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Astronaut Buzz Aldrin: Armstrong on the Surface

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Astronaut Buzz Aldrin: Armstrong on the Surface EXPLORER A4 THE PRESS OF ATLANTIC CITY MONDAY, JULY 20, 2009 The 40th anniversary of Apollo 11 Apollo 15 Apollo 17 Apollo 11 Apollo 12 Apollo 14 Apollo 16 About Apollo 11 The $20 billion Apollo moon land- ing program led to six successful Saturn V moon landings. The first was on July 20, 1969. Three astronauts rocket were on the Apollo 11 mission. Command Michael Collins remained in orbit module: around the moon while Neil Three seats Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin flew the lunar lander to the moon’s surface. Service Armstrong was the first man to walk module: on the moon. An automat- Fuel and ed television camera rocket engine broadcast him step- Associated Press photo ping onto the lunar The second man to walk the moon, Buzz Aldrin planted an American flag on July 20, 1969. surface and saying, “That’s one small step Lunar for man, one giant leap lander for mankind.” Minutes later, Aldrin joined Astronaut Buzz Aldrin: Armstrong on the surface. They took soil and rock sam- ples, set up experiments and planted an American flag with a steel wire to hold it aloft in the absence of wind. N.J.’s man on the moon Third stage The Apollo program rocket: would send astronauts to One engine the moon five more By DAN GROTE times. On some of those For The Press, 609-272-7234 missions, astronauts One of New Jersey’s most famous sons has used a “lunar rover” to walked on the moon, served our country drive across the during the KoreanWar, had an award crafted moon’s surface. in his image and — as if all that were not In 1970, the Apollo 13 enough — guest-starred on “The Simpsons.” mission nearly ended Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin’s giant leap to the in disaster when an Second stage moon took place 40 years ago, on July 20, oxygen tank explod- rocket: Five engines 1969. But it began with the small steps he Apollo 11 astro- ed in the service took as a baby born Jan. 20, 1930, in nauts and their module on the way Montclair, Essex County. spacecraft in to the moon. The crew moved to the In between, Aldrin graduated from the 1969, Col. Ed- U.S. Military Academy at West Point, flew lunar module, win E. Aldrin, usings its propul- missions in Korea for the Air Force, got his Neil Armstrong, sion system to set First stage doctorate at the Massachusetts Institute of and Lt. Michael the ship on a path rocket: Technology and participated in the first Collins. back to Earth. Five engines successful spacewalk. Since the moon landing 40 years ago, Associated Press photo The last humans Aldrin has kept busy as an author — lend- to visit the moon ing his name to eight books, including Buzz Aldrin: A Timeline were aboard See for yourself Apollo 17 I memoirs to be released this year — guest in 1972. Buzz Aldrin’s Web site lecturer and researcher holding multiple 1930: Born Jan. 20 in mission, is the second man 1994: Lends his voice to an is buzzaldrin.com space-technology patents. In 1998 he Montclair, Essex County, to to walk on the moon, after episode of “The Simpsons” Marion Moon and Edwin Neil Armstrong. titled “Deep Space Homer.” I To learn more about founded the nonprofit ShareSpace America’s space Eugene Aldrin. 1970: “First on the Moon,” 1995: Disney’s “Toy Story” Foundation to teach children about space. program and see The Garden State honored Aldrin in 1946: Graduates from co-written with fellow Apollo includes an astronaut char- Montclair High School. 11 astronauts Armstrong acter named “Buzz images of our solar 2008, inducting him into the inaugural and Michael Collins, is pub- Lightyear.” system, visit nasa.com class of the New Jersey Hall of Fame, along- 1951: Graduates third in his class from the U.S. Military lished by Little Brown & Co. 2008: Inducted into inau- side honorees as diverse as Bruce Aldrin will eventually publish Springsteen, Meryl Streep, Harriet Tubman Academy at West Point in gural class of the New New York. eight books. Jersey Hall of Fame and Albert Einstein. MCT/Press 1963: Receives his doctor- 1981: MTV launches, using 2009: Releases memoirs graphic Just last month, Aldrin showed his versa- images of Aldrin on the tility again by releasing the rap single ate in aeronatics from the — “Magnificent Massachusetts Institute of moon as part of its station Desolation.” “Rocket Experience,” produced by Snoop Technology. identification. The images Dog. are later used to create the 1966: Participates in the statue — nicknamed world’s first successful “Buzzy” — given to winners About Explorer spacewalk, during the at the annual MTV Video This summer our Explorer pages, which Gemini 12 mission. Music Awards. appear each Monday, look at the lives and 1969: Participates July 20 in 1988: Marries Lois Driggs, achievements of famous New Jersey residents. the first manned moon land- his current wife. The Education page will return in the fall. ing as part of the Apollo 11 A history of the U.S. space program 1965: Edward H. White II is the Jan. 27. President Lyndon B. U.S. laboratory, is launched May would have been the first school- first American to perform a space- Johnson and British and Soviet 14. teacher in space. 1945: The first manmade object Cooper, John Glenn, Gus walk, aboard the Gemini 4 space- leaders sign a treaty that declares 1981: The space shuttle Columbia 1990: The space shuttle is launched into space Feb. 24. Grissom, Wally Schirra, Alan craft June 3-7. space a demilitarized zone the launches April 12. It is the first air- Discovery launches April 24 from same day. 1957: The Soviet Union launches Shepard and Deke Slayton. planelike craft to fly in space. Cape Canaveral, Fla., carrying Sputnik — Russian for “traveler” 1961: Soviet cosmonaut Yuri 1968: Apollo 8 transmits the first 1983: Sally K. the Hubble Space Telescope. — into orbit Oct. 4, firing the first Gagarin is the first man to orbit images of the Earth as seen from Ride, pictured 1995: Eileen M. Collins becomes shot in what becomes known as the Earth on April 12. Alan space during a mission Dec. 21- right, becomes the first woman pilot of an the space race. Shepard is the first American in 27. the first U.S. American space shuttle during a 1958: The first U.S. satellite, space, aboard Mercury 3, on May 1969: Apollo 11 lands successful- woman in mission Feb. 3-11. Explorer 1, is launched Jan. 31; 5. President John F. Kennedy ly on the moon July 20. Neil space with the 1998: John Glenn, 77, returns to President Dwight Eisenhower sets a goal of landing on the Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin are launch of the space Oct. 29 aboard the shuttle signs the National moon within the decade in a the first two men to walk on the Challenger Discovery, becoming the oldest Aeronautics and speech May 25. moon. space shuttle June 18. Guion person to visit space. Space Act into law, 1970: Apollo 13 is aborted due to a Bluford becomes the first black 1962: John astronaut Aug. 30. 1999: Discovery is the first shuttle creating NASA. Glenn, left, is the midmission technical malfunction to dock with the international 1959: NASA intro- first American to on its April 11-17 mission, but the 1986: The space shuttle space station May 29. 1967: Ed White, Gus Grissom three crewmen aboard - Jim Lovell, Challenger explodes 73 seconds duces the first orbit the Earth, 2003: The space shuttle Columbia and Roger Chaffee, pictured Jack Swigert and Fred Haise, sur- after liftoff, killing its seven crew seven astronauts on Feb. 20 breaks apart during re-entry, killing above, die during a launch pad vive on the lunar module. members Jan. 28. Among its April 9: Scott aboard the its seven crew members Feb. 1. Carpenter, Gordon Friendship 7. simulation of the Apollo I mission 1973: Skylab I, the first orbiting crew was Christa McAuliffe, who Coming next week: Walt Whitman, often called the most influential American poet, made his home in New Jersey. On the Web: To download this page or earlier pages, search ‘explorenow’ at www.PressofAtlanticCity.com.
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