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Buzz Aldrin evacuated from South Pole

Second man on moon said to be ‘ailing’ during private visit as part of tourist group taken by plane to New Zealand

By AP 1 December 2016, 4:50 pm

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In this Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2015, file photo, Buzz Aldrin, former NASA Astronaut and Apollo 11 Pilot, prepares to testify on Capitol Hill in Washington, before the Senate subcommittee on Space, Science, and Competitiveness hearing on human exploration goals and commercial space competitiveness. (AP/Susan Walsh)

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Former American astronaut Buzz Aldrin, one of the first men to walk on the moon, has been evacuated by plane from the South Pole for medical reasons, officials said Thursday.

Aldrin, 86, was visiting the South Pole as part of a private tourist group when his health deteriorated, the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators said on its website.

It said he was taken as a precaution on the first available flight to McMurdo Station, a US research center on the Antarctic coast. It described his condition as stable.

The National Science Foundation, which manages the US Antarctic program, described Aldrin as “ailing” and said he was being flown on a ski-equipped LC-130 cargo plane to McMurdo. From there, he would be flown to New Zealand, it said on its website.

Aldrin became the second man to walk on the moon in 1969 as part of the US Apollo 11 mission.