Buzz Aldrin discharged from New Zealand hospital

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand – US moonwalker Buzz Aldrin was discharged from a New Zealand hospital on Friday, December 9, a week after he was evacuated from the South Pole after a health scare.

“Bye bye New Zealand! Hope to see you again,” his manager Christina Korp tweeted with a photo of a relaxed Aldrin sitting in an aircraft.

Aldrin, 86, the second man to walk on the moon, became the oldest person to reach the South Pole before he was evacuated to a hospital in the New Zealand city of Christchurch.

He was told by doctors he would not be discharged until congestion on his lungs cleared and Korp tweeted earlier they hoped to be back in the United States by the weekend. 

Earlier Friday, Aldrin paid tribute from his hospital bed to former astronaut John Glenn who died in Ohio aged 95.

“I feel fortunate to be recovering from my own illness, but saddened that we lost another space pioneer and world icon,” he said. – Rappler.com