Even in the company of other astronauts, Buzz Aldrin is still the hippest guy in the room. At the 2010 Astronaut Hall of Fame induction ceremony, which took place earlier this month at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Buzz was the Jack Nicholson to NASA’s Oscars. He exuded an effortless cool just by smiling at the crowd, and all eyes were on him even when he wasn’t meant to be the center of attention. The ceremony’s host, Jon Cryer (because when you think of astronauts, you think of the guy who played “Duckie“), perfectly summed up the feelings of pretty much everybody in the audience. “From the moment I arrived,” he said, “it has been all that I can do to keep from saying, ‘So Buzz, when you were like on the Moon and stuff, was it awesome’?”
Of course, Buzz wasn’t the only man to walk on the Moon. There have been eleven others. But he was the second one to do it. And as he once reminded Homer Simpson, “Second comes right after first!” Over the last few months, it seems like Buzz has been everywhere, doing absolutely nothing you’d expect from an 80-year-old legend who’s witnessed magnificent desolation firsthand. He’s rapped about rockets with Snoop Dogg, hosted a WWE Raw wrestling match, stolen scenes from Tina Fey on 30 Rock, and did the Cha-cha-cha on Dancing With the Stars. (A curious side note: He was the second contestant to be voted off Dancing With the Stars this season, which proves that Buzz is nothing if not consistent.) Neil Armstrong may’ve taken a giant leap for mankind, but Buzz tweets and has his own iPhone app.
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