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Astronaut Buzz Aldrin is Being Emergency Evacuated From the South Pole (businessinsider.com)
The National Science Foundation (NSF) announced Thursday morning that it will provide a "humanitarian medical evacuation flight" from the South Pole for an "ailing" Buzz Aldrin. BusinessInsider adds: Aldrin was the second man to walk on the moon, joining Neil Armstrong in the Apollo 11 Lunar Module in July 1969. He has since become an author and advocate for crewed missions to Mars. He is 86, and no further information is available as to his condition. The NSF's statement said that an NSF plane will fly Aldrin from the Amundsen-Scott research station at the South Pole to McMurdo Station on the Antarctic coast. At that point ski-equipped LC-130 cargo planes flown by the 109th Airlift Wing of the New York Air National Guard will haul him to New Zealand "as soon as possible."
Good question. If he had been any other applicant he would probably have been rejected. Younger and fit people are preferred for exactly this reason, they have less risk of medical problems.
He was down there on an organized tour for tourists. He wasn't working down there. And for anyone wondering, according to the tour service's website, they only cost 64,000 euros per person. Hope he sprung for the optional insurance.
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
Just a quick update. It made headline news here in New Zealand. The lead story on TV news reports show him arriving at Christchurch hospital in wheelchair and looking ok. Radio news reports he had fluid on the lungs and it sounds like it should be a short hospital stay.
Simple answer : Proximity to Antartica. The Operation Deep Freeze base is in Christchurch, New Zealand. The great majority of flights to the great southern continent are via Christchurh.