'Ailing' Buzz Aldrin recuperating after South Pole evacuation

Update, 3 p.m. Friday:

Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin is responding well to treatment for pneumonia and will undergo more tests in New Zealand before being cleared to return home, his manager said Friday.

Aldrin, 86, of Satellite Beach, was evacuated Thursday from a South Pole expedition to a hospital in Christchurch. He had fluid in his lungs and was in stable condition, according to official statements.

"Buzz is recovering but still doing more tests," Christina Korp, Aldrin's manager, told FLORIDA TODAY in an e-mail. "He's responding well to the meds for the pneumonia but we need to make sure to rule out other things before we can fly home."

"But he's in good spirits and at least he can say he made it to the South Pole!" she added.

Korp said Aldrin is believed to be the oldest person to reach the pole, breaking the previous age record of 83. "So another thing to add to his bragging rights," she said.

Aldrin tweeted a picture of himself in a hospital bed giving a thumb's up sign with a "surprise visitor," his longtime friend Dava Newman, NASA's deputy administrator.

"She beat me to the South Pole by one day," Aldrin said.

Original story:

Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon, was recuperating in stable condition Thursday at a New Zealand hospital after being evacuated from the South Pole.

Aldrin, 86, was visiting Antarctica as a tourist when he fell ill. He was flown to Christchurch from McMurdo Station, a U.S. research center on the Antarctic coast.

Tour company White Desert said Aldrin has fluid in his lungs, but was responding well to antibiotics. He'll remain hospitalized overnight for observation. His manager Christina Korp, who accompanied him, said he was in good spirits.

On Twitter, she said the past 24 hours had been grueling. She posted side-by-side photos of Aldrin — one on a stretcher giving a thumbs-up with a purple knit cap on his head, another in a hospital bed with an IV in his left arm and an oxygen tube in his nose.

Aldrin, who calls Satellite Beach home, and Neil Armstrong became the first men on the moon, on July 20, 1969. Armstrong died in 2012.

Florida Tech establishes Buzz Aldrin Space Institute

Just three weeks ago, Aldrin was at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida for the unveiling of a new astronaut exhibit. The ceremony coincided with the 50th anniversary of his launch with Jim Lovell on Gemini 12, the last of the two-man Gemini flights. Both were present and looked as energetic as usual.

Aldrin has crisscrossed the globe in recent months and years, pushing hard for human exploration of Mars and promoting space and science education. His latest book, "No Dream Is Too High: Life Lessons from a Man who Walked on the Moon," came out in April.

"We wish Buzz a speedy recovery," White Desert said in a statement.

Aldrin was part of an Antarctica sightseeing tour, along with son Andrew. The elder Aldrin was clearly excited about his adventure to the bottom of the world: "South Pole here I come!" he said via Twitter on Nov. 28.

The National Science Foundation helped provide the air lift via a ski-equipped LC-130 cargo plane from the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station to McMurdo, and then on to New Zealand on another plane.

Aldrin last year established the Buzz Aldrin Space Institute at the Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne.

The institute is dedicated to studying the settlement of Mars, including Aldrin's own concept called "Cycling Pathways to Occupy Mars," in which spacecraft travel continuously between and Earth and Mars and link up with crew and cargo taxis.

"The whole university, of course, is concerned about the incident that happened but relieved that he appears to be doing pretty well," said Winston Scott, senior vice president for External Relations and Economic Development at Florida Tech and a former shuttle astronaut. "Because he’s a party of our university family, he’s a part of Brevard County and we want to see him do well and be with us here for a long time."

Before departing for the South Pole expedition, Aldrin made a Veterans Day appearance at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex for a ceremony opening its new Heroes and Legends attraction, which includes the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame. Asked during the program about character traits that define heroes, Aldrin spoke about the importance of “tenacious innovation."

Astronauts, veterans open 'Heroes and Legends' at KSC

Moon-walker Aldrin hopes exhibit will inspire future on Mars

"It is absolutely essential to innovate, do things better," he said.

The Astronaut Hall of Fame is overseen by the Titusville-based Astronaut Scholarship Foundation, whose executive director, Tammy Sudler, reached out to Aldrin's family on Thursday.

"We're all keeping him in our prayers and hope that whatever is ailing him, that he recovers quickly so he can get back to doing the fun things and inspiring the future for Mars," she said.

At the Visitor Complex event on Veterans Day, it was announced that Gene Cernan, 82, the last man to walk on the moon, had been unable to attend because of poor health.

"Americans sometimes forget that these men are 80-something years old, and still doing some amazing travel and getting around," said Sudler. "I sit with them sometimes and go, 'How do you guys do this, because I can’t keep up with you.' These are the best and fittest men America has, and unfortunately they are getting older."

Scott said he was not surprised that Aldrin was in the Antarctic, "because that's the kind of guy he is. He's like an Energizer Bunny: he just never quits going."

"Buzz is doing it right," said Scott. "The guy lives every day to the maximum, and I think that’s a lesson perhaps the rest of us can learn."

Includes reporting by Associated Press and FLORIDA TODAY's James Dean