Neil Armstrong obituary | Science | The Guardian The Observer Neil Armstrong obituary US astronaut and commander of Apollo 11 spacecraft was the first man to set foot on the moon Neil Armstrong on 16 July 1969. Four days later – as Apollo 11 commander – he became the first man to set foot on the moon. Photograph: Sportsphoto Ltd/Allstar Saturday 25 August 2012 16.16 EDT First published on Saturday 25 August 2012 16.16 EDT Share on Messenger Close The US astronaut Neil Armstrong secured his place in history on 20 July 1969, when, as commander of the Apollo 11 spacecraft, he was the first man to set foot on the moon, and made his famous statement: "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." Armstrong, who has died aged 82, was accompanied on that epic journey by Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, the pilot of the lunar landing module with the call sign Eagle, and Michael Collins, pilot of the command module with the call sign Columbia.

The crew of Apollo 11 were not chosen for the mission because they were in any way special among the elite group of test pilots who comprised the corps of American astronauts: it was simply their turn on the flight roster. If an earlier plan had succeeded, the crew of Apollo 10 would have made the first moon walk in May 1969, but because of delays in the development of the lunar module that mission became a full dress rehearsal for a lunar landing, all bar a touchdown. Armstrong cut his teeth as an astronaut in March 1966 as commander of the Gemini 8. The mission also involved the first serious space emergency, highlighting the dangers of manned space launches when the public were beginning to take their seemingly effortless success for granted. The Gemini 8 mission was designed to perform the first docking in space by astronauts. The Soviet Union had already demonstrated automated docking of two unmanned vehicles in orbit. Armstrong and his crewmate, David Scott, were to rendezvous with a 7,000lb Agena rocket target vehicle. They found the Agena and docked successfully, but when they tried a pre-arranged manoeuvre of the combined spacecraft it went into a spin.

Armstrong disengaged from the Agena, thinking the problem was there, but the tumbling worsened. The Agena steadied but the Gemini capsule kept turning at 360 degrees a second and was in danger of colliding with the Agena. The fault was clearly on Gemini. It was discovered later that one of 16 Gemini thruster rockets was stuck. As he was unable to stop the spacecraft turning with the main thrusters, Armstrong shut them down and brought the Gemini craft under control using a second set of 16 thrusters that were intended only to control the capsule's re-entry in to the Earth's atmosphere. Mission Control ordered Armstrong and Scott to cut the flight short and they splashed down in a contingency recovery area in the Pacific Ocean. The drama of surviving man's first space emergency completely obscured the fact that it was on the Gemini 8 mission that the US had overtaken the Soviet Union in space technology Armstrong was born in Wapakoneta, Ohio, and from a young age was fascinated with aviation, experimenting with model airplanes and a home-built wind tunnel. At 15 he began flying lessons in an Aeronca Champion, and by 16 acquired his student pilot's licence.

In 1947, he enrolled at Purdue University on a Navy scholarship to pursue a degree in aeronautical engineering, but in 1949 the Navy called him to active duty in the Korean War. As a navy pilot, he flew 78 combat missions. He was shot down once and received three medals for his military service. In 1952 he returned to his studies and completed his BSc at Purdue and an MSc in aerospace engineering at the University of Southern California. In 1955 he became a civilian research pilot at the Lewis research centre of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (Naca), the forerunner of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa). Later that year, he transferred to Naca's high-speed flight station (today, Nasa's Dryden flight research centre) at Edwards Air Force Base in California as an aeronautical research scientist, and then as a pilot. He was a test pilot on many pioneering high-speed aircraft, including the 4,000mph X-15. He flew over 200 different models of aircraft, including jets, rockets, helicopters and gliders.

Armstrong was engaged in both piloting and engineering aspects of the X-15 programme from its inception. He completed the first flight in the aircraft equipped with a new self-adaptive flight control system and made seven flights in the rocket plane. In 1962 he was of the nine test pilots chosen by Nasa for its second astronaut-training programme. Four years later Armstrong made his successful recovery of the Gemini 8 spacecraft in a situation that, if misjudged, could easily have resulted in the death of the crew. That achievement was also invaluable in helping Nasa meet the target set in May 1961 by President John F Kennedy for the USA to establish, as a national goal, a manned landing on the moon by the end of the decade. The choice among competing techniques for achieving a moon landing still needed some intensive research and development. The method ultimately employed, of a lunar-orbit rendezvous, was influenced strongly by the experience with Gemini 8, and there was an element of poetic justice in Armstrong being at the helm again for the first manned lunar landing attempt. On 16 July 1969, Apollo 11 blasted off for the moon.

Four days later, at 4.18pm EDT (Eastern Daylight Time), the Eagle lunar lander was guided to land on a plain near the southwesten edge of the Sea of Tranquility. At 10.56pm Armstrong stepped off the ladder of the Apollo 11 lunar module and became the first human being to set foot on the moon. Twenty minutes later Buzz Aldrin joined him for two hours of ceremonies and moon-rock collecting. They unveiled a plaque and read the text to a worldwide TV audience, "Here men from the planet earth first set foot on the moon July 1969 AD. We came in peace for all mankind." After raising the American flag and talking to President Nixon by radiotelephone, the two astronauts took numerous photographs, carried out the lunar surface experiments assigned to the mission and collected 22kg of samples of lunar soil and rocks. All the astronauts' lunar activities were televised in black-and-white. Meanwhile, Collins continued orbiting the moon alone in the Columbia command module. Armstrong and Aldrin re-entered the lunar module and closed the hatch at 1.11am on 21 July.

The Eagle took off from the moon at 1.54pm, having spent 21 hours 36 minutes on the lunar surface. It docked with Columbia at 5.35pm. After splashdown in the Pacific on 24 July, decontamination procedures began. The astronauts were carried by helicopter to the recovery ship, USS Hornet, where they entered a mobile quarantine facility to begin a period of observation under strict quarantine conditions. The command module was recovered and also removed to the quarantine facility, and the rock samples and film were flown to Houston. Following the moon landing and the subsequent world tours by the crew of Apollo 11, Armstrong became deputy associate administrator for aeronautics, Nasa headquarters office of advanced research and technology from 1969 to 1971, when he resigned. For the next eight years he was professor of aerospace engineering at the University of Cincinnati. Numerous industrial appointments followed, including New York's AIL Systems, where he was chairman from 1981 until 2001.

In 1979 he was chairman of the board of Ohio's Cardwell International; from 1982 to 1992 chairman of Computing Technologies for Aviation, in Virginia. In 1985-86 he served on the National Commission on Space, a presidential committee to develop goals for a national space programme into the 21st century; and was also vice-chairman of the committee investigating the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986. During the early 1990s he presented an aviation documentary series for television entitled First Flights. Earlier this year he spoke at an event to mark the 50th anniversary of the orbiting of the Earth by the first American to do so, John Glenn. Armstrong is survived by his second wife, Carol, and two sons from his first marriage, which ended in divorce. • Neil Alden Armstrong, astronaut, born 5 August 1930; died 25 August 2012 • Pearce Wright died in 2005 US astronaut who led the Apollo 11 mission underwent heart-bypass surgery earlier this month Published: 26 Aug 2012 "For All Mankind".

Neil Armstrong, first man on the Moon, died August 25th 2012. - YouTube "For All Mankind". Neil Armstrong, first man on the Moon, died August 25th 2012. Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. The interactive transcript could not be loaded. Loading... Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Published on Aug 26, 2012 "W imię całej ludzkości". Neil Armstrong, pierwszy człowiek na Księżycu, zmarł 25 sierpnia 2012. Film przedstawia w pierwszej części (do 5:43 ) pełny zapis lądowania na powierzchni Ksieżyca załogowego lądownika Apollo 11-LM (Lunar Module) pilotowanego przez Neila Armstronga i Edwina Buzza Aldrina w dniu 20 lipca 1969 roku..

Na szczególną uwagę zasługują komendy przekazywane załodze z Ziemi przez CapComa, astronautę Charlesa Duke'a: "sixty seconds" ( 4:26 ) oraz "thirty seconds" ( 4:56 ) - dotyczyły one zmniejszającego się zapasu paliwa pozwalającego jedynie na 60 i 30 sekund lotu. Napięcie i emocje jakie towarzyszyły lądowaniu najlepiej ilustruje łamiący się ze wzruszenia głos Charlsa Duke'a ( 5:30 ). Druga część filmu (od 5:44 ) to zestawienie dwóch obrazów. Obraz dolny to znany całemu światu przekaz telewizyjny na żywo z zejścia Neila Armstronga po drabince lądownika LM na powierzchnię Księżyca.

Obraz górny, bardzo rzadko prezentowany przedstawia synchronicznie to samo zdarzenie z perspektywy Buzza Aldrina przebywającego w kabinie pojazdu LM. W 8:13 historyczną sentencję "That's one small step for man; one giant leap for mankind" Neil Armstrong wygłasza stojąc lewą stopą na gruncie księżycowym a prawą w dalszym ciągu na podstawie lądownika LM. Courtesy of the NASA Apollo Lunar Surface Journal Neil Armstrong Dead | First Man on Moon Dies August 2012 Neil Armstrong Dead: Astronaut Was 82 Truth rating: 10 By Daniel Gates | 3:28 pm, August 25th, 2012 (Getty Images) Neil Armstrong, the first person to walk on the moon, has died. He was 82. The legendary astronaut was reportedly recovering from heart surgery.

Armstrong became the focus of the entire planet on July 20, 1969, when his Apollo 11 spacecraft reached the moon and he took the first steps on its surface, calling it “one giant leap for mankind.” He and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin then spent approximately three hours planting the American flag, taking photographs and collecting samples, with the images beamed back to a transfixed global television audience. Armstrong’s family released a statement saying, “For those who may ask what they can do to honor Neil, we have a simple request.” “Honor his example of service, accomplishment and modesty, and the next time you walk outside on a clear night and see the moon smiling down at you, think of Neil Armstrong and give him a wink.” Aldrin also released a statement which reads, “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 mission of Apollo 11.” “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.” Aldrin added, “Virtually the entire world took that memorable journey with us. I know I am joined by millions of others in mourning the passing of a true American hero and the best pilot I ever knew. My friend Neil took the small step but giant leap that changed the world and will forever be remembered as a landmark moment in human history.” Watch the iconic moments in the video below. Enter your email address here to receive daily news updates from us. Astronaut Neil Armstrong dies at 82 | Fox News Astronaut Neil Armstrong dies at 82 Published August 25, 2012 Facebook 0 Twitter 0 Email Print Feb. 20, 2012: In this file photo provided by NASA, Apollo 11 Astronaut Neil Armstrong speaks at a celebration dinner honoring John Glenn in Columbus, Ohio.

(AP/NASA) CINCINNATI – Neil Armstrong was a quiet, self-described "nerdy" engineer who became a global hero when as a steely-nerved U.S. pilot he made "one giant leap for mankind" with the first step on the moon. The modest man who entranced and awed people on Earth has died. He was 82. Armstrong died Saturday following complications resulting from cardiovascular procedures, a statement from his family said. It didn't say where he died. Armstrong commanded the Apollo 11 spacecraft that landed on the moon July 20, 1969, capping the most daring of the 20th century's scientific expeditions. His first words after setting foot on the surface are etched in history books and in the memories of those who heard them in a live broadcast. "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind," Armstrong said. In those first few moments on the moon, during the climax of a heated space race with the then-Soviet Union, Armstrong stopped in what he called "a tender moment" and left a patch to commemorate NASA astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts who had died in action.

"It was special and memorable, but it was only instantaneous because there was work to do," Armstrong told an Australian television interviewer this year. [pullquote] Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin spent nearly three hours walking on the lunar surface, collecting samples, conducting experiments and taking photographs. "The sights were simply magnificent, beyond any visual experience that I had ever been exposed to," Armstrong once said. The moonwalk marked America's victory in the Cold War space race that began Oct. 4, 1957, with the launch of the Soviet Union's Sputnik 1, a satellite that sent shock waves around the world. An estimated 600 million people -- a fifth of the world's population -- watched and listened to the moon landing, the largest audience for any single event in history. Parents huddled with their children in front of the family television, mesmerized. Farmers abandoned their nightly milking duties, and motorists pulled off the highway and checked into motels just to watch on TV. Although he had been a Navy fighter pilot, a test pilot for NASA's forerunner and an astronaut, Armstrong never allowed himself to be caught up in the celebrity and glamour of the space program.

"I am, and ever will be, a white socks, pocket protector, nerdy engineer," he said in February 2000 in one of his rare public appearances. "And I take a substantial amount of pride in the accomplishments of my profession." A man who kept away from cameras, Armstrong went public in 2010 with his concerns about President Barack Obama's space policy that shifted attention away from a return to the moon and emphasized private companies developing spaceships. He testified before Congress, and in an email to The Associated Press he said he had "substantial reservations." NASA chief Charles Bolden recalled Armstrong's grace and humility in a statement Saturday. "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," Bolden said. Armstrong's modesty and self-effacing manner never faded. When he appeared in Dayton, Ohio, in 2003 to help celebrate the 100th anniversary of powered flight, he bounded onto a stage before 10,000 people. But he spoke for only a few seconds, did not mention the moon and quickly ducked out of the spotlight.

He later joined former astronaut and Sen. John Glenn to lay wreaths on the graves of airplane inventors Wilbur and Orville Wright. Glenn introduced Armstrong and noted it was 34 years to the day that Armstrong had walked on the moon. "Thank you, John. Thirty-four years?" Armstrong quipped, as if he hadn't given it a thought. At another joint appearance, the two embraced and Glenn commented: "To this day, he's the one person on Earth, I'm truly, truly envious of." Armstrong's moonwalk capped a series of accomplishments that included piloting the X-15 rocket plane and making the first space docking during the Gemini 8 mission, which included a successful emergency splashdown. In the years afterward, Armstrong retreated to the quiet of the classroom and his Ohio farm. Aldrin said in his book "Men from Earth" that Armstrong was one of the quietest, most private men he had ever met.

In the Australian interview, Armstrong acknowledged that "now and then I miss the excitement about being in the cockpit of an airplane and doing new things." At the time of the flight's 40th anniversary, Armstrong again was low-key, telling a gathering that the space race was "the ultimate peaceful competition: USA versus U.S.S.R. It did allow both sides to take the high road, with the objectives of science and learning and exploration." Glenn, who went through jungle training in Panama with Armstrong as part of the astronaut program, described him as "exceptionally brilliant" with technical matters but "rather retiring, doesn't like to be thrust into the limelight much." Glenn told CNN on Saturday that Armstrong had had a number of close calls in his career, including during the moon landing, when they had less than a minute of fuel remaining on arrival. "He was a good friend and he'll be missed," Glenn told the network. Derek Elliott, curator of the Smithsonian Institution's U.S. Air and Space Museum from 1982 to 1992, said the moonwalk probably marked the high point of space exploration.

"The fact that we were able to see it and be a part of it means that we are in our own way witnesses to history," he said. The 1969 landing met an audacious deadline that President John F. Kennedy had set in May 1961, shortly after Alan Shepard became the first American in space with a 15-minute suborbital flight. Soviet cosmonaut Yuri A. Gagarin had orbited the Earth and beaten the U.S. into space the previous month. "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," Kennedy had said. "No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important to the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish." The end-of-decade goal was met with more than five months to spare. "Houston: Tranquility Base here," Armstrong radioed after the spacecraft settled onto the moon. "The Eagle has landed." "Roger, Tranquility," the Houston staffer radioed back. "We copy you on the ground. You've got a bunch of guys about to turn blue.

We're breathing again. Thanks a lot." The third astronaut on the mission, Michael Collins, circled the moon in the mother ship Columbia while Armstrong and Aldrin went to the moon's surface. Collins told NASA on Saturday that he will miss Armstrong terribly, spokesman Bob Jacobs tweeted. In all, 12 American astronauts walked on the moon between 1969 and the last moon mission in 1972. For Americans, reaching the moon provided uplift and respite from the Vietnam War. The landing occurred as organizers were preparing for Woodstock, the legendary rock festival on a farm in New York. Armstrong was born Aug. 5, 1930, on a farm in Ohio. He took his first airplane ride at age 6 and developed a fascination with aviation that prompted him to build model airplanes and conduct experiments in a homemade wind tunnel. He was licensed to fly at 16, before he got his driver's license. Armstrong enrolled in Purdue University to study aeronautical engineering but was called to duty with the U.S. Navy in 1949 and flew 78 combat missions in Korea.

After the war, Armstrong finished his degree and later earned a master's degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Southern California. He became a test pilot with what evolved into the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, flying more than 200 kinds of aircraft from gliders to jets. Armstrong was accepted into NASA's second astronaut class in 1962 -- the first, including Glenn, was chosen in 1959 -- and commanded the Gemini 8 mission in 1966. After the first space docking, he brought the capsule back in an emergency landing in the Pacific Ocean when a wildly firing thruster kicked it out of orbit. Armstrong was backup commander for the historic Apollo 8 mission at Christmastime in 1968. In that flight, Commander Frank Borman, and Jim Lovell and Bill Anders circled the moon 10 times, and paving the way for the lunar landing seven months later. Aldrin said he and Armstrong were not prone to free exchanges of sentiment. "But there was that moment on the moon, a brief moment, in which we sort of looked at each other and slapped each other on the shoulder ... and said, `We made it.

Good show,' or something like that," Aldrin said. In Wapakoneta, media and souvenir frenzy was swirling around the home of Armstrong's parents. "You couldn't see the house for the news media," recalled John Zwez, former manager of the Neil Armstrong Air and Space Museum. "People were pulling grass out of their front yard." Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins were given ticker tape parades in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles and later made a 22-nation world tour. A homecoming in Wapakoneta drew 50,000 people to the city of 9,000. In 1970, Armstrong was appointed deputy associate administrator for aeronautics at NASA but left the following year to teach aerospace engineering at the University of Cincinnati. He remained there until 1979 and during that time bought a farm, where he raised cattle and corn. He stayed out of public view, accepting few requests for interviews or speeches. "He didn't give interviews, but he wasn't a strange person or hard to talk to," said Ron Huston, a colleague at the University of Cincinnati.

"He just didn't like being a novelty." In February 2000, when he agreed to announce the top 20 engineering achievements of the 20th century as voted by the National Academy of Engineering, Armstrong said there was one disappointment relating to his moonwalk. "I can honestly say -- and it's a big surprise to me -- that I have never had a dream about being on the moon," he said. Armstrong married Carol Knight in 1999. He had two adult sons from a previous marriage. His family's statement Saturday made a simple request for anyone who wanted to remember him: "Honor his example of service, accomplishment and modesty, and the next time you walk outside on a clear night and see the moon smiling down at you, think of Neil Armstrong and give him a wink." Advertisement Neil Armstrong, First Man on Moon, Dies at 82 - The New York Times The New York Times Space & Cosmos |Neil Armstrong, First Man on the Moon, Dies at 82 Search Continue reading the main story Photo Neil Armstrong, as photographed by Buzz Aldrin, working near the Eagle lunar module after the landing on July 20, 1969.

Credit NASA Neil Armstrong, who made the “giant leap for mankind” as the first human to set foot on the moon , died on Saturday. He was 82. His family said in a statement that the cause was “complications resulting from cardiovascular procedures.” He had undergone heart bypass surgery this month in Cincinnati, near where he lived. 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. The family did not say where he died. A quiet, private man, at heart an engineer and crack test pilot, Mr. Armstrong made history on July 20, 1969, as the commander of the Apollo 11 spacecraft on the mission that culminated the Soviet-American space race in the 1960s. President John F. Kennedy had committed the nation “to achieving the goal, before the decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to Earth .” It was done with more than five months to spare. On that day, Mr. Armstrong and his co-pilot, Col. Edwin E.

Aldrin Jr., known as Buzz, steered their lunar landing craft, Eagle, to a level, rock-strewn plain near the southwestern shore of the Sea of Tranquillity. It was touch and go the last minute or two, with computer alarms sounding and fuel running low. But they made it. “Houston, Tranquillity Base here,” Mr. Armstrong radioed to mission control. “The Eagle has landed.” Advertisement Continue reading the main story “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.” The same could have been said for hundreds of millions of people around the world watching on television. A few hours later, there was Mr. Armstrong bundled in a white spacesuit and helmet on the ladder of the landing craft. Planting his feet on the lunar surface, he said, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” (His words would become the subject of a minor historical debate, as to whether he said “man” or an indistinct “a man.”) Soon Colonel Aldrin joined Mr.

Armstrong, bounding like kangaroos in the low lunar gravity, one sixth that of Earth’s, while the command ship pilot, Michael Collins, remained in orbit about 60 miles overhead, waiting their return. In all, 12 American astronauts walked on the moon between then and the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. The Apollo 11 mission capped a tumultuous and consequential decade. The ’60s in America had started with such promise, with the election of a youthful president, mixed with the ever-present anxieties of the cold war. Then it touched greatness in the civil rights movement, only to implode in the years of assassinations and burning city streets and campus riots. But before it ended, human beings had reached that longtime symbol of the unreachable. The moonwalk lasted 2 hours and 19 minutes, long enough to let the astronauts test their footing in the fine and powdery surface — Mr. Armstrong noted that his boot print was less than an inch deep — and set up a television camera and scientific instruments and collect rock samples. After news of Mr.

Armstrong’s death was reported, President Obama, in a statement from the White House, said, “Neil was among the greatest of American heroes.” “And when Neil stepped foot on the surface of the moon for the first time,” the president added, “he delivered a moment of human achievement that will never be forgotten.” Advertisement Continue reading the main story Charles F. Bolden Jr., the current NASA administrator, said, “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.” Mr. Bolden also noted that in the years after the moonwalk, Mr. Armstrong “carried himself with a grace and humility that was an example to us all.” The historian Douglas Brinkley, who interviewed Mr. Armstrong for a NASA oral history, described him as “our nation’s most bashful Galahad.” His family called him “a reluctant hero who always believed he was just doing his job.” Indeed, some space officials have cited these characteristics, as well as his engineering skills and experience piloting X-15 rocket planes, as reasons that Mr. Armstrong stood out in the astronaut corps.

After the post-flight parades and a world tour for the three Apollo 11 astronauts, Mr. Armstrong gradually withdrew from the public eye. He was not reclusive, but as much as possible he sought to lead a private life, first as an associate administrator in the space program, then as a university professor and director of a number of corporations. Neil Alden Armstrong was born on Aug. 5, 1930, in the small town of Wapakoneta, Ohio, to Stephen Armstrong and the former Viola Louise Engel. His father was a state auditor, which meant the family moved every few years to a new Ohio town while Neil was growing up. At the age of 6, Neil and his father took a ride in a Ford Trimotor airplane, known as the Tin Goose. It must have made an impression, for by the time he was 15, he had learned to fly, even before he got his driver’s license. Neil became an Eagle Scout when the family later moved back to Wapakoneta, where he finished high school. (The town now has a museum named for Mr. Armstrong.) From there, he went to Purdue University as an engineering student on a Navy scholarship.

His college years were interrupted by the Korean War, in which Mr. Armstrong was a Navy fighter pilot who flew 78 combat missions, one in which he was forced to eject after the plane lost one of its ailerons, the hinged flight-control panels on the wings. In “First Man: The Life of Neil Armstrong,” James R. Hansen wrote that in Mr. Armstrong’s first year at Purdue, Charles E. Yeager broke the sound barrier in the rocket-powered Bell X-1. It was exciting but bittersweet for the young student. He thought aviation history had already passed him by. “All in all, for someone who was immersed in, fascinated by, and dedicated to flight,” Mr. Armstrong told his biographer, “I was disappointed by the wrinkle in history that had brought me along one generation late. I had missed all the great times and adventures in flight.” During the Korean War, Mr. Armstrong was in the unit that the author James A. Michener wrote of in “The Bridges at Toko-Ri.” Back at Purdue after the Navy, Mr. Armstrong plunged more earnestly into aeronautical engineering studies, his grades rising and a career in sight.

Advertisement By this time, he had also met Janet Elizabeth Shearon, a student in home economics from Evanston, Ill. Soon after his graduation, they were married, in January 1956. Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up Privacy Policy They had two sons, Eric and Mark, who survive. A daughter, Karen, died of an inoperable brain tumor in 1962. The couple were divorced in 1994; Janet Armstrong lives in Utah. In 1999, Mr. Armstrong married Carol Knight, a widow 15 years his junior; she also survives. They lived in Indian Hill, a suburb of Cincinnati. Other survivors include a stepson and stepdaughter; a brother, Dean; a sister, June Armstrong Hoffman, and 10 grandchildren. After his first marriage, the newlyweds moved to California, where Mr. Armstrong had been hired as an experimental test pilot for the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics, the forerunner of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, at Edwards Air Force Base.

His first flight in a rocket plane was in the Bell X-1B, a successor to the plane Mr. Yeager had first flown faster than the speed of sound. Mr. Armstrong impressed his peers. Milt Thompson, one of the test pilots, said he was “the most technically capable of the early X-15 pilots.” Another colleague, Bill Dana, said he “had a mind that absorbed things like a sponge and a memory that remembered them like a photograph.” He made seven X-15 flights at 4,000 miles per hour, reaching the edge of space, and piloted many more of the most innovative and dangerous aircraft ever developed. In 1958, Mr. Armstrong was chosen as a consultant for a military space plane project, the X-20 Dyna-Soar, and was later named one of the pilots. But the young test pilot was attracted by another opportunity. NASA was receiving applications for the second group of astronauts, after the Mercury Seven. His reputation after seven years at the NASA flight center at Edwards had preceded him, and so he was tapped for the astronaut corps.

“I thought the attractions of being an astronaut were actually, not so much the Moon, but flying in a completely new medium,” Mr. Armstrong told his biographer. At Houston, the new astronaut began training for flights in the two-person Gemini spacecraft, the successor to the smaller Mercury capsules and forerunner to the three-person Apollos. Mr. Armstrong became the first American civilian astronaut to fly in space, as commander of Gemini 8. He and his co-pilot, David R. Scott, were launched on March 16, 1966. They performed the first successful docking of two vehicles in space, their Gemini linking with an unmanned Agena in an essential test for later operations on lunar flights. Once docked, however, the joined spacecraft began to roll. Attempts to steady the vehicle were unavailing. On instructions from Mission Control, Mr. Armstrong separated Gemini from the Agena, but the rolling only increased, to the point that the astronauts were in danger of passing out. The problem was evidently in the Gemini itself. The astronauts turned the control thrusters off, switching to the re-entry control system.

Stability was restored, but once the re-entry propulsion was activated, the crew was told to prepare to come home before the end of their only day in orbit. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Next, Mr. Armstrong was the backup commander for Apollo 8, the first flight to circumnavigate the Moon, doing so at Christmastime in 1968. It was the mission that put Apollo back on track after a cockpit fire during a launching pad rehearsal had killed three astronauts in January 1967. And it put Mr. Armstrong in position to command Apollo 11. If everything went well with the lunar module test on Apollo 9 and with a shakedown flight to lunar orbit on Apollo 10, then Mr. Armstrong was in line to land on the Moon with Buzz Aldrin and with Michael Collins as the command module pilot. As the commander, NASA officials decided, Mr. Armstrong would be the first to walk on the Moon. About six and a half hours after the landing, Mr. Armstrong opened the hatch of the four-legged lunar module and slowly made his way down the ladder to the lunar surface. A television camera followed his every step for all the world to see.

A crater near the landing site is named in Mr. Armstrong’s honor. Mr. Armstrong and Colonel Aldrin left a plaque on the Moon that read: “Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the moon. July 1969 A.D. We came in peace for all mankind.” After leaving the space program, Mr. Armstrong was careful to do nothing to tarnish that image or achievement. Though he traveled and gave speeches — as he did in October 2007, when he dedicated the new Neil Armstrong Hall of Engineering at Purdue — he rarely gave interviews and avoided the spotlight. In the biography “First Man,” Dr. Hansen noted, “Everyone gives Neil the greatest credit for not trying to take advantage of his fame, not like other astronauts have done.” To which Janet Armstrong responded: “Yes, but look what it’s done to him inside. He feels guilty that he got all the acclaim for an effort of tens of thousands of people.” Then she added: “He’s certainly led an interesting life. But he took it too seriously to heart.” For a time, he was an associate NASA administrator for aeronautics, but he tired of a Washington desk job.

Ignoring many high-level offers in business and academia, he returned to Ohio as a professor of aeronautical engineering at the University of Cincinnati and bought a farm near Lebanon, Ohio. He also served as a director for several corporations. “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. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Mr. Armstrong re-entered the public spotlight a couple of years ago to voice sharp disagreement with President Obama for canceling NASA’s program to send astronauts back to the Moon. Later, he testified to a Senate committee, expressing skepticism that the approach of relying on commercial companies would succeed. Last September, Mr. Armstrong testified to a House committee that NASA “must find ways of restoring hope and confidence to a confused and disconsolate work force.” 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.” Correction: August 28, 2012 An obituary on Sunday about the astronaut Neil Armstrong misstated, in some editions, the name of the town in Ohio where he lived. It is Indian Hill, not Indian Hills. John Schwartz contributed reporting. Susan C. Beachy contributed research. A version of this article appears in print on August 26, 2012, on Page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: Neil Armstrong 1930-2012: Made ‘Giant Leap’ as First Man to Step on Moon. Order Reprints | Today's Paper | Subscribe Space legend Neil Armstrong dies - CNN.com Space legend Neil Armstrong dies By the CNN Wire Staff Updated 4:31 PM ET, Tue December 11, 2012 Chat with us in Facebook Messenger. Find out what's happening in the world as it unfolds.

JUST WATCHED Astronaut Neil Armstrong dead at 82 03:45 Story highlights "As long as there are history books, Neil Armstrong will be included in them," NASA says Apollo 11 touched down on the moon on July 20, 1969 "That's one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind," Armstrong famously said He largely avoided the public spotlight Neil Armstrong, the American astronaut who made "one giant leap for mankind" when he became the first man to walk on the moon, died Saturday. He was 82. "We are heartbroken to share the news that Neil Armstrong has passed away following complications resulting from cardiovascular procedures," Armstrong's family said in a statement. Armstrong underwent heart surgery this month. "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," his family said.

13 of 14 Photos: Apollo 11: The Recovery SEAL Team Swim 2 – Mallory, now a husband and grandfather in Michigan, says he was just proud to be a part of the space program as a member of SEAL Team Swim 2. "I wish the space program was continuing better than it is." Chesser, a retired defense contractor, is a newlywed and grandfather living in Virginia. The Space Race "was an extremely exciting time for our country," Chesser says. "Today we don't have that." Hide Caption 14 of 14 Armstrong died Saturday in Cincinnati, Ohio, according to a NASA spokesman. The agency's administrator put the death in perspective. "As long as there are history books, Neil Armstrong will be included in them," said Charles Bolden. "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." Armstrong took two trips into space. He made his first journey in 1966 as commander of the Gemini 8 mission, which nearly ended in disaster.

Armstrong kept his cool and brought the spacecraft home safely after a thruster rocket malfunctioned and caused it to spin wildly out of control. During his next space trip in July 1969, Armstrong and fellow astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins blasted off in Apollo 11 on a nearly 250,000-mile journey to the moon that went down in the history books. It took them four days to reach their destination. The world watched and waited as the lunar module "Eagle" separated from the command module and began its descent. Then came the words from Armstrong: "Tranquility Base here, the Eagle has landed." About six and a half hours later at 10:56 p.m. ET on July 20, 1969, Armstrong, at age 38, became the first person to set foot on the moon. He uttered the now-famous phrase: "That's one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind." The quote was originally recorded without the "a," which was picked up by voice recognition software many years later.

Armstrong was on the moon's surface for two hours and 32 minutes and Aldrin, who followed him, spent about 15 minutes less than that. The two astronauts set up an American flag, scooped up moon rocks and set up scientific experiments before returning to the main spacecraft. All three returned home to a hero's welcome, and none ever returned to space. The moon landing was a major victory for the United States, which at the height of the Cold War in 1961 committed itself to landing a man on the moon and returning him safely before the decade was out. It was also a defining moment for the world. The launch and landing were broadcast on live TV and countless people watched in amazement as Armstrong walked on the moon. "I remember very clearly being an 8-year-old kid and watching the TV ... I remember even as a kid thinking, 'Wow, the world just changed,'" said astronaut Leroy Chiao. "And then hours later watching Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin take the very first step of any humans on another planetary body. That kind of flipped the switch for me in my head.

I said, 'That's what I want to do, I want to be an astronaut.'" Tributes to Armstrong -- who received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1969, the highest award offered to a U.S. civilian -- poured in as word of his death spread. The untold story of Apollo 11 "Neil was among the greatest of American heroes -- not just of his time, but of all time," said President Barack Obama. "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." Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said the former astronaut "today takes his place in the hall of heroes. With courage unmeasured and unbounded love for his country, he walked where man had never walked before. The moon will miss its first son of earth." House Speaker John Boehner, from Ohio, said: "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.

He inspired generations of boys and girls worldwide not just through his monumental feat, but with the humility and grace with which he carried himself to the end." Armstrong was born in Wapakoneta, Ohio, on August 5, 1930. He was interested in flying even as a young boy, earning his pilot's license at age 16. Armstrong's one small step resonated for all mankind Armstrong studied aeronautical engineering and earned degrees from Purdue University and University of Southern California. He served in the Navy, and flew 78 combat missions during the Korean War. "He was the best, and I will miss him terribly," said Collins, the Apollo 11 command module pilot. After his historic mission to the moon, Armstrong worked for NASA, coordinating and managing the administration's research and technology work. In 1971, he resigned from NASA and taught engineering at the University of Cincinnati for nearly a decade. While many people are quick to cash in on their 15 minutes of fame, Armstrong largely avoided the public spotlight and chose to lead a quiet, private life with his wife and children.

"He was really an engineer's engineer -- a modest man who was always uncomfortable in his singular role as the first person to set foot on the moon. He understood and appreciated the historic consequences of it and yet was never fully willing to embrace it. He was modest to the point of reclusive. You could call him the J.D. Salinger of the astronaut corps," said Miles O'Brien, an aviation expert with PBS' Newshour, formerly of CNN. "He was a quiet, engaging, wonderful from the Midwest kind of guy. ... But when it came to the public exposure that was associated with this amazing accomplishment ... he ran from it. And part of it was he felt as if this was an accomplishment of many thousands of people. And it was. He took the lion's share of the credit and he felt uncomfortable with that," said O'Brien. But Armstrong always recognized -- in a humble manner -- the importance of what he had accomplished. "Looking back, we were really very privileged to live in that thin slice of history where we changed how man looks at himself and what he might become and where he might go," Armstrong said.

Remembering Neil Armstrong, 1930-2012 - ABC News Email Neil Armstrong , the astronaut who became first to walk on the moon as commander of Apollo 11 , has died at the age of 82, his family said today. Armstrong had heart surgery several weeks ago, and a statement from his family said he died following complications resulting from cardiovascular procedures. "Neil Armstrong was also a reluctant American hero who always believed he was just doing his job," his family said. "He served his Nation proudly, as a navy fighter pilot, test pilot, and astronaut. ...

He remained an advocate of aviation and exploration throughout his life and never lost his boyhood wonder of these pursuits." Read the full statement from Neil Armstrong's Family On July 20, 1969, half a billion people -- a sixth of the world's population at the time -- watched a ghostly black-and-white television image as Armstrong backed down the ladder of the lunar landing ship Eagle, planted his left foot on the moon's surface, and said, "That's one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind." Twenty minutes later his crewmate, Buzz Aldrin , joined him, and the world watched as the men spent the next two hours bounding around in the moon's light gravity, taking rock samples, setting up experiments, and taking now-iconic photographs. The third member of their crew, Michael Collins, orbited overhead in the Apollo 11 command ship, Columbia. "Neil and I trained together as technical partners but were also good friends who will always be connected through our participation in the mission of Apollo 11," said Aldrin today in a statement. "Virtually the entire world took that memorable journey with us.

I know I am joined by millions of others in mourning the passing of a true American hero and the best pilot I ever knew." Collins said, "He was the best, and I will miss him terribly." President Obama issued a statement from the White House: "Neil was among the greatest of American heroes -- not just of his time, but of all time," it said. Armstrong and his crewmates "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." Photos: Neil Armstrong Through the Years NASA Administrator Charles Bolden -- himself a former space shuttle astronaut -- joined in the tributes. With the space shuttles retired, NASA does not currently have a way to launch astronauts on its own, but it is working on a new spacecraft, and, this month, landed the robotic Curiosity rover on Mars. "Besides being one of America's greatest explorers, Neil carried himself with a grace and humility that was an example to us all," said Bolden.

"As we enter this next era of space exploration, we do so standing on the shoulders of Neil Armstrong." 'I Believe That This Nation Should Commit Itself....' Armstrong's step fulfilled a challenge laid down by an earlier president, John F. Kennedy, in May 1961. Struggling in his first months in the White House, Kennedy addressed a joint session of Congress: "I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth," he said. "No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish." Armstrong was a 30-year-old test pilot at the time of Kennedy's challenge, flying the X-15 rocket plane for a new government agency called NASA . He had served as a Naval aviator in the Korean War, flying 78 missions, and had an engineering degree from Purdue University. A native of the small town of Wapakoneta, Ohio, he was married to the former Jan Shearon and living near Edwards Air Force Base in the high desert of California.

NASA already had seven astronauts, flying its Mercury space capsule. In 1962 it sent out word that it was looking for more, and Armstrong was one of the nine it selected. Gemini VIII On March 16, 1966 he became the first American civilian to orbit the earth, commanding the two-man Gemini VIII mission with David R. Scott as his crewmate. On their fourth orbit, they made the first-ever docking in space with another spacecraft -- a maneuver the still-untested Apollo project would need to get astronauts to and from the lunar surface. Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the lunar surface. Minutes later, though, the spacecraft began to tumble wildly out of control, apparently because of a broken maneuvering thruster. It was a dangerous moment -- a 6,000-pound ship, moving at 17,500 mph, spinning and turning end-over-end once a second. Armstrong ended the emergency by using a second set of thrusters. Mission Control ordered the astronauts to land as soon as possible, and after 10 hours of flight they splashed down safely in the Pacific.

The two astronauts were commended for keeping their cool in a difficult situation, and when Project Apollo began, Armstrong was assigned to command one of the first six flights. At the time this was not momentous news. NASA had a system for rotating its crews among flights -- one served as backup crew for a mission and then actually flew three flights later -- and nobody knew how many test flights would be needed before the first moon landing could be attempted. Neil Armstrong, First Man on the Moon Armstrong , along with Buzz Aldrin and Fred Haise Jr ., was named to the backup crew for Apollo 9, the third manned test of the new moonship. Soon Apollo 9 was swapped with Apollo 8 -- and Apollo 8 was then sent to take astronauts around the moon. The mission was a success. While it was still in progress, chief astronaut Deke Slayton took Armstrong aside and told him that he, Aldrin and Mike Collins would fly Apollo 11. So it was happenstance that made Neil Armstrong one of the most famous names of the 20th century.

If the order of flights had been different, or if Apollo 9 or 10 had run into trouble, Apollo 11 might very well have been a practice run for the first lunar landing. But by May 1969 the rehearsals had gone well and Apollo 11 was next up. Reporters swirled around Armstrong. More than a million people crowded the Florida coast to see the liftoff. "I think we're going to the moon because it's in the nature of the human being to face challenges. It's by the nature of his deep inner soul," Armstrong said at a preflight news conference, "We're required to do these things just as salmon swim upstream." Apollo 11 Leaves for the Moon On the morning of July 16, 1969, Armstrong, Collins and Aldrin were woken before dawn. They suited up and climbed into the Apollo 11 command ship, high atop its 363-foot-tall Saturn V rocket. Liftoff was flawless. Three days later the astronauts arrived in lunar orbit, and on the morning of July 20, Armstrong and Aldrin took their places in the landing ship Eagle, leaving Collins to run the command ship Columbia.

They fired Eagle's main engine to slow themselves toward the moon's surface, aiming for a landing site on the Sea of Tranquility, a relatively flat plain near the moon's equator. As they came in on final approach, Armstrong later reported, he saw they were in trouble. Eagle's computer was steering them right toward a crater, with boulders the size of cars. Armstrong took over manual control. Fuel was in short supply, but he hosed out more, skittering a few hundred feet above the lunar surface in search of a clear spot to land. "1201 alarm," called Aldrin, watching Eagle's computer readout while Armstrong looked out the window. The computer was overloading. "Hang tight, we're go," said astronaut Charles Duke, the one person at Mission Control assigned to talk with Armstrong and Aldrin by radio. Armstrong was silent as he lowered the ship on a pillar of flame. He was too busy flying. Aldrin called out numbers to mark their progress in feet per second. "Four forward, drifting to the right a little." "Thirty seconds," said Duke.

In half a minute he would have to tell the astronauts to abort the landing -- even though they were less than a hundred feet up. Neil Armstrong, First Man on the Moon Finally, Aldrin called out, "Contact light" -- a signal that a five-foot-long metal probe, protruding from Eagle's landing legs, had touched the surface. The ship gently settled. Finally, Armstrong came on the radio. "Houston, Tranquility Base here, the Eagle has landed." Neil Armstrong in the Lunar Module Eagle after walking on the moon, July 21, 1969. Armstrong would say later that he considered the landing a much greater challenge, and a greater accomplishment, than actually walking on the surface. But after making sure Eagle was in good shape for the return trip, he and Aldrin put on their bulky backpacks and prepared to open the hatch. It was 10:56 p.m., Eastern Daylight Time, when Armstrong backed down the ladder of the Lunar Module, went back up a step to make sure he could, and then planted his left boot in the lunar soil. Moonwalk Armstrong walked on the moon for two hours and 21 minutes, Aldrin for about half an hour less.

They took rock samples, set up two experiments, and took a phone call from President Nixon. They planted an American flag (with some difficulty; its staff wouldn't stand firmly in the lunar dirt and the flag itself, stiffened with wires, rumpled). They bounded around in the weak lunar gravity, reporting it was great fun but a little hard to stop. Armstrong carried a camera, mounted on the chest of his spacesuit, and took some of the most famous pictures of the century. Aldrin did not have a camera -- so, in one of the ironies of the space age, almost all the still pictures from the Apollo 11 moonwalk are by Armstrong, not of him. After a fitful night's sleep, the two men lifted off from the lunar surface and rejoined Collins in Columbia. They splashed down safely in the Pacific on July 24, 1969. They were greeted by ticker-tape parades and a beaming President Nixon. After that, Armstrong tried his best to resume a private life. He served for a few years as a NASA manager in Washington. He taught engineering at the University of Cincinnati, not far from his birthplace. He served on corporate boards.

He was appointed to the panels that investigated the Apollo 13 accident and the Challenger disaster. He declined almost all requests for interviews, and stopped giving autographs when people sold them for thousands of dollars. A few personal details emerged: He suffered a minor heart attack in 1991. His wife Jan divorced him in 1994 and he soon married Carol Knight. In 2005 his authorized biographer, James R. Hansen, wrote, "Neil Armstrong today seems to be a very happy man -- perhaps happier than at any other time in his life." Armstrong, who was born in the small town of Wapakoneta, Ohio, on Aug. 5, 1930, said he did not want to be an icon, remembered only for that one-week trip he made in 1969. He did appear at the White House to mark major anniversaries of Apollo 11, and when he did he urged America to go on exploring. "There are great ideas undiscovered, breakthroughs available to those who can remove one of truth's protective layers," he said in 1994.

"There are places to go beyond belief." Editor's Note: This article was written and published on Aug. 25, 2012, the day Neil Armstrong died, and was updated this week with a new video to commemorate the anniversary of Armstrong's death. This update changed the time stamp on our mobile site, causing some to share the story on social media thinking we had published news of Armstrong's death today. We regret the confusion caused by the updated time stamp. 0 Shares Neil Armstrong obituary | Science | The Guardian Neil Armstrong obituary American astronaut and first man to walk on the moon who was a 'reluctant hero' Neil Armstrong in 1979. After the moon landing he worked as an engineering academic and businessman.

Photograph: Pierre Guillaud/AFP/Getty Images Sunday 26 August 2012 14.01 EDT First published on Sunday 26 August 2012 14.01 EDT Share on Messenger Close When, in July 1969, Neil Armstrong , who has died aged 82, made his celebrated "one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" by becoming the first human being to walk on the moon, he was indeed the "reluctant hero" of his family's apt description. As the commander of the US Apollo 11 spacecraft, in which he was accompanied by Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, the pilot of the Eagle lunar landing module and Michael Collins, pilot of the Columbia command module, he became the first man on the moon because he had arrived at the head of the queue of around 20 highly experienced and motivated astronauts. They had been taking it in turns to conduct the 22 manned spaceflights needed to learn the techniques for travelling to the Earth's nearest neighbour – an objective he pursued with great seriousness. Space correspondents like myself, attending every mission, soon found that Armstrong was unique among his colleagues.

A member of the second group to be selected, he was unlike all the others, self-conscious and deeply introverted. He did not enjoy talking to us unless we were fully informed; the trivial questions posed by general reporters he found unbearable, and he remained a quietly dignified figure for the rest of his life, working principally as an engineering academic and businessman. Born in Wapakoneta, Ohio, Armstrong had acquired his student pilot's licence by the age of 16. In 1947, he went to Purdue University on a navy scholarship to study aeronautical engineering, but two years later the Korean war intervened, and he flew 78 combat missions. Eventually he completed his BSc at Purdue and an MSc in aerospace engineering at the University of Southern California . In 1955 he went to Cleveland, Ohio, as a civilian research pilot at the Lewis Research Centre of what became the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa), and later that year to Edwards Air Force Base in California. As a pioneer of many high-speed aircraft, involved in both piloting and engineering, he flew over 200 different models, including jets, rockets, helicopters and gliders.

When Nasa embarked on its second astronaut training programme in 1962, he was one of the nine test pilots chosen. Four years later, on Gemini 8 for his first space venture, Armstrong brought his experience into play when the spacecraft continued spinning after completing a docking manoeuvre. The situation could have become life-threatening and the mission was abandoned after only a day in orbit. President John F Kennedy's end-of-the-decade target for a manned moon landing was a constant target for Nasa, and early in 1969 I learned from George Low, its head of manned spaceflight, that the Apollo 11 crew would be attempting the first such expedition. While Armstrong would be in command, Aldrin would be the first to step on the moon; Armstrong would follow the naval tradition of being the last to leave the ship. So it came as a shock when I got the flight plan and press kit a few weeks ahead of the launch, showing that Armstrong would be first out. There was much resentment about the change, publicly expressed by Aldrin's father, a senior military man. Buzz fretted and raised it internally, but Armstrong steadfastly refused to discuss it.

Nasa said the change was merely because it was physically easier for Armstrong to exit the lunar lander first. Later I learned that Low and other top Nasa officials had suddenly realised that the first man on the moon would become immortal in the public's eyes. The grave Armstrong, they realised, was much more suited to the role than Aldrin, a brilliant and outspoken mathematician, always liable to challenge and disagree with authority. Apollo 11 took off on 16 July, and four days later the Eagle descended on to a plain near the south-western edge of the Sea of Tranquillity. Around six and a half hours later, Armstrong stepped off the ladder of the lunar module, the first human being to set foot on the moon. After 20 minutes Aldrin joined him to address hundreds of millions of television viewers all over the world, watching in black and white, and collect rocks. An interesting consequence is that we do not have a single clear photograph of Armstrong on the lunar surface [see footnote].

Aldrin was scheduled in the flight plan – which covered every second of their nearly three hours there – to take the historic picture of the first man on the moon standing beside the lunar module and its plaque reading: "We came in peace for all mankind." When the time came, Armstrong duly took up his position, and held out the camera for Aldrin to take it. Aldrin, busy collecting lunar samples and setting out scientific equipment on the surface, replied: "No, you keep it," and carried on. Nothing intentional, he said later, just the way it happened. So the surface pictures we do have are all of Aldrin taken by Amstrong, the most famous of them being the one in which Armstrong is reflected in Aldrin's facepiece. Armstrong, following military tradition, never complained, never explained. The ceremonial aspect continued with the raising of the American flag and a radiotelephone conversation with President Richard Nixon . Experiments were completed, and soil and rocks gathered. After more than 21 hours on the lunar surface, the Eagle took off to rejoin the Columbia command module, in which Collins had been orbiting the moon.

Splashdown in the Pacific on 24 July was followed by decontamination procedures, and the geological samples and film were flown to Nasa mission control in Houston, Texas. The three astronauts were naturally in demand for tours around the world, and once that excitement had died down, Armstrong became deputy associate administrator for aeronautics at the Nasa headquarters office of advanced research and technology in Washington until 1971, when he resigned, put off by the prospect of continuing in the organisation with a desk job. He was professor of aeronautical engineering at the University of Cincinnati for the next eight years, and for two decades after that acted as director of a variety of corporations. He served on the National Commission on Space, a presidential body examining the prospects for taking the space programme further, in 1985-86, and in 1986 was also vice-chairman of the committee investigating the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. During the early 1990s he presented an aviation documentary series for television entitled First Flights. Though conscious that he had enjoyed a figurehead role for a project that had involved thousands of people, Armstrong was always gracious about celebrating achievements in space to date.

In February this year he spoke at an event at Ohio State University to mark the 50th anniversary of the orbiting of the Earth by the first American to do so, John Glenn. A couple of hours after that first landing in July 1969, I talked to Wernher von Braun, whose Saturn V rockets had made it all possible. He gave me a copy of his longterm plan. It showed the first humans landing on Mars in the 1980s. He died in 1977, so never knew that his target would be missed by around 100 years. Armstrong retained his interest in space exploration policy, and in 2010 went on camera to express his disappointment at the cancellation of plans to send astronauts back to the moon. He later went on to doubt that depending on commercial companies would revive the space effort. Armstrong is survived by his second wife, Carol, and by two sons from his first marriage, which ended in divorce. • Neil Alden Armstrong, astronaut, born 5 August 1930; died 25 August 2012 • This footnote was appended on 28 August 2012.

There is, in fact, one photograph of Armstrong on the moon. An image of Armstrong working on the base of the lunar module in the Sea of Tranquility bears the following agency caption: The Moon -- 20 Jul 1969 -- Apollo 11 astronauts trained on Earth to take individual photographs in succession in order to create a series of frames that could be assembled into panoramic images. This frame from Aldrin's panorama of the Apollo 11 landing site is the only good picture of mission commander Neil Armstrong on the lunar surface -- Picture by Edwin Aldrin/Lightroom Photos/NASA US astronaut who led the Apollo 11 mission underwent heart-bypass surgery earlier this month Published: 26 Aug 2012

Question: Which US Apollo astronaut died on 25th August 2012?
Answer: Neil Armstrong