KIM KARDASHIAN may be the queen of selfies, but Buzz Aldrin has just been crowned king.

    Thursday marked 49 years since Aldrin braved the unknown for his first spacewalk and he honored the day by posting a selfie that really is out of this world.

    The shot was of himself floating in darkness, with the blue curve of the Earth in the background and completely unaware that he was almost 50 years ahead of the trend.

    “Did you know I took the first space selfie during Gemini 12 mission in 1966? BEST SELFIE EVER,” Aldrin posted on Instagram, which of course included #TBT (“Throw Back Thursday”).

    The photo was taken during the Gemini 12 mission, the last mission of the four-year program, which focused on testing astronaut’s ability to dock with a spacecraft that was already in orbit.

    Snapping selfies has become a common thing among astronauts while in space, but this one is sure to remain in history books.

    The original photo was recently sold in February at London’s Bloomsbury auction for US$9,200, which was expected to sell for about US$900.

    Aldrin made a 5.5-hour spacewalk during the mission, which was the longest and most successful done up to that time.

    According to NASA, Aldrin was also the first astronaut to practice his spacewalking moves underwater in a swimming pool. Earlier this year, Aldrin was hailed by the Internet for sharing photo of him at Stonehenge showing off a shirt that read: “Get you’re a** to Mars.”

    This setting seemed appropriate, as the Stonehenge is believed by some historians to have served as a space observatory.

    Aldrin has been pushing for a manned spaceflight to Mars, and in February told Congress his vision for how the U.S. should lead the race to the red planet at the Senate Subcommittee on Space, Science, and Competitiveness.

    He also warned that the U.S. risked being caught up and even beaten by other countries who are looking at sending people to Mars.(SD-Agencies)