Buzz Aldrin -- original video?

[AtomPages]

Can anyone find the full interview to this cherry-picked section where the interviewer asks Buzz Aldrin: "What was the scariest part of the journey?", to which he responds "Scariest? It didn't happen. It coulda been scary."


Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwLm17MIlqc


My own interpretation of this is that he's saying "a scariest part" didn't happen, in a bit of braggadocio, but it would be useful to watch more of the interview to get some context.

 

[Landru]

Can anyone find the full interview to this cherry-picked section where the interviewer asks Buzz Aldrin: "What was the scariest part of the journey?", to which he responds "Scariest? It didn't happen. It coulda been scary."


Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwLm17MIlqc


My own interpretation of this is that he's saying "a scariest part" didn't happen, in a bit of braggadocio, but it would be useful to watch more of the interview to get some context.

It literally is the first thing on the list when I googled.
https://www.reuters.com/article/fac...-is-not-proof-that-it-was-faked-idUSL1N2US2G3

Social media users are sharing a video of astronaut Buzz Aldrin being interviewed by American television host Conan O'Brien and claiming that Aldrin discussing parts of the moon landing broadcasts being animated is proof that it was all faked.

He was referring to animations used by broadcasters at the time in their coverage of the moon landing, intercut with real footage. The moon landing did take place and men did walk on the moon.

 

[Ann K]

Can anyone find the full interview to this cherry-picked section where the interviewer asks Buzz Aldrin: "What was the scariest part of the journey?", to which he responds "Scariest? It didn't happen. It coulda been scary."

Oxford Union. I think this is the one. It's an hour long.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HV_bD3xQG9Y

 

[deirdre]

it's at 30 mins.

My own interpretation of this is that he's saying "a scariest part" didn't happen, in a bit of braggadocio,

he is. then someone in the audience reminds him of a circuit breaker, and the host tells him more loudly "the circuit breaker" and he tells the circuit breaker story which to normal people would have been a tad bit scary. But he blows it off at the end as no big deal. everything turned out fine.

 

[AtomPages]

it's at 30 mins.

he is. then someone in the audience reminds him of a circuit breaker, and the host tells him more loudly "the circuit breaker" and he tells the circuit breaker story which to normal people would have been a tad bit scary. But he blows it off at the end as no big deal. everything turned out fine.

Perfect, thanks! My best google searching only turned up the clipped conspiracy results and of course none of them gave the source. This looks like a good watch.

 

[Landru]

I found my here from the other recent moon-related thread, but my god, what did I just watch? No wonder people doubt the moon landing. This was easily one of the strangest interviews I've ever seen in my life. I assumed that all conspiratorial fears would be laid to rest when the remarks in question were viewed in the larger context, but this whole presentation was bizarre. A good many questions were odd, at best, and the answers from Aldrin were often rambling and incoherent. Half the responses sound as if he's making it up as he goes along. Truly strange.

So what is going on here? All niceties aside, was he drunk? Suffering significant mental decline? Succombing to the effects of aging? I believe this interview was ten years ago (2015), so probably would've been 84-years-old. Whatever the reasons, he never should've found himself in such a setting, and those students should be embarrassed for themselves. No wonder we haven't been back to the moon since. This was not encouraging.

Do you have a point? What specific thing troubles you most?

 

[John J.]

Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin was born January 20, 1930 (Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buzz_Aldrin).
He was 39 years old when Apollo 11's Lunar Landing Module Eagle landed in the Sea of Tranquillity, 20 July 1969.

Aldrin was 85 years old when he addressed the Oxford Union Society on 13 March 2015 if this source is correct,
website Buzz Aldrin, part of Buzz Aldrin Ventures (which lists Aldrin as president), https://buzzaldrin.com/qa-at-oxford-union/ .

The Oxford Union is chiefly a debating society, not a student union as such (there is an Oxford University Student Union),
Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_Union.

The Oxford Union is the world's most prestigious debating society with a tradition of hosting internationally prominent individuals across politics, academia, and popular culture. Founded in 1823 at a time when The University of Oxford restricted students from discussing certain topics, The Union continues to uphold the principle of free speech through the exchange and debate of a wide range of ideas and opinions, presented by a diverse range of speakers- some inspiring, others controversial.

-The Oxford Union website, https://oxford-union.org/about

I would guess that many of the Oxford Union members who attended Aldrin's address simply wanted to see and hear one of the very few who had participated at the cutting edge of humankind's greatest adventure, in person.
Aldrin was gracious enough to oblige them.

They would have been aware that he was an elderly man, and Aldrin made clear he was having difficulty hearing despite his hearing aids.
It wasn't a science or technology event per se.
I felt he was listened to with respect, and appropriately applauded.

There were a couple of fidgeting numpties caught on camera behind Aldrin, but hey. More fool them. Maybe they had some organisational role but weren't interested in the address.

Aldrin was a USAF hero before he was an astronaut, and flew as an astronaut on Gemini 12 before the Apollo program.
Reading some of the comments posted on YouTube (link supplied by @Ann K, post #3) has left me quite angry- at the sheer ignorance of so many who commented, and their disrespect for an elderly man who, as part of a team, did something remarkable. Unusually I'm not going to quote any, because it is so patently clear that many posters who disbelieve Aldrin (and by extension all of his colleagues) lack an even basic understanding of what technologies we did and didn't have, and what we did and didn't know about the Moon (and radiation) in the 1960s.
Nor have they made any effort to educate themselves before sitting in judgement. They almost don't deserve debunking.

However, some of those comments demonstrate the willingness- maybe the need- of some conspiracy theorists to use a quote out of context in order to justify their mistaken beliefs and their ignorant slurs cast against an elderly hero, and to pretend that their collective foolishness is some kind of wisdom or freedom.

One of the finest photographs ever taken. Captured by Neil Armstrong, 20 July 1969, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin on the Lunar surface.

 

[JMartJr]

One of the finest photographs ever taken. Captured by Neil Armstrong, 20 July 1969, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin on the Lunar surface.

And you can see Armstrong reflected in Aldrin's visor. As Armstrong was the primary photographer on the surface, almost all of the pics of an Apollo 11 astronaut on the moon are of Aldrin -- pics of Armstrong during the EVA are few, and inadvertent, such as that visor reflection or this one, part of a panorama Aldrin took that Armstrong happened to be in, which I believe is the only shot from Aldrin to capture a non-reflected Armstrong during the EVA.

I've read, here and there, assertions that this was due to Aldrin being disgruntled that Armstrong was the first to step onto the moon (Aldrin expected to be first early in their training, on the not unreasonable theory that the commander should not be the first to step out of the vehicle he was commanding.) But since Armstrong was the designated photographer, it does not seem to me to require a more contentious explanation. And there's video that shows them both, so Neil had that to fall back on...

 

[Ann K]

Reading some of the comments posted on YouTube has left me quite angry- at the sheer ignorance of so many who commented

I'm interested in geology, another subject which seems to rattle a lot of cages. A combination of that sheer ignorance and vocal support for young-earth creationism (out of all proportion to the number of people who subscribe to that religious slant) makes it nearly impossible for scientists to have any meaningful discussion among ourselves. (The same is true for the flat-earth gang.) You cannot impart factual information to people who have decided not to believe it.

 

[Duke]

And you can see Armstrong reflected in Aldrin's visor. As Armstrong was the primary photographer on the surface, almost all of the pics of an Apollo 11 astronaut on the moon are of Aldrin -- pics of Armstrong during the EVA are few, and inadvertent, such as that visor reflection or this one, part of a panorama Aldrin took that Armstrong happened to be in, which I believe is the only shot from Aldrin to capture a non-reflected Armstrong during the EVA.
View attachment 75433

I've read, here and there, assertions that this was due to Aldrin being disgruntled that Armstrong was the first to step onto the moon (Aldrin expected to be first early in their training, on the not unreasonable theory that the commander should not be the first to step out of the vehicle he was commanding.) But since Armstrong was the designated photographer, it does not seem to me to require a more contentious explanation. And there's video that shows them both, so Neil had that to fall back on...

We asked Armstrong why there were so few still photos of him from the Apollo 11 moonwalk, he simply said because Aldrin didn't take them. Asked why, we got that little smirk and a shrug.

The story of Aldrin not taking photos of Armstrong was covered in some detail
in the official, Armstrong approved biography "First Man." Here's a screen shot of the first page of that discussion. The "Aldrin was pissed off" over not being named MC or being the first on the moon argument was discussed in the book, but I don't think Armstrong gave it any credence, he certainly didn't to us. Too classy a gentleman.

https://books.google.com/books?id=B...1#v=onepage&q=Aldrin Armstrong photos&f=false

 

[Mendel]

Armstrong approved biography "First Man."

"Not of him climbing down the ladder. Not of him stepping on the moon."
To have nice pictures of that, all they'd have had to do was to send Aldrin out first to set up the camera. .... oh wait...