Moon conqueror moots space tourism

By Nirupama Subramanian

COLOMBO, FEB. 25. Edwin `Buzz' Aldrin, who along with Neil Armstrong made history by landing on the moon 42 years ago, said today that the colonisation of space was essential for the survival of the human race.

Colonel Aldrin, who was in Sri Lanka for a few hours on Sunday for a meeting with the noted science fiction writer, Sir Arthur C. Clarke, spoke at a news conference about his hopes of taking tourists into space, paving the way for ``citizen access'' to space and the colonisation of other planets.

``The second half of my life has been dedicated to opening up space and I believe it will get a very strong start in the new millennium,'' the 71-year-old former astronaut said.

He said his ShareSpace Foundation, a non-profit organisation pursuing private space exploration, aimed to take the ``first paying tourist'' to space soon. The opportunity would not be restricted to the rich, but would be made available to as many as possible through a lottery, he said.

Lamenting that space research could not sustain the initiative that made possible the 1969 Apollo 11 lunar mission, Col. Aldrin said space tourism would rejuvenate the flagging interest in exploring the solar system and create conditions for a journey back to the moon, in turn helping man go to Mars.

The author of The Return, a 1999 science-fiction book about a return to the moon, Col. Aldrin said he foresaw all this happening within the first two decades of the 21st century. He argued that due to the danger posed by asteroids to the human species, it was essential for its survival to have settlements on other planets.

An alternative earth

``If something is indeed shooting towards the earth, we need to have a civilisation somewhere. As a responsible civilisation, we owe it to our future generations that if earth is wiped out, then we have a settlement somewhere,'' he said.

Outlining his vision of citizen space travel, the man who was seen by millions of television viewers around the world stepping out of Apollo 11 behind fellow astronaut Armstrong, said research now needed to focus on building reusable space vehicles that would improve the safety and lower the cost of space travel.

``Space holds great promise for advancing the quality of human life on earth. But we have to get there more economically to realise these benefits. And we have to make people understand that they can go, so they will demand to go, and supply will be created to meet that demand. It's the only part of the equation left to complete,'' he said.

He added that he was working on a study on what could be done to achieve this vision, and hoped to help the U.S. President, Mr. George Bush, understand it.

Col. Aldrin, who was in the U.S. Air Force and flew fighters in the Korean war before becoming an astronaut, met Sir Arthur at his home in the Sri Lankan capital for a discussion on ``the future of space travel and the role of private citizens in the development of the final frontier'', a press release issued on his behalf said.

He was due to leave for the Maldives later today and from there, travel onward to India, where he will stop at Kochi and New Delhi.

(Caption: Sir Arthur C. Clarke (left) makes a point with the Apollo-II astronaut, Col. Edwin Aldrin, at a press conference at the American Centre, Colombo, on Sunday. - Photo: Sriyantha Walpola)

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