The Real Buzz Aldrin

The scoop: Forty years ago, two astronauts landed on the surface of the moon, captivating the people on Earth. One of those men was Buzz Aldrin, author of a new memoir titled "Magnificent Desolation," in which he chronicles battles with alcoholism and depression after his famed foray on the moon. In an interview with Discovery News space correspondent Irene Klotz, Aldrin talks about the legacy of Apollo and his vision for the future.

Irene Klotz: I was struck in your book by how you were left with the impression that the most important part of going to the moon was the shared experience that it created for people on Earth. I'd like to know if you think that the space program is capable of pulling off that sort of world camaraderie another time.

Buzz Aldrin: Well not in exactly the same way. Those were very pioneering days. There was a world of facing off between the United States and the Soviet Union and challenging new capabilities and technology. We just charted a course into the unknown of space capabilities and were very bold about doing that.

IK: So do you not think that that could happen again?

BA: Not in exactly the same way. We have gone through various ways of different people getting into orbit, different countries, a very complex machine, the shuttle, not quite living up to expectations ... but I just kind of hate to see the future, when we retire the orbiter, to be going back to recovering people and cargo in the ocean.

IK: Why did you say that NASA's current plan to the moon is a detour?

BA: It's going back to do the things that we have done before and other nations are capable of doing that right now. It seems to me that we leave ourselves open to other nations being able to claim that 'Oh look, we beat the Americans back to the moon. They're just not going to be leaders in the 21st century.' We need to chart what I think is a new course.

IK: So you're saying that the United States wouldn't be respected for doing the same thing that it did before. It needs to do something different to gain world respect?

BA: I don't think we get our money's worth out of investing and doing something that other people can do, when there's rather questionable return -- commercial return or the knowledge that we get -- by having humans back on moon to justify the large expense of their habitation.

IK: Is there a reason why spaceflight is so personally important to you?

BA: (Chuckles) Well, I've devoted half my life to be a part of it.

IK: Why'd you stay with it?

BA: It's what I know best. And when I transitioned from NASA service and Air Force service, what I knew best was innovative ways of telling the public and working with other people on better ways of (developing) human exploration, whether it's cycling orbits to and from Mars, or the design of spacecraft, working with engineers on reusable booster rockets to increase the efficiency and reliability of what puts people into space and eventually reducing the cost through higher flight rates and then devising ways to go back to the moon for us and other people.

IK: So why did a guy who goes to the moon write a book about alcoholism and depression?

BA: Because I experienced those things in going from a very structured life into one that was not all that satisfying. I had transitioned back into the Air Force and I felt that that was not the path to pursue, even though it was a good idea in the first place.

IK: How did being unstructured lead to alcoholism and depression?

BA: When you don't know what it is you're doing, what you should be doing, what you're working for when you've been in a very goal-oriented existence up to that point, you begin to lose enthusiasm, lose a sense of purpose.

IK: So you would say that goal-setting is a really important thing to do?

BA: If you've had a very structured life, yes you should have in mind what is the end result of your day-to-day work.

IK: What's your goal now?

BA: To serve my country in the best way that I can with the experience that I've accumulated in almost 80 years of life.

IK: How have you decided to do that? What's the structure for implementing your goal?

BA: The structure is what I have and the companionship of meeting Lois a little over 20 years ago. We lead a life of complementary sharing with other people, and events we go to, my accepting offers of speaking engagements to share the experiences of my life and the hope for the future in our space program, as it motivates people to help to lend support to endorsing products that I think are worthwhile because of my technical background. People do that in many other ventures in life and I think that's an appropriate thing when I consider the not-exactly-high rate of compensation for retired service people with 20 years of service and if you happen to be fortunate enough to get divorced in California, you lose half your retirement pay -- NASA has no retirement for the time we put in there; that was all compensated by the Air Force.

So we have to live up to certain standards of activity and sharing with people and I do what I can, what is accepted practice to earn the best living I know how to by taking my experience and sharing it with others -- writing books, engaging in Twitter experiences through TheRealBuzz (www.twitter.com/therealbuzz), having a very handsome website (www.buzzaldrin.com), working with my nonprofit ShareSpace Foundation to enhance the understanding of the benefits of our past exploration and what we hope to do in the future, working on lottery-type selection awards with ShareSpace for experiences in space, and then working with the California Space Authority and other education institutions to help improve the accountability of the policies that have been set forth by the federal and state and the local governments.