Neil Armstrong December 23, 1968, as Apollo 8 orbited the Moon. In a meeting that was not made public until the publication of Armstrong's biography in 2005, Slayton told him that although the planned crew was Commander Armstrong, Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin, and Command Module Pilot Michael Collins, he was offering Armstrong the chance to replace Aldrin with Jim Lovell. After thinking it over for a day, Armstrong told Slayton he would stick with Aldrin, as he had no difficulty working with him and thought Lovell deserved his own command. Replacing Aldrin with Lovell would have made Lovell the lunar module
Magnificent Desolation (book) Magnificent Desolation (book) Magnificent Desolation: The Long Journey Home from the Moon is the second of two autobiographical books written by Buzz Aldrin, the former Apollo 11 astronaut who with Neil Armstrong made the first human Moon landing. The book concentrates mainly on the period after his return from space, and illuminates many of the difficulties he had in coping with his instant world-wide fame following the achievement. He writes candidly about depression, the breakup of his marriage, the isolation and loss of a sense of purpose after leaving NASA, and a decade of struggle to overcome alcoholism. The Guardian