They were initially quarantined for 18 days to ensure that they hadn’t been infected with any diseases from the Moon before going on a world tour to celebrate their successful mission. The team lifted off the following day and made the journey back to earth, three days later on July 24. Image: Neil Armstrong and the Apollo 11 crew were honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom for their distinguished achievements The crew of Apollo 11 received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1969 from President Richard Nixon. Later in 1962, Armstrong joined NASA’s space program. Unfortunately, Karen passed away from a brain tumor in 1962. The following year, he married Janet Shearon and welcomed their son Eric in 1957 and their daughter, Karen in 1959. While pursuing a degree in aeronautical engineering at Purdue University, he enlisted in the military and served in the Korean War, where he was awarded three Air Medals.Īfter completing his degree in 1955, he became a research pilot, first at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) and then as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). By 16, he was a licensed pilot and became a naval air cadet. As a young boy, Armstrong was also a member of the Boy Scouts of America and earned the highest rank, the Eagle Scout. He developed his passion for aviation when he embarked on his first plane ride at six years old. It was there that he made one of the world’s most famous quotes, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”Ĭonsidered by many to be the foremost American in space exploration, the astronaut’s life story is one of such immense importance for the worlds of astronomy and space technology that it begins to blend science fiction and reality-and his achievements reflect it.īelow WHE transports you to the rich and captivating history of the first man to make contact with the surface of the moon.Īrmstrong grew up in Wapakoneta, Ohio and was the eldest of three children to Stephen Koenig Armstrong and Louise Engel. As the first person to step foot on another world, his legacy lives on with every further leap we make into outer space.On July 20, 1969, American astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first man to set foot and walk on the Moon. On August 25, 2012, when Armstrong was 82, he passed away from complications of a heart bypass operation. In 2010 he spoke before the US Congress to protest large cuts that had been made to NASA and its programs. In his last years, Armstrong remained committed to encouraging space exploration. He was also awarded a number of honorary doctorates, as well as a host of titles the world over. He also taught at the University of Cincinnati (from 1971 to 1979) and later was on the 1986 Presidential Commission that investigated the Challenger explosion. After Returning to EarthĪfter the Moon, Armstrong stayed on at NASA until 1971 as the Deputy Associate Administrator for Aeronautics. Upon his first step on the Moon, Armstrong famously said, “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”Īrmstrong and Aldrin explored the Moon’s surface for about 2 hours, completing scientific experiments, taking rock samples, and leaving both an American flag and their own footsteps behind. While Michael Collins orbited the Moon in the command module, Armstrong and Aldrin landed on the Mare Tranquillitatis, or the Sea of Tranquility (which is not actually a sea). He and Edwin (Buzz) Aldrin, Jr., descended to the Moon on July 20, 1969, in the Lunar Module Eagle. To the Moon!Īrmstrong was the commander of NASA’s Apollo 11 mission, which took off on July 16, 1969. This was Armstrong’s first time in space he was the command pilot. In 1966, Armstrong and David Scott performed the first successful rendezvous and docking of two vehicles in space, on the Gemini 8 mission. But he would gain the most fame for his work as an astronaut (which he became in 1962). (They later separated, in 1994, and Armstrong would marry Carol Held Knight.)Īt NACA and NASA, Armstrong had many different jobs, ranging from test pilot and naval aviator to engineer. Armstrong married Janet Shearon in 1956 and they had three children. In 1958, NACA was reorganized into the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Starting in 1955, Armstrong worked for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). He’d go on to enroll in Purdue University for aeronautical engineering, before serving as a pilot in the Korean War. Neil Alden Armstrong (AugAugust 25, 2012) was the first person to walk on the Moon! Born in Wapakoneta, Ohio, he was learning how to be a pilot by the time he was 16.
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