Karlology (36 page)

I
r
ead
so
m
e
o
f
t
h
e
inf
o
rm
at
i
o
n
t
h
at
w
as
o
n
o
ff
e
r
about
how President Kennedy started talking about the idea o
f
g
oin
g
to t
h
e Moon in 1962
:

“
I
b
e
l
ieve t
h
at t
h
is nation s
h
ou
ld
commit itse
lf
to ac
h
ie
ving
the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on
t
h
e Moon an
d
returning
h
im sa
f
e
l
y to t
h
e Eart
h
.
”

“Man
y
y
ears a
g
o the
g
reat British ex
p
lorer
G
eor
g
e Ma
l
l
or
y
, who was to die on Mount Everest, was asked wh
y
did he want to climb it. He said, ‘Because it’s there’. Well, space is there and we’re going to climb it”
.

I
k
now w
h
at
G
eor
g
e meant. It’s
l
i
k
e i
f
t
h
ere are
b
iscuits in our
f
oo
d
cu
pb
oar
d
, I’
ll
eat t
h
em cos I
k
now t
h
e
y
are there. If they were not there, I’d have no urge for biscuits.
W
e do a lot of stuff just because it is there. We eat a lot of stu
ff
just cos it is t
h
ere. I saw some peop
l
e on
h
o
l
i
d
ay eat
ing
sea urc
h
ins –
l
itt
l
e s
p
i
ky
-
l
oo
k
in
g
t
h
in
g
s t
h
at t
h
e
y
h
it
w
it
h
a roc
k
to stun an
d
t
h
en cut in
h
a
lf
. T
h
e
y
t
h
en scoo
p
o
ut all this black gunk and other parts, just to get to a few small bits that are about the size of a twiglet. It wasn’t worth t
h
e
h
ass
l
e. T
h
e
y
were t
h
rowin
g
awa
y
more t
h
an t
h
e
y
ate.
I
t wou
ld
b
e
l
i
k
e
k
i
ll
in
g
a
h
uman
j
ust to eat t
h
eir tonsi
l
s. I think the sea urchins are still alive while you eat them too.
I
’m
a
ll f
o
r fr
es
h f
ood
but
n
ot
t
h
at
fr
es
h
.

A
p
o
ll
o 11 was t
h
e
fi
rst manne
d
mission to
l
an
d
on t
h
e
M
oon, in
J
u
ly
1969. T
h
ere were t
h
ree
p
eo
pl
e on
b
oar
d
:
Ne
il
A
r
mstrong, Eugene
“
Buzz
”
A
ldrin and Michael
C
ol
l
ins. If I’d been in charge of the operation I don’t know i
f
I
’d have let someone who introduced themself as Eugene
“
Buzz”
A
ld
rin
b
e
p
art o
f
t
h
e
j
o
b
. It’s
l
i
k
e
h
e’s not ta
k
in
g
it
serious
l
y. Nic
k
names
l
i
k
e t
h
at are
fi
ne i
f
you
fi
x TVs
f
or a
l
ivin
g
, or to use w
h
en on a CB ra
d
io ta
lk
in
g
to truc
k
ers,
b
ut is a man named Buzz the sort of man
y
ou reall
y
want in charge of a rocket? Who were they gonna ask next, the F
o
nz
?

Be
f
ore to
d
a
y
I cou
ld
n’t
h
ave to
ld
y
ou w
h
o t
h
e t
h
ir
d
mem
b
er o
f
t
h
e mission was. I’
d
never
h
ear
d
o
f
Mic
h
ae
l
C
ollins before. It’s a name that doesn’t seem like it should
b
e famous. Maybe a middle name like Buzz’s would have
h
e
l
pe
d
h
is name soun
d
more interesting. It wor
k
e
d
f
or E
d
d
ie “t
h
e Ea
gl
e” E
d
war
d
s. E
dd
ie was a s
k
i
j
um
p
er w
h
o
h
a
d
a catc
hy
name an
d
wore
f
unn
y
gl
asses an
d
is remem
b
ere
d
,
e
ven though he won nothing at the 1988 Olympics. And
y
et Michael Collins has been to the Moon and back and his
n
ame is un
k
nown. Ma
yb
e
h
e s
h
ou
ld
h
ave co
p
ie
d
Buzz an
d
g
one
f
or somet
h
in
g
l
i
k
e Mic
h
ae
l
“Moonman” Co
ll
ins, or at
l
east gone and wore some funny glasses like Eddie’s unde
r
hi
s
h
e
lm
et.

T
h
ey
h
a
d
some pro
bl
ems
l
an
d
ing,
d
ue to t
h
e on-
b
oar
d
com
p
uters
pl
a
y
in
g
u
p
, an
d
were a
l
most
f
orce
d
to
l
an
d
in a
l
ar
g
e crater wit
h
roc
k
s scattere
d
aroun
d
it (me
d
a
d
was
r
ight about the parking). Armstrong ended up taking manual control of the Lunar Module and parked 12 miles away
f
rom w
h
ere t
h
e
y
were aimin
g
to
p
ar
k
,
b
ut I
g
uess w
h
en
y
ou’ve
j
ust trave
ll
e
d
238,000 mi
l
es
y
ou’re
p
ro
b
a
bly
u
p
f
o
r
a wa
lk
.