Shot-Gun Buzz Aldrin: "Good Luck, Mr. Armstrong!"

All bid fond adieu to Neil Armstrong today in a solemn and private Ohio ceremony - our dignified American hero and first man to set foot on the moon.  No greater glory than this moment of human achievement.  I never met Neil...

Buzz, Buzz and BEYOND

But I did meet Buzz Aldrin! 

My team interviewed him for the Discovery Channel CD-ROM "Beyond Planet Earth" in 1992 and I got to know just what a hard-charging self-promoter this gent was.  We parked him in the studio at Capitol Video on Wisconsin Ave., and he delivered the goods.

Buzz: Moon as Steppingstone to Fame

He did lots of work for Discovery Channel in the early years, and on and on - appearing on-air, on the road, and in special events when we had space-theme programming to sell.

As gracious and reserved as small-step Neil was, that's how eager to make a giant leap for the limelight was ol' Buzz.  Since we were always looking for publicity, it suited us just fine.  Still, when I spoke with him, it seemed almost as though Buzz wanted us to forget that Neil had been down the steps ahead of him.

He'd ridden in the side-car, and it bugged him no end.

So I never met Neil, although when my friend David pointed out Neil's house up the block from his own in Spring Valley, DC to me, we stood in the road and gaped.  Like you and everybody else, I kept a scrapbook, drank Tang and watched TV rapt all night in July, 1969 as Apollo 11 touched down.

The Armstrong family has asked us all - everyone who looks up to the sky to dream, to wonder, or to fall in love - to peek at tonight's Blue Moon and think of Neil.  I will see you there.

"Ad Astra Per Aspera"

The eulogy that wasn't...

The legacy we love to believe...

And Buzz: Keep On Truckin' !