Aldrin: NASA Needs To Put People On Mars

WASHINGTON — Former Apollo astronaut Buzz Aldrin says NASA should set its sights on a bigger target in the future: Mars.

Aldrin made the comments on the eve of the 40th anniversary of his landing on the moon on the Apollo 11 mission. He says the space agency was right to stop sending men to the moon back in 1972.

Aldrin says Mars is "much more suitable to earthlings, much more habitable. It's possibly the source of life."

He also recalled taking his first steps on the moon, a place that was "so desolate, so totally lifeless. It probably hadn't changed much in 100,000 years."

Aldrin, who spoke on "Fox News Sunday," was to appear Sunday evening in Washington with fellow Apollo 11 crew members Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins.

Comments

[Bude]

Hey Buzz, we'll meet you there.

[MyGuyO]

Why do we have to go to Mars? n To much money is going into the space program .. Put this money back into the economy instead or give it to the poor and homeless.

[lentinelia]

You want to know why we have to go to Mars?

Because we are in the process of making this planet uninhabitable.

[jkpcguru]

Normally I would agree with someone whose concern with spending money that could benefit us in the distant future when Americans need other benefits now. In this case, I don't agree.

The United States of America must continue to lead in space exploration. If we don't our world superiority is at stake, our national security is at stake and our national pride will be in the shet hole. I'm not an overly patriotic American. Since Obama's been in office. Its been getting better. But our space program gives me pride.

We can't allow the Russians, Chinese, Indians and Japanese overtake us in space exploration superiority.

NASA's fiscal year 2010 budget is $18.7 Billion. That's peanuts compared to everything else the government spends money on.

[losangeleslez]

Prove your superiority by wasting billions of dollars. Great idea! *rolling eyes*

[Proxy11]

I fear for humanity. I fear we will never progress. I mean just look at some of the comments on this page. What is wrong with you people? Why are you so adverse to going to other planets? It will be a great day for our species when we step foot on a foreign world (the moon isn't a world, it's a moon).

[LaFlow]

Real progress would be figuring out how to live on this planet without hopelessly degrading its resources before we think about spending the absurd about of money and energy that it will necessitate to put a man on Mars.

[Proxy11]

Not going to happen; unless you just love gen0cide. There's to many people.

[ckfan]

BRAVO!

[OverIt]

Healthcare first.

[Proxy11]

Why can't we do both?

[ckfan]

BRAVO!

[SensibleJoe]

Let's spend time, money and effort on cleaning up the mess we've made of our home planet before we waste those resources on chasing after silly dreams of putting our feet on another planet. If you're not taking good care of one dog, you don't run down to the pet shop and buy another.

[wadenelson1]

My father, a NASA engineer, always called NASA "Welfare for engineers.­"

At it's peak it cost FAR less than what we've spent invading and occupying Vietnam, err, Iraq.

The spinoffs go way beyond Tang, Velcro, and Teflon. Every calculator, computer, pc, cellphone today is a direct descendent of the semiconductors Texas Instruments fabricated for NASA. Did wonders for TI's stock price, too. Ask me how I know ....lol.

NASA put Americans to work in high paying jobs. It sent their kids (me) to college. It paid for houses, and the salaries of guys who build them. It bought our family cars, and employed the guys in Detroit who built them. And so on.

We can spend our taxes in other ways, like unemployment checks, wars, and stimulus bills that employ blue-collar highway workers.

I'll always vote for spending them on noble goals like putting a man on the moon, and someday, Mars.

[ckfan]

What's wrong with blue-collar highway workers? Blue collar workers in my family sent kids (me) to college, paid for houses (I own 2) and the women and men who built them. It bought our family cars and employed the men and WOMEN in Detroit who built them.
And so on. In fact, blue collar dollars help put Obama in the White House.

I'll always vote for spending money on helping the people who built this country, especially the families of slaves who built this country and were never paid a dime. I want my tax dollars to go for health care for all.

[impatient]

Listen to your father.

[doneflyin]

I still remember standing out in the yard looking up at the moon and trying to wrap my mind around the fact that those guys were walking around up there.
It's be downhill ever since. All the money has gone for foreign adventures, overseas bases and wasteful military spending. Disgraceful.
Now we need to spend what borrowed money we can are health care, infrastructure, schools, bridges that won't fall down, trains that don't run into each other and putting our people back to work.

Mars will have to wait.

[Buffyboy]

We need to put people on healthcare, Buzz. F*ck Mars.

[Hirnlego]

Do both. Mars is a long term mission..i­t will take decades.

[LMPE]

How about sending to Mars all the people who believe the Earth to be only 6,000 years old? The country's collective IQ would rise at least 1 percentage point!

[macintoshsauce]

That's not saying much for your intelligence. hahaha

[cognitivereddawn]

Put people on mars when our pets get better/quicker health care than we do? Moon or mars? What's the difference? Same science experiments on the moon or mars. Of course, after 40 years of space science experiments, big deal.

[erp65]

I couldn't agree more, Commander Buzz, but wouldn't it be cheaper just to change people's voter registrations to Republican?

[kayakcatmike]

As a former NASA Artist and contractor employee, I'm in total agreement with you about Mars, Buzz. But I guess I have become cynical for the more I look around and gauge the intelligence and the goals of our people, it occurs to me that we won't be going anywhere anytime soon. What you and the great folks at NASA did in the 60's and 70's was just a "blip" on the radar screen of our human gumption. Our people and our leaders are sadly more consumed with selfish-serving, fear-based or money-making priorities now. Simply put, our species has not yet evolved enough to have a real interest in, or understand the real benefits of exploration for exploration's sake. What a pity. What an absolute pity. In any event, I can't wait to see you at your lecture on Tuesday evening in Philly.

[losangeleslez]

Really??? It's this mentality from the people at NASA that is appalling. We have much more important issues to face here than space exploration right now. It's hard to concentrate on space exploration when people are homeless, jobless, going hungry, & don't have health care insurance. Get your priorities straight. Your view is pathetic.

[erp65]

Huh?? Without the space program, what would we drink for breakfast? Straight orange juice??

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tang_(drink)

[kayakcatmike]

You obviously don't even know that NASA has helped the homeless, jobless, the sick, and people who are hungry. NASA is the ONLY government agency that consistently gives the American people a huge return on their money. DO YOUR HOMEWORK before you make uninformed comments on subjects about which you know nothing.

[LaFlow]

Our species hasn't evolved enough to be able to survive the radiation that would be experienced during a 2 year trip to Mars and back without lead lining the entire inhabited area of a crew vehicle.

[AuntSally]

George W. really wanted to go to Mars. I fully supported him, and would have emptied my own bank account to send him ...

[ckfan]

LOL.

[TJCole]

A huge waste of money and effort, Mars is dead, it lost it's Magnetosph­ere...!

Let's do deep space exploration and look for dark matter and dark energy...t­he origins of the Universe..­.

[omahajim]

i think of this space exploration being pretty much like aid to israel. it benefits about the top .01% of the population and those who do not benefit get to pay for it. and it does NOTHING to solve the real problems we have ON the planet today.

NASA is a private concern and is accountable to nobody. just ask them.

OK buzz, i'm all for it. you pay for it all and you take all the glory. rock on.

[AuntiepoppyCock]

Send me.

[ranch111]

Can we please solve problems on Earth, first? Thanks.

[VoteOnPaper]

Space science has, does, and will continue to solve problems here on Earth.

[losangeleslez]

Stop being delusional. Putting people on Mars is not going to help decrease the jobless rate, give people health care, extend unemployement benefits, or feed/shelter the homeless.