Buzz Aldrin testified before the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Space, Science and Competitiveness Tuesday, calling on the government to reclaim the glory it demonstrated when man first walked on the moon 45 years ago.
The former astronaut is not interested in another mission to the moon, however. Instead, Aldrin wants the United States to focus on not just sending man to Mars but establishing a colony on the Red Planet. NASA has plans of sending astronauts to Mars but those flights are not going to happen until the 2030s.
"In my opinion there is no more convincing way to demonstrate American leadership for the remainder of this century than to use 20 July 2019 to commit to and execute a permanent presence on Mars," said Aldrin.
The hearing is a first for Sen. Ted Cruz who recently sat as subcommittee chairman and was aimed at assessing the future of space exploration for the country.
"We need to get back to manned space exploration and to the innovation that has been integral to the mission of NASA. We need to ensure that the United States remains a leader in space exploration in the 21st century," said Cruz.
But to do that, the U.S. must first wean itself from its reliance on Russia's Soyuz. If it can't even go to space on its own, it's going to be difficult for the country to be a space exploration leader, if not impossible.
It's not entirely NASA's fault though as it didn't actively choose to be reliant on Russian technology. The agency simply doesn't have the budget to fly off to space on its own.
This is a fact that Apollo 8 astronaut Walter Cunningham pointed during the hearing.
"Unless the country, which really is Congress, decides to put more money into it, this is just talk that we're doing here. NASA's budget is way too low to be doing the things we talked about doing here," he said.
If the situation continues, the most that NASA will be able to do within the next decade is to replicate the Apollo 8 mission and fly around the moon. Going to Mars and establishing a colony will be out of reach for the country mainly because it doesn't have national commitment to space exploration, added Cunningham.
Aside from Aldrin and Cunningham, Mike Massimino, an astronaut from the space shuttle era, was also invited to testify.
