Buzz Aldrin
Astronaut, engineer, fighter pilot
Born: Jan. 20, 1930, in Montclair, New Jersey
New Jersey Hall of Fame, Class of 2008: Enterprise
It may come as a surprise that New Jersey’s Man on the Moon was rejected the first time he applied to be an astronaut, yet it seems fitting that he was accepted on his second attempt. Two, it seems, is Buzz Aldrin’s special number
A West Point graduate who flew 66 combat missions during the Korean War, Aldrin entered the NASA space program in 1963. He piloted the Gemini 12 mission in 1966, and, on his second space flight, became the second man to walk on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission in July 1969.
Aldrin was born Edwin Eugene Aldrin Jr. and grew up in suburban New Jersey. His father was a pioneering World War I Army aviator who later became assistant commandant of the Army’s first test-pilot school. In a moment of serendipity, he married a woman named Marion Moon. The second of their three children got the nickname “Buzz” from his younger sister.
Buzz Aldrin excelled in academics and athletics at Montclair High School, where he was the starting center on the undefeated state championship football team in 1946. Aldrin entered West Point in 1947 and graduated third in his class four years later with a B.S. degree in mechanical engineering. Commissioned a second lieutenant in the newly established U.S. Air Force, he trained as a fighter pilot and was deployed to Korea. For his service during the Korean War, he earned two Distinguished Flying Crosses and three Air Medals.
After the war, Aldrin served as an aerial gunnery instructor at an Air Force base in Nevada and as a flight commander in Germany. Continuing his formal education, he received a doctorate in astronautics from MIT. The Air Force next assigned Aldrin to a series of projects in support of space exploration. Finally, in October 1963, NASA selected Aldrin for its third group of astronauts.
Aldrin made his first tip into space in November 1966 on Gemini 12, a four-day mission highlighted by his three successful space walks. In all, Aldrin set a then-record of 5-1/2 hours of extravehicular activity. During the walks, Aldrin performed numerous tasks outside the space capsule, including tests on tools that would be needed for the Apollo missions to the moon.
Next, Aldrin was assigned along with Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins to man the spaceship Columbia on the historic Apollo 11 mission. Armstrong was the mission commander; Aldrin the lunar module pilot. An estimated 25 million Americans watched the live TV coverage of the Apollo 11 launch on July 16, 1969. Four days later, Armstrong and Aldrin slipped into the Eagle landing module and descended to the surface of the moon.
Armstrong went down ladder first, delivering his brief, but memorable “one small step” speech. Aldrin followed 19 minutes later, becoming the second man on the moon. He described what he saw as “beautiful desolation.”
The two astronauts spent two hours and 15 minutes on the moon. Aldrin took photographs, extracted a core sample, and conducted experiments with Armstrong. Aldrin even took time for a short prayer service. He and Armstrong then reentered the Eagle, ascended to join Collins on Columbia, and returned to Earth on July 24, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean after a mission of more than 195 hours. The three men were honored with tickertape parades in New York and Chicago and each was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Aldrin retired from the Air Force as a colonel in March 1972. During the ensuing decades, he remained active in promoting manned space exploration. He especially advocated for travel to Mars. Upon his induction into the New Jersey Hall of Fame at the age of 78, Aldrin declared, “I’ve got lots of work to do.”