I’ve always been fascinated by space—outer space, not empty-room space.  In the sixties, I closely watched the Mercury, Gemini, and the Apollo space programs.  I was glued to the TV as Neil Armstrong, then Buzz Aldrin, set foot on the moon.

When I was at the University of Arkansas, they had an Outstanding Speaker Series that brought in prominent people to speak to students, faculty, and staff.  One of the speakers was Buzz Aldrin.  Listening to him tell about going to the moon was like listening to someone talk about going to Walmart.  He made seem so casual.

In the early 90’s, I discovered I had saved the newspaper from the day after Armstrong and Aldrin had walked on the moon.  It was surprisingly well preserved.  It was a valuable piece of history, so I had it framed.

When I was looking at it hanging on the wall in my office, I noticed the story at the bottom of the front page: “Complaint Filed Against Kennedy”.  This was the Mary Jo Kopechne incident that pretty well ended Ted Kennedy’s hopes to run for President.  On any other day, that would have been the big headline.

The evening that Buzz Aldrin spoke, beforehand, his manager said that Buzz would be available in the lobby afterwards to meet people.  However, he would not sign autographs, he said.  (I’m guessing Aldrin makes money doing that.)  After the speech was over, I went to my office and took the newspaper out of the frame.  I hoped that, maybe, I could get Buzz to sign it.  When I finally worked my way over to him and asked him to sign it, it was “Oh no, I can’t sign that.  Sorry.”  I quickly thought of a Plan B.  I asked him if I could get a photo of him and me holding the paper.  That was fine to do.  Woohoo!

This photo now hangs on my office wall beside the framed newspaper.