Magnificent Communication: Apollo 11 Moonwalker Buzz Aldrin Tests Verizon Satellite Service in New AD

On February 4, 2025By Littum

As a person who is no stranger to the dropout on a planetary scale, Apollo 11 Moonwalker Buzz Aldrin has joined forces with Verizon to help promote the company’s satellite -based solution for cell service “Dead Zones.”

The now 95-year-old astronaut, who in 1969 became one of the first people who rose foot on the lunar surface, appear in a new verizon -ad Next to Paul Marcarelli, the original “Can you hear me now?” Test man to ask, “Can you text me now?”

“Sint -six years ago I was one of the selected few who came out into space and the first team that helps America conquer the moon,” Aldrin said in a Statement released by Verizon. “Back then the place was the great unknown, and now we’ve never been closer to it. I can’t strike up the sky without seeing a satellite fly by. It’s remarkable to see how far the human race – and technology – has come .

In the advertisement, Aldrin is seen wearing a silver jacket decorated with Apollo 11 Mission Patch While planting a verizon “satellite -driven” red and yellow flag on remote areas around the Earth. At every stop, whether on the desert floor of a gorge, at the base of a snow -covered mountain or in an area of the wildness already marked as a “dead zone”, the retired US Air Force and Doctor of Astronautics User his Verizon issued Android smartphone to show that he can still send texts.

Related: Buzz Aldrin: The other man on the moon

Aldrin’s last test appears as looping out around the moon – past one American flag planted on the surface – to a satellite in the Earth’s orbit. That receives a space, Marcarelli (Sans Hjelm), Aldrin’s message and responds, “It’s my line.”

“It’s been 10 years since I last asked America ‘Can you hear me now?’ Back then zones died everywhere, and it is safe to say today that they are only in the most remote places like the dark (sic) side of the moon, “said Marcarelli in Verizon’s release, making the common mistake of describing the outside of the moon as the non-existent “dark” side. “Satellite is definitely the next limit.”

Verizon customers with “Select new model phones with updated software” can send texts – such as emergency situations, including their location – when in areas of the US without cellular coverage. According to the company, its US network provides coverage to more than 99% of places where people “live, work and play”, but its satellite service now covers the “very few places” throughout the country where customers cannot connect.

For the service to work, the phones – which include Google’s Pixel 9 series and Samsung’s Galaxy S25 – must be outdoors with a vision line for Viasat, Echostar or other satellites that are part of the Skylo Satellite Connectivity Service. The service may not work in parts of Alaska.

Two men, the one who has a red and yellow flag, and the other a cell phone rack ate the base of a snowy mountain

Apollo Astronaut Buzz Aldrin (left) with Paul Marcarelli, Verizon’s original test man, in an ad for Verizon’s satellite services. (Image Credit: Verizon)

In addition, AST Spacemobile, a satellite designer and producer based in Midland, Texas, has a $ 100 million engagement from Verizon to deliver directly to cellular satellite service when needed for Verizon’s customers.

This week, the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) AST AST to start testing its service in the United States. This approval allows for the first five of AST’s commercial Bluebird satellites that already work in low grounding, testing compounds with verizon smartphones that support voice, full data and video applications, as well as other original cellular capacities without the need for any specialized software or device support or update.

“It’s a huge leap for connection,” Aldrin says in the advertisement.

AST SPACEMOBILE also has an agreement to provide space -based network services to AT&T and its customers. Similarly, T-Mobile with SpaceX collaborated to use Starlink Broadband Internet Constellation and its direct-to-cell capacities.

A white -haired man in a silver jacket and black pants has a red and yellow flag that is the backward of a blue screen on the set of a commercial.

Behind the scenes from the production of Verizon’s satellite services commercial with Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin. (Image Credit: Verizon)

This is not Aldrin’s first performance in a commercial. Among his former spots are ads filmed for IBM and YouTube TV in 2019; A commercial for Quaker Havre in 2016; And a 2015 campaign to visit Switzerland.

In 1987, Aldrin joined Mercury -Tronauter Scott Carpenter and Gordon Cooper to advertise the Commodore Amiga 500 home computer and in 1972, a year after leaving NASA, helped Aldrin used to fly to the moon.