Buzz Aldrin’s 3 Children: Growing Up In The Spotlight
Andrew Mckinney Buzz Aldrin, an astronaut, has three children, James, Janice, and Andrew, from his first marriage to Joan. They have shared their experiences growing up in the public eye as their father was involved in the Apollo 11 mission.
Learn more about the astronaut’s children.
Who Are Buzz Aldrin’s Children with Late Ex-Wife Joan Archer Aldrin?
From a life of patrolling the skies as a fighter pilot in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War, Buzz Aldrin set his sights higher; he wanted to be part of the astronaut corps and join NASA.
His dream finally came true in 1963 when he became an official member, and only a few years later, he was chosen as part of the Apollo 11 mission, aiming to become one of the first humans to ever walk on the moon.
By that time, he had already found companionship, marrying Joan in 1954 and raising three children together by 1969.
As they all watched on TV, they were thrilled yet skeptical in equal measure; even Janice was amazed at how her dad’s feats were beamed directly from space to their TV screen – it really felt like something straight out of a sci-fi novel!
Despite being so incredible for its time, there was one detail that Janice (and many others) wasn’t fond of: it was broadcasted only in black and white!
Andrew John Aldrin, one of astronaut Buzz Aldrin’s three children, has revealed that growing up, he had total faith in NASA and the Apollo program and almost no fear that anything bad would happen.
He said that the Apollo 11 mission seemed normal to him and that it was just the next mission they were going to do, as that’s what his father said they were going to do.
The siblings have shared stories about how their father used to teach them science lessons when they were little. The MIT graduate loved sharing his physics knowledge with his children during family outings to the zoo and even at dinner time.
Janice, Buzz’s only daughter, recalled that she never asked her father for help with her homework because she wouldn’t be able to understand what he was saying.
After a successful space mission, Buzz and his first wife, Joan, divorced in 1974. Joan passed away in 2015, but before her death, she and Buzz had become grandparents to Janice’s son, Jeffrey Michael Schuss.
Jeffrey and his wife, April Schuss, went on to have three sons together, Nathaniel, Benjamin, and Archer making Buzz a great-grandfather.
In November 2020, the astronaut announced that the Aldrin family had grown once more with the arrival of great-granddaughter Kaia Nicole.
Buzz was married to his second wife, Beverly Van Zile, from 1975 to 1978, and his third wife, Lois Driggs Cannon, from 1988 to 2013.
Lois was a mother of three children from her first marriage to Bryant W. Cannon: Lisa Cannon, Brynn Cannon, and Bryant Cannon. However, Buzz did not welcome any biological children during his second and third marriages.