December 15, 2016 9:23 pm

Tomorrow, Neil Tyson Interviews Moonwalker Buzz Aldrin

It’s been nearly half a century since Buzz Aldrin descended the ladder of the Lunar Module he piloted to become the second human being to walk on the moon. Since the Apollo 11 mission in July of 1969, we’ve landed on the moon 5 more times, flown 135 space shuttle missions, and set up a constant human presence in low Earth orbit on the International Space Station.

For many, it’s hard to really understand how dangerous and risky that first lunar landing was – the failed Apollo 13 mission and the Challenger and Columbia space shuttle accidents notwithstanding.

In Friday’s episode, Buzz tells host Neil deGrasse Tyson that he, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins, and Mission Commander Neil Armstrong figured the odds of their safe return from the moon at 60%.

Even that isn’t as eye-opening as the speech Neil reads on the show. It was prepared for then-President Richard Nixon to read in case Buzz and Neil didn’t return from the moon, and it is chilling.

But for all that risk, all that danger that may seem so overwhelming to regular folks like us, astronauts and other NASA personnel just seem to take it in stride.

Whether it’s Shannon Walker calling Neil deGrasse Tyson to describe the view from the International Space Station, or Chris Hadfield talking about defying death as a test pilot, or NASA Flight Directors Emily Nelson and Royce Renfrew calmly describing the potential loss of life that led to prematurely terminating Tim Kopra’s EVA, or even NASA Administrator and former astronaut Major General Charles Bolden, who flew more than 100 combat missions in the Viet Nam war and 4 space shuttle flights, including the one that launched the Hubble, they all come across as calm, cool, and collected, and any dangers they may have experienced are described in understated tones.

Certainly that’s the case with Buzz and Neil’s in-studio guest, StarTalk All-Stars host and former NASA astronaut Mike Massimino.

Mike’s been on StarTalk over a dozen times, and whenever he shares one of his stories, there’s no real sense of fear that comes across.

Just professionals, doing their jobs.

For instance, when Neil asks Buzz about what it’s like as you head off into the black depths of space and see the Earth receding and growing smaller every minute, Buzz responds, “You know, we’d be in trouble if it got bigger.”

In talking about launching into space, Mike tells Neil, “At the point you’re on top of a rocket, Neil, it doesn’t matter…all this training you got you realize, it doesn’t matter. Once the thing lights, you’re on your way, you might as well have fun.”

Like I said, understated.

Both Buzz and Mike get a bit more animated when it comes to the subject of urination. Buzz talks about being proud to have been “the first guy to pee in his pants on the moon.” And Mike describes how, when astronauts on the space shuttle were about to dump their urine out into space, “everyone would go to the window and watch.” Apparently, frozen urine glistening n the vacuum of space makes for a memorable and beautiful sight.

For these and other stories of the space race, the cold war, the manned exploration of space, Buzz’s development of the protocols for underwater astronaut training, his record setting spacewalk aboard Gemini 12, and more, please join host Neil deGrasse Tyson, comic co-host Iliza Shlesinger, Chuck Nice, Bill Nye, and of course, Buzz Aldrin and Mike Massimino for The Lunar Legacy, with Buzz Aldrin, this Friday, Dec. 15 at 7pm EST.

You can listen right here on our website, or on iTunes Podcasts, Google Play Music, SoundCloud, Stitcher and TuneIn. And if you’re an All-Access subscriber, you can listen to this episode ad-free (no video for this one).

That’s it for now. Keep Looking Up!
–Jeffrey Simons