By Kesara Abeywardena

Buzz Aldrin, the second man on moon showing his namesake character from the Disney movie Toy Story, the astronaut Buzz at a press conference in Colombo yesterday. Sir Arthur C. Clarke looks on. (Pic. by Nihal Chandrakumara)

Second man on moon Edwin Aldrin who was in Colombo on Sunday said that the future of space exploration relied on the commercialisation of space travel that would provide an opportunity for "space tourism."

Meeting the press during his brief stay of few hours enroute to Maldives in a luxury cruise, Buzz Aldrin as he is fondly known said that the opportunity for a tour in space or in the moon that would ensue should not only be limited to the rich as there can be an international lottery system to select those who yearn to travel to space.

He said that in two months time the first person who could be called the "real space tourist" from Los Angeles would visit the international space station in a Russian space shuttle. Mr. Aldrin is the founder of a non profit organisation called Share Space Foundation that is bent on opening the opportunities of space to the general public.

He contended that with more people travelling to the moon and the space on a commercial basis would in turn provide competition that would stimulate research and new exploration. "We should have reusable rockets and this idea of space travel would get a strong standing in the new millennium," he said.

He visioned through this exercise that man would be able to settle humans on Mars in another 20-25 years time. He said that other than satellites two other payloads that can be transported to space is nuclear waste and people. However, Mr. Aldrin told that no one is considering of taking nuclear waste since it is quite dangerous.

Dr. Arthur Clarke who accompanied Aldrin on Sunday said that it should seriously be considered of settling humans in other parts of the solar system because of the precarious nature of earth in the face of bombardment of asteroids and meteors, so that the human race would survive.

Recalling the moonlanding he said: "We had only a one nights stay, but it was a fantastic journey for a few of us."

He said that no time in history has so much people been considered about two people so far away. He also said that when they returned back to earth to the cheers of the crowds he had remarked to Neil Armstrong: "Neil we missed the whole thing."

Explaining his immediate future arrangements Mr. Aldrin said that he would be advising the new President about the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the famous speech by President John F. Kennedy on May 25, 1961 calling on America to put a man on moon and bring him safely back to earth before the end of that decade. He said that appropriate utterances regarding future space travel would be made at such occasions.