Buzz Aldrin lectures at Mohamed bin Zayed Majlis

The Majlis of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, hosted on Tuesday a lecture for the US former astronaut and second person to walk on the moon, Buzz Aldrin.

The lecture was attended by H.H. Sheikh Hamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Chief of the Abu Dhabi Crown Prince's Court, Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Culture, Youth and Community Development, senior officials and diplomats.

Aldrin started his lecture, entitled, "Mission to Mars: My Vision for Space Exploration," by commending the efforts made by the UAE to explore Mars through a mission to send an unmanned probe called Hope to Mars by 2021.

"I am impressed with the pace of your mission. Your approach in developing capabilities to design and operate complex probe is exemplary," he added.

Aldrin spoke about his 1969 experience when he and Neil Armstrong went to the Moon on the Apollo 11 mission and stepped onto the lunar surface in what was described as "one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

Selected by NASA in 1963 into the third group of astronauts, Aldrin was the first with a doctorate and became known as "Dr. Rendezvous." The docking and rendezvous techniques he devised for spacecraft in Earth and lunar orbit became critical to the success of the Gemini and Apollo programmes, and are still used today. He also pioneered underwater training techniques, as a substitute for zero gravity flights, to simulate spacewalking. In 1966 on the Gemini 12 orbital mission, Buzz performed the world's first successful spacewalk, overcoming prior difficulties experienced by Americans and Russians during extra-vehicular activity (EVA).

On July 20, 1969, Buzz and Neil Armstrong made their historic Apollo 11 moonwalk, becoming the first two humans to set foot on another world. They spent 21 hours on the lunar surface and returned with 46 pounds of moon rocks. An estimated 600 million people – at that time, the world's largest television audience in history – witnessed this unprecedented heroic endeavour.

Upon returning from the moon, Buzz was decorated with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest American peacetime award. A 45-day international goodwill tour followed, during which he received numerous distinguished awards and medals from 23 other countries.

Named after Buzz are Asteroid "6470 Aldrin" and the "Aldrin Crater" on the moon. Buzz and his Apollo 11 crew have four "stars" on each corner of Hollywood and Vine streets on the renowned Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Since retiring from NASA and the Air Force, Col. Aldrin has remained at the forefront of efforts to ensure America's continued leadership in human space exploration. He devised a master plan for missions to Mars known as the "Aldrin Mars Cycler" – a spacecraft system with perpetual cycling orbits between Earth and Mars.

Dr. Aldrin has received three US patents for his schematics of a modular space station, Starbooster reusable rockets, and multi-crew modules for space flight.

He founded Starcraft Boosters, Inc., a rocket design company, and Buzz Aldrin's ShareSpace Foundation, a non-profit devoted to addressing science literacy for children by igniting their passion for science, technology, engineering, arts and math (STEAM) through delivering hands-on STEAM activities and inspirational messages.