The second man to walk on the moon, Aldrin was the lunar module pilot on the Apollo 11 mission. Many of the most famous photographs returned by the crew are those of Aldrin in the white Apollo space suit, mirrored space helmet reflecting Neil Armstrong who was the photographer for the first minutes on the moon.

In November 1968, Aldrin piloted Gemini 12 to a rendezvous and docking with a target spacecraft. He served as backup command module pilot for Apollo 8, before he becoming lunar module pilot on Apollo 11.

Aldrin entered the United States Air Force after graduating from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1951. He became a pilot and flew 66 combat missions during the Korean war, destroying two Soviet-built MIG-15 aircraft. Aldrin earned a Ph. D in astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1963.

Aldrin became an astronaut during the selection of the third group by NASA in October 1963. On 11 November 1966 he orbited aboard the Gemini 12 spacecraft, a 4-day 59-revolution flight that successfully ended the Gemini program. It proved to be a fortuitous selection, for during Project Gemini Aldrin became one of the key figures working on the problem of rendezvous of spacecraft in Earth or lunar orbit, and docking them together for spaceflight.

Aldrin worked to develop procedures and tools necessary to accomplish space rendezvous and docking. He was also a central figure in devising the methods necessary to carry out extravehicular activities (EVA) of astronauts outside their vehicles.

Aldrin resigned from NASA in July 1971 to become Commandant of the Aerospace Research Pilot's School at Edwards AFB, California. He retired from the Air Force in 1972 and became a consultant for the Comprehensive Care Corporation, Newport Beach, California. Currently resides in southern California and lectures and consults on space sciences with Starcraft Enterprises. Has authored two books, "Return to Earth"and "Men From Earth." He lives near Los Angeles, California.

Source: NASA