Apollo 11 Astronaut Buzz Aldrin lays out a new vision for NASA. Highlights include:
--He rejects cancelling the Shuttle next year saying its remaining six flights should be extended until a replacement can come along.
--The replacement should not be the Ares I with its unreliable solid boosters but rather manned modifications of Atlas rockets
--The U.S. should abandon its unilateral quest to return to the Moon. We should provide primarily technical expertise for an international effort. Aldrin regards returning to the Moon as a wasteful "been there, done that" thing.
--Shoot instead for Mars. In perhaps his most radical idea he suggests Making the future Mars missions one way trips with those going becoming permanent colonist pioneers rather than explorers who would be expected to return.
Here's the interesting interview in Popular Science. http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/air_space/4322647.html
I should add that the Obama Administration may be open to this. As previously posted here, the Obama Administration has ordered a complete top to bottom review of NASA to include the nature of its very mission.
http://www.network54.com/Forum/594658/thread/1241781706/NASA-++A+Spaceship+Without+A+Rudder
"A man never drinks anything that a plant lives in" --DBone (A Real Man).
http://vimeo.com/4938173
