Buzz Aldrin — Profile, Rankings & Fame Trend

Summary

Updated 2026-06-21

The second boot on the Moon, nineteen minutes after Armstrong. The last living member of the Apollo 11 crew, and now—after Jim Lovell's death in 2025—the oldest astronaut still here.

Biography

About

Born in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, Edwin Eugene Aldrin Jr. graduated third from West Point in 1951 and flew 66 combat missions in Korea, downing two MiGs. He earned a doctorate in astronautics from MIT—his thesis on orbital rendezvous techniques made him the first astronaut with a PhD and earned him the nickname "Dr. Rendezvous." On Gemini 12 in 1966 he logged over five hours of spacewalks; three years later he piloted the Lunar Module Eagle down to the Sea of Tranquility and stepped onto the surface at 03:15:16 UTC on July 21, 1969, nineteen minutes behind Armstrong. A Presbyterian elder, he pri…

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from Buzz Aldrin

Buzz Aldrin

said2012

Don't waste the Earth — it is our Jewel!

— —2012 quote from interview video at 1:28,

Buzz Aldrin

said1975

A busy eleven minutes later we were in Earth orbit. The Earth didn't look much different from the way it had during my first flight, and yet I kept looking at it.

— —Apollo Expeditions to the Moon (1975) [https://history.nasa.gov/SP-350/ch-11-1.html

Buzz Aldrin

saidundated