Editing Buzz Aldrin (section)

== Post-NASA activities ==
=== Aerospace Research Pilot School ===
[[File:Buzz Aldrin black and white dress uniform photo portrait.jpg|thumb|Aldrin as Commandant of the Air Force Test Pilot School|alt=Aldrin in an air force colonel's uniform, with five rows of ribbons and astronaut wings.]]
Aldrin hoped to become Commandant of Cadets at the United States Air Force Academy, but the job went to his West Point classmate [[Hoyt S. Vandenberg Jr.]] Aldrin was made Commandant of the [[U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School|USAF Aerospace Research Pilot School]] at [[Edwards Air Force Base]], California. Aldrin had neither managerial nor test pilot experience, but a third of the training curriculum was devoted to astronaut training and students flew a modified [[Lockheed NF-104A|F-104 Starfighter]] to the edge of space.{{sfn|Aldrin|Abraham|2009|pp=88–89}} Fellow Group 3 astronaut and moonwalker [[Alan Bean]] considered him well qualified for the job.{{sfn|Aldrin|Abraham|2009|pp=120–121}}

Aldrin did not get along well with his superior, Brigadier General [[Robert M. White]], who had earned his USAF [[United States Astronaut Badge|astronaut wings]] flying the [[X-15]]. Aldrin's celebrity status led people to defer to him more than the higher-ranking general.{{sfn|Aldrin|Abraham|2009|pp=113–114}} There were two crashes at Edwards, of an [[A-7 Corsair II]] and a [[T-33]]. No people died, but the aircraft were destroyed and the accidents were attributed to insufficient supervision, which placed the blame on Aldrin. What he had hoped would be an enjoyable job became a highly stressful one.{{sfn|Aldrin|Abraham|2009|pp=116–120}}

Aldrin went to see the base surgeon. In addition to signs of [[Major depressive disorder|depression]], he experienced neck and shoulder pains, and hoped that the latter might explain the former.{{sfn|Aldrin|Abraham|2009|pp=100–103}} He was hospitalized for depression at [[Wilford Hall Medical Center]] for four weeks.{{sfn|Aldrin|Abraham|2009|pp=105–109}} His mother had committed suicide in May 1968, and he was plagued with guilt that his fame after Gemini{{nbsp}}12 had contributed. His mother's father had also committed suicide, and he believed he inherited depression from them.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/21/magazine/21fob-q4-t.html |title=The Man on the Moon |last1=Solomon |first1=Deborah |magazine=[[The New York Times Magazine]]|access-date=December 18, 2017 |date=June 15, 2009 |page=MM13}}</ref> At the time there was great stigma related to mental illness and he was aware that it could not only be career-ending, but could result in his being ostracized socially.{{sfn|Aldrin|Abraham|2009|pp=100–103}}

In February 1972, [[General (United States)|General]] [[George S. Brown]] paid a visit to Edwards and informed Aldrin that the USAF Aerospace Research Pilot School was being renamed the USAF Test Pilot School and the astronaut training was being dropped. With the Apollo program winding down, and Air Force budgets being cut, the Air Force's interest in space diminished.{{sfn|Aldrin|Abraham|2009|pp=116–120}} Aldrin elected to retire as a colonel on March 1, 1972, after 21 years of service. His father and General [[Jimmy Doolittle]], a close friend of his father, attended the formal retirement ceremony.{{sfn|Aldrin|Abraham|2009|pp=116–120}}

=== Post retirement ===
Aldrin's father died on December 28, 1974, from complications following a [[heart attack]].{{sfn|Aldrin|Abraham|2009|pp=147–148}} Aldrin's autobiographies, ''Return to Earth'' (1973) and ''[[Magnificent Desolation (book)|Magnificent Desolation]]'' (2009), recounted his struggles with [[clinical depression]] and [[alcoholism]] in the years after leaving NASA.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/robin-williams-death/robin-williams-death-reminds-buzz-aldrin-his-own-struggle-n179051 |title=Robin Williams' Death Reminds Buzz Aldrin of His Own Struggle |date=August 12, 2014 |last=Seida |first=Jim |access-date=October 21, 2018 |work=NBC News}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first1=Chris |last1=Chandler |first2=Andy |last2=Rose |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2009/TECH/07/17/life.after.moon.landing/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140115022318/http://edition.cnn.com/2009/TECH/07/17/life.after.moon.landing/ |archive-date=January 15, 2014 |work=CNN |title=After walking on moon, astronauts trod various paths |url-status=live |access-date=April 27, 2010 |date=July 17, 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://bipolar.about.com/od/businessmenpoliticians/p/buzzaldrin.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080928142550/http://bipolar.about.com/od/businessmenpoliticians/p/buzzaldrin.htm |archive-date=September 28, 2008 |title=Buzz Aldrin |work=Bipolar |publisher=About |first=Kimberly |last=Read |date=January 4, 2005 |access-date=November 2, 2008}}</ref> Encouraged by a therapist to take a regular job, Aldrin worked selling used cars, at which he had no talent.{{sfn|Aldrin|Abraham|2009|pp=165–166}} Periods of hospitalization and sobriety alternated with bouts of heavy drinking. Eventually he was arrested for [[disorderly conduct]]. Finally, in October 1978, he quit drinking for good. Aldrin attempted to help others with drinking problems, including actor [[William Holden]]. Holden's girlfriend [[Stefanie Powers]] had portrayed Marianne, a woman with whom Aldrin had an affair, in the 1976 [[Return to Earth (film)|TV movie version of ''Return to Earth'']]. Aldrin was saddened by Holden's alcohol-related death in 1981.{{sfn|Aldrin|Abraham|2009|pp=170–173}}

=== Bart Sibrel incident ===
On September 9, 2002, Aldrin was lured to a [[Beverly Hills, California|Beverly Hills]] hotel on the pretext of being interviewed for a Japanese children's television show on the subject of space.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/25722889/tampa_bay_times/ |title=Lunar Lunacy |via=Newspapers.com |newspaper=Tampa Bay Times |location=St. Petersburg, Florida |page=1F |date=September 29, 2002 |last1=Bancroft |first1=Colette}}</ref> When he arrived, [[Moon landing conspiracy theories|Moon landing conspiracy theorist]] [[Bart Sibrel]] accosted him with a film crew and demanded he swear on a Bible that the Moon landings were not faked. After a brief confrontation, during which Sibrel followed Aldrin despite being told to leave him alone, and called him "a coward, a liar, and a thief" the 72-year-old Aldrin punched Sibrel in the jaw, which was caught on camera by Sibrel's film crew. Aldrin said he had acted to defend himself and his stepdaughter. Witnesses said Sibrel had aggressively poked Aldrin with a Bible. Additional mitigating factors were that Sibrel sustained no visible injury and did not seek medical attention, and that Aldrin had no criminal record. The police declined to press charges against Aldrin.<ref>{{cite news |title=Ex-astronaut escapes assault charge |work=BBC News |date=September 21, 2002 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/2272321.stm |access-date=January 9, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://theweek.com/article/index/265042/speedreads-watch-a-72-year-old-buzz-aldrin-punch-a-jerk-in-the-face-for-calling-him-a-liar |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140723222451/http://theweek.com/article/index/265042/speedreads-watch-a-72-year-old-buzz-aldrin-punch-a-jerk-in-the-face-for-calling-him-a-liar |archive-date=July 23, 2014 |title=Buzz Aldrin Punches a Jerk in the Face for Calling Him a Liar |url-status=dead |date=July 21, 2014 |access-date=July 21, 2014 |newspaper=The Week}}</ref>

[[File:Thunderbirds pilots pose for a photo with Buzz Aldrin.jpg|thumb|left|[[USAF Thunderbirds]] pilots pose for a photo with Aldrin prior to his flight at an air show in [[Melbourne, Florida]], on April 2, 2017. Aldrin became the oldest person to fly with the Thunderbirds.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.floridatoday.com/story/news/local/2017/04/02/buzz-aldrin-flies-thunderbirds/99954358/ |title=Buzz Aldrin flies with the Thunderbirds |first=Wayne T. |last=Price |newspaper=Florida Today |date=April 2, 2017 |access-date=November 10, 2018}}</ref> |alt=Five men in blue jump suits pose with Aldrin in an olive jump suit on the runway in front of a white F-16]]

=== Detached adapter panel sighting ===
In 2005, while being interviewed for a [[Science Channel]] documentary titled ''First on the Moon: The Untold Story'', Aldrin told an interviewer the Apollo 11 crew had seen an unidentified flying object ([[unidentified flying object|UFO]]). The documentary makers omitted the crew's conclusion that they probably saw one of the four detached spacecraft adapter panels from the upper stage of the Saturn{{nbsp}}V rocket. The panels had been jettisoned before the separation maneuver so they closely followed the spacecraft until the first mid-course correction. When Aldrin appeared on ''[[The Howard Stern Show]]'' on August 15, 2007, Stern asked him about the supposed UFO sighting. Aldrin confirmed that there was no such sighting of anything deemed extraterrestrial and said they were, and are, "99.9 percent" sure the object was the detached panel.<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2018/04/10/buzz-aldrins-ufo-sighting-moon-missions-mystique-might-have-simple-explanation/ |title=No, Buzz Aldrin didn't see a UFO on his way to the moon |first=Alex |last=Horton |date=April 10, 2018 |access-date=November 5, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/ask-an-astrobiologist/question/?id=1568 |title=NASA Ask an Astrobiologist |author=Morrison, David |date=July 26, 2006 |publisher=NASA |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721050308/http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/ask-an-astrobiologist/question/?id=1568 |archive-date=July 21, 2011}}</ref> According to Aldrin his words had been taken out of context. He made a request to the Science Channel to make a correction, but was refused.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Morrison |first=David |year=2009 |title=UFOs and Aliens in Space |url=http://www.csicop.org/si/show/ufos_and_aliens_in_space |journal=Skeptical Inquirer |volume=33 |issue=1 |pages=30–31 |access-date=October 25, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151023025455/http://www.csicop.org/si/show/ufos_and_aliens_in_space |archive-date=October 23, 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

=== Polar expedition ===
In December 2016, Aldrin was part of a tourist group visiting the [[Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station]] in [[Antarctica]] when he fell ill and was evacuated, first to [[McMurdo Station]] and from there to [[Christchurch]], New Zealand.<ref>{{cite news |last1=McCann |first1=Erin |title=Buzz Aldrin Is Evacuated From the South Pole After Falling Ill |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/01/world/buzz-aldrin-is-evacuated-from-the-south-pole-after-falling-ill.html |access-date=December 1, 2016 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=December 1, 2016}}</ref> At 86 years of age, Aldrin's visit made him the oldest person to reach the South Pole. He had traveled to the North Pole in 1998.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2016/12/06/buzz-aldrin-being-treated-by-a-doctor-named-david-bowie-yes-after-south-pole-evacuation/ |title=Buzz Aldrin being treated by a doctor named David Bowie (yes) after South Pole evacuation |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=December 6, 2016 |access-date=December 6, 2016 |last=Wang |first=Amy B}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |newspaper=The Washington Post |title=Buzz Aldrin nearly died at the South Pole. Why he insists 'it was worth it, really.' |first=Peter |last=Holley |date=December 14, 2016 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2016/12/14/buzz-aldrin-nearly-died-at-the-south-pole-why-he-insists-it-was-worth-it-really/ |access-date=November 5, 2018}}</ref>