As part of his continued collaboration with Professor James M. Longuski, Apollo astronaut Dr. Buzz Aldrin visited the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics on October 30-31, 2014. The School was honored to have Dr. Aldrin visit and hold discussions with Dr. Longuski’s graduate student research group, Advanced Astrodynamics Concepts.

Dr. Aldrin is a leading advocate for space exploration. “I envision a comprehensive plan that would lead to permanent human settlement on Mars in the next 25 years,” states Aldrin. “I’ve championed the creation of spacecraft to be placed on continuous loops between Mars and Earth, thereby putting in place a pathway to sustainability that forever links the two planets” (Aldrin, 2013).

Additional information from Dr. Aldrin’s website:

Dr. Aldrin was the first astronaut with a doctorate and became known as ‘Dr. Rendezvous.’ The docking and rendezvous techniques he devised for spacecraft in Earth and lunar orbit became critical to the success of the Gemini and Apollo programs, and are still used today.

In 1966 on the Gemini 12 orbital mission, Buzz performed the world’s first successful spacewalk, overcoming prior difficulties experienced by Americans and Russians during extra-vehicular activity (EVA), and setting a new EVA record of 5 ½ hours. On July 20, 1969, Buzz and Neil Armstrong made their historic Apollo 11 moonwalk, becoming the first two humans to set foot on another world. They spent 21 hours on the lunar surface and returned with 46 pounds of moon rocks.

Dr. Aldrin earned his Doctorate of Science in Astronautics at MIT in 1963, and wrote his thesis on Manned Orbital Rendezvous.

Photo (left to right): Prof. James Longuski, Peter Edelman, Kaela Martin, Dr. Buzz Aldrin, Dr. Blake Rogers, Kyle Hughes, and Sarag Saikia.

To learn more about Dr. Aldrin and his significant impact on space exploration and travel, visit: http://buzzaldrin.com/

To learn more about Dr. Longuski’s Advanced Astrodynamics Concepts research group, visit: https://engineering.purdue.edu/AAC/

Source: Aldrin, B. (2013, June 13). The Call of Mars. Retrieved December 11, 2014, from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/14/opinion/global/buzz-aldrin-the-call-of-mars.html?_r=0