Apollo 11 astronaut Edwin Eugene "Buzz" Aldrin Jr., who reimagined the potential of human achievement before a worldwide audience when he walked on the moon, was born on this day in history, Jan. 20, 1930.

"The sky is not the limit … There are footprints on the Moon!" the explorer enthused in his 2016 book, "No Dream Is Too High: Life Lessons From a Man Who Walked on the Moon."

The Apollo 11 mission was the first in human history to land men on earth's satellite, fulfilling a dream as old as humanity itself. 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY, JAN. 19, 2000, HEDY LAMARR DIES – ‘MOST BEAUTIFUL WOMAN' IN HOLLYWOOD, WWII INVENTOR

Neil Armstrong was the first astronaut to step on the lunar surface at 9:56 p.m. ET on July 20, 1969.

He was followed 19 minutes later by Aldrin.

The pioneer of human exploration was born to reach for the heavens. 

His father, Edwin Eugene Aldrin, was an early champion of aviation who served in both World War I and World War II; his mom was named Marion Moon. 

Buzz Aldrin was born in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, and attended Montclair High School. 

He was a 1951 gradate of the United States Military Academy at West Point.

He served a year-long deployment in the Korean War as an officer in the U.S. Air Force, which had become a separate branch of the military while Aldrin was at West Point. 

He flew 66 combat missions, shooting down two enemy aircraft, and earning a Distinguished Flying Cross, among other honors. 

Aldrin earned a doctorate in astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in January 1963 and joined the NASA space program in October that year.

TIKTOK SENSATIONS ‘THE HOCKEY GUYS’ ARE FORMER COLLEGIATE HOCKEY PLAYERS MAKING IT BIG ON SOCIAL MEDIA

"A distinguished airman, scientist, astronaut and patriot, Dr. Buzz Aldrin has left an indelible mark, not only on the history of his country, but also on that of the world," writes the West Point Association of Graduates. 

The "scientific triumph" of the moon landing, the association notes, was "one of the most memorable events of the 20th century and … represented the epitome of the nation’s scientific capabilities and established its preeminence in the exploration of space."

"An estimated 600 million people — at that time, the world’s largest television audience in history — witnessed this unprecedented heroic endeavor," writes BuzzAldrin.com, the astronaut's official website. 

Aldrin is the only one of the three astronauts on the Apollo 11 mission still alive today. 

FIRST MEN ON THE MOON, A UNIQUE AMERICAN ACHIEVEMENT, STILL AMAZES US TODAY

Command module pilot Michael Collins died in 2021 at age 90. 

Armstrong died in 2012 at age 82.

All three history makers were military pilots; each was born in 1930. 

Aldrin, among many other legacies, might have been America's first victim of cancel culture.

He gave himself communion upon landing on the moon, after gaining permission from his local congregation, Webster Presbyterian Church.

He asked for a moment of silence over the communications system with mission command on Earth, hoping the ceremony would be broadcast around the world.

NASA refused.

MOON LANDING: BUZZ ALDRIN TOOK HOLY COMMUNION, READ THIS BIBLE VERSE ON LUNAR SURFACE

Atheist activist Madalyn Murray O'Hair had recently sued the organization after astronauts on the Apollo 8 mission read from the Book of Genesis as they became the first men to orbit the moon.

The lawsuit was eventually dropped, but the space program was nervous about including any more faith declarations.

Regardless of that moment, Aldrin's achievement still captures the imagination. 

The white NASA space jacket he wore in flight during the Apollo 11 mission netted $2.7 million last year in a Sotheby's auction. 

It was the biggest price tag ever for an artifact of space travel and the most expensive of any jacket sold at auction in history. 

BUZZ ALDRIN'S MOON-FLOWN APOLLO 11 SELLS FOR RECORD $2.8M

"Today’s result is a testament to the legendary career of Buzz Aldrin and his lifelong dedication to the exploration and understanding of the universe," said Cassandra Hatton, Sotheby’s global head of science and popular culture, last year.

The "record-breaking outcome proves the ongoing and everlasting significance of the Apollo 11 mission, some 53 years since man first walked on the moon."

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR LIFESTYLE NEWSLETTER

Aldrin quoted Psalm 8: 3-4 as the mission left the moon and returned to Earth: "When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou has ordained; What is man that thou art mindful of him? And the Son of Man, that thou visitest Him?"

Officials in Upstate New York have identified the person they believe is responsible for the 1994 slaying of an 81-year-old woman in her home, but said justice will, unfortunately, not be served. 

Jeremiah J. Guyette, the suspect linked to the death of Wilomeana "Violet" Filkins, took his own life in 2019, authorities said at a Thursday news conference. 

Filkins was found dead on Aug. 19, 1994 in her East Greenbush apartment by her brother and niece after no one was able to reach her. She was killed two days earlier. She was found with several blows to the head, authorities said. 

"She was a very simple woman, lived quietly and would have never envisioned what occurred," Filkins' niece, Carol, said. 

ALABAMA POLICE CHARGE SUSPECTED FATHER IN ‘BABY JANE DOE’ COLD CASE MURDER

DNA collected from Guyette after he died was linked to the killing after the sample matched a thumbprint found on a coffee table in Filkins' suburban Albany apartment. 

"Over the course of my career every time there was a changeover in our Detective bureau there was a promise made from one detective to another to never stop investigating this case in order to find justice for Violet and her family," said East Greenbush Police Chief Elaine Rudzinski.

Guyette, who was 17 at the time of the killing, planned to steal a car and rob a bank to get money for college, police said. Three years after the murder, Filkins' belongings were found several miles from the crime scene along a road, WNYT-TV reported. 

Guyette, a Minnesota native, moved to East Greenbush to live with his father and graduated from Columbia High School in 1994, said East Greenbush police Detective Sergeant Michael Guadagnino. He enlisted in the Air Force and was stationed at the then-Patrick Air Force Base south of Cape Canaveral.

After being discharged, he ended up in Rosendale where police interviewed him in 2019. At the time, he was driving a school bus and a bus for the elderly. During the interview, Guyette became defensive and visibly upset, Guadagnino said. 

In 2019, an-ex girlfriend told police that Guyette made comments a decade earlier about an elderly lady, authorities said. 

"The ex-girlfriend that came forward really had never thought about the statements that Jeremiah had made to her," Guadagnino said. "She was watching cold case homicides on Netflix, saw that and it sprung her attention. She started googling different stuff and saw that Jeremiah had lived in East Greenbush during the time of Violet’s murder, put two and two together and once we got that tip we were able to basically dissect Jeremiah’s life, the different places he lived and then run with that information."

The next day, the New York State Police was called to Guyette's apartment over reports of shot fired. He was found dead in his garage.