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Tuesday 19 July 2011

Buzz Aldrin

Edwin "Buzz" Eugene Aldrin, Jr.was born on January 20, 1930 in Montclair, New Jersey.

His "Buzz" name originated from one of his sisters, Fay Ann, pronouncing brother as "buzzer," which was later shortened to "Buzz."Aldrin made it his legal first name in 1988.

His father had his own plane and Buzz was two-years-old when he first flew with him.

"Buzz" Aldrin’s mother’s maiden name was “Moon”.


After West Point military academy Aldrin became an air force jet fighter pilot. He flew 66 combat missions in the Korean War and shot down two Soviet-built MiG-15 fighters.

Aldrin joined NASA space agency in 1963.

"Buzz" Aldrin set a then world record in 1966 by walking in space for 5 h 37 min during the Gemini XII  mission. He recalled to The Daily Mail; "Secured by a tether, I had no sense of our actual speed, which was 17,500 miles per hour. But I could sense the curvature of the Earth as we orbited every 90 minutes. My five-and-a-half-hour spacewalk was thrilling and set a world record. Coping with zero gravity was made easier by the fact that I was the first astronaut to have trained underwater using scuba gear."

During NASA's Gemini XII flight, the computer docking system failed and Buzz Aldrin successfully calculated the docking trajectory using a sextant and a slide rule.

On July 20, 1969, American astronauts Neil Armstrong and "Buzz" Aldrin became the first humans to step on the surface of the moon. He recalled: "After Neil Armstrong had been on the rough lunar surface for about 20 minutes, it was time for me to ease out of the hatch and back down the ladder, carrying my cumbersome 13-stone life-support backpack. Looking up into the black, starless sky, I could see our marble-sized planet, no bigger than my thumb. Then there we were, two guys walking on the Moon, our every move being watched by more people than had ever before viewed one single event, while further from home than any two human beings had ever been."

Aldrin in April 1969

Buzz Aldrin's first words on the Moon were, "Beautiful view. Magnificent desolation."

There is only one photograph of Neil Armstrong on the surface of the moon during the Apollo 11 mission but his back is to the camera, rendering it unusable. As a result, all of the iconic photos of an Apollo 11 astronaut on the moon are actually of Buzz Aldrin.

After Buzz Aldrin landed on the Moon, he claimed $34 (£22.50) from NASA in travel expenses — the cost of his return trip from home.


Buzz Aldrin's mother shot herself before his lunar flight because she didn't know if she could cope with his impending fame. He then fell into depression and alcoholism after his flight.

Buzz Aldrin once punched a conspiracy theorist on the jaw for accusing him of never having landed on the moon.

After Buzz Aldrin came back from the Moon, he got divorced and worked at a car dealership, where he failed to sell one car in six months.

The Toy Story character  Buzz Lightyear was named after Buzz Aldrin.

Aldrin competed in the reality television series Dancing With The Stars in 2010. He competed well, but was voted off the show after only a few weeks.


Buzz Aldrin became the oldest person to ever reach the South Pole, when he visited it in November 2016 at the age of 86. 

Buzz Aldrin wears three watches. He does this in case one of the watches stops working. As an astronaut, Aldrin knows that it is important to have a backup plan in case something goes wrong. Wearing three watches gives him peace of mind knowing that he will always have a way to tell time.
He also does this to keep track of different time zones. Aldrin often travels between different time zones, so he needs to be able to keep track of the time in different places. Wearing three watches allows him to do this easily.

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