I am using past history … and probabilities here and there – sometimes it’s called an educated guess, i think it’s going to work out real well because what we need is some kind of consistency with occasional surprise – you need to know when to throw in the unusual.

Buzz Aldrin

Categorized in : Science

We can continue to try and clean up the gutters all over the world and spend all of our resources looking at just the dirty spots and trying to make them clean. Or we can lift our eyes up and look into the skies and move forward in an evolutionary way.

Buzz Aldrin

eye dirty moving

A mind concerned about danger is a clouded mind. It's paralyzing.

Buzz Aldrin

concerned danger mind

The biggest benefit of Apollo was the inspiration it gave to a growing generation to get into science and aerospace.

Buzz Aldrin

aerospace apollo inspiration

They didn’t tell me I was going into space until after they locked the shuttle doors and started counting down.

Buzz Aldrin

counting space doors

There's a need for accepting responsibility - for a person's life and making choices that are not just ones for immediate short-term comfort. You need to make an investment, and the investment is in health and education.

Buzz Aldrin

choices responsibility comfort

Mars has been flown by, orbited, smacked into, radar examined, and rocketed onto, as well as bounced upon, rolled over, shoveled, drilled into, baked and even blasted. Still to come: Mars being stepped on.

Buzz Aldrin

mars wells space

Kids, help your parents if they don't know how to use a smartphone.

Buzz Aldrin

smartphones parent kids

Mars is there, waiting to be reached.

Buzz Aldrin

mars umpires waiting

The g-forces increased and I wasn't able to continue to hold the camera against the window, so I had to lay it back against my chest, but still continued to photograph the re-entry until there was no more unusual visual effects of the energy in the atmosphere. And it was very comforting to understand that the people in Houston, the controllers, had very high confidence that we were on the right path.

Buzz Aldrin

atmosphere comforting people

I expected the unexpected and went [on the Moon] with an open mind. I think the visual scene was described by my words on first landing - "magnificent desolation." Magnificent for the achievement of being there, and desolate for the eons of lifelessness.

Buzz Aldrin

achievement moon thinking

We feel that this stands as a symbol of the insatiable curiosity of all mankind to explore the unknown.

Buzz Aldrin

mankind curiosity feels

Space architectures capable of supporting a permanent human presence on Mars are extraordinarily complex, with many different interdependent systems.

Buzz Aldrin

mars different space

As we begin to have landings on the moon, we can alternate those with vertical launch of similar crew modules on similar launch vehicles for vertical-launch tourism in space, if you want to call it that adventure travel.

Buzz Aldrin

space moon adventure

We need to have people up there who can communicate what it feels like, not just pilots and engineers.

Buzz Aldrin

space people needs

The first footfalls on Mars will mark a historic milestone, an enterprise that requires human tenacity matched with technology to anchor ourselves on another world.

Buzz Aldrin

mars anchors technology

To me, money is a commodity that a person must have to function, not a goal in itself.

Buzz Aldrin

commodity function goal

There's no doubt who was a leader in space after the Apollo Program. Nobody came close to us. And our education system, in science, technology, engineering and math, was at the top of the world. It's no longer there. We're descending rather rapidly.

Buzz Aldrin

engineering technology math

I've led a life of such structured discipline and always had a goal in mind of knowing what I was doing, from West Point to the Air Force combat, MIT, looking for new things to study and get involved in. And then I got into the space program, and how disciplined can you get?

Buzz Aldrin

space knowing air

Armstrong described the lunar surface as 'beautiful.' I thought to myself, 'It's not really beautiful. It's magnificent that we're here, but what a desolate place we are visiting.'

Buzz Aldrin

visiting surface beautiful

My sister called me "Buzzard" when I was a baby - she couldn't say "Brother" so I've been Buzz my whole life.

Buzz Aldrin

buzz brother baby