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 ...
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!
And please post some evidence that the dockings, separations, and landings for Apollo were all remote control.
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.
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.
"Nasa put lipstick on some brats ... pet poodles."
Mamzelle, do fill us in on YOUR résumé.
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.
Sibrel: "You are a coward and a liar and a..."Sibrel uttered fighting words, to a man with a sense of honor. Sibrel got socked in the jaw.At this point Aldrin punches Sibrel in the jaw with a right hook and then enters the hotel.
End of story.
I, too, am very interested in your qualifications and from what first-hand experience you draw on for your commentaries.
Why?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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