Buzz Aldrin Buzz Aldrin Buzz Aldrin (; born Edwin Eugene Aldrin Jr.; January 20, 1930) is an American engineer, former astronaut, and fighter pilot. As lunar module pilot on the Apollo 11 mission, he and mission commander Neil Armstrong were the first two humans to land on the Moon. Born in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, Aldrin graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, in 1951, with a degree in mechanical engineering. He was commissioned in the United States Air Force, and served as a jet fighter pilot during the Korean War. He flew 66 combat missions and
Buzz Aldrin should. I have always said that Buzz was the far more photogenic of the crew." Aldrin entered "Eagle" first. With some difficulty they lifted film and two sample boxes containing of lunar surface material to the hatch using a flat cable pulley device. Armstrong reminded Aldrin of a bag of memorial items in his sleeve pocket, and Aldrin tossed the bag down. It contained a mission patch for the Apollo 1 flight that Ed White never flew due to his death in the fire; medallions commemorating Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, and Vladimir Komarov, the first man to