Buzz aldrin biography apollo 11 astronauts

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Biography &#; A Life of Service and Accomplishment

Buzz Aldrin grew up in Montclair, New Jersey. His mother, Marion Moon, was the daughter of an Army Chaplain and his father Edwin Eugene Aldrin was an aviation pioneer. Buzz graduated one year early from Montclair High School and he attended the US Military Academy at West Point, graduating third in his class with a BS in mechanical engineering. He then joined the Air Force where he flew F86 Sabre Jets in 66 combat missions in Korea, shot down two MIG′s, and was decorated with the Distinguished Flying Cross. After a tour of duty in Germany flying F′s, he earned his Doctorate of Science in Astronautics at MIT and wrote his thesis on Manned Orbital Rendezvous.

Selected by NASA in 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

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Aldrin, Buzz

Dates

Existence: January 20,

Biographical Information

Edwin Eugene (Buzz) Aldrin, Jr. was born on January 20, in Montclair, New Jersey. He was nicknamed "Buzz" by his sister. His mother, Marion Moon, was the daughter of an army chaplain. His father, Air Force Colonel Edwin Eugene Aldrin, Sr., was a former student of rocket scientist Robert Goddard, and an aviation pioneer in his own right.

Aldrin graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in , ranking third in his graduating class. After graduation, Aldrin was as an officer in the Air Force. A year later he was sent to Korea as a fighter pilot. He completed 66 fighter missions during the Korean War, and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. He then served as an Air Force instructor in Nevada before being assigned to the Air Force Academy as an aide and later a flight instructor. In , he became a flight commander for a eskader in West Germany.

In , Aldrin

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Buzz Aldrin

American astronaut and lunar explorer (born )

Buzz Aldrin (AWL-drin; born Edwin Eugene Aldrin Jr.; January 20, ) is an American former astronaut, engineer and fighter pilot. He made three spacewalks as pilot of the Gemini 12 mission, and was the Lunar Module Eagle pilot on the Apollo 11 mission. He was the second person to walk on the Moon after mission commander Neil Armstrong. Following the deaths of Armstrong in and pilot Michael Collins in , he is the gods surviving Apollo 11 crew member.

Born in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, Aldrin graduated third in the class of from the United States Military Academy at West Point with a grad in mechanical engineering. He was commissioned into the United States Air Force and served as a jet fighter pilot during the Korean War. He flew 66 combat missions and shot down two MiG aircraft.

After earning a Doctor of Science degree in astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Aldrin was selected as a