Apollo 11 and Gemini 12 astronaut Buzz Aldrin has been enlisting the help of famous scientist Stephen Hawking, actress Marily Monroe, Albert Einstein’s birthday, Pi Day, landmark Stonehenge and other iconic entities in a series of social media posts promoting his plan for NASA to make a space voyage to the red planet, Mars.
Mars is listed as the astronaut’s location on Twitter.
On a trip to Stonehenge this week, Aldrin took a photo of himself pulling back his jacket like Superman to reveal his “GET YOUR ASS TO MARS” t-shirt. The shirt brandishes an amended version of the NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) logo.
Aldrin has merchandised his message and is selling the shirts with a link to purchase on his website. Aldrin used Pi Day (3/14/15) and a visit with scientist Stephen Hawking celebrating Albert Einstein’s birthday with a tweet publicizing his hashtag, #GYATM. He even squeezed a Marilyn Monroe reference in with a cardboard cutout of the famed actress in the background.
The new social media blitz is tied to promotional efforts for Aldrin’s new literary work, Mission to Mars: My Vision for Space Exploration. He has spent considerable time and effort in the push for a Mars mission, even making a trip to Washington to make his case at a February 24 congressional hearing on U.S. Human Exploration Goals and Commercial Space Competitiveness.
Space.com reported on the Senate hearing, where Aldrin said, “In my opinion, there is no more convincing way to demonstrate American leadership for the remainder of this century than to commit to a permanent presence on Mars.”
Though Aldrin’s hopeful Twitter location does list Mars, NASA’s website lists the astronaut’s current home base as Los Angeles, California.
Follow Michelle Moons on Twitter @MichelleDiana
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