Buzz Aldrin lands at AppsWorld

SAN DIEGO, California – After 35 years since his historic Apollo XI moon landing with Neil Armstrong that symbolized humanity’s giant leap into another world, astronaut, scientist and patriot Buzz Aldrin finds himself landing again in another world – this time at the Oracle AppsWorld, which takes him back at the edge of breakthrough technologies.

Buzz, after whom Disney named its famous character Buzz Lightyear, was given a standing ovation by thousands of OAW attendees who eagerly listened to this 73-year-old man’s tales from the moon. But while he could endlessly talk about lunar space technologies, he gamely admits not knowing much about Oracle’s software technology.

"Oracle has a groundbreaking E-Business Suite but that’s all I know about it right now," jokes Aldrin. "But I’m sure someone will tell me more about it and how it became the first among many businesses."

Now also a sci-fi novelist, Aldrin is campaigning for public space travel, which he emphasizes should not be just for the wealthy. "I’m campaigning to have journalists, teachers and tourists to fly on space shuttles… (Space travel) should be accessible and affordable to the children in the new millennium."

Aldrin openly expresses regret over how the US space agency has languished over the last 35 years to pursue the kind of dream that took him and Armstrong to the moon on July 20, 1969. "There has been a failure of nerves to pursue our dream," he says.

However, Aldrin notes that there is still a lot of people who have a profound feeling of participation from the moon landing three decades ago. On this note, he reminds OAW attendees that the dawn of new technologies has just started. And to take man to the ultimate frontier of future space travel, Aldrin goes around the world giving lectures on the latest space exploration concepts. After all, he claims he’s the one who "had to teach Buzz Lightyear all that he had to know." – Alma Buelva