Buzz Aldrin, the second person to walk on the Moon, endorsed former President Donald Trump on Saturday.
He wrote in an address that the U.S. needs a proven, tested and serious leader in the White House.
“The Presidency requires an understanding of human nature, clarity in judgement, decisiveness, knowledge, understanding, and calm under pressures few have a natural ability to manage, or the life experience to successfully undertake,” Aldrin said.
He added that serving as president sometimes involves making urgent decisions that routinely affect Americans. It requires a “sober analysis” of frightening situations and the instinct to “lead with resolve,” according to Aldrin.
“From the skies over Korea in air-to-air combat to navigating, landing, and walking on the Moon, I appreciate this kind of pressure,” he wrote. “I know what it is like to have to make these kinds of decisions, firmly, on principle, with resolve and follow-through. Training, experience, and trust matter.”
Aldrin said the U.S. is facing economic challenges, along with community “stability” issues and “rule of law” concerns. The country is also confronting difficult “realities” on the “global security landscape,” the astronaut noted.
Aldrin expressed support for the creation of the Space Force under Trump, which he said was increasingly important as space becomes a “contested domain.” Trump also ordered the National Space Council, which advises the president on national space policy, to start meeting again. It had stopped operating in 1993.
The astronaut expressed approval for the council, as well as “visionaries” who have made “great advancements” in the “private sector space economy,” naming Elon Musk as one of them.
"These are concrete accomplishments that align with my concerns and America’s policy priorities,” Aldrin wrote.
He said he has seen the federal government’s approach to space “wax and wane” over the years.
“But under the first Trump Administration, I was impressed to see how human space exploration was elevated, made a policy of high importance again,” the address reads. “Under President Trump’s first term, America saw a revitalized interest in space.”
The Trump administration also reignited “national efforts” to return to the Moon and travel to Mars, according to Aldrin.
“For me, for the future of our Nation, to meet enormous challenges, and for the proven policy accomplishments above, I believe the nation is best served by voting for Donald J. Trump,” the astronaut said. “I wholeheartedly endorse him for President of the United States. Godspeed President Trump, and God Bless the United States of America.”