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On the 20th of July, back in 1969, the Apollo 11 mission became the first mission to successfully land two human beings on the moon and bring them home to earth safely.  The first human beings to set foot on a world other than our own.

Forty years on we space enthusiasts have enjoyed the many and varied 40th anniversary celebrations of that achievement.  We have again honoured the men that completed that mission, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Mike Collins, and indeed all those behind the scenes that made it possible.

I have recently celebrated my own 40th birthday.  Being born two days after the Apollo 11 moon landing, my eldest sister, sadly no longer with us, had the idea of remembering the event in my name.  Hence, from that day forward I carried the forenames of Aldrin Armstrong.  I have promised myself that this year, I will add Collins to my name also, as Mike Collins has long remained an unsung hero of that mission.  I’ve been saying I’ll do it for years, and now’s the time.

The reason for my writing this is ultimately a selfish one, but what I need is your help.  Approaching my fortieth birthday, during what I would probably term my mid life crisis, I have been trying to contact both Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin.  They have obviously been very busy people around the anniversary, and I do always hope that they’ll chance upon my letters, emails and tweets, in amongst the no doubt mountains they’ve received over the last few weeks, but alas I fear that I may not be that lucky.

So, in short, this article is a request, for you to pass it on to anyone you know who may be interested, in the hope that it might eventually reach the two men in question, men I admire and think of often for their endeavour in the name of mankind.

You might ask exactly what I want to achieve?

Well, I know these men are not public property, nor do they owe me anything simply because I was named after them, but what I hope is that they might simply drop me a line.

For an ordinary fellow like me, with an extraordinary and historical name, I hope they might send me a simple note, something that I personally will treasure, and in years to come will be able to show to my children and grandchildren, and say to them that these letters were written by the men that first walked on the moon.  That’s all I want.  It may not seem like much to anyone else, but to me it would mean a lot.