George Clooney paid tribute to his hero, astronaut Buzz Aldrin, at an event in London on Wednesday (26Apr17), confessing he lacked the courage to become a spaceman.
The actor met up with the 1969 moon-landing icon at a star-studded gala held to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Omega Speedmaster watch at the Tate Modern gallery.
Clooney told reporters he grew up dreaming of owning the timepiece the astronauts wore, and once made his own watch out of paper as a kid.
“I did make an Omega Speedmaster,” he quipped. “It was right twice a day.
“Everybody had them when I was growing up because they were a big part of the moon landings, which were of course huge in our lives… and then later my father gave me one of my own as a graduation present. It was a huge part of my life.”
The Speedmaster has become the go-to watch for astronauts venturing into space – something George admitted he could never do.
“I’m a coward,” he explained, adding he was in awe of Aldrin and his fellow moon-landing heroes, but was not a fan of what got them there.
“It looked like a 1950s Chevy,” George, who played a spaceman in Gravity, joked. “It was hard to imagine how that could take you into space and back.”
The gala dinner was also attended by former Bond girl Gemma Arterton, actress Liv Tyler, and singer Ellie Goulding.
Clooney has been spending a lot of time in Britain ever since he married his lawyer wife Amal Alamuddin in 2014. She is currently pregnant with the couple’s twins.
