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Buzz Aldrin, 2nd Man on Moon, Recalls 'Magnificent Desolation'

Associated Press

   LOS ANGELES - Fifty years after their history-making voyage to the
   moon, Buzz Aldrin recalls the first moments of the Apollo 11 launch
   being so smooth that he and his two crewmates, Neil Armstrong and Mike
   Collins, were unsure precisely when they left the ground.

   He remembers the white-knuckle descent to the moon's dusty surface in
   the four-legged lunar module Eagle, as Armstrong took manual control of
   the landing craft to pilot it to a safe touchdown, just seconds from
   running out of fuel.

   And as the second human ever to step on the moon-- Armstrong was first
   down the ladder -- Aldrin recounts feeling sure-footed in the one-sixth
   gravity of the lunar surface while gazing at the "magnificent
   desolation" around him.

   Aldrin says he and his crewmates were so absorbed in doing their jobs
   that they were oddly disconnected from how momentous the occasion was
   as it unfolded for hundreds of millions of people on Earth, watching it
   all on live television.

   "I sometimes think the three of us missed 'the big event,'" Aldrin said
   during a 50th anniversary gala at the Ronald Reagan Library outside Los
   Angeles. "While we were out there on the moon, the world was growing
   closer together, right here."

   Aldrin, now 89 and one of just four living people ever to have walked
   on the moon, recounted highlights of his Apollo 11 experiences in an
   interview with an organizer of Saturday's event, which was closed to
   the media. A transcript was furnished to Reuters.

   It was 50 years ago to the day on Tuesday that Aldrin, Armstrong and
   Collins were launched into space atop a Saturn 5 rocket from Florida's
   Kennedy Space Center.

   'On our way'

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