From moonwalking Buzz to hard landing of the return to Earth

BOOK OF THE DAY:Magnificent Desolation: The Long Journey Home from the Moon By Buzz Aldrin Bloomsbury, 336pp, £16.99

NEARLY EVERYBODY knows that, 40 years ago today, Neil Armstrong was the first man to walk on the moon. But who was the second?

Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin has been asking himself the same question. He may have been second, but he remains the most high-profile and vocal of all 12 moonwalkers, especially given Armstrong’s aversion to the limelight.

The title of Aldrin's autobiography, Magnificent Desolation, is taken from his memorable utterance as he stepped on to the surface of the moon. But this is not the first time he has written an autobiography. In 1973, Return to Earthshocked the US with its graphic depiction of his alcoholism and depression and his determination to prove that astronauts are neither supermen nor saints. Magnificent Desolationcontains little new about the incredible odyssey of Apollo 11, the first successful mission to land a man on the moon's surface. But Aldrin's admission that the first thing he did on the lunar surface was take a leak – "to relieve the nervousness in my bladder" – will be a little too much information for most readers.

The crew of Apollo 11were not particularly close and Aldrin offers little psychological insight into Armstrong or Michael Collins. He does, however, face up to the two questions that have dogged him since his return.

Aldrin says the only reason he did not take a photograph of Armstrong on the moon was because Armstrong had control of the camera at all times. The only photograph of the first man on the moon is the famous reflection of Armstrong in the visor of Aldrin’s helmet.

He is adamant too that he is not jealous of Armstrong’s status as the first man on the moon.

Aldrin repeats the claim that Armstrong was first for the simple logistical reason that he was closer to the door of the tiny lunar module and it would not have been possible for them to climb over each other weighed down by their space suits and oxygen tanks. Aldrin has also said he was relieved to avoid the pressure. “I knew the media would never leave that person alone,” he prophesied correctly.

Even so, Aldrin could not cope with the aftermath of the mission. He was 39 and his best years lay ahead of him. Instead, he was faced with a life that was a crushing anti-climax.

He is not the only moonwalker to have struggled with the return to Earth, but Aldrin already had a predisposition to depression and alcoholism. His mother, Marion Moon (yes, really), took her own life a year before her son landed on the moon. Her father, in turn, took his own life.

Aldrin’s descent into alcoholism occurred even while he was in quarantine after coming back from the moon. His feelings of worthlessness lasted 10 years, left him with suicidal thoughts, and cost him two marriages. He credits Alcoholics Anonymous and his third wife, Lois Driggs, for his 30 years of sobriety. The book is partially an extended love letter to her. “What a great life I’ve had,” he concludes.

But Aldrin cannot hide his dismay at how the vision for human space exploration has made no progress since the Apollolandings. He believes in shooting for Mars and making commercial space travel widely available, but has despaired of anybody with the vision to bring such plans to fruition.

He reserves the harshest words for other astronauts, who he says failed to make the case for human space exploration: “No other astronaut, active or inactive, was out in public trying to raise awareness about America’s dying space programme. None of them. They were all content to sit back on their laurels.”

Magnificent Desolationwill not endear Aldrin to his fellow astronauts, but its candour will add to his position as probably the most popular of all the moonwalkers.

Ronan McGreevy is an

Irish Times

journalist and member of Astronomy Ireland