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142-572: The Junior Museum of Palm Beach County was founded in 1959 by the Junior League of the Palm Beaches to focus on the natural sciences. The museum opened on October 21, 1961 with exhibits of marine and animal life, geology, and agriculture. In 1964, a planetarium dedicated by astronaut Buzz Aldrin was completed. The Museum was expanded in 1971, doubling in size to accommodate classrooms, an auditorium, and an expanded exhibit floor. Renovations were done on

284-436: A Sc.D. degree in astronautics . His doctoral thesis was Line-of-Sight Guidance Techniques for Manned Orbital Rendezvous , the dedication of which read: "In the hopes that this work may in some way contribute to their exploration of space, this is dedicated to the crew members of this country's present and future manned space programs. If only I could join them in their exciting endeavors!" Aldrin chose his doctoral thesis in

426-537: A Science Channel documentary titled First on the Moon: The Untold Story , Aldrin told an interviewer they had seen an unidentified flying object ( UFO ). The documentary makers omitted the crew's conclusion that they probably saw one of the four detached spacecraft adapter panels from the upper stage of the Saturn   V rocket. The panels had been jettisoned before the separation maneuver so they closely followed

568-403: A T-33 . No people died, but the aircraft were destroyed and the accidents were attributed to insufficient supervision, which placed the blame on Aldrin. What he had hoped would be an enjoyable job became a highly stressful one. Aldrin went to see the base surgeon. In addition to signs of depression , he experienced neck and shoulder pains, and hoped that the latter might explain the former. He

710-520: A human mission to Mars . Over the last decade, flight surgeons and scientists at NASA have seen a pattern of vision problems in astronauts on long-duration space missions. The syndrome, known as visual impairment intracranial pressure (VIIP) , has been reported in nearly two-thirds of space explorers after long periods spent aboard the International Space Station (ISS). On 2 November 2017, scientists reported that significant changes in

852-454: A preparatory school for Annapolis, and even secured him a Naval Academy appointment from Albert W. Hawkes , one of the United States senators from New Jersey. Aldrin attended Severn School in 1946, but had other ideas about his future career. He suffered from seasickness and considered ships a distraction from flying airplanes. He faced down his father and told him to ask Hawkes to change

994-709: A "spacewalk"), on 18 March 1965, on the Soviet Union's Voskhod 2 mission. This was followed two and a half months later by astronaut Ed White who made the first American EVA on NASA's Gemini 4 mission. The first crewed mission to orbit the Moon, Apollo 8 , included American William Anders who was born in Hong Kong, making him the first Asian-born astronaut in 1968. The Soviet Union, through its Intercosmos program, allowed people from other " socialist " (i.e. Warsaw Pact and other Soviet-allied) countries to fly on its missions, with

1136-582: A 3500 gallon tank which contains sharks, a spotted moray eel, white fin remoras, lobsters, and barracudas. Also available in the aquarium is a 6 ft coral reef tank that has a hollowed-out center which allows visitors to step into the center of the tank. The species in this tank are primarily from the Red Sea, Hawaiian Islands, Indo-Pacific, and Atlantic Ocean. Marine animals native to the Florida Everglades such as alligators and turtles are also on display in

1278-468: A MiG approaching from above. This time, Aldrin and his opponent spotted each other at about the same time. They went through a series of scissor maneuvers , attempting to get behind the other. Aldrin was first to do so, but his gun sight jammed. He then manually sighted his gun and fired. He then had to pull out, as the two aircraft had gotten too low for the dogfight to continue. Aldrin saw the MiG's canopy open and

1420-402: A better simulation. NASA also placed additional handholds on the capsule, which were increased from nine on Gemini   9 to 44 on Gemini   12, and created workstations where he could anchor his feet. Gemini 12's main objectives were to rendezvous with a target vehicle, and fly the spacecraft and target vehicle together using gravity-gradient stabilization, perform docked maneuvers using

1562-563: A close friend of his father, attended the formal retirement ceremony. Aldrin's father died on December 28, 1974, from complications following a heart attack . Aldrin's autobiographies, Return to Earth (1973) and Magnificent Desolation (2009), recounted his struggles with clinical depression and alcoholism in the years after leaving NASA. Encouraged by a therapist to take a regular job, Aldrin worked selling used cars, at which he had no talent. Periods of hospitalization and sobriety alternated with bouts of heavy drinking. Eventually he

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1704-535: A crewed spacecraft, several other nations have sent people into space in cooperation with one of these countries, e.g. the Soviet-led Interkosmos program. Inspired partly by these missions, other synonyms for astronaut have entered occasional English usage. For example, the term spationaut (French: spationaute ) is sometimes used to describe French space travelers, from the Latin word spatium for "space";

1846-458: A depression, something she had not seen before. Lovell and Aldrin were assigned to an Apollo crew with Neil Armstrong as commander, Lovell as command module pilot (CMP), and Aldrin as lunar module pilot (LMP). Their assignment as the backup crew of Apollo 9 was announced on November 20, 1967. Due to design and manufacturing delays in the lunar module (LM), Apollo 8 and Apollo   9 swapped prime and backup crews, and Armstrong's crew became

1988-530: A fatal crash. When Aldrin was deciding what sort of aircraft he should fly, his father advised him to choose bombers , because command of a bomber crew gave an opportunity to learn and hone leadership skills, which could open up better prospects for career advancement. Aldrin chose instead to fly fighters . He moved to Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas , where he learned to fly the F-80 Shooting Star and

2130-403: A lawsuit over the reading of Genesis on Apollo 8 . In 1970 he commented: "It was interesting to think that the very first liquid ever poured on the Moon, and the first food eaten there, were communion elements." On reflection in his 2009 book, Aldrin said, "Perhaps, if I had it to do over again, I would not choose to celebrate communion. Although it was a deeply meaningful experience for me, it

2272-496: A liar, and a thief" the 72-year-old Aldrin punched Sibrel in the jaw, which was caught on camera by Sibrel's film crew. Aldrin said he had acted to defend himself and his stepdaughter. Witnesses said Sibrel had aggressively poked Aldrin with a Bible. Additional mitigating factors were that Sibrel sustained no visible injury and did not seek medical attention, and that Aldrin had no criminal record. The police declined to press charges against Aldrin. In 2005, while being interviewed for

2414-505: A metal tube into the surface to obtain a core sample. Most of the iconic photographs of an astronaut on the Moon taken by the Apollo   11 astronauts are of Aldrin; Armstrong appears in just two color photographs. "As the sequence of lunar operations evolved," Aldrin explained, "Neil had the camera most of the time, and the majority of the pictures taken on the Moon that include an astronaut are of me. It wasn't until we were back on Earth and in

2556-479: A moment and contemplate the events of the past few hours, and to give thanks in his or her own way." Using a kit given to him by his pastor, he took communion and read Jesus's words from the New Testament 's John 15:5, as Aldrin records it: "I am the vine. You are the branches. Whoever remains in me, and I in him, will bear much fruit; for you can do nothing without me." But he kept this ceremony secret because of

2698-523: A party theme, and catering options. Purchase of the “Science 201” or “Science 301” packages includes a “Science Adventure,” which can be a marine touch tank, planetarium show, liquid nitrogen show, fossil necklace lab, or chemistry lab. Facility Rentals – The Cox Center offers facility rentals outside of normal operating hours for events such as weddings, corporate meetings, or other celebrations. Science and Technology Camps – The Cox Center has camp programs for children from ages 4 to 14 that take place in

2840-647: A request to the Science Channel to make a correction, but was refused. In December 2016, Aldrin was part of a tourist group visiting the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica when he fell ill and was evacuated, first to McMurdo Station and from there to Christchurch , New Zealand. At 86 years of age, Aldrin's visit made him the oldest person to reach the South Pole. He had traveled to

2982-615: A researcher from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who flew on STS-9 in 1983. In December 1990, Toyohiro Akiyama became the first paying space traveler and the first journalist in space for Tokyo Broadcasting System , a visit to Mir as part of an estimated $ 12 million (USD) deal with a Japanese TV station, although at the time, the term used to refer to Akiyama was "Research Cosmonaut". Akiyama suffered severe space sickness during his mission, which affected his productivity. The first self-funded space tourist

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3124-669: A special spacecraft trajectory that makes travel to Mars more efficient in terms of time and propellant. He has been accorded numerous honors, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1969. Aldrin was born Edwin Eugene Aldrin Jr. on January 20, 1930, at Mountainside Hospital in Glen Ridge, New Jersey . His parents, Edwin Eugene Aldrin Sr. and Marion Aldrin ( née Moon), lived in neighboring Montclair . His father

3266-468: A successful EVA on Gemini 10, which suggested that the order in which he had performed his tasks was an important factor. It therefore fell to Aldrin to complete Gemini's EVA goals. NASA formed a committee to give him a better chance of success. It dropped the test of the Air Force's astronaut maneuvering unit (AMU) that had given Gordon trouble on Gemini   11 so Aldrin could focus on EVA. NASA revamped

3408-562: A visit to Edwards and informed Aldrin that the USAF Aerospace Research Pilot School was being renamed the USAF Test Pilot School and the astronaut training was being dropped. With the Apollo program winding down, and Air Force budgets being cut, the Air Force's interest in space diminished. Aldrin elected to retire as a colonel on March 1, 1972, after 21 years of service. His father and General Jimmy Doolittle ,

3550-642: A water filtration system. Winners are chosen independently for each contest based on criteria such as weight of the system, efficiency, and height/distance. “ Nights at the Museum ” – On the last Friday of every month, the Cox Center hosts an evening event which allows access to all of the daily operating exhibits as well as access to the observatory telescope for viewing of the stars. In addition, there are also booths set up for various groups to offer arts and crafts, face painting, and other activities. Each Night at The Museum

3692-573: Is John Glenn , one of the Mercury 7 , who was 77 when he flew on STS-95 . The longest time spent in space was by Russian Valeri Polyakov , who spent 438 days there. As of 2006, the most spaceflights by an individual astronaut is seven, a record held by both Jerry L. Ross and Franklin Chang-Diaz . The farthest distance from Earth an astronaut has traveled was 401,056 km (249,205 mi), when Jim Lovell , Jack Swigert , and Fred Haise went around

3834-630: Is a 21 and over event that offers a casual education session with free admission in which a presenter comes to talk about their field of research, with craft beer available for purchase during the presentation. “ Silver Science ” – On the second Wednesday of every month, guests over the age of 60 receive a discounted admission rate which includes one planetarium show. The event also includes guest presenters which offer information on various topics. Birthday Parties – The Cox Center hosts birthday parties on site during normal hours of operation. There are three tiers available for purchase which offer room rental,

3976-845: Is also where the Shuttle Training Aircraft is maintained and developed, although most flights of the aircraft are conducted from Edwards Air Force Base . Astronauts in training must learn how to control and fly the Space Shuttle; further, it is vital that they are familiar with the International Space Station so they know what they must do when they get there. The master's degree requirement can also be met by: Mission Specialist Educators , or "Educator Astronauts", were first selected in 2004; as of 2007, there are three NASA Educator astronauts: Joseph M. Acaba , Richard R. Arnold , and Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger . Barbara Morgan , selected as back-up teacher to Christa McAuliffe in 1985,

4118-518: Is an American former astronaut , engineer and fighter pilot . He made three spacewalks as pilot of the 1966 Gemini 12 mission, and was the Lunar Module Eagle pilot on the 1969 Apollo 11 mission. He was the second person to walk on the Moon after mission commander Neil Armstrong . Following the death of Michael Collins in 2021, he is the last surviving Apollo 11 crew member. Born in Glen Ridge, New Jersey , Aldrin graduated third in

4260-436: Is anticipated that remote guided ultrasound will have application on Earth in emergency and rural care situations, where access to a trained physician is often rare. A 2006 Space Shuttle experiment found that Salmonella typhimurium , a bacterium that can cause food poisoning , became more virulent when cultivated in space. More recently, in 2017, bacteria were found to be more resistant to antibiotics and to thrive in

4402-512: Is called an astronaut . The first known use of the term "astronaut" in the modern sense was by Neil R. Jones in his 1930 short story "The Death's Head Meteor". The word itself had been known earlier; for example, in Percy Greg 's 1880 book Across the Zodiac , "astronaut" referred to a spacecraft. In Les Navigateurs de l'infini (1925) by J.-H. Rosny aîné , the word astronautique ( astronautics )

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4544-635: Is considered to be the first Educator astronaut by the media, but she trained as a mission specialist. The Educator Astronaut program is a successor to the Teacher in Space program from the 1980s. Astronauts are susceptible to a variety of health risks including decompression sickness , barotrauma , immunodeficiencies , loss of bone and muscle , loss of eyesight , orthostatic intolerance , sleep disturbances , and radiation injury. A variety of large scale medical studies are being conducted in space via

4686-455: Is strictly defined as the navigation of outer space within the local star system , i.e. Solar System . The phrase tàikōng rén ( 太空人 , "spaceman") is often used in Hong Kong and Taiwan . The term taikonaut is used by some English-language news media organizations for professional space travelers from China . The word has featured in the Longman and Oxford English dictionaries, and

4828-571: Is the largest single gift in the Center’s 60-year history and serves as the keystone for the $ 45 million expansion campaign. The "Aquariums of the Atlantic" exhibit is a 3000 square foot area consisting of multiple tanks that house native Florida species, including Queen Angels, Pink Wrasse, sharks, seahorses, eels, stingrays, and some invasive species such as the Lionfish . The largest tank is "Shipwreck Cove,"

4970-546: Is themed and children are encouraged to dress up to match the theme of the event. GEMS Club – GEMS (Girls Excelling in Math and Science) club is a program offered to girls between third and eighth grade that occurs on the last Tuesday of every month from 5:00 to 7:00 P.M. The event offers various STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) related activities that help girls develop an interest in STEM. “ Science on Tap ” – “Science on Tap”

5112-653: The Dean of Faculty at the nascent United States Air Force Academy , which opened in 1955. That same year, he graduated from the Squadron Officer School at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama. From 1956 to 1959 he flew F-100 Super Sabres equipped with nuclear weapons as a flight commander in the 22nd Fighter Squadron , 36th Fighter Wing , stationed at Bitburg Air Base in West Germany . Among his squadron colleagues

5254-625: The F-86 Sabre . Like most jet fighter pilots of the era, he preferred the latter. In December 1952, Aldrin was assigned to the 16th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron , which was part of the 51st Fighter-Interceptor Wing . At the time it was based at Suwon Air Base , about 20 miles (32 km) south of Seoul , and was engaged in combat operations as part of the Korean War. During an acclimatization flight, his main fuel system froze at 100   percent power, which would have soon used up all his fuel. He

5396-469: The Gemini 9 prime crew, Elliot See and Charles Bassett , in an air crash , led to Lovell and Aldrin being moved up one mission to backup for Gemini 9, which put them in position as prime crew for Gemini 12. They were designated its prime crew on June 17, 1966, with Gordon Cooper and Gene Cernan as their backups. Initially, Gemini 12's mission objectives were uncertain. As the last scheduled mission, it

5538-450: The Hornet on Thursday." Aldrin replied, "I look forward to that very much, sir." After the call, Aldrin began photographing and inspecting the spacecraft to document and verify its condition before their flight. Aldrin and Armstrong then set up a seismometer , to detect moonquakes, and a laser beam reflector. While Armstrong inspected a crater, Aldrin began the difficult task of hammering

5680-557: The International Space Station : The first NASA astronauts were selected for training in 1959. Early in the space program, military jet test piloting and engineering training were often cited as prerequisites for selection as an astronaut at NASA, although neither John Glenn nor Scott Carpenter (of the Mercury Seven ) had any university degree, in engineering or any other discipline at the time of their selection. Selection

5822-515: The Kennedy Space Center on July 16, 1969, at 13:32:00 UTC (9:32:00 EDT ), and entered Earth orbit twelve minutes later. After one and a half orbits, the S-IVB third-stage engine pushed the spacecraft onto its trajectory toward the Moon. About thirty minutes later, the transposition, docking, and extraction maneuver was performed: this involved separating the command module Columbia from

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5964-593: The Kármán line , at an altitude of 100 kilometers (62 mi). In the United States, professional, military, and commercial astronauts who travel above an altitude of 80 kilometres (50 mi) are awarded astronaut wings . As of 17 November 2016 , 552 people from 36 countries have reached 100 km (62 mi) or more in altitude, of whom 549 reached low Earth orbit or beyond. Of these, 24 people have traveled beyond low Earth orbit, either to lunar orbit,

6106-564: The Lunar Flag Assembly , but with some effort secured it into the surface. Aldrin saluted the flag while Armstrong photographed the scene. Aldrin positioned himself in front of the video camera and began experimenting with different locomotion methods to move about the lunar surface to aid future moonwalkers. During these experiments, President Nixon called the duo to congratulate them on the successful landing. Nixon closed with, "Thank you very much, and all of us look forward to seeing you on

6248-663: The Malay term angkasawan (deriving from angkasa meaning 'space') was used to describe participants in the Angkasawan program (note its similarity with the Indonesian term antariksawan ). Plans of the Indian Space Research Organisation to launch its crewed Gaganyaan spacecraft have spurred at times public discussion if another term than astronaut should be used for the crew members, suggesting vyomanaut (from

6390-809: The National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI) to address these issues. Prominent among these is the Advanced Diagnostic Ultrasound in Microgravity Study in which astronauts (including former ISS commanders Leroy Chiao and Gennady Padalka ) perform ultrasound scans under the guidance of remote experts to diagnose and potentially treat hundreds of medical conditions in space. This study's techniques are now being applied to cover professional and Olympic sports injuries as well as ultrasound performed by non-expert operators in medical and high school students. It

6532-506: The Old Testament 's Psalm 8:3–4, as Aldrin records: "When I considered the heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars which Thou hast ordained, what is man that Thou art mindful of him." Photos of these liturgical documents reveal the conflict's development as Aldrin expresses faith. Preparations for the EVA began at 23:43. Once Armstrong and Aldrin were ready to go outside, Eagle

6674-470: The People's Liberation Army Astronaut Corps astronauts and their foreign counterparts are all officially called hángtiānyuán ( 航天员 , meaning "heaven navigator" or literally " heaven-sailing staff"). Since 1961, 600 astronauts have flown in space. Until 2002, astronauts were sponsored and trained exclusively by governments, either by the military or by civilian space agencies. With the suborbital flight of

6816-705: The Sanskrit word vyoman meaning 'sky' or 'space') or gagannaut (from the Sanskrit word gagan for 'sky'). In Finland , the NASA astronaut Timothy Kopra , a Finnish American , has sometimes been referred to as sisunautti , from the Finnish word sisu . Across Germanic languages, the word for "astronaut" typically translates to "space traveler", as it does with German's Raumfahrer , Dutch's ruimtevaarder , Swedish's rymdfarare , and Norwegian's romfarer . As of 2021 in

6958-596: The Shenzhou 5 spacecraft. On 30 May 2020, Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken became the first astronauts to launch on a private crewed spacecraft, Crew Dragon . The youngest person to reach space is Oliver Daemen , who was 18 years and 11 months old when he made a suborbital spaceflight on Blue Origin NS-16 . Daemen, who was a commercial passenger aboard the New Shepard , broke the record of Soviet cosmonaut Gherman Titov , who

7100-556: The Soviet Union are typically known instead as cosmonauts (from the Russian "kosmos" (космос), meaning "space", also borrowed from Greek κόσμος ). Comparatively recent developments in crewed spaceflight made by China have led to the rise of the term taikonaut (from the Mandarin "tàikōng" ( 太空 ), meaning "space"), although its use is somewhat informal and its origin is unclear. In China,

7242-462: The U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School . He retired from the Air Force in 1972 after 21 years of service. His autobiographies Return to Earth (1973) and Magnificent Desolation (2009) recount his struggles with clinical depression and alcoholism in the years after leaving NASA. Aldrin continues to advocate for space exploration , particularly a human mission to Mars . He developed the Aldrin cycler ,

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7384-698: The Yalu River , when he saw two MiG-15 fighters below him. Aldrin opened fire on one of the MiGs, whose pilot may never have seen him coming. The June 8, 1953, issue of Life magazine featured gun camera footage taken by Aldrin of the pilot ejecting from his damaged aircraft. Aldrin's second aerial victory came on June 4, 1953, when he accompanied aircraft from the 39th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron in an attack on an airbase in North Korea. Their newer aircraft were faster than his and he had trouble keeping up. He then spotted

7526-498: The planet Mars , may substantially damage the gastrointestinal tissues of astronauts. The studies support earlier work that found such journeys could significantly damage the brains of astronauts, and age them prematurely. Researchers in 2018 reported, after detecting the presence on the International Space Station (ISS) of five Enterobacter bugandensis bacterial strains, none pathogenic to humans, that microorganisms on ISS should be carefully monitored to continue assuring

7668-530: The " Vomit Comet ," the nickname given to a pair of modified KC-135s (retired in 2000 and 2004, respectively, and replaced in 2005 with a C-9 ) which perform parabolic flights. Astronauts are also required to accumulate a number of flight hours in high-performance jet aircraft. This is mostly done in T-38 jet aircraft out of Ellington Field , due to its proximity to the Johnson Space Center . Ellington Field

7810-630: The "River of Grass" Everglades exhibit and the NOAA Science on a Sphere exhibit. The grand re-opening of the renamed South Florida Science Center and Aquarium occurred on June 6, 2013. In 2015, the West wing of the Cox Center, the Hall of Discovery, was expanded and renovated to incorporate a nanotechnology exhibit and an early childhood education room. In 2016, an 18-hole miniature golf course designed by golf course architect Jim Fazio and professional golfer Gary Nicklaus

7952-532: The 100 kilometers (54 nautical miles) line, qualifying him by the international definition of spaceflight. Walker had joined the US Army Air Force but was not a member during his flight. The first people in space who had never been a member of any country's armed forces were both Konstantin Feoktistov and Boris Yegorov aboard Voskhod 1 . The first non-governmental space traveler was Byron K. Lichtenberg ,

8094-590: The 1202/1201 program alarms caused by spurious rendezvous radar inputs to the LGC, Armstrong manually landed the Eagle instead of using the computer's autopilot. The Eagle landed at 20:17:40 UTC on Sunday July 20 with about 25 seconds of fuel left. As a Presbyterian elder , Aldrin was the first and only person to hold a religious ceremony on the Moon. He radioed Earth: "I'd like to take this opportunity to ask every person listening in, whoever and wherever they may be, to pause for

8236-545: The Agena propulsion system to change orbit, conduct a tethered stationkeeping exercise and three EVAs, and demonstrate an automatic reentry. Gemini   12 also carried 14 scientific, medical, and technological experiments. It was not a trailblazing mission; rendezvous from above had already been successfully performed by Gemini 9, and the tethered vehicle exercise by Gemini 11. Even gravity-gradient stabilization had been attempted by Gemini 11, albeit unsuccessfully. Gemini   12

8378-452: The CMP usually occupied the center couch on launch, Aldrin occupied it rather than Collins, as he had already been trained to operate its console on liftoff before Collins arrived. Apollo   11 was the second American space mission made up entirely of astronauts who had already flown in space, the first being Apollo 10 . The next would not be flown until STS-26 in 1988. Deke Slayton , who

8520-457: The Earth was John Glenn , aboard Friendship 7 on 20 February 1962. The first American woman in space was Sally Ride , during Space Shuttle Challenger 's mission STS-7 , on 18 June 1983. In 1992, Mae Jemison became the first African American woman to travel in space aboard STS-47 . Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov was the first person to conduct an extravehicular activity (EVA), (commonly called

8662-524: The European Space Agency envisioned recruiting an astronaut with a physical disability, a category they called "parastronauts", with the intention but not guarantee of spaceflight. The categories of disability considered for the program were individuals with lower limb deficiency (either through amputation or congenital), leg length difference, or a short stature (less than 130 centimetres or 4 feet 3 inches). On 23 November 2022, John McFall

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8804-462: The Gemini's thrusters to free the spacecraft. Aldrin then docked again successfully a few minutes later. The flight plan then called for the Agena main engine to be fired to take the docked spacecraft into a higher orbit, but eight minutes after the Agena had been launched, it had suffered a loss of chamber pressure. The Mission and Flight Directors therefore decided not to risk the main engine. This would be

8946-452: The Lunar Receiving Laboratory looking over the pictures that we realized there were few pictures of Neil. My fault perhaps, but we had never simulated this during our training." Aldrin reentered Eagle first but, as he tells it, before ascending the module's ladder he became the first person to urinate on the Moon. With some difficulty they lifted film and two sample boxes containing 21.55 kilograms (47.5 lb) of lunar surface material to

9088-434: The Moon at 03:15:16 on July 21, 1969 ( UTC ), nineteen minutes after Armstrong first touched the surface, while command module pilot Michael Collins remained in lunar orbit. A Presbyterian elder , Aldrin became the first person to hold a religious ceremony on the Moon when he privately took communion , which have been the first food and liquid to be consumed there. After leaving NASA in 1971, Aldrin became Commandant of

9230-411: The Moon during the Apollo 13 emergency. The first civilian in space was Valentina Tereshkova aboard Vostok 6 (she also became the first woman in space on that mission). Tereshkova was only honorarily inducted into the USSR's Air Force, which did not accept female pilots at that time. A month later, Joseph Albert Walker became the first American civilian in space when his X-15 Flight 90 crossed

9372-480: The Moon more than he appreciates being second". Aldrin and Armstrong did not have time to perform much geological training. The first lunar landing focused more on landing on the Moon and making it safely back to Earth than the scientific aspects of the mission. The duo was briefed by NASA and USGS geologists. They made one geological field trip to West Texas . The press followed them, and a helicopter made it hard for Aldrin and Armstrong to hear their instructor. On

9514-399: The NASA space centers. He was also involved in the design of the Space Shuttle . With the Apollo program coming to an end, Aldrin, now a colonel , saw few prospects at NASA, and decided to return to the Air Force on July 1, 1971. During his NASA career, he had spent 289 hours and 53 minutes in space, of which 7 hours and 52 minutes was in EVA. Aldrin hoped to become Commandant of Cadets at

9656-646: The North Pole in 1998. Astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek ἄστρον ( astron ), meaning 'star', and ναύτης ( nautes ), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft . Although generally reserved for professional space travelers, the term is sometimes applied to anyone who travels into space, including scientists, politicians, journalists, and tourists . "Astronaut" technically applies to all human space travelers regardless of nationality. However, astronauts fielded by Russia or

9798-403: The Russian kosmonavt, such as the Polish : kosmonauta (although Poles also used astronauta , and the two words are considered synonyms). Coinage of the term космонавт has been credited to Soviet aeronautics (or " cosmonautics ") pioneer Mikhail Tikhonravov (1900–1974). The first cosmonaut was Soviet Air Force pilot Yuri Gagarin , also the first person in space. He was part of

9940-402: The United States Air Force Academy, but the job went to his West Point classmate Hoyt S. Vandenberg Jr. Aldrin was made Commandant of the USAF Aerospace Research Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base , California. Aldrin had neither managerial nor test pilot experience, but a third of the training curriculum was devoted to astronaut training and students flew a modified F-104 Starfighter to

10082-558: The United States, astronaut status is conferred on a person depending on the authorizing agency: On July 20, 2021, the FAA issued an order redefining the eligibility criteria to be an astronaut in response to the private suborbital spaceflights of Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson . The new criteria states that one must have "[d]emonstrated activities during flight that were essential to public safety, or contributed to human space flight safety" to qualify as an astronaut. This new definition excludes Bezos and Branson. The first human in space

10224-769: The World.” The most recent exhibit on display was “Astronaut,” which showed visitors the training and mission procedures for astronauts in the NASA program. The exhibit included a launch simulator and various mental and physical activities designed to imitate real astronaut training. The Science Center is home to the following permanent exhibits: Conservation Station, Everglades Exhibit, River of Grass, States of Matter, Hurricane Simulator, over 50 brain teasers, interactive outdoor science trail, and themed miniature golf. Buzz Aldrin Buzz Aldrin ( / ˈ ɔː l d r ɪ n / AWL -drin ; born Edwin Eugene Aldrin Jr. ; January 20, 1930)

10366-448: The aquarium. The aquarium operators host " touch tanks " which allow visitors a chance to feel some of the species of marine life in the aquarium. The planetarium presents daily shows utilizing a traditional star projector, as well as full-dome digital video presentations on a variety of scientific topics. Initially, founded in 1959, a new wing was built in 1964 to include the planetarium dedicated by and named after Buzz Aldrin. In 2008,

10508-494: The ascent stage was jettisoned into lunar orbit, and Columbia made its way back to Earth. It splashed down in the Pacific 2,660 km (1,440 nmi) east of Wake Island at 16:50 UTC (05:50 local time) on July 24. The total mission duration was 195 hours, 18 minutes, 35 seconds. Bringing back pathogens from the lunar surface was considered a possibility, albeit remote, so divers passed biological isolation garments (BIGs) to

10650-455: The astronauts to 22 foreign countries and included visits with leaders of multiple countries. The last leg of the tour included Australia, South Korea, and Japan; the crew returned to the US on November 5, 1969. After Apollo 11, Aldrin was kept busy giving speeches and making public appearances. In October 1970, he joined Soviet cosmonauts Andriyan Nikolayev and Vitaly Sevastyanov on their tour of

10792-631: The astronauts, and assisted them into the life raft. The astronauts were winched on board the recovery helicopter, and flown to the aircraft carrier USS  Hornet , where they spent the first part of the Earth-based portion of 21 days of quarantine. On August 13, the three astronauts rode in ticker-tape parades in their honor in New York and Chicago, attended by an estimated six million people. An official state dinner that evening in Los Angeles celebrated

10934-437: The backup for Apollo 8. Under the normal crew rotation scheme, Armstrong was expected to command Apollo 11 . Michael Collins, the CMP on the Apollo   8 prime crew, required surgery to remove a bone spur on his spine. Lovell took his place on the Apollo   8 crew. When Collins recovered he joined Armstrong's crew as CMP. In the meantime, Fred Haise filled in as backup LMP, and Aldrin as backup CMP for Apollo 8. While

11076-609: The class of 1951 from the United States Military Academy at West Point with a degree in mechanical engineering . He was commissioned into the United States Air Force and served as a jet fighter pilot during the Korean War . He flew 66 combat missions and shot down two MiG-15 aircraft. After earning a Doctor of Science degree in astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Aldrin

11218-408: The crew to rendezvous manually. Aldrin used a sextant and rendezvous charts he helped create to give Lovell the right information to put the spacecraft in position to dock with the target vehicle. Gemini   12 achieved the fourth docking with an Agena target vehicle. The next task was to practice undocking and docking again. On undocking, one of the three latches caught, and Lovell had to use

11360-445: The descent, Aldrin called out navigation data to Armstrong, who was busy piloting the Eagle . Five minutes into the descent burn, and 6,000 feet (1,800 m) above the surface of the Moon, the LM guidance computer (LGC) distracted the crew with the first of several unexpected alarms that indicated that it could not complete all its tasks in real time and had to postpone some of them. Due to

11502-464: The edge of space. Fellow Group 3 astronaut and moonwalker Alan Bean considered him well qualified for the job. Aldrin did not get along well with his superior, Brigadier General Robert M. White , who had earned his USAF astronaut wings flying the X-15 . Aldrin's celebrity status led people to defer to him more than the higher-ranking general. There were two crashes at Edwards, of an A-7 Corsair II and

11644-637: The first Asian in space when he flew aboard Soyuz 37 . Also in 1980, Cuban Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez became the first person of Hispanic and black African descent to fly in space, and in 1983, Guion Bluford became the first African American to fly into space. In April 1985, Taylor Wang became the first ethnic Chinese person in space. The first person born in Africa to fly in space was Patrick Baudry (France), in 1985. In 1985, Saudi Arabian Prince Sultan Bin Salman Bin AbdulAziz Al-Saud became

11786-437: The first American to ride to space on board a Russian launch vehicle, and thus became the first "American cosmonaut". In Chinese, the term Yǔ háng yuán ( 宇航员 , "cosmos navigating personnel") is used for astronauts and cosmonauts in general, while hángtiān yuán ( 航天员 , "navigating celestial-heaven personnel") is used for Chinese astronauts. Here, hángtiān ( 航天 , literally "heaven-navigating", or spaceflight )

11928-548: The first Arab Muslim astronaut in space. In 1988, Abdul Ahad Mohmand became the first Afghan to reach space, spending nine days aboard the Mir space station. With the increase of seats on the Space Shuttle, the U.S. began taking international astronauts. In 1983, Ulf Merbold of West Germany became the first non-US citizen to fly in a US spacecraft. In 1984, Marc Garneau became the first of eight Canadian astronauts to fly in space (through 2010). In 1985, Rodolfo Neri Vela became

12070-418: The first Mexican-born person in space. In 1991, Helen Sharman became the first Briton to fly in space. In 2002, Mark Shuttleworth became the first citizen of an African country to fly in space, as a paying spaceflight participant. In 2003, Ilan Ramon became the first Israeli to fly in space, although he died during a re-entry accident . On 15 October 2003, Yang Liwei became China's first astronaut on

12212-626: The first man to die in a space flight , and a silicon disk etched with goodwill messages from 73 nations. After transferring to LM life support , the explorers lightened the ascent stage for the return to lunar orbit by tossing out their backpacks, lunar overshoes, an empty Hasselblad camera, and other equipment. The hatch was closed again at 05:01, and they repressurized the lunar module and settled down to sleep. At 17:54 UTC, they lifted off in Eagle 's ascent stage to rejoin Collins aboard Columbia in lunar orbit. After rendezvous with Columbia ,

12354-698: The first person in space twice. Space travelers have spent over 41,790 man-days (114.5-man-years) in space, including over 100 astronaut-days of spacewalks . As of 2024 , the man with the longest cumulative time in space is Oleg Kononenko , who has spent over 1100 days in space. Peggy A. Whitson holds the record for the most time in space by a woman, at 675 days. In 1959, when both the United States and Soviet Union were planning, but had yet to launch humans into space, NASA Administrator T. Keith Glennan and his Deputy Administrator, Hugh Dryden , discussed whether spacecraft crew members should be called astronauts or cosmonauts . Dryden preferred "cosmonaut", on

12496-498: The first six Soviet citizens, with German Titov , Yevgeny Khrunov , Andriyan Nikolayev , Pavel Popovich , and Grigoriy Nelyubov , who were given the title of pilot-cosmonaut in January 1961. Valentina Tereshkova was the first female cosmonaut and the first and youngest woman to have flown in space with a solo mission on the Vostok 6 in 1963. On 14 March 1995, Norman Thagard became

12638-434: The flight. President Richard Nixon honored each of them with the highest American civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom (with distinction). On September 16, 1969, the astronauts addressed a joint session of Congress where they thanked the representatives for their past support and implored them to continue funding the space effort. The astronauts embarked on a 38-day world tour on September 29 that brought

12780-434: The grounds that flights would occur in and to the broader cosmos , while the "astro" prefix suggested flight specifically to the stars . Most NASA Space Task Group members preferred "astronaut", which survived by common usage as the preferred American term. When the Soviet Union launched the first man into space, Yuri Gagarin in 1961, they chose a term which anglicizes to "cosmonaut". A professional space traveler

12922-466: The grounds that he was not a test pilot. Aldrin was aware of the requirement and asked for a waiver but the request was turned down. On May 15, 1963, NASA announced another round of selections, this time with the requirement that applicants had either test pilot experience or 1,000 hours of flying time in jet aircraft. Aldrin had over 2,500 hours of flying time, of which 2,200 was in jets. His selection as one of fourteen members of NASA's Astronaut Group 3

13064-493: The hatch using a flat cable pulley device. Armstrong reminded Aldrin of a bag of memorial items in his sleeve pocket, and Aldrin tossed the bag down. It contained a mission patch for the Apollo 1 flight that Ed White never flew due to his death in a cabin fire during the launch rehearsal ; medallions commemorating Yuri Gagarin , the first man in space (who had died the previous year in a test flight accident ), and Vladimir Komarov ,

13206-723: The hope that it would help him be selected as an astronaut, although it meant foregoing test pilot training, which was a prerequisite at the time. After completing his doctorate Aldrin was assigned to the Gemini Target Office of the Air Force Space Systems Division in Los Angeles , working with the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation on enhancing the maneuver capabilities of the Agena target vehicle which

13348-510: The lunar surface, or, in one case, a loop around the Moon . Three of the 24— Jim Lovell , John Young and Eugene Cernan —did so twice. As of 17 November 2016 , under the U.S. definition, 558 people qualify as having reached space, above 50 miles (80 km) altitude. Of eight X-15 pilots who exceeded 50 miles (80 km) in altitude, only one, Joseph A. Walker , exceeded 100 kilometers (about 62.1 miles) and he did it two times, becoming

13490-462: The military government policies of Douglas MacArthur . During the trip, the Korean War broke out. On June 5, 1951, Aldrin graduated third in the class of 1951 with a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering . Among the top of his class, Aldrin had his choice of assignments. He chose the United States Air Force , which had become a separate service in 1947 while Aldrin was still at West Point and did not yet have its own academy. He

13632-428: The morning of July 16, 1969, an estimated one million spectators watched the launch of Apollo   11 from the highways and beaches in the vicinity of Cape Canaveral , Florida. The launch was televised live in 33 countries, with an estimated 25 million viewers in the United States alone. Millions more listened to radio broadcasts. Propelled by a Saturn V rocket, Apollo   11 lifted off from Launch Complex 39 at

13774-453: The near-weightlessness of space. Microorganisms have been observed to survive the vacuum of outer space. On 31 December 2012, a NASA -supported study reported that human spaceflight may harm the brain and accelerate the onset of Alzheimer's disease . In October 2015, the NASA Office of Inspector General issued a health hazards report related to space exploration , including

13916-403: The new facility. The museum secured more than $ 20 million in funds to build the newly renamed Dekelboum Science Center and Dekelboum Planetarium. “ Engineer it! ” – Every year, the Cox Center hosts a contest which challenges entrants to engineer a series of devices. Entrants must build a container that will protect an egg from a 3 story fall, a roller coaster, a paper airplane, bottle rocket, and

14058-453: The nomination to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York . Aldrin entered West Point in 1947. He did well academically, finishing first in his class his plebe (first) year. Aldrin was also an excellent athlete, competing in pole vault for the academy track and field team. In 1950, he traveled with a group of West Point cadets to Japan and the Philippines to study

14200-520: The notable exceptions of France and Austria participating in Soyuz TM-7 and Soyuz TM-13 , respectively. An example is Czechoslovak Vladimír Remek , the first cosmonaut from a country other than the Soviet Union or the United States , who flew to space in 1978 on a Soyuz-U rocket. Rakesh Sharma became the first Indian citizen to travel to space. He was launched aboard Soyuz T-11 , on 2 April 1984. On 23 July 1980, Pham Tuan of Vietnam became

14342-422: The only mission objective that was not achieved. Instead, the Agena's secondary propulsion system was used to allow the spacecraft to view the solar eclipse of November 12, 1966 , over South America, which Lovell and Aldrin photographed through the spacecraft windows. Aldrin performed three EVAs. The first was a standup EVA on November 12, in which the spacecraft door was opened and he stood up, but did not leave

14484-447: The original procedure to be followed. Multiple factors contributed to the final decision, including the physical positioning of the astronauts within the compact lunar lander, which made it easier for Armstrong to be the first to exit the spacecraft. Furthermore, there was little support for Aldrin's views among senior astronauts who would command later Apollo missions. Collins has commented that he thought Aldrin "resents not being first on

14626-558: The pilot eject, although Aldrin was uncertain whether there was sufficient time for a parachute to open. For his service in Korea, he was awarded two Distinguished Flying Crosses and three Air Medals . Aldrin's year-long tour ended in December 1953, by which time the fighting in Korea had ended. Aldrin was assigned as an aerial gunnery instructor at Nellis. In December 1954 he became an aide-de-camp to Brigadier General Don Z. Zimmerman ,

14768-665: The planetarium and theater were renovated with funds from the Dekelboum Family Foundation and renamed after the Dekelboum Family. In 2004, the Science Center received its largest donation from the Dekelboum Family Foundation for a new facility of $ 10 million - for every dollar raised for the new facility, the Foundation would match up to $ 10 million. In 2005, the voters approved a $ 4 million cultural bond to help build

14910-564: The position and structure of the brain have been found in astronauts who have taken trips in space , based on MRI studies . Astronauts who took longer space trips were associated with greater brain changes. Being in space can be physiologically deconditioning on the body. It can affect the otolith organs and adaptive capabilities of the central nervous system . Zero gravity and cosmic rays can cause many implications for astronauts. In October 2018, NASA -funded researchers found that lengthy journeys into outer space , including travel to

15052-487: The privately funded SpaceShipOne in 2004, a new category of astronaut was created: the commercial astronaut . The criteria for what constitutes human spaceflight vary, with some focus on the point where the atmosphere becomes so thin that centrifugal force , rather than aerodynamic force , carries a significant portion of the weight of the flight object. The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) Sporting Code for astronautics recognizes only flights that exceed

15194-500: The southern Sea of Tranquillity about 12 miles (19 km) southwest of the crater Sabine D . At 12:52:00 UTC on July 20, Aldrin and Armstrong entered Eagle , and began the final preparations for lunar descent. At 17:44:00 Eagle separated from the Columbia . Collins, alone aboard Columbia , inspected Eagle as it pirouetted before him to ensure the craft was not damaged and that the landing gear had correctly deployed. Throughout

15336-412: The spacecraft until the first mid-course correction. When Aldrin appeared on The Howard Stern Show on August 15, 2007, Stern asked him about the supposed UFO sighting. Aldrin confirmed that there was no such sighting of anything deemed extraterrestrial and said they were, and are, "99.9 percent" sure the object was the detached panel. According to Aldrin his words had been taken out of context. He made

15478-702: The spacecraft. The standup EVA mimicked some of the actions he would do during his free-flight EVA, so he could compare the effort expended between the two. It set an EVA record of two hours and twenty minutes. The next day Aldrin performed his free-flight EVA. He climbed across the newly installed hand-holds to the Agena and installed the cable needed for the gravity-gradient stabilization experiment. Aldrin performed numerous tasks, including installing electrical connectors and testing tools that would be needed for Project Apollo . A dozen two-minute rest periods prevented him from becoming fatigued. His second EVA concluded after two hours and six minutes. A third, 55-minute standup EVA

15620-486: The spent S-IVB stage; turning around; and docking with, and extracting, the lunar module Eagle . The combined spacecraft then headed for the Moon, while the S-IVB stage continued on a trajectory past the Moon. On July 19 at 17:21:50 UTC, Apollo   11 passed behind the Moon and fired its service propulsion engine to enter lunar orbit . In the thirty orbits that followed, the crew saw passing views of their landing site in

15762-521: The summer. Each week has a different theme and activities. Summer camp takes place on site, with other camp programs available through the STEM Studio in Jupiter, Florida. The Cox Center main exhibit floor is utilized by temporary traveling exhibits. These exhibits are typically open for six months before being changed. Past exhibits include an Egyptian themed “Mummies” exhibit, “Titanic,” and “Dinosaurs Around

15904-579: The term astronaut for members of its Astronaut Corps . By convention, an astronaut employed by the Russian Federal Space Agency (or its predecessor, the Soviet space program ) is called a cosmonaut in English texts. The word is an Anglicization of kosmonavt (Russian: космонавт Russian pronunciation: [kəsmɐˈnaft] ). Other countries of the former Eastern Bloc use variations of

16046-599: The term became more common in 2003 when China sent its first astronaut Yang Liwei into space aboard the Shenzhou 5 spacecraft. This is the term used by Xinhua News Agency in the English version of the Chinese People's Daily since the advent of the Chinese space program. The origin of the term is unclear; as early as May 1998, Chiew Lee Yih ( 趙裡昱 ) from Malaysia used it in newsgroups . For its 2022 Astronaut Group ,

16188-496: The theatre and auditorium in the 1980s, and the museum became known as the South Florida Science Museum in order to reflect the more broad purpose of the museum as it had developed. In 2008, the planetarium and theatre were renovated to accommodate more visitors. The South Florida Science Museum began expanding again in 2012, adding a 3000 square foot aquarium and a 3000 square foot permanent exhibit section containing

16330-422: The training program, opting for underwater training over parabolic flight . Aircraft flying a parabolic trajectory had given astronauts an experience of weightlessness in training, but there was a delay between each parabola which gave astronauts several minutes of rest. It also encouraged performing tasks quickly, whereas in space they had to be done slowly and deliberately. Training in a viscous, buoyant fluid gave

16472-487: Was Dennis Tito on board the Russian spacecraft Soyuz TM-3 on 28 April 2001. The first person to fly on an entirely privately funded mission was Mike Melvill , piloting SpaceShipOne flight 15P on a suborbital journey, although he was a test pilot employed by Scaled Composites and not an actual paying space tourist. Jared Isaacman was the first person to self-fund a mission to orbit, commanding Inspiration4 in 2021. Nine others have paid Space Adventures to fly to

16614-612: Was Ed White , who had been a year behind him at West Point. After White left West Germany to study for a master's degree at the University of Michigan in aeronautical engineering , he wrote to Aldrin encouraging him to do the same. Through the Air Force Institute of Technology , Aldrin enrolled as a graduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1959 intending to earn a master's degree. Richard Battin

16756-452: Was 25 years old when he flew Vostok 2 . Titov remains the youngest human to reach orbit ; he rounded the planet 17 times. Titov was also the first person to suffer space sickness and the first person to sleep in space, twice. The oldest person to reach space is William Shatner , who was 90 years old when he made a suborbital spaceflight on Blue Origin NS-18 . The oldest person to reach orbit

16898-443: Was Soviet Yuri Gagarin , who was launched on 12 April 1961, aboard Vostok 1 and orbited around the Earth for 108 minutes. The first woman in space was Soviet Valentina Tereshkova , who launched on 16 June 1963, aboard Vostok 6 and orbited Earth for almost three days. Alan Shepard became the first American and second person in space on 5 May 1961, on a 15-minute sub-orbital flight aboard Freedom 7 . The first American to orbit

17040-433: Was a Christian sacrament, and we had come to the moon in the name of all mankind – be they Christians , Jews , Muslims , animists , agnostics , or atheists . But at the time I could think of no better way to acknowledge the enormity of the Apollo   11 experience than by giving thanks to God." Aldrin shortly hit upon a more universally human reference on the voyage back to Earth by publicly broadcasting his reading of

17182-457: Was able to override the setting manually, but this required holding a button down, which in turn made it impossible to also use his radio. He barely managed to make it back under enforced radio silence. He flew 66 combat missions in F-86 Sabres in Korea and shot down two MiG-15 aircraft. The first MiG-15 he shot down was on May 14, 1953. Aldrin was flying about 5 miles (8.0 km) south of

17324-502: Was an Army aviator during World War I and the assistant commandant of the Army's test pilot school at McCook Field , Ohio, from 1919 to 1922, but left the Army in 1928 and became an executive at Standard Oil . Aldrin had two sisters: Madeleine, who was four years older, and Fay Ann, who was a year and a half older. His nickname, which became his legal first name in 1988, arose as a result of Fay's mispronouncing "brother" as "buzzer", which

17466-444: Was announced on October 18, 1963. This made him the first astronaut with a doctoral degree which, combined with his expertise in orbital mechanics, earned him the nickname "Dr. Rendezvous" from his fellow astronauts. Although Aldrin was both the most educated and the rendezvous expert in the astronaut corps, he was aware that the nickname was not always intended as a compliment. Upon completion of initial training, each new astronaut

17608-481: Was arrested for disorderly conduct . Finally, in October 1978, he quit drinking for good. Aldrin attempted to help others with drinking problems, including actor William Holden . Holden's girlfriend Stefanie Powers had portrayed Marianne, a woman with whom Aldrin had an affair, in the 1976 TV movie version of Return to Earth . Aldrin was saddened by Holden's alcohol-related death in 1981. On September 9, 2002, Aldrin

17750-448: Was assigned a field of expertise; in Aldrin's case, it was mission planning, trajectory analysis, and flight plans. Jim Lovell and Aldrin were selected as the backup crew of Gemini 10 , commander and pilot respectively. Backup crews usually became the prime crew of the third following mission, but the last scheduled mission in the program was Gemini 12 . The February 28, 1966, deaths of

17892-590: Was commissioned as a second lieutenant and underwent basic flight training in T-6 Texans at Bartow Air Base in Florida . His classmates included Sam Johnson , who later became a prisoner of war in Vietnam; the two became friends. At one point, Aldrin attempted a double Immelmann turn in a T-28 Trojan and suffered a grayout . He recovered in time to pull out at about 2,000 feet (610 m), averting what would have been

18034-654: Was completed and opened to the public. On November 15, 2021, leadership for the South Florida Science Center and Aquarium announced further expansion plans and a name change as part of a $ 45 million expansion campaign. A $ 20 million lead gift by Palm Beach residents Howard Ellis Cox Jr. and Wendy Cox launched the capital campaign to take the renamed Cox Science Center and Aquarium into the future with plans for an additional 130,000 total square feet of space for programming including science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) awareness and education. The Coxs’ gift

18176-462: Was conducted on November 14, during which Aldrin took photographs, conducted experiments, and discarded some unneeded items. On November 15, the crew initiated the automatic reentry system and splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean, where they were picked up by a helicopter, which took them to the awaiting aircraft carrier USS  Wasp . After the mission, his wife realized he had fallen into

18318-523: Was depressurized, and the hatch was opened at 02:39:33 on July 21. Aldrin set foot on the Moon at 03:15:16 on July 21, 1969 (UTC), nineteen minutes after Armstrong first touched the surface. Armstrong and Aldrin became the first and second people, respectively, to walk on the Moon. Aldrin's first words after he set foot on the Moon were "Beautiful view", to which Armstrong asked "Isn't that something? Magnificent sight out here." Aldrin answered, "Magnificent desolation." Aldrin and Armstrong had trouble erecting

18460-581: Was hospitalized for depression at Wilford Hall Medical Center for four weeks. His mother had committed suicide in May 1968, and he was plagued with guilt that his fame after Gemini   12 had contributed. His mother's father had also committed suicide, and he believed he inherited depression from them. At the time there was great stigma related to mental illness and he was aware that it could not only be career-ending, but could result in his being ostracized socially. In February 1972, General George S. Brown paid

18602-549: Was initially limited to military pilots. The earliest astronauts for both the US and the USSR tended to be jet fighter pilots, and were often test pilots. Once selected, NASA astronauts go through twenty months of training in a variety of areas, including training for extravehicular activity in a facility such as NASA's Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory . Astronauts-in-training (astronaut candidates) may also experience short periods of weightlessness ( microgravity ) in an aircraft called

18744-400: Was launched from Launch Complex 19 at Cape Canaveral on 20:46 UTC on November 11, 1966. The Gemini Agena Target Vehicle had been launched about an hour and a half before. The mission's first major objective was to rendezvous with this target vehicle. As the target and Gemini   12 capsule drew closer together, radar contact between the two deteriorated until it became unusable, forcing

18886-438: Was lured to a Beverly Hills hotel on the pretext of being interviewed for a Japanese children's television show on the subject of space. When he arrived, Moon landing conspiracy theorist Bart Sibrel accosted him with a film crew and demanded he swear on a Bible that the Moon landings were not faked. After a brief confrontation, during which Sibrel followed Aldrin despite being told to leave him alone, and called him "a coward,

19028-473: Was primarily intended to complete tasks that had not been successfully or fully carried out on earlier missions. While NASA had successfully performed rendezvous during Project Gemini, the gravity-gradient stabilization test on Gemini 11 was unsuccessful. NASA also had concerns about extravehicular activity (EVA). Cernan on Gemini   9 and Richard Gordon on Gemini   11 had suffered from fatigue carrying out tasks during EVA, but Michael Collins had

19170-492: Was responsible for astronaut flight assignments, gave Armstrong the option to replace Aldrin with Lovell, since some thought Aldrin was difficult to work with. Armstrong thought it over for a day before declining. He had no issues working with Aldrin, and thought Lovell deserved his own command. Early versions of the EVA checklist had the lunar module pilot as the first to step onto the lunar surface. However, when Aldrin learned that this might be amended, he lobbied within NASA for

19312-420: Was selected as a member of NASA 's Astronaut Group 3 , making him the first astronaut with a doctoral degree. His doctoral thesis, Line-of-Sight Guidance Techniques for Manned Orbital Rendezvous , earned him the nickname "Dr. Rendezvous" from fellow astronauts. His first space flight was in 1966 on Gemini 12, during which he spent over five hours on extravehicular activity . Three years later, Aldrin set foot on

19454-462: Was selected to be the first ESA parastronaut. With the rise of space tourism , NASA and the Russian Federal Space Agency agreed to use the term " spaceflight participant " to distinguish those space travelers from professional astronauts on missions coordinated by those two agencies. While no nation other than Russia (and previously the Soviet Union), the United States, and China have launched

19596-500: Was the establishment of the annual International Astronautical Congress in 1950, and the subsequent founding of the International Astronautical Federation the following year. NASA applies the term astronaut to any crew member aboard NASA spacecraft bound for Earth orbit or beyond. NASA also uses the term as a title for those selected to join its Astronaut Corps . The European Space Agency similarly uses

19738-426: Was the professor for his astrodynamics class. Two other USAF officers who later became astronauts, David Scott and Edgar Mitchell , took the course around this time. Another USAF officer, Charles Duke , also took the course and wrote his 1964 master's degree at MIT under the supervision of Laurence R. Young . Aldrin enjoyed the classwork and soon decided to pursue a doctorate instead. In January 1963, he earned

19880-527: Was then shortened to "Buzz". He was a Boy Scout , achieving the rank of Tenderfoot Scout . Aldrin did well in school, maintaining an A average. He played football and was the starting center for Montclair High School 's undefeated 1946 state champion team. His father wanted him to go to the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland , and enrolled him at nearby Severn School ,

20022-517: Was to be used by NASA 's Project Gemini . He was then posted to the Space Systems Division's field office at NASA's Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston , where he was involved in integrating Department of Defense experiments into Project Gemini flights. Aldrin initially applied to join the astronaut corps when NASA's Astronaut Group 2 was selected in 1962. His application was rejected on

20164-526: Was used. The word may have been inspired by "aeronaut", an older term for an air traveler first applied in 1784 to balloonists . An early use of "astronaut" in a non-fiction publication is Eric Frank Russell 's poem "The Astronaut", appearing in the November 1934 Bulletin of the British Interplanetary Society . The first known formal use of the term astronautics in the scientific community

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