65 Quotes & Sayings By Buzz Aldrin

During the first moon-walk, Buzz Aldrin was the first man to step onto the moon. He was a pilot for Pan American Airlines and an engineer on the Project Gemini missions. After becoming a test pilot for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, he flew on the Apollo 11 mission with Neil Armstrong. In 1972, he became the second person to walk on the moon Read more

Buzz Aldrin has been awarded many honors during his lifetime including being inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame, being named a Distinguished Eagle Scout of America, and being designated a Living Legend by the Boy Scouts of America.

1
Bravery comes along as a gradual accumulation of discipline Buzz Aldrin
2
Humanity is destined to explore, settle, and expand outward into the universe. Buzz Aldrin
3
Going back to the moon is not visionary in restoring space leadership for America. Like its Apollo predecessor, it will prove to be a dead end littered with broken spacecraft, broken dreams and broken policies. Buzz Aldrin
4
There may be aliens in our Milky Way galaxy, and there are billions of other galaxies. The probability is almost certain that there is life somewhere in space. Buzz Aldrin
5
Whenever I gaze up at the moon, I feel like I'm on a time machine. I am back to that precious pinpoint of time, standing on the foreboding - yet beautiful - Sea of Tranquility. I could see our shining blue planet Earth poised in the darkness of space. Buzz Aldrin
6
Space travel for everyone is the next frontier in the human experience. Buzz Aldrin
7
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. Buzz Aldrin
8
If you want poets in space, you'll have to wait. Buzz Aldrin
9
I've led a life of such structured discipline and always had a goal in mind of knowing what I was doing, from West Point to the Air Force combat, MIT, looking for new things to study and get involved in. And then I got into the space program, and how disciplined can you get? Buzz Aldrin
10
If we can conquer space, we can conquer childhood hunger. Buzz Aldrin
11
My expertise is the space program and what it should be in the future based on my experience of looking at the transitions that we've made between pre- Sputnik days and getting to the moon. Buzz Aldrin
12
As someone who flew two space capsules and twice landed in the ocean, I can attest from personal experience how much logistics work is needed to get you home. Buzz Aldrin
13
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. Buzz Aldrin
14
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. Buzz Aldrin
15
Retain the vision for space exploration. If we turn our backs on the vision again, we're going to have to live in a secondary position in human space flight for the rest of the century. Buzz Aldrin
16
Space is not just going up and coming back down again. Space is getting into orbit and being there, living there, establishing a presence, a permanence. Buzz Aldrin
17
Space tourism is a logical outgrowth of the adventure tourist market. Buzz Aldrin
18
I think humans will reach Mars, and I would like to see it happen in my lifetime. Buzz Aldrin
19
We must still think of ourselves as pioneers to understand the importance of space. Buzz Aldrin
20
To move forward, what's required is a unified space agenda based on exploration, science, development, commerce, and security. Buzz Aldrin
21
Everyone who's been in space would, I'm sure, welcome the opportunity for a return to the exhilarating experiences there. Buzz Aldrin
22
Instead of planning the retirement of the Space Shuttle program, America should be preparing the shuttles for their next step in space: evolving, not shutting them down and laying off thousands of people. Buzz Aldrin
23
There's no doubt who was a leader in space after the Apollo Program. Nobody came close to us. And our education system, in science, technology, engineering and math, was at the top of the world. It's no longer there. We're descending rather rapidly. Buzz Aldrin
24
We should've asked China to be a portion of the space station. We should've worked out ways that we can... just give away the technology that we have that puts things up into space, with cooperation up above the atmosphere that's needed to help each other. Buzz Aldrin
25
I think both the space shuttle program and the International Space Station program have not really lived up to their expectations. Buzz Aldrin
26
Absolutely the United States should lead in space, for the survival of the United States. It's inspiring for the next generation. If we lose leadership, then we'll be using Chinese capability to inspire Americans. Buzz Aldrin
27
I came to dedicate my life to opening space to the average person and crafting designs for new spaceships that could take us far from home. But since Apollo ended, such travels were only in our collective memory. Buzz Aldrin
28
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. Buzz Aldrin
29
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?' Buzz Aldrin
30
In space, you don't get that much noise. Noise doesn't propagate in a vacuum. Buzz Aldrin
31
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. Buzz Aldrin
32
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. Buzz Aldrin
33
There were about six years when there was not one American who went into space. We shouldn't do that again. Buzz Aldrin
34
You can never tell when a commercial space venture will suddenly become viable. Buzz Aldrin
35
It's time to open the space frontier to citizen explorers. Buzz Aldrin
36
I am excited to think that the development of commercial capabilities to send humans into low Earth orbit will likely result in so many more Earthlings being able to experience the transformative power of space flight. Buzz Aldrin
37
'Anthony and the Magic Picture Frame' tells it like it really was in America's early space program - the adventure, the risks, and the rewards. Buzz Aldrin
38
Bringing an asteroid back to Earth? What's that have to do with space exploration? If we were moving outward from there, and an asteroid is a good stopping point, then fine. But now it's turned into a whole planetary defense exercise at the cost of our outward exploration. Buzz Aldrin
39
Space architectures capable of supporting a permanent human presence on Mars are extraordinarily complex, with many different interdependent systems. Buzz Aldrin
40
One of the major problems with long-term deep space human flight is the requirement for radiation shielding. Buzz Aldrin
41
What's aero braking? That's a way to use the gravity and upper atmosphere of Earth to sling shot a ship out either deeper into space, or slow it down to be 'captured' by Earth's gravity. Buzz Aldrin
42
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. Buzz Aldrin
43
Look at what Silicon Valley has done - the advance of computers. Buzz Aldrin
44
For the future, primarily, we must educate people in science, engineering, technology and math. Buzz Aldrin
45
The biggest benefit of Apollo was the inspiration it gave to a growing generation to get into science and aerospace. Buzz Aldrin
46
Globalisation means many other countries are asserting themselves and trying to take over leadership. Please don't ask Americans to let others assume the leadership of human exploration. We can do wonderful science on the Moon, and wonderful commercial things. Then we can pack up and move on to Mars. Buzz Aldrin
47
Mars has been flown by, orbited, smacked into, radar inspected, and rocketed onto, as well as bounced upon, rolled over, shoveled, drilled into, baked, and even laser blasted. Buzz Aldrin
48
We could have human intelligence in orbit around Mars, building things there. Buzz Aldrin
49
Mars, we know, was once wet and warm. Was it home to life? And what can living and learning to work on its rust-colored surface teach us about the future of our own planet, Earth? Answering those mysteries may hold the key to our future. Buzz Aldrin
50
It was interesting to think that the very first liquid ever poured on the Moon, and the first food eaten there, were communion elements. Buzz Aldrin
51
I think the people who experienced the Apollo missions came away from that experience wondering to themselves, 'When can we get a chance to experience spaceflight?' I've heard that many, many times: that people got into a new career field hoping that they would be able to experience spaceflight. Buzz Aldrin
52
The pilgrims on the Mayflower landed at Plymouth Rock. To my knowledge, they didn't wait around for a return trip to Europe. You settle some place with a purpose. If you don't want to do that, stay home. You avoid an awful lot of risks by not venturing outward. Buzz Aldrin
53
Fighter pilots have ice in their veins. They don't have emotions. They think, anticipate. They know that fear and other concerns cloud your mind from what's going on and what you should be involved in. Buzz Aldrin
54
The way I see it, what is going to come out of the moon activities is a respect for U.S. leadership. Buzz Aldrin
55
There's a need for accepting responsibility - for a person's life and making choices that are not just ones for immediate short-term comfort. You need to make an investment, and the investment is in health and education. Buzz Aldrin
56
A hybrid human-robot mission to investigate an asteroid affords a realistic opportunity to demonstrate new technological capabilities for future deep-space travel and to test spacecraft for long-duration spaceflight. Buzz Aldrin
57
Ray Bradbury is one who is contributing to the understanding of the imagination and the curiosity of the human race. Buzz Aldrin
58
NASA's been one of the most successful public investments in motivating students to do well and achieve all they can achieve, and it's sad that we are turning the program in a direction where it will reduce the amount of motivation it provides to young people. Buzz Aldrin
59
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. Buzz Aldrin
60
I think there would be no shortage of applicants to the government astronaut corps to be settlers on the planet Mars. And I think this would be very inspiring. Buzz Aldrin
61
I think the American Dream used to be achieving one's goals in your field of choice - and from that, all other things would follow. Now, I think the dream has morphed into the pursuit of money: Accumulate enough of it, and the rest will follow. Buzz Aldrin
62
When I was a little kid, we only knew about our nine planets. Since then, we've downgraded Pluto but have discovered that other solar systems and stars are common. So life is probably quite prevalent. Buzz Aldrin
63
Because of his military service, Dad was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Buzz Aldrin
64
We can continue to try and clean up the gutters all over the world and spend all of our resources looking at just the dirty spots and trying to make them clean. Or we can lift our eyes up and look into the skies and move forward in an evolutionary way. Buzz Aldrin