Buzz Aldrin returns to N.J. childhood home (PHOTOS)

In light of a recent decision renaming his hometown middle school for him, the famed astronaut returned to Montclair Tuesday.

MONTCLAIR -- It was one giant leap into the past.

"My sister actually got married just around there," Astronaut Buzz Aldrin said, pointing to a side yard while touring the house he grew up in Tuesday. Walking further into the backyard and peering into a detached garage, he said he has a "lot of interesting stories from in there...but I can't tell you them all."

Aldrin moved out of the Princeton Place home in Montclair years before he became the second man to walk on the moon. But, the Montclair Board of Education's recent decision to rename the township middle school Aldrin attended after him drew him back to the Essex County community.

Aldrin was in the area to pick up a lifetime achievement award from the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce Monday. He returned to his hometown Tuesday for a day of activities commemorating the renaming, including a visit with town and school officials, a private tour of the STEM magnet school that will be named for him, and the visit to this childhood home.

"It's always great to come back here," Aldrin said of Montclair.

MORE: Buzz Aldrin's hometown middle school renamed for him

The first time Dolores Kelly - the current owner of the former Aldrin residence - saw Buzz in the house, she was watching him walk on the moon on her family's television set.

"We actually have a photo of us watching the moon landing from (inside this house)," she said.

Since then, Aldrin has been back to visit several times. His favorite spot in the house, Kelly said, is the third floor room that used to be his bedroom. The Kelly family still uses it as a bedroom, though they have closed off a small cubby that Buzz has said he used to climb into as a child.

"It's exciting," Kelly said of living in the home. "Before we bought this house, I always told my husband that I wanted our home to have something special about it. At the time, I was thinking of something more like a swimming pool, but this is much, much better...It's like holding a piece of history."

With the decision to rename Mt. Hebron Middle School, "Buzz Aldrin Middle School," the whole town may soon be apt to have a greater appreciation for the astronaut's history.

"Montclair and Buzz Aldrin are now permanently linked together," Katie Severance, president of the Man on the Moon Committee that advocated for the school's renaming, said outside Aldrin's former home Tuesday.

ALSO: 9 things you probably didn't know about Buzz Aldrin

The group said it is working with the Montclair school district to plan an official renaming ceremony with Buzz. A district spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment on his Tuesday visit.

Aldrin said the school is part of a legacy that he is still building. When asked what he wants to be remembered for, he said he's still got more to do before he could answer.

"The best is yet to come," he said.