Neil Armstrong

Neil Alden Armstrong was born on August 5, 1930, on his grandparents’ farm near Wapakoneta, OhioOhioOhio is a state in the Midwestern United States; its capital is Columbus. It joined the Union in 1803 as the 17th state, the first carved from the Northwest Territory, and its population in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) was 11,799,448.Open the full entry. His father, Stephen Koenig Armstrong, was a state auditor, and his mother was Viola Louise Engel; he was the eldest of three children.⁠[1][2]

At about age six he took his first airplane ride, in a Ford Tri-Motor at Warren, Ohio, with his father; he began building model airplanes at nine, and in 1946 he earned a student pilot’s license before he had a driver’s license.⁠[1]

In 1947 he graduated from Blume High School and enrolled at Purdue University in West Lafayette, IndianaIndianaIndiana is a state in the Midwestern United States; its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. It was admitted to the Union on December 11, 1816, as the 19th state, and its population in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) was 6,785,528.Open the full entry, on a Navy scholarship to study aeronautical engineering. On August 25 of that year he enlisted in the U.S. Naval Reserve.⁠[1][2][3]

He began active duty on February 16, 1949, became a midshipman on February 24, 1949, and was commissioned an ensign on February 24, 1951. The Korean War interrupted his studies: he flew 78 combat missions in F9F-2 jet fighters, was shot down once, and received the Air Medal and two Gold Stars. At 20 he was the youngest fully qualified naval aviator in his squadron.⁠[3][4][2][1]

His regular Navy commission ended on February 25, 1952, and he remained in the Naval Reserve until October 21, 1960.⁠[3]

In 1955 he received a B.S. in aeronautical engineering from Purdue University and joined the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA, later NASANASAThe National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is the U.S. federal agency responsible for the civilian space program, aeronautics research and space science. Established by law in 1958 and headquartered in Washington, D.C., it has run programs including Mercury, the Apollo Moon landings, the Space Shuttle, the International Space Station and Artemis.Open the full entry), first at the Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory in Cleveland and later that year at the High-Speed Flight Station at Edwards, CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a U.S. state on the Pacific coast; its capital is Sacramento and its largest city is Los Angeles. California was admitted to the Union on September 9, 1850, as the 31st state. Its population at the 2020 Census (April 1, 2020) was 39,538,223, the largest of any state.Open the full entry, as a research scientist and pilot. He later earned an M.S. in aerospace engineering from the University of Southern CaliforniaUniversity of Southern CaliforniaThe University of Southern California (USC) is a private research university in Los Angeles, California, planned by a group led by Judge Robert Maclay Widney and opened to students in 1880.Open the full entry.⁠[4][2]

At Edwards he flew more than 200 types of aircraft and logged more than 1,100 hours testing supersonic fighters and other aircraft.⁠[3][2]

Between December 1960 and July 1962 he made seven flights in the X-15 rocket plane, reaching a peak altitude of 207,500 feet and a speed of Mach 5.74.⁠[4]

In 1962 he was selected as one of nine astronauts in NASA’s second astronaut class.⁠[4]

On March 16, 1966, he launched aboard Gemini 8 as command pilot with David Scott as pilot, and the crew achieved the first docking of two vehicles in orbit, with an uncrewed Agena target. A thruster malfunction then sent the spacecraft into an uncontrolled spin and forced them to separate from the Agena; after he regained control, the spacecraft made an emergency splashdown in the Pacific.⁠[5][4][2]

Apollo 11 lifted off from Launch Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center at 9:32 a.m. EDT on July 16, 1969, with Armstrong as commander, Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin Jr. as lunar module pilot and Michael CollinsMichael Collins (astronaut)Michael Collins (1930–2021) was an American astronaut and Air Force officer who served as command module pilot of the Apollo 11 mission in 1969. After leaving NASA he was U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs and director of the National Air and Space Museum.Open the full entry as command module pilot. The mission fulfilled the national goal set by John F. KennedyJohn F. KennedyJohn F. Kennedy (1917–1963) was an American politician who represented Massachusetts in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate and served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 to 1963. The youngest person elected president and the first Roman Catholic to hold the office, he was assassinated in Dallas on November 22, 1963.Open the full entry on May 25, 1961, of landing a crew on the Moon and returning it safely to Earth.⁠[6][7]

The lunar module Eagle landed in the Sea of Tranquility at 4:17 p.m. EDT on July 20; at 10:56 p.m. he stepped onto the surface, saying “That’s one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind.” He and Aldrin spent about 2 hours 31 minutes outside the lunar module, deploying instruments and collecting samples, and 21 hours 36 minutes on the surface in all, while Collins remained in lunar orbit aboard the command module Columbia.⁠[2][7][6]

The spacecraft splashed down in the Pacific Ocean at 12:50 p.m. EDT on July 24, about 13 miles from the recovery ship USS Hornet. The crew then spent 18 days in quarantine and later toured 21 nations.⁠[6][2]

After leaving the astronaut corps he served for two years as deputy associate administrator for Aeronautics at NASA Headquarters, and he left NASA in August 1971.⁠[4]

From 1971 to 1979 he was University Professor of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Cincinnati, leaving in 1979 to pursue other activities.⁠[1]

He was chairman of Cardwell International Ltd. from 1980 to 1982 and of Computing Technologies for Aviation Inc. from 1982 to 1992, and sat on the board of Eaton Corp. from 1981 to 1999; he was chairman of AIL Systems Inc. until 1999 and was elected chairman of EDO Corp. in 2000.⁠[4]

He served on the National Commission on Space and, in 1986, as vice chairman of the Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident.⁠[2][4]

He died on August 25, 2012, in Cincinnati, Ohio, at age 82, of complications from cardiovascular bypass procedures performed several weeks earlier.⁠[2][4]

On September 14, 2012, his wife, Carol Armstrong, and Lt. Cmdr. Paul Nagy committed his cremated remains to the Atlantic Ocean from USS Philippine Sea (CG 58).⁠[8]

In early 2014 NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center was renamed the Neil A. Armstrong Flight Research Center, with a formal ceremony on May 13, 2014.⁠[4]

His honors included the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1969), the Robert J. Collier Trophy (1969), the Robert H. Goddard Memorial Trophy (1970), the Congressional Space Medal of Honor (1978) and the Congressional Gold Medal (2009), as well as the NASA Distinguished Service Medal and decorations from 17 countries.⁠[4][2][3]

NASA’s biographical data sheet of August 2012 records that he was married and had two sons.⁠[5]

The Armstrong Air & Space Museum in his hometown of Wapakoneta was formally dedicated on July 20, 1972. Ohio Governor James A. Rhodes pledged $500,000 in state money toward the $1 million project and the community raised $528,313.55; the museum holds one of the largest collections of aircraft, spacecraft, personal items and awards associated with him. After state budget cuts in 2009, local leaders formed a nonprofit association, and a partnership with the Ohio History Connection kept the museum open.⁠[9]

NASA: Official website: https://www.nasa.gov/ (opens in a new window).⁠[10]

Armstrong Air & Space Museum: Web page: https://www.armstrongmuseum.org/our-history (opens in a new window).⁠[9]

University of Cincinnati Libraries (Neil Armstrong page): Web page: https://sites.libraries.uc.edu/armstrong/armstrong-the-man (opens in a new window).⁠[1]

Naval History and Heritage Command (Neil Armstrong biography): Web page: https://history.navy.mil/research/histories/biographies-list/bios-a/armstrong-neil-a/Armstrong-Neil-Text.html (opens in a new window).⁠[3]