Buzz Aldrin calls for NZ to help in Mars exploration

LAWRENCE SMITH

BUZZ ALDRIN: Nasa astronauts should not be sent back to the moon.

ONE SMALL STEP: Buzz Aldrin conquered the moon and is now Dancing With the Stars.

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Moonwalk pioneer Buzz Aldrin says Australia and New Zealand should be part of an international coalition to explore and colonise Mars.

International co-operation in space was very difficult and in many ways inefficient, the second man to walk on the moon said.

"But I think if we can take the English-speaking people ... we can have American science, technology and bring together the UK, Australia, New Zealand, India and South Africa ... and have a togetherness organisation," he told AAP in Sydney on Thursday.

Aldrin, 80, said Nasa astronauts should not be sent back to the moon.

Rather, an international co-operative should aim for Mars, he said.

This would help share the prohibitively expensive costs of space travel.

Aldrin praised Australia's role in the 1969 Apollo II lunar landing, for which the observatories at Honeysuckle Creek and Parkes helped broadcast live television footage of the historic event to the world.

The former astronaut also praised America's involvement in the Iraq and Afghan wars and declined to comment directly on whether money for the conflicts would be better spent on space exploration.

"I believe that we've been trying to protect the disadvantaged people in the world by our efforts in Iraq and our efforts in Afghanistan," Aldrin said.

"They're all aimed at decreasing the threat to peaceful, loving people by terrorists who have destructive purposes in mind for the rest of us."

He is in Australia to promote an initiative between Microsoft and the Make a Wish Foundation in which proceeds from the new Halo Reach video game will be donated to the charity.

- AAP