Buzz Aldrin, the second person on the moon, paid tribute to people carrying the “torch of deep space exploration.”
The second individual to set foot on the moon is eagerly anticipating new astronauts who will follow in his footsteps.
One of the astronauts from the 1969 Apollo 11 mission, Buzz Aldrin, said on Thursday (Feb. 23) that he is eager to see N.A.S.A use its Artemis program to send humans back to the moon as soon as 2025.
At a gathering of the National Space Council (NSpC) users’ advisory group on Thursday in Washington, D.C., a livestreamed pre-recorded video(opens in new tab) with remarks by Aldrin, 93, was presented (Feb. 23). The council is headed by US Vice President Kamala Harris, and the users’ advisory group’s purpose is to provide a forum for business, nonprofit organizations, and other sectors to offer advice on space policy.
Aldrin said, “We salute the young men and women, astronauts, scientists, and technicians who are now picking up the torch of deep space exploration.” He added that he tuned into all events of the “inspiring” unmanned Artemis 1 test launch, which flew a human-rated Orion spacecraft around the moon and back in late 2022.
Aldrin made reference to the events that took place between July 16 and July 24, 1969, in relation to the Apollo 11 mission, when he said that it was a “extraordinary honor” to have participated in “one of the epic dramas of our age: America’s race to the moon and back.”
Space was viewed at the time as a technological proving ground with military possibilities. Both the United States and the Soviet Union launched a number of missions to demonstrate that people could use space for scientific research, Earth observation, and exploration.
An element of international prestige was involved, too; some observers frame the two countries’ activities as a “Space Race”, although there were times when the Americans and Soviets were considering collaborative missions in the 1960s. (The first such mission took place in 1975 with the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project.)
Russia, the successor entity to the Soviet Union, is now a partner on the International Space Station. But most other collaborations were torn asunder a year ago, on Feb. 24, 2022, with Russia’s internationally condemned invasion of Ukraine.
Aldrin maintained that his crew’s intentions were meant to be first steps to bringing people of all nations to the moon, which is also an aim of Artemis. “We planted the American flag on the moon,” he acknowledged, which all Apollo crews did. “[But] we did so not to lay an imperial claim to the moon as idealistic Americans; we came in peace for all mankind.”
No crews have been named for upcoming Artemis missions, but news should be coming shortly. Artemis 2, which aims to circle the moon in 2024, will announce its crew this spring — including a Canadian, thanks to the country’s Canadarm3 robotic contribution to a planned N.A.S.A space station called Gateway. Artemis 3 will then aim for the surface in 2025. Japan is rumored as well to be a contender for early missions, based on comments about its astronauts joining Artemis.
Aldrin is the only surviving member of the Apollo 11 crew. Commander and first-ever moonwalker Neil Armstrong died in 2012 at age 82 while command module pilot Michael Collins died in 2021 at age 90.
Apollo 11 was the second space excursion for Aldrin. His first mission was the Earth-orbiting Gemini 12 mission in 1966, performing three short spacewalks while extra-vehicular activities were still in their infancy.
Elizabeth Howell is the co-author of “Why Am I Taller(opens in new tab)?” (ECW Press, 2022; with Canadian astronaut Dave Williams), a book about space medicine. Follow her on Twitter @howellspace(opens in new tab). Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom(opens in new tab) or Facebook(opens in new tab).
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