Buzz Aldrin
Buzz Aldrin, lunar module pilot of Apollo 11, was a member of the first crew to land on the moon. It was on July 20, 1969 that the lunar module Eagle touched down on the lunar surface and Neil Armstrong radioed, "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed." Following his historic Apollo 11 mission, Aldrin was presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Apollo 11 was Aldrin's second space flight. In November 1966, he had served as pilot of Gemini 12. Aldrin spent over 12 days in space and performed the first
effective space walks. Aldrin graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 1951. He later performed graduate work at MIT, earning a Ph.D. in Astronautics in 1963, specializing in manned space rendezvous. The space rendezvous techniques he devised have been used on all U.S. missions, including the docking missions with Russians cosmonauts.
After graduating from West Point, Aldrin underwent pilot training and eventually flew 66 combat missions in the F-86.
As a pilot, Aldrin eventually logged over 3,500 hours of flying time. At the time he was selected as a NASA astronaut in October 1963, Aldrin was already working on Air Force experiments for the Gemini program at the Manned Spacecraft Center. He resigned from NASA in July 1971 to return to the Air Force as commander of the Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base, California, becoming the first astronaut to return to military service. An author and lecturer, Aldrin has become an internationally known space exploration futurist.
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