Quotes from Buzz Aldrin

My petite little platinum blonde beauty of a wife suddenly turned into a public-relations dynamo. "The business is Buzz!" she proclaimed, and indeed so it became.

There were actually 4 people in the Apollo 11 spacecraft ... but we got hungry.

The view from space is like having a globe on your desk -- it's a broadening experience.

The future is about wings and wheels and new forms of space transportation, along with our deep-space ambition to set foot on another world in our solar system: Mars. I firmly believe we will establish permanence on that planet. And in reaching for that goal, we can cultivate commercial development of the moon, the asteroid belt, the Red Planet itself and beyond.

I believe that space travel will one day become as common as airline travel is today. I'm convinced, however, that the true future of space travel does not lie with government agencies -- NASA is still obsessed with the idea that the primary purpose of the space program is science -- but real progress will come from private companies competing to provide the ultimate adventure ride, and NASA will receive the trickle-down benefits.

If we can conquer space, we can conquer childhood hunger.

I was saddened to learn of the passing of Leonard Nimoy, a fellow space traveler because he helped make the journey into the final frontier accessible to us all.... Indeed, there are strange new worlds to explore -- to seek out new life and start new civilizations. It is time to boldly go where no man -- or woman -- has gone before. Thanks to Leonard Nimoy and his beloved Mr. Spock, the bar has been set high for us to continue humanity's quest to probe outward in the universe.

iPhones compute more than what we had for Apollo but if I throw them in the air will they do a star sighting?

I was involved, like John Glenn and some of the other astronauts, with a particular church. So I felt it was appropriate for me to demonstrate my Christian background [by taking Communion on the moon]. Today, my philosophy is more like what Albert Einstein called a cosmic sense of a greater power involved in the creation of the universe. It's very nonspecific.

When we set out to land people on the surface of Mars, I think we should as a nation, as a world, commit ourselves to supporting a growing settlement and colonization there. To visit a few times and then withdraw would be an unforgivable waste of resources.

Only a large-volume market like space travel can attack the barrier of high costs.

Inspiring kids to dream big is important to me. Today's kids will be carrying out Mars missions.

Did the Pilgrims on the Mayflower sit around Plymouth Rock waiting for a return trip? They came here to settle. And that's what we should be doing on Mars. 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.

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.

I use plane rides to write down my thoughts. Such as figuring out radial distance plots for Mars missions.

Did the Pilgrims on the Mayflower sit around Plymouth Rock waiting for a return ship to England? Absolutely not! They traveled to the New World to settle. And that's what I hope we will be doing on Mars. 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 sustainable environment.

The government is going to be strongly involved in going to Mars, but they will be relying more and more on contracting industry and telling them what we want. Then the private sector will be in charge of making it happen. But the prescription will not be, "Hey, Elon, go do what you want."

I was given permission to serve myself Communion, with wine and a wafer, on the surface on the Moon. But I was advised not to say anything about it at the time. Someone had strongly objected to the Apollo 8 crew reading from the Bible. We didn't want to get into any further trouble with the religious critics.

For every winner, there's a loser. And that person didn't really need to lose. They just didn't understand the game plan.

After we got back, I wasn't prepared to be in the public eye. I traveled around the world and met many people. At one point, we visited 23 countries in 45 days. I also thought that going to the moon couldn't be topped. So I left NASA and returned to the Air Force. But I don't think the Air Force knew what to do with someone who went to the moon.

Mars could very well be a staging location for the resources of the asteroid belt. We have to learn how to get a payback somewhere, but it's beyond Mars that the real payoff will come from minerals.

Oh, sure, I've come close to dying a few times, but usually I was having so much fun at the time that I barely noticed the danger.

If, occasionally, my mind gets the sense that the world around me is not doing what I'd like it to do, I may disappear for a day or even a week. That's something I've needed to deal with.

I'm flying over AZ and it looks like Mars. Maybe with a bit too much atmosphere though.