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MAGNIFICENT DESOLATION
By: Buzz Aldrin
The Long Journey Home From The Moon
Harmony
July 2009
On Sale: June 23, 2009
Featuring: Buzz Aldrin
288 pages
ISBN: 0307463451
EAN: 9780307463456
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction Memoir
Forty years ago, Buzz Aldrin became the second human, minutes after Neil Armstrong, to set foot on a celestial body other than the Earth. The event remains one of mankindβs greatest achievements and was witnessed by the largest worldwide television audience in history. In the years since, millions more have had their Earth-centric perspective unalterably changed by the iconic photograph of Aldrin standing on the surface of the moon, the blackness of space behind him and his fellow explorer and the Eagle reflected in his visor. Describing the alien world he was walking upon, he uttered the words βmagnificent desolation.β And as the astronauts later sat in the Eagle, waiting to begin their journey back home, knowing that they were doomed unless every system and part on board worked flawlessly, it was Aldrin who responded to Mission Controlβs clearance to take off with the quip, βRoger. Understand. Weβre number one on the runway.β The flight of Apollo 11 made Aldrin one of the most famous persons on our planet, yet few people know the rest of this true American heroβs story. In Magnificent Desolation, Aldrin not only gives us a harrowing first-person account of the lunar landing that came within seconds of failure and the ultimate insiderβs view of life as one of the superstars of Americaβs space program, he also opens up with remarkable candor about his more personal trialsβand eventual triumphsβback on Earth. From the glory of being part of the mission that fulfilled President Kennedyβs challenge to reach the moon before the decade was out, Aldrin returned home to an Air Force career stripped of purpose or direction, other than as a public relations tool that NASA put to relentless use in a seemingly nonstop world tour. The twin demons of depression and alcoholism emergedβthe first of which Aldrin confronted early and publicly, and the second of which he met with denial until it nearly killed him. He burned through two marriages, his Air Force career came to an inglorious end, and he found himself selling cars for a living when he wasnβt drunkenly wrecking them. Redemption came when he finally embraced sobriety, gained the love of a woman, Lois, who would become the great joy of his life, and dedicated himself to being a tireless advocate for the future of space explorationβnot only as a scientific endeavor but also as a thriving commercial enterprise. These days Buzz Aldrin is enjoying life with an enthusiasm that reminds us how far it is possible for a person to travel, literally and figuratively. As an adventure story, a searing memoir of self-destruction and self-renewal, and as a visionary rallying cry to once again set our course for Mars and beyond, Magnificent Desolation is the thoroughly human story of a genuine hero.
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