Monday as Chicago Public School students had a sixth day out of class due to the CTU strike, students at Aldrin Elementary in Schaumburg weren’t in class for a different reason- a visit from their school’s namesake astronaut. While first and second graders wore red shirts, they were part of a larger red, white and blue color scheme for the whole school.

When I asked a few students if they’d heard about the kids in Chicago not going to school, responses ranged from “No, we don’t know about that” to “Lucky!”

What they did know about was Buzz Aldrin:

Aldrin was visiting the school for only the second time since it opened in 1971. The entire student body lined the school’s driveway, listening to patriotic tunes while waiting for Aldrin to arrive from the airport. When he did arrive in a London-style cab, he was greeted by chants of “U S A, U S A”:

After sharing stories of his experiences as an astronaut with the students, he was regaled with a boisterous rendition of “She’s a Grand Old Flag”:

Once the students left the gym, spoke with the media about Neil Armstrong and his hope that we’ll have a permanent Mars colony in two decades: