Buzz Aldrin - Biography

Last Editor: paulclark				Buzz Aldrin Biography -   Name : Buzz Aldrin Profession : Astronaut Birth Details : born January 20, 1930 as Edwin Eugene Aldrin, Jr.

Buzz Aldrin Trivia -

N/A

Buzz Aldrin Detailed Biography -

Colonel Buzz Aldrin, Sc.D (born January 20, 1930 as Edwin Eugene Aldrin, Jr.) is an American pilot and astronaut who became the second human to set foot on the Moon (after Neil Armstrong) during the Apollo 11 mission, the first manned lunar landing. Aldrin was born in Glen Ridge, New Jersey. He graduated from Montclair High School and attended the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York. As a boy, he was given the nickname "Buzz" by his sister, and he made it his legal first name in 1988 . He graduated third in his class in 1951 with a bachelor of science degree. Aldrin was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant and served as a jet fighter pilot in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War, where he flew 66 combat missions in F-86 Sabres and shot down two Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 aircraft. After leaving Korea, Aldrin was an aerial gunnery instructor at Nellis Air Force Base in southern Nevada, and later an aide to the dean of faculty at the U.S. Air Force Academy. After leaving this assignment, Aldrin flew F-100 Super Sabres as a flight commander at Bitburg, Germany. Aldrin left military service to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, where he earned his doctorate of science in Astronautics. His graduate thesis was Line-of-sight guidance techniques for manned orbital rendezvous. After leaving MIT, he returned to the Air Force and was assigned to the Gemini Target Office of the Air Force Space Systems Division in Los Angeles, and later to Edwards Air Force Base at the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School. In March 1972, Aldrin retired from active duty after 21 years of service. Buzz walks on the surface of the Moon during Apollo 11. Aldrin was selected as part of the third group of NASA astronauts in October 1963. His serious and intellectual manner proved invaluable during the planning of the Gemini missions but he was not in line for a flight. The deaths of the prime crew for Gemini 9 meant that Aldrin was promoted to back-up crew for the mission. Gemini 9A's main objective was to rendezvous and dock with a target vehicle but when this failed Aldrin improvised an effective exercise for the craft to rendezvous with a co-ordinate in space. He was confirmed as pilot on Gemini 12, the last Gemini mission and the last chance to prove methods for EVA. He utilized revolutionary techniques during training for that mission, including neutrally-buoyant underwater training. Such techniques are still used today. Aldrin set a record for extra-vehicular activity and proved that astronauts could work outside the spacecraft. Aldrin has had a much more public persona than Neil Armstrong, and it is said that originally it was he who would be first out onto the surface. Buzz is well known for having a mystical side, being a Freemason, and for having made statements about God -- including taking communion on the surface of the moon. Buzz Aldrin steps onto the Moon (info) Video from the Apollo 11 mission Problems viewing the video? See media help.