Space & Astronomy

Buzz Aldrin calls for Mars base

By T.K. Randall
June 22, 2013 ·  18 comments

Image Credit: Bryan Tong Minh The second man to step foot on the Moon, Aldrin accompanied Neil Armstrong on the historic Apollo 11 landing in 1969. Within a few years however mankind's trips to another world would abruptly end and several decades later we have still never again ventured beyond Earth's orbit. During a recent visit to the Paris Air Show Aldrin commented that he believes our next step should be to attempt a manned mission to Mars within 25 years and then move on to a permanent base there.

"The nation that decides that it is worth doing and I believe that is the United States," he said. "The United States will commit to doing that. I think that the people who go there will be remembered in history as pioneers and the world leader who makes a commitment to establishing a permanent presence on another planet will also be remembered in history as a pioneer."[!gad]The second man to step foot on the Moon, Aldrin accompanied Neil Armstrong on the historic Apollo 11 landing in 1969. Within a few years however mankind's trips to another world would abruptly end and several decades later we have still never again ventured beyond Earth's orbit. During a recent visit to the Paris Air Show Aldrin commented that he believes our next step should be to attempt a manned mission to Mars within 25 years and then move on to a permanent base there.

"The nation that decides that it is worth doing and I believe that is the United States," he said. "The United States will commit to doing that. I think that the people who go there will be remembered in history as pioneers and the world leader who makes a commitment to establishing a permanent presence on another planet will also be remembered in history as a pioneer."

Source: BBC News | Comments (18)

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