The 78-year-old retired astronaut was in town to talk about his incredible feat of being the second human to walk on the moon.

He had followed Neil Armstrong onto the lunar surface while a third American astronaut, Michael Collins, remained in orbit overhead on July 20, 1969.

Buzz spoke to a 154-strong sell out crowd at Carleton Community High School in a visit that was light years away from his life in LA.

Remembering that historical moment, Buzz told the YEP: "It turned out to be very easy to move around on the surface of the moon.

"The dust caused a bit of a problem but on our mission we were only out for two and a half hours so it didn't give us that much trouble."

Buzz was born Edwin Aldrin but changed his name by deed poll 20 years ago after he was given the nickname by his older sisters.

"My sisters couldn't pronounce brother so that became Buzzer and then Buzz," he said.

As a youngster Buzz says he would read comics about space but never dreamt of his amazing fate.

"I wanted to be a pilot, I wanted to fly. I was motivated to go to a military academy. I was 39 when I landed on the moon," he said

This came after years of training as Buzz had been selected by NASA as one of the early astronauts in 1963.

So why was he the second to walk onto the lunar landscape?

"Neil Armstrong was commander and responsible for significant things so it was decided it was more appropriate that he should go first."

The mission had its critics who claimed that NASA faked the moon landing.

"It was frustrating but we are not going to engage the minds of people who want to try and propel themselves into notoriety by claiming to have information. If anyone wants to be fooled by idiotic ideas..."

Achievement

Organiser Ken Willoughby said that bringing Buzz to Pontefract was a tremendous achievement for the town.

"I have always been interested in space and I wanted to bring an astronaut to Pontefract to give people the chance to meet somebody.

"I met Charlie Duke (the tenth man on the moon) and he came here in 2004. I got the fourth man, Alan Bean and now we have Buzz – and it is fantastic that he's here!"