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,
The Moms of the characters Liz Lemon, Jenna Maroney, Frank Rossitano (Judah Friedlander), and Jack Donaghy, respectively. John Lutz appears as the mother of his character, "TGS" writer J.D. Lutz, but it is unclear whether this is portrayed as a casting joke on the part of "30 Rock" or whether the character of Lutz is impersonating his own mother within the show. In addition, actress Novella Nelson guest starred as herself as Tracy Jordan's fake "mother" for the first time. Former astronaut Buzz Aldrin played himself in the episode as it is revealed that he was in a relationship with Liz's mother.