Buzz Lightyear and the attractions in Disney Parks. Buzz's name was inspired by Apollo 11 astronaut Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, the second person to walk on the Moon. According to an interview with Pixar producers in "Entertainment Weekly", the character was provisionally named Lunar Larry, but it sounded "too wacky", so while trying to rechristen him "we went through some space terms and the word "light-year" came up, and the coolest astronaut name was Buzz Aldrin." Aldrin acknowledged the tribute when he pulled a Buzz Lightyear doll out during a speech at NASA, to rapturous cheers. A clip of this can be found
Buzz Aldrin classroom work, and soon decided to pursue a doctorate instead. In January 1963, he earned a Sc.D. degree in astronautics. His doctoral thesis was "Line-of-Sight Guidance Techniques for Manned Orbital Rendezvous", the dedication of which read, "In the hopes that this work may in some way contribute to their exploration of space, this is dedicated to the crew members of this country's present and future manned space programs. If only I could join them in their exciting endeavors!" Aldrin chose his doctoral thesis in the hope that it would help him be selected as an astronaut, although it meant foregoing