
Since 1955, the United States and the Soviet Union had been engaged in a space race. It was the second time he had applied, having been inspired by his friend, Gemini and Apollo astronaut Ed White, Aldrin stated in a tweet in March 2020. None of the allegations have been proven in court.Īdditional reporting by Elizabeth Howell, Contributor.Shortly after graduating four years later, having written a 311-page thesis called Line-of-Sight Guidance Techniques for Manned Orbital Rendezvous, according to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, he was selected by NASA to become an astronaut. The allegations include fraud, misuse of personal credit cards and social media accounts and slander, among other items. In June 2018, the 88-year-old astronaut filed a lawsuit against two of his children, his family foundation and his former manager. He somewhat famously danced on " Dancing with the Stars" and was a guest on Comedy Central's " The Colbert Report." Aldrin sat down with actor George Clooney in a 2017 short documentary called "Starmen," during which the two men watched the Apollo 11 moonwalk and shared memories.Īldrin has been married three times and has three children. In 2009, he called for putting humans on Mars by 2031. In recent decades, 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. patents, and founding the ShareSpace Foundation, which promotes space education and exploration.

Some of Aldrin's post-NASA activities, according to, include creating an "Aldrin Mars Cycler" that could be used for human Mars missions, receiving three U.S. In his 1973 autobiography, "Return to Earth," Aldrin disclosed that he had difficulties with alcoholism and depression after leaving NASA. He retired from the Air Force in 1972, after almost two decades. Almost eight hours of his travel were spent outside of a vehicle. In 1971, Aldrin resigned from NASA, having logged 289 hours and 53 minutes in space. He toured the world with his fellow astronauts. Aldrin was decorated with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest American peacetime award. 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.Įight days after its launch, Apollo 11 returned home, landing in the Pacific Ocean on July 24, 1969. Magnificent desolation."īuzz Aldrin offers a parting salute after being eliminated from ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" on Tuesday, April 6, 2010. As he gazed at the lunar landscape, Aldrin described it as, "Beautiful, beautiful. 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. The craft landed in the Sea of Tranquility. Īldrin served as lunar module pilot for the Apollo 11 mission to the moon, traveling with Commander Neil Armstrong and Command Module Pilot Michael Collins. Gemini 12 was the last of the Gemini missionsg.

Fourteen scientific experiments were also performed. Aldrin spent five and a half hours outside of the craft, establishing a record for space walks. 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. He pioneered underwater training techniques, which simulated zero gravity situations and helped astronauts prepare to work in space.

After joining the space program in 1963, Aldrin relied on his doctoral studies to help him create docking and rendezvous techniques for spacecraft.
