CONFESSIONS FROM SPACE: Apollo Astronauts

A look at living Apollo Astronauts, the cast of CONFESSIONS FROM SPACE, a celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Moon landing.

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July 18, 2019

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Buzz Aldrin

Buzz Aldrin was an Apollo Lunar Module pilot on the Apollo 11 mission. Born in January 1930 in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, he graduated third in the class of 1951 from the United States Military Academy and chose to join the United States Air Force. He served in the Korean War in 1952 and after the war, received a doctoral degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. On the Apollo 11 mission, Aldrin became one of the first two humans to walk on the Moon.

Photo credit: NASA

Michael Collins

Michael Collins was a Command Module Pilot on the 1969 Apollo 11 mission, the first manned mission to land on the moon. Son of a U.S. Army officer, Collins was born in Rome, Italy in October 1930 and joined the United States Air Force in 1952. He went to the moon twice – first on Gemini 10 and later on Apollo 11 – and became the first person to have performed more than one spacewalk.

Photo credit: NASA

R. Walter Cunningham

Walt Cunningham was a Lunar Module Pilot on the 1968 Apollo 7 mission, the first mission to carry people to space. Born in March 1932 in Creston, Iowa, Cunningham joined the U.S. Navy in 1951 and served as a fighter pilot of the Marine Corps for three years. On the Apollo 7 mission, he was responsible for all spacecraft systems except launch and navigation.

Photo credit: NASA

Charlie Duke

Charlie Duke was the Lunar Module Pilot for the 1972 Apollo 16 mission. Born in October 1935 in Charlotte, North Carolina, Duke graduated from the Aerospace Research Pilot School in 1965 and stayed as a flying instructor. At age 36, Duke became the youngest person to walk on the Moon and drove a vehicle across its rough terrain.

Photo credit: NASA

Al Worden

Al Worden was the Command Module Pilot on the 1971 Apollo 15 mission. Born in February 1932 in Jackson, Michigan, Worden served as a pilot and armament officer in Maryland and taught at the Aerospace Research Pilots School. Worden led the longest stay on the Moon at the time (12 days) and made the first visit to the Moon’s Hadley.

Photo credit: NASA

Rusty Schweickart

Rusty Schweickart was a Lunar Module Pilot on the 1969 Apollo 9 mission, the first crewed flight test of the lunar module. Schweickart, born in October 1935 in Neptune, New Jersey, was a research scientist at the Astronomy Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He performed the first in-space test of the portable life support system that was later used by astronauts who walked on the moon.

Photo credit: NASA

Richard Garriott (Host)

Richard Garriott, son of NASA astronaut Owen Garriott, is the first second-generation American astronaut. He has been developing video games since 1974 and flew aboard the 2008 Soyuz TMA-13 mission as a private astronaut. During his spaceflight, Garriott worked with the Windows on Earth project to provide an interactive, virtual view of Earth.

Photo credit: Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center