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CONTEST EMAIL ARCHIVESDate: 05/30/2006 Subject: Buzz Aldrin gives a boost to young rocketeers Buzz Aldrin gives a boost to young racketeers
At age 76 Dr. Buzz Aldrin is still dreaming big.
Aldrin is a former astronaut who is best known for making the historic Apollo XI moon walk with Neil Armstrong in 1969.
On Saturday, he took a break from his hectic schedule to watch the fourth annual Team America Rocketry Challenge at The Great Meadow Field Events Center in The Plains. Five hundred middle school students who made up 100 teams from across the country participated in the event. They competed for cash and prizes totaling $60,000.
"It would be great to take half an hour to sit down with every team, but that's simply not possible," Aldrin said.
Even so, he said he enjoyed watching the action.
"The purpose of this contest is not to see who can go the highest or the fastest. This (activity) has nuances to it," Aldrin said. "It requires fine-tuning rather than brute force."
In the competition, each team was required to design and build a model rocket that would fly to exactly 800 feet and stay aloft for exactly 45 seconds. Each rocket was also required to carry a single hen's egg that had to return to Earth intact.
Scores were based on how close the portion of the entry containing the egg came to the "designated target duration of 45 seconds and the designated target altitude of 800 feet."
The team from Statesville Christian School in Statesville, N.C., won the event. Notre Dame Academy from Toledo, Ohio came in second and the team from West Point/Beemer Junior, Senior High School in West Point, Neb., finished third.
Making space accessible
Sitting on a bench outside the Summer House before the awards ceremony, Aldrin shared his ideas about space exploration and travel. He said he's working to make it accessible for everyone, not just astronauts, scientists or the super-wealthy.
In 1993, he received a U.S. Patent for a permanent space station he designed. More recently, he founded his rocket design company called Starcraft Boosters, Inc., and the ShareSpace Foundation, a nonprofit organization "devoted to opening the doors to space tourism for all people."
"Now that we're moving forward from the era of the space shuttle and space stations, we need our country to make a commitment to the industry of global space travel. It would give people the chance to go into space and stay there," he explained.
Aldrin readily admits that the creation of such an industry won't happen overnight.
"We could have a big setback that could delay it for 10 years (or longer)," he said. "But I think some of the younger kids (here today) will see it in their lifetime."
To the moon and back
Aldrin was born in Montclair, N.J., on Jan. 20, 1930. His mother was the daughter of an U.S. Army chaplain and his dad was an "aviation pioneer."
Aldrin went to school at West Point and graduated with honors in 1951. Soon after graduating, he became a pilot and flew Sabre Jets in 66 combat missions during the Korean conflict.
When he went back to school, he earned a doctorate in astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in manned space rendezvous.
In October 1963, Aldrin was selected by NASA as one of the early astronauts. He was a key figure in both the Gemini XII orbital flight mission and the Apollo VIII mission, which was man's first flight around the moon.
On July 20, 1969, he and Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, becoming the first two men to set foot on another world.
Upon returning from the moon, Aldrin embarked upon an international goodwill tour. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom and dozens of awards from other countries.
Aldrin is retired from NASA, the Air Force and his position as commander of the test pilot school at Edwards Air Force Base. Since retiring, he has written two novels and an autobiography.
He is married to Lois Driggs Cannon, and the couple has six grown children and one grandson. They enjoy skiing in Sun Valley, Idaho, and scuba diving.
"I'm coming here as a guy who's been fortunate enough to have everything go my way," he said Saturday.
E-mail the reporter: abogdanovic@timespapers.com
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