The Second Man to land on Moon – the Apollo 11 story

 “One truth I have discovered for sure: When you believe that all things are possible and you are willing to work hard to accomplish your goals, you can achieve the next ‘impossible’ dream. No dream is too high!”

– Buzz Aldrin.

The Second Man to land on Moon – the Apollo 11 story

Space attracts us. It calls us to discover and uncover the hidden. To initiate this amazing space exploration, One easy and obvious choice is Moon, the most visible and sought after astral body from Earth. Apollo 11 realized this next to impossible dream.

The objectives of Apollo 11 included scientific exploration by the lunar module, or LM, crew; deployment of a television camera to transmit signals to Earth; and deployment of a solar wind composition experiment, seismic experiment package and a Laser Ranging Retroreflector.  Commander Neil Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin “Buzz” were among the firsts to travel to Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin “Buzz” set their foot to collect moon sample.

Neil Armstrong had the privilege of being the first human to set his foot on Moon. However Buzz Aldrin became the second person to add another human mark on the Mankind giant leap.

Dr Buzz Aldrin walking on Moon Surface– Picture taken by Neil Armstrong

Dr.Buzz Aldrin was born on January 20,1930, Montclair, New Jersey, U.S.), He graduated from the U.S. Military Academy. In 1963 he wrote dissertation on orbital mechanics to earn a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge. Later that year he was chosen as an astronaut.

Dr.Buzz Aldrin is the first space walker. He did this in 1966 on the Gemini 12 Orbital mission.  Dr. Aldrin  spent a record Five and half hours, proving the human beings can function effectively in the vacuum of space. He joined James A. Lovell, Jr., on the four-day Gemini 12 flight to achieve this feat. Together, Aldrin’s three walks in space totalled a record 5 ¹/₂hours, proving that human beings can function effectively in the vacuum of space.

Dr.Buzz Aldrin (Edwin Eugene Aldrin, Jr.)

Also associated with him is a distinction of being first astronaut to hold a Doctorate Degree. So obsessed with details, and an expert in theoretical knowledge, he was also called Dr. Rendezvous.

He devised the docking and rendezvous techniques for spacecrafts Dr Buzz Aldrin advocates for space exploration, writing books and making numerous media appearances.

Buzz Aldrin was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He retired from NASA in 1971 to return to the Air Force. He then retired from active duty

Though the family life was not in good terms, he started drinking to cope up with the stress and depression. However he soon bounced back to normal life.

One long cherished dream of his was of humans one day getting permanently settle on Mars. To attain this and making human more capable for flights to Mars, he was involved in developing system that he called the Aldrin Mars Cycler. The Aldrin Space Institute, formed in 2015, at Florida Institute of Technology is also focussed on human presence on Mars.

In 1998, he traveled to North pole and also visited Antarctica. Aldrin wrote two autobiographies, In the first Autobiography, “Return to Earth “(1973), he mentioned the story of his experience with depression following the Apollo 11 mission, and  the other one is “Magnificent Desolation: The Long Journey Home from the Moon” .

He also wrote a history of the Apollo program, Men from Earth (1989, with Malcolm McConnell); two children’s books, Reaching for the Moon (2005) and Look to the Stars (2009); and two forward-looking works, Mission to Mars: My Vision for Space Exploration (2013) and No Dream Is Too High: Life Lessons from a Man Who Walked on the Moon (2016).

The twitter handle of Dr Buzz Aldrin is – Dr. Buzz Aldrin@TheRealBuzz.