Legendary astronaut Buzz Aldrin shared a lengthy social media post Wednesday announcing his endorsement of former President Donald Trump for the 2024 election.
“For me, for the future of our country, to meet enormous challenges, and for the proven policy accomplishments above, I believe we are best served by voting for @realDonaldTrump. I wholeheartedly endorse him for President of the United States. Godspeed President Trump, and God Bless the United States of America,” Aldrin said in an X post.
A half-Century ago, it was an honor to serve my country in the effort to put a human being on the Moon. I am proud of what we accomplished then and I have dedicated my life to the pursuit of an enduring human presence in space – it is a calling that runs…
— Dr. Buzz Aldrin (@TheRealBuzz) October 30, 2024
As the second man to walk on the moon, Aldrin has been a longtime advocate of human space exploration reaching Mars. He has written about his vision for a permanent human presence on the planet in his book Mission to Mars: My Vision for Space Exploration.
“Over time, I have seen our government’s approach to space wax and wane. But under the first Trump Administration, I was impressed to see how human space exploration was elevated as a policy of high importance again,” he said, adding, “Under President Trump’s first term, America saw a revitalized interest in Space, and his Administration reignited national efforts to get back to the Moon, and push on to Mars.”
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Aldrin listed the former president’s accomplishments in space policy.
“The Trump Administration also reinstituted the National Space Council, and our Nation’s defense was enhanced with the creation of the U.S. Space Force – increasingly important as space becomes a contested domain. At the same time, I have been enthused and excited by the great advancements in the private sector space economy, led by visionaries like @elonmusk. These are concrete accomplishments that align with my concerns and America’s policy priorities,” he said in a statement.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, whose ambition to help make mankind a multiplanetary civilization by colonizing Mars is no secret, endorsed Trump in July and has been actively campaigning for him.
Musk has been openly critical of the Biden-Harris administration for practicing lawfare and overregulation, which has affected SpaceX’s efforts to expand its work in space.
He recently told a story about how SpaceX had dealt with burdensome government pressure to study whether his “Starship would hit a shark,” and his company wondered if “this is a comedy.“
🚨ELON MUSK ON RIDICULOUS REGULATIONS 😂😂
“SpaceX had to do a study to see if Starship would hit a shark. I’m like “It’s a big ocean, there’s a lot of sharks. It’s not impossible, but it’s very unlikely.” OK fine, we’ll do it, but we need the data, can you give us the Shark… pic.twitter.com/hFm9KYCMgN
— Autism Capital 🧩 (@AutismCapital) October 20, 2024
Aldrin said in his endorsement Wednesday that the next president requires “clarity in judgment.”
“America is facing serious and difficult challenges both at home and abroad. The Presidency requires clarity in judgement, decisiveness, and calm under pressure that few have a natural ability to manage, or the life experience to successfully undertake. It is a job where decisions are made that routinely involve American lives – some urgently but not without thought,” he said.
The 94-year-old former Gemini 12 and Apollo 11 astronaut added, “In this election, we have a choice, and we all have one vote. For some, the choice may not be easy, but in times of uncertainty, real leaders are most needed — to guide and inspire people, to push through the noise, recognize what really matters, and accomplish missions critical to all citizens. Most Americans rightly consider it an honor to cast their vote for a leader they believe will best serve the nation.”
“Buzz, I wholeheartedly agree with you,” former NASA engineer Homer Hickam, who wrote the memoir Rocket Boys, which became the 1999 film October Sky, responded on X to Aldrin’s endorsement.
Aldrin has previously supported Republicans, including former President George W. Bush in 2004 and Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) in 2018, and attended Trump’s 2019 State of the Union Address as a guest of the president.
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Lest we forget about the time Kamala Harris hired child actors to sit and talk to her about space….
On the same weekend Afghanistan fell to the Taliban and the Biden administration was in full meltdown. pic.twitter.com/5fjxBE7HX5 https://t.co/DttYIqb7F4
— Matt Whitlock (@mattdizwhitlock) August 10, 2024
Trump’s Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, has been the chairwoman of the White House’s National Space Council, but as the New York Times noted, “the vice president largely emphasized continuity with policies set by the Trump administration.”
In 2021, Harris was mocked for filming a YouTube video to promote space exploration that used professional child actors. The White House denied selecting the child actors in the YouTube Originals Kids & Family special focused on space, in which she spoke to five school-aged children to celebrate World Space Week.