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 and students flew a modified F-104 Starfighter to the edge of space. Fellow Group 3 astronaut and moonwalker Alan Bean considered him well-qualified for the job. Aldrin did not get along well with his superior, Brigadier General Robert M. White, who had earned his astronaut wings flying the X-15. Aldrin's celebrity status led to people to defer to him more than the higher-ranking general. He was hospitalized for depression. His mother committed suicide in May 1968. Aldrin feared that his fame after Gemini 12 contributed. Her father had also committed suicide, and he believes he inherited depression from them. There