The younger Aldrin attended school in Montclair, graduating from Montclair High School. He went on to be accepted at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. In 1951 he graduated with honors, third in his class a bachelor of science degree.
After receiving his wings, Aldrin flew 66 combat missions in F-86's while on duty in Korea. He shot down two MIG 15 aircraft. At Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, he served as an aerial gunnery instructor. Following his assignment as aide to the dean of faculty at the Air Force Academy, Aldrin flew F-100's as a flight commander at Bitburg, Germany. Next he earned a doctorate of science in Astronautics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge. His thesis was "Guidance for Manned Orbital Rendezvous."
Chosen with the third group of astronauts in 1963, he was assigned to the Gemini Target Office of the Air Force Space Systems Division, Los Angeles. He first served as backup pilot for Gemini 9. On November 11, 1966, he and command pilot James Lovell were launched into space in the Gemini 12 spacecraft on a 4-day flight, which brought the Gemini program to a successful close. Aldrin established a new record for extravehicular activity (EVA), spending 5-1/2 hours outside the spacecraft.
As the Apollo program began with its mission to land a man on the moon, Aldrin became a key player. He served as backup command module pilot for Apollo 8, man's first flight around the moon. He served as lunar module pilot for Apollo 11, July 16-24, 1969, the first manned lunar landing mission. Aldrin followed Neil Armstrong onto the lunar surface on July 20, 1969, completing a 2-hour and 15 minute lunar EVA. After returning to Earth, he embarked on an international goodwill tour. He received the Presidential Freedom Medal as well as more than 50 other awards from around the world.
Buzz Aldrin resigned from NASA in July 1971 to become Commandant of the Aerospace Research Pilot's School at Edwards AFB, California. In March 1972, Aldrin retired from Air Force active duty, after 21 years of service, and became a consultant for the Comprehensive Care Corporation, Newport Beach, California. He has logged 4500 hours of flying time, 290 of which were in space, including 8 hours of EVA.
Retirement has not slowed Dr. Aldrin down. In 1993 he received a U.S. patent for a permanent space station he designed. he has authored several books including the nonfiction books "Return to Earth" and "Men From Earth" as well as the novels "The Return" and "Encounter with Tiber."
Buzz Aldrin is the founder of a rocket design company called Starcraft Boosters, Inc. as well as a nonprofit devoted to opening the doors to space tourism for all people called the ShareSpace Foundation. Today he travels around the world lecturing about the future of space efforts and discussing his and others' latest concepts and ideas for exploring the universe.
He is married to the former Lois Driggs Cannon of Phoenix, AZ, a Stanford graduate and active community leader in Southern California, and personal manager of all of Buzz's endeavors. Their combined family is comprised of six grown children and one grandson.