Buzz Aldrin, the second man on the moon, is making a strong case for a permanent settlement on Mars. Speaking at a “Fly Me to the Moon” event to launch Hasselblad’s Lunar Camera at Willoughby’s Camera Emporium in Manhattan, Aldrin told us, “My hope is that we will build a permanent base on the moon, we’ll learn how to do it on the Big Island of Hawaii, where we can make mistakes, and then be confident that we can do that on the moon, which will enable a permanent base on Mars to be led by Americans. There’s a lot to discover, so much of Mars looks like water has been there, it is more habitable for humans for the long term without requiring lots of supplies to be sent from earth. You can go to the moon and you can come back, but Mars is difficult to get to, and it’s much, much more difficult to come back. It s only logical that anyone who goes there agrees to spend the rest of their lives there. You better have looked into it before you sign the piece of paper.” Aldrin, who landed on the moon with Neil Armstrong in 1969 and has just released a new book “Mission to Mars,” said he was encouraged by interest in space tourism, “There are several different companies competing to do it as well as Virgin Galactic. I have been asked to support Axe Apollo Space Academy, who want to send 22 people into space. It has always been my purpose to have some kind of space lottery, where lots of people get randomly selected.” Of his own plans, he added, “I don’t think I’ll go to space again, because I think I am more valuable, on the ground, to the country helping to plan more things for the future.”