Bookworms: Magnificent Desolation (2009) by Buzz Aldrin

“Magnificent desolation!” – Buzz Aldrin

Magnificent Desolation

These words were spoken by astronaut Buzz Aldrin moments after he touched the surface of the moon and had taken his first look around. Having descended the lunar module’s (LM) ladder, he took a look at the moon’s surface and declared it “Beautiful.” Moments later he added, “Magnificent desolation.” Watch the moment here. He was struck by how stark and desolate the moon really was, but how that added to her beauty rather than detracted from it. For the next few hours he and Neil Armstrong bounced around the moon and conducted a bit of scientific exploration, reveling in the fact that they were the first humans to ever set foot on that celestial body.

But Buzz’s story starts on the moon, it doesn’t end there. All too short a time later, the two moon dwellers left their temporary home and blasted back into lunar orbit to join up with Michael Collins whom they had left in orbit. Wasting no time, the three men began the long trip back to Earth.

In the aptly titled Magnificent Desolation: The Long Journey Home from the Moon Buzz Aldrin recounts a story few at the time knew: his struggles with depression and alcohol. NASA had trained he and his comrades to be excellent astronauts, but they hadn’t trained them to be heroes and celebrities, a thing their short lunar excursion made them. Suddenly back on Earth, and once out of decontamination, they were thrust into a worldwide spotlight. Everywhere they went, everybody wanted to see them, to touch them, and to ask them what it was like on the moon. For Buzz, it was overwhelming. He fell into blue funks that would last for days, and to cope he would drink copious amounts of booze. It was a never-ending cycle. Eventually he sought help for and learned to handle his depression, but his drinking continued. He refused to believe that alcoholism was a problem until it destroyed two marriages, a few cars, his Air Force career and left him without purpose or direction. He finally sought help for his drinking, and with it he got back his life. He met a woman named Lois who became the love of his life, and he found something worth fighting for.

That purpose, one that shapes Buzz Aldrin’s life today, is to return humanity back to the moon. He believes the future is in space tourism, opening the final frontier to the masses of humanity who wish to explore and experience the magnificence of the desolation for themselves. And like his namesake, Buzz Lightyear of the Toy Story franchise, Buzz Aldrin wants to go to “infinity” and “beyond” for he sees the moon as more than the destination it once was. Now he sees it as a jumping off point to go Mars, and Mars’ moons, and further into the universe.

A gripping read of a man struggling with his own personal demons while showing the world the face of a hero, Magnificent Desolation is the story of one man’s triumphs on the moon and on Earth in the most human of battles.

You can catch up with all of Buzz Aldrin’s happenings on www.buzzaldrin.com and you can follow him in cyberspace on Twitter @theRealBuzz.