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Aldrin: Accessibility the key to future space flight
March 24, 1999 By CNN Interactive Space Editor Randal Jackson WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Buzz Aldrin, one of the privileged few who have traveled into space during the current millennium, said Wednesday that opening the heavens to the masses is the key to fostering space exploration in the next century. "One of the most critical things NASA will decide in the next few years is, what is the next shuttle going to be like?" Aldrin said. He asked whether the agency would again build a reusable vehicle to go up on an expendable rocket, "or are we boldly going to move into the future ... introducing improvements to our shuttle, adding a reusable second stage?" Aldrin said a reusable, multi-stage rocket could provide the thrust necessary to take large numbers of people into space. Studies have indicated taking 80 to 100 people per flight is the minimum at which space tourism becomes economically feasible, Aldrin said.
For the shorter term, the former Apollo 11 astronaut said he is working with the Share Space Foundation on a concept that would allow investors to buy shares toward the purchase of a space flight opportunity, such as a seat on the space shuttle. Shareholders would be chosen through a lottery for a chance to go into space. Aldrin made his comments during a panel discussion on the "Risks and Reward of Space Exploration," part of the daylong "Space 2000: Space Exploration at the Millennium" symposium on the past and future of space travel hosted by American University in Washington. Aldrin shared the platform with shuttle astronauts Yvonne Cagle and Franklin Chang-Diaz and moderator Hugh Downs, co-anchor of ABC News' "20/20." Cagle, one of the first African-American women selected for NASA's astronaut program, exhorted future generations of space travelers to "have the courage to dream ... reach for a star ... dare to do the impossible." "If we strive to be our own hero, the sky and space are no longer limits for us," Cagle said.
Chang-Diaz sketched out a scheme for getting to Mars in the year 2018 using a futuristic craft called the Variable Spatial Impulse Magneto Plasma Rocket, or VASMIR for short. The engine would be powered by hot plasma gas, contained not by hardware, but by invisible magnetic fields. He said the year 2018 would be a crucial target for such a manned flight, because Mars and Earth will be lined up in proper orientation for minimum travel time. Chang-Diaz, a native of Costa Rica, is a veteran of six space flights, including the final shuttle-Mir docking mission. Aldrin, the second human to stand on the moon, today lectures and travels extensively to pursue and discuss concepts for exploring the universe. "Space 2000" is co-sponsored by NASA, American University, the D.C. Space Grant Consortium and the American Astronomical Society as part of NASA's 40th anniversary celebration. Other topics of the back-to-back discussions, continuing through 10 p.m. ET, were to include "Space Exploration for a New Generation" and "Humankind's Place in the Cosmos." The event is dedicated to the memory of late author and scientist Carl Sagan. RELATED STORIES: An idea that helped spin us into the space age RELATED SITES: NASA
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