Colonization of Mars of sending a person to Mars in 11 or 12 years". Richard Branson, in his lifetime, is "determined to be a part of starting a population on Mars. I think it is absolutely realistic. It will happen... I think over the next 20 years, we will take literally hundreds of thousands of people to space and that will give us the financial resources to do even bigger things". In June 2013, Buzz Aldrin, American engineer and former astronaut, and the second person to walk on the Moon, wrote an opinion, published in "The New York Times", supporting a human mission
Buzz Aldrin (CMP) and Aldrin as Lunar Module Pilot (LMP). Their assignment as the backup crew of Apollo 9 was officially announced on November 20, 1967. Due to design and manufacturing delays in the lunar module (LM), Apollo 8 and Apollo 9 swapped prime and backup crews, and Armstrong's crew became the backup for Apollo 8. Under the normal crew rotation scheme, Armstrong was then expected to command Apollo 11. Michael Collins, the CMP on the Apollo 8 prime crew, experienced trouble with his legs that doctors diagnosed as a requiring surgery. Lovell took his place on the Apollo 8 crew. When