January 20, 2020 - Birthday Buzz

Birthday Buzz Born ninety years ago this week, Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin graduated from West Point and became a jet fighter pilot during the Korean War, later earning a doctorate in astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His thesis was about orbital rendezvous techniques, a subject relevant to the nascent American space program’s goal of landing astronauts on the Moon before the end of the decade. Selected as a NASA astronaut in October 1963, Aldrin flew on the Gemini XII mission in 1966, during which he performed three spacewalks. He was Lunar Module Pilot for the 1969 Apollo 11 mission, following crewmate Neil Armstrong onto the surface to become the second astronaut to walk on the Moon. Aldrin, seen here during Apollo 11, continues to be an advocate for space exploration.

Image credit: NASA

Weekly Calendar

January 20 - 26, 2020

Holidays - Sky Events - Space History

Monday 20

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

Mars 2° south of Moon

1573: Simon Marius born
1930: Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin born
1966: Apollo A-004 launched, first flight test of CSM hardware
1978: Progress 1 launched