NASA Astronaut Group 3 experience was substituted. This applied to Aldrin, Anders, Cernan, Chaffee, Cunningham and Schweickart; all the others were test pilots. NASA Astronaut Group 3 Astronaut Group 3 was a group of fourteen astronauts selected by NASA. Their selection was announced in October 1963. Four died in training accidents before they could fly in space. All of the surviving ten flew in the Apollo program; five also flew Gemini missions. Aldrin, Bean, Cernan and Scott walked on the Moon. They are the only ones of the first 19 NASA astronaut groups to have no members at all fly on the Space Shuttle.
Buzz Aldrin to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. Aldrin entered West Point in 1947. He did well academically, finishing first in his class his plebe year. He was a member of the academy track and field team. In his final year he travelled with a group of West Point cadets to Japan and the Philippines to study the military government policies of Douglas MacArthur. On June 5, 1951, he graduated third in the class in 1951, with a Bachelor of Science degree. As one of the highest-ranking members of the class, Aldrin had his choice of assignments.