Apollo 11 men make anniversary plea for mars voyage

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Aldrin on the moon

In one of their few joint public appearances, the crew of Apollo 11 spoke on the eve of the 40th anniversary of man's first landing on the moon.

A crowd at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum in Washington heard Buzz Aldrin, 79, the second man on the moon, say the best way to honour the Apollo astronauts "is to follow in our footsteps; to boldly go again on a new mission of exploration".

The first man on the moon, Neil Armstrong, 78, spoke about the Apollo 11 mission for just 11
seconds before launching into a lecture about the inventions that led to his historic "small step for a man" on 20 July 1969.

Apollo 11 command module pilot Michael Collins, 78, who circled the moon while Armstrong and
Aldrin walked on it, said the moon was not interesting, but Mars is.

"Sometimes I think I flew to the wrong place. Mars was always my favourite as a kid and it still is today," Mr Collins said. "I'd like to
see Mars become the focus."

The three astronauts were today being given another chance to make the pitch for a Mars trip
when they meet Barack Obama.

Aldrin, Armstrong and Michael Collins

The Apollo crew will be among guests at the White House as part of extensive celebrations to mark the anniversary of the moon walk.

Events were being held at the Kennedy Space Centre at Cape Canaveral, Florida, where the
Apollo 11 mission blasted off, mission control at the Johnson Space Centre in Houston, Texas and at Washington's National Air and Space Museum.