Once In A Blue Moon

Aldrin Memories Create A Media Buzz

Photograph copyright: DAVID McMAHON

This shot was taken a few hours ago, at dusk on Sunday. We were outdoors on a breezy but very mild evening when I noticed that the moon looked as though it was being cradled by the almost-bare branch of this plane tree. It was just right for a quick photograph – the gentle curve of the branch and its few remaining leaves in silhouette, and a two-thirds moon floating in a clear azure sky. I think it was meant to be photographed.

There was another lunar connection for the evening, with Buzz Aldrin being interviewed about Apollo XI on Channel Seven’s Sunday segment `Where Are They Now’. For me, the highlight of the interview was Aldrin pointing to the mission patch on his NASA jacket. As he picked out the detail of the eagle carrying the olive branch, he quoted the words from the famous plaque left behind on the lunar surface - ``We came in peace for all mankind’’.