No Dream Is Too High: Life Lessons From a Man Who Walked on the Moon

171 Pages·2016·2.16 MB·English

by  Buzz Aldrin

Also by Buzz Aldrin:
Mission to Mars
Magnificent Desolation
Encounter With Tiber
The Return
For children:
Welcome to Mars
Reaching for the Moon
Look to the Stars

Published by National Geographic Partners, LLC
Copyright © 2016 Buzz Aldrin Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction of the whole or
any part of the contents without written permission from the publisher is prohibited.
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC and Yellow Border Design are trademarks of the National Geographic
Society, used under license.
The quoted comment from Ed White on this page is reprinted from Virgil “Gus” Grissom, Gemini!:
A Personal Account of Man’s Venture Into Space (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1968), p.
78.
The passage from the speech President Nixon prepared in case the Apollo 11 mission failed on
this page is reprinted from William Safire, Before the Fall: An Inside View of the Pre-Watergate
White House (New York: Doubleday, 2005). The actual speech is preserved in the National
Archives in Washington, D.C.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Aldrin, Buzz. | Abraham, Ken.
Title: No dream is too high : life lessons from a man who walked on the Moon / Buzz Aldrin with
Ken Abraham.
Description: Washington, D.C. : National Geographic, 2016.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015037069 | ISBN 9781426216497 (hardback)
eISBN: 978-1-42621650-3
Subjects: LCSH: Aldrin, Buzz. | Aldrin, Buzz--Philosophy. | Conduct of life--Philosophy. |
Astronauts--United States--Biography. | BISAC:
BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Science & Technology. | REFERENCE / Personal &
Practical Guides. | SELF-HELP / Personal Growth / General.
Classification: LCC TL789.85.A4 A3 2016 | DDC 650.1--dc23
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015037069
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v3.1
I dedicate this book to the dreamers, the out-of-the-box thinkers and seat-of-
the-pants innovators like me: John Houbolt, Hubert Davis, Dick Battin,
Charlie Bassett, Ed White, and Stephen Hawking.
But I dedicate this especially to my dear friends and Apollo 11 crewmates,
Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins.
CONTENTS
Cover
Also by Buzz Aldrin
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
COUNTDOWN
CHAPTER ONE
The sky is not the limit … There are footprints on the Moon!
CHAPTER TWO
Keep your mind open to possibilities.
CHAPTER THREE
Show me your friends, and I will show you your future.
CHAPTER FOUR
Second comes right after first.
CHAPTER FIVE
Write your own epitaph.
CHAPTER SIX
Maintain your spirit of adventure.
PHOTO GALLERY
CHAPTER SEVEN
Failure is always an option.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Practice respect for all people.
CHAPTER NINE
Do what you believe is right even when others choose otherwise.
CHAPTER TEN
Trust your gut … and your instruments.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Laugh … a lot!
CHAPTER TWELVE
Keep a young mind-set at every age.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Help others go beyond where you have gone.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ILLUSTRATIONS CREDITS
COUNTDOWN
uzz Aldrin is one of the most brilliant men I have ever met. Is he
B
outspoken and opinionated? Oh, yes. Is he quirky? Oh, yeah. Is he
eccentric at times? More than you can imagine!
But Buzz Aldrin is also one of the kindest men I have ever met. He has
a heart that goes from here to the Moon and back. He is elegant and
charming. He is a gentle man, generous to a fault, self-effacing, and
intensely patriotic. He can be mildly irreverent, and he is one of the
funniest people ever to walk on Earth or on the Moon.
Many people know Buzz from Apollo 11; others know him from his
passionate speeches motivating the next generation of explorers to get
their asses to Mars. Some people don’t understand him when he speaks,
but I know him well enough to be able to fill in the blanks.
Some of the stories he is about to share, I’ve heard him tell many
times; others are brand new, even to me. In the pages ahead, I’m excited
for you to meet the Buzz Aldrin that I know. He has so much to share
with us. He really does dream big … and for Buzz, dreams do come true!
Christina Korp
Manager and Mission Control Director to Dr. Buzz Aldrin
• CHAPTER ONE •
THE SKY IS NOT THE LIMIT … THERE ARE FOOTPRINTS
ON THE MOON!
hen I was a boy, some people regarded the statement “The sky
W
is the limit” as a positive affirmation, implying that anything
is possible. The truth is, the sky is not the limit. Nowadays, we
can go much farther, and dream much higher than the sky.
I know the sky is not the limit, because there are footprints on the
Moon—and I made some of them! So don’t allow anyone to denigrate or
inhibit your lofty aspirations. Your dreams can take you much higher
and much farther than anyone ever thought possible! Mine certainly did.
For years, men and women dreamed of reaching space—exploring the
Moon, other planets, and even the stars. But it wasn’t until the 20th
century that human beings experienced their first powered flight. In
1903, on a windy morning on Kill Devil Hills at Kitty Hawk, North
Carolina, two young risktakers, Orville and Wilbur Wright, took to the
air, defying gravity in their appropriately named plane, Flyer.
My mother, Marion Moon—yes, that was her real maiden name—was
born that same year. A mere 66 years later, Neil Armstrong and I set foot
on the Moon, fulfilling the dreams of millions of people and far
surpassing the expectations of those who claimed that the sky is the
limit!
Nowadays, when I speak to young audiences, they are often surprised