Magnificent Desolation (book) notes that "Aldrin removes his space helmet and shows us the very human face of an all-American hero." The ISBN number of "Magnificent Desolation" is . 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
Buzz Aldrin used a sextant and rendezvous charts he helped create to give Lovell the right information to put the spacecraft in position to dock with the target vehicle. Gemini 12 achieved the fourth docking with an Agena target vehicle. The next task was to practice undocking and docking again. On undocking, one of the three latches caught, and Lovell had to use the Gemini's thrusters to free the spacecraft. Aldrin then docked again successfully a few minutes later. The flight plan then called for the Agena main engine to be fired to take the docked spacecraft into a higher orbit, but