Apollo 11: TV Transmission Started, 17 July 1969 6:31 PM CDT
This is the fourth of eleven geocaches being placed in commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of Apollo 11. These caches are being scheduled to publish at 50 years to the minute after the event each one represents. The city where they are placed has the distinction of sharing its name with the Apollo 11 Command Module, Columbia.
“We interrupt your regularly scheduled broadcast to bring you live coverage of the Apollo 11 Moon Mission…” This is the third television transmission during flight, in color and running for 36 minutes, including showing viewers what earth looks like from 147,300 miles away.
Following the broadcast, let us look at our second member of the crew:
Apollo 11 Lunar Module Pilot, Edwin Eugene “Buzz” Aldrin, Jr.
Buzz was born 20 January 1930 in Glen Ridge, New Jersey. His father was a former Army aviator and commandant of the Army test pilot school. Aldrin graduated from the United States Military Academy (West Point) following which he joined the United States Air Force as a fighter pilot flying 66 combat missions during the Korean War. Following Korea, he earned a doctoral degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His doctoral thesis was on the topic of orbital rendezvous. As with Collins, Aldrin was selected as a member of the third group of astronauts in 1963 and was the first astronaut with a doctoral degree. Aldrin’s first space flight was Gemini 12 in which he spent more than 5 hours in space walk. His second and final space flight was Apollo 11. Buzz was the second human to set foot on the moon.
Leaving NASA in 1971, Aldrin became Commandant of the United States Air Force Test Pilot School, retiring in 1972. Aldrin struggled, as many celebrities do, with alcoholism and depression for a number of years. In 1985 he joined the faculty of the University of North Dakota’s College of Aerospace Sciences during which time he developed a special cost effective spacecraft trajectory to and from Mars. Buzz has continued to advocate for manned space exploration including, of course, a mission to Mars.
While Aldrin is far from being the only advocate of a mission to Mars, it is interesting to note that NASA’s official Apollo 50th Anniversary logo links the moon with mars bearing the words “Next Giant Leap.”
This geocache has been placed in accordance with the published guidelines of Columbia Parks & Recreation Department, Lida M. Gochenour, Administrative Supervisor.