Apollo 11's Buzz Aldrin and new wife over the moon with wedding, 'as excited as eloping teenagers'

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By Elizabeth Howell
published

Aldrin stated he and the 63-year-old Anca Faur are "as excited as eloping teenagers."

Buzz Aldrin wearing sunglasses next to Anca Faur, wearing a hat with an image of an astronaut and a flag on the front. Both are sitting in an open-top car with a crowd in behind
Buzz Aldrin and Anca Faur during a New York City parade in 2019 to celebrate Veterans' Day. (Image credit: EuropaNewswire/Gado/Getty Images)

The second person to walk on the moon just got married again.

Buzz Aldrin, one of the astronauts of the Apollo 11 debut human landing mission in 1969, announced his nuptials on Twitter Friday (Jan. 20), on the same date as his 93rd birthday.

"I am pleased to announce that my longtime love Dr. Anca Faur and I have tied the knot," Aldrin wrote. "We were joined in holy matrimony in a small private ceremony in Los Angeles and are as excited as eloping teenagers."

This is the fourth marriage for Aldrin. Faur, who is 63 years old according to The Guardian, has worked with Buzz Aldrin Ventures since 2019 and now serves as its executive vice-president, according to her LinkedIn page.

Related: Apollo 11 at 50: A complete guide to the historic moon landing

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Faur, who was born in Romania, has a Ph.D. in chemical engineering and spent nearly 20 years working for London-based chemicals company Johnson Matthey, ending her tenure there as program and sales manager.

Faur's former employer does have a lunar connection: Johnson Matthey's work on fuel cells "contributed to the success of the Apollo 11 missions," according to the Romanian-American Chamber of Commerce of Los Angeles, where Faur serves as executive secretary. 

Johnson Matthey's website confirmed its Apollo fuel cell work as well, saying it supplied "electrocatalysts for fuel cells used in the U.S. space program," including Apollo spacecraft. (Electrocatalysts play a key role in fuel cell reactions.)

Faur's work at Johnson Matthey took place long after Apollo 11 concluded. However, she also was the "first test driver of the first Honda Clarity Fuel Cell automobile which ran on hydrogen fuel," the chamber of commerce stated.

Related: Saturn V rockets and Apollo spacecraft

Buzz Aldrin (right) and then-girlfriend Anca Faur during a tour of an Apollo 11 exhibit in July 2019, during the 50th anniversary of the mission, at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in California. Faur was using a virtual reality headset to simulate a walk on the moon. Aldrin was offered the use of the headset himself, but asked instead for Faur to use it: "I've seen the real thing," the moonwalker said in a Getty Images report. (Image credit: Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG via Getty Images)

Aldrin's previous marriages, which all ended in divorce, were to Joan Archer in 1954, to Beverly Van Zile in 1975 and to Lois Driggs Cannon in 1988.

In 2019, two of Aldrin's adult children withdrew a petition to seek guardianship of the astronaut's affairs amid alleged "cognitive decline," while Aldrin dropped a lawsuit regarding money management against the children and his former manager, according to The Guardian. Aldrin has also disclosed past struggles with alcoholism and depression following the worldwide fame he received for Apollo 11.

Aldrin is the last surviving member of the Apollo 11 crew, which also included commander and first-ever moonwalker Neil Armstrong (who died in 2012) and command module pilot Michael Collins (who died in 2021.) 

Aldrin also performed a spacewalk on the Earth-orbiting Gemini 12 mission in 1966 with Jim Lovell, an astronaut better known for commanding the Apollo 13 mission that returned safely to Earth following an in-space accident near the moon in 1970.

Elizabeth Howell is the co-author of "Why Am I Taller?" (ECW Press, 2022; with Canadian astronaut Dave Williams), a book about space medicine. Follow her on Twitter @howellspace. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook.

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Elizabeth Howell
Elizabeth Howell
Staff Writer, Spaceflight

Elizabeth Howell (she/her), Ph.D., is a staff writer in the spaceflight channel since 2022 covering diversity, education and gaming as well. She was contributing writer for Space.com for 10 years before joining full-time. Elizabeth's reporting includes multiple exclusives with the White House and Office of the Vice-President of the United States, an exclusive conversation with aspiring space tourist (and NSYNC bassist) Lance Bass, speaking several times with the International Space Station, witnessing five human spaceflight launches on two continents, flying parabolic, working inside a spacesuit, and participating in a simulated Mars mission. Her latest book, "Why Am I Taller?", is co-written with astronaut Dave Williams. Elizabeth holds a Ph.D. and M.Sc. in Space Studies from the University of North Dakota, a Bachelor of Journalism from Canada's Carleton University and a Bachelor of History from Canada's Athabasca University. Elizabeth is also a post-secondary instructor in communications and science at several institutions since 2015; her experience includes developing and teaching an astronomy course at Canada's Algonquin College (with Indigenous content as well) to more than 1,000 students since 2020. Elizabeth first got interested in space after watching the movie Apollo 13 in 1996, and still wants to be an astronaut someday. Mastodon: https://qoto.org/@howellspace