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Aldrin wants to create space lottery

Wednesday, April 18, 2007 | 03:55 PM ET

by Paul Jay, CBC News Online

Since not everyone knows Martha Stewart or has over $20 million US lying around in the trunk of their car, you can forgive people for not getting too excited about Charles Simonyi's jaunt to the International Space Station, which, thanks to a delay, has been extended an extra day.

But Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin wants to change all that.

Aldrin, who famously joined Neil Armstrong as the first two men to walk on the moon on July 20, 1969, announced plans on Tuesday to create a lottery that will send the winner into space.

According to a Reuters report, Aldrin told a Wall Street space investment conference he planned to run the lottery through his ShareSpace Foundation.

Details of the lottery are sketchy, however, though Reuters said the winner would have to be 18 years old and be in good physical condition.

Aldrin's ShareSpace Foundation website has no additional information, and only links to Aldrin's personal website. A request for more information made on Aldrin's site has yet to be returned.

It sounds like a good idea, but it also sounds a long way off.

By the way, for those curious, Aldrin's real name is actually Buzz . From his bio:

Buzz Aldrin's real name is, in fact, Buzz Aldrin. He had it legally changed to Buzz in the early 80's from his given name Edwin E. Aldrin Jr. The name Buzz evolved from his sister Fay Ann's mispronunciation of the word 'brother', which became 'Buzzer'. By fate, or by coincidence, his mothers' name was Marion Moon.

So now you know.

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