Buzz Aldrin was born in New Jersey on
January 20, 1930. Buzz grew up in New Jersey
and after graduating one year early from
Montclair High School he was educated at the
US Military Academy at West Point.
Selected by NASA in 1963 into the third
group of astronauts, Aldrin was the first
with a doctorate and became known as “Dr.
Rendezvous.” The docking and rendezvous
techniques he devised for spacecraft in
Earth and lunar orbit became critical to the
success of the Gemini and Apollo programs,
and are still used today. He also pioneered
underwater training techniques, as a
substitute for zero gravity flights, to
simulate spacewalking. In 1966 on the Gemini
12 orbital mission, Buzz performed the
world’s first successful spacewalk,
overcoming prior difficulties experienced by
Americans and Russians during
extra-vehicular activity (EVA), and setting
a new EVA record
of 5 ½ hours. On July 20, 1969, Buzz
and Neil Armstrong made their
historic Apollo 11 moonwalk,
becoming the first two humans to set
foot on another world. They spent 21
hours on the lunar surface and
returned with 46 pounds of moon
rocks. An estimated 600 million
people – at that time, the world’s
largest television audience in
history – witnessed this
unprecedented heroic endeavour.
Since retiring from NASA and the Air
Force, Col. Aldrin has remained at
the forefront of efforts to ensure
America’s continued leadership in
human space exploration. He devised
a master plan for missions to Mars
known as the “Aldrin Mars Cycler” –
a spacecraft system with perpetual
cycling orbits between Earth and
Mars. Dr. Aldrin has received three
US patents for his schematics of a
modular space station, Starbooster
reusable rockets, and multi-crew
modules for space flight. He founded
Starcraft Boosters, Inc., a rocket
design company, and the ShareSpace
Foundation, a nonprofit devoted to
advancing space education,
exploration and affordable space
flight experiences for all.
On November 16, 2011, Dr. Aldrin was
awarded the Congressional Gold
Medal, the nation’s highest civilian
honour, along with the other Apollo
11 crew members, Neil Armstrong and
Michael Collins, and Mercury Seven
astronaut, John Glenn, for their
significant contribution to society
and for blazing the trail of
exploration.
Dr. Aldrin is an author of eight
books including his New York Times
best selling autobiography entitled,
“Magnificent Desolation” which was
released in 2009 just before the
40th Anniversary of the Apollo XI
moon landing. He continues to
inspire today’s youth with his
illustrated children’s books:
Reaching for the Moon, another New
York Times best-seller, and Look to
the Stars. He has also authored two
space science-fact-fiction novels:
The Return and Encounter with Tiber.
His non-fiction works include the
best-seller historical documentary,
Men from Earth, and an early 1970′s
autobiography, Return to Earth. His
newest book, “Mission to Mars: My
Vision for Space Exploration” was
published by the National Geographic
Society on May 7, 2013. It outlines
his plan to get us beyond the moon
and on to Mars.
As one of the leading space
exploration advocates, Buzz
continues to chart a course for
future space travel.
