BUZZ ALDRIN
The second man on the Moon, Aldrin was instrumental in the success of the Apollo missions
Edwin Eugene Aldrin Junior was born on 20 January 1930 in Glen Ridge,
New Jersey. In 1946, after graduating from high school, he turned down a scholarship from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to join the United States Military Academy. Aldrin’s nickname came from his sister mispronouncing brother as buzzer; Aldrin legally changed his name to Buzz in 1988. He graduated from West Point, New York, with a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering in
1951, and later a doctorate in astronautics in 1963. His academic credentials were something that would earn him some light-hearted jest from his fellow astronauts when he joined NASA. He received pilot training in the US Air Force in 1951 and subsequently flew 66 combat missions in the Korean War. In October 1963, after his initial application was rejected, he was selected by
NASA among the third group of astronauts for the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions.
Just three years later, in November 1966, he orbited Earth 59 times in four days aboard Gemini 12 with fellow astronaut Jim Lovell, the last flight of the Gemini program. The mission would prove hugely important for one reason in particular
– the perfection of extravehicular activities, or spacewalks. Until Gemini 12, spacewalks had been tiresome affairs, with astronauts often caked in sweat and exhausted from the exertion of operating in space. It was Aldrin’s research that suggested they train underwater on Earth, and also have footholds and handles on the exterior of spacecraft to hold on to, that would allow NASA to perfect the art of the spacewalk and ultimately proceed with the Apollo lunar missions.
His PhD in astronautics, along with his flight experience, made him an ideal candidate for the Apollo 11 crew, and on 20 July 1969 Aldrin became the second man to walk on the Moon, after the late Neil Armstrong. It was actually Aldrin who spoke the first words from the surface of the Moon, though, with him exclaiming “contact light!” when the Lunar Module touched down. Together they spent several hours on the Moon, imaging the surface and collecting samples of lunar soil. When it was time to depart, Buzz accidentally broke a circuit breaker that would arm the main engine on the Lunar Module for liftoff. Aldrin improvised and used a felt-tip pen to activate the switch, and they rendezvoused back with Michael Collins in lunar orbit for their return home.
Aldrin resigned from active duty in March 1972 after 21 years of service, taking up a managerial role in the US Air Force. Since then he has made a variety of public appearances and published several books about his fateful mission and space exploration in general, becoming an advocate for the continued expansion of space and missions to Mars.