Buzz Aldrin Jr.

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Buzz Aldrin Jr. is notable. Join: Notables Project Discuss: notables

Biography

Buzz Aldrin Jr. is a Military Veteran.
Served in the United States Air Force 1951 starting as Second Lieutenant-1972 attaining rank of Colonel
Served as a combat pilot in Korea (66 combat missions) and later as an astronaut at NASA, the first man to land on the moon and the second to walk on it.

Edwin Eugene Aldrin, Jr. was born on January 20, 1930, in Montclair, NJ to Edwin Aldrin and Marion Moon. He has two older sisters, Madeline Ross and Fay Ann. His nickname "Buzz" was coined by his sister Fay, who pronounced "brother" as "buzzer" when they were little.^[1][2][3]

From at least 1930 to at least 1940 the Aldrin family lived at 25 Princeton Place in Montclair, NJ. ^[4][5] In 1946, Buzz graduated a year early from Montclair High School.^[3][6][7] Passing up a scholarship to MIT, Buzz attended the United States Military Academy at West Point and earned his Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering in 1951, graduating third in his class.^[1][3][6][7]

After graduation, Buzz joined the Air Force as a second lieutenant and served in the Korean War. He completed 66 combat missions as an F-86 fighter pilot, including damaging one and destroying two MIG-15s, earning him the Distinguished Flying Cross.^[1][3][6][7] After the war, Buzz was stationed in Bitburg, Germany as the flight commander of the 22nd Fighter Squadron, flying F-100s.^[3][6][7]

Buzz returned to the US and earned his Doctorate of Science in Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, MA in 1963. In October of that year, he was named as one of the third group of astronauts at NASA.^[1][3][6][7]

On November 11, 1966, Buzz Aldrin and James Lovell were launched into space in the Gemini 12 spacecraft. During the 4-day, 59-revolution flight, Buzz established a new extra-vehicular activity (EVA) record of 5 1/2 hours. The crew splashed down in the Atlantic on November 15, 1966. ^{[1][3][6][7][8]}

The Apollo 11 mission launched on July 16, 1969, including commander Neil Armstrong, lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin, and command module pilot Michael Collins. On July 20, 1969, Neil and Buzz made history by becoming the first people to set foot on the moon. They spent 21 hours on the moon's surface in the Sea of Tranquility, and Buzz logged an additional 2 hours and 15 minutes of EVA time during the mission. The crew returned to Earth on July 24, 1969. ^{[1][3][6][7][9]}

Edwin legally changed his name to Buzz Aldrin in 1988.^[1][2]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6} CNN Library, Buzz Aldrin Fast Facts (Cable News Network (CNN), 11:27 AM EST, Fri January 31, 2014), Internet, http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/15/us/buzz-aldrin-fast-facts/
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} Buzz Aldrin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buzz_Aldrin, Wikipedia, 24 May 2014), Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7} To the moon and beyond (Bergen, New Jersey, USA, The Record, July 20, 2009, 9:16 AM), Internet, http://www.northjersey.com/news/nation/to-the-moon-and-beyond-1.161043
4. ↑ Ancestry.com, 1930 United States Federal Census (Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2002.Original data - United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1930. T626), Ancestry.com, http://www.Ancestry.com, Year: 1930; Census Place: Montclair, Essex, New Jersey; Roll: 1332; Page: 5A; Enumeration District: 0518; Image: 310.0; FHL microfilm: 2341067.
5. ↑ Ancestry.com, 1940 United States Federal Census (Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.Original data - United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1940. T627), Ancestry.com, http://www.Ancestry.com, Year: 1940; Census Place: Montclair, Essex, New Jersey; Roll: T627_2337; Page: 9A; Enumeration District: 7-238.
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6} Astronaut Bio: Buzz Aldrin (Houston, Texas, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Jan 1996), Internet, http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/aldrin-b.html
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6} Buzz Aldrin, Buzz Aldrin | Astronaut, Apollo XI, 11, Gemini 12 » Biography: (http://buzzaldrin.com/the-man/biography/, Buzz Aldrin Enterprises, LLC, 2014), Internet, 14 Jun 2014: http://buzzaldrin.com/the-man/biography/
8. ↑ NASA - NSSDC - Spacecraft - Details: Gemini 12 (National Space Science Data Center (NSSDC), 14 Jun 2014), Internet, http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraftDisplay.do?id=1966-104A
9. ↑ NASA - NSSDC - Spacecraft - Details: Apollo 11 Command and Service Module (CSM) (National Space Science Data Center (NSSDC), 14 Jun 2014), Internet, http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraftDisplay.do?id=1969-059A

See also:

• NASA Astronaut Biography
• Official Site Biography
• CNN Fast Facts
• Wikidata: Item Q2252, en:Wikipedia