Buzz Aldrin on the moon, 1969
Posted on 07/05/2009 3:26:44 PM PDT by bruinbirdman
The NASA astronaut Buzz Adrin has called for the world to press on with establishing a human settlement on Mars to offer the younger generation much-needed objectives.
The second person to walk on the moon said that setting up habitation on the surface of the red planet was a "wonderful objective" for humanity.
Buzz Aldrin on the moon, 1969
Given the backdrop of the ailing world economy, space exploration could offer younger generations much-needed goals, the 79-year-old said.
"I think we need to look quite a way down into the future to inspire our young people with that greatness.
"America helped to take the world to the moon 40 years ago and America certainly can help lead the world in the direction of Mars."
After he entered the history books Dr Aldrin said he struggled through a dark time during which he did not know what he should be doing with his life.
He battled depression and alcoholism, but has now been sober for 30 years and married to his wife Lois for 23 years.
The former astronaut said he was aware he had a unique perspective on the universe and had tried to share this with others.
"Not that many people have been on the moon and that's why I have written two children's books and I am involved in modern communication with a website and Twitter," he said.
"I try and communicate with people - recently I got together with a few experts and did a rap session that you can download."
But while trying to spread the word about the possibilities of space, Dr Aldrin said he was sceptical of climate change theories.
"I think the climate has been changing for billions of years," he said.
"If it's warming now, it may
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
He battled depression and alcoholism, but has now been sober for 30 years and married to his wife Lois for 23 years.
A sufferer from "is there all there is"-osis.
“is there all there is”-osis => “is this all there is”-osis
Tell it to the guyz in the ‘hood, or La Raza, or CAIR, that we should drop our differences because whitey is going to the moon. Sorry, it won’t change a thing.
Buzz off.
I think that sending a man to Mars might solve a lot of the world’s problems... As long as the man was Barney Frank or Henry Waxman.
Space Ping
Shows to go ya — one can travel a million miles from earth and not get any closer to heaven.
He has always seemed like a good guy. From the headline I thought he went nuts and said something like Mars could cure overpopulation or something
"Get your ass to Mars!"
Lets’ see. A big PROJECT. A project that REACHES INTO THE SKY. A project that will UNITE HUMANITY.
Somehow, I feel as though I’ve heard of this before.
It would mean another major jump in Science and technology as the Apollo project basically created the conditions for Silicon valley to form.
Exactly. As long as there are humans, there will always be issues and problems and escaping them NOR wishing them away will never be the solution.
The only earth bound solution for the bleeding hearts would be to light up a chiba’ or drink heavily.
Proof that Al Gore doesn't know Jack Schmitt.
An expedition to Mars would face a hazard that no Moon mission did -- prolonged exposure to the hard radiation of deep space. Finding out that our Mars-bound astronauts were all coming down with fatal cancers before they could even get there would be no fun at all.
One of my favorite Buzz moments was when he decked Bart Sibrel for calling Buzz “A coward a liar, and a thief”. The word ‘thief’ was said as Sibrel’s head was recoiling from the blow. Beautiful.
Its a first step but to truely overcome many of our problems private industry needs to go and make it proffitable.
There's nothing profitable in space. There's no reason at all to go there except seeing things first hand.
All of the other worlds in our solar system are frozen or semi-molten hell holes littered with rocks.
All the resources in space exist here on Earth and can be accessed more profitably.
Maybe we should simply launch all Congresscritters who have been in office for more than 10 years. One or more of them are likely to make it to Mars.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.