Buzz Aldrin, as we all know, flew in the first manned Moon landing mission, on Apollo 11, and became the second man to walk on the Moon, after Neil Armstrong. Today, he speaks at space development conferences about exploring and developing space, but his true vision is on Mars. Aldrin's latest book, "Mission to Mars," explains all this, and it starts from the very beginning. Aldrin's life is briefly covered, from his time flying in the Korean War to his acceptance by NASA and then training as an astronaut, leading up to his flight on Apollo 11. One little known fact is that the landing itself was difficult, avoiding boulders and rock strewn areas to find that smooth spot to land, their near abort, and finally locating the place to land, and the rest is history. After Apollo, Aldrin has been focusing on the future of humanity in space, not as competitors, but as a unified species, venturing into the unknown together. Aldrin looks beyond the Cold War, Apollo, and the shuttle to accomplish this. This is because Aldrin, though no longer a part of NASA, has stuck with his dream through 11 presidents, and has seen many visions of space come and go, supported by one president, cancelled by the next. Aldrin, as well as being a former astronaut and Moon walker, is also an engineer, and in describing his vision for space, has done his homework. This book covers eight chapters that are easy to read and understand. In addition to his early life to Apollo, Aldrin then proposes, and has patented, his own spacecraft system called Starcraft Boosters, what the shuttle was originally intended to be, though that itself isn't mentioned. This would be a two stage rocket, both crewed, attached side by side to each other, where the first stage would boost the second stage to the edge of space and then return to Earth to be reused. The second stage would then proceed to Earth orbit. This would first be used in space tourism, the next major industry expected to be established, leading to cheaper transport systems, space hotels, even resorts on the Moon. Many private companies already in business are mentioned, and how they can help to industrialize space. Aldrin does mention going to the Moon and using its resources, and mentions its recent discoveries of water, hopefully to be used for fuel (breaking apart the hydrogen and oxygen, and then remixing it to propel ships). Near Earth Asteroids are covered, not only on sources for minerals, but as threats to the Earth, as what happened in Tunguska in 1908 and Chelyabinsk in 2012. We must be able to protect Earth from asteroids that can strike it, or the consequences could be a major catastrophe for Earth, killing off a huge percentage of people. In settling the Moon, the author mentions telerobotics, where robots, controlled from Lunar orbiting stations at L1 and L2, would mine the resources, even help to build the base. This stresses the importance of robotics today and how it is progressing. The major themes are space cooperation between all nations, private corporations, and individuals, and an international lunar development authority, dealing in space law and the peaceful distribution of resources. The Moon of today is very different from the Moon of 1969, the year he landed. Last of all, Aldrin covers the colonization of Mars. With a space infrastructure backing it up, landing on the two Martian Moon of Deimos and Phobos would occur first, to set up stations to back up the colonists, and for them to call in the event of an emergency, rather than on Earth. Like the rendezvous system on Apollo, Aldrin devised a system of transport to venture to Mars and back perpetually, by having permanent spacecraft traveling in a loop between Earth and Mars, never stopping, but taking another craft to dock with it and board, as one would jump on a moving bus. Aldrin respects the vision of another scientist, Robert Zubrin, author of the Mars Direct proposal, but here, Aldrin wants to send volunteers and a permanent, one way mission. They would have the option of returning to Earth, but he focuses and colonizing Mars, not just venturing there for a short time and returning.Anyway, I highly recommend this book. It offers a step by step approach, involves private companies, especially now that they are moving into the space transportation arena, along with the government and includes all aspects, being the Moon and near Earth asteroids, as well as Mars. Space cooperation is favored, not competition like the Apollo program against the Soviets, and a space watch system against threatening asteroids is covered, also.A lot is covered, is easy to read, and can get your own imagination running on how the colonization of space, especially Mars, can succeed. Many technologies are mentioned (robotics, resource mining) and offers a convincing reason on why we should shoot to Mars. Most of all, Aldrin offers a convincing reason of why we should continue to pursue going out into space as a species, to insure own survival as we expand into the cosmos.