Buzz Aldrin at the space conference in Jerusalem: "I'm not in favor of a one-time round trip to Mars - we need to build a permanent base there"

Aldrin presented at the 66th Congress of the International Astronautical Association (IAC) which opened yesterday in Jerusalem. According to him, it is necessary to settle Mars in a permanent settlement and to create a transportation network between the Earth, the Moon and Mars * "Referring to the Apollo 11 mission and being in the shadow of Neil Armstrong, Aldrin said that "Neil went first to the lunar soil simply because he was close to the door"

The second person to walk on the lunar soil, Buzz Aldrin, who is participating in the 66th International Astronautical Congress, which is taking place these days, despite the situation, in the nation's buildings in Jerusalem, is already thinking about the next destination, Mars.

About 20 scientists, dozens of astronauts, people from the space industry and about XNUMX heads of space agencies from around the world are being hosted at the congress, to discuss future challenges and plans in space as part of the international space conference hosted by the Israel Space Agency at the Ministry of Science.

Aldrin announced a master plan for the periodic settlement of Mars. The intention is to build a sequence of spaceships with the help of which the Earth, the Moon and Mars will be mutually connected all the time and expeditions of colonists, cargo and trade will cross the inner solar system.

On a practical level, it offers a regular service of spacecraft in every possible time window between an orbit around the Moon and an orbit around Mars, from which it will be possible for astronauts to disembark in smaller aircraft, when from this orbit it will be easier for the spacecraft to return to orbit the Earth or the Moon.

Aldrin said that these days he is working to promote manned flights to Mars and the establishment of a colony on the planet: "I feel that the journey to Mars and back is not what we should do," he said, "We need to select 6 to 12 people who will train accordingly and send them to Mars, but why should we bring them back? We need to encourage them to stay there and become pioneers on Mars", we must allow the conditions for this.

He is not in favor of flights where a delegation comes and returns. He proposes instead, the model of the International Space Station where the first astronauts are the ones who will assemble the station. The station components will be sent earlier when they are ready to connect to each other and the astronauts will activate the installation system from orbit and when it is ready, they will be able to land. "I spoke with Steve Squires, who was responsible for Spirit and Opportunity, and he told me that due to the delay caused by the arrival of the signals at the speed of light, all the trips made by the robotic vehicles - Spirit for five years and Opportunity until today (about 11 years), could be done within a week from orbit around Mars.

According to his proposal, only when the replacements arrive will the original crew be replaced, meaning that each crew must stay on Mars for more than three years. "The president of the United States or any other world leader who starts the colony on Mars will be recorded in the history books, while a president who only receives the people of the one-time expedition will not leave such a big impression.

Referring to the proposal of Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX, to blow up Mars with atomic bombs and create a greenhouse effect there, so that a million people can be settled there, Aldrin said: that he should concentrate on the development of spacecraft for Mars and that he should do it with private money, and not with government funding as he receives today. (SpaceX has contracts with NASA - the current one for cargo launches and the relatively new one, for manned launches to the AB space station).

In a meeting with journalists, astronaut Dr. Buzz Aldrin, from the first crew on the moon, said that "the reason Neil Armstrong was the first to walk on the moon is because he was closer to the door."

Aldrin said that he joined the training for the flight to the moon as early as 1963, close to the assassination of American President Kennedy and his first flights into space in the Jimny 12 spacecraft. He also told about the underwater training methods he developed, "I was the first astronaut underwater" he said "In the end they decided in Nass" A to give up the idea and it broke my heart because this is really something I would like to teach George Clooney".

Later, Aldrin, at the request of the journalists, described the story of the resourcefulness he discovered when he pulled out the switch intended to prevent an untimely launch back from the moon, but got stuck when he needed it with a marker: "We realized there was a problem and asked for Houston's help and went to sleep as planned, although this is not a soft king size bed but Narrow bunks but we were tired and slept soundly. When we woke up they still didn't have a solution, and they said we had to push the switch somehow. I thought that a bare hand was not a good solution because of the electric current that goes through the starting system, and for the same reason a ballpoint pen is also not suitable, then I remembered the marker with which I would write details on the samples and in general I used it a lot during the journey, I pushed the entire switch box in and it came loose.

Neill also said that he planned the last words to be spoken on the first trip to the moon, after Armstrong stole his fame with the famous phrase "one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind". He decided to use humor when he said to Houston after receiving permission to take off: "Houston, we are number 1 on the runway."

In response to the question of the science website, why was the space program actually interrupted and no human has gone beyond Earth's orbit since 1972, following his statement from a few years ago to the MIT journal: We were promised colonies on Mars, and instead we got Facebook: "After the Apollo operation, there were Lara "Among other financial priorities, we had matters to close in Vietnam, and then we tried reusable launch systems (the AB space shuttle), so the course of technological history progressed as it did."

NASA Director Charles Bolden said in response at a press conference held later yesterday: "The ability to return to Earth in an emergency should not be underestimated. We must develop spacecraft internal propulsion systems, which will make it possible to make changes to the orbit and shorten the time between Earth and Mars, which today is at least five months. We must ensure the safety of the astronauts as well as their quality of life. We know today that it will be possible to get from Earth to Mars and back without dying from the radiation, but certainly the health and quality of life of those astronauts will be affected and one of the most important things that needs to be developed is a protection system against the strong radiation in space.

More from the IAC Space Congress 2015 Jerusalem

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