Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Happy 80th Birthday, Buzz!

Today is the 80th birthday of astronaut Buzz Aldrin. For the purposes of your continuing education, here are some mighty interesting things you might not know about the second man on the moon.


He turned down a full ride to MIT to go to West Point instead.

His mother's maiden name was Moon.

He recorded a rap song called "The Rocket Experience" in 2009, which you can view here.

Aldrin, a Presbyterian, received Communion on the moon, but did it secretly because of a lawsuit brought my Madalyn Murray O'Hair over the reading of Genesis on Apollo 8.

He appeared on Celebrity Jeopardy! in 1996.

He is the model for the "moonman" that sits atop the MTV Music Award statuettes.

And my personal favorite: He punched filmmaker Bart Sibrel in the face in 2002 after Sibrel accused Aldrin and NASA of faking the moon landing, calling Aldrin "a coward, a liar, and a thief".

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