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[JoeSmith]

Nasa celebrates its 50th anniversary this year but faces grave embarrassment. The ill-fated Shuttle is due to make its last flight in 2010 but it will be a further five years before its replacement, the Ares rocket and Orion crew capsule - also intended for trips to the moon - are ready.

In that time American astronauts will have to hitch lifts on Russian Soyuz flights merely to visit the International Space Station.

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On June 20, the House of Representatives pledged $2bn (£1bn) in extra funds to narrow the gap between the last Shuttle flight and the first flight by its replacement, but the money has not been approved by the Senate and is likely to be vetoed by President Bush.

Mr Aldrin is critical of Nasa's failure properly to fund commercial ventures for spacecraft which could take astronauts to the space station between 2010 and 2015. He said: "If we really wanted that to happen, we sure should have started putting more money into that programme sooner."

It is all a far cry from the national pride that accompanied the Apollo programme, in which Mr Aldrin followed Neil Armstrong on to the surface of the Moon in July, 1969.

Now he wants Nasa to generate the same kind of enthusiasm as it mustered during the 1960s. "It's good for morale," he said. "The biggest benefit of Apollo was the inspiration it gave to a growing generation to get into science and aerospace. Are we inspiring the workforce now to work on the things we need? No!"

Mr Aldrin is also critical of the approach taken by Nasa in commissioning new crew vehicles that will splash down on water, rather than on a runway like the Shuttle. He says that is the best design for a moon vehicle, but will not encourage other ventures into space.

In particular, it will not be suitable for short flights into low orbits, of a kind that could be used for space tourism - potentially a valuable new source of revenue for Nasa. "Americans have been watching for over 25 years spacecraft coming back and landing on a runway," he said. "It is going to be a bitter disappointment to people here."

Meanwhile Russia may adapt and enlarge its own Soyuz spacecraft in order to accommodate tourists, giving them an effective monopoly of travel into low earth orbit.

India is also a keen participant in space, regularly launching satellites and with plans to start testing a prototype reusable launch vehicle later this year that could take off and land like an aeroplane.

Last year Japan became the first country since the Apollo programme to launch an unmanned lunar orbiter. They have a stated goal of setting up a manned moon base by 2030.

Mr Aldrin now acts as an ambassador for space exploration and new developments in space technology through his company Starcraft Boosters.

Mr Aldrin says he is joining forces with other space campaigners to give his unvarnished views to the presidential candidates.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/2211940/Buzz-Aldrin-Invest-in-Nasa-to-beat-the-Chinese-to-Mars.html