Buzz Aldrin, Second Person On Moon, Medically Evacuated From South Pole

Buzz Aldrin, part of the Apollo 11 team and the second human to set foot on the moon, was medically evacuated from the South Pole on Thursday after his medical condition "deteriorated," according to local authorities.

Aldrin, 86, was taken by helicopter from a scientific research station at the South Pole to McMurdo Station on Antarctica's coast, said a release from the National Science Foundation, which provided the flight. Aldrin landed in Christchurch, New Zealand, at about 4:25 a.m. local time on Friday, Dec. 2.

Aldrin was visiting the South Pole as part of a tourist group through the luxury travel company White Desert. A statement from White Desert said Aldrin's "condition deteriorated," and he was evacuated as a precaution.

A doctor from the US Antarctic Program said Aldrin was in "stable" condition, according to the White Desert statement. His family has been notified of the evacuation.

"NSF will make additional statements about the patient’s medical condition only as conditions warrant," the science foundation's statement said.

In 1969, he flew with Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins on the first manned mission to the moon's surface. Aldrin piloted the lunar lander to the moon's surface, where Armstrong was the first to step out. Collins stayed in orbit around the moon.

Armstrong died in August of 2012, and Collins is 86, living in Marco Island, Florida.

Aldrin, born Edwin Eugene Aldrin Jr., in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, recently had a middle school in Montclair named for him. He got the nickname "Buzz" from his sister, who mispronounced "brother" and "buzzer" when they were young children. The nickname was shortened to "Buzz" and became is legal first name in 1988.

This story will be updated.