Buzz Aldrin Blasts Off on ‘Dancing with the Stars’

23 Mar Buzz Aldrin Blasts Off on ‘Dancing with the Stars’

Retired astronaut Buzz Aldrin will be taking his first step onto the “Dancing with the Stars” stage tonight with professional partner Ashly Costa for a cha-cha-cha, and he tells ET it is nothing like moon walking.

“[The cha-cha is] a little more rapid than slow walking on the moon,” he tells ET, which is exclusively at his rehearsal. “Everything is slow motion up there because of low gravity. It is not like space walking, which is floating. It is not like scuba diving or skiing. This cha-cha is a challenge.”

Buzz says that he joined the cast of “Dancing with the Stars” in order to promote his campaign to expose people to a “more experienced judgment about what our space program should be about.”

And he has gifted his partner Ashly, who appeared on the first three seasons of the hit ABC series as Ashly DelGrosso and partnered Joey McIntyre, Master P, and Harry Hamlin, with a Rocket Hero T-shirt.

“He has such a hard work ethic. He never said no to any step I asked him to do,” Ashly says when asked to name his strength.

Buzz responds by joking that his biggest problem is remembering the steps, because he has “short-term memory problems.”

Even so, he is not nervous yet, but that could change. “I wait until a little later in the countdown,” he says.

And Buzz does have a secret weapon — aside from Ashly. He has 800,000 people who follow him on Twitter. If they all vote for him, he is sure to be dancing for several weeks to come.

“Dancing with the Stars” premieres Monday, March 22 at 8 p.m. on ABC.

Read the original article at ET Online