Buzz Aldrin on July 20, Aldrin and Armstrong entered "Eagle", and began the final preparations for lunar descent. At 17:44:00 "Eagle" separated from the "Columbia". Collins, alone aboard "Columbia", inspected "Eagle" as it pirouetted before him to ensure the craft was not damaged, and that the landing gear was correctly deployed. Throughout the descent, Aldrin called out navigation data to Armstrong, who was busy piloting the "Eagle". Five minutes into the descent burn, and above the surface of the Moon, the LM guidance computer (LGC) distracted the crew with the first of several unexpected alarms that indicated that it could not complete
Buzz Aldrin sighting. Aldrin confirmed that there was no such sighting of anything deemed extraterrestrial and said they were, and are, "99.9 percent" sure that the object was the detached panel. In an interview with the Science Channel, Aldrin mentioned seeing unidentified objects, but according to Aldrin his words had been taken out of context. He made a request to the Science Channel to clarify to viewers that he did not see alien spacecraft but was refused. In December 2016, Aldrin was part of a tourist group visiting the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica when he fell ill and was evacuated,