The mercy mission was confirmed on Thursday by the National Science Foundation (NSF)‚ which manages the US Antarctic Program.
“The National Science Foundation has agreed to provide a humanitarian medical evacuation flight for an ailing visitor from its Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station to McMurdo Station on the Antarctic coast and then to New Zealand‚” the organisation said in a statement.
“The patient is Buzz Aldrin‚ who‚ in 1969‚ became one of the first men to walk on the Moon‚ as part of the two-man lunar landing crew of Apollo 11.
“The request to NSF‚ which manages the US Antarctic Program‚ came on December 1 (local time‚ US stations in Antarctica keep New Zealand time) from The Antarctic Company‚ a private tourism firm based in South Africa‚” it said.
