Quotes from Buzz Aldrin

Everyone should take their hats off to Neil Armstrong. He is a humble guy who doesn't wave his own flag.

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.

If you want poets in space, you'll have to wait.

I think the climate has been changing for billions of years.

People communicate in Twittering ways. I've learned how to do that.

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.

When you go to Mars, you need to have made the decision that you're there permanently. The more people we have there, the more it can become a sustaining environment. Except for very rare exceptions, the people who go to Mars shouldn't be coming back. Once you get on the surface, you're there.

Knowledge of the past and an optimistic view of the present give you great opportunities.

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.

Russia perhaps is still entertaining the possibility that the moons of Mars might have access to ice or water.

In Mars, we've been given a wonderful set of moons... where we can send continuous numbers of people.

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.

Space architectures capable of supporting a permanent human presence on Mars are extraordinarily complex, with many different interdependent systems.

The way I see it, what is going to come out of the moon activities is a respect for U.S. leadership.

Landing in the ocean and waiting for the Navy to come alongside and haul you out of the drink is what space capsules require. And after the capsule is recovered, it would take weeks for the ship to return to port.

Everyone who's been in space would, I'm sure, welcome the opportunity for a return to the exhilarating experiences there.

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.

Maybe it was the challenge of flight, the opportunity to fly, the competition of summer camp and the inspiration and discipline of West Point. I think all of those things helped me to develop a dedication and inspired me to get ahead.

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?

I think it's inevitable that there will be Earthlings establishing a presence on Mars. And I would say that it would certainly take place by 2050 or shortly thereafter.

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.

A mind concerned about danger is a clouded mind. It's paralyzing.

My own American Dream was to serve my country as best I could and make a difference in America - and in the world.

The way I see it, commercial interests should manage a lunar base while NASA gets on with the really important task of flying to Mars.