I am not sure about Bill Nelson. I haven't heard him say, 'Let's junk the NASA plan to send humans to the moon.' He's not about to say that. That would not be very popular.
— Buzz Aldrin
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.
As a student, I wrote English reports on science fiction.
Certainly, I've never wanted to live on past achievements.
There were about six years when there was not one American who went into space. We shouldn't do that again.
We can't start over and develop a Saturn 5-type vehicle from scratch.
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.
The life expectancy of people going to Mars may be decreased by the higher level of radiation that they receive.
My first inclination is to be a bit skeptical about the claims that human-produced carbon dioxide is the direct contributor to global warming.
When we get there, if we don't find any life on Mars, from that point on there will be life on Mars because we'll bring it there, whether it's germs and leftover urine bags, whatever it is.
Sending a couple of guys to the Moon and bringing them back safely? That's a stunt! That's not historic.
Nobody cares about the bronze or silver medals.
I wrote 'Reaching for the Moon' because I wanted to tell kids that all of us have a moon, a dream, that we can strive for. Even if you don't attain it, you can at least reach for it.
I remember it was hard to believe that I was taking a step onto the lunar surface.
The decision to go to the moon is now appreciated and associated with President Kennedy's speech, but somebody else had told him it was a good idea. It turned out to be a good commitment, but it was a unique situation.
Space tourism is a logical outgrowth of the adventure tourist market.
By refocusing our space program on Mars for America's future, we can restore the sense of wonder and adventure in space exploration that we knew in the summer of 1969. We won the moon race; now it's time for us to live and work on Mars, first on its moons and then on its surface.
Russia perhaps is still entertaining the possibility that the moons of Mars might have access to ice or water.
Everyone who's been in space would, I'm sure, welcome the opportunity for a return to the exhilarating experiences there.
Unfortunately, kids are led to believe things are easier to achieve than they really are.
I want to keep on the move, keep stimulated and challenged.
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.
Computers allow us to squeeze the most out of everything, whether it's Google looking up things, so I guess that tends to make us a little lazy about reading books and doing things the hard way to understand how those things work.
My favourite thing to do on this planet is to scuba dive.
The society of life on Mars, or the challenge of making Mars more livable, will have significant benefits on our attempts to modify and change in some ways the environment here on Earth.
I think the climate has been changing for billions of years.
Timing has always been a key element in my life. I have been blessed to have been in the right place at the right time.
Do we really need these big, gigantic, heavy rockets? What if we launch a rocket that's empty, and its sole purpose is to act as a source of fuel on the Moon? Who should build that? Well, I think the U.S. should build that.
The big companies are the private industry. But they're faced with a short-term need to show a profit in short-term.
We must still think of ourselves as pioneers to understand the importance of space.
Everyone should take their hats off to Neil Armstrong. He is a humble guy who doesn't wave his own flag.
When you're in a spacecraft, you need to know what things you can touch and what things you shouldn't touch!
I am Buzz Lightyear!
Exploring and colonizing Mars can bring us new scientific understanding of climate change, of how planet-wide processes can make a warm and wet world into a barren landscape. By exploring and understanding Mars, we may gain key insights into the past and future of our own world.
I know: If you're looking down at Earth, you're looking through an atmosphere that has a bit of haze in many places and not just occasional clouds.
A family needs to work as a team, supporting each other's individual aims and aspirations.
There are always door openings. And gradually, it accumulates. The opportunities open up in front of you.
Maybe it was the challenge of flight, the opportunity to fly, the competition of summer camp and the inspiration and discipline of West Point. I think all of those things helped me to develop a dedication and inspired me to get ahead.
Anything we can do in the near future that begins to stimulate the interest of people - seeing somebody down the street have an opportunity to go into space - buoys up the whole neighborhood.
We need the next generation to be motivated and to push technological boundaries, to seek out new innovations.
In space, you don't get that much noise. Noise doesn't propagate in a vacuum.
You can tell I'm not too bashful about some of my feelings.
I'm not in favor of just taking short-term isolated situations and depleting our resources to keep our climate just the way it is today.
Space travel for everyone is the next frontier in the human experience.
Who put their foot in the Missouri River first: Lewis or Clark? Who cares!
There are many people talking about access to space and, 'How can we make that cheaper? How can we turn that into a Southwest Airlines versus the big airlines?'
Most people never believed in the real possibility of going to the moon, and neither did I until I was in my twenties.
Any observations from the Moon or a sense of realising this or that about the greater meaning of things wasn't as influential for me as the experience of coming back and dealing with being a person who's been to the Moon.
Can you imagine, in 2030, taking a space cruise on the very ship that carried the first human beings to Mars? I can't believe that people wouldn't line up for that possibility.
Some things just can't be described. And stepping onto the moon was one of them.
