Astronaut Buzz Aldrin looks to Mars for future space travel

Buzz Aldrin is the second man to step foot on the moon, and he thinks the U.S. has missed an opportunity to further the explore space.

Aldrin said he is disappointed that the U.S. did not have another program ready to go when the final shuttle landed last month.

“You can look back and point the finger in many different directions,” Aldrin said. “To be a nation that’s going to lead other nations in the world, we can’t keep getting to a position saying ‘Gee we could have done better.’ We have to do the very best that we can.”

There were opportunities to push forward, he said, but the government missed them.

According to Aldrin, the U.S. should focus its attention and resources on missions to Mars. He envisions permanent bases on Mars by 2035. And while the U.S. is doing that, private industry should step in and make space more accessible to the general public. Aldrin said affordable space tourism will rekindle America’s fascination in space and spur further exploration.

Why has the public lost the fascination after 30 years of shuttle flights? “The by-product of a nation doing inspiring things is the work-force level being inspired,” he said. “If you look at our education standards, they’ve gone down considerably because we just haven’t been inspiring people into the sciences, technology, engineering, and math.”

In fulfillment of Aldrin’s vision of space travel that he helped pioneer more than 40 years ago, the Space Needle is holding a multi-tiered contest to send a member of the public on a short ride into space.