Buzz Aldrin not choose to celebrate communion. Although it was a deeply meaningful experience for me, it was a Christian sacrament, and we had come to the Moon in the name of all mankind – be they Christians, Jews, Muslims, animists, agnostics, or atheists. But at the time I could think of no better way to acknowledge the enormity of the Apollo 11 experience than by giving thanks to God." However, in the final Apollo 11 TV broadcast during the return journey to Earth, Aldrin quoted from Psalm 8: "I've been reflecting the events of the past several days and a verse
Buzz Aldrin return to the Air Force. During his NASA career, he had spent 289 hours and 53 minutes in space, of which 7 hours and 52 minutes spent was in EVA. He hoped to become Commandant of Cadets at the United States Air Force Academy, but this job was given to his West Point classmate Hoyt S. Vandenberg Jr. Aldrin was assigned as Commandant of the USAF Aerospace Research Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base, California, on July 1, 1971. Aldrin had neither managerial nor test pilot experience, but a third of the training curriculum was devoted to astronaut training,