Buzz Aldrin (born 1930) is an American former astronaut, engineer and fighter pilot. He made three spacewalks as pilot of the 1966 Gemini 12 mission, and was the pilot of the Lunar Module Eagle for Apollo 11. On July 21, 1969, he and Apollo 11 mission commander Neil Armstrong became the first two people to step onto the surface of the Moon. This official NASA portrait, taken in April 1969, depicts Aldrin in a white Apollo space suit in front of a large picture of the Moon, with his helmet resting on a pedestal.