Neil Armstrong
Written by John Carl Villanueva
Neil Armstrong on the Moon in 1969. Really. Credit: NASA
What he said on that monumental day still reverberates in the halls of science and technology: “That’s one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind.” Even up to the present, that event has arguably remained unsurpassed in terms of significance.
Sure, there are now robots on Mars. But until somebody actually steps on the Red Planet, the first man to have ever walked on the moon will have to remain at center stage.
Neil Armstrong was not a stranger to firsts. As command pilot Gemini 8, his first spaceflight, he and pilot David Scott performed the first ever docking maneuver in space between two spacecraft.
It is said that after his Gemini 11 mission, when he and his wife were asked to join President Lyndon B. Johnson in a 24-day goodwill tour in South America, Armstrong impressed everyone when he spoke to their dignitary hosts in their own language.
After his historical moonwalk in 1969, Neil Armstrong lived a relatively low-key life. He briefly served as Deputy Associate Administrator for aeronautics for the Office of Advanced Research and Technology (DARPA) before finally resigning from NASA.
He proceeded to teach at the University of Cincinnati’s Department of Aerospace Engineering, staying there for 8 years.
What followed was a string of invitations from various companies and political groups, most of which he turned down. There were some that he accepted but only in the capacity as spokesman or as member of the board of directors.
Unlike Buzz Aldrin, the second man to have stepped on the moon, who has always been actively promoting space exploration, Neil Armstrong prefers to enjoy a relatively private life. Ever since 1994, he has even refrained from signing autographs. He is also protective of his name and his popular lunar landing quote.
Despite having chosen a rather low-key profile, Neil Armstrong has not escaped numerous awards and honors. There’s the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Congressional Space Medal of Honor, schools named after him, a song named and written in tribute to him, and so on. Who said it’s easy to be the first man on the moon?
Speaking of the first man on the moon, here's an article at Universe Today with exactly the same title. We've also got a funny one about Neil Armstrong to go with that.
NASA has a biography page for him. How about another one from the same site?
Episodes about the moon from Astronomy Cast. Lend us your ears!
Shooting Lasers at the Moon and Losing Contact with Rovers
The Moon Part I
Filed under: Astronomy
Tags: Apollo 11, astronaut, astronauts, first man on the moon, NASA, Neil Armstrong
