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Ex-astronaut Aldrin accused of punching man
CNN ^ | September 10, 2002

Posted on 09/11/2002 10:32:28 AM PDT by TomB

Edited on 04/29/2004 2:01:14 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]

BEVERLY HILLS, California (Reuters) -- A man who publicly confronted astronaut Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin over whether he actually went to the moon said that the Apollo 11 hero almost sent him into space with a punch to the jaw.

Bart Sibrel, an independent filmmaker from Nashville, Tennessee, said he was trying to conduct an ambush interview with Aldrin outside a hotel in Beverly Hills when the astronaut punched him and ran away.


(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: apollo11; bartsibrel; buzzaldrin; hat; idiot; moron; punchhimharder; tinfoil; wearing
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To: Defend the Second
China's got lots more goodies than they used to have in the way of sophisticated weaponry---. But, sorry to fog up your rose-colored glasses. After Mercury, they weren't more than passengers, Lovell being the exception.
101 posted on 09/11/2002 7:00:52 PM PDT by Mamzelle
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To: Greybird
My goodness, such a lot of replies to one snarky comment! Reading through, I started to chuckle at the tone of hurt indignation. Boys need their Gene Autreys.... Maybe it's good for you to keep your illusions.

OK--they were just heroic princes of men. They didn't fall to pieces the moment they eased out of the limelight, or betray the ladies who raised their kids, nor did they go on to embarrass themselves trying to get back in the public eye. Houston didn't save their butts, they saved their own butts through True Grit.

A lot of people seek thrills, but it doesn't make them brave. Sometimes it's what reminds them that they're alive. That's why a ride into orbit costs $20M, and the tourist agencies can get it!

102 posted on 09/11/2002 7:16:36 PM PDT by Mamzelle
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To: TomB
Yeah, I bet Sibrel's head was "Buzz"ing after that punch ;-D
103 posted on 09/12/2002 2:51:31 AM PDT by BMCDA
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To: Mamzelle
You do realise that Glenn wasn't an Apollo astronaut, don't you?

And please post some evidence that the dockings, separations, and landings for Apollo were all remote control.

104 posted on 09/12/2002 4:02:19 AM PDT by TomB
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To: TomB
If a few more people would be punched, we might have a far more polite society.
105 posted on 09/12/2002 5:15:14 AM PDT by PatrioticAmerican
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To: Mamzelle
Boys need their Gene Autreys

I don't know about "Gene Autreys," but there are worse role models for people than Gene Autry. He certainly did more to serve as a role model than others who merely sit around and bloviate from the protective anonymity of the Internet.

They didn't fall to pieces the moment they eased out of the limelight, or betray the ladies who raised their kids, nor did they go on to embarrass themselves trying to get back in the public eye.

Ah, here we have another Internet Diogenes seeking perfection in imperfect Man (of course while admitting no imperfections of your own). Easy enough to do, I guess. Must suck to have never done anything that people would want to read about in their history books, eh?

Houston didn't save their butts, they saved their own butts through True Grit.

Readers will probably find this shocking, but at least in the case of the flight of Apollo 13, I agree with your previous statement. Indeed, there wasn't much that "Houston" could do to keep Mattingly, Lovell, and Haise from choking on their own exhaled wastes in their crippled spacecraft other than to hope they could follow hastily-radioed instructions to construct a jury-rigged lithium hydroxide filter. After all, wasn't it "Houston" who designed the flawed system that required that a square peg fit into a round hole in the first place?

Heroes come in a variety of shapes and sizes. I've yet to meet one who finds it necessary to snipe at genuine heroes from the safe anonymity of their computer, and I suspect that you really aren't fit to wipe the boots of a genuine hero in real life. Oh well, the world needs ditch-diggers too.

106 posted on 09/12/2002 5:43:23 AM PDT by strela
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To: camle
I think calling someone a coward and liar is justification for punching him- "fighting words"

Aldrin will not be prosecuted. (I hope) and NEXT TIME KICK HIM IN THE NADS
107 posted on 09/12/2002 5:51:44 AM PDT by Mr. K
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To: strela
Point being, from the safety of my computer and some observation , they may be heroes to the starry-eyed but not to grownups who know their environs at close range. Then their "heroic flaws" aren't, you see, the flaws of heroes, but of self-promoters and individuals of shallow accomplishment and large hype. The whole Nasa millieu of the seventies, under Cris Craft (sp? it's been many years), was a government-imposed theatre. Fantasies. Movie Stars. They had gangs of "handlers" and PR experts to cultivate the very sentimentality you espouse here. "Heroes" made into myth, courtesy of taxpayers, not of great deeds. You didn't even get to see the Real Stuff, just what the honchos thought was the Right Stuff.

The Real Stuff were the trainers of these pet poodles, the engineers, the contractors, the technicians and other grunts. And if the trained help couldn't manage to open the door of the spacecraft without an hour of coaching from Houston, well, that didn't make it into the "live feed."

So Buzz punches a paparazzi. So does Sean Pean. Exactly how did Aldrin manage to become someone who has to punch a paparazzi? That's the more interesting question.

While the notion of a fake moon landing is outlandish, if it were bizarrely proven to be an actual fact, I wouldn't be all that surprised. So much from NASA was *spin*--here's a little example: Remember that famous photo from the Apollo Soyuz, where Soviet and American astronauts are shaking hands through the doorway of the connecting spacecraft? What a great shot. The truth, though, is that neither team would climb into the other craft for the photo. They were snarling and tugging at each other. Finally the shot was taken with the grimaces seeming to be grins...yet, it became a very famous still for the promotion of detente. Clever, but not the truth.

108 posted on 09/12/2002 7:04:29 AM PDT by Mamzelle
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To: Mamzelle; strela; Orual; aculeus; BlueLancer; Poohbah
Buzz was educated at West Point, graduating with honors in 1951, third in his class. After receiving his wings, he flew Sabre Jets in 66 combat missions in the Korean Conflict, shooting down two MIG-15's.

"Nasa put lipstick on some brats ... pet poodles."

Mamzelle, do fill us in on YOUR résumé.

109 posted on 09/12/2002 7:16:48 AM PDT by dighton
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To: TomB
Oh, you can show off your knowledge of all the buttons getting pushed to the guys here after I leave. The details only matter to you. Golly day, the trained help did manage to push buttons when they were supposed to. They even learned to fly T38s if they weren't pilots to start. They had to go to the gym a WHOLE lot. Most of the astronaut marriages broke up from all the work and preening and ego-anguishing... Nasa was bossy on the wives--used to trot them into the barracks when the fellows were in "isolation" or "quarantine. " for sex. Kind of like getting the boys serviced to avoid frustration--very embarrassing for the sixties-era couples (such a thing in the early seventies would be humiliating for a woman who wore white gloves to church as a teen-ager), and enraged some of the wives. Once there were female astronauts, such quasi-military nonsense stopped.

I've notices that adoration such as yours of astronauts comes often comes from hobby pilots. Hobby pilots have a lot of emotion invested in the image of aviators.

110 posted on 09/12/2002 7:28:13 AM PDT by Mamzelle
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To: dighton
And these days, he's punching out paparazzi like a second-string rock star. Sorta lacking in gravitas, don't you think?
111 posted on 09/12/2002 7:30:13 AM PDT by Mamzelle
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To: Mamzelle
In this instance, gravitas be damned.
Sibrel: "You are a coward and a liar and a..."

At this point Aldrin punches Sibrel in the jaw with a right hook and then enters the hotel.

Sibrel uttered fighting words, to a man with a sense of honor. Sibrel got socked in the jaw.

End of story.

112 posted on 09/12/2002 7:43:56 AM PDT by dighton
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To: Mamzelle; dighton; aculeus; general_re
Mamzelle, do fill us in on YOUR résumé.

I, too, am very interested in your qualifications and from what first-hand experience you draw on for your commentaries.

113 posted on 09/12/2002 7:46:38 AM PDT by Orual
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To: Orual
You asking for personal info?

Why?

114 posted on 09/12/2002 7:49:41 AM PDT by Mamzelle
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To: Mamzelle; dighton; aculeus; general_re
You asking for personal info?

Why?

Mine was the second request for your CV. You seem to write your criticisms with authority, with a sense of being an insider at NASA. If you want to lend "gravitas" to your statements, you will have to submit some proof that you can substantiate your charges. Otherwise, they will be considered idle ramblings.

115 posted on 09/12/2002 7:57:39 AM PDT by Orual
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To: camle
It is a searing indictment of America that a 37-year-old film maker can't harass an elderly man without fear of physical assault.

Clearly, Mr. Aldrin has issues in his past which cause him to see violence as an answer. I believe the root cause for his aggression is that he wasn't allowed to be the first man to walk on the moon.

Society must accept the blame for this injustice.

116 posted on 09/12/2002 7:58:26 AM PDT by Tribune7
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To: Tribune7
Good one. LMAO.
117 posted on 09/12/2002 8:00:01 AM PDT by dighton
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To: Orual
Consider it idle, as are any online chat groups, FR being the best. I don't give personal info online, never demand it unless the debate is completely friendly and having to do with no issue in dispute, and I highly distrust any request for personal info. I've tried to offer enough stories to make the conversation interesting. The space center and the communities around it in the early seventies was like a small town, and people in a small town know the score.

As a means of comparison, think of that great old sitcom, the Mary Tyler Moore show. The newsroom consisted of management , creative staff and hardworking technicians. But the face of it was Ted Baxter.

118 posted on 09/12/2002 8:06:41 AM PDT by Mamzelle
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To: Mamzelle; dighton; aculeus; general_re
The space center and the communities around it in the early seventies was like a small town, and people in a small town know the score.

I get it. Gossip. The score, then, is zero. It was not my intention to obtain personal information from you, just some documentation to support your allegations.

119 posted on 09/12/2002 8:11:50 AM PDT by Orual
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To: dighton; Orual; aculeus
I don't follow - even if NASA was a 100% propaganda exercise, staged in order to create a faux sense of patriotism, that makes it okay to harass a 70-year old man? And he's just supposed to sit there? Am I missing something?
120 posted on 09/12/2002 8:22:46 AM PDT by general_re
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