The Pinnacle

Buzz Aldrin at Work- 40 Years Ago Today
Photo from NASA Archives

On NPR this morning I heard an interview with Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon forty years ago today. What an insightful view of humanity. On that day, he was part of a pinnacle moment for human development and evolution. Many ballyhoo the space program as a waist of time, money, and human effort. I don't, but that is not my point today.

For thousands of years, humans continually perfected tools and technologies that led to Aldrin and Neil Armstrong's walk on the moon. The "small step" was a pinnacle moment for human achievement. I am personally proud of that moment because it was not created out of war or conquering a nation. It was exploration.

View of our little marble from the lunar orbiter

One powerful moment Aldrin shared was when he saw earth while standing on the moon. All humanity except Armstrong, Michael Collins in the lunar orbiter, and himself were on that one blue ball. Every person they knew or didn't know could be seen in one single blink. That is a type of solitude and whole world view that would be overwhelmingly beautiful to me and would be a true pinnacle moment in self-actualizing your place in the big picture.

In the interview Aldrin talked about his new book, Magnificent Desolation: The Long Journey Home from the Moon, chronicling the difficulties faced after returning from the moon. He left NASA not long after the lunar mission to return to the Air Force where he found few opportunities. He retired from the USAF and suddenly found himself drifting with out a plan.

As you can imagine, Aldrin's whole military and astronaut career had been very structured with large goals and projects to focus efforts on. Now he was retired and undirected and he developed an addiction to alcohol.

This is the part of the story that really interested me on a personal level. As the interviewer mentioned, Aldrin could not simply go to a career counselor and get help. "Well, the normal career path for people who are the first on the moon is ...' I mean there's no way to complete that sentence. You were in an unusual situation to say the least." This man lived the first-hand history of one of humanity's pinnacle moments. How do you figure out what is your next step (that is one big step).


Aldrin became a project manager and planner for future NASA missions. He is currently working on planning future missions to the moon and Mars. His excitement for these projects are inspirational to me. They inspire me with their lofty goals of exploration, but more importantly they inspire me because I appreciate seeing some one living and doing what is deeply and passionately part of their soul.

Tonight I am going to raise a glass of wine and toast those three men who forty years ago today saw all of humanity in one simple large-scale view and then had to return to it. I don't know if I would have made that trip home.