Buzz Aldrin Space Institute Comes to Florida Tech
Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin has come to Florida Tech. In partnership with the university, the legendary moonwalker has established the Buzz Aldrin Space Institute (BASI) and signed on as a research professor of aeronautics at Florida Tech. His goal: to promote the settlement of Mars through research.
“I am proud of my time at NASA with the Gemini 12 and Apollo 11 programs but I hope to be remembered more for my contributions to the future. FIT will play a key role in my ongoing legacy and Cycling Pathways to Occupy Mars. You ain’t seen nothing yet!”
The BASI will support commercial and international development of lunar resources to support an eventual Mars settlement. Aldrin’s concept is called Cycling Pathways to Occupy Mars.
“I’m thrilled to be partnering with FIT in my new home state of Florida,” said Dr. Aldrin. Aldrin’s proposed architecture establishes pathways of progressive missions to lunar space, asteroids, Phobos (one of Mars’s moons) and eventually to the surface of the red planet itself.
The plan involves staged missions using cycler spacecraft that would orbit back and forth between Mars and Earth. The craft would be somewhat similar to the International Space Station, allowing for docking and disembarking.
“With that, we can have redundant missions to Mars,” said Aldrin during his keynote address at the Greatness in Leadership conference at Enmax Centre. “Other (missions) don’t have redundant travel.”
5 things you might not know about Buzz Aldrin
- Earned a Doctorate of Science in Astronautics from MIT
- Holds three U.S. patents for his schematics of a modular space station, Starbooster reusable rockets, and multi-crew modules for space flight.
- Founded the ShareSpace Foundation, a nonprofit devoted to addressing science literacy for children by igniting their passion for science, technology, engineering, arts and math (STEAM) through delivering hands-on activities and inspirational messages.
- Will establish the Buzz Aldrin Special Collection and Archives at Florida Tech’s Evans Library.
- He is the third astronaut currently serving on Florida Tech’s faculty, which also includes space shuttle astronauts Winston Scott and Samuel Durrance.
