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BUZZ ALDRIN Astronaut Historical Icon of the 20th Century FRIDAY & SATURDAY www.buzzaldrin.com

Buzz Aldrin, Sc.D is an American pilot and astronaut who was the Lunar Module Pilot on Apollo 11, the first lunar landing. He was the second person to set foot on the Moon, after Mission Commander Neil Armstrong.

Aldrin was born to Edwin Eugene Aldrin, Sr., a military man in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, where he became a Tenderfoot in the Boy Scouts of America. He attended Montclair High School in Montclair, New Jersey, and graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. The nickname "Buzz" originated in childhood: his sister mispronounced "brother" as "buzzer" as a toddler, and this was shortened to Buzz. He made it his legal first name in 1988.

Aldrin graduated third in his class in 1951 with a Bachelor of Science degree. He was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant and served as a jet fighter pilot in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War, where he flew 66 combat missions in F-86 Sabres and shot down two Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 aircraft.

Aldrin earned his doctorate of science in Astronautics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His graduate thesis was Line-of-sight guidance techniques for manned orbital rendezvous. After leaving MIT, he returned to the Air Force and was assigned to the Gemini Target Office of the Air Force Space Systems Division in Los Angeles, and later to Edwards Air Force Base at the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School.

Aldrin was selected as part of the third group of NASA astronauts in October 1963. After the deaths of the original Gemini 9 prime crew, Elliott See and Charles Bassett, Aldrin was promoted to back-up crew for the mission. The main objective of the revised mission (Gemini 9A) was to rendezvous and dock with a target vehicle but when this failed Aldrin improvised an effective exercise for the craft to rendezvous with a co-ordinate in space. He was confirmed as pilot on Gemini 12, the last Gemini mission and the last chance to prove methods for EVA. He utilized revolutionary techniques during training for that mission, including neutrally-buoyant underwater training. Such techniques are still used today. Aldrin set a record for extra-vehicular activity and proved that astronauts could work outside the spacecraft.

Aldrin's lunar footprint in a photo taken by him, July 20, 1969.Much has been said about Aldrin's desire at the time to be the first astronaut to walk on the moon. Differing NASA accounts have it that he had originally been proposed as the first, but the configuration of the lunar module was changed, or that protocol demanded that the commander (Armstrong) be the first.

After landing on the moon, Aldrin radioed earth with these words: "I'd like to take this opportunity to ask every person listening in, whoever and wherever they may be, to pause for a moment and contemplate the events of the past few hours, and to give thanks in his or her own way."

The Aldrin crater on the Moon near the Apollo 11 landing site is named in his honor. In 1967, Aldrin received an Honorary Doctorate of Science from Gustavus Adolphus College. In 2001, President Bush appointed Aldrin to the Commission on the Future of the United States Aerospace Industry.

Aldrin received the 2003 Humanitarian Award from Variety, the Children's Charity, which, according to the organization, "is given to an individual who has shown unusual understanding, empathy, and devotion to mankind."

Aldrin is on the National Space Society's Board of Governors, and has served as the organization's Chairman; an inductee of the Astronaut Hall of Fame; and a member of The Planetary Society, with Aldrin's pre-recorded voice appearing on nearly every episode of the Society's Planetary Radio. Buzz Lightyear, a character in the movie Toy Story, is named for him.

A SPECIAL WEEKEND WITH BUZZ ALDRIN
FRIDAY, AUGUST 22/08 & SATURDAY, AUGUST 23/08

BUZZ ALDRIN TICKETS DO NOT INCLUDE TAXES OR ADMISSION PRICE TO THE EXPO, UNLESS NOTED.