Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon -- and stands in the shadow of no one. After serving as a decorated Air Force fighter pilot in the Korean War, and earning a doctorate in astronautics from MIT, Col. Aldrin entered the NASA astronaut corps. On July 20, 1969, he stepped on to the lunar surface -- and became the subject of one of the most famous pictures of the 20th century. In the next photo, see how he trained for his historic flight.
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Astronauts in training worked on land, in the air and in the water. In May 1968, at the U.S. Air Force Air Defense Command Life Support School of Perrin Air Force Base in Sherman, Tex., Aldrin trained for possible ejection from aircraft. He ascended by parasail 400 feet above Lake Texoma, then was dropped into the water and paddled in a one-man life raft. Preparations for Apollo 11 also took him to drier territory, as you'll see in the next picture.
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In February 1969, Aldrin and Apollo 11 mission commander Neil Armstrong ventured into far west Texas, near Sierra Blanca Mountain, to brush up on their rock and soil collecting skills. "The Sierra Blanca trip was the only trip specifically on geology for the Apollo 11 crew," writes Apollo 16 geology team leader Bill Muehlberger. "They went into the large arroyos to learn how to sample when a variety of rocks are spread out." Next up, see how Aldrin practiced working with the gear he took to the moon.
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At the Langley Research Center in Virginia, Apollo astronauts trained for both spaceflight and their excursions on the lunar surface. Here Buzz Aldrin is shown unfurling the solar wind collector, a sheet of aluminum foil designed to collect electrically charged particles emanating from the sun. His main job on the mission was piloting the lunar module, and you can see him preparing to practice in the next picture.
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In May 1969, just two months before the liftoff of Apollo 11, Aldrin is about to climb aboard the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM) Simulator at NASA's Langley Lunar Landing Research Facility in Virginia. The LEM allowed pilots to experience what engineers imagined the last 150 feet (46 m) of lunar descent would feel like. Lunar gravity is one-sixth of that on Earth, so technicians created an overhead cable system to mimic the process of landing the lunar module. Next, see Aldrin prepare for the last moments before liftoff.
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This is the White Room of the gantry at Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39 Pad A, the Apollo astronauts' final stop before boarding the spaceship. After the countdown demonstration test, Aldrin (front) stands with (left to right) fellow astronauts Michael Collins and Neil Armstrong, who is talking to pad leader Guenter Wendt. To see Aldrin on his way to the moon, check out the next photo.
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This picture shows Aldrin inside the Lunar Landing Module named Eagle during the descent to the moon. Aldrin piloted the craft, telling Mission Control he achieved a "very smooth touchdown." He said that less than a minute after mission commander Neil Armstrong uttered one of the mission's famous phrases: "Houston -- Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed." While in the landing module, Aldrin, a Presbyterian, administered Holy Communion to himself. To see the lunar surface, check out the next picture.
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Some 20 minutes after Armstrong emerged from the lunar lander, Aldrin followed. As Aldrin was about to reach the surface, he said, "Now I want to back up and partially close the hatch." He then added, joking, "Making sure not to lock it on my way out." Aldrin described the view as "magnificent desolation," a phrase that would give his second autobiography its title. Aldrin's photographs of his own footprints were part of an experiment to test the properties of lunar surface dust. In the next photo, see him instigate another experiment.
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Here Aldrin unfurls the Solar Wind Collector he'd trained with at Langley. Between his training and this moment, the words SUN and SHADE were printed on the opposite sides of the foil to help him align it properly. One experiment he and Armstrong began in 1969 is still underway. They deposited the first Laser Ranging Retroreflector on the moon, a mirror that scientists on Earth target with lasers to measure distance. The average distance between the moon and Earth is about 239,000 miles (385,000 km), and scientists can calculate it within 1.2 inches (3 cm). To see the crew of Apollo 11 after they traveled that distance a second time, check out the next photo.
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First liftoff -- then splashdown. On July 24, 1969, Command Module Columbia and the men of Apollo 11 landed in the Pacific Ocean about 800 miles southwest of Hawaii, and 12 miles from their recovery vessel, the USS Hornet. They are all wearing biological isolation suits, as is the fourth man in the picture, a U.S. Navy demolition team swimmer. Next up, see them welcomed home by the Commander in Chief.
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President Richard M. Nixon, who had served as a Navy lieutenant commander in the Pacific during World War II, watched the Apollo 11 recovery mission from the bridge of the USS Hornet. He then spoke with returning astronauts (L-R) Michael Collins, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, who spent three weeks in a Mobile Quarantine Facility before being released. To see three very special visitors, check out the next photo.
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The wives of the astronauts welcomed them home when the Mobile Quarantine Facility reached Ellington Air Force Base in Texas. Shown left to right are Pat Collins, Jan Armstrong and Jean Aldrin. Their husbands spent 21 days in quarantine, a precaution against introducing alien organisms into Earth's atmosphere. (After Apollo 14, these isolation restrictions were dropped.) Once the astronauts were released, the world wanted to congratulate them, as you'll see in the next photo.
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Ticker tape rains on the spacemen: Astronauts Michael Collins, Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong ride in a New York City parade August 13, 1969. There were similar celebrations in Chicago and Mexico City (the latter featuring the three honorees in sombreros). The men were also each awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom with distinction, the highest civilian award in the U.S. Next, see Aldrin on a very different kind of mission.
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In 2010, at age 80, Aldrin appeared on the TV show "Dancing with the Stars." "My primary motivation for joining the show is to help bring NASA and the U.S. human spaceflight program to the front of popular consciousness," he said at the time."Until there's a spectacular success or failure, the space program is not on everyone's lips. 'Dancing with the Stars' has an audience of millions of followers and it would be great if those viewers became supporters of our space program." He is shown here with dance partner Ashly Costa; he is wearing his Presidential Medal of Freedom. In the season premiere of the show, Aldrin received a good-luck message from the astronauts aboard the International Space Station. Aldrin and Costa were voted off the show April 6, after receiving the lowest scores in the previous night's performance. But he kept on working in the public eye, as you'll see in the next picture.
Image Credit: NASA/ABC
In the 40 years since walking on the moon, Aldrin has been a forceful proponent of space exploration. Here he is shown landing at Kennedy Space Center April 15, 2010 in his capacity as an adviser to President Barack Obama. From left, President Obama, U.S. Representative Suzanne M. Kosmas of Florida, U.S. Senator Bill Nelson of Florida, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and Aldrin.
Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
In terms of presidential visits, Aldrin has lots of experience. Here he is with another president. This time it's President George W. Bush, whom Aldrin was meeting in conjunction with the 35th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission. From left, we see Aldrin's fellow crewmember Michael Collins, President Bush, Apollo 11 Commander Neil Armstrong and Aldrin. Armstrong and Aldrin, ever a strong voice for NASA, fielded question in an online "Ask the White House" forum.
Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
Sometimes it's nice for people to leave a calling card. The Apollo 11 crew did just that, leaving an American flag on the moon. Here Buzz Aldrin stands next to it. It's theorized that the flag may not be in very good shape today: The extreme heat and ultraviolet conditions may well have rendered the nylon flags unrecognizable to anyone seeing them today.
Image Credit: Neil Armstrong/NASA/Getty Images
Here is the Apollo 11 lunar module Eagle in orbit above the moon. Aldrin and Neil Armstrong would soon touch down and spend more than two hours walking on the moon. This picture was taken by Michael Collins, who had to remain in orbit above, in the command module Columbia. See those thin tentacles under the module's legs? Those are sensor probes. When they hit the moon's surface, they sent a signal to Aldrin and Armstrong to cut off the descent engine so they could drop in for a landing.
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The hallowed halls of congress are always welcome to heroes of the space program. Here, Collins, Armstrong and Aldrin visit the House Committee on Science and Technology in 2009, where they received a framed copy of a House resolution honoring the Apollo 11 mission as well as the Congressional Gold Medal for the trio and astronaut John Glenn.
Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
This 1961 image shows us the Apollo 11 crew "suiting up" to head out for a kind of dress rehearsal of the countdown to liftoff. Their historic mission that would soon follow made Aldrin and his crewmates international celebrities of the highest order. After all, they'd achieved what was almost unimaginable back in 1961, when President John F. Kennedy pronounced that the U.S. would aim to put astronauts on the moon by the end of the 1960s. In the next picture, we'll see that the kind of celebrity Buzz Aldrin won lasts a lifetime when you become an American icon.
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The greatest life-perk of all for an astronaut who has walked on the moon is, of course, getting to walk on the moon. But that doesn't mean there aren't some Earth-bound perks as well -- like hobnobbing with celebrities for a night on the town. Here Buzz Aldrin is seen attending the 2012 Vanity Fair Oscar party.
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See what we mean about perks? The summer of 2011 saw Aldrin having a ball at the Transformers: Dark Of The Moon (2010) movie premiere.
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Oscar parties, movie premieres ... and now Wall Street gets in the act. Here are Aldrin and famed Apollo 13 astronaut Jim Lovell ("Houston, we have a problem."), ringing the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange on July 13, 2009. We'll leave the stock exchange far, far in the rear-view mirror in our next picture.
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Here on Earth, we tend to look across the parking lot to find our vehicles. Astronauts, though, look across places like the moon's Sea of Tranquility, as Buzz Aldrin does here. The scene is, of course, during the Apollo 11 mission. Aldrin was doing some seismic experiments. In the background at right you can see the lunar module, and beyond that, to the left, the American flag planted by the astronauts. And, of you look closely, in the far background at left you can see the crew's black and white lunar surface television camera documenting the proceedings. Neil Armstrong took this photo of Aldrin with another surface camera.
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Remember our photo a few frames back of Aldrin and the Apollo 11 astronauts beginning a launch countdown rehearsal? Well, this time it's the real thing! We see the crew leaving for a transport ride to the Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39A, where the Apollo 11 launch, and history, await them.
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Here's Aldrin on more familiar turf than, say, the film premiere circuit. He's chatting with Virgin Group magnate Sir Richard Branson, at left. The two attended the inaugural flight of SpaceShipOne, the craft that completed the world's first private, manned space flight in 2004. Who better to be present for those proceedings than the second man to ever set foot on the moon? In fact, we'll see that step about to happen in our next picture.
Image Credit: Don Logan/WireImage
Here's another iconic image from the Apollo 11 mission. It's July 20, 1969, and Buzz Aldrin is about to step down onto the surface of the moon and become only the second man ever to do so. When you consider that the moon is more than 238,000 miles (383,023 kilometers) from the astronauts' home on Earth, it makes mankind's first walk there all the more wondrous.
Image Credit: Neil Armstrong/Keystone/CNP/Getty Images
In fact, the Apollo 11 mission was so wondrous it even got Aldrin, Armstrong and Collins a trip to visit with Queen Elizabeth in Buckingham Palace. (Aldrin is on the far right.)
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Here's a look from the Apollo 11 crew (from left to right: Armstrong, Collins, Aldrin) that we don't often see. We're so used to seeing these heroes either on the moon or in their spacesuits that it's unusual to see them in simple, ordinary street clothes.
Image Credit: MPI/Getty Images
Here the gallery ends, with astronaut Buzz Aldrin taking the walk that made him famous -- on the surface of the moon during the Apollo 11 mission. If you look closely, you can see his footprints strewn around the leg of the lunar landing module. What a walk it must have been!
Now that you've seen our Buzz Aldrin Pictures, check out our Space Flight Firsts Pictures!
Image Credit: Neil Armstrong/MPI/Getty Images
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