Buzz Aldrin - No Dream Is Too High

Occasionally, someone in their teens or 20s will come up to me and say, “My grandfather worked on some of the technology for Apollo 11. Did you know him?”

Usually, I didn’t. So many dedicated people worked together toward the common goal of reaching the Moon, in various locations around the country, that it was impossible for me to meet all of them. But every person’s contribution to the team—regardless how large or small—mattered in the unified effort toward accomplishing the end result. The success of Apollo 11 was definitely due to a great team effort.

That effort was driven in part by competition and in part by a universal thirst for knowledge through scientific discovery. People all over the world felt they had participated in our incredible journey, as we landed and walked on another celestial body for the first time. And that feeling of participation brought together humanity, and it still holds immeasurable value and hope for future cooperation between people of all nations.

The world welcomed us back from the Moon as heroes, cheering wildly as we participated in parades and celebrations. I understood, however, that people were not simply cheering for three guys, but for what we represented—that by a lot of people working together for a common cause, we had accomplished the impossible.

THESE ARE A FEW OF MY FAVORITE life lessons that I learned as a result of walking on the Moon and the preparation that took us there—the guiding principles that have helped keep me going since returning to Earth.

• The sky is not the limit … there are footprints on the Moon!

• Keep your mind open to possibilities.

• Show me your friends, and I will show you your future.

• Second comes right after first.

• Write your own epitaph.

• Maintain your spirit of adventure.

• Failure is always an option.

• Practice respect for all people.

• Do what you believe is right even when others choose otherwise.

• Trust your gut … and your instruments.

• Laugh … a lot!

• Keep a young mind-set at every age.

• Help others go beyond where you have gone.

I hope these lessons will be as helpful to you as they have been to me.

Take it from a man who has walked on the Moon: Be careful what you dream—it just might come to pass, so be prepared. Apollo is the story of people at their best, working together for a common goal. We started with a dream, and we can do these kinds of things again.

With a united effort and a great team, you too can achieve great things. I know, because I am living proof that no dream is too high!

I’d like to thank my family, and especially my three kids—James Michael; my beautiful daughter, Jan; and my youngest, Andy, who is carrying on the aerospace tradition and my legacy. I’m still learning about what it means to be a father and the love that close family brings. I lost both my sisters, and each loss reminds me how much family matters. I’d like to thank my only grandson, Jeffrey Schuss, who has done everything right. He is a good kid who became an aerospace engineer and a pilot, and, best of all, he married April, which may be his smartest move. They’re continuing the family line with my great-grandsons, Nathanial and Benjamin, with baby Archer on the way. I’m grateful that both Jan and Andy married up to smart, good-looking, funny, and sensible spouses who always help with the non-Aldrin perspective: Bruce Hanifan and Maureen Aldrin.

I would be lost without my team: My Mission Director, Christina Korp, whom I consider my indispensable crutch, holding my world up and together—and all the while travel agenting, baggage lifting, mascot raising, keyboard pecking, ballad singing … and tweeting like a professional about all things Buzz. And my assistant, Rob Varnas, who keeps our gadgets in check, my website running smoothly, while at the same time photo and video archiving, Mexican food cooking, and making sure I have enough spectacles to read all the emails that come into all my devices. My mascots, Brielle Winona Korp and Logan Alexander BUZZ Korp. They represent Generation Mars.

I’d like to thank the Purdue team, who have been instrumental in helping get my concepts for Cycling Pathways to Occupy Mars out to the world, especially professor Jim Longuski, who has been a believer longer than anyone else other than me, and Ph.D. project manager Sarag Saikia.

Thank you to my committed partner and co-pilot in life, Judy Rice. You’re the best person to watch sunrises with on the beach.

Thanks to all those on my National Geographic Books team: designers Nicole Miller, Melissa Farris, and Jono Halling; photographers and photo editors Becky Hale, Mark Thiessen, and Susan Blair; and production editor Michael O’Connor.

Finally, I’d like to thank my co-writer, Ken Abraham, who has helped me capture more Buzz tales to show the world another part of me, and our editor extraordinaire, Susan Tyler Hitchcock.

I hope you like this book and these stories. I’ve already had quite a life, but you ain’t seen nothing yet!

All photographs used by permission from the Buzz Aldrin Photo Archive, except the following.

Jamie Noguchi: Front cover

Rebecca Hale/National Geographic: Acknowledgments

Photo Gallery:

Linn LeBlanc: ins1.13

Andrew Aldrin: ins1.14

Christina Korp: ins1.16, ins1.18, ins1.19, ins1.21, ins1.22, ins1.23

James O. Davies: ins1.24

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: 978-1-4262-1650-3

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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