99 Facts About Buzz Aldrin

Buzz Aldrin made three spacewalks as pilot of the 1966 Gemini 12 mission.

Buzz Aldrin was the Lunar Module Eagle pilot on the 1969 Apollo 11 mission and became the second person to walk on the Moon after mission commander Neil Armstrong.

Buzz Aldrin was commissioned into the United States Air Force and served as a jet fighter pilot during the Korean War.

Buzz Aldrin flew 66 combat missions and shot down two MiG-15 aircraft.

Three years later, Buzz Aldrin set foot on the Moon at 03:15:16 on July 21,1969, nineteen minutes after Armstrong first touched the surface, while command module pilot Michael Collins remained in lunar orbit.

Buzz Aldrin retired from the Air Force in 1972, after 21 years of service.

Buzz Aldrin continues to advocate for space exploration, particularly a human mission to Mars, and developed the Buzz Aldrin cycler, a special spacecraft trajectory that makes travel to Mars more efficient in terms of time and propellant.

Buzz Aldrin has been accorded numerous honors, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1969.

Buzz Aldrin's father was an Army aviator during World War I and the assistant commandant of the Army's test pilot school at McCook Field, Ohio, from 1919 to 1922, but left the Army in 1928 and became an executive at Standard Oil.

Buzz Aldrin had two sisters: Madeleine, who was four years older, and Fay Ann, who was a year and a half older.

Buzz Aldrin was a Boy Scout, achieving the rank of Tenderfoot Scout.

Buzz Aldrin played football and was the starting center for Montclair High School's undefeated 1946 state champion team.

Buzz Aldrin's father wanted him to go to the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland and enrolled him at nearby Severn School, a preparatory school for Annapolis and even secured him a Naval Academy appointment from Albert W Hawkes, one of the United States senators from New Jersey.

Buzz Aldrin attended Severn School in 1946, but had other ideas about his future career.

Buzz Aldrin suffered from seasickness and considered ships a distraction from flying airplanes.

Buzz Aldrin faced down his father and told him to ask Hawkes to change the nomination to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York.

Buzz Aldrin did well academically, finishing first in his class his plebe year.

Buzz Aldrin was an excellent athlete, competing in pole vault for the academy track and field team.

On June 5,1951, Buzz Aldrin graduated third in the class of 1951 with a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering.

Buzz Aldrin chose the United States Air Force, which had become a separate service in 1947 while Aldrin was still at West Point and did not yet have its own academy.

Buzz Aldrin was commissioned as a second lieutenant and underwent basic flight training in T-6 Texans at Bartow Air Base in Florida.

Buzz Aldrin's classmates included Sam Johnson, who later became a prisoner of war in Vietnam; the two became friends.

Buzz Aldrin recovered in time to pull out at 200 feet, averting what would have been a fatal crash.

When Buzz Aldrin was deciding what sort of aircraft he should fly, his father advised him to choose bombers, because command of a bomber crew gave an opportunity to learn and hone leadership skills, which could open up better prospects for career advancement.

Buzz Aldrin moved to Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas, where he learned to fly the F-80 Shooting Star and the F-86 Sabre.

In December 1952, Buzz Aldrin was assigned to the 16th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, which was part of the 51st Fighter-Interceptor Wing.

Buzz Aldrin was able to override the setting manually, but this required holding a button down, which in turn made it impossible to use his radio.

Buzz Aldrin barely managed to make it back under enforced radio silence.

Buzz Aldrin flew 66 combat missions in F-86 Sabres in Korea and shot down two MiG-15 aircraft.

Buzz Aldrin was flying about 5 miles south of the Yalu River, when he saw two MiG-15 fighters below him.

Buzz Aldrin was first to do so, but his gun sight jammed.

Buzz Aldrin then had to pull out, as the two aircraft had gotten too low for the dogfight to continue.

Buzz Aldrin saw the MiG's canopy open and the pilot eject, although Buzz Aldrin was uncertain whether there was sufficient time for a parachute to open.

Buzz Aldrin was assigned as an aerial gunnery instructor at Nellis.

Buzz Aldrin enjoyed the classwork and soon decided to pursue a doctorate instead.

Buzz Aldrin was then posted to the Space Systems Division's field office at NASA's Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston, where he was involved in integrating Department of Defense experiments into Project Gemini flights.

Buzz Aldrin initially applied to join the astronaut corps when NASA's Astronaut Group 2 was selected in 1962.

Buzz Aldrin's application was rejected on the grounds that he was not a test pilot.

Buzz Aldrin was aware of the requirement and asked for a waiver but the request was turned down.

Buzz Aldrin had over 2,500 hours of flying time, of which 2,200 was in jets.

Jim Lovell and Buzz Aldrin were selected as the backup crew of Gemini 10, commander and pilot respectively.

The February 28,1966, deaths of the Gemini 9 prime crew, Elliot See and Charles Bassett, in an air crash, led to Lovell and Buzz Aldrin being moved up one mission to backup for Gemini 9, which put them in position as prime crew for Gemini 12.

Buzz Aldrin climbed across the newly installed hand-holds to the Agena and installed the cable needed for the gravity-gradient stabilization experiment.

Buzz Aldrin performed numerous tasks, including installing electrical connectors and testing tools that would be needed for Project Apollo.

Lovell and Buzz Aldrin were assigned to an Apollo crew with Neil Armstrong as Commander, Lovell as Command Module Pilot, and Buzz Aldrin as Lunar Module Pilot.

Buzz Aldrin had no issues working with Aldrin, and thought Lovell deserved his own command.

However, when Buzz Aldrin learned that this might be amended, he lobbied within NASA for the original procedure to be followed.

Collins has commented that he thought Buzz Aldrin "resents not being first on the Moon more than he appreciates being second".

Buzz Aldrin set foot on the Moon at 03:15:16 on July 21,1969, nineteen minutes after Armstrong first touched the surface.

Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first and second people, respectively, to walk on the Moon.

Buzz Aldrin positioned himself in front of the video camera and began experimenting with different locomotion methods to move about the lunar surface to aid future moonwalkers.

Buzz Aldrin reentered Eagle first but, as he tells it, before ascending the module's ladder he became the first person to urinate on the Moon.

Buzz Aldrin was involved in the design of the Space Shuttle.

Buzz Aldrin was made Commandant of the USAF Aerospace Research Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base, California.

Buzz Aldrin had neither managerial nor test pilot experience, but a third of the training curriculum was devoted to astronaut training and students flew a modified F-104 Starfighter to the edge of space.

Buzz Aldrin was hospitalized for depression at Wilford Hall Medical Center for four weeks.

Buzz Aldrin's mother had committed suicide in May 1968, and he was plagued with guilt that his fame after Gemini12 had contributed.

Buzz Aldrin elected to retire as a colonel on March 1,1972, after 21 years of service.

Buzz Aldrin's father died on December 28,1974, from complications following a heart attack.

Buzz Aldrin attempted to help others with drinking problems, including actor William Holden.

Holden's girlfriend Stefanie Powers had portrayed Marianne, a woman with whom Buzz Aldrin had an affair, in the 1976 TV movie version of Return to Earth.

On September 9,2002, Buzz Aldrin was lured to a Beverly Hills hotel on the pretext of being interviewed for a Japanese children's television show on the subject of space.

Buzz Aldrin said he had acted to defend himself and his stepdaughter.

Additional mitigating factors were that Sibrel sustained no visible injury and did not seek medical attention, and that Buzz Aldrin had no criminal record.

In 2005, while being interviewed for a Science Channel documentary titled First on the Moon: The Untold Story, Buzz Aldrin told an interviewer they had seen an unidentified flying object.

When Buzz Aldrin appeared on The Howard Stern Show on August 15,2007, Stern asked him about the supposed UFO sighting.

Buzz Aldrin confirmed that there was no such sighting of anything deemed extraterrestrial and said they were, and are, "99.9 percent" sure the object was the detached panel.

Buzz Aldrin made a request to the Science Channel to make a correction, but was refused.

At 86 years of age, Buzz Aldrin's visit made him the oldest person to reach the South Pole.

Buzz Aldrin had traveled to the North Pole in 1998.

Buzz Aldrin helped to develop UND's Space Studies program and brought David Webb from NASA to serve as the department's first chair.

Buzz Aldrin is a member of the Mars Society's Steering committee.

In 1985, Buzz Aldrin proposed a special spacecraft trajectory now known as the Buzz Aldrin cycler.

The Buzz Aldrin cycler provided a five and a half month journey from the Earth to Mars, with a return trip to Earth of the same duration on a twin cycler orbit.

Buzz Aldrin continues to research this concept with engineers from Purdue University.

In 1996 Buzz Aldrin founded Starcraft Boosters, Inc to design reusable rocket launchers.

In December 2003, Buzz Aldrin published an opinion piece in The New York Times criticizing NASA's objectives.

Buzz Aldrin was awarded the Air Force Distinguished Service Medal in 1969 for his role as lunar module pilot on Apollo 11.

Buzz Aldrin was awarded an oak leaf cluster in 1972 in lieu of a second DSM for his role in both the Korean War and in the space program, and the Legion of Merit for his role in the Gemini and Apollo programs.

Buzz Aldrin was awarded the NASA Distinguished Service Medal in 1970 for the Apollo11 mission.

Buzz Aldrin was one of ten Gemini astronauts inducted into the International Space Hall of Fame in 1982.

Buzz Aldrin was inducted into the US Astronaut Hall of Fame in 1993, the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 2000, and the New Jersey Hall of Fame in 2008.

Buzz Aldrin told them, "You've won a place alongside Christopher Columbus in American history".

Buzz Aldrin received honorary degrees from six colleges and universities, and was named as the Chancellor of the International Space University in 2015.

Buzz Aldrin was a member of the National Space Society's Board of Governors, and has served as the organization's chairman.

In 2019, Buzz Aldrin was awarded the Starmus Festival's Stephen Hawking Medal for Science Communication for Lifetime Achievement.

Buzz Aldrin's second was to Beverly Van Zile, whom he married on December 31,1975, and divorced in 1978.

Buzz Aldrin's third was to Lois Driggs Cannon, whom he married on February 14,1988.

In 2018, Buzz Aldrin was involved in a legal dispute with his children Andrew and Janice and former business manager Christina Korp over their claims that he was mentally impaired through dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

Buzz Aldrin's children alleged that he made new friends who were alienating him from the family and encouraging him to spend his savings at a high rate.

Buzz Aldrin alleged that Janice was not acting in his financial interests and that Korp was exploiting the elderly.

Buzz Aldrin sought to remove Andrew's control of Aldrin's social media accounts, finances, and businesses.

On January 20,2023, his 93rd birthday, Buzz Aldrin announced on Twitter that he had married for the fourth time, to his 63-year-old companion, Anca Faur.

Buzz Aldrin is an active supporter of the Republican Party, headlining fundraisers for its members of Congress and endorsing its candidates.

Buzz Aldrin appeared at a rally for George W Bush in 2004 and campaigned for Paul Rancatore in Florida in 2008, Mead Treadwell in Alaska in 2014 and Dan Crenshaw in Texas in 2018.

Buzz Aldrin appeared at the 2019 State of the Union Address as a guest of President Donald Trump.

Buzz Aldrin is the first Freemason to set foot on the Moon.

Buzz Aldrin is a member of York Rite and Arabia Shrine Temple of Houston.

Buzz Aldrin has primarily resided in the Los Angeles area, including Beverly Hills and Laguna Beach since 1985.