Buzz Aldrin Buzz Aldrin Buzz Aldrin (; born Edwin Eugene Aldrin Jr.; January 20, 1930) is an American engineer, former astronaut, and fighter pilot. As lunar module pilot on the Apollo 11 mission, he and mission commander Neil Armstrong were the first two humans to land on the Moon. Born in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, Aldrin graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, in 1951, with a degree in mechanical engineering. He was commissioned in the United States Air Force, and served as a jet fighter pilot during the Korean War. He flew 66 combat missions and
Buzz Aldrin a parachute to open. For his service in Korea, he was awarded two Distinguished Flying Crosses and three Air Medals. Aldrin's year-long tour ended in December 1953, by which time the fighting in Korea had ended. Aldrin was assigned as an aerial gunnery instructor at Nellis. In December 1954 he became an aide-de-camp to Brigadier General Don Z. Zimmerman, the Dean of Faculty at the nascent United States Air Force Academy, which opened in 1955. That same year, he graduated from the Squadron Officer School at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama. From 1956 to 1959 he flew F-100 Super