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Buzz Aldrin Quotes

Astronaut

Buzz Aldrin, an American astronaut born on January 20, 1930, is renowned for his contributions to space exploration. He was the second human to walk on the Moon, alongside Neil Armstrong, during the Apollo 11 mission.

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All Moon Space Mars People Humans Thinking Needs Firsts Earth Ifs Apollo Planets Should Way Want World Surface Colonizing Mars America Exploration

Famous Buzz Aldrin Quotes

“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?”

People Ifs Firsts Running First Time Convinced Expensive What If Mars

Author:Buzz Aldrin

“As time goes by, I'm increasingly impressed by how very special and timely it was that we got the degree of national commitment needed to put people on the Moon. For the first time, this nation was united in trying to develop an interplanetary capability. We've been trying to repeat that situation ever since.”

People Trying Firsts Nations United Situation Special Needed Moon Degrees Commitment First Time Repeats Capability Impressed Timely Time Goes By

Author:Buzz Aldrin

“The first footfalls on Mars will mark a historic milestone, an enterprise that requires human tenacity matched with technology to anchor ourselves on another world.”

World Firsts Humans Technology Mark Enterprise Mars Historic Tenacity Anchors Another World Matched Milestone

Book:Mission to Mars: My Vision for Space Exploration

Source: Mission to Mars: My Vision for Space Exploration

“My first inclination is to be a bit skeptical about the claims that human-produced carbon dioxide is the direct contributor to global warming.”

Firsts Humans Bits Direct Claims Global Warming Carbon Inclination Skeptical Carbon Dioxide Contributors

Author:Buzz Aldrin

“My first biography written in '73 was not 'Journey To The Moon.' It was 'Return To Earth.' Because for me, that was the more difficult task - disappointment.”

Firsts Earth Difficult Written Journey Return Moon Tasks Disappointment Biographies Difficult Tasks

Author:Buzz Aldrin

“Six out of seven times we landed successfully [on the Moon]. I wanted to be a part of that and I was a part of that, so my personal feeling is of great gratefulness for having somehow been in a position to have been given the opportunity to be on that first landing. That's a marvelous experience for a little kid that grew up in New Jersey. So I'm very thankful, and I asked the whole world to give thanks once we successfully landed.”

“I expected the unexpected and went [on the Moon] with an open mind. I think the visual scene was described by my words on first landing - "magnificent desolation." Magnificent for the achievement of being there, and desolate for the eons of lifelessness.”

Thinking Mind Firsts Scene Moon Achievement Expected Visuals Unexpected Magnificent Open Mind Being There Landing Desolation Desolate

Author:Buzz Aldrin

“There is very little doubt, in my mind, that what the next monumental achievement of humanity will be the first landing by an Earthling, a human being, on the planet Mars.”

Mind Firsts Humans Littles Humanity Next Human Beings Doubt Planets Achievement Mars Landing

Author:Buzz Aldrin

“I would rather people understand that there is a very, very fortunate American who was given the opportunity, and was in the right place at the right time to have the moment of a lifetime. My mother was born - her name was Marianne Moon. And she was born in 1903, the year that the Wright Brothers first flew.”

People Years Firsts Moments Mother Opportunity Names Given Born Brother Moon Lifetime Fortunate Right Time Right Place Flew Wright Brothers

Author:Buzz Aldrin

“I participated with great honor in becoming one of the first to land on the moon, and now I am devoting and have devoted many years of my life to enabling Americans to lead international nations to permanence on the planet Mars.”

Years Firsts Nations Land Planets Becoming Honor Moon International Devoted Mars Enabling Permanence Becoming One

Author:Buzz Aldrin

“What are you going to do with astronauts who first reach the surface of Mars and then turn around and rocket back home-ward? What are they going to do, write their memoirs? Would they go again? Having them repeat the voyage, in my view, is dim-witted. Why don't they stay there on Mars?”

Writing Firsts Home Turns Views Surface Memoir Repeats Mars Rockets Astronaut Voyages Back Home

Book:Mission to Mars: My Vision for Space Exploration

Source: Mission to Mars: My Vision for Space Exploration

“Being first outside the spacecraft would bring much more responsibility, and I really wasn't looking for that.”

Firsts Responsibility Spacecraft

Author:Buzz Aldrin

“The best way to study Mars is with two hands, eyes and ears of a geologist, first at a moon orbiting Mars... and then on the surface.”

Way Firsts Two Hands Eye Science Study Moon Ears Surface Best Way Mars Two Hands Geologist Colonizing Mars

Author:Buzz Aldrin

“There's a historical milestone in the fact that our Apollo 11 landing on the moon took place a mere 66 years after the Wright Brothers' first flight.”

Years Firsts Facts Brother Moon Historical Mere Flight Apollo Landing Milestone Wright Brothers Apollo 11

Book:Mission to Mars: My Vision for Space Exploration

Source: Mission to Mars: My Vision for Space Exploration

“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.”

Firsts America Space Race Wonder Adventure Moon Summer Program Surface Exploration Mars Space Exploration Sense Of Wonder Space Program Colonizing Mars

Author:Buzz Aldrin

“I was the first Navy, Marine or Air Force person who had been an astronaut to return back to the Air Force. I had certain expectations about what would be a reasonable and desirable position to be assigned to after my years of service.”

Years Firsts Persons Would Be Certain Force Air Position Return Expectations Reasonable Desirable Navy Marine Astronaut Air Force Years Of Service Return Back

Author:Buzz Aldrin

“The purpose of going to Mars is for humans to first begin to occupy, permanently, another planet in the solar system. The astronauts or pilgrims, whatever you might call them, are going to be very historically unique human beings.”

Firsts Humans Might Purpose Human Beings Planets Unique Mars Astronaut Pilgrim Solar System Colonizing Mars

Author:Buzz Aldrin

“To send humans back to the moon would not be advancing. It would be more than 50 years after the first moon landing when we got there, and we'd probably be welcomed by the Chinese. But we should return to the moon without astronauts and build, with robots, an international lunar base, so that we know how to build a base on Mars robotically.”

Knows Should Years Firsts Humans Would Be Know How Return Moon International Chinese Mars Robots Astronaut Advancing Landing Moon Landing Colonizing Mars

Author:Buzz Aldrin

“Neil Armstrong was the first man to walk on the moon. I am the first man to piss his pants on the moon.”

Men Firsts Walks Moon Pants Armstrong

Author:Buzz Aldrin

“I poured the wine into the chalice our church had given me. In the one-sixth gravity of the moon the wine curled slowly and gracefully up the side of the cup. It was interesting to think that the very first liquid ever poured on the moon, and the first food eaten there, were communion elements.”

Thinking Firsts Given Sides Church Interesting Moon Elements Wine Cups Gravity Communion Liquid Chalice

Author:Buzz Aldrin

“The urge to explore has propelled evolution since the first water creatures reconnoitered the land. Like all living systems, cultures cannot remain static; they evolve or decline. They explore or expire. . . . Beyond all rationales, space flight is a spiritual quest in the broadest sense, one promising a revitalization of humanity and a rebirth of hope no less profound than the great opening out of mind and spirit at the dawn of our modern age.”

“Once you've been first, it cannot be done again. Not by you, not by anyone else.”

Firsts Done

Author:Buzz Aldrin

“The first human beings to land on Mars should not come back to Earth. They should be the beginning of a build-up of a colony/settlement, I call it a 'permanence'.”

Should Firsts Humans Earth Human Beings Land Mars Colony Settlement Permanence

Author:Buzz Aldrin

About the Author

Born: January 20, 1930
Known for: Astronaut
Quotes: 273

Books & Sources

Magnificent Desolation: The Long Journey Home from the MoonRelated source material

Mission to Mars: My Vision for Space ExplorationRelated source material

No Dream Is Too High: Life Lessons From a Man Who Walked on the MoonRelated source material

The Moonlandings: An Eyewitness AccountRelated source material

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