Quotes from Buzz Aldrin

Mars is far more attractive as an outpost colony for earthlings than the moon is.

My salute to the American flag on the moon was my proudest moment.

It was designed to have an impact on the stalemate over Mutually Assured Destruction with the Soviet Union. Us reaching the moon convinced Gorbachev and other leaders that the Soviet Union couldn't compete with the U.S., so they revised their agenda. But people have short memories.

There's no doubt that there will be many trials and tribulations along the way in taming space for the benefit of all, unmasking its truths and using the boundless resources available to us. Taking a chance allows us to seek new horizons -- and we all benefit from being horizon hunters.

Beautiful! Beautiful! Magnificent desolation.

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.

The future is not what we make but what we see

Most people never believed in the real possibility of going to the moon, and neither did I until I was in my twenties.

Human rights problems will always exist for years to come, but maybe they'll lessen somewhat.

I think humans will reach Mars, and I would like to see it happen in my lifetime.

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

Being first outside the spacecraft would bring much more responsibility, and I really wasn't looking for that.

When you're in a spacecraft, you need to know what things you can touch and what things you shouldn't touch!

I don't think we're going to build a 50-person spacecraft or a 100-person spacecraft.

It was interesting to think that the very first liquid ever poured on the Moon, and the first food eaten there, were communion elements.

The moon I see now is the same moon I saw before. Except that before, when I looked at it, it was in anticipation of what it would be like when I got there. That's behind me now.

I'm in favor of changing the destination of humans. There are a lot of manned missions that can be done, but not in the direction of the moon.

Mars is far more attractive as an outpost colony for earthlings than the moon is.

Going to Mars would evolve humankind into a two-planet species.

Heavy lifting doesn't need to be heavy spending if we do the job right.

Neil Armstrong was the first man to walk on the moon. I am the first man to piss his pants on the moon.

We must still think of ourselves as pioneers to understand the importance of space.

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.

I want to reach a new generation. That's why I am Twittering now. I have a BlackBerry, an iPhone and a Mac.