Buzz Aldrin, Apollo 11 lunar module pilot, with an image of the Moon in the background and a model of the Apollo 11 lunar module. US astronaut Edwin 'Buzz' Eugene Aldrin (born 1930) was a military pilot with a doctorate in astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology when he joined NASA's Astronaut Corps in 1963. He was part of the Gemini program, and then selected for the Apollo program. As the lunar module pilot for the Apollo 11 mission, Aldrin was the second person to walk on the lunar surface, doing so on 21 July 1969 with Neil Armstrong. After retiring from NASA in 1971, Aldrin published accounts of his experiences in space and has lectured worldwide on the topic. Photographed in July 1969.