Neil Armstrong

Neil Alden Armstrong (Wapakoneta, Ohio, August 5, 1930-Cincinnati, Ohio, August 25, 2012), better known as Neil Armstrong, was a American astronaut and the first human being to set foot on the Moon. He was also an aerospace engineer, a fighter pilot, a test pilot, and a university professor. When he set foot on the lunar surface, on July 20, 1969, he famously said: "It's one small step for man, but one giant leap for humanity."

Armstrong graduated from Purdue University with a degree in aeronautical engineering, where he studied on a United States Army Holloway Plan scholarship. In 1949 he entered the US Navy and the following year became a naval aviator. He saw combat in the Korean War as a pilot of the Grumman F9F Panther jet fighters of the aircraft carrier USS Essex and in September 1951 his plane was damaged by anti-aircraft fire during a low-altitude bombing raid, forcing him to eject from The aircraft. After the war, he completed his studies at Purdue and began working as a test pilot at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) High-Speed Flight Center, located at Edwards Air Force Base, California. There he piloted the Century Series project fighters and flew seven times in the North American X-15 rocket plane. He also participated in the United States Air Force's Man in Space Soonest and Boeing X-20 Dyna-Soar manned spaceflight programs, both focused on getting a human being into space.

He joined the NASA Astronaut Corps in the space agency's second cohort, which was selected in 1962. He made his first spaceflight as commander of Gemini 8 in March 1966, becoming the first civilian astronaut to fly in space. During this mission with pilot David Scott he performed the first docking of two spacecraft, but this had to be aborted because Armstrong used some of the reentry fuel to prevent a dangerous spin caused by a locked booster. Armstrong's second and final spaceflight was as commander of the Apollo 11 mission, the first manned moon landing. During training for the mission, he was forced to eject from a moon landing research vehicle seconds before it crashed. In July 1969, Armstrong and Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin descended to the Moon's surface and walked on the Moon for two and a half hours while Michael Collins waited in orbit in the Command and Service Module. All three astronauts were awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Richard Nixon. In 1978, President Jimmy Carter awarded him the Congressional Space Medal of Honor and in 2009 he was awarded the United States Congressional Gold Medal.

After leaving NASA in 1971, he accepted a teaching position in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Cincinnati, where he taught until 1979. He assisted in the investigation of the Apollo 13 accident and served on the Rogers Commission who investigated the space shuttle Challenger incident in 1986. In addition, he was a spokesperson for several companies and appeared in advertising for the car manufacturer Chrysler since 1979. He died at age 82 due to complications from a coronary bypass.

Early Years

Neil Armstrong was born on August 5, 1930, in Wapakoneta, Auglaize County, Ohio. The son of Stephen Koenig Armstrong and Viola Louise Engel, he was of Scottish, Irish and German family descent and had two sisters, June and Dean. Stephen Armstrong worked as an auditor for the Ohio government and so the family moved continuously throughout the state since Neil's birth and came to live in twenty different towns. Armstrong's love of flying was born then, when his father took him at the age of two to see the Cleveland Air Races. On July 20, 1936, at the age of five, he experienced his first flight in Warren (Ohio), when together with his father he flew in a Ford Trimotor, an airplane nicknamed Tin Goose ("Tin Goose").

The last change of residence for the father of the family occurred in 1944, when the family returned to Neil's birthplace of Wapakoneta. Armstrong studied at the town's Blume High School and took airplane piloting lessons at Wapakoneta Airfield. He earned a student flying certificate for his 16th birthday and made his first solo flight a few days later., in August 1946, before even having a driver's license. Armstrong was very active as a boy scout and managed to achieve the rank of Eagle Scout —Eagle Scout—, the tallest of all. On July 18, 1969, while flying to the Moon aboard the Columbia, he sent greetings to the Scouts. Among the few personal items he took with him to the Moon and brought back back was the World Scout Badge.

In 1947, at the age of seventeen, Armstrong began studying aeronautical engineering at Purdue University. He was the second member of his family to attend college. He was also accepted into the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), but an uncle of his who had studied at MIT dissuaded him from enrolling there, saying that it was not necessary to travel so far to get a good education. His tuition was paid for by a Holloway Plan scholarship, whose recipients committed to study for two years in college, two years of flight training, and one year of service in the Navy as an aviator, and then completed another two years of higher education. Did not participate in naval science courses or joined the Naval Reserve Officers' Training Corps at Purdue.

Service in the Navy

Ensign Neil Armstrong on May 23, 1952

Armstrong was called up at the age of eighteen on January 26, 1949, by the Navy. He entered the Pensacola air base to start pilot training. After passing the medical tests, he entered the Navy as a midshipman on February 24, 1949. He completed his naval pilot training in the North American T-6 Texan training aircraft, at the controls of which he made his first flight in on 9 September 1949. On 2 March 1950, he made his first landing on an aircraft carrier on the USS Cabot, a feat he likened to his first solo flight. He was then posted to the Naval Air Station from Corpus Christi (Texas) to train piloting the Grumman F8F Bearcat fighter, training that culminated in landing on the aircraft carrier USS Wright. On August 16, 1950, a few days after his twentieth birthday, Armstrong received a letter informing him that he was fully qualified as a naval aviator. His mother and his sister attended his graduation ceremony on August 23, 1950.

His first assignment was Fleet Air Service Squadron 7 at Naval Air Base San Diego. Two months later he was assigned to the jet-equipped Fighter Squadron 51 (VF-51) and made his first jet flight on January 5, 1951 aboard an F9F-2B Panther. On June 5, 1951, he was promoted to second lieutenant and two days later he landed for the first time on an aircraft carrier at the controls of a jet plane, on the USS Essex. At the end of the month, the Essex set sail with the VF-51 on board for Korea, where the fighters carried by her would carry out ground attacks. In late July, VF-51 conducted attack training at Barbers Point Naval Air Station, Hawaii.

F9F-2 Panther Hunters during the Korean War (1950-1953). Armstrong pilots S-116 (left).

Neil Armstrong first saw combat in the Korean War on August 29, 1951 while escorting a reconnaissance plane that flew over Sŏngjin. Five days later, on September 3, he flew an armed reconnaissance over a transport and storage facility located south of the town of Majon-ni, in western Wŏnsan. While doing a low-altitude bombing run at 560 km/h, Armstrong's F9F Panther fighter struck a flak cable strung between two hills as an aircraft trap, ripping two meters off its wing. He was flying at an altitude of 150 m and although there was heavy anti-aircraft fire in the area at the time, his fighter was not hit. Armstrong managed to pilot back to friendly territory, but due to the loss of an aileron, the only option he had was to eject from the plane. He thought about jumping out of the fighter over the sea and waiting for rescue by army helicopters, and for this he flew to an airfield near Pohang, but his parachute was dragged back to land. picked up in a Jeep vehicle. It is unknown what happened to the wreckage of his fighter, the F9F-2 BuNo 125122.

Armstrong flew a total of 78 missions over Korea totaling 121 flight hours, a third of these in the month of January 1952. He was awarded the Air Medal for twenty combat missions and the Gold Star for another twenty, as well as the Korean Service Medal and the Battle Star. After completing his combat missions in the Essex, he was assigned in May 1952 to a transport squadron, the VR-32. The pilot left the Navy on August 23, 1952, at the age of twenty-two, and went to the reserve, being in which he was promoted to lieutenant on May 9, 1953. He continued to fly as a reservist, in the VF-724 in the Naval Air Station Glenview, Illinois, and later with VF-773 from Naval Air Station Los Alamitos, California. He remained in the reserve for eight years, until he resigned on 21 October 1960.

College and Marriage

After serving in the Army and the Korean War, Neil Armstrong returned to Purdue University. There he obtained his best grades in the four following semesters, because although before his military service he had obtained average grades, his grades ended up being high. Upon his return, he belonged to the Phi Delta Theta fraternity and lived in his fraternity house He wrote and co-directed two musicals as part of his student obligations, one of them with his girlfriend Joanne Alford. He was president of the Purdue Flight Club and flew the club's planes, one Aeronca and two Pipers, from nearby Aretz Airport in Lafayette, Indiana. Flying the Aeronca to Wapakoneta in 1954, it caused damage during a crash landing on agricultural land, so the aircraft had to be towed in a truck back to Lafayette. He was also a member of the Kappa fraternity's National Honor Band. Kappa Psi and played baritone euphonium in the Purdue University marching band. Armstrong graduated with a degree in aeronautical engineering in January 1955. Years later, in 1970, he completed his Master of Science in aerospace engineering from the University of Southern California, receiving honorary doctorates from several universities throughout his life.

Armstrong met Janet Elizabeth Shearon, who was majoring in home economics, at a party thrown by the Alpha Chi Omega fraternity. The couple had no recollection of how they became engaged, except that it happened while Armstrong was working at the Flight Lab a Lewis Propulsion from the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). They were married on January 28, 1958 at the Wilmette, Illinois Congregational Church. When he moved to Edwards Air Force Base, California, he lived in the base's singles quarters and Janet's in the Westwood district of Los Angeles. After six months, the couple moved into a house in the Antelope Valley. Janet never finished her studies, something she later regretted.The marriage had three children: Eric, Karen and Mark.In June 1961, Karen was diagnosed with a malignant tumor in the brainstem. An X-ray treatment stopped her growth, but her health deteriorated to the point where she was unable to walk or talk. Karen she died on January 28, 1962 at just two years old due to pneumonia related to her failing health.

Test Pilot

Armstrong with 26 years, when he was a test pilot for NACA at the Edwards base (1956)

After graduating from Purdue, Armstrong decided to become a test pilot. He reported to the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) High Speed Flight Station at Edwards Air Force Base. Although there were no openings there for new pilots, he forwarded his application to the Propulsion Flight Laboratory. Lewis Station in Cleveland, where Armstrong made his first test flight on March 1, 1955. The pilot was there for only two months before a position at the High Speed Flight Station became open, where he returned to work. on July 11, 1955.

On his first day at Edwards AFB, Armstrong was tasked with piloting follow-on aircraft during the premiere of experimental modified bombers. He also flew those modified bombers, aboard one of which he had one of his first incidents. On March 22, 1956, Armstrong was co-pilot of Stan Butchart in a Boeing B-29 Superfortress with a Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket attached to its belly. As they climbed to 30,000 feet, one of the engines of the B-29 misfired, leaving them without enough power to launch the Skyrocket. They had to maintain a speed of 335 km/h to release it and also the B-29 could not land with the rocket plane attached to its belly. Therefore, both decided to lower the nose of the bomber to dive, gained speed and released the test ship, but at that moment the damaged engine disintegrated. Its wreckage damaged two other engines and one had to be stopped, despite which the pilots circled slowly down and landed safely.

Armstrong served as a pilot for Century Series fighters and flew in aircraft such as the North American F-100 Super Sabre, McDonnell F-101 Voodoo, Lockheed F-104 Starfighter, Republic F -105 Thunderchief and the Convair F-106 Delta Dart. He also flew Douglas DC-3, Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star, North American F-86 Sabre, McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II, Douglas F5D Skylancer, Boeing B-29 Superfortress, Boeing B-47 Stratojet and Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker, as well as being one of eight elite pilots in NASA's Paresev glider research program. Armstrong's first flight at the controls of a rocket plane took place on August 15, 1957, in the Bell X-1B, with which he ascended to an altitude of 18.3 km. The nose landing gear broke on landing, a common failure on that model. Armstrong later flew seven times in another experimental rocket plane, the North American X-15. On his penultimate flight in this device, he reached an altitude of 63.2 km. He became an employee of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, better known by its acronym NASA, when it was founded on October 1, 1958. and absorbed the NACA.

Armstrong was involved in several incidents at Edwards Air Force Base that were well remembered by his colleagues. The first happened during his sixth flight in the X-15, on April 20, 1962, in which he wanted to test a self-tuning control system. He was flying at an altitude of 63 km, the highest he had ever reached in that rocket plane, but the plane's nose rose too high during descent, it bounced off the atmosphere and climbed back up to 43 km. At that altitude the air is so thin that the airfoils have almost no effect. He flew past the runway at a speed of mach 3 (3,200 km/h) at 30 km altitude and headed 64 km south of Edwards AFB. After descending far enough, he circled toward the landing zone and barely managed to touch down without hitting several trees at the end of the runway. It was the longest flight by an X-15 and the furthest away from the runway.

Four days later, Armstrong was involved in a second incident, on his only flight with General Chuck Yeager. His job, at the controls of a Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star, was to assess the dry lake at Smith Ranch as an emergency landing site for X-15s. In his autobiography, Yeager wrote that he knew the lake bottom was unsuitable for landing because of recent rains, but Armstrong insisted on landing anyway. While he was attempting a touch-and-take off, the wheels got stuck and they had to lie there awaiting rescue. However, Neil Armstrong told a different version, according to which the general never tried to dissuade him and had also made a successful landing in the eastern part of the lake before. After this first success, Yeager asked him to do it again but more slowly, with the result described. After being immobilized, the general had a fit of laughter.

Armstrong, 30, next to an X-15 rocket plane after a test flight in 1960.

On May 21, 1962, Armstrong became involved in what became known inside Edwards as "The Nellis Affair." That day he was to fly in a Lockheed F-104 Starfighter to survey the Delamar Dry Lake in southern Nevada, once again as an emergency landing site. Upon arriving at the site, he miscalculated the altitude and also failed to notice that the landing gear was not fully deployed. Upon touchdown, the gear began to retract and Armstrong put the fighter up to full power to rise again, but the landing gear's ventral fin and landing gear door struck the ground, damaging the radio and causing oil-hydraulic fluid to escape. Unable to communicate by radio, Armstrong flew south to Nellis Air Force Base, passed the control tower, and flapped the fighter's wings, the signal for a no-radio approach. Loss of hydraulic fluid caused the arresting hook to disengage and upon landing it caught a cable attached to a chain and dragged it across the runway.

It took thirty minutes to clear the landing zone, and Armstrong called Edwards AFB for someone to come pick him up. It was Milt Thompson's turn, who went after him in a Lockheed F-104B fighter, the only two-seater available, which coincidentally was a plane he had never flown in. Thompson reached Nellis with great difficulty and there a strong wind forced him to land hard, whereupon the left wheel blew out and the runway had to be closed again. A second rescue pilot, Bill Dana was dispatched from Edwards in a T-33 Shooting Star, who also made a hazardous landing. Those responsible for Nellis decided that there had been too much trouble and that it was better to find a ground transport for the three test pilots to return to their base.

Many of the test pilots at Edwards Air Force Base praised Armstrong's skills as an engineer. Milt Thompson said that he was "the most technically capable of the early X-15 pilots" and Bill Dana claimed that Armstrong "had a brain that soaked up things like a sponge". In total, Neil Armstrong flew seven times in the aircraft. Experimental X-15 rocket between November 1960 and July 1962. Aboard one of these devices he ascended to an altitude of 63.2 km and reached a maximum speed of Mach 5.74 (6,420 km/h). While worked at the Dryden Flight Research Center completed 2,400 flight hours. Throughout his entire career, Armstrong flew more than 200 different models of aircraft.

Astronaut

Armstrong dressed in one of the first space suits of the Gemini Program (1964)

In 1958, Armstrong had been selected by the United States Air Force program to take a man into space (Man in Space Soonest), but the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) canceled its funding on August 1, 1958 and on November 5 of that year it was replaced by the Mercury Program, a civil project launched by NASA. As a civilian test pilot for NASA, Armstrong could not be chosen as one of its astronauts at the time because selection was restricted to military test pilots. In November 1960 he was chosen as a member of NASA's group of advisory pilots. Boeing X-20 Dyna-Soar military spacecraft and on March 15, 1962 he was selected by the Air Force as one of the seven engineer pilots who could fly into space when this device became a reality.

In April 1962, NASA announced that it was beginning a search for the components of a second group of astronauts for the Gemini Program, a two-crew spacecraft project. This time, the selection was open to qualified civilian test pilots.Armstrong visited the 21st Century Exposition in Seattle in May 1962, and there he attended a conference on space exploration that was co-sponsored by NASA. Returning from Seattle on June 4, he applied as an astronaut candidate, but his application came a week after the June 1, 1962, admissions deadline. Dick Day, who had worked alongside Armstrong at Edwards AFB, saw that his application had come in after the deadline and filed it with the others before anyone noticed. In late June, Armstrong was subdued at the base. from the Brooks Air Force in San Antonio, Texas, to a medical exam that many of the would-be astronauts described as painful and at times seemingly meaningless.

Deke Slayton, head of the Astronaut Office, called Armstrong on September 13, 1962 to ask if he would be interested in joining the NASA Astronaut Corps, and he accepted without hesitation. The selection was kept secret until three days later, although some newspapers had already announced since the beginning of that year that he could become "the first civilian astronaut". Indeed, Armstrong was, along with Elliot See, one of the two civilian pilots chosen for the second group. Compared to the astronauts in the group known as the "Mercury Seven", the first American astronauts, the newly selected ones were younger and had better academic credentials.

Gemini Program

Gemini 5

On February 8, 1965, NASA announced that Armstrong and See were the backup crew for the Gemini 5 mission, with Armstrong serving as commander, while the titular pair were Gordon Cooper and Charles Conrad. Their mission was to practice a space rendezvous and develop procedures and equipment for a seven-day long-duration voyage necessary to fly to the Moon. With two other flights in preparation—Gemini 3 and Gemini 4—there were six crews competing for time in the simulator, causing a delay to Gemini 5, which did not take off until August 21. Armstrong and See watched the launch from Cape Kennedy and then flew to the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston. This mission was generally successful, despite a problem with the fuel cells that forced Cooper and Conrad to practice a "ghost rendezvous", it is that is, they executed the maneuver without a target.

Gemini 8

Armstrong (left) and David Scott, crew members of the Gemini 8 in March 1966.

The names of the Gemini 8 crew members were announced on September 20, 1965: Armstrong would be commanding pilot and David Scott pilot. See was assigned as commanding officer of Gemini 9. Scott was the first of the third group of astronauts, whose members had been announced on October 18, 1963. Henceforth, each Gemini mission would be commanded by a member of Armstrong's group and flown by a member of Scott's group. On this occasion, Conrad would be the support of Armstrong and Gordon that of Scott. Neil Armstrong thus became the first American civilian to fly into space, as three years earlier Valentina Tereshkova had been the first civilian and the first woman to fly. beyond the atmosphere aboard Vostok 6, launched on June 16, 1963. Armstrong would also be the last of his group to travel into space, as Elliot See was killed in the crash of a Northrop T-38 trainer plane Talon on February 28, 1966, in which his partner Charles Bassett also lost his life; both were succeeded by Thomas P. Stafford and Eugene Cernan.

Gemini 8 was launched on March 16, 1966. It was the sixth manned spaceflight in NASA's Gemini program, and the most complex to date, because it included the rendezvous and docking with the Agena unmanned vehicle and also the second extravehicular activity (EVA) that had been done up to then, which was to be carried out by Scott. In total, the mission was planned to last 75 hours, 55 of them in orbit. After the liftoff of the Agena at 10 a.m. m. EST, the Titan II rocket carrying Armstrong and Scott lifted off at 11:41 AM. m. and put them into an orbit from which they could pursue the Agena. The rendezvous and first docking between two spacecraft was completed successfully. Contact with the crew was intermittent due to the lack of docking stations. monitoring that covered the entirety of their orbits. With no communication with Earth, the docked ships began to roll and Armstrong attempted to correct this with Gemini's orbital maneuvering system. They undocked following the advice given by the Mission Control Center, but the spin increased dramatically to the point of going once every second, which meant the problem was with Gemini's own systems. Armstrong decided that all they could do was activate the reentry control system and turn off the orbital maneuvering system. Mission rules dictated that once reentry control was activated, the spacecraft would have to return to Earth at the first opportunity, and it did. Gemini 8 splashed down in the western Pacific Ocean, about a thousand kilometers south of Yokosuka, Japan. It was later suspected that a damaged cable may have jammed one of the thrusters in the on position.

Recovery of the Gemini 8 in the Western Pacific Ocean. Armstrong is sitting right.

Walter Cunningham of the astronaut office publicly stated that Armstrong and Scott had ignored fault procedures in this incident and that the commander could have saved the mission if he had turned on only one of the two rings of the flight control system. reentry, thus saving the rest of the mission objectives. These criticisms were unfounded, since these failure procedures did not exist and it was also only possible to activate the two rings at the same time. Gene Kranz wrote: "The crew reacted according to their training, and they did it wrong because we did not train them well.". Mission planners and controllers had failed to realize that when two ships are docked, they should be considered as one. Kranz considered this the main lesson. Armstrong himself was depressed by the mission's disruption, which it canceled most of their targets and deprived Scott of his spacewalk. The Agena was later used as a docking target for Gemini 10. Armstrong was awarded the NASA Exceptional Service Medal and Scott the NASA Cross. of the Air Force Distinguished Flyer. Armstrong also received a salary increase of $678, bringing his compensation to $21,653 annually (equivalent to $163,319 in 2017), making him the highest-paid astronaut from NASA.

Gemini 11

Armstrong's last assignment in the Gemini program was as reserve command pilot for Gemini 11, something that was announced two days after the Gemini 8 splashdown. Having trained for two space flights, Armstrong was well acquainted with the systems and his task was mostly teaching to reserve pilot, rookie William Anders. The launch of this new Gemini mission took place on September 12, 1966 with Pete Conrad and Dick Gordon on board, who successfully completed the objectives while Armstrong served as Capsule Communicator (CAPCOM).

After the flight, Neil Armstrong and his wife were asked by President Lyndon B. Johnson to participate in a 24-day goodwill tour to South America. On this tour, which also included Dick Gordon and George Low with his wives, as well as other US government officials, visited eleven countries and fourteen large cities. In Paraguay, Armstrong impressed dignitaries by greeting them in a local language, Guarani, while in Brazil he recalled the exploits of Brazilian-born aviation pioneer Alberto Santos Dumont.

Apollo Program

On January 27, 1967, the day of the fatal Apollo 1 fire, Armstrong was in Washington D.C. with Gordon Cooper, Dick Gordon, James A. Lovell, and Scott Carpenter for the signing of the Treaty on UN outer space. The astronauts chatted with the assembled dignitaries until 6:45 p.m. m., when Carpenter left for the airport and the rest returned to the Georgetown Inn, where they each found a message to call the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston. During these phone calls they learned of the deaths of the three Apollo 1 astronauts, Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee. Armstrong and his companions spent the rest of the night drinking whiskey and talking about the tragedy.

On April 5, 1967, the date the investigation into the Apollo 1 fire was made public, Armstrong and seventeen other astronauts met with Deke Slayton. The first thing he told them was, "The guys who are going to fly the first lunar missions are the ones in this room." According to Eugene Cernan, Armstrong showed no reaction to that announcement because he was not surprised, the men who were found there were all veterans of the Gemini program and therefore the only people who could fly the lunar missions. Slayton informed them of the planned missions and made Armstrong a member of the backup crew for Apollo 9, which was then scheduled to be an intermediate circular Earth orbit test of the Lunar Module and Command and Service Module.

The crew list was officially announced on November 20, 1967. His companions were to be Lovell and Buzz Aldrin, crew members of Gemini 12. After several delays in the design and construction of the Lunar Module, Apollo 8 and 9 swapped their crews and thus, based on the normal rotation scheme, Armstrong would command Apollo 11. However, there would be one change. Michael Collins, a crew member of Apollo 8, began to have problems with his legs and doctors diagnosed that the problem was due to a bone growth between his fifth and sixth vertebrae that required surgery. Thus, Lovell took his place as a crew member of Apollo 8 and when he recovered, Collins joined the crew led by Armstrong.

Armstrong flies in parachute after Ejecting from LLRV 1 on May 6, 1968

To give astronauts experience in the type of flight the lunar module was to perform, NASA commissioned the Bell Aircraft Corporation to build several lunar landing research vehicles (LLRVs), later supplemented by three lunar landing training vehicles (LLTV). Nicknamed "flying bed frames", these vehicles simulated the low gravity of the Moon, only one sixth that of Earth, using a turbofan engine to support its weight on Earth, which was much greater than it would be on the Moon. On May 6, 1968, at a height of thirty meters, Armstrong's LLRV misfired and began to roll.The pilot was able to eject just in time, for if he had ejected just a second later, his parachute would not have opened.. The only damage he suffered was that he bit his tongue. The LLRV was completely destroyed. Despite being near death, Armstrong was convinced that the moon landings would not have been successful without the experience that these training vehicles gave the astronauts.

In addition to the use of LLRVs, NASA began moon landing training in a simulator after the completion of the Apollo 10 mission. Aldrin and Armstrong worked with the instructors to prepare the most likely events that could occur during the actual moon landing. Both only had time to participate in a geological expedition, to the western mountains of Texas. The journalists found them there and filled the area with cars and a helicopter, making it difficult for the astronauts to attend to the geologists' explanations. They also received geology lessons at NASA facilities.

Apollo 11

Apollo 11. From left to right: Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin.

After serving as reserve commander of Apollo 8, which had orbited the Moon, Armstrong was offered commander of Apollo 11 by Deke Slayton on December 23, 1968. In a meeting that was not made public until the publication of In the 2005 astronaut biography, Slayton told Armstrong that although the planned crew included him as commander, Buzz Aldrin as lunar module pilot, and Michael Collins as command module pilot, he offered him the chance to replace Aldrin with Jim. Lovell. After thinking about it for a day, Armstrong told Slayton that he would stick with Aldrin, whom he had no difficulty working with and thought Lovell deserved to be commander of his own mission. The lunar module pilot was effectively the most junior member, and Armstrong did not want Lovell, who had commanded Gemini 12, to be the least important crew member on Apollo 11. The Apollo 11 crew was officially announced on January 9. of 1969, consisting of Armstrong, Collins and Aldrin, while Lovell, William Anders and Fred Haise would be the replacement crew.

According to Chris Kraft, in a meeting in March 1969 in which he was with Slayton, George Low and Bob Gilruth, it was decided that Armstrong would be the first person to try to set foot on the Moon, a decision that was based on the fact that the managers of NASA saw him as a man with little ego. At a press conference on April 4, 1969, it was explained that the reason Armstrong would be first to land was due to the design of the lunar module: the hatch opened inward on the right side, making it difficult for the pilot of the module [Aldrin] to go out first. At the time of their meeting, the four men did not know anything about the location of the hatch. No one knew of this meeting until Kraft published his book in 2001. There were ways around this issue, but it is not known if they were considered at the time. Slayton added: “Secondly, based on protocol, I assumed that the captain should be the first crew member out. Bob Gilruth [director of the Manned Spacecraft Center] approved my decision."

Flight to the Moon

The launch of the Saturn V rocket Apollo 11. John F. Kennedy Space Center, July 16, 1969.

A Saturn V rocket launched Apollo 11 from Launch Complex 39 at the John F. Kennedy Space Center on July 16, 1969 at 13:32:00 UTC (09:32:00 local time). His wife Janet and their two children watched from a yacht moored in the nearby Banana River. During the Apollo 11 launch into space, Armstrong's heart beat at a rate of 110 beats per minute. The first phase was very noisy, much louder than the lift off of the Gemini 8 with the Titan II rocket. The Apollo command capsule was also much more spacious and the possibility of moving more freely that it offered to the crew was perhaps the reason why none of its three astronauts suffered from space adaptation syndrome, something that previous astronauts did. Armstrong was especially pleased because he suffered neither motion sickness, prone to it since childhood, nor the usual nausea after prolonged periods of aerobatics.

The goal of Apollo 11 was to land on the Moon safely, though not necessarily in a specific spot. Three minutes after starting the descent on our natural satellite, Armstrong noticed from the lunar module, baptized Eagle by himself, that they were passing over the lunar craters about two seconds earlier than expected, which it meant that they would land several kilometers beyond the intended point. As the Eagle's moon landing radar detected the surface, several computer failure alarms appeared. The first was alarm code 1202, the meaning of which was unknown to both Armstrong and Aldrin despite their exhaustive training. They were immediately contacted by capsule communicator Charles M. Duke from Houston to tell them not to worry, that this alarm just indicated excessive multitasking on the Apollo navigation computer. As Buzz Aldrin said in the documentary In the Shadow of the Moon, this multitasking occurred because he decided to leave the docking radar on during the moon landing, although this was not planned. Therefore, the computer began to process unnecessary radar data, did not have time to execute all the tasks and dropped the lower priority ones. Aldrin stated that he did so in order to facilitate docking with the command capsule in the event that it was necessary to abort the moon landing, not realizing that it could cause excessive multitasking.

When Armstrong realized they were heading towards a landing site he considered unsafe, he took manual control of the lunar module and tried to find another more suitable landing site, which took longer than expected and than anyone expected. The simulation had anticipated. Therefore, the Mission Control Center became concerned that the Lunar Module would run out of fuel. After landing the module on the lunar surface, Aldrin and Armstrong believed they had about forty seconds of fuel remaining, including the 20 seconds to reserve in case of an abort. During training, Armstrong had landed the LLTV several times with less than 15 seconds of fuel remaining and therefore was confident that the lunar module would survive a descent of 15 meters if was necessary. Analysis after the mission showed that at the time of the moon landing they had fuel left for about 45 or 50 seconds.

The moon landing took place several seconds after 20:17:40 UTC on July 20, 1969. At that time, one of the three 170 cm probes from the Eagle module entered into contact with the surface of the Moon and a panel of lights lit up, whereupon Aldrin exclaimed, "Contact light." Armstrong cut the engine and said, "Off." As the lander settled on the lunar surface, Aldrin commented, "Okay, engine shutdown," and then the two listed a series of checks. After a ten-second pause, Duke acknowledged the moon landing with the words: "We copied you down, Eagle." Armstrong announced the successful moon landing maneuver to the Mission Control Center and to the world with the following words: “Houston, this is Tranquility Base. The Eagle has landed.” The two astronauts celebrated by shaking hands and slapping each other on the back before resuming the many task checks that were necessary for the lander to be ready to leave the Moon if problems arose during its first moments on the surface. After Armstrong confirmed the landing, Duke thanked him again and expressed the anxiety of the flight controllers: "Roger,... Calm down. We copied you on Earth. You've got a lot of guys about to turn blue. We breathe again. Thank you very much." During the moon landing Armstrong's heart beat between 100 and 150 beats per minute.

First Walk on the Moon

	"It is a small step for a man, but a great leap for humanity"
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Although the official NASA flight plan called for a rest period for the crew before their extravehicular activity, Armstrong requested that the moonwalk be brought forward to early afternoon Houston time. Once the astronauts were ready to exit, the Eagle was depressurized, the hatch opened, and Armstrong headed outside first. When he reached the bottom of the ladder, he said, "I'm going Get off the lunar module now." He then turned and landed his left boot on the lunar surface at 2:56 UTC on July 21, 1969, after which he famously uttered "It's one small step for a man, but one giant leap for mankind." » (in English: That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind).

Neil Armstrong prepared those famous words himself. In a press conference after the mission, he said that he had chosen that phrase just before leaving the lunar module. In an interview for Esquire magazine i> in 1983 explained: 'I always knew there was a chance of returning to Earth, but I thought the chances of a successful launch from the Moon were fifty-fifty. Most people didn't know how difficult the mission was, so I didn't think there was much point in coming up with something to say if we had to abort the moon landing." In 2012, his brother Dean Armstrong claimed that Neil had told him showed a note in which he had sketched the phrase months before the trip, although historian Andrew Chaikin, who had interviewed Armstrong in 1988 for his book A Man on the Moon, rebutted him in 2013 defending that the astronaut thought of those words spontaneously during the mission. When Armstrong made his proclamation, Voice of America radio was broadcast live by the BBC and many other networks around the world. The global audience at the time is estimated to be 530 million listeners, at a time when the world population was just over 3.6 billion people.

Armstrong on the Moon on July 21, 1969.

About twenty minutes after the first step, Aldrin joined his companion on the surface of the natural satellite, becoming the second human to set foot on the Moon. Both began to carry out various tasks to investigate how much it cost a person to move on the lunar surface. One of the first things they did was unveil a plaque commemorating their flight, as well as planting the United States flag. The flag used on that mission had a metal horizontal bar to keep it clearly visible, but because that bar wasn't as wide as the flag and the flag had been tightly folded and packed for travel, it always looked wavy, as if the wind, nonexistent on the Moon, would shake it. President Richard Nixon spoke to the astronauts over the phone from the White House for one minute and then Armstrong responded for half a minute. Throughout the extensive Apollo photographic record 11 there are only five photos in which Armstrong appears partially, which is because the mission, planned to the millimeter, assigned him most of the photographic tasks, which he carried out with a single specially modified Hasselblad camera.

Aldrin took this picture of Armstrong within the lunar module after completing the first walk on the Moon on July 21, 1969

After helping to place the Apollo experiment packages on the lunar surface, Armstrong took a tour of what is now known as East Crater, 59 meters east of the lunar module, the farthest point from the module to which they ventured members of Apollo 11. Armstrong's last task was to remind Aldrin to leave a small package with items commemorating the late Soviet cosmonauts Yuri Gagarin and Vladimir Komarov, as well as Grissom, White and Chaffee, who died in the fire. of Apollo 1 in 1967. The total time of the first moon walk was about two and a half hours, the shortest of the six Apollo missions that landed humans on the Moon. Each Apollo mission increased the number of hours the astronauts spent on our natural satellite and the members of Apollo 17 ended up spending twenty-two hours exploring the lunar surface. In an interview in 2010, Armstrong explained that NASA limited the duration of their walk lunar because they were unsure how their suits would withstand the extreme temperatures of the Moon.

Return to Earth

After getting back inside the lunar module, they closed and sealed the hatch. As they prepared to take off from the Moon, they both realized that with their bulky suits they had broken the ignition switch for the ascent motor. Using a pen, they hit the circuit breaker to activate the liftoff sequence. The lander left the lunar surface and continued to rendezvous and dock with the Moon-orbiting command and service module, named Columbia, and in which Michael Collins was waiting. The three astronauts returned to Earth and splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on July 24, where they were picked up by the aircraft carrier USS Hornet.

President Richard Nixon welcoming the crew of Apollo 11 during his quarantine period on board the aircraft carrier USS Hornet (24 July 1969).

After spending an eighteen-day quarantine, during which they made sure they brought no infections or diseases from their space adventure, the three members of Apollo 11, already world famous, embarked on a tour called "The Great Leap" by the entire United States and many countries around the world for 45 days. Armstrong also participated in the United Service Organizations show directed by comedian Bob Hope, during which he visited US troops deployed in Vietnam.

In May 1970, Neil Armstrong traveled to the Soviet Union to speak at the 13th annual conference of the International Committee for Space Research. He arrived in the city of Leningrad from Poland and traveled to Moscow, where he met the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union, Alekséi Kosygin. There he was the first Westerner to see the Tupolev Tu-144 supersonic aircraft and was taken to visit the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center. At the end of the day, he watched a video of the recent launch of Soyuz 9, a mission that at the time it was still in orbit and in which Andrián Nikolayev, husband of the one who had been its hostess, the pioneering astronaut Valentina Tereshkova, was embarking.

Life after Apollo

University Professor

Armstrong announced shortly after the Apollo 11 mission that he had no plans to return to space. He was appointed Deputy Associate Administrator for Aeronautics in the Advanced Research and Technology Office of the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA).). However, he remained in this position for only one year, and in 1971 he resigned entirely from holding any position within NASA. He accepted a teaching position in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Cincinnati, a university he chose from offers of many others, including what was his alma mater, Purdue, because it had a small aerospace department. He hoped the faculty members would not be upset that he stepped into the teaching position with only a master's degree from the University of Southern California. Armstrong had begun work on that master's degree years earlier while stationed at Edwards AFB. and he completed it after Apollo 11 by submitting a report on various aspects of the lunar mission, rather than a thesis on hypersonic flight simulation.

Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space, decorating Neil Armstrong at the Gagarin Center, USSR, in June 1970.

He was a Professor of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Cincinnati. He had a heavy workload and taught essential engineering courses. Armstrong created two new subjects at the university: aircraft design and experimental flight mechanics.He was considered a good teacher, and very demanding of his students. For university research activities he did not work with NASA so as not to play favoritism, a decision he later regretted. After eight years as a teacher, he quit his job in 1980, when the university went from being an independent municipal institution to a state-run think tank, which added to the bureaucracy. He didn't want to be part of the college's collective bargaining group, so he decided to teach part-time. According to Armstrong, he had the same workload but at half the salary. In 1979, less than 10% of his income came from his salary as a teacher. University employees did not know why he left.

NASA Commissions

In 1970, after the explosion that forced the abort of the Apollo 13 moon landing, Armstrong was part of the accident investigation commission headed by Edgar Cortright, for which he drew up a detailed chronology of the flight. It was assumed that the 28-volt switch on a thermostat on an oxygen tank had been replaced with a 65-volt version, which caused an explosion in the tank. Cortright recommended a redesign of the entire tank, which would cost $40 million. Several NASA managers, in addition to Armstrong himself, opposed the report's recommendation to redesign the oxygen tanks since the source of the explosion had been the thermostat switch. However, the tanks ended up being redesigned.

In 1986, President Ronald Reagan asked Armstrong to be part of the Rogers Commission that was to investigate the crash of the space shuttle Challenger, which had exploded shortly after liftoff, killing seven astronauts. Armstrong was appointed vice president of the commission, in charge of the operational part of it. He had to conduct private interviews with various contacts he had developed during his years at NASA to help determine the causes of the tragedy. From his position, he tried to keep the committee's final recommendations to just nine because he was convinced that if many more were proposed, NASA would not comply with them.

President Reagan also appointed Neil Armstrong to a fourteen-member commission that was to develop a plan to make US civilian spaceflight a reality. That commission was chaired by Thomas O. Paine, a former NASA administrator with whom Armstrong had worked during the Apollo program. The group published a book titled Pioneers of the Space Frontier: The Report of the National Commission on Space, in which they recommended establishing a permanent lunar base by 2006 and sending humans to the planet Mars by 2015. These proposals were mostly ignored to give priority to clarifying the Challenger disaster.

In 2003, Armstrong and his wife attended a service in honor of the seven astronauts killed in the space shuttle Columbia accident, to which they were invited by President George W. Bush.

Business Activities

After his retirement from NASA in 1971, Armstrong served as a spokesman for several companies. The first was the automaker Chrysler, in one of whose advertisements he appeared beginning in January 1979. Armstrong believed the automaker had a powerful engineering division and knew it was in financial trouble. Later he was the image of other companies, such as General Time Corporation and the Bankers Association of America, he only acted as a spokesman for American companies.

In addition to his work as a spokesperson, Armstrong served on the boards of several companies. The first company he joined was Gates Learjet as chairman of his technical committee. He flew some of their new experimental business jets, even setting a new business jet altitude record. In 1973 he became a member of the board of Cincinnati Gas & amp; Electric Company, a company interested in nuclear energy and that wanted to increase its technical capacity. Additionally, he served on the board of directors of Taft Broadcasting, a Cincinnati-based media company. Armstrong joined Thiokol's board of directors in 1989, after serving on the Rogers Commission. The shuttle Challenger disintegrated due to a problem with the solid rocket boosters Thiokol had manufactured. When he left teaching at the University of Cincinnati, he was appointed president of Cardwell International Ltd., a company that made drilling rigs. Armstrong has also served on other aerospace company boards, first at United Airlines since 1978 and then at Eaton Corporation, an energy management company, since 1980. He was asked to chair the board of directors of an Eaton subsidiary, AIL Systems. The former astronaut retired in 2002 as chairman of the board of the EDO corporation, dedicated to manufacturing defense and intelligence products and which had merged with AYL Systems.

North Pole Expedition

In 1985, professional expeditionary Mike Dunn organized a voyage to take what were then the greatest explorers to the North Pole. The group included Armstrong, mountaineer Edmund Hillary, the first person to ascend Mount Everest, aviator Steve Fossett, and climber Patrick Morrow. The party reached its destination on April 6, 1985. Armstrong said he was curious to see what the North Pole looked like from the ground because he had only observed it from the Moon. Armstrong wanted it to be a private adventure and the crews were not informed. travel media.

Cinema and television

Between 1991 and 1993, Armstrong hosted an aviation history documentary series for A&E television, titled First Flights with Neil Armstrong. In 2010, he voiced to dr. Jack Morrow, a character from the animated film Quantum Quest: A Cassini Space Odyssey, an educational science fiction adventure film supported by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. In 2018, his life between 1961 and 1969 —the year he stepped on the Moon— was made into a movie in the movie First Man, starring Ryan Gosling in the role of Armstrong.

Private life

Armstrong in 1999

Armstrong kept a low profile after the historic Apollo 11 mission, leading to the belief that he was reclusive. He turned down numerous interviews and public appearances. Michael Collins said in his book Carrying the Fire that when his fellow astronaut moved to live on a farm to start working as a college professor it was like "he retired to his castle and raise the drawbridge." Armstrong liked his new life and went so far as to say that "... Those of us who live in the country think that those who live in the city are the ones who have problems." The writer Andrew Chaikin stated in the book A Man on the Moon (A man on the Moon ) that, although Armstrong kept a low profile, he did not hide from society because he participated in some interviews, commercials for Chrysler and presented a documentary series for television.

The legendary astronaut used to autograph everything that was asked of him, but around 1993 he discovered that his signatures were being sold on the internet and most of them were forgeries, so he decided to stop stamping his signature. Armstrong also wrote congratulatory letters to the boys who achieved the rank of Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts of America, as he himself had achieved it in his youth. He used to respond to all the congratulations that came his way. In 2003 he received 950 Boy Scout congratulation requests, but by the 1990s he had decided to stop doing it because he believed such letters should be written by people who know Scouts. These things contributed to his myth as a sullen man.

Armstrong in February 2012

Armstrong's family described him as "a reluctant American hero." John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth, recalled the astronaut's humility: "He never believed he had to sell himself out." Glenn told CNN television that Armstrong "was a humble person, and he remained that way after he stepped on the moon." Unlike other former astronauts, who carved out a career in politics after leaving NASA (case of Senators John Glenn and Harrison Schmitt), Armstrong did not want to join any of the political parties of all stripes that contacted him. His political inclinations favored the decentralization of powers of the federal government in favor of the different states of the United States. Likewise, Armstrong was opposed to American interventionism abroad, as he did not believe that his country should act as "the world's police."

When Armstrong wanted to join a local Methodist church to lead a boy scout troop in the late 1950s, he said his religious affiliation was Deism. they caused grief and anguish because she was more of a believer. In the early 1980s, Armstrong was the victim of a hoax claiming that she had converted to Islam after hearing the Adhan, the call to prayer of Muslims, while walking on the Moon. Indonesian singer Suhaemi wrote a song titled Gema Suara Adzan di Bulan—"The Resounding Sound of the Moon's Call to Prayer"—in which he described the alleged conversion of Neil Armstrong. A similar hoax spread through Egypt and Malaysia. In March 1983, the US State Department responded by sending a message to US embassies and consulates in Muslim countries stating that the famous astronaut had not converted to Islam. This lie resurfaced occasionally in the three decades that followed. Part of the confusion was due to the similarity of the names of the American town where Armstrong lived, Lebanon (Ohio), with the country Lebanon, a country with a Muslim majority that in English is precisely called Lebanon.

From the left: Aldrin, Collins and Armstrong with President Barack Obama at the White House on July 20, 2009, 40th anniversary of the arrival of the Moon

In 1972, Armstrong visited the town of Langholm in Scotland, the traditional seat of the Armstrong clan; there he was made a freeman of the burgh and declared with great happiness that the town was his home. Armstrong that he located in the villa.

In the fall of 1979, Armstrong was working on his farm in Lebanon, Ohio, when he jumped from the trailer of a grain truck and his wedding ring caught on the wheel, pulling the tip off his wrist. your ring finger. He picked up the severed finger and iced it, after which it was reinserted in surgery at the Jewish Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky. In February 1991, one year after his father's death and nine months later After his mother's death, Armstrong suffered a mild heart attack while skiing with friends in Aspen, Colorado.

Neil Armstrong married his first wife, Janet Shearon, on January 28, 1956. After 38 years of marriage, the couple divorced in 1994. He had met his future second wife, Carol Held Knight, fifteen years his junior, during a golf tournament in 1992. She said she spoke very little with him on their first meeting, but two weeks later Neil phoned her to ask what she was doing. Carol replied that she was cutting down a tree and half an hour later Armstrong showed up at her house to help her. They were married on June 12, 1994 in Ohio and later had a second ceremony at Rancho San Ysidro in California. The couple settled in Indian Hill, Ohio.

Starting in 1994, the first man to set foot on the Moon refused to sign any more autographs because he knew that items with his signature sold for large sums of money and that many forgeries of his signature were also made. Armstrong's name, image and famous phrase caused some problems for the former astronaut. When the television network MTV was founded in 1981, he was asked to use his image descending from the lunar module as the network's emblem, but he refused. In 1994, he sued the greeting card maker Hallmark for using his name and logo without permission. quote "one small step" on a christmas ornament. The lawsuit was settled out of court over a sum of money that Armstrong donated to Purdue University. In May 2005, Armstrong became embroiled in an unusual legal dispute with his hairdresser of twenty years, Mark Sizemore. He had sold the famous astronaut's hair to a collector for $3,000, without Armstrong's knowledge or permission. He threatened legal action if he did not recover the sold hair or donate the proceeds to a charity of Armstrong's choosing. Unable to get back what he had sold, Sizemore decided to donate the money to a charity.

Death

Mass in memory of Neil Armstrong at Washington National Cathedral, September 13, 2012

On August 7, 2012, Armstrong underwent bypass surgery at a Cincinnati hospital to relieve his clogged coronary arteries. Although it was reported that he was recovering well, complications arose in his condition while he was in the hospital and he died on August 25, at the age of 82. When the death of the legendary astronaut became known, the White House released a statement stating that Neil Armstrong was "among the greatest American heroes, not only of his time, but of all time". That statement also said that Armstrong had fulfilled the aspirations of the American people and that he had realized "a moment of human progress that would never be forgotten."

His family also issued a statement describing Armstrong as “a reluctant American hero, who had proudly served his nation as a Navy pilot, test pilot and astronaut. As we mourn his loss, we also celebrate his extraordinary life in the hope that he will serve as an example for young people around the world to work hard to fulfill their dreams, to be willing to explore and push their limits, and also to selflessly serve a cause. bigger than themselves. For all those who ask how they can honor Neil Armstrong, we have a simple answer. Honor his example of service and modesty, and the next time you are out for a walk on a clear night and see the Moon smiling down on you, think of Neil Armstrong and wink at him."

Neil Armstrong ash sea launch ceremony on 14 September 2012

Armstrong's partner on the Apollo 11 mission, Buzz Aldrin, said: "I know there are millions of people just like me, mourning a true American hero and the greatest pilot I have ever known. I was hoping that on July 20, 2019, Neil, Mike, and I would be together to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of our moon landing... Unfortunately, that won't be the case." Michael Collins said of Armstrong, "He was the best, and I will miss him terribly." NASA Administrator Charles Bolden commented, "As long as there are history books, Neil Armstrong will be in them, remembered for taking humanity's first small step into a world beyond our own.".

On September 13, 2012, a mass was held in honor of the astronaut at the Washington National Cathedral, one of whose stained glass windows is inspired by Apollo 11 and has a moon rock embedded in the middle of its stained glass windows. In attendance were famous astronauts and authorities, several of whom delivered eulogies recounting stories from Armstrong's life that illustrated his humility, courage and camaraderie. Singer Diana Krall performed the song Fly Me to the Moon. President Barack Obama also ordered all flags to fly at half mast on the day of his funeral. Armstrong's remains were cremated and his ashes were thrown into the Atlantic Ocean during a ceremony held aboard the USS Philippine Sea.

Legacy

Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins decorated by the Brazilian Government, 1969

Neil Armstrong received many honors and awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Congressional Space Medal of Honor, the Robert H. Goddard Memorial Trophy, the Sylvanus Thayer Award, the Collier Trophy from the National Association of Aeronautics, or the United States Congressional Gold Medal. The astronaut is also inducted into the Aerospace Walk of Honor, the National Aviation Hall of Fame, and the United States Astronaut Hall of Fame. Armstrong and eleven other colleagues involved in the Apollo 11 mission received in 1999 the Langley Gold Medal awarded by the Smithsonian Institution.

Moon crater Armstrong, 50 km from the Apollo 11 moon landing site, and asteroid (6469) Armstrong are named in his honor. Throughout the United States there are more than a dozen schools and high schools named after the first man to set foot on the Moon. In addition, countless streets, buildings, schools, and other places named after Armstrong or the Apollo 11 around the world. In October 2004 Purdue University announced that it would name its new engineering building Armstrong Hall of Engineering, which opened in 2007 with the presence of Neil Armstrong and fourteen other astronauts who had studied at the same institution. In his birthplace, Wapakoneta, there is the Armstrong Air and Space Museum and the New Knoxville (Ohio) airport, which is the place where the one who took his first flight classes, is currently named after the astronaut.

The authorized biography of Armstrong, titled First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong, was published in 2005.), written by James R. Hansen. Over many years, the astronaut declined several offers from writers who wanted to write his official biography, such as Stephen Ambrose and James A. Michener, but finally accepted Hansen to write it after reading other biographies written by him. cinema in the film First Man (2018), directed by Oscar winner Damien Chazelle and starring Ryan Gosling in the role of Armstrong.

In a 2010 poll conducted by the Space Foundation, Armstrong was voted number one as the most popular space hero, and in 2013 Flying magazine also ranked him number one in the list. his list of the "51 Heroes of Aviation".

Michael Collins, President George W. Bush, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin during the 35th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 on 21 July 2004

Reporters often asked Armstrong for his thoughts on the future of space flight. In 2005 he said that a manned mission to the planet Mars would be easier than the lunar challenge in the 1960s: "Although the questions and difficulties are many, I suspect they are not as many as those we faced at the beginning of the program. Apollo in 1961». In 2010, he expressed rare public criticism of the decision to cancel the launch of Ares I and Project Constellation. In an open letter also signed by Apollo program veterans Jim Lovell and Gene Cernan, he stated: "To America, the leading nation in space exploration for half a century, lacking a transport to low-Earth orbit and exploration capability to go beyond Earth orbit, dooms our country to the second or third plane." Armstrong also commented in public about his initial concerns about the Apollo 11 mission, such as when he believed they had only a fifty percent chance of returning from the Moon: "I was elated, ecstatic, and extremely surprised that we had succeeded." On November 18, In 2010, at the age of eighty, Armstrong said in a speech at the Science and Technology Summit in The Hague, the Netherlands, that he would offer his services as a mission commander. ion to Mars if asked.

In September 2012, the United States Navy announced that it was building a research vessel named RV Neil Armstrong. The ship, which was christened on March 28, 2014, and delivered to the Navy on September 23, 2015, is a modern oceanographic research platform operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

Boy Scout

NASA certificate where Neil Armstrong claims the scout badge took to the lunar surface.

Neil Armstrong was closely linked to the Boy Scouts of America, where he achieved the highest distinction Eagle Scout in his youth. In fact, as an adult he was recognized by the Boy Scouts with the Distinguished Eagle Scout and Silver Buffalo Medals. On July 18, 1969, while flying to the Moon, he greeted the scouts with this phrase: "I would like to say hello to all my fellow scouts from Farragut State Park in Idaho, who will be holding the National Jamboree this week; Apollo 11 sends best wishes." From Houston they replied: "Thank you Apollo 11. We are sure that even if they do not hear this, they will know it on the news and will surely appreciate it." Among the few grams of personal effects that they could take with them during the trip was the world scout insignia and wanted to certify it in writing in a historical document:

I certify that this world scout badge was carried to the surface of the Moon in the first alunizaje of man. Apollo XI, 20 July 1969. Signature Neil Armstrong, Jr. Commander of Apollo XI's crew.