Episode 67: The Apollo Program, Part XII

 

Back in Episode 60, I mentioned that Buzz Aldrin shot down two MiG-15s in 1953 during the korean war. The above photo shows him celebrating his first aerial victory with a MiG-15 painted on the side of his F-86 Sabre.

Pictures from Aldrins gun camera showing the MiG pilot ejecting after being hit were published in Life Magazine in 1953.

Following his time with NASA, Colonel Aldrin wanted to be the Commendant of the Air Force academy. That position went to Hoyt Vandenberg, who now has a Space Force base (previously an Air Force base) in California named after him. Instead, Aldrin was appointed Commendand of the Air Force Test Pilot School, despite having no test pilot or managerial experience. He had hoped the position would be a relaxing one - it proved anything but. While in command, he was diagnosed with depression and hospitolized for four weeks. He retired form the Air Force soon after.

After retirement (and after conquering some deamons like alcholoism) Aldrin continued his adventurous life, traveling to the north pole, the south pole, and in 2017, becoming the oldest person to fly with the Thunderbirds, the Air Force's demonstraiton flying team.

Aldrin has continued his advocacy for space exploration but believes that the moon should not be the destination - NASA has been there, done that. In his mind, any moon venture should be a stepping stone for Mars and that humans should strive to become a two planet species by 2040.

In 2015, Aldrin tweeted a copy of his travel voucher to the moon, showing that he received $33.31 in per diem

Another tweet showed the customs form that he and his Apollo 11 colleagues had to sign for the rock and soil samples the brought back from their lunar mission.

Not resting on its laurels, NASA sent a second mission to the moon before the end of 1969. The Apollo 12 crew consisted of (left to right) Mission Commander Pete Conrad, Command Module Pilot Dick Gordon, and Lunar Modual Pilot Al Bean.

One of Apollo 12's objectives was to visit the Surveyor 3 lunar probe, sent to the moon by NASA in 1967, and bring some pieces of it back to earth (inclusing its camera and rock samples it had collected and photographed). This was the first time humans had visited a man-made object sent to the moon. The lunar module Intrepid is visible in the upper right of the image.

During the return trip to Earth, the Apollo 12 crew took some pictures of a solar eclipse that occured when the Earth passed between their spacecrft Yankee Clipper and the sun. Al Bean called it the most spectacular site of the mission.

There are four prominant stars on the Apollo 12 mission patch - three represent the members of the crew, and the fourth star is for Marine Major CC Williams who was assigned to the crew but died in a plane crash before the mission. He was replaced by Al Bean.

Marine Corps Major Clifton Curtis "CC" Williams, Jr., the first member of NASA's 5th astronaut class to be assigned to a space mission, is burried in Arlington National Cemetery, in Section 3, Grave 2503. He was 35 years old.