Buzz Aldrin that he thought Aldrin "resents not being first on the moon more than he appreciates being second." Aldrin and Armstrong did not have time to perform much geological training. The first lunar landing focused more on landing on the Moon and making it safely back to Earth than the scientific aspects of the mission. The duo were briefed by NASA and USGS geologists. They made one geological training expedition to west Texas. The press followed them, and a helicopter made it hard for Aldrin and Armstrong to hear their instructor. An estimated one million spectators watched the launch of Apollo
Space rendezvous maneuvering thrusters to adjust its orbit to match that of its twin. The initial separation distances were in the range of , and slowly diverged to thousands of kilometers (over a thousand miles) over the course of the missions. In 1963 Buzz Aldrin submitted his doctoral thesis titled, " Line-Of-Sight Guidance Techniques For Manned Orbital Rendezvous." As a NASA astronaut, Aldrin worked to "translate complex orbital mechanics into relatively simple flight plans for my colleagues." The first attempt at rendezvous was made on June 3, 1965, when US astronaut Jim McDivitt tried to maneuver his Gemini 4 craft to meet