On Saturday night, Dr. Buzz Aldrin, who was the second man on the moon after Neil Armstrong in July 1969 from the immortal Apollo 11 flight, endorsed Arizona GOP Senator Martha McSally, who was a fighter pilot herself, over her Democratic challenger, former astronaut Mark Kelly, who had flown the NASA Space Shuttle.
Aldrin tweeted, “Martha, check six – Mark? Buzz – over 100 jet hours in Arizona. 12 o’clock is straight ahead. 6 o’clock is behind. Fighter pilots understand what ‘check six’ means in FTR lingo talk. Martha, wave as you move ahead past Mark, to 12 o’clock, and you win for Arizona!”
12 o’clock is straight ahead. 6 o’clock is behind. Fighter pilots understand what “check six” means in FTR lingo talk.
Martha, wave as you move ahead past Mark, to 12 o’clock, and you win for Arizona!— Dr. Buzz Aldrin (@TheRealBuzz) October 25, 2020
McSally delightedly replied, “Absolute honor to have the support of hero astronaut Buzz Aldrin in this mission! We must hold this seat, the Senate, and save the country. It’s a dog fight, and as we fighter pilots say: Fight’s On!”
Absolute honor to have the support of hero astronaut Buzz Aldrin in this mission!
We must hold this seat, the Senate, and save the country. It's a dog fight, and as we fighter pilots say: Fight's On! 🇺🇸 https://t.co/np7Nu1Kt9i
— Martha McSally (@MarthaMcSallyAZ) October 25, 2020
Aldrin, who was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1969, was a fighter pilot in the Korean War before he became an astronaut. He was the first astronaut with a doctoral degree. When he landed on the moon, he became the only person to hold a religious ceremony on the Moon. He used a kit given him by his pastor to take communion and read from the Bible, “I am the vine. You are the branches. Whoever remains in me, and I in him, will bear much fruit; for you can do nothing without me.”
Aldrin recollected in his 2009 book, “Magnificent Desolation,” “Perhaps, if I had it to do over again, I would not choose to celebrate communion. Although it was a deeply meaningful experience for me, it was a Christian sacrament, and we had come to the moon in the name of all mankind – be they Christians, Jews, Muslims, animists, agnostics, or atheists. But at the time I could think of no better way to acknowledge the enormity of the Apollo 11 experience than by giving thanks to God.”
On the way back to Earth he read from Psalms on the broadcast: “When I considered the heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars which Thou hast ordained, what is man that Thou art mindful of him.”
Aldrin, a Republican, attended the 2019 State of the Union address by President Trump. He tweeted afterward, “What an honor to be at the #StateoftheUnion, and to hear @POTUS resolve to pursue America’s greatness in space. #PresidentTrump – thank you for your commitment: ‘This year American astronauts will go back into space on American rockets!’ #Godbless the USA #Wecameinpeace #Apollo11.”
What an honor to be at the #StateoftheUnion, and to hear @POTUS resolve to pursue America’s greatness in space. #PresidentTrump – thank you for your commitment: ‘This year American astronauts will go back into space on American rockets!’ #GodblesstheUSA #Wecameinpeace #Apollo11
— Dr. Buzz Aldrin (@TheRealBuzz) February 6, 2019
In June, it was reported that Mark Kelly had advised and held significant stock in Boom Technology, a high-speed aircraft company that has partnered with the Shanghai-based travel company Ctrip, which according to The Washington Free Beacon, has been “a key player in the Chinese government’s ‘Belt and Road Initiative,’ a massive multi-country infrastructure project that the U.S. government has described as a global security threat.”