Updated at 12:50 p.m. ET
Buzz Aldrin, who walked on the surface of the moon with Neil Armstrong in 1969, has been medically evacuated from the South Pole, the National Science Foundation said.
The plane carrying the 86-year-old former astronaut arrived in New Zealand on Thursday afternoon ET.
Aldrin was visiting Antarctica as part of a tourist group. In a Tweet about the trip on Monday, Aldrin wrote, “We’re ready to go to Antarctica! May be our last opportunity to tweet for a few days! We’re go for departure to the launchpad!” and tagged his manager, Christina Korp, and another apparent travel companion.
A second Tweet showed Aldrin and a group of about a dozen travelers whom he referred to as “Buzz’s Polar Penguins.”