Buzz Aldrin says the US needs to progress further in space exploration
Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin on the necessary next steps for NASA and the importance of the moon landing.
Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin isn't one to mince words, and now the American hero explained why, 50 years on from the history-making mission, he is "disappointed" with NASA.
"I think we just haven't developed the highest performance rockets and the appropriate spacecraft that we should have to be able to carry out the challenges that we have and are facing," Aldrin said on "The Story with Martha MacCallum" Friday.
"And we have to deal with what we have and we're going to make the very most of it. And I think I can contribute some ideas that will help it all come out very very well."
While at the White House earlier in the day, Aldrin and fellow Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins openly disagreed with NASA head Jim Bridenstine while discussing the matter in front of President Trump.
Aldrin and Collins believe the U.S. agency should focus on traveling directly to Mars while the Bridenstine voiced that a trip to Mars includes landing on the moon first.
"Who knows better than these people?" Trump said of Aldrin and Collin's push for a direct trip.
Aldrin made his case for the direct trip to Mars while speaking to MacCallum.
"Well, anything can be done. It's just that it's so much more logical to learn all the steps that need to be taken at the moon, all the conditions the resources the life support systems, all the things that you'd like to know before you set out to be staying maybe your whole life once you get to Mars," Aldrin said.
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Aldrin also said he was not surprised by a recent survey that said American children want to be YouTube stars instead of astronauts.
"Fifty years ago being an astronaut was a new thing to do. And it certainly is a new thing for people in China to think about doing that. And I think... it's a tribute to their imagination of wanting to do that," Aldrin said.
"And if we've lost that then that's why this five decades of Apollo is trying to inspire what this nation did 50 years ago and we'll get caught up again with being able to do things of that inspiration again."