Neil Alden Armstrong

The American astronaut Neil Alden Armstrong, b. Wapakoneta, Ohio, Aug. 5, 1930, was the first person to walk on the Moon. Armstrong received his pilot’s license on his 16th birthday. After two years at Purdue University, he joined the navy and flew combat missions over Korea. He returned to Purdue, obtained his aeronautical engineering degree in 1955, and became a test pilot. At Edwards Air Force base he flew the X-15 rocket plane a total of seven times. In 1962 he was selected as an astronaut. His first flight (1966) was as commander of GEMINI 8; a thruster failure aborted the flight after 10 hr 41 min.

Armstrong was later assigned as commander of APOLLO 11, the first U.S. attempt to land on the Moon. On July 20, 1969, Armstrong and lunar module pilot Edwin E. ALDRIN landed the Apollo 11 lunar module Eagle on the Moon at the Sea of Tranquility. At 10:56:20 PM Eastern Daylight Time (EDT), he planted his left foot on the lunar surface and proclaimed: “That’s one small step for {a} man, one giant leap for mankind.” He later said that he intended to say “a,” but static on the tapes leaves this detail uncertain. Armstrong was later NASA deputy associate administrator for aeronautics. He retired from NASA in October 1971 to become a professor of engineering at the University of Cincinnati.