MELBOURNE, Fla. — Buzz Aldrin is teaming up with Florida Institute of Technology to develop “a master plan” for colonizing Mars within 25 years.

The second man to walk on the moon took part in a signing ceremony Thursday at the university, less than an hour's drive from NASA's Kennedy Space Center. The Buzz Aldrin Space Institute is set to open this fall.

The 85-year-old Aldrin, who followed Neil Armstrong onto the moon's surface on July 20, 1969, will serve as a research professor of aeronautics as well as a senior faculty adviser for the institute.

He said he hopes his “master plan” is accepted by NASA and the country, with international input. NASA already is working on the spacecraft and rockets to get astronauts to Mars by the mid-2030s.

Aldrin is pushing for a Mars settlement by about 2040. More specifically, he's shooting for 2039, the 70th anniversary of his own Apollo 11 moon landing, although he admits the schedule is “adjustable.”

Aldrin recently settled in nearby Satellite Beach, Fla., right on the Atlantic Ocean, after moving from California. He told reporters he considers it “a terminal assignment,” using Air Force jargon.

CHELAN, Wash. — Firefighters were holding their own Thursday against the largest wildfire on record in Washington state, even as rising temperatures and increased winds stoked the flames.The National Weather Service had issued a red-flag warning earlier in the day for the fires near Okanogan, saying weather conditions had the potential to spread the flames.“All the lines are holding,” a spokesman said. The winds were actually pushing portions of the giant fire back on itself.The blazes killed three firefighters last week and have burned at least 40 homes and 40 outbuildings.More than 1,150 square miles of Washington have burned, nearly the size of Rhode Island, the state Department of Natural Resources said.