Buzz Aldrin was the second man to ever step foot on the Moon. On July 20, 1969 his Apollo 11 mission successfully landed on the Moon and although Aldrin was supposed to be the first person out of the spacecraft, he instead came out second due to awkward positioning. His first action after landing was holding a short religious service.
Aldrin is a Presbyterian, and after landing said, “I'd like to take this opportunity to ask every person listening in, whoever and wherever they may be, to pause for a moment and contemplate the events of the past few hours, and to give thanks in his or her own way.” He then gave himself communion, the first person to ever do so not on Earth.
NASA and Aldrin decided to keep this a secret because of a recent lawsuit that atheist activist Madalyn Murray O’Hair had enacted against them. O’Hair complained against the reading of Genesis on Apollo 8. Her case made it to the Supreme Court and although Aldrin was not allowed to tell anyone that he had taken communion, the government still allowed him to do so.
