Neil Armstrong, August 5th, 1930 to August 25th, 2012, "Neil Armstrong, 1st man on the moon, dies", August 25th, 2012, Associated Press
The family of Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, says he has died at age 82. A statement from the family says he died following complications resulting from cardiovascular procedures. It doesn't say where he died. Armstrong commanded the Apollo 11 spacecraft that landed on the moon July 20, 1969. He radioed back to Earth the historic news of “one giant leap for mankind.” Armstrong and fellow astronaut Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin spent nearly three hours walking on the moon, collecting samples, conducting experiments and taking photographs. In all, 12 Americans walked on the moon from 1969 to 1972. NASA Administrator Statement on Neil Armstrong's Death August 25th, 2012: The following is a statement from NASA Administrator Charles Bolden regarding the death of former test pilot and NASA astronaut Neil Armstrong. He was 82. On behalf of the entire NASA family, I would like to express my deepest condolences to Carol and the rest of Armstrong family on the passing of Neil Armstrong. As long as there are history books, Neil Armstrong will be included in them, remembered for taking humankind's first small step on a world beyond our own. Besides being one of America's greatest explorers, Neil carried himself with a grace and humility that was an example to us all. When President Kennedy challenged the nation to send a human to the moon, Neil Armstrong accepted without reservation. As we enter this next era of space exploration, we do so standing on the shoulders of Neil Armstrong. We mourn the passing of a friend, fellow astronaut and
true American hero. "Neil Armstrong: modest man, large footprint in time and space" Neil Armstrong's walk on the moon on July 20, 1969, marked the high point of US manned space flight, but the commander of the Apollo 11 mission was wary of the celebrity that came with it. by Gail Russell Chaddock August 25th, 2012, The Christian Science Monitor, Neil Armstrong, who died today following heart surgery, never wanted to be remembered simply as the first man on the moon. Once credited with the most recognized name in the world, Armstrong avoided the outsized celebrity of the early NASA astronauts, whose storied missions not only advanced a US profile in space but also helped define the Cold War struggle with Soviet Union, whose 1957 Sputnik launch stunned the world. The images of the first moon walk with Buzz Aldrin on July 20, 1969, marked the high point of the US manned space program. His signature, and often misquoted, line – "That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind" – soared to iconic status. But Armstrong, who also flew combat missions in Korea, brushed aside all talk of hero status, at least for himself. "We all like to be recognized not for one piece of fireworks but for the ledger of our daily work," he said in a 2007 interview with "60 Minutes." As for all the celebrity: "I don't deserve it," he said. After commanding the Apollo 11 mission, Armstrong took a desk job at NASA, then taught engineering at the University of Cincinnati, served on several corporate boards, and worked out of his farm in southwest Ohio. He said he regretted not spending the time he wanted to with his family. "I am, and ever will be, a white socks, pocket protector, nerdy engineer," he said in a rare public appearance in February 2000, cited by the Associated Press. "And I take a substantial amount of pride in the accomplishments of my profession." He also regretted that US space program did not make more progress than it did. "I fully expected that by the end of the century we would have achieved substantially more than we did," he told "60 Minutes." The end of the Cold War also marked the end of the drive for space dominance, he said. "When we lost the competition, we lost the public will to continue." In 2010, he came out of retirement to make a case before the US Congress to restore funding and a vision for the US space program and a workforce he described as "confused and disconsolate" by the termination of the 30-year space shuttle program, layoffs of thousands of aerospace workers, and the absence of a new US space strategy. Public policy must be guided by the recognition that we live in a technologically driven world, he told a House panel. "Our choices are to lead, try to keep up, or get out of the way" he said. "A lead once lost is very difficult to regain." "Neil Armstrong understood that we should reach beyond the stars,"said Sen. Bill Nelson (D) of Florida, a former NASA shuttle astronaut, in a statement. "His 'one giant leap for mankind' was taken by a giant of a man." House Speaker John Boehner (R) of Ohio, who also calls Cincinnati his home town, said of Armstrong: "A true hero has returned to the Heavens to which he once flew. Neil Armstrong blazed trails not just for America, but for all of mankind." "Ohio has lost one of her proudest sons," he said in a statement."Humanity has gained a legend." "Neil Armstrong, first person to walk on moon, dies at 82" Neil Armstrong's 'giant leap for mankind' as he set foot on the lunar surface in 1969 climaxed a monumental achievement in human history. Despite his fame, the former fighter pilot shrank from the spotlight and called himself a 'nerdy engineer.' by Eric Malnic August 25th, 2012, Los Angeles Times, Neil Armstrong, the U.S. astronaut who was the first person to set foot on the moon, firmly establishing him as one of the great heroes of the 20th century, has died. He was 82. Armstrong died following complications from cardiovascular procedures, his family announced Saturday. When he made that famous step on July 20, 1969, he uttered a phrase that has been carved in stone and quoted across the planet:"That's one small step for [a] man; one giant leap for mankind." Armstrong spoke those words quietly as he gazed down at his, the first human footprint on the surface of the moon. In the excitement of the moment, the "a" was left out -- either because Armstrong omitted it or because it was lost in the static of the radio transmission back to Earth. For the usually taciturn Armstrong, it was a rare burst of eloquence seen and heard by 60 million television viewers worldwide. But Armstrong, a reticent, self-effacing man who shunned the spotlight, was never comfortable with his public image as a courageous, historic man of action. "I am, and ever will be, a white-sock, pocket-protector, nerdy engineer," Armstrong once told a National Press Club gathering. Perhaps. How many other nerdy engineers flew 78 combat missions as a Navy jet fighter pilot during the Korean War? Logged more than 1,000 hours as a test pilot in some of the world's fastest and most dangerous aircraft? Or became one of the first civilian astronauts and commanded Apollo 11, the first manned flight to land on the moon? In the years that followed the flight of Apollo 11, Armstrong was asked again and again what it felt like to be the first man on the moon. In answering, he always shared the glory: "I was certainly aware that this was the culmination of the work of 300,000 to 400,000 people over a decade." Neil Alden Armstrong was born Aug. 5, 1930, on his grandfather's farm near Wapakoneta, Ohio. His father, Stephen Armstrong, was a civil servant who audited county records in Ohio and later served as assistant director of the Ohio Mental Hygiene and Corrections Department. The family of his mother, Viola, owned the farm. For more than a decade, his family lived in a succession of Ohio cities to accommodate his father's job before settling down in Wapakoneta. After his father bought him a ride in a Ford Trimotor transport plane in 1936, Armstrong rushed home and began building model airplanes and a wind tunnel to test them. A good student, Armstrong was a much-decorated Boy Scout and played the baritone horn in a school band. But aviation always came first. In 1945, he started taking flying lessons, paying for them by working as a stock clerk at a drugstore. On his 16th birthday, he got his pilot's license but didn't yet have a driver's license. Upon graduating from high school in 1947, he was awarded a Navy scholarship to Purdue University. When the Korean War started in 1949, Armstrong was called to active duty. After flight training, Armstrong was assigned to the carrier Essex, flying combat missions over North Korea. Although one of the Panther jets he flew off the carrier was crippled by enemy fire, he nursed the plane back over South Korea before bailing out safely. Recognized as an outstanding pilot with a flair for eadership, he received three Air Medals before finishing his active duty in 1952. He returned to Purdue and earned a bachelor's degree in aeronautical engineering in 1955. Within months, he was a civilian test pilot for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, which became the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. He was soon stationed at Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave Desert, chronicled by author Tom Wolfe as the home to pilots with "The Right Stuff." Aviators were closely scrutinized there, levaluated carefully as they pushed high-performance aircraft to "the edge of the envelope" and quizzed repeatedly about the scientific implications of their work. "A lot of people couldn't figure Armstrong out," Wolfe wrote. "You'd ask him a question and he would just stare at you with those pale blue eyes of his. "And you'd start to ask the question again, figuring that he hadn't understood, and -- click -- out of his mouth would come forth a sequence of long, quiet, perfectly formed, precisely thought-out sentences, full of anisotropic functions and multiple-encounter trajectories or whatever else was called for. "It was as if his hesitations were just data punch-in intervals for his computer." Armstrong had dated a sorority beauty queen, Janet Shearon, at Purdue, and they were married in 1956. For a while they lived in a small shack without indoor plumbing in the San Gabriel Mountains overlooking Edwards. Children soon followed. A son, Eric, in 1957 and a daughter, Karen, two years later. The couple had a second son, Mark, in 1963, a year after Karen died of a brain tumor. True to form, Armstrong did not speak publicly about the tragedy or any other aspects of his family life. Instead, he concentrated on his work. By 1963, NASA was striving to fulfill President John F. Kennedy's goal of beating the Soviet Union in the space race and putting an American on the moon. Kennedy wanted some civilian astronauts, and Armstrong was one of the first. In 1966, he made his first space flight, with fellow astronaut David R. Scott. Their ship, Gemini 8, was docking with an unmanned Agena rocket when a malfunctioning thruster sent the interlocked space vehicles tumbling uncontrollably. Unperturbed, Armstrong disconnected the two vehicles, brought Gemini 8 back under control and made a safe emergency landing in the Pacific. NASA officials cited his "extraordinary piloting skill." Two years later, a lunar landing training vehicle he was piloting suffered control failure just 200 feet off the ground. Armstrong ejected, parachuting to safety. On Jan. 1, 1969, he was named commander of Apollo 11, the first manned spaceship scheduled to land on the moon. His crewmates were fellow space veterans Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin and Michael Collins. Five months later, the massive Apollo 11 spaceship was nudged carefully onto the launch pad at what was then called Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. The vehicle was as long as a football field, tipped on end. It consisted of the command module Columbia, which would carry the three astronauts on their 238,000-mile journey and in which Collins would orbit the moon; the lunar lander the Eagle, which would carry Armstrong and Collins down to the lunar surface; and a huge Saturn booster rocket to hurl the whole thing into space. On July 16, 1969, Apollo 11 blasted off. Two and a half hours later, after an orbit and a half around the Earth, onboard rockets fired to send the spaceship on its three-day trip to the moon. Once in lunar orbit, Armstrong and Aldrin clambered into the Eagle and descended toward the lunar surface, leaving Collins to circle above them. The landing wasn't easy. The lunar surface was rockier than expected, and Armstrong had to pilot the fragile craft horizontally until he found a safe, flat spot. On July 20, 1969, at 1:04:40 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time, the small spacecraft came to rest gently near the moon's dry Sea of Tranquillity. "The Eagle has landed," Armstrong radioed back to Earth. At New York's Yankee Stadium, 16,000 fans stood up and cheered. Six hours and 52 minutes later, as an onboard television camera sent grainy but stunning images back for the world to see, Armstrong became the first human to set foot on lunar soil. There had been some dispute over who would be first, Armstrong or Aldrin, but Donald "Deke" Slayton, head of the astronaut corps, said he made the decision. "Neil was the commander," Slayton once said. "He had the seniority, and that was all there was to it." Aldrin stepped out of the Eagle a few minutes after Armstrong. The pair spent about 21/2 hours on the lunar surface, collecting dozens of soil and rock samples, setting up seismic equipment, planting an American flag and taking photographs. "Isn't this fun?" the usually reserved Armstrong remarked jocularly at one point, patting Aldrin on the shoulder as they bounded about in the low lunar gravity. As they climbed back into the Eagle, they left behind a plaque that reads: "Here men from the planet Earth first set foot on the moon. We come in peace for all mankind." Within hours, the Eagle had lifted off from the moon, rejoined the Columbia and the three astronauts were on their way back to Earth. On July 24, 1969, Apollo 11 splashed down in the Pacific about 950 miles south of Hawaii. To assure they weren't carrying any lunar astronauts were placed in quarantine for 18 days. President Nixon waved to them through a window of their isolation chamber. On Aug. 13, 1969, the nation saluted them. They appeared in a parade in New York City in the morning and another in Chicago in the afternoon. That night, they were honored by 1,400 at a state dinner at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles. Nixon gave them each the Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor. Then the trio left on a 22-nation tour, during which they met the queen of England, the shah of Iran and the pope. The public adulation eventually dimmed for Aldrin and Collins — but not Armstrong. He was in demand, and whenever he made a public appearance people clamored for his autograph. It all made him uncomfortable. He worked a NASA desk job in Washington for a couple years and after earning a master's degree in aeronautical engineering at USC, he returned to Ohio. For a decade, he taught aerospace engineering at the University of Cincinnati. He bought a secluded, 200-acre dairy farm near Lebanon, Ohio, and occasionally ventured into town for a quiet lunch at a local cafe. The town respected his privacy and he said he enjoyed doing the moderate physical work required on a farm. When called by his country, he responded, serving in 1985 on the National Commission on Space and in 1986 as vice chairman of the presidential commission that investigated the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger. He continued to fly, piloting a light plane he kept at a nearby airport. He served on the boards of several large corporations, and as chairman of AIL Technologies, an aerospace electronics firm on Long Island, N.Y. He even surprised everyone and did a television commercial for Chrysler. In 1994, Armstrong divorced his wife of 38 years. Shortly afterward, he married the former Carol Knight, a woman 15 years his junior, and receded further from public life. The closest he came to describing what the Apollo 11 mission meant to him was during a Life magazine interview several weeks before the flight. "The single thing which makes any man happiest is makes any man happiest is the realization that he has worked up to the limits of his ability, his capacity,"Armstrong said. "It's all the better, of course, if this work has made a contribution to knowledge, or toward moving the human race a little farther forward." Information on survivors was not immediately available. [Malnic, a former Times staff writer, prepared a draft of this story before he died in 2010.] "Inspired Mankind With One Small Step" by Marc Santora August 25th, 2012 The New York Times: Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, died Saturday. He was 82 and lived in Cincinnati. His death was announced by his family in a statement, but it did not say where Mr. Armstrong died. Mr. Armstrong underwent bypass surgery earlier this month to relieve blocked coronary arteries, according to family and friends. His recovery had been going well, according to those who spoke with him after the surgery, and his death came as a surprise to many close to him, including his fellow Apollo astronauts. As commander of the Apollo 11 mission, Mr. Armstrong, with one short sentence on July 20, 1969, became a hero to the millions of people watching back on earth. The words he spoke upon stepping onto the lunar surface — “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” — were beamed live into homes around the world, captivating viewers and immediately and indelibly becoming a symbol of America’s resolve and ingenuity in its race against the Soviet Union for supremacy in space. It was a singular achievement for humanity and the culmination of a goal that President John F. Kennedy had set eight years earlier with his bold statement: “I believe this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before the decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth.” Mr. Armstrong’s family, in a statement, praised him as a “loving husband, father, grandfather, brother and friend.” “Neil Armstrong was also a reluctant American hero who always believed he was just doing his job,” the family said. “He served his nation proudly, as a navy fighter pilot, test pilot and astronaut.” Neil Alden Armstrong was born Aug. 5, 1930, near Wapakoneta, Ohio, and he would maintain a connection with his home state his entire life. In 1947, Mr. Armstrong began studying aeronautical engineering at Purdue University on a Navy scholarship, according to his official biography. His studies were interrupted in 1949 when he was called to serve in the Korean War, where he flew 78 combat missions. He left the service in 1952, and returned to college to finish his degree. He later earned a master’s degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Southern California. In 1955, he joined the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, which later became the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and worked as an engineer, test pilot and administrator. As a test pilot, he flew some of the most innovative and dangerous aircraft ever developed, more than 200 different models. Perhaps the best known of these was the X-15, which reached speeds of 4,000 m.p.h., according to his biography on the NASA Web site. He became an astronaut in 1962 and was the command pilot for the Gemini 8 mission in 1966, when he performed the first successful docking of two vehicles in space. Three year later, Mr. Armstrong was 38 years old when he piloted the lunar module to the surface of the moon, a delicate operation that required precise calculations to ensure that the vehicle landed unscathed. Along with his co-pilot, Col. Edwin E. Aldrin Jr. of the Air Force, the pair landed in a rock-strewn plain near the southwestern shore of the Sea of Tranquillity. The third astronaut on the mission, Michael Collins, remained in the command ship circling the moon. The world breathed a collective sigh when Mr. Armstrong was heard telling mission control room, “Houston, Tranquillity Base here. The Eagle has landed.” “Roger, Tranquillity,” mission control replied. “We copy you on the ground. You’ve got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We’re breathing again. Thanks a lot.” About six and a half hours after landing, Mr. Armstrong opened the hatch on the four-legged lunar module, slowly made his way down the ladder and planted the first human footprint on the lunar crust. A crater near the site of the landing was later named in his honor. After leaving the space program, Mr. Armstrong was careful to do nothing to tarnish that image or
achievement. Though he traveled and gave speeches — like in October 2007, when he dedicated the new Neil Armstrong Hall of Engineering at Purdue — he rarely gave interviews and avoided the spotlight. “He remained an advocate of aviation and exploration throughout his life and never lost his boyhood wonder of these pursuits,” his family said in the statement. He later found success in both business and academia. Mr. Armstrong married Carol Knight in 1994, and the couple lived in Indian Hill, a Cincinnati suburb. In addition to his wife, he is survived by two sons, Eric and Mark, from his first marriage to Janet Shearon. He also had a daughter with Ms. Shearon in 1959, but the girl, Karen, died of an inoperable brain tumor in 1962. Almost as soon as the news of his death was announced, there was an outpouring of well wishes and fond memorials on Web sites and social media, a reflection of the extraordinary public acclaim that came to a very private man. “As much as Neil cherished his privacy, he always appreciated the expressions of good will from people around the world and from all walks of life,” his family said. “While we mourn the loss of a very good man, we also celebrate his remarkable life and hope that it serves as an example to young people around the world to work hard to make their dreams come true, to be willing to explore and push the limits, and to selflessly serve a cause greater than themselves.” Statement by the President on the Passing of Neil Armstrong Michelle and I were deeply saddened to hear about the passing of Neil Armstrong. Neil was among the greatest of American heroes - not just of his time, but of all time. When he and his fellow crew members lifted off aboard Apollo 11 in 1969, they carried with them the aspirations of an entire nation. They set out to show the world that the American spirit can see beyond what seems unimaginable - that with enough drive and ingenuity, anything is possible. And when Neil stepped foot on the surface of the moon for the first time, he delivered a moment of human achievement that will never be forgotten. Today, Neil's spirit of discovery lives on in all the men and women who have devoted their lives to exploring the unknown - including those who are ensuring that we reach higher and go further in space. That legacy will endure - sparked by a man who taught us the enormous power of one small step. Extended NASA statement... Neil Armstrong: 1930-2012, August 25th, 2012 Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon during the 1969 Apollo 11 mission, has died, following complications resulting from cardiovascular procedures. He was 82. Armstrong's words "That is one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind," spoken on July 20, 1969, as he became the first person ever to step onto another planetary body, instantly became a part of history. Those few words from the Sea of Tranquillity were the climactic fulfillment of the efforts and hopes of millions of people and the expenditure of billions of dollars. A plaque on one of the lander's legs that concluded "We came in peace for all mankind," further emphasized that Armstrong and fellow astronaut Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin were there as representatives of all humans. Armstrong is survived by his wife, two sons, a stepson, a stepdaughter, 10 grandchildren, and a brother and sister. "Neil Armstrong was a hero not just of his time, but of all time,"President Barack Obama said via Twitter. "Thank you, Neil, for showing us the power of one small step." Armstrong's family released the following statement on Saturday: Neil Armstrong was also a reluctant American hero who always believed he was just doing his job. He served his Nation proudly, as a navy fighter pilot, test pilot, and astronaut. He also found success back home in his native Ohio in business and academia, and became a community leader in Cincinnati. While we mourn the loss of a very good man, we also celebrate his remarkable life and hope that it serves as an example to young people around the world to work hard to make their dreams come true, to be willing to explore and push the limits, and to selflessly serve a cause greater than themselves. The family will be providing further updates atwww.neilarmstronginfo.com . "As long as there are history books, Neil Armstrong will be included in them, remembered for taking humankind's first small step on a world beyond our own," said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. “Besides being one of America’s greatest explorers," Bolden added, "Neil carried himself with a grace and humility that was an example to us all." Apollo 11 lunar module pilot and fellow moonwalker Buzz Aldrin on Armstrong's passing: “I am very saddened to learn of the passing of Neil Armstrong today. Neil and I trained together as technical partners but were also good friends who will always be connected through our participation in the Apollo 11 mission. Whenever I look at the moon it reminds me of the moment over four decades ago when I realized that even though we were farther away from earth than two humans had ever been, we were not alone." Apollo 11 command module pilot Michael Collins said simply, “He was the best, and I will miss him terribly.” "The passing of Neil Armstrong has shocked all of us at the Johnson Space Center," said Center Director Michael Coats. The whole world knew Neil as the first man to step foot on the Moon, but to us he was a co-worker, a friend, and an outstanding spokesman for the Human Space Program. His quiet confidence and ability to perform under pressure set an example for all subsequent astronauts. Our role model will be missed." “Neil Armstrong was a very personal inspiration to all of us within the astronaut office," said Bob Behnken, Chief of NASA's Astronaut Office. "His historic step onto the Moon’s surface was the foundation for many of our personal dreams to become astronauts. The only thing that outshone his accomplishments was his humility about those accomplishments. We will miss him as a friend, mentor, explorer and ambassador for the American spirit of ingenuity." Armstrong later transferred to NACA's High Speed Flight Research Station at Edwards AFB, Calif. As project pilot, he was in the forefront of the development of many high-speed aircraft, including the X-15, which flew at 4,000 mph. He flew more than 200 aircraft models. They included jet and rocket-powered planes, helicopters and gliders. Armstrong was selected as an astronaut in 1962. His first space flight was Gemini 8, which he commanded. He was the first civilian to fly a U.S. spacecraft. With fellow astronaut David R. Scott, Armstrong performed the first docking in space, with an Agena target satellite. Less than an hour later their spacecraft began an unplanned rolling motion. After undocking, it increased to one revolution per second. One of the Gemini's 16 thrusters had stuck open because of an electrical short circuit. Armstrong used re-entry thrusters to control the capsule, and after a 30-minute struggle, it was stabilized. Flight rules required a return to Earth after use of the re-entry thrusters, so the crewmembers fired retrorockets that sent Gemini 8 to a contingency landing zone in the Western Pacific. The eventful flight on March 16, 1966, had taken just over 10 hours, 41 minutes. Apollo 11 lifted off on July 16, 1969, with Armstrong, Aldrin and Mike Collins aboard. Collins remained in lunar orbit in the command module while Armstrong and Aldrin descended in the lunar module they had named Eagle to their historic landing on the moon's surface. "Houston, Tranquillity Base here. The Eagle has landed," Armstrong said, telling a tense and waiting Earth that men had finally reached the lunar surface. He and Aldrin spent about two hours exploring, gathering more than 50 pounds of moon rocks and setting upthree scientific experiments. The next day, after 21 hours and 37 minutes on the moon, they fired Eagle's engine to begin the return to Collins and the command module. The crew returned to Earth, landing near the USS Hornet in the Pacific after a mission of just over eight days. President Richard M. Nixon was on the aircraft carrier's deck to welcome them "This is the greatest week in the history of the world since the creation," Nixon told the three. After 16 days in quarantine to protect Earth from any returned moon germs, the crew went on U.S. and international tours. Millions greeted them as heroes. Armstrong later served as deputy associate administrator for aeronautics in the Office of Advanced Research and technology at NASA Headquarters. He resigned from the space agency in 1971. As a professor at the University of Cincinnati from 1971 to 1979, he was involved in both teaching and research. He later went into the business world. Among other positions, he served for 10 years as chairman of Computing Technologies for Aviation Inc. of Charlottesville, Va. and later as chairman of AIL Systems Inc., an electronic systems company based in Deer Park, N.Y. Armstrong was a fellow of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots and the Royal Aeronautical Society, and an honorary fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the International Astronautical Federation. He was a member of the National Academy of Engineering. He served as a member of the National Commission on Space in 1985 and 1986, and in 1985 was vice chairman of the Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident. He also was chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee for the Peace Corps from 1971 to 1973. Seventeen countries decorated Armstrong. He received many special honors, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Congressional Space Medal of Honor, NASA's Ambassador of Exploration Award, the Explorers Club Medal, the Robert H. Goddard Memorial Trophy, the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, the Harmon International Aviation Trophy, the Royal Geographic Society's Gold Medal, the Federation Aeronautique Internationale's Gold Space Medal, the American Astronautical Society Flight Achievement Award, the Robert J. Collier Trophy, the AIAA Astronautics Award, the Octave Chanute Award, and the John J. Montgomery Award. Neil Armstrong [Wikipedia], Source: Philosophy of Science Portal
true American hero. "Neil Armstrong: modest man, large footprint in time and space" Neil Armstrong's walk on the moon on July 20, 1969, marked the high point of US manned space flight, but the commander of the Apollo 11 mission was wary of the celebrity that came with it. by Gail Russell Chaddock August 25th, 2012, The Christian Science Monitor, Neil Armstrong, who died today following heart surgery, never wanted to be remembered simply as the first man on the moon. Once credited with the most recognized name in the world, Armstrong avoided the outsized celebrity of the early NASA astronauts, whose storied missions not only advanced a US profile in space but also helped define the Cold War struggle with Soviet Union, whose 1957 Sputnik launch stunned the world. The images of the first moon walk with Buzz Aldrin on July 20, 1969, marked the high point of the US manned space program. His signature, and often misquoted, line – "That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind" – soared to iconic status. But Armstrong, who also flew combat missions in Korea, brushed aside all talk of hero status, at least for himself. "We all like to be recognized not for one piece of fireworks but for the ledger of our daily work," he said in a 2007 interview with "60 Minutes." As for all the celebrity: "I don't deserve it," he said. After commanding the Apollo 11 mission, Armstrong took a desk job at NASA, then taught engineering at the University of Cincinnati, served on several corporate boards, and worked out of his farm in southwest Ohio. He said he regretted not spending the time he wanted to with his family. "I am, and ever will be, a white socks, pocket protector, nerdy engineer," he said in a rare public appearance in February 2000, cited by the Associated Press. "And I take a substantial amount of pride in the accomplishments of my profession." He also regretted that US space program did not make more progress than it did. "I fully expected that by the end of the century we would have achieved substantially more than we did," he told "60 Minutes." The end of the Cold War also marked the end of the drive for space dominance, he said. "When we lost the competition, we lost the public will to continue." In 2010, he came out of retirement to make a case before the US Congress to restore funding and a vision for the US space program and a workforce he described as "confused and disconsolate" by the termination of the 30-year space shuttle program, layoffs of thousands of aerospace workers, and the absence of a new US space strategy. Public policy must be guided by the recognition that we live in a technologically driven world, he told a House panel. "Our choices are to lead, try to keep up, or get out of the way" he said. "A lead once lost is very difficult to regain." "Neil Armstrong understood that we should reach beyond the stars,"said Sen. Bill Nelson (D) of Florida, a former NASA shuttle astronaut, in a statement. "His 'one giant leap for mankind' was taken by a giant of a man." House Speaker John Boehner (R) of Ohio, who also calls Cincinnati his home town, said of Armstrong: "A true hero has returned to the Heavens to which he once flew. Neil Armstrong blazed trails not just for America, but for all of mankind." "Ohio has lost one of her proudest sons," he said in a statement."Humanity has gained a legend." "Neil Armstrong, first person to walk on moon, dies at 82" Neil Armstrong's 'giant leap for mankind' as he set foot on the lunar surface in 1969 climaxed a monumental achievement in human history. Despite his fame, the former fighter pilot shrank from the spotlight and called himself a 'nerdy engineer.' by Eric Malnic August 25th, 2012, Los Angeles Times, Neil Armstrong, the U.S. astronaut who was the first person to set foot on the moon, firmly establishing him as one of the great heroes of the 20th century, has died. He was 82. Armstrong died following complications from cardiovascular procedures, his family announced Saturday. When he made that famous step on July 20, 1969, he uttered a phrase that has been carved in stone and quoted across the planet:"That's one small step for [a] man; one giant leap for mankind." Armstrong spoke those words quietly as he gazed down at his, the first human footprint on the surface of the moon. In the excitement of the moment, the "a" was left out -- either because Armstrong omitted it or because it was lost in the static of the radio transmission back to Earth. For the usually taciturn Armstrong, it was a rare burst of eloquence seen and heard by 60 million television viewers worldwide. But Armstrong, a reticent, self-effacing man who shunned the spotlight, was never comfortable with his public image as a courageous, historic man of action. "I am, and ever will be, a white-sock, pocket-protector, nerdy engineer," Armstrong once told a National Press Club gathering. Perhaps. How many other nerdy engineers flew 78 combat missions as a Navy jet fighter pilot during the Korean War? Logged more than 1,000 hours as a test pilot in some of the world's fastest and most dangerous aircraft? Or became one of the first civilian astronauts and commanded Apollo 11, the first manned flight to land on the moon? In the years that followed the flight of Apollo 11, Armstrong was asked again and again what it felt like to be the first man on the moon. In answering, he always shared the glory: "I was certainly aware that this was the culmination of the work of 300,000 to 400,000 people over a decade." Neil Alden Armstrong was born Aug. 5, 1930, on his grandfather's farm near Wapakoneta, Ohio. His father, Stephen Armstrong, was a civil servant who audited county records in Ohio and later served as assistant director of the Ohio Mental Hygiene and Corrections Department. The family of his mother, Viola, owned the farm. For more than a decade, his family lived in a succession of Ohio cities to accommodate his father's job before settling down in Wapakoneta. After his father bought him a ride in a Ford Trimotor transport plane in 1936, Armstrong rushed home and began building model airplanes and a wind tunnel to test them. A good student, Armstrong was a much-decorated Boy Scout and played the baritone horn in a school band. But aviation always came first. In 1945, he started taking flying lessons, paying for them by working as a stock clerk at a drugstore. On his 16th birthday, he got his pilot's license but didn't yet have a driver's license. Upon graduating from high school in 1947, he was awarded a Navy scholarship to Purdue University. When the Korean War started in 1949, Armstrong was called to active duty. After flight training, Armstrong was assigned to the carrier Essex, flying combat missions over North Korea. Although one of the Panther jets he flew off the carrier was crippled by enemy fire, he nursed the plane back over South Korea before bailing out safely. Recognized as an outstanding pilot with a flair for eadership, he received three Air Medals before finishing his active duty in 1952. He returned to Purdue and earned a bachelor's degree in aeronautical engineering in 1955. Within months, he was a civilian test pilot for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, which became the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. He was soon stationed at Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave Desert, chronicled by author Tom Wolfe as the home to pilots with "The Right Stuff." Aviators were closely scrutinized there, levaluated carefully as they pushed high-performance aircraft to "the edge of the envelope" and quizzed repeatedly about the scientific implications of their work. "A lot of people couldn't figure Armstrong out," Wolfe wrote. "You'd ask him a question and he would just stare at you with those pale blue eyes of his. "And you'd start to ask the question again, figuring that he hadn't understood, and -- click -- out of his mouth would come forth a sequence of long, quiet, perfectly formed, precisely thought-out sentences, full of anisotropic functions and multiple-encounter trajectories or whatever else was called for. "It was as if his hesitations were just data punch-in intervals for his computer." Armstrong had dated a sorority beauty queen, Janet Shearon, at Purdue, and they were married in 1956. For a while they lived in a small shack without indoor plumbing in the San Gabriel Mountains overlooking Edwards. Children soon followed. A son, Eric, in 1957 and a daughter, Karen, two years later. The couple had a second son, Mark, in 1963, a year after Karen died of a brain tumor. True to form, Armstrong did not speak publicly about the tragedy or any other aspects of his family life. Instead, he concentrated on his work. By 1963, NASA was striving to fulfill President John F. Kennedy's goal of beating the Soviet Union in the space race and putting an American on the moon. Kennedy wanted some civilian astronauts, and Armstrong was one of the first. In 1966, he made his first space flight, with fellow astronaut David R. Scott. Their ship, Gemini 8, was docking with an unmanned Agena rocket when a malfunctioning thruster sent the interlocked space vehicles tumbling uncontrollably. Unperturbed, Armstrong disconnected the two vehicles, brought Gemini 8 back under control and made a safe emergency landing in the Pacific. NASA officials cited his "extraordinary piloting skill." Two years later, a lunar landing training vehicle he was piloting suffered control failure just 200 feet off the ground. Armstrong ejected, parachuting to safety. On Jan. 1, 1969, he was named commander of Apollo 11, the first manned spaceship scheduled to land on the moon. His crewmates were fellow space veterans Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin and Michael Collins. Five months later, the massive Apollo 11 spaceship was nudged carefully onto the launch pad at what was then called Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. The vehicle was as long as a football field, tipped on end. It consisted of the command module Columbia, which would carry the three astronauts on their 238,000-mile journey and in which Collins would orbit the moon; the lunar lander the Eagle, which would carry Armstrong and Collins down to the lunar surface; and a huge Saturn booster rocket to hurl the whole thing into space. On July 16, 1969, Apollo 11 blasted off. Two and a half hours later, after an orbit and a half around the Earth, onboard rockets fired to send the spaceship on its three-day trip to the moon. Once in lunar orbit, Armstrong and Aldrin clambered into the Eagle and descended toward the lunar surface, leaving Collins to circle above them. The landing wasn't easy. The lunar surface was rockier than expected, and Armstrong had to pilot the fragile craft horizontally until he found a safe, flat spot. On July 20, 1969, at 1:04:40 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time, the small spacecraft came to rest gently near the moon's dry Sea of Tranquillity. "The Eagle has landed," Armstrong radioed back to Earth. At New York's Yankee Stadium, 16,000 fans stood up and cheered. Six hours and 52 minutes later, as an onboard television camera sent grainy but stunning images back for the world to see, Armstrong became the first human to set foot on lunar soil. There had been some dispute over who would be first, Armstrong or Aldrin, but Donald "Deke" Slayton, head of the astronaut corps, said he made the decision. "Neil was the commander," Slayton once said. "He had the seniority, and that was all there was to it." Aldrin stepped out of the Eagle a few minutes after Armstrong. The pair spent about 21/2 hours on the lunar surface, collecting dozens of soil and rock samples, setting up seismic equipment, planting an American flag and taking photographs. "Isn't this fun?" the usually reserved Armstrong remarked jocularly at one point, patting Aldrin on the shoulder as they bounded about in the low lunar gravity. As they climbed back into the Eagle, they left behind a plaque that reads: "Here men from the planet Earth first set foot on the moon. We come in peace for all mankind." Within hours, the Eagle had lifted off from the moon, rejoined the Columbia and the three astronauts were on their way back to Earth. On July 24, 1969, Apollo 11 splashed down in the Pacific about 950 miles south of Hawaii. To assure they weren't carrying any lunar astronauts were placed in quarantine for 18 days. President Nixon waved to them through a window of their isolation chamber. On Aug. 13, 1969, the nation saluted them. They appeared in a parade in New York City in the morning and another in Chicago in the afternoon. That night, they were honored by 1,400 at a state dinner at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles. Nixon gave them each the Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor. Then the trio left on a 22-nation tour, during which they met the queen of England, the shah of Iran and the pope. The public adulation eventually dimmed for Aldrin and Collins — but not Armstrong. He was in demand, and whenever he made a public appearance people clamored for his autograph. It all made him uncomfortable. He worked a NASA desk job in Washington for a couple years and after earning a master's degree in aeronautical engineering at USC, he returned to Ohio. For a decade, he taught aerospace engineering at the University of Cincinnati. He bought a secluded, 200-acre dairy farm near Lebanon, Ohio, and occasionally ventured into town for a quiet lunch at a local cafe. The town respected his privacy and he said he enjoyed doing the moderate physical work required on a farm. When called by his country, he responded, serving in 1985 on the National Commission on Space and in 1986 as vice chairman of the presidential commission that investigated the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger. He continued to fly, piloting a light plane he kept at a nearby airport. He served on the boards of several large corporations, and as chairman of AIL Technologies, an aerospace electronics firm on Long Island, N.Y. He even surprised everyone and did a television commercial for Chrysler. In 1994, Armstrong divorced his wife of 38 years. Shortly afterward, he married the former Carol Knight, a woman 15 years his junior, and receded further from public life. The closest he came to describing what the Apollo 11 mission meant to him was during a Life magazine interview several weeks before the flight. "The single thing which makes any man happiest is makes any man happiest is the realization that he has worked up to the limits of his ability, his capacity,"Armstrong said. "It's all the better, of course, if this work has made a contribution to knowledge, or toward moving the human race a little farther forward." Information on survivors was not immediately available. [Malnic, a former Times staff writer, prepared a draft of this story before he died in 2010.] "Inspired Mankind With One Small Step" by Marc Santora August 25th, 2012 The New York Times: Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, died Saturday. He was 82 and lived in Cincinnati. His death was announced by his family in a statement, but it did not say where Mr. Armstrong died. Mr. Armstrong underwent bypass surgery earlier this month to relieve blocked coronary arteries, according to family and friends. His recovery had been going well, according to those who spoke with him after the surgery, and his death came as a surprise to many close to him, including his fellow Apollo astronauts. As commander of the Apollo 11 mission, Mr. Armstrong, with one short sentence on July 20, 1969, became a hero to the millions of people watching back on earth. The words he spoke upon stepping onto the lunar surface — “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” — were beamed live into homes around the world, captivating viewers and immediately and indelibly becoming a symbol of America’s resolve and ingenuity in its race against the Soviet Union for supremacy in space. It was a singular achievement for humanity and the culmination of a goal that President John F. Kennedy had set eight years earlier with his bold statement: “I believe this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before the decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth.” Mr. Armstrong’s family, in a statement, praised him as a “loving husband, father, grandfather, brother and friend.” “Neil Armstrong was also a reluctant American hero who always believed he was just doing his job,” the family said. “He served his nation proudly, as a navy fighter pilot, test pilot and astronaut.” Neil Alden Armstrong was born Aug. 5, 1930, near Wapakoneta, Ohio, and he would maintain a connection with his home state his entire life. In 1947, Mr. Armstrong began studying aeronautical engineering at Purdue University on a Navy scholarship, according to his official biography. His studies were interrupted in 1949 when he was called to serve in the Korean War, where he flew 78 combat missions. He left the service in 1952, and returned to college to finish his degree. He later earned a master’s degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Southern California. In 1955, he joined the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, which later became the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and worked as an engineer, test pilot and administrator. As a test pilot, he flew some of the most innovative and dangerous aircraft ever developed, more than 200 different models. Perhaps the best known of these was the X-15, which reached speeds of 4,000 m.p.h., according to his biography on the NASA Web site. He became an astronaut in 1962 and was the command pilot for the Gemini 8 mission in 1966, when he performed the first successful docking of two vehicles in space. Three year later, Mr. Armstrong was 38 years old when he piloted the lunar module to the surface of the moon, a delicate operation that required precise calculations to ensure that the vehicle landed unscathed. Along with his co-pilot, Col. Edwin E. Aldrin Jr. of the Air Force, the pair landed in a rock-strewn plain near the southwestern shore of the Sea of Tranquillity. The third astronaut on the mission, Michael Collins, remained in the command ship circling the moon. The world breathed a collective sigh when Mr. Armstrong was heard telling mission control room, “Houston, Tranquillity Base here. The Eagle has landed.” “Roger, Tranquillity,” mission control replied. “We copy you on the ground. You’ve got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We’re breathing again. Thanks a lot.” About six and a half hours after landing, Mr. Armstrong opened the hatch on the four-legged lunar module, slowly made his way down the ladder and planted the first human footprint on the lunar crust. A crater near the site of the landing was later named in his honor. After leaving the space program, Mr. Armstrong was careful to do nothing to tarnish that image or
achievement. Though he traveled and gave speeches — like in October 2007, when he dedicated the new Neil Armstrong Hall of Engineering at Purdue — he rarely gave interviews and avoided the spotlight. “He remained an advocate of aviation and exploration throughout his life and never lost his boyhood wonder of these pursuits,” his family said in the statement. He later found success in both business and academia. Mr. Armstrong married Carol Knight in 1994, and the couple lived in Indian Hill, a Cincinnati suburb. In addition to his wife, he is survived by two sons, Eric and Mark, from his first marriage to Janet Shearon. He also had a daughter with Ms. Shearon in 1959, but the girl, Karen, died of an inoperable brain tumor in 1962. Almost as soon as the news of his death was announced, there was an outpouring of well wishes and fond memorials on Web sites and social media, a reflection of the extraordinary public acclaim that came to a very private man. “As much as Neil cherished his privacy, he always appreciated the expressions of good will from people around the world and from all walks of life,” his family said. “While we mourn the loss of a very good man, we also celebrate his remarkable life and hope that it serves as an example to young people around the world to work hard to make their dreams come true, to be willing to explore and push the limits, and to selflessly serve a cause greater than themselves.” Statement by the President on the Passing of Neil Armstrong Michelle and I were deeply saddened to hear about the passing of Neil Armstrong. Neil was among the greatest of American heroes - not just of his time, but of all time. When he and his fellow crew members lifted off aboard Apollo 11 in 1969, they carried with them the aspirations of an entire nation. They set out to show the world that the American spirit can see beyond what seems unimaginable - that with enough drive and ingenuity, anything is possible. And when Neil stepped foot on the surface of the moon for the first time, he delivered a moment of human achievement that will never be forgotten. Today, Neil's spirit of discovery lives on in all the men and women who have devoted their lives to exploring the unknown - including those who are ensuring that we reach higher and go further in space. That legacy will endure - sparked by a man who taught us the enormous power of one small step. Extended NASA statement... Neil Armstrong: 1930-2012, August 25th, 2012 Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon during the 1969 Apollo 11 mission, has died, following complications resulting from cardiovascular procedures. He was 82. Armstrong's words "That is one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind," spoken on July 20, 1969, as he became the first person ever to step onto another planetary body, instantly became a part of history. Those few words from the Sea of Tranquillity were the climactic fulfillment of the efforts and hopes of millions of people and the expenditure of billions of dollars. A plaque on one of the lander's legs that concluded "We came in peace for all mankind," further emphasized that Armstrong and fellow astronaut Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin were there as representatives of all humans. Armstrong is survived by his wife, two sons, a stepson, a stepdaughter, 10 grandchildren, and a brother and sister. "Neil Armstrong was a hero not just of his time, but of all time,"President Barack Obama said via Twitter. "Thank you, Neil, for showing us the power of one small step." Armstrong's family released the following statement on Saturday: Neil Armstrong was also a reluctant American hero who always believed he was just doing his job. He served his Nation proudly, as a navy fighter pilot, test pilot, and astronaut. He also found success back home in his native Ohio in business and academia, and became a community leader in Cincinnati. While we mourn the loss of a very good man, we also celebrate his remarkable life and hope that it serves as an example to young people around the world to work hard to make their dreams come true, to be willing to explore and push the limits, and to selflessly serve a cause greater than themselves. The family will be providing further updates atwww.neilarmstronginfo.com . "As long as there are history books, Neil Armstrong will be included in them, remembered for taking humankind's first small step on a world beyond our own," said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. “Besides being one of America’s greatest explorers," Bolden added, "Neil carried himself with a grace and humility that was an example to us all." Apollo 11 lunar module pilot and fellow moonwalker Buzz Aldrin on Armstrong's passing: “I am very saddened to learn of the passing of Neil Armstrong today. Neil and I trained together as technical partners but were also good friends who will always be connected through our participation in the Apollo 11 mission. Whenever I look at the moon it reminds me of the moment over four decades ago when I realized that even though we were farther away from earth than two humans had ever been, we were not alone." Apollo 11 command module pilot Michael Collins said simply, “He was the best, and I will miss him terribly.” "The passing of Neil Armstrong has shocked all of us at the Johnson Space Center," said Center Director Michael Coats. The whole world knew Neil as the first man to step foot on the Moon, but to us he was a co-worker, a friend, and an outstanding spokesman for the Human Space Program. His quiet confidence and ability to perform under pressure set an example for all subsequent astronauts. Our role model will be missed." “Neil Armstrong was a very personal inspiration to all of us within the astronaut office," said Bob Behnken, Chief of NASA's Astronaut Office. "His historic step onto the Moon’s surface was the foundation for many of our personal dreams to become astronauts. The only thing that outshone his accomplishments was his humility about those accomplishments. We will miss him as a friend, mentor, explorer and ambassador for the American spirit of ingenuity." Armstrong later transferred to NACA's High Speed Flight Research Station at Edwards AFB, Calif. As project pilot, he was in the forefront of the development of many high-speed aircraft, including the X-15, which flew at 4,000 mph. He flew more than 200 aircraft models. They included jet and rocket-powered planes, helicopters and gliders. Armstrong was selected as an astronaut in 1962. His first space flight was Gemini 8, which he commanded. He was the first civilian to fly a U.S. spacecraft. With fellow astronaut David R. Scott, Armstrong performed the first docking in space, with an Agena target satellite. Less than an hour later their spacecraft began an unplanned rolling motion. After undocking, it increased to one revolution per second. One of the Gemini's 16 thrusters had stuck open because of an electrical short circuit. Armstrong used re-entry thrusters to control the capsule, and after a 30-minute struggle, it was stabilized. Flight rules required a return to Earth after use of the re-entry thrusters, so the crewmembers fired retrorockets that sent Gemini 8 to a contingency landing zone in the Western Pacific. The eventful flight on March 16, 1966, had taken just over 10 hours, 41 minutes. Apollo 11 lifted off on July 16, 1969, with Armstrong, Aldrin and Mike Collins aboard. Collins remained in lunar orbit in the command module while Armstrong and Aldrin descended in the lunar module they had named Eagle to their historic landing on the moon's surface. "Houston, Tranquillity Base here. The Eagle has landed," Armstrong said, telling a tense and waiting Earth that men had finally reached the lunar surface. He and Aldrin spent about two hours exploring, gathering more than 50 pounds of moon rocks and setting upthree scientific experiments. The next day, after 21 hours and 37 minutes on the moon, they fired Eagle's engine to begin the return to Collins and the command module. The crew returned to Earth, landing near the USS Hornet in the Pacific after a mission of just over eight days. President Richard M. Nixon was on the aircraft carrier's deck to welcome them "This is the greatest week in the history of the world since the creation," Nixon told the three. After 16 days in quarantine to protect Earth from any returned moon germs, the crew went on U.S. and international tours. Millions greeted them as heroes. Armstrong later served as deputy associate administrator for aeronautics in the Office of Advanced Research and technology at NASA Headquarters. He resigned from the space agency in 1971. As a professor at the University of Cincinnati from 1971 to 1979, he was involved in both teaching and research. He later went into the business world. Among other positions, he served for 10 years as chairman of Computing Technologies for Aviation Inc. of Charlottesville, Va. and later as chairman of AIL Systems Inc., an electronic systems company based in Deer Park, N.Y. Armstrong was a fellow of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots and the Royal Aeronautical Society, and an honorary fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the International Astronautical Federation. He was a member of the National Academy of Engineering. He served as a member of the National Commission on Space in 1985 and 1986, and in 1985 was vice chairman of the Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident. He also was chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee for the Peace Corps from 1971 to 1973. Seventeen countries decorated Armstrong. He received many special honors, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Congressional Space Medal of Honor, NASA's Ambassador of Exploration Award, the Explorers Club Medal, the Robert H. Goddard Memorial Trophy, the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, the Harmon International Aviation Trophy, the Royal Geographic Society's Gold Medal, the Federation Aeronautique Internationale's Gold Space Medal, the American Astronautical Society Flight Achievement Award, the Robert J. Collier Trophy, the AIAA Astronautics Award, the Octave Chanute Award, and the John J. Montgomery Award. Neil Armstrong [Wikipedia], Source: Philosophy of Science Portal
