The man who fell to earth: Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon | Science | The Guardian Share on Messenger Close Buzz Aldrin has been on many journeys in his remarkable life, and in some respects the one to the moon was the least challenging. Being the second man to walk on the moon in July 1969, stepping down from the landing craft 20 minutes after Neil Armstrong, gave him eternal name recognition, but it also brought a heap of problems in the decade that followed - alcoholism, depression, two divorces. He was on the moon for two and a half hours; his post-Nasa breakdown lasted for a decade as he looked for something to fill the space left by ... space. But now, praise the Lord and Alcoholics Anonymous, 79-year-old Buzz is sitting in front of me, tanned, alert, as sharp as the Apollo 11 badge pinned to his colourful tie, chiding me for waving the mic around carelessly, telling a fan who is showing him his grandfather's 60s space scrapbook that he doesn't sign autographs, treading the careful divide between ego and generosity, self-regard and fellowship that is essence-of-Buzz.

Armstrong lives in near-seclusion at his Ohio farm, so Buzz - off the booze for 30 years - has come to represent the crazy glory of manned space travel, and is in London as part of a global mission to get us interested in space again. He's also flogging a book, Magnificent Desolation, which charts his rise, fall and return to equilibrium. Major Tom eventually made it back to Earth, and has quite a tale to tell. The key thing when interviewing Aldrin is not to get too technical. He is a man who would happily fill the entire hour with a discussion of docking manoeuvres. I also make the mistake of mentioning God - he secretly took communion moments after the module landed on the moon ("My soul didn't belong to Nasa," he says) - and he gives me an impenetrable 10-minute explanation of the evolution of his faith. He is nothing if not systematic, which is great for the meticulous planning of moon landings, less good for quick life surveys. But get him off technicalities and AA-style moral lessons, and he is far more articulate and engaging than most interviewers would have you believe.

He has always had problems putting into words the grandeur of that moment 40 years ago. "People want to know what it felt like," he says. "They want us in a few words to generate the enthusiasm that the world had as they contemplated what we were about to do. Well, what it felt like is something that we trained for. We were trying to treat it as calmly as we could and perform to the best of our ability. We tried to repress feelings of exuberance, of disappointment, and be proud and responsible people accomplishing the task that was given to us. That sounds kind of boring. Except that what we did was kind of earth-shaking." I ask him whether he was disappointed to be the second person to set foot on the moon. He tries to have it both ways. "We're dealing with very competitive people who always want to get the most out of the opportunities that come along, even though I did not relish the idea of speeches, celebrations and being on a pedestal as a hero. I didn't enter the space programme to want to do that.

Being first outside the spacecraft would bring much more responsibility, and I really wasn't looking for that." I press a little, and you can sense the 40 years of frustration at being labelled second. "I was continually being asked, 'Didn't it bother you?', and always being introduced as the second man on the moon. That is a degrading title right off the bat, instead of being a member of the first landing mission to reach the moon." What comes across most strongly in his description of the mission in the book is its black comedy - and the way that he, Armstrong and Michael Collins, who was orbiting the moon in the command module, really were flying on a wing and a prayer. Aldrin worries that he will close the hatch to the landing craft, locking out him and Armstrong and condemning them to a slow, oxygen-starved death; he frets when he finds it difficult to plant the American flag in the dusty lunar soil and imagines half a billion viewers laughing at his public humiliation; and he has to use a felt-tip pen as a circuit breaker when a switch breaks in the module. "We were human beings carrying out a very demanding task," he says.

"We had to improvise." That was the appeal of the Apollo missions: these crop-haired thirty-somethings dicing with death going somewhere no one else had been. Aldrin sees his role now as reactivating that spirit. He reckons we should go back to the moon, this time to develop it, and look to get to Mars in a couple of decades. "We have to take the new generation with us, so they can say that their generation participated." He'll try anything to reach that new generation: he writes children's books, is using Twitter (or Tweeter, as he calls it), and recently recorded a rap record called Rocket Experience with Snoop Dogg - one huge step for a man of a certain age. Aldrin holds nothing back when talking about how bad things were when he fell to earth in the early 70s.

He rejoined the US air force - he had been a fighter pilot - but his role as commander of a test pilot school didn't work out, he quit the armed services at 42, started drinking, had an affair, suffered depression, his marriage broke up, he went through another brief marriage, and eventually found himself selling Cadillacs (or, rather, not selling - he was a terrible salesman) in Beverly Hills and becoming dependent on drink. He outlines the reasons for his collapse in his somewhat convoluted Buzz-ese, but it's a perceptive self-analysis: "I inherited tendencies in different directions [depression and an addictive personality] and those directions, if you feed them with a life of perfection and discipline and then remove that all of a sudden, it's probably going to go back to some of the more deep-seated concerns about self-worth and achievement. You did that as part of a team; what are you doing now? You get a job as a car salesman and you're a horrible car salesman. What does that do to a person's ego." What he did was to get sober, marry again - this time for keeps - and re-engage with space.

It's no accident that Buzz Lightyear, the space ranger in animated film Toy Story, is named after Aldrin, who shares his limitless enthusiasm for exploration. Lucky, though, that Aldrin abandoned his real name, Edwin, preferring the nickname given by one of his two sisters, who said "buzzer" instead of "brother". Edwin Aldrin would just have been the second guy on the moon; Buzz Aldrin is the ur-spaceman, if not quite declaring, "To infinity and beyond", convinced that eventually we can get pretty close. • Magnificent Desolation: The Long Journey Home from the Moon (Bloomsbury, £16.99). Buzz Aldrin will be speaking tonight, 7.30pm, at the London Literature Festival, Royal Festival Hall, London SE1 Whatever happened to Neil Armstrong? Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon, is intensely private and, in the eyes of the media, unforgivably normal. He is the JD Salinger of space exploration: the super-celebrity who shuns publicity. Having uttered the immortal line, "That's one small step for man; one giant leap for mankind," he hasn't felt the need to say anything significant since.

It was thought that Buzz Aldrin, as pilot of the lunar module, would be first out, but according to James Hansen's biography of Armstrong, existing practice was overturned because Nasa chiefs realised the first man on the moon would have to bear the burden of fame for a lifetime and preferred the undemonstrative, ego-free Armstrong. He retired from Nasa in 1971 to become professor of aerospace engineering at the University of Cincinnati, where he remained until 1979. Since then he has held numerous corporate directorships and, uncharacteristically, appeared in an ad campaign for Chrysler (reportedly to help the ailing firm, rather than for the cash). He lives with his second wife on a farm in southern Ohio, suspicious of fans and autograph hunters since discovering in 2005 that his barber had sold some of his hair to a collector for $3,000.

In a speech to Congress on 25 May 1961, President Kennedy sets the goal of landing a man on the moon by the end of the decade Published: 1 Jul 2009 Forty years on from the first moon landing, we take you on a tour of the technical achievements, the cultural impact and the future of lunar exploration with our guest, Apollo 11's biggest fan, Christopher Riley Published: 5 Jul 2009 Footage shot just weeks before the moon landing shows Armstrong and Aldrin training in their cumbersome spacesuits Published: 2 Jul 2009 John Harris talks to Edgar Mitchell, Gene Cernan, and other alumni of the Apollo space missions Published: 1 Jul 2009 The 12 Men Who Walked on the Moon | Mental Floss The 12 Men Who Walked on the Moon NASA / Harrison H. Schmitt Like us on Facebook If you were born after the Apollo program, and maybe even if you remember those days, it seems almost unbelievable that NASA sent manned missions to the moon 239,000 miles away.

People continue to express sadness at the fact that the Apollo lunar missions were so long ago, and that soon there will be no one left alive who actually went to the moon. Randall Munroe of xkcd addressed that concept some time ago, although we are ahead of that game in that no lunar astronaut has died since Neil Armstrong passed away in 2012. It's time we remembered -or got to know- the only twelve people who ever walked on a body other than planet Earth. 1. Neil Alden Armstrong Navy test pilot, engineer, and Korean War veteran Neil Armstrong left the Navy in 1952, but continued in the Naval Reserve. He worked as an experimental test pilot for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) beginning in 1955, which evolved into NASA. Armstrong was assigned as an astronaut in 1962, and flew on the Gemini 8 mission in 1966, where he performed the first successful space docking procedure.

Armstrong was selected to be the first man to walk on the moon, as the Apollo 11 mission was planned, for several reasons : he was the commander of the mission, he didn't have a big ego, and the door of the lunar lander was on his side. Although the first steps on the moon are what he will always be known for, Armstrong considered the mission's biggest accomplishment was landing the lunar module . He later said , Pilots take no special joy in walking: pilots like flying. Pilots generally take pride in a good landing, not in getting out of the vehicle. Armstrong along with his crew were honored with parades, awards, and acclaim after their return to Earth, but Armstrong always gave credit to the entire NASA team for the Apollo moon missions. He resigned from NASA in 1971 and became a professor of of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Cincinnati for eight years. Armstrong served on the boards of many corporations and foundations, but gradually withdrew from publicity tours and autograph signings. He didn't particularly care for fame. Neil Armstrong died on August 25, 2012, at age 82.

His family released a statement that concluded: “For those who may ask what they can do to honor Neil, we have a simple request. Honor his example of service, accomplishment and modesty, and the next time you walk outside on a clear night and see the moon smiling down at you, think of Neil Armstrong and give him a wink.” 2. Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin After graduating third in his class at West Point in 1951 with a degree in science, Buzz Aldrin flew 66 combat missions as an Air Force pilot in the Korean War. Then he earned a PhD at MIT. Aldrin joined NASA as an astronaut in 1963. In 1966 he flew in the Gemini 12 spacecraft on the final Gemini mission. Aldrin accompanied Neil Armstrong on the first moon landing in the Apollo 11 mission, becoming the second person, and now the first of the living astronauts, to set foot on the moon. Aldrin had taken a home Communion kit with him, and took Communion on the lunar surface , but did not broadcast the fact.

Aldrin retired from NASA in 1971 and from the Air Force in 1972. He later suffered from clinical depression and wrote about the experience, but recovered with treatment. Aldrin has co-authored five books about his experiences and the space program, plus two novels. Aldrin continues to work to promote space exploration. Buzz Aldrin is 85 years old. 3. Charles "Pete" Conrad Pete Conrad was a Princeton graduate and Navy test pilot before entering the astronaut corps in 1962. He flew on the Gemini V mission and was commander of Gemini XI. Conrad was commander of the Apollo 12 mission, launched during a lightning storm which temporarily knocked out the command module's power shortly after liftoff. When Conrad stepped onto the moon, he said, Whoopee! Man, that may have been a small one for Neil, but that's a long one for me. Conrad later flew on the Skylab 2 mission as commander with the first crew to board the space station. He retired from NASA and the Navy in 1973, after which he worked for American Television and Communications Company and then for McDonnell Douglas.

Pete Conrad died on July 8, 1999 in a motorcycle accident. He was 69. 4. Alan L. Bean Apollo astronaut Alan Bean was the fourth man to walk on the moon, during the Apollo 12 mission in 1969. He was the lunar module pilot. Bean was also the commander of the Skylab Mission II in 1973, which spent 59 days in flight. Altogether, Bean logged 1,671 hours and 45 minutes in space. Bean is the only artist to have visited another world, so his paintings of the lunar environment have the authenticity of an eyewitness. He retired from the Navy with the rank of Captain, but continued to train astronauts at NASA until 1981, when he retired to devote time to his art. See those paintings at Bean's online gallery , and stories that accompany each one. Alan Bean is now 83 years old. 5. Alan Shepard Alan Shepard was a bona-fide space pioneer who cemented his spot in history long before the Apollo program. A U.S. Navy test pilot, he was selected as one of the original Mercury astronauts in 1959.

Shepard was the first American launched into space aboard the Freedom 7 spacecraft on May 5, 1961. His suborbital flight reached an altitude of 116 miles. Barred from flight during the Gemini program because of an inner ear problem, Shepard had the problem fixed surgically and was assigned as commander of the Apollo 14 mission to the moon. He was responsible for the most accurate lunar module landing ever, and spent 9 hours and 17 minutes exploring the moon's surface outside the module. During that time, he famously knocked a couple of golf balls with a six-iron attached to his sample-collecting tool. With one arm (due to the space suit), he managed to drive further than professional golfers on Earth could ever hope to, thanks to the moon's lower gravity. Before and after his Apollo mission, Shepard served as Chief of the Astronaut Office. He retired from NASA and the Navy in 1974, having achieved the rank of Rear Admiral. Shepard went into private business, serving on the board of several corporations and foundations. He founded Seven Fourteen Enterprises, an umbrella corporation named after his two space missions.

Shepard wrote a book with Deke Slayton, Moon Shot: The Inside Story of America's Race to the Moon . Shepard compared his book to The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe, saying , "'We wanted to call ours 'The Real Stuff,' since his was just fiction.'' Alan Shepard died on July 21, 1998 at the age of 74. 6. Edgar D. Mitchell Ed Mitchell joined the Navy in 1952 and became a test pilot. Then he earned a PhD in Aeronautics and Astronautics from MIT. NASA selected him for the astronaut corps in 1966. In January of 1971, Mitchell flew on Apollo 14 as lunar module pilot, becoming the sixth man to walk on the lunar surface. He retired in 1972 and founded the Institute of Noetic Sciences , which explores psychic and paranormal events. Mitchell gained some notoriety after NASA for his views on UFOs , as he has asserted that the government is covering up evidence at Roswell. His information, he admits, comes secondhand from various sources. Ed Mitchell is 84 years old. 7.

David Randolph Scott David Scott joined the Air Force after graduating from West Point. Selected as an astronaut in 1963, he flew with Neil Armstrong on the Gemini 8 mission and was command module pilot on Apollo 9. Scott then went to the moon on Apollo 15, which landed on the lunar surface on July 30, 1971. It was the first mission to land near mountains. Scott and Jim Irwin spent 18 hours exploring the lunar landscape in the Lunar Roving Vehicle in the first mission to use such a vehicle to travel on the moon. Scott became famous for the "postage stamp incident," in which he took unauthorized postage stamp covers to the moon with the intent to sell them afterwards. NASA had turned a blind eye to such activities before, but publicity over the matter caused them to discipline Scott and he never flew again. Scott retired from NASA in 1977 and served as a consultant for several movies and TV shows about the space program. He also wrote a book with former cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, Two Sides of the Moon: Our Story of the Cold War Space Race . David Scott is 82 years old. 8. James B.

Irwin Air Force test pilot James Irwin became an astronaut in 1966. He was the lunar module pilot for Apollo 15 in 1971. His 18.5 hours of lunar surface exploration included gathering many samples of rocks. The astronauts' medical conditions were being monitored from Earth, and they noticed Irwin developing symptoms of heart trouble . As he was breathing 100% oxygen and under lower gravity than on Earth, mission control decided he was in the best environment possible for such irregularity -under the circumstances. Irwin's heart rhythm was normal by the time Apollo 15 returned to Earth, but he had a heart attack a few months later. Irwin retired from NASA and the Air Force (with the rank of Colonel) in 1972 and founded the High Flight Foundation in order to spread the Christian gospel during the last twenty years of his life. He notably took several groups on expeditions to Mt. Ararat to search for Noah's Ark. James Irwin died on August 8, 1991, of a heart attack. He was 61 years old. 9. John Watts Young John Young is so far the longest serving astronaut in NASA history.

He was selected as an astronaut in 1962 and his first space flight was in 1965 aboard Gemini 3 with Gus Grissom. He achieved some notoriety at that time by smuggling a corned beef sandwich onto the flight, angering NASA. But Young went on to complete a total of six space missions in the Gemini, Apollo, and the space shuttle programs. He orbited the moon on the Apollo 10 mission, then was commander of the Apollo 16 mission and became the ninth person to walk on the moon. Young was also commander of the first space shuttle flight in 1981 and returned for shuttle flight 9 in 1983, which deployed the first Spacelab module. Young was also scheduled for another space shuttle flight in 1986, which was delayed after the Challenger disaster, so the veteran astronaut never made his seventh flight. Young finally retired from NASA after 42 years of service in 2004. John Young is 84 years old. 10. Charles M. Duke Jr. Astronaut Charles Duke was capcom during the Apollo 11 mission.

His is the voice you recall saying , "Roger, Twank... Tranquility, we copy you on the ground. You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We're breathing again. Thanks a lot!" when the lunar module landed on the moon. Duke also made history by catching German measles while training in the backup crew for the Apollo 13 mission , exposing the crew to the disease and causing Ken Mattingly to be replaced by Jack Swigart on that terrifying spaceflight. Duke went to the moon (with Mattingly as command module pilot) on the Apollo 16 mission in April of 1972. He retired from NASA in 1975 having reached the rank of Brigadier General in the U.S. Air Force, and founded Duke Investments. Duke also became a Christian and a lay minister to prison inmates. Charles Duke is 79 years old. 11. Harrison "Jack" Schmitt Jack Schmitt was a geologist first, and trained as a pilot only after becoming a NASA astronaut. In fact, he was only the second civilian to fly into space, after Neil Armstrong, who was a veteran at the time of his flights.

Schmitt was assigned to fly to the moon on the Apollo 18 mission, but when the Apollo 18 and 19 missions were cancelled in September of 1970, the scientific community lobbied to have Schmitt reassigned to Apollo 17 (replacing Joe Engle) as lunar module pilot. He was the first scientist in outer space . On the Apollo 17 mission, he and Gene Cernan spent three days on the lunar surface (a record) and drove their Lunar Roving Vehicle around collecting samples, conducting experiments, and leaving measuring instruments behind. Schmitt and Cernan gathered 250 pounds of lunar material to take back. After resigning from NASA in 1975, Schmitt, a Republican, was elected Senator for New Mexico and served from 1977 to 1983. He became an adjunct professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and lives in Silver City, New Mexico. In recent years, Dr. Schmitt's scientific background and political leanings have kept him in the spotlight as he has said that the concept of climate change is "a red herring," and that environmentalism is linked with communism .

Schmitt is 79 years old. 12. Eugene A. Cernan As a Navy pilot, Gene Cernan logged over 5,000 hours flying time. He was accepted into the astronaut program in 1963. Cernan's first space flight was on Gemini IX in 1966, in which he conducted extravehicular activities (a space walk), followed by the Apollo 10 mission in May of 1969, which orbited the moon. Cernan was assigned commander of the Apollo 17 mission before anyone knew it would be the last Apollo mission. Even after the Apollo program was cut, no one knew for sure that travel to the moon would be abandoned for decades. When Schmitt and Cernan boarded their lunar module for the last time on December 13th, 1972, Cernan said , "I'm on the surface; and, as I take man's last step from the surface, back home for some time to come — but we believe not too long into the future — I'd like to just [say] what I believe history will record.

That America's challenge of today has forged man's destiny of tomorrow. And, as we leave the Moon at Taurus-Littrow, we leave as we came and, God willing, as we shall return: with peace and hope for all mankind. Godspeed the crew of Apollo 17." Cernan retired from the Navy and from NASA in 1976. He went on to found an aerospace technology firm, and wrote a book about his experiences as an astronaut. He also contributed his talents to ABC-TV as a commentator during shuttle flights and has made appearances on various space specials. In September of 2011, Cernan testified before Congress on the future of the space program. The space program has never been an entitlement, it's an investment in the future - an investment in technology, jobs, international respect and geo-political leadership, and perhaps most importantly in the inspiration and education of our youth. Those best and brightest minds at NASA and throughout the multitudes of private contractors, large and small, did not join the team to design windmills or redesign gas pedals, but to live their dreams of once again taking us where no man has gone before. Gene Cernan is now 81 years old.

More from mental_floss... Who Was the Second Person on the Moon? | eHow Who Was the Second Person on the Moon? bettererror.com Everyone seems to know that Neil Armstrong was the first man on the moon, but he almost wasn't. NASA considered another man for this honor, but as fate would have it the plans changed. Buzz Aldrin thus became the second man to walk on the moon. Time Frame Buzz Aldrin was born in 1930 and graduated third in his class from West Point in 1951. He flew 66 combat missions in the Korean War in the early 1950s, shooting down two Russian MIG jets. In 1963, he was selected by NASA as one of the first astronauts, and in 1966 he flew a Gemini mission in which he established a record for EVA or Extra Vehicle Activity--activity performed outside of a spacecraft away from Earth. Aldrin went to the moon on Apollo 11 with Neil Armstrong and Mike Collins, becoming the second man to walk on the moon on July 20th, 1969.

Significance The lunar landing was witnessed by more people around the world on television than any other broadcast. Aldrin was in the forefront of making continued improvements to navigational procedures. Aldrin's work on one of his Gemini missions became the standard procedure still in use today, as he proved that humans could effectively work while outside the spacecraft. Among the fifty-plus medals he has been honored with is the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award that one can receive in the United States. Misconceptions The famous photo of a man standing on the moon in his spacesuit with the reflection of the lunar lander in the visor is not Neil Armstrong as many people believe. Buzz Aldrin is the man in this picture, one of the most famous ever taken. Aldrin's real name is in reality now Buzz, as he had it legally changed in the 1980s, but his given name was Edwin. Theories/Speculation Those who subscribe to wild theories feel that Aldrin never walked on the moon. They hypothesize that the entire moon landing was a hoax. One such fellow once approached Aldrin outside a hotel and began to rant that Buzz was a liar and had never been on the moon.

Aldrin promptly punched the man in the mouth. Expert Insight Ironically, Aldrin's mother's maiden name was Moon. He got his name "Buzz" when his sister continually mispronounced the word "Brother", calling him "Buzzer." Aldrin founded his own rocket design company and received a patent for a space station he envisioned. Buzz Aldrin & Apollo 11 Buzz Aldrin & Apollo 11 By Nola Taylor Redd, Space.com Contributor | June 23, 2012 12:51pm ET MORE Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin poses for a snapshot while inside the Lunar Module in this July 1969 NASA image. Aldrin and astronaut Neil Armstrong were the first humans to land and walk on the moon on July 20, 1969. Credit: NASA. American astronaut Buzz Aldrin made history when he became the second man to walk on the moon in 1969, just after Neil Armstrong in the Apollo 11 mission (the feats came eight years after Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space ).

While on a previous mission, Aldrin established a new record for extravehicular activity and helped pioneer underwater training to prepare astronauts for their visit to space. Here is a brief biography with some facts about this well-known astronaut. Personal life Born Jan. 20, 1930 in New Jersey as Edwin Eugene Aldrin, Jr., the astronaut received his nickname “Buzz” when his little sister pronounced the word brother as "buzzer." The family shortened it to Buzz, which Aldrin took as his legal name in 1988. Because Neil Armstrong was responsible for recording images on the moon, most of the Apollo 11 photos are of Buzz Aldrin, including this famous one which reflects the landing vehicle. Credit: NASA Aldrin's father was a Colonel in the Air Force, and his son followed his path, entering the Air Force after his graduation from West Point Military Academy in 1951. Buzz flew 66 combat missions in Korea, where he shot down two MiGs. He was decorated with the Distinguished Flying Cross for his service. After the cease-fire between North and South Korea, Aldrin enrolled at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He earned his Ph.D.

in aeronautics and astronautics in 1963, with a thesis focusing on rendezvousing piloted spacecraft. He then entered the space program. Aldrin has been married three times and has three children. Aldrin: Gemini and Apollo missions After joining the space program in 1963, Aldrin relied on his doctoral studies to help him create docking and rendezvous techniques for space craft. He pioneered underwater training techniques, which simulated zero gravity situations and helped astronauts prepare to work in space. . [ Giant Leaps: Top Milestones of Human Spaceflight ] On Nov. 11, 1966, the Gemini 12 mission launched Aldrin and command pilot James Lovell (of Apollo 13 fame) into a four day flight, with the primary objective of rendezvousing and docking with an Agena target vehicle, as well as evaluating extravehicular activity. Aldrin spent five and a half hours outside of the craft, establishing a new record for space walks. Fourteen scientific experiments were also performed, as well. Gemini 12 was the last of the Gemini missions, and was followed by the Apollo missions.

Aldrin served as lunar module pilot for the Apollo 11 mission to the moon , traveling with Commander Neil Armstrong and Command Module Pilot Michael Collins. The craft landed in the Sea of Tranquility . On July 21, 1969, after Armstrong had become the first man on the moon, Aldrin followed Armstrong down the ladder to become the second person to walk on the surface of the moon. As he gazed at the lunar landscape, Aldrin described it as, "Beautiful, beautiful. Magnificent desolation." Buzz Aldrin offers a parting salute after being eliminated from ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" on Tuesday, April 6, 2010. Credit: ABC One of Armstrong's roles while on the moon was to document the trip, so the majority of the Apollo 11 pictures are of Aldrin, including the famous visor shot reflecting the Eagle Lander and Armstrong. Eight days after its launch, Apollo 11 returned home, landing in the Pacific Ocean on July 24, 1969. Aldrin was decorated with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest American peacetime award. He toured the world with his fellow astronauts.

After NASA In 1971, Aldrin resigned from NASA, having logged 289 hours and 53 minutes of time in space. Almost 8 hours of his travel were spent outside of a vehicle. He retired from the Air Force in 1972, after almost two decades. In recent years, Aldrin has used his fame to continue to lobby for the expansion of the space program, specifically calling for a return to moon and manned visits to Mars. In 2009, he called for putting humans on Mars by 2031. He has somewhat famously danced on “ Dancing with the Stars ” and been on Comedy Central’s “ The Colbert Report .” —Nola Taylor Redd Biography of Buzz Aldrin By John P. Millis, Ph.D Updated May 27, 2016. Buzz Aldrin is one of the America's best-known and outspoken astronauts. In recent years, he has become a strong advocate for missions to Mars and travels the country speaking about space exploration. Buzz was born Edwin Eugene Aldrin, Jr.

on January 20, 1930 in Montclair, New Jersey, and in 1969 became only the second man ever to walk on the Moon. The nickname “Buzz” happened when his sisters pronounced brother as buzzer. This was later shortened to Buzz, as he would become known. However, it was not until 1988 until Adlrin legally changed his name. Early Life After graduating from Montclair High School, Aldrin went on to the United States Military Academy at West Point. He graduated third in his class with a bachelors degree in mechanical engineering. After graduation Aldrin was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the US Air Force, and served as a fighter pilot during the Korean War . He flew 66 combat missions flying F-86 Sabres , and is credited with shooting down at least two enemy aircraft. continue reading below our video What are the Seven Wonders of the World After the war, Aldrin was stationed at Nellis Air Force Base as an aerial gunnery instructor. This was short-lived however, as he soon found his next assignment as the aide to the dean of faculty at the US Air Force Academy.

He next was a flight commander at Bitburg Air Base in Germany, where he flew F-100 Super Sabres, Aldrin returned to the United States to pursue a doctorate in astronautics from MIT. Life as an Astronaut After completing his thesis, titled Line-of-sight guidance techniques for manned orbital rendezvous, Aldrin began work at the Air Force Space Systems Division in L.A., before ending up at the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base. Since he was the first astronaut recruited who had a doctorate, he became known as Dr. Rendezvous, a reference to the techniques that he developed that would become critical to the future of space exploration . Aldrin served as a member of the back-up crew for the Gemini 9 mission. He also designed an exercise for the capsule to rendezvous with a coordinate in space, after the original task of docking with a target vehicle failed. After this success, Aldrin was given the command of the Gemini 12 mission. This mission was of vital importance, as it was the last of the Gemini missions, along with serving as a test bed for Extra-Vehicular Activity (EVA) as previous attempts had proven unsuccessful.

During the flight Aldrin set records for EVA, including time spent outside the craft (5.5 hours), and proved unequivocally that astronauts could successfully work outside the spacecraft. Aldrin would not fly another mission until the famed Apollo 11 mission to the Moon. (Though he did serve as the back-up command module pilot for Apollo 8 .) Serving as the command module pilot it had been assumed that he would be the fist person to set foot on the Moon. But it was determined that because of how the astronauts were positioned within the module, Aldrin would have to crawl over fellow astronaut Neil Armstrong in order to reach the hatch. Therefore Aldrin had to follow Armstrong down to the surface on July 20, 1969. Some reports indicated that NASA chose to have Armstrong go down to the surface first because of his humble attitude, but these reports are unfounded. Life After the Moon Landing The astronauts returned from the Moon, after a 21-hour stay, carrying 46 pounds of moon rocks. Aldrin was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honor bestowed during peace time. He also received awards and medals from 23 other countries.

Aldrin retired from the Air Force in 1972 after 21 years of faithful service. Despite personal problems and bouts with clinical depression and alcoholism, Aldrin continued to provide insight and expertise to NASA. Among his important contributions are the proposal of having astronauts train under water to better simulate the conditions of space. He also did work on devising a trajectory path between Earth and Mars along which a space craft could travel in continuous orbits. In 1993, Aldrin patented a design for a permanent space station. He is also the founder of a rocket design company called Starcraft Boosters, Inc., as well as a non-profit, ShareSpace, which is dedicated to making space tourism available to all people. Dr. Aldrin has also published several books, the most recent of which Magnificent Desolation recounts his life, including the Apollo missions, the Moon landings and his own personal struggles. On September 9, 2002, Aldrin was confronted outside a hotel in California by filmmaker Bart Sibrel. Mr. Sibrel is a staunch proponent of the theory that the Apollo program, and the Moon landings themselves, are a hoax . Mr.

Sibrel reportedly called Aldrin a “coward, and a liar, and a thief”. Understandably, Dr. Aldrin did not appreciate the comments and punched Mr. Sibrel in the face . The local prosecutor refused to press charges. In non-space related activities, Aldrin has appeared in numerous television and radio programs, including most recently the reality television series Dancing With The Stars in 2010. Though competing well, he was voted off the show after only a few weeks. Current Dr. Aldrin is touring the country doing book-signing events and meeting with the public. His latest book is called Welcome to Mars: Making a Home on the Red Planet.

Buzz Aldrin: 'Neil Armstrong thought the moon was beautiful, but I thought it was desolate' | Daily Mail Online show ad 'Neil Armstrong thought the moon was beautiful, but I thought it was desolate': Buzz Aldrin on his first impressions - and how they nearly didn't make it Buzz Aldrin shared his first impressions of the moon and tales of the difficult landing in an interview with Sir David Frost that will air tonight He also shared his belief that the colonisation of Mars is necessary for the survival of the human race Viewers will see Aldrin commentate on the iconic lunar landings and unseen film footage from his time as a fighter pilot in Korea NASA - The First Person on the Moon The First Person on the Moon 01.16.08 Astronauts Neil Armstrong, Mike Collins and Buzz Aldrin flew on the Apollo 11 mission. Image Credit: NASA It was 1961. John F. Kennedy was the president of the United States. He wanted to land humans on the moon. The United States had just started trying to put people in space. Was NASA ready to go to the moon? The president and NASA knew they could do it. They were ready to put people on the moon.

Apollo 11's mission was to land two men on the moon. They also had to come back to Earth safely. Apollo 11 blasted off on July 16, 1969. Neil Armstrong, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin and Michael Collins were the astronauts on Apollo 11. Four days later, Armstrong and Aldrin landed on the moon. They landed on the moon in the Lunar Module. It was called the Eagle. Collins stayed in orbit around the moon. He did experiments and took pictures. The sign the astronauts left on the moon says, "Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the moon July 1969, A.D. We came in peace for all mankind." Image Credit: NASA On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong became the first human to step on the moon. He and Aldrin walked around for three hours. They did experiments. They picked up bits of moon dirt and rocks. They put a U.S. flag on the moon. They also left a sign on the moon. The two astronauts returned to orbit, joining Collins. On July 24, 1969, all three astronauts came back to Earth safely.

President Kennedy's wish came true. It took less than 10 years. Humans had walked on the moon. Buzz Aldrin's secret communion on the moon | Daily Mail Online Share this article Share 'I poured the wine into the chalice our church had given me. In the one-sixth gravity of the moon the wine curled slowly and gracefully up the side of the cup,' Aldrin described in a 1970 copy of Guideposts magazine, cited in the Guardian. 'It was interesting to think that the very first liquid ever poured on the moon, and the first food eaten there, were communion elements.' Before that, Aldrin had radioed Houston Space Center Mission Control inviting listeners to 'give thanks' with him and also read a section of the gospel of John he had written on a card: 'I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me, and I in him, will bear much fruit; for you can do nothing without me.' That card was auctioned in Texas in 2007, according to USA Today.

This handwritten card containing a Bible verse that Buzz Aldrin planned to broadcast back to Earth during a lunar Holy Communion service was auctioned in Texas in 2007 The surreal story of Aldrian's secret communion service only emerged after the mission. While the devout Presbyterian wanted to share the ceremony with the world over the radio, NASA stymied the plan after atheist Madalyn Murray O'Hair tried to sue for a previous religious broadcast. According to Time , O'Hair wanted a ban on NASA astronauts practicing religion on earth, in space or 'around and about the moon' while on duty after the Apollo 8 crew had read out the Genesis creation account in orbit. O'Hair's case against Nasa eventually fizzled out. Religious practice: Holy Communion is a Christian sacrament re-creating the Last Supper with wafers, left, representing the bread and a chalice of wine, right However it caused Aldrin to later question his way of thanking god. 'Perhaps, if I had it to do over again, I would not choose to celebrate communion,' he wrote in his memoir Magnificent Desolation, according to Time.

'Although it was a deeply meaningful experience for me, it was a Christian sacrament, and we had come to the moon in the name of all mankind – be they Christians, Jews, Muslims, animists, agnostics, or atheists'. Webster Presbyterian Church still celebrates the 'lunar communion' every year on the Sunday closest to July 20. Read more:

Question: Who was the second person to walk on the Moon?
Answer: Buzz Aldrin