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 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