Some people have said that the moon landing was the last great moment of American triumph , even if Buzz Aldrin still has to, at an advanced age, smack around doubting Thomases for challenging the event’s veracity.
But a successful round-trip wasn’t always a foregone conclusion. William Safire, former White House speechwriter who died earlier this week, had a plan b speech queued up in the event Aldrin and Neil Armstrong expired in the attempt. Gawker posted pictures of the luckily-never-orated speech:
