Buzz Aldrin
I am excited to think that the development of commercial capabilities to send humans into low Earth orbit will likely result in so many more Earthlings being able to experience the transformative power of space flight.
'Anthony and the Magic Picture Frame' tells it like it really was in America's early space program - the adventure, the risks, and the rewards.
Kids, help your parents if they don't know how to use a smartphone.
Every couple of years, we could dispatch people from Earth to Mars.
I grew up in a country that I thought was special. And it was.
For the future, primarily, we must educate people in science, engineering, technology and math.
We could have human intelligence in orbit around Mars, building things there.
I want to reach a new generation. That's why I am Twittering now. I have a BlackBerry, an iPhone and a Mac.
My father's an early aviator, and my first flight was with him at age two. Now, despite the fact that I got sick on the flight, I still enjoyed it, I believe.
To move forward, what's required is a unified space agenda based on exploration, science, development, commerce, and security.
I'm sure that there are places in the deserts in Australia that could be similar to where we might want to go on Mars.
Mars has a bit of air pressure; maybe we can build up that atmosphere to be a bit more accommodating to humans.
Mars, we know, was once wet and warm. Was it home to life? And what can living and learning to work on its rust-colored surface teach us about the future of our own planet, Earth? Answering those mysteries may hold the key to our future.
Space architectures capable of supporting a permanent human presence on Mars are extraordinarily complex, with many different interdependent systems.
You need propellants to accelerate toward Mars, then to decelerate at Mars, again to re-accelerate from Mars to Earth, and finally to decelerate back at Earth. Accordingly, the mass of these required propellants, in short, drives our need for innovative launch vehicles.
One of the major problems with long-term deep space human flight is the requirement for radiation shielding.
Instead of planning the retirement of the Space Shuttle program, America should be preparing the shuttles for their next step in space: evolving, not shutting them down and laying off thousands of people.
What's aero braking? That's a way to use the gravity and upper atmosphere of Earth to sling shot a ship out either deeper into space, or slow it down to be 'captured' by Earth's gravity.
I'm urging NASA to foster the development of what I call 'runway landers.' No, that's not the name of a high stakes gambler from Vegas. It's a type of spacecraft that flies to orbit like the retiring Shuttles but then glides to a landing like an airplane on a runway. Just like the Shuttles do.
Landing in the ocean and waiting for the Navy to come alongside and haul you out of the drink is what space capsules require. And after the capsule is recovered, it would take weeks for the ship to return to port.
As someone who flew two space capsules and twice landed in the ocean, I can attest from personal experience how much logistics work is needed to get you home.
Having walked on the Moon, I know something about what we need to explore, really explore, in space.
When the time comes to start building deep space transports and refueling rocket tankers, it will be the commercial industry that steps up, not another government-owned, government-managed enterprise.
With his deeds, not only words, President Obama has revitalized our struggling space program.
The much-hyped Ares 1-X was much ado about nothing.
Save the taxpayer's money by canceling the Ares 1 and V.
Not everyone will understand this need for America to lead the world in space.
There should be an international lunar base. That is certainly doable.
I don't think we're going to build a 50-person spacecraft or a 100-person spacecraft.
Human rights problems will always exist for years to come, but maybe they'll lessen somewhat.
There's no guarantee that the United States will be around 200 years from now.
I think we need to move to the moons of Mars and learn how to control robots that are on the surface. It's not the impatient way of getting there, but Mars has been there a long time.
Over the years, I think I've matured in my spiritual evolution and development to understand a bit more than the narrow religious thinking - to move beyond that through a sort of perfection of the grandiose nature of the universe, and how perfect it is it in its sense and how satisfied we should all be in our place in that.
I don't watch 'American Idol,' but I wouldn't call it 'undignified.'
I think the people who experienced the Apollo missions came away from that experience wondering to themselves, 'When can we get a chance to experience spaceflight?' I've heard that many, many times: that people got into a new career field hoping that they would be able to experience spaceflight.
Somebody would think I was trying to get favored treatment because my ancestors had the name Moon. And that's a joke.
Astronauts working for the government will always need to be either pilots or mission specialists. Those who want to be pilots should have military experience - ideally, a test pilot background.
America can take man to the moon, and America can take men to Mars - and beyond.
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.'
Nobody ever asks who was the seventh person on the Moon. The only thing they know is who's number one and who's number two. Does anybody know who the last man was?
By venturing into space, we improve life for everyone here on Earth - scientific advances and innovations that come from this kind of research create products we use in our daily lives.
It's real easy to manufacture what you think the people want to hear. But that's not very honest.
I was motivated to improve the U.S. strategy of going back to the moon in 1985. That's a long time ago. Going back to the moon would be a great achievement for tourism adventure flights.
Mars is much closer to the characteristics of Earth. It has a fall, winter, summer and spring. North Pole, South Pole, mountains and lots of ice. No one is going to live on Venus; no one is going to live on Jupiter.
Certainly, I've never wanted to live on past achievements.
In Mars, we've been given a wonderful set of moons... where we can send continuous numbers of people.
I think both the space shuttle program and the International Space Station program have not really lived up to their expectations.
You can never tell when a commercial space venture will suddenly become viable.
I'm convinced that sending people to Mars is so expensive that if you go once and bring the people back and then go again and bring the people back, we're eventually going to run out of money. But what if we send people the first time and they don't come back? What if they stay there?