The retired astronaut told a 550-strong sell out crowd about his time as pilot on Apollo 11 – which made the first lunar landing in 1969 – and becoming the second person to walk on the moon after mission commander Neil Armstrong.
Buzz, now 78, rocketed in from his Los Angeles home to meet youngsters at Carleton Community High School before his talk there last Sunday.


He said: "I'm very pleased to have the opportunity to come and share my story with people here.
"It's important to talk about the moon landing and about how we can advance space travel in the future."
June 20 2009 will mark the 40th anniversary of the moon landing which some critics claim was faked by NASA.
Buzz added: "It's frustrating but we can't change the minds of people who want to propel themselves into notoriety by claiming to have information that nobody else has.


"There will be big celebrations on the anniversary next year.
"It would be great to get astronauts from all the different missions, and everybody who was part of Apollo 11, together for it."
Event organiser Ken Willoughby, vice-president of the West Yorkshire Astronomical Society, said: "I've always wanted to bring astronauts to Pontefract and this was a very rare opportunity for people to meet Buzz Aldrin.
"Even if there was another moon landing I don't think public feeling about those astronauts would be the same."


Astronauts Charlie Duke, the tenth man to walk on the moon, and Alan Bean, the fourth man to do so, have also given talks at Carleton Community High School.
Assistant headteacher David Jones said: "As a specialist science school it's amazing to attract such high-profile people here to tell their story."