Ill Aldrin leaves trip for hospital

Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon, was evacuated from the South Pole to New Zealand, where he was hospitalized in stable condition.

Aldrin, 86, was visiting Antarctica as a tourist when he fell ill. He was flown to Christchurch from McMurdo Station, a U.S. research center on the Antarctic coast.

Tour company White Desert said Aldrin has fluid in his lungs but was responding well to antibiotics. He’ll remain hospitalized overnight for observation. His manager Christina Korp said he was in good spirits.

On Twitter, she posted side-by-side photos of Aldrin — one on a stretcher giving a thumbs-up, another in a hospital bed, on oxygen and with an IV in his left arm.

Aldrin became the second man to walk on the moon in 1969 as part of the U.S. Apollo 11 mission.

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