New Jersey Native Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin -- the second man to set foot on the moon -- will speak at the main branch of the Philadelphia Free Library tonight.
Get the inside scoop from Buzz himself on his life and his new book, "Magnificent Desolation," which chronicles not only his lunar voyage, but his battle with alcoholism and depression that followed his journey to the moon.
Aldrin was the lunar module pilot for Apollo 11, the very first mission to land on the moon (40 years ago yesterday). He assisted Neil Armstrong on the historic space landing and is the voice heard worldwide saying, "contact light" when the landing craft Eagle finally touched down.
After his return to earth, Aldrin felt that he had reached the apex of his profession at the early age of 39 and found himself, as he describes it, without purpose.
Aldrin's book also reveals, for the first time in 40 years, that he and Armstrong were inadvertently responsible for the rash of computer alarms that nearly forced Eagle to abort its landing just 37-thousand feet above the lunar surface. The astronauts decided to skip a step in the landing checklist that required them to turn off their rendezvous radar after they undocked from the command ship, Columbia.
Come get the buzz from Buzz Aldrin at 7:30 p.m. tonight at the Central Library at 1901 Vine Street. General admission is $14, students pay $7.
