Space pioneer stable after falling ill
The second man to walk on the moon made it to the South Pole before he was evacuated from Antarctica to New Zealand yesterday.
Buzz Aldrin was last night in Christchurch Hospital where he was being treated for fluid on his lungs after a mercy dash from the icy continent.
He and his son were part of a tourist group with luxury adventure company White Desert when he fell ill at Amundsen- Scott Station.
Two doctors, one from the US Antarctic Programme, decided it was best to evacuate him off the ice.
A statement on Aldrin’s website said yesterday that he was responding well to treatment.
“He currently has fluid in his lungs but is responding well to antibiotics and being kept overnight for observation. His condition is stable and his manager . . . described him being in good spirits.”
Manager Christina Korp tweeted that 86- year- old Aldrin made it to the South Pole before he was flown out.
National Science Foundation Polar Programme spokesman Peter West said a Safair cargo plane carrying Aldrin landed at Christchurch International Airport about 4: 25am yesterday .
efore leaving for Antarctica Aldrin posted pictures of his tour group from the airport in Cape Town.
“We’re go for departure to the launchpad,” he wrote.
Aldrin and Neil Armstrong became the first men on the moon, on July 20, 1969. Armstrong died in 2012.