Eggplant:

I agree with you about Buzz Aldrin. Among other things he was the pilot of the Eagle LEM, while Armstrong was the mission commander. So Col Aldrin was the first pilot to land on the Moon.

But he favors the Apollo style “direct ascent” for going back to the Moon. Dumb, dumb, dumb. As you point out, going to the Moon is almost pointless. The only reason for going there is to prove out the technology to go to Mars and elsewhere in the Back Yard. And the only way to do that is to assemble ships in orbit. NASA has asserted that the Space Station assembly has proved you can’t do that. So NASA essentially has proved that we can’t go anywhere past the Moon. If they believe that, then they need to get out of the business.

Admittedly, the Giant Spaceship Launched From Earth approach has the advantage of employing lots of people in certain places here in Earth. But so would building automobiles out of paper mache.

As to the “Timberwind” reference, no comment, no comment.