Los Angeles ? Los Angeles County has given moonwalker Buzz Aldrin a new title: Honorary consul general to the moon.

Forty years after Aldrin and Neil Armstrong became the first men to walk on the moon, county supervisors on Tuesday gave him the title while saluting the contribution of veterans to America’s space program.

Aldrin, 79, was an Air Force veteran before joining NASA.

Aldrin thanked the supervisors and called on the federal government to lead an international effort to colonize another planet, clean up space debris and pursue commercial opportunities in space.