Former astronaut Buzz Aldrin medically evacuated from South Pole

Record ID: 75061

  • Title: Former astronaut Buzz Aldrin medically evacuated from South Pole
  • Date: 1st December 2016
  • Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (APRIL 24, 2009) (REUTERS) ****WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** VARIOUS OF ASTRONAUT BUZZ ALDRIN ON RED CARPET AT JULES VERNE FILM FESTIVAL IN PARIS PHOTOGRAPHERS AT WORK VARIOUS OF ALDRIN ON RED CARPET PUBLIC WAITING OUTSIDE VARIOUS OF ALDRIN ARRIVING AND SITTING DOWN FOR INTERVIEW
  • Embargoed: 16th December 2016 15:28
  • Keywords: Buzz Aldrin Apollo 11 Neil Armstrong Moon NASA astronaut South Pole White Desert McMurdo Station U.S. Antarctic Program U.S. National Science Foundation
  • Location: PARIS, FRANCE; CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA; IN SPACE
  • City: PARIS, FRANCE; CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA; IN SPACE
  • Country: Various
  • Reuters ID: LVA0015B203LZ
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Buzz Aldrin, the former U.S. astronaut and the second person to set foot on the moon, was evacuated from the South Pole because of a medical condition, a tourism company said on Thursday (December 1).
    Aldrin, 86, was visiting the South Pole as part of a tourist group when his condition deteriorated, the company White Desert said in a statement.
    He was evacuated on the first available flight out of the South Pole to McMurdo Station, a nearby U.S. research base, under the care of a doctor, and his condition was stable, the company said. McMurdo is on Ross Island, just off the coast of Antarctica.
    The company's statement, which was posted on the website of a tourism trade group, did not specify the ailment.
    A former fighter pilot, Aldrin stepped on the moon about 20 minutes after Neil Armstrong took the historic first step on July 20, 1969.
    Their moonwalk as part of the Apollo 11 lunar landing was watched by a then-record television audience of 600 million people.
    The U.S. National Science Foundation, which manages the U.S. Antarctic Program, said Aldrin would eventually be evacuated to New Zealand.
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