He's been to the moon and back. Now, Buzz Aldrin is hoping to ignite a new generation of space travelers. NY1's Shelley Goldberg filed the following report.
As part of the historic Apollo 11 crew, Buzz Aldrin was one of the first men to walk on the moon. His latest mission? Get young people excited about exploring Mars. He hopes his new book "Welcome to Mars" will do just that.
So why Mars?
"Here in 2015, it’s 10-year-olds who will be selected maybe as an astronaut when they’re age 25 in 2030," Aldrin says. "They will have trained. They will have understood what this mission is about, how historic it is to be the first pilgrims to begin to occupy another planet. Not just go and come back, but these people are the beginnings of a civilization that will be growing, of human beings on another planet. Isn't that historic?"
Buzz's best piece of advice for those young people who may be interested in space travel is really quite simple.
"Young people need to clean up their room," he says. "They need to learn how to be very orderly in what they do."
And what's the best part of being an astronaut?
"Being able to think ahead," he says. "At least, that’s what it has been for me, to stimulate the mind about things that can happen in the future and then to have a critical mind and a critical eye to think out of the box to come up with new and better ways. That’s really what I got out of going to the moon, preparing me to help others get to the future. What a lucky life I’ve had!"