Buzz Aldrin shot down two MiG-15 aircraft. After earning a Sc.D. degree in astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Aldrin was selected as a member of NASA's Astronaut Group 3, making him the first astronaut with a doctoral degree. His doctoral thesis was "Line-of-Sight Guidance Techniques for Manned Orbital Rendezvous", earning him the nickname "Dr. Rendezvous" from fellow astronauts. His first space flight was Gemini 12 during which he spent over five hours on extravehicular activity (EVA) outside the spacecraft. Aldrin set foot on the Moon at 03:15:16 on July 21, 1969 (UTC), nine minutes after Armstrong first touched the surface,
Buzz Aldrin NASA's Astronaut Group 2 was selected in 1962 was rejected on the ground that he was not a test pilot. He was aware of the requirement, and asked for it to be waived, but this request was turned down. On May 15, 1963, NASA announced another round of selections. This time requirement was that applicants have either test pilot experience or 1,000 hours flying time in jet aircraft, and Aldrin had over 2,500 hours of flying time, of which 2,200 was in jets. His selection as one of fourteen members of NASA's Astronaut Group 3, was publicly announced on October