Buzz Aldrin - TV Tropes

Buzz Aldrin (born Edwin Eugene Aldrin Jr. on January 20, 1930) is an American former astronaut, engineer, and fighter pilot.

He is best known for being the second man to walk on The Moon after Neil Armstrong. They were part of the same expedition (Apollo 11) along with Michael Collins. He is the last living member of the expedition.

He was also a fighter pilot and a colonel in the United States Air Force. His ScD thesis at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology became the basis for NASA’s orbital docking procedures, earning him the nickname “Dr. Rendezvous”. (“Buzz” itself actually comes from his brother mispronouncing the word “brother” as “buzzer” when he was a boy.) On his first mission, Gemini 12, Aldrin carried out the first known instance of the space selfie.

After his retirement from NASA, he continued contributing to the aerospace industry, helping develop the Aldrin cycler, a fuel-efficient method for getting to Mars and back, in the 1980s. In the 2000s, he developed the Starbooster spaceplane as an attempt to make much spaceflight cheaper. Aldrin also became internet famous for punching infamous Moon landing hoax proponent Bart Sibrel on camera in 2004.

Aldrin is a devout Catholic (the first person known to have taken Communion on the Moon, in fact) and has been married four times, most recently on his 93rd birthday in 2023, and has three children (all from his first marriage). He has also been active on occasion in Republican Party politics.

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As himself

• The Boy in the Plastic Bubble As Himself (TV Movie)
• Punky Brewster as himself (1 episode)
• The Simpsons as himself (1 episode)
• Space Ghost Coast to Coast as himself (2 episodes)
• Recess as himself (1 episode)
• Da Ali G Show as himself (1 episode)
• NUMB3RS as himself (1 episode)
• In the Shadow of the Moon as Himself
• Fly Me to the Moon (2008) as Himself
• 30 Rock as himself
• Dancing with the Stars as Himself/contestant (2010)
• Transformers: Dark of the Moon as Himself
• Futurama as Himself (1 episode)
• Space Brothers as Himself
• The Big Bang Theory as Himself (1 episode)
• Mass Effect 3 as The Stargazer
• The Late Show with Stephen Colbert as Himself (1 episode)
• Hell's Kitchen as Himself (2016)
• Miles from Tomorrowland as Commander Copernicus (1 episode)

Media

• From the Earth to the Moon: Played by Bryan Cranston.
• First Man: Played by Corey Stoll.
• Return To Earth: He is portrayed by Cliff Robertson.
• Transformers: Dark of the Moon: Younger Buzz Aldrin is played by Cory Tucker
• Men in Black 3: Played by Ken Arnold
• Inside Job (2021): A heavily fictionalized version of him is voiced by Roger Craig Smith
• The character Buzz Lightyear from the Toy Story franchise is named after him.

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