Neil Armstrong
 |
| Astronaut Profile |
|---|
| Selection Date: | 1962 |
| Position: | Commander |
| Retirement Date: | 1969 |
| Time in Space: | 8/14:10 |
| Missions |
|---|
| Gemini 8, Apollo 11 |
Neil Alden Armstrong (born August 5, 1930) is an American test pilot, astronaut, and the first person to walk on the Moon.
Armstrong was born in Wapakoneta, Ohio and served in the Korean War as a jet fighter pilot for the U.S. Navy. He attended Purdue University, where he was a member of a fraternity, Phi Delta Theta, and received a Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering in 1955. Armstrong then became a civilian test pilot for NASA and piloted the 4,000 mi/h (6,400 km/h) X-15 rocket plane. Armstrong was selected by NASA as an astronaut in 1962.
He commanded Gemini 8, which achieved the first docking of two orbiting spacecraft, in 1966. He served as commander of the backup crew for the Apollo 8 lunar orbital mission in 1968.
In 1969, Armstrong commanded the Apollo 11 lunar landing mission.
He narrowly escaped death during training in a crash of the lunar landing training vehicle (LLTV). During the actual mission, he took manual control of the Lunar Module (LM) Eagle and piloted it away from a rocky area to a safe landing. His first words from the Moon were, "Houston, Tranquillity Base here. The Eagle has landed." Several hours later he climbed out of the LM and became the first person to walk on the Moon, and the first man to flub a scripted line on the moon, with the words,
- "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." (He had intended to say "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.")
- (hear original audio [1] - .wav 260 kb)
After retirement from NASA he taught engineering at the University of Cincinnati. He served on the Presidential commission which investigated the Challenger accident.
See also explorers.
External links
Referenced By
1930 | 1969 | 1969 in sports | 1969 in television | 20 July | 20th-century | 20th Century | 20th July | 20th century AD | 5 August | 5th August | American English | American English/Standard American English | American language | Anagram | Apollo 11 | Apollo Guidance Computer | Apollo XI | August 5 | August 5th | David Scott | English language/American English | Exploration | Explorer | Explorers | First to | Gaylord Perry | Gemini 8 | Gemini VIII | Historical anniversaries/July 20 | Houston | Houston, Texas | ISTP | July 20 | July 20th | List of 'years in television' | List of Eagle Scouts | List of Firsts | List of Lunar craters | List of astronauts | List of astronauts by name | List of astronauts by selection | List of cosmonauts | List of craters in the Moon | List of explorers | List of famous Eagle Scouts | List of human spaceflights, 1961-1986 | List of lunar astronauts | List of men who walked on the moon | List of people by name: Ar | List of people on stamps of the United States | List of people who were on or near the moon | List of taikonauts | List of ticker-tape parades in New York City | List of ticker tape parades in New York City | List of years in television | Luna | Michael Collins (astronaut) | Milestones in Aviation | Moon | Neapolitan Ice Cream | Neapolitan icecream | North American X-15 | People on stamps of the United States | Reverse speech | Silent Generation | Timeline of United States history (1950-1969) | Timeline of aviation history | Twentieth-century | Twentieth Century | U.S. English | US English | University of Southern California | Wapakoneta, Ohio | Wasserkuppe | William P. Rogers | X-15 | Year in Review | Year in Review 20th Century | Yuri Kondratyuk
|
