of jobs is to be regretted. i believe will be able to help those people who are losing their jobs back into work. we have offered jlr a grant of 27 million towards the development of low carbon land rovers at this plant. they would be produced there. so we are trying to do what we can to replace lost jobs. i will work with him as i know he does a great deal in this area and others to make sure that jobs come. >> >> our armed forces are fundamental to counter state-led threats. this was made clear in an update that we published last month. >> i'm relieved to hear that. before iraq and afghanistan, we were spending 2.5% of g.d.p. ensuring against potential threats in other industrial

countries. as we are still spending 2.5% despite the additional cost of the counterinsurgency campaigns and including the contribution of the treasury reserve, which of these two major military roles is currently underfunded 'cause one of them must be? >> mr. speaker, i have to say to them that defense spending has continued to rise in real terms in contrast to what happened in the last years of the conservative government. i have to say also that in addition to the defense budget, we put aside 14 billion for the campaigns in iraq and afghanistan. and i want to tell him that our budget in cash >> the british house of commons is in recess for the summer. prime minister's questions returns in october. over the next few weeks you can

watch international programming during the 9:00 hour eastern and pacific on c-span. at c-span.org you can find a video archive of past prime ministers questions and links to the house of commons. >> tomorrow, the nation's governors in rigid conclude their annual meeting in biloxi mississippi. business leaders will address climate change and so-called green jobs. live coverage at 11:30 a.m. eastern on c-span2. tomorrow, in commemoration of the 40 the anniversary of the first moon landing, a group of apollo astronauts gathered to share their thoughts about that day and the future of space travel. among the astronauts, buzz aldrin, a member of the first lunar landing mission and the second man to walk on the moon. that is live at 12:30 p.m. on c- span3.

>> up next, president obama's remarks at the 100th anniversary of the naacp's founding. he talked about personal responsibility in the african- american community and the relevance of the naacp. this event took place in new york city. it is just over 35 minutes. >> thank you. >> hello, naacp. thank you, everybody. please, everybody, have a seat. thank you. what an extraordinary night, capping off an extraordinary week, capping off an extraordinary 100 years in the naacp. [applause] to chairman bond, i am so grateful to all of you for being here. it is just good to be among friends.

it is an extraordinary honor to be here in this city where the naacp was formed to mark its centennial. this is not just a journey that the naacp has traveled but we as americans have traveled over the past 100 years. it is a journey that takes us back to a time before most of us were born, long before the voting rights act, the civil rights act, brown v. board of education, back to an america a generation past slavery. it was a time when jim crow was

a way of life, when lynchings were all too common, when race riots were shaking cities all across the segregated land. it was in this america when an atlanta scholar named w. e. b. du bois sparked what became known as the niagara movement where they were united not by color but by cause, where an association was born that would promote equality and eradicate prejudice among citizens of the united states. from the beginning, these founders understood how change would come. just as king and all the civil-

rights leaders understood. they understood that unjust laws needed to be overturned, that legislation needed to be passed, and that presidents needed to be pressured into action. they knew that the stain of slavery, the sin of segregation had to be lifted in the courtroom and in the legislation and in the hearts and minds of americans. they also knew that here in america, change would have to come from the people. it would come from people protesting, rallying against violence, all those women who decided to walk instead of taking the bus, even though they were tired after a long day of doing someone else's laundry, looking out for someone else's children.

[applause] it would come from men and women of every age and faith and every race and region, taking greyhounds on freedom rides sitting down at greensboro lunch counters, registering voters in rural mississippi, knowing they would be harassed, beaten, knowing that some of them might never return. because what they did we are a more perfect union. because jim crow laws were overturned, blacks today run fortune 500 companies. [applause] because civil rights laws were passed, black mayors and black governors, members of congress,

certain places where they might once have been able not have been able to vote or even take a sip of water. because ordinary people did set extraordinary things, because they made the civil-rights movement their own -- even though there may not be a plaque or their names may not be in the history book, because of their efforts i made a trip to springfield, illinois a couple of years ago where lincoln once lived and race riots once raged, and began the journey that led me to be here tonight as the 44th president of the united states of america. [applause] because of them, i stand here tonight. i am here to say, thank you to

those pioneers and thank you to the naacp. [applause] even as we celebrate the remarkable achievements of the past 100 years, even as we inherit extraordinary progress that cannot be denied, even as we marvel at the courage and determination of so many plain folk, we know that too many barriers still remain. we know that even as our economic crisis batters americans of all races, african-americans are out of work more than just about anybody else. that's why we're here in new york city.

we know that even as spiraling health-care costs crushed families of all races, african- americans are more likely to suffer from a whole host of diseases but less likely to have health insurance than just about everybody else. even as we imprison more people of all races than any nation in the world, an african-american child is five times as likely as a white child to see the inside of a prison. we know that even as the surge of h.i.v.-aids devastates nations abroad, particularly africa, it is devastating the african-american community here at home. we know these things. these are some of the barriers.

they are different from the barriers faced by earlier generations. very different from the ones faced when fire hoses and dogs were being turned on young marchers, when charles hamilton and power lawyers were dismantling segregation case by case across the land, but what is required today to overcome today's barriers is the same as what was needed then. the same commitment, the same sense of urgency, the same sense of sacrifice, the same sense of community, the same willingness to do our part for ourselves and one another that has always define america at its best and the african-american experience at its best. [applause]

and so the question is where do we direct our efforts? what steps will it take to overcome these barriers? how do we move forward in the next 100 years? the first thing we need to do is to make real the words of the the naacp charter, eradicate prejudice and bigotry among the citizens of the united states. [applause] i understand there may be a temptation among some to think that discrimination is no longer a problem in 2009. i believe that overall there probably has not been that much overt discrimination. but the pain is still felt in america.

[applause] by african-american women who are paid less to do the same work than those of a different color and different genders. by latinos made to feel unwelcome in their own country. by muslim-americans viewed with suspicion simply because they kneel down to pray to their god. by our gay brothers and sisters still attacked, still denied their rights. on the 45th anniversary of the civil rights act, discrimination cannot stand. not on account of color or gender, how you worship, or who you love. prejudice has no place in the united states of america. that is what the naacp stands for. that is what the naacp will

long stand for. as long as it takes. but we also know that prejudice and discrimination -- at least the most blatant types -- are not the steepest barriers to opportunity today. the most difficult barriers include structural inequalities in our nation's legacy of discrimination has lagged behind. this is plaguing too many communities and too often are the object of national neglect. these are barriers we are beginning to tear down, one by one, by rewarding work, by giving ex-offenders a second chance.

we have programs like promise neighborhoods, and a harlem children's zone, which fosters a comprehensive approach to ending poverty by putting all children on the pathway to college and giving them that school and after-school support that they need to get there. [applause] i think all of us understand that the task of reducing the structural inequalities has been made more difficult by the state and structure of our broader economy, an economy that in the last decade has been fuelled by a cycle of boom and bust, an economy where the rich got really rich but ordinary

folks did not see their incomes or their wages go up, an economy built off credit cards, shady mortgage loans, an economy built not on a rock but on sand. that is why we are not only spending on employee insurance for people who lost their health care in this crisis, not just to stem the immediate economic wreckage but to lay a new foundation for growth and prosperity that will put prosperity within the reach of not just african-americans but all americans, all americans of every race, of every creed, from every region of the country. we want everyone to participate

in the american dream, and that is what the naacp is all about. [applause] one pillar of this new foundation is health insurance for everybody. health insurance that cuts costs and makes it affordable for all and closes health care disparities in the process. another pillar is energy reform that makes clean energy possible and frees america from the scourge of foreign oil, putting young people to work, creating jobs that cannot be outsourced. [applause] another pillar is financial reform. consumer protections that crack down on mortgage fraud, and stop predatory lenders from

targeting black and latino communities all across the country. it would drive innovation and provide jobs and give families more security. and yet even if we do all of that, the african-american community will still fall behind the united states. and the united states will fall behind in the world unless we do a far better job of improving our education of our sons and daughters. [applause] i hope you do not mind -- i want to go into detail about education. [applause] in the 21st century, when so

many jobs require a bachelor's degree or more, when countries that outeducate today will outperform us tomorrow, a world-class education is a prerequisite for success. there is no two ways about it. there is no way to avoid it. you know what i am talking about. there is a reason the story of the civil-rights movement was written in our schools. there is a recent thurgood marshall took up the cause. there is a reason why the little rock nine defied a mob. there is no stronger weapon against inequality and no better path opportunity than an education that can unlock a child's god-given ability. [applause]

more than half a century after brown v. board, the dream of a world-class education is still being deferred all across the country. african-american students are lagging behind white classmates. an achievement gap is growing in states that once led the way in the civil-rights movement. over half of all african- american students are dropping out of school. not just black children, brown, and white children, as well. the state of our schools is not an african-american problem but an american problem. if black and brown children cannot compete, thenamerica cannot compete.

if al sharpton and newt gingrich can agree that we need to solve the education problem, we can agree. those two came into my office. i had to do a double take. [laughter] [applause] but that is a sign of progress and it is a sign of the urgency of the education problem. all of us can agree that we

need to offer every child in this country, every child -- let me turn back around here, every child. [applause] every child in this country -- the best education in the world has to offer, from the cradle through a career. that is our responsibility as leaders. that is the responsibility of the united states of america. and all of us in government have to work to do our part of not only offering more resources but demanding more reform. when it comes to education, we have got to get past this old paradigm, this outdated notion that somehow it is just money. or somehow it's just reform, but no money.

embrace what dr. king called the both/and philosophy. we need more money and we need more reform. when it comes to higher education, we are making college andadvanced training more affordable and strengthening community colleges that are the gateway to so many with an initiative, preparing them not only to earn a degree but find a job when they graduate. it will help us meet the goal of increasing college degrees by 2020. we used to rank no. 1 in college graduates. now we are in the middle of the pack. since we see more african- american and latino youth in our population, if we leave them behind, we cannot achieve our goal. america also falls further behind and that is not eight future i can accept. that is not a future that the naacp is willing to accept.

we are creating incentives for states to promote excellent teachers and replace bad ones. [applause] the job of a teacher is too important for us to accept anything less than the best. [applause] we also have to explore innovative approaches, such as those being pursued here in new york city, innovations like early college, and the repertory schools, that are challenging students to earn their associates degree and college credit in just four years. and we should raise the bar when it comes to the early learning programs. it is not just enough to have a

babysitter. we need our young people stimulated, engaged, and involved. we need our folks involved in child development to understand the latest science. some early learning programs are excellent and some are wasting what studys show are by far a child's best learning years. if you match the success of states like pennsylvania for early learning, if you focus reform on standards and results in the early learning programs, if you demonstrate how you will prepare the lowest income children to meet high standards of success, then you can compete for an early learning challenge grant that will help prepare all of our children to enter kindergarten. these are some of the laws that we are passing.

these are some of the policies we are enacting. we are busy in washington. folks in congress are getting a little tuckered out. [laughter] the american people are counting on us. these are some of the ways that we are doing our part in government to overcome the inequities, the injustices, the barriers that still exist in our time. but all of these innovative programs and expanded opportunities will not in and of themselves make a difference if each of us as parents and as community leaders failed to do our part by encouraging excellence in our children. [applause]

government programs alone will not get our children to the promised land. we need a new mindset, a new set of attitudes, because one of the most durable and destructive legacy of discrimination is the way we have internalized a sense of limitation, how so many in our community have come to expect so little from the world and from themselves. we have got to say to our children, if you are african- american the odds of growing up amid crime and gangs are high. yes, if you live in a poor neighborhood you will face challenges that someone in a wealthy suburb does not have to face. but that is not a reason to get bad grades. [applause] that is not a reason to cut class. that is not a reason to give up on your education and drop out of school. no one has written your destiny for you.

your destiny is in your hands. you cannot forget that. that is why we have to teach all of our children, no excuses. [applause] no excuses. you get that education, all those hardships will make you stronger, better able to meet challenges. yes, we can. [applause] to parents, we cannot tell our kids to do well in school and then fail to support them when they get home. you cannot just contract out parenting. we have to accept our

responsibility to help them work. putting away the x-box, putting our kids to bed at a reasonable hour. it means attending those parent-teacher conferences and reading to our children and helping them with their homework. and by the way, it means we have to be there for our neighbors' sons and daughters. we need to go back to the time, back in the day, when parents saw somebody -- some kids fooling around, and it was not your child, but they would whoop you anyway. [applause] or at least they would tell your parents. parents, you know. [laughter]

that is the meaning of community. that is how we can reclaim the strength and determination and hopefulness that helped us come so far. help us make a way out of no way. it also means pushing your children to set their sights a little bit higher. you might think they've got a good jump shot, or pretty good flow. but our kids cannot all aspire to be lebron or lil wayne. i want them aspiring to be doctors and teachers, supreme court justices, i want them aspiring to be the president of the united states of america. [applause]

. and that is what the naacp is

all about. the naacp was not founded in search of a handout. the naacp was not founded in search of favor. the naacp was founded on a notion of justice, to cash and promissory note of america that says that all of our children, all of god's children, deserve a fair chance in the race of life. it was a simple dream and yet one that all too often has been denied and is still being denied to americans. it is a painful thing. i remember visiting chicago school in the rough neighborhood. and some of the children gathered around, and i remember thinking how remarkable it was that all of these children seemed so full of hope despite

being born into poverty, despite being delivered, in some cases come into addiction, despite the obstacles they were already facing. you could see that spark in their eyes. they were equal with children everywhere, and i remember the principal of the school had said the that sparkle had begun to dimmer and that soon the laughter in their eyes would begin to fade, and kids are smarter than we give them credit for. as it sunk in that their hopes were not come to pass, not because they were not smart enough, not because they were not talented enough, not because of anything inherently about them, but just because by bertha they did not receive a fair chance.

-- by birth, they did not receive a fair chance. i was raised by single mom. i did not come from a lot of wealth. i got into my fair share of trouble in my child. my life could have taken a turn for the worse. when i drive to chicago, and i see young men on the corner, i say, "there but for the grace of god go i.. = g-- go i. " my mother took no lip, she taught me the difference between right and wrong, and because of that, i had a chance. the same story holds true for

michelle. the same story holds true for many of you out there, and at what all of the other barack obamas out there, all of the of the michelle obamas out there -- and i want all of you, that is our our union will be perfected and our economy will be rebuilt. that is how merkel will move forward in the next 100 years, and we will move forward -- that is how america will move forward. i know how far we have come. michelle and i last week took our children to gonna. some of you may have been there. -- to gonna. this is where captors -- to

ghana. we went down into the dungeons where the captives were held. there was a church above one of the dungeons, which tells you something. about saying one thing and doing another. we walked through the door of no return. i was reminded of all of the pain and all of the hardships, all of the injustices, and all the indignities of the voyage of slavery to freedom. and i was reminded of something else. i was reminded that no matter

how cidoni road, we have always persevere. = -- no matter how stoney the road. hopes may reced, but it john lewis could bridge building clubs to cross the bridge, i know we can lift up our community. -- could bear billy clubs. i know we can be better mothers and fathers in our families. black and white, christian and jews, they could lay down their lives for freedom is called, if they can do that, i know we can

face down the challenges of our own time. we can fix our schools. we can heal our sick. we can rescue our youth from violence and despair, and 100 years from now, on the 200th anniversary of the naacp, let it be said that this generation did its part, that we, too, ran the race, that are dark past has taught us what the presence has brought us, what we face in our life and all across this nation, the rising sun of a new day begun. thank you. god bless you. coppola's the united states of america. -- god bless the united states of america. [applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2009] [captioning performed by national captioning institute]

>> yes, we can. yes, we can. yes, we can. yes, we can. yes, we can. yes, we can. yes, we can. >> a conversation now buzz aldrin, apollo 11 astronauts and the second man to walk on the moon. the anniversary is tomorrow. he was a guest on today's "washington journal" for about 50 minutes. guest: thank you. .

we want to share with you some of the moments for 40 minutes ago, and when we come back, buzz aldrin will be talking about his experiences, his new book, and the future of the nasa space program. >> we see some angela blocks several hundred feet in front of us -- and killer -- angular. they have angular edges. >> now, in the lesser gravity of the moon, armstrong and aldrin prepared to explore this dark, lonely world. >> do you think you can open the hatch at this pressure? >> we are going to try it. >> roger.

>> the hatch is coming open. >> /buzz aldrin, neil armstrong in his suit worked his way through the eagles forward hatch. -- the eagle's forward hatch. but they are doing fine. >> roger, neil. >> and we are getting a picture on the tv. >> i am at the foot of the ladder. the foot beds are depressed in

the surface about one or two inches. and am stepping off the land now. that's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. host: we want to welcome buzz aldrin, to the "washington journal," that's beening -- thank you for being with us. >> thank you. host: does it seem like 40 years? guest: yeand my life has changed significantly in 40 years, it was half of my life ago. my birthday was on inauguration

day, i am 79 and when i landed on the moon, i was 39.5. host: you describe your life as magnificent desolation, how so? guest: because it's the words that came to me, and than the words beautiful, it was really not beautiful up there. i didn't think so. and i like to contrast words and you throw in humor and absurdity and treat it as nothing changed. to say magnificent desolation was referring to the magnificent human achievement,

that we have rockets and can send people in that object in the sky that people have been looking at centuries and centuries, and people can be on the surface. what a magnificent testimony to the achievements of humanity. but when looking at what was there when we got there, such a lifeless place. without putting it into words, there was the sense that this hasn't changed in 100,000 years, or something like that. a lot of dust has been accumulated by the small. there are many small objects, few big objects. it follows an arithh'm rule and

the factors and no water or surface for sand and elsewhere. mars has tremendous dust storms. host: as we look at these very grainy pictures from 1969, pointing out that there was only one satellite that was able to transmit those pictures from space back to earth, as we all watched with walter cronkite, who, as you know, he passed away over the weekend, and he was carrying coverage, but, first of all, why was neil armstrong the first to walk on the moon, and why were you second? >> i think seniority clearly was the decision. there probably were some early plans about fulfilling kennedy's commitment to man a person on the moon and to bring him back safely, and it did not say

anything about walking around on the surface, an hour or lease space walks were done with one person going out, so that could have very well been an early plan that did not have anybody walking out, just because of the conservative nature, where they would send one person out, it or in keeping with what happened before, it might not have been the commander, who was surveying, in charge of everything, while on the cover of my book, that picture is muggy outside, and jim took the picture of me outside -- that picture is of me outside. a buddy system of longer duration, just like scuba diving, you want to have mutual protection, so there was another factor in there that has to do with the training workload. the commander was in charge of all of the critical moments, and the most critical, of course, of anything of vault was the power of dissent.

-- dissent. it was neil's job, the relocation and the landing, and he executed the maneuvers, and the final docking. i assisted in everything, as a co-pilot does. nasa has never used the word "co-pilots." they used the word "commander." i was the eagle. and my'ike's columbia. and those words by neil armstrong, the words for the country, one small step for man and one giant leap for mankind. did he come up with that? guest: he said that he did, and it's so neil to think of things

and respond in a professional way. and in a sense, his step for man, is my observation of loneliness and his reference to mankind is magnificent. and his words contrasting, a human being and then mankind. host: you wrote and getting attention, let me share. host: can you explain? guest: yes, we were challenged by sputnik, and further challenged by the awareness,

not only a dog going into orbit, but our monkeys were, and the naming of the craters by russian citizens. clearly this was a challenge to each nation. and it wasn't a spur-of-the-moment, early, 1961 decision. it was a decision that had been looked at quite a while. neil mentioned in the recent lecture, on the 50th anniversary or 40th of apollo viii. and the decision to send people to the moon and what do when you get there was under analysis for some time. and it was a pioneering

reaction to advance as soon as possible, the gathering together of rockets and all of things needed to evolve a response to mutual assured destruction that was the international strategy of pointing nuclear rockets at each other. it was a challenge to the american people to evolve, to develop the technology. and that was carried out several years later by the commitments or the suggestions of president reagan to build a defense against nuclear missiles. trivialized by people calling it star wars. it was not trivial at all. it was to use the might of

aerospace that we demonstrated in the apollo program to further evolve the technical ability to provide defense against the seemingly threat of two guns pointing at each other and no one daring to pull the trigger. the might that we demonstrated in apollo transferred over to an evolving defense that russia couldn't match. they knew that because they couldn't get to the moon ahead of us, and couldn't develop a defense. no one in the 60's, 70's and 80's thought that the cold war would zqbe terminated in that

century, but it was. and that pioneering space ability carried out by the academia and political will and the american people, despite the conflicts going on in southeast asia demonstrated technology to a remarkable and wonderful place. you can't keep that going. we were hopeful that with 20 missions of saturn 5, we would be successful at least one, and landed successfully six out of seven times. and decided to put our resources somewhere else, something we haven't developed. look into the launch systems and make them reuseable so we

don't throw them away. we are still looking at trying to do that. i am certainly. and let's look at laboratories that can make use of zero-gravity or negative microgravity, we will call it. so there were two things we wanted to do after apollo, reuseable rockets delivering elements of space station in orbit. that was two things. and we couldn't do two things, and the president said which do you want. being an engineer, no need for a laboratory if you can't get to it. so we opted for the delivery system. and the delivery system is the second regret i have of being a part of the nasa apollo program. while awaiting for my assignment which is not what i wanted really wanted to be the

first astronaut to return to the military service. i thought the transition would be best done after 11 years away from service and 19 years in the service, could best be done by the air force academy. i was there in 1955 when it opened up and stood three in my class at westpoint. i understood academia than a test pilot. i was in the third group, i was not test-trained as a test pilot. and they couldn't select me in the second group. so i was selected in the third group of astronauts. and my preference would have been to accommodate the cadets at the air force academy. instead of the test pilot

school. while awaiting my assignment analysis of the new reuseable rockets. there was two stage reuseable rockets. the first stage would separate and land. and the upper stage with the crew, where the cargo would go into orbit and that was going to be developed in houston. the booster like the saturn 5 was going to be developed by the marshal space center. when i saw the proposals, there were six for the booster and ñwith two astronauts in it. and i said why, why do you put a crew for it to go up anland. and they said, we have make sure that it lands properly. and we almost launched our

orbiter manned, and the russians launched unmanned. and i said why in the world put a crew. but we did that for several years and spent a lot of money on it. and the readers can come to their conclusions as to why. one center wanted astronauts in their vehicle, and they asked the contractors to do a study, man versus unmanned booster. knowing that what the client wants and the contractors with that study of knowing how much more they would get with a cockpit with a crew, you know the answer of that. host: as some of that outline in the book, our guest is buzz aldrin, and we will show you a cover the book, and photos, and

we have john from springfield, good morning. caller: good morning, buzz it's funny that you talk about the first stage. i worked for boeing and it was my assignment to log the recovery of it. but i think that the main interest here is to how things have changed. you mentioned that at the start of the program. our handheld computing k>n'powe was limited to slide rules, i wondered if you could talk about that. guest: i took a slide rule on my flight in 1966, and because of the rules of unstowing kits were different just before the

apollo fire. jim took a picture of my with a pipe in my mouth and the slide rule floating in front of me. after the apollo fire, we couldn't touch anything in the kits that we carried on board. and i have heard the story that there is more computing power in my cell phone and i can update that in months. but unfortunately you can't build a rocket in that time. the amount of programming capability that was in that small computer, the guidance computer in the lunar module was fantastic, sending back information to houston so they could monitor the systems, far

better than we could. and it had communication with the stars, and we could navigate ourselves around the moon and return. and all the maneuvers and rendezvous was in the computer. i don't like to see people suggest a degradation of the system that was phenomenal. host: john is on the line with buzz aldrin. caller: good morning, how did you feel going against the soviets, the first on the moon? guest: they didn't enter that picture that much, it was clear that was a race going on.

and our one-man we did spacewalking, and we needed a rendezvous, and we did all of those things between mercury and apolo. they filled the gap. we were flexible. now, after apollo, what happens? we sat on the ground for almost six years after, using skylab to put a wonderful station up there. we did not put the second space station up there that we could have, and we flew to it several times. we did a joint mission where we did all of the complicated things, with the russians, and we had a gap of almost six

years be and what were the russians doing? we should not have a gap in our capability of to launch people into space. unfortunately, we do right now. in space. unfortunately we do. host: more of the moments as buzz aldrin stepped on the moon. >> then the first man on the moon, read a plaque on the wings of an eagle, that was thought of earlier as impractible.

>> this has the signature of the president of the united states. host: your thoughts about neil's words and your words? guest: very appropriate, i think the entire apollo-11 mission unfolded in an incredibly accurate way. it's a tribute, i think, to our reaction to the tragedy of apollo-1 fire so soon after my flight in gemini-12. this was with ed white, and he was a close friend of mine. we were together at westpoint on the track team and the

squadron training, and when he told me he was applying for astronaut program. and i thought, ed, i can do that, and i wasn't selected and he was. he was my role model, and without that tragedy he would have been one of the first people on the surface of the moon. host: and in near tragedy averted on apollo-13, and the movie with tom hanks. and where it was said that failure is not an option. guest: yeah, i know, that's a beautiful phrase from gene grant. and once you have a mission in work, failure on that mission is not an option. that's a wonderful phrase. but if failure is not an option in anything you do, you sit on the ground and don't take risks.

we are a very risk adverse society because of the high visibility of anything that might go wrong. whether it's an airplane tragedy accident it gets headlines. and it should do that, but the space station is on the launch until the rocket break, and then to the station commercial for a product. and if this fails, they plunk into the ocean, and so it's very crucial as you get in orbit. and that was critical but that was the thing that was not done. but the lander after the apollo fire and after circling around the moon on the second space craft launch, and the first time we put on a crew on that

giant, we went to the moon. why? because it was in response of the russians going around the moon and back. and then the mission to test the lander, and in earth orbit and then to take vg=the lander apollo-10 to the moon, and exercise it and put it in a position to do all the rendezvous maneuvers up again. outstanding mission, we need do that again, but perhaps not with the destination being americans on the surface of the moon. host: we show the photographs of this on "the washington post", with a younger buzz aldrin. next caller is stewart. good morning. caller: mr. aldrin, it's an honor to talk to you. in 1969 i was a 12-year-old in

alabama, and i remember hearing the rockets from the nasa space center. and i remember watching walter cronkite and that landing on the moon. and it did start me as a 12-year-old to be a space engineer. and 12 years later i was an engineer for the rockwell company and i had a great career in the space industry, and i worked on space missions. it was a tremendous experience of hearing the stories of the nation, when people come together they can achieve the impossible. my question to you is can we move this anniversary to

inspire our kids k-12 that there are hopes they can achieve and we can get them there. guest: that's why i have written two children's books and why i did rap music with snoop dog, and why i am twittering at the real buzz, to try to reach a new generation, a y-generation, to help them on understand that not just a great generation came along that they don't know about. and to save the world from tierance, but another generation came along and propelled to heights that the world had not seen before. and yes, we can do that again by =çchanging the pathways that we are apparently implementing now. it's a good pathway but it's

methods of implementing fall a little short of doing what you would like to see to inspire the new generation into greater heights than what is in it for me, right now. what is in it for our country later. that's service that i have dedicated my life to. and we can do that again by altering slightly the pathway we are on, and taking advantage of what we have developed in the last years, but helping other countries that have not landed on the moon. help them explore. and keep our eyes on development of the moon that could justify human habitation on the moon. we will send robe -- robots there and explore there and the moon will be the major

resource, a stepping stone and pathway for american greatness. host: back to the washington post, you write that a race to the moon is a dead end. it's a poor location to homesteading. i am not suggesting that america abandon exploration of moon entirely. and there are clues of what was once a water-soaked planet. guest: absolutely, mars is more earth-like than the moon. it's lonely and has surface flares closer. mars, the moon of mars is so

strategic, focused, human intelligence there can control robots on the surface in real-time. that means directly, back and forth and can do more ambitious things, control from the earth and then can stop, don't do anything. what the spirit and opportunity has been able to do in five years, we could have done in four months or less by having humans on the moon of mars, focus and bring xthem back and supply them d they are stepping stones. host: in the washington post, a number of pieces and looking at events and asking the question, where do we go from here? our guest is buzz adrin, we have jerry. caller: hi, it's an honor to be

talking to you. i was working for nasa on the day that the lunar landing occurred. i am 70 years old now, at the time i was looking at the nasa research center in cambridge, massachusetts, right beside m.i.t. and i was working on laser applications for studying the atmosphere. and we were all gathered in the lunch room at the center watching the lunar landing. i am so disappointed we don't ;like t. and one other thing has to do with my concern about how politics gets into science and kind of has in my destroyed

initiatives at the time. but this new center was put there in massachusetts by the hard work of teddy kennedy. he was getting a lot of credit for that, during the nixon era, two nights before that landing was the incident and all subsequent incident that arose after that. we had that center closed after christmas and all the credibility for scientific initiatives that kennedy had been pushing were just blown out the window. what i wanted to say, the big issue for me was that since

that time we could do more things, and i wish that politics would stay out of basic science. host: thank you for the call. guest: no way, politics is where we reflect the will of the people through our electoral process and appoint our leaders in congress to allocate the funds where we are going. we must appeal to the leaders of our country to find what the direction is going to be. and well advise people and i would like to promote issues, change, i would like to see well reasoned change and

enlightened cooperation and can we change and have better implementation of u.s. global leadership? yes we can. yes, we can. host: this comment from joe, why didn't someone make a back-up copy of the slow cam prints from the moon, this story getting a lot of attention. guest: i am not sure, we were busy doing other things at the time. i am sensitive to the tracking network in australia. the movie, "the dish" was a wonderful, informative movie. and it was true, according to the flight plan they were not scheduled to take the moon walk. but we advanced that because we were not going to go to sleep after we landed on the moon. but prepare methodically to go

outside and that sort of alarmed them. and don't know if that has anything to do that there were no back-up tapes. but i am so proud prior well, from tranquillity base, from kitty hawk to tranquillity

was 60 sqhyears and add that an you get 2035. we think we should progress from footsteps on the moon, to footsteps on another planet by 2031. my buzz ways gets there -- i meant 2035. my buzz ways gets us there in progressive achievements. we have progressive achievements that canseco back and forth to the moon, the paucities expiration modules for refueling, communication relays, and then we can take one in may 2017 and flood by a comet that is approaching earth, and people -- and fly by a comet, and people could use their binoculars. we could may because the, to bar

a little bit as we go by. and then, there are times -- we could make because the -- we could maybe cause the comet to burp a little bit as we go by. we need that redundancy, and then there is another near-earth object in 2021. we could rendezvous with that. you know what that is going to do? it is going to swing by the earth in 2029 inside our communications satellites, and if it goes through in the wrong place, it will really threaten the earth in 2036. i know for politicians, 2036 is a long ways off. we should certainly not on the surface of mars by then -- we should certainly be on the surface of mars garden. mars, -- by then. quick follow up, the

people may know buzz lightyear, did that come from you? guest: i read it in u.s.a. today, and i went and talked to the people about any likelihood of business arrangement, there wasn't yet. host: this from ann in maine, it's an honor seeing you, i remember calling the children to the television and saying this is history. and we watched the moon walk and i rember saying, thank god. guest: yes, in a sense where i was at that time, i chose to do when we landed successfully. i chose to thank god by serving myself communion. not publicly, i just asked everyone else to do that. and that was half the age i am

now, and my concept of spiritiality has been modified a bit, from going to the moon? no, from recovery and my mother unfortunately committed suicide a year before i went to the moon. and her father committed suicide before i was born. i inherited those genes and this book. the long journey home from the moon. a personal story of magnificent reaching athe moon, desolation and then recovery from desolation back up to a very, active experience sharing with young people and with movers and shakers. what i think my experience tells us is good for america. and mars is good for america. host: and the book as you

outlined indicates your own battle with alcoholism, and with your wife. we have joe. caller: good morning, i have one question, do you feel that the area's vehicle is the most cost effective in terms of dollars per human? guest: you only have to look back 10 years or earlier and you find a biased person. werner von braun is quoted as saying we should not put human beings on solid rocket boosters. because they can blowup at any time. you can't shut them off and abort from them. my early efforts, 10 years ago,

15 years ago has been to replace the solid rockets on the shuttle in an evolutionary way with liquid fly-back boosters. that build to reusability. the nation and world that has two stage fully reuseable heavy, lift rockets that are years in the future. we need to develop the high-flight rate that justifies the investment in reusability that gives us reliability and economy. but reliability first. what gives us high flight rate? adventure travel, a lot of people in the orbit. and what else? solar powered and internationals at the moon and

americans touring international at mars. host: we have catherine this morning. caller: hi, what a thrill to be able to talk to you. i am a retired teacher and space was a big part of my curriculum. and i did different projects and sent them to nasa through the teacher's magazine. any how, i made my students aware of the space programs and brought them to useable people. and there were some invented for heart surgery. when you go into the hospital, all the computerized stuff you are hooked up to is because of the space program. my question is how do we make people in america aware of this? with my 25 students, and america needs to realize for every dollar on the space

program we reap probably hundreds of dollars worth of benefits. guest: you are in a key position, you are a teacher of the next generation. the older generations don't twitter. they don't tweet. the new generations do. the education in the united states, primarily in stem, science, technology, engineering and math is not what it should be. we need, my share space foundation is going to move towards developing lotteries for more people to get into space. and also education policies, where we have science, education ambassadors to represent people and ensure that education policies are carried out to the best of our ability. that's where we plant the seeds.

we get the rappers into the rap music like the rocket experience, snoop dog, we get these people to pay attention to space so the young people will. it's where you are that we are trying to motivate people. the teachers of america are the greatest resource for the future that our country has. host: ""time magazine" with the anniversary edition. what is neil armstrong doing these days and why so quiet? guest: he's chosen a different way of responding to public attention. i was not into giving talks and speeches anywhere.

it frightened me tremendously to go around the world and have competitive comparisons. i didn't want to do that at all. i understand wanting to withdraw somewhat. neil is present and was available for nasa and apollo-7 and now apollo-11. he's dayton, ohio, he's doing a lot of things. i have a message for the future and i want to reach people, i choose to face the public in a different fashion. and that's the big thing about the 24 people that went to the moon. they are not all the same version of the right stuff.

we are humans and do things different ways. and should be reported for that. host: the book includes past presidents, and we will show you that. host: we have charles on the phone from tampa, florida. caller: good morning, it was a pleasure g'1ñto be able to talk buzz aldrin. i have a couple of questions, i am from columbia, and i grew up in new york city. i remember when i was just six years old when i saw the moon landing. i thought it was amazing and awe inspiring. but as an immigrant and child growing up, i felt like this huge disconnect. and only because i was an

immigrant. not because i was dumb, but i felt i was dumb because other people talked to me about that. with that, that's one point. how would you in your perspective, as i see you on tv smiling at me, how can you bridge that gap for immigrants coming into america, people like me who love america, who serve in the united states? host: we will get a response, thanks charles. guest: yes, we have a statute of liberty out there, america is the most sought out place. why? because we invite people to come in and join our country and way of living. and to do things the way we do in this country, speak our language,

that's very important. other countries, very few are like that in the world. that's why people want to come to america. and this is still the land of opportunity. the land and home of the free and the brave. that's what america is. and we have had many influxes with famines in different parts of europe. people came here. the pilgrims on the mayflower came here, did not hang around plymouth rock, they came here and endured the hardships. that's what i want to do, to have settlers and opportunists, people who join together with like people. but they become assimilated by the nation. i think the greatest nation in the world. they have come here, they should be proud of what this

nation has built up over 200 years, and what we are proud of. host: the tweet, i don't think that mankind would be without computers or velcro, someone would have thought of it. guest: someone will always think of it. usually the security people who are challenging themselves with high-technology, to defend you and me from those who come in here from invaders. most of our high-technology comes from research that supports the defense of our country and the freedoms we have here. i am a military guy and i believe in strength and i believe that has helped us