Buzz Aldrin speaks about his experience as a part of the first successful moon landing in human history in Macky Auditorium on March 3, 2015. (Gray Bender/CU Independent)
Buzz Aldrin, the living, breathing embodiment of mankind’s most heroic achievement, was greeted Tuesday evening with a standing ovation that lasted nearly a minute from a sold-old Macky Auditorium.
He opened with a joke about how he’s never given a talk with glasses on before, and the audience was reminded that this man that has set foot in another world is still, in fact, human. Many came to visit the moon vicariously through him, but Aldrin’s lecture only lightly addressed his time on the moon. To him, thats old news. Now, he wants to get Mars.
“To some it may sound like science fiction, but that’s what people thought when Kennedy made that commitment to go to the moon.”
Dr. Buzz Aldrin , the second man on the moon, attracted a full crowd to Macky Auditorium on the evening of March 3, 2015. (Alexander Joyce/CU Independent)
Standing before a crowd of 2,000, Buzz Aldrin boldly argued for the necessity of colonization on Mars. He said that the mission could be put into motion by 2019, a fitting date, the 50th anniversary of his trip to the moon. If everything goes according to plan, he said, humans could start taking up permanent Martian residency as soon as 2040.
The audience stirred. People living on the moon by 2040? They’d just been challenged by a man who defined 20th century human achievement to define 21st century human achievement. Not a small endeavor, but neither was getting to the moon, and we got that done just fine.
Aldrin is an impossibly huge figure. Not because of his status as a war hero, an MIT rocket scientist or as one of the first two men to walk on the moon. Buzz Aldrin’s impossible stature comes from his utter conviction in the potential of humanity.
“Apollo was the story of people at their best,” he said. “We started with a dream – we can do these kinds of things again. I know. I’m living proof.”
But his vision seemed impossible, too. You could feel the gears turning. The crowd was presented with an idea they were reluctant to accept, from a man they wanted to believe.
CU’s history is closely tied with that of space exploration. Eighteen of our alumni are, or have served as, astronauts. We’ve sent instruments to every planet in the solar system. Our students were closely involved with the MAVEN space probe, which arrived at Mars last semester.
Aldrin’s lecture began with his own story. At 17, he enrolled in West Point, graduating third in his class. He flew 66 combat missions as a fighter pilot in the Korean War. After the war, he attended MIT, and received his Doctorate of Science in Astronautics. On his first spaceflight, he piloted the Gemini 12 and demonstrated the viability of extravehicular activity by walking outside of the spacecraft for over two hours (a world record). He later piloted the Apollo 11’s lunar module and became the second man to walk on the moon, right behind Neil Armstrong.
Aldrin described the scene in detail, “As I stepped out onto the talcum-white lunar dust, the first words that came to mind were ‘magnificent desolation’.” Aldrin is a rocket scientist, so this is about as poetic as he gets.
The true value of Apollo 11 he says, was the innovation and teamwork that went into overcoming the mission’s myriad obstacles.
“The people were not merely cheering for us, but for what we represented,” he said, “We had accomplished the impossible.”
Apollo astronaut Buzz Aldrin explains his ideas for future human travel to Mars, using his hands to represent interactions between different low-earth orbit space ships. Aldrin recently released a book titled Mission to Mars that details his ideas. (Gray Bender/CU Independent)
Then, in the spirit of the impossible, Aldrin outlined his plan for the exploration and colonization of Mars, which he calls his Unified Space Vision. It involves the development of a complex, orbiting network of spacecraft and the establishment of Mars Cyclers, ships that make frequent stops at both Earth and Mars. He envisions a future full of “citizen explorers” and space tourism.
Despite the precision with which he described his plan, Aldrin seemed to glance over the ultimate reasoning for colonizing Mars. He gave a brief explanation, saying that space travel has been responsible for improving life on Earth through its role in the development of technology.
Some students displayed mixed feelings about the viability of colonization. “I think its possible, technology-wise, but it’s going to be really hard to do economically and politically,” said Michael Guida a sophomore studying Computer Science.
Aldrin believes that the answer to this problem lies in both global cooperation and encouraging public interest. “I consider myself a global statesman for space. I’ve dedicated the last fifty years of my life to this proposition. This is why I’m so active at the age of 85. I want to get the world excited about space again.”
In a Q&A session that concluded the event, one student asked, “Mr. Aldrin, how do you inspire the next generation?”
Aldrin replied, “I just did.”
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Billy Singleton at Wisi8641@colorado.edu
