Two weeks after a health scare cut short his personal expedition to the South Pole, famed former astronaut Buzz Aldrin discussed his recovery from altitude sickness and his thoughts on losing friend and fellow space icon John Glenn.
Aldrin, 86, was taken to a New Zealand hospital, where he spent a week recovering from congestion in his lungs.
“When turning back is about as difficult as pressing on, you press on because you've got an objective, especially when they tell me I just set a record,” he told the "Today" show in an interview that aired Wednesday. "The oldest guy to the South Pole. See, now it was worth it, really.”
Aldrin, who along with the late Neil Armstrong in 1969, became the first pair of humans to step foot on the moon, learned of Glenn’s death during his time in the hospital.
“I just admire that guy so much, even though he was a Marine,” he said. “But he knew how to fly that airplane, I could tell you that.”
