One of the most indelible American icons of the 20th century, astronaut, mechanical engineer, and pilot on the Lunar Module Apollo 11 mission Buzz Aldrin became a famous name in 1969 when he was the second man to set foot on the moon, right behind his mission commander Neil Armstrong. By the time Aldrin joined NASA in 1963, he was a graduate of West Point, a Second Lieutenant in the Air Force, and a veteran of the Korean War. In the years following his mission to the moon, Aldrin continued to support space exploration, frequently appearing to advocate science- and aeronautics-related causes. In 2010, it was announced that the 80-year-old Aldrin would be joining the competition on the popular reality series Dancing with the Stars. The octogenarian actor also played a cameo of himself in Michael Bay's 2011 action thriller Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon.