Saturday 18 March 2017 11:54 am

Former astronaut Buzz Aldrin has a plan on how to get to Mars and settle humans there – and he’s set it out in virtual reality

As the second person to set foot on the moon, Buzz Aldrin knows more about space than most.

And now, the former astronaut has released a virtual reality (VR) film setting out his plans to get humans to Mars.

It features Aldrin as a hologram narrating the experience, where he says people will use the moons of Earth and Mars effectively as pit stops on the way to and from the Red Planet in a trip that will take around six months each way.

And the intrepid explorers to do set out for Mars may at least find they'll have something to quench their thirst, as Budweiser recently announced it's planning to create microgravity beer.

Buzz Aldrin: Cycling Pathways to Mars, a project from Life VR, Time and tech firm 8I, is now available on Steam and Viveport for the HTC Vive headset and will soon be available in the Oculus store for Oculus Rift.

It takes the viewer to the surface of Mars and shows the creation of what a Mars colony could look like.

Speaking earlier this week at SXSW in Texas, Aldrin also said entrepreneur Elon Musk, whose space firm is firmly at the forefront of the space race, hadn't thought about what people will do when they actually get to Mars.

"He's a transportation person. He builds rockets," Aldrin said of the SpaceX founder.

While Musk had focused on getting to Mars, Aldrin said you wouldn't be able to just go, stay for a day and come back; any travellers would need something to live in as the minimum amount of time a person could stay on Mars would be a year and a half. "You have to prepare for all that," he said.

Made it to Austin for #SXSW and I ran into #HoloBuzz from @8iReality telling me to #GYATM. Boy is he bossy! pic.twitter.com/R7opEyjApR

— Dr. Buzz Aldrin (@TheRealBuzz) March 13, 2017