Moon landing astronaut Buzz Aldrin loses wife, two years after wedding,
Buzz Aldrin’s wife, Dr Anca Aldrin, died on Tuesday night following just two years of marriage.
Anca, 66, passed away ‘peacefully…with her husband and her son, Vlad Ghenciu by her side,’ according to a shared on Facebook by the Faur and Aldrin Families.
‘I am so fortunate to have found and married the love of my life,’ Aldrin, 95, said.
‘She brought joy to everything we did together. I will miss her dearly.’
The couple first crossed paths at a work event in December 2017 and began dating a few months later, in May 2018.
They eventually tied the knot on his birthday, January 20, 2023.
Aldrin previously described his happiness in glowing terms, saying he had ‘never been happier’ and felt ‘lucky beyond words’ to share his life with her.
‘She is the love of my life,’ he said, ‘and we do everything together, from sharing meals and planning projects to spending time with our families and celebrating milestones, like the 55th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing.’
The couple held a small, intimate wedding on Aldrin’s 93rd birthday at a local park near their home. ‘It was a beautiful day,’ he told PEOPLE.
‘We wanted a private ceremony, just the two of us and the stars above.’
Anca, an accomplished chemical engineer with a Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh, served as the treasurer for the California Hydrogen Business Council and as Executive Vice President of Buzz Aldrin Ventures LLC.
Aldrin has been married and divorced three times prior, to Joan Ann Archer from 1954 to 1974, Beverly Van Zile from 1975 to 1978 and Lois Driggs Cannon from 1988 to 2012.
The second man to touch the surface of the moon has three children, James, Janice and Andrew, with his first wife, Archer.
He has one grandson, Jeffrey Schuss, from his daughter Janice, three great-grandsons and one great-granddaughter.
On July 16, 1969, Aldrin, Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins blasted off into space on a mission like no other, aiming to put mankind on the moon for the first time.
Aldrin is best known for saluting the US flag on the surface of the Moon during the Apollo 11 lunar mission.
He retired from NASA in 1971 and, in 1998, founded the ShareSpace Foundation, a non-profit organisation to promote the expansion of crewed space exploration.
After entering the history books, Aldrin said he struggled through a dark time during which he did not know what he should be doing with his life.
He battled depression and alcoholism, but has now been sober for more than 40 years.
In 2002, Aldrin escaped assault charges after punching a man who demanded he swear on a Bible that the moon landing was not staged.
The retired astronaut has also stayed in the public eye by making cameo appearances in hit American television shows such as The Big Bang Theory, The Simpsons and 30 Rock.
Toy Story character Buzz Lightyear was even named in honor of Aldrin.
He has written several books, but in recent years has called for the colonization of Mars.
The retired astronaut said a ‘great migration’ is necessary not only for the sake of exploration but for the ongoing survival of the human race.
