'There was a bit of tension': Astronaut describes watching Moon landing with Buzz Aldrin’s family

By James Rogers | Fox News

Apollo 9 astronaut Russell Schweickart watched the Apollo 11 moon landing with Buzz Aldrin's family. See video...

Former NASA astronaut Russell Schweickart helped lay the foundations of the Moon landing when he tested the lunar module as part of the Apollo 9 mission in March 1969.

Four months later, he was with Buzz Aldrin’s family in Texas as his friends Aldrin and Neil Armstrong took their historic first steps on the Moon. “I was at the Aldrin home for the landing, with Buzz’s wife and kids, both to help them understand what was going on and in case something went wrong,” he told Fox News at The Economist Space Summit in New York City. “That was something that we often did as astronauts.”

“As you would expect, there was a bit of tension,” he added. “There’s a little bit of anxiety and some tension and worry and that kind of thing.”