Buzz Aldrin and Anca Fauer. Photo source: Buzz Aldrin / Facebook.com
Anca Aldrin, the wife of the famous American astronaut Buzz Aldrin, died at the age of 66, according to an announcement published on Wednesday on the Facebook page of the second man to set foot on the moon. The cause of death was not disclosed.
“Dr. Anca Aldrin, wife of astronaut Buzz Aldrin, passed away peacefully last night, with her husband and son, Vlad Ghenciu, by her side. Mrs. Aldrin, an accomplished chemical engineer with a doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh, served as treasurer of the California Hydrogen Business Council and as executive vice president of Buzz Aldrin Ventures LLC,” announced the statement signed by the Faur and Aldrin families.
“I am so fortunate to have found and married the love of my life,” General Aldrin was quoted as saying in the release. “She brought joy to everything we did together. I will miss her tremendously,” he added.
Anca Aldrin's family requested privacy during this period of mourning, according to the statement.
The story of the wedding of the two
Romanian Anca Fauer was married to Buzz Aldrin on the very day the former astronaut turned 93.
“I'm lucky,” Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin said to People magazine in an interview in 2024. He spoke openly about how his life as a couple with Anca Faur is going, more than a year after the two got married on January 20, 2023.
“I've never been happier in my life than I am now with the time I've spent with Anca,” Aldrin said. “She is the love of my life, and we do everything together, from dining and planning projects and watching the world, to getting together with our two families and celebrating — as we do on this 55th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing,” he said in the interview.
The two were first spotted in December 2017 at an event before they started dating a few months later in May 2018.
Aldrin described Anca as someone who has “the whole Wizard of Oz package” with “brains, heart and guts”. He added: “There's something special about her and the way we connect so well.”
Aldrin also said he had to court Faur a bit before she agreed to marry him. “She has a bit of a stubborn streak, so it took me years before she agreed to be my bride, my best girlfriend. But I'm even more stubborn than her. I won!” he said.
“We both felt deep in our hearts all these years that marrying each other was the right decision”, Anca Faur added at that time.
The two finally tied the knot on the day the former astronaut turned 93, which also happened to be the day he was honored at the Living Legends of Aviation 20th Annual Awards. Aldrin recalled, “All the stars were now aligned for marriage.”
They organized a small wedding ceremony in a park near where they live, together with some of their family and friends.
Buzz Aldrin, the only surviving Apollo 11 astronaut
Aldrin was in space three times during his career and was the pilot of the Lunar Module Eagle for the Apollo 11 mission in 1969. He stepped on the surface of the moon 19 minutes after Neil Armstrong on July 20, 1969.
Of the three astronauts on the Apollo 11 mission, he is the only one still alive.
He spent a total of 12 days in space before retiring in 1971.
Anca Faur was born in Deva and was a doctor in chemistry.
