Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ A member of the famous Apollo 11 spacecraft crew, an American aviation engineer, retired colonel and NASA astronaut Buzz Aldrin arrived in the capital of Mongolia on June 8, at the invitation of "Shine Mongolyn Toloo Sanaachlaga' NGO (Initiative for new Mongolia).

Dr. Buzz Aldrin had an interesting meeting with Mongolian young people at Shangri La hotel of Ulaanbaatar. The living legend - Hero of the formerly Mongolian People's Republic, Hero of the former Soviet Union, pilot-cosmonaut J. Gurragchaa, L.Bold MP, director of the American Space Institute, professor and Buzz Aldrin’s son Andrew Aldrin and other honored guests also took part in this meeting.

"Out of more than 7 billion people in the world, only 12 people visited the moon. Today, we are meeting with the second person who landed on the Earth’s satellite planet, and this is a moment to treasure" said cosmonaut J. Gurragchaa.

"For Mongolia, these days have been the “days of space”. To be specific, four days ago, from the Kennedy Space Center, located in Florida, USA, the first-ever Mongolian satellite ‘Mazaalai’ was launched into space. Today, the legendary astronaut Buzz Aldrin is visiting us”, L.Bold MP said in his speech.

During the meeting, astronaut Buzz Aldrin shared his memories and impressions of his space flights, as well as the current level of space exploration and the development perspectives of astronomy. He answered the questions of the meeting participants, some of whom asked about the colonization of space, including the Moon, Mars and Jupiter, and about training specialists in the field of space research.

Among the participants in the meeting were school children, and a girl asked Buzz Aldrin about whether he saw traces of aliens on the Moon. He answered “no”. The meeting with the American cosmonaut was held in a very warm and friendly atmosphere. Within his visit Buzz Aldrin together with the J. Gurragchaa will visit the Astronomical Park of Mongolia, located in Ulaanbaatar.

According to the press division of "Shine Mongolyn Toloo Sanaachlaga" NGO, the visit of astronaut Buzz Aldrin will make a special contribution to the preparation and implementation of Mongolia’s second space flight, destination of which might be the Moon.



Buzz Aldrin was born on January 20, 1930, in the city of Glen Ridge, New Jersey, USA. He served as a pilot of the lunar module of the "Apollo 11" mission, who made the first ever manned landing on the moon.
He is the second person to set foot on the moon (20 minutes after the commander of the mission, Neil Armstrong, who set foot on the surface of the Moon on July 20, 1969).

In November 1967, Aldrin was assigned to the backup crew of the third manned flight under the Apollo program, which was to be the first launch at the Saturn-5 launch vehicle.
After the reformation of the crews, he was the commander of command module of Apollo-8 spacecraft. In January 1969, he was appointed a pilot of lunar module of Apollo 11.

Photos by Ts.Myagmarsuren
B.Amarsaikhan