7 Reasons Buzz Aldrin Was Such a Successful Astronaut

Buzz was the son of Edwin “Gene” Aldrin, a WWII fighter pilot who founded a school for military aviation after the war.

His father’s connections with NASA did not influence his selection to be the Apollo 11 mission 11 astronaut.

He was selected for the mission because:

A graduate of the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, New York (1951), he graduated third in his class. Upon graduation Aldrin became an air force pilot. He flew 66 combat missions during the Korean War, where he flew F-86 “Sabre” aircraft as part of the 51st Fighter Wing in Seoul and shot down two MiG-15 jets.

Aldrin’s initial application to join the astronaut corps when NASA’s Astronaut Group 2 was selected in 1962 was rejected on the grounds that he was not a test pilot. He was aware of the requirement and asked for it to be waived, 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.

In 1963 he wrote a dissertation on orbital mechanics to earn a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge. Later that year he was chosen as an astronaut.

His selection as one of fourteen members of NASA’s Astronaut Group 3 was announced on October 18, 1963. This made him the first astronaut with a doctoral degree.