11:27 AM PST, January 19, 2004
Ex-Astronaut to Lead Moon-Mars Commission
By MARCIA DUNN, AP Aerospace Writer
WASHINGTON — The man chosen to lead the way to the moon and Mars is a one-time astronaut trainee and former Defense Department hotshot who is almost giddy about outer space travel.
"It's going to be fun," Pete Aldridge said in an interview. "My goodness, the president says this is what we're going to do."
President Bush appointed Aldridge, 65, to head a commission charged with figuring out how to carry out the president's vision and bring in industry and other countries as partners.
In 1986, Edward Cleveland "Pete" Aldridge was training to fly on a space shuttle as a payload specialist, or non-career astronaut, right before the Challenger explosion. His flight was scrapped after Challenger erupted in a fireball during liftoff.
A few months later, Aldridge was appointed Secretary of the Air Force under President Reagan. (snip)
At the time, he was serving under Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld as undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics. He says he was looking forward to "a more relaxed period of my career," and like many government retirees he was enjoying the Florida sunshine early last week.
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http://www.latimes.com/news/science/wire/sns-ap-bushs-moonman,1,2086095.story?coll=sns-ap-science-headlines(Free registration required)
