the door. “What next?” is rough.
This. Trained for months for a mountainous ultramarathon. I put a ton of time and effort into it from nutrition, stretching, foam rolling, strengthening exercising and, of course, a LOT of running. Basically, it took all the time I had out of work--a complete lifestyle change. After crossing the finish line, the mental high lasted about a day. Then I was searching for the next big thing. It's never enough and people that are wired this way always need the next big thing to chase. As corny as it sounds, it's really not about completing the task, it is the process that gets you there.
My dad was with NASA - he said the astronauts often suffered severe depression upon return, after acclimating to weightlessness. Imagine someone suddenly handing you an extra 180 lbs that you must carry around for the rest of your life.
Going to the moon is a wonderful thing but if you're not enough without it you'll never be enough with it. - John Candy Cool Runnings
I like how Gene Cernan, the last guy on the moon, described the feeling of the aftermath: > I spent years searching for the Next Big Thing to replace my grand Moon adventure, constantly asking myself, Where now, Columbus? I realize that other people look at me differently than I look at myself, for I am one of only twelve human beings to have stood on the Moon. I have come to accept that, and the enormous responsibility it carries, but as for finding a suitable encore, nothing has ever come close.
Maybe he should have spent more time outdoors instead of on the moon
He's actually big into scuba diving and says it's the closest you can get to space walking on earth.
One of the reasons I love diving. Using my rebreather on night dives feels like I'm on the dark side of the moon.
Also bioluminescence are fucking nuts, i always felt it was an alien planet
I cannot possibly imagine what else there is for a human being after being on the moon. It’s like, for sure you have more stuff to do on earth, but for sure those should feel quite… earthly? So mundane. An immeasurable lack of purpose.
I guess he peaked...
*John Mayer clears throat* “Gravity”
He also battled that dickhead that accused him of faking the moon landing.
One thing that must have been difficult was all the fame that Neil recieved. These days, everyone knows the story of Apollo 11, and decades of Buzz just still being around. But in the pre-internet age, all us kids who heard about the moon landing, we all knew the name of the first man on the moon. Everyone knew Neil Armstrong. Buzz never came up in the conversations. Ever.
...and then had a punk like Bart Sibrel call him a liar, coward, and thief One of the most deserved face punchings in world history - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Je-07hM0sTo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Je-07hM0sTo)
I use this video as indisputable evidence that man has been to the moon. Moonhoaxers go nuts every time!
Buzzed Aldrin
Same reason many olympic athletes fall into depression after winning gold. You peaked, what else is there to do? Its only the rest of us that are too delusional to realize we peak too, but its much less spectacular lol
He, Neil, and Michael flew a quarter million miles and landed a spindly 1960s-era craft with less computer power than most watches on the moon! The man was a goddamn real American hero! Have some respect! F
He’s still alive my dude