Astronaut Neil Armstrong, first man on moon, dead at 82

Armstrong died following complications from heart-bypass surgery



As commander of the Apollo 11 mission, Armstrong became the first human to set foot on the moon on July 20, 1969. As he stepped on the dusty surface, Armstrong said: "That's one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind."








The Apollo 11 moon mission turned out to be Armstrong's last space flight. The next year he was appointed to a desk job, being named NASA's deputy associate administrator for aeronautics in the office of advanced research and technology.




Armstrong had his first joyride in a plane at age 6. Growing up in Ohio, he began making model planes and by his early teens had amassed an extensive aviation library. With money earned from odd jobs, he took flying lessons and obtained his pilot's license even before he got a car license.

In high school he excelled in science and mathematics and won a U.S. Navy scholarship to Purdue University in Indiana, enrolling in 1947. He left after two years to become a Navy pilot, flying combat missions in the Korean War and winning three medals.


After the war he returned to Purdue and graduated in 1955 with an aeronautical engineering degree. He joined the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics (NACA), which became NASA in 1958.

Armstrong spent seven years at NACA's high-speed flight station at Edwards Air Force Base in California, becoming one of the world's best test pilots. He flew the X-15 rocket plane to the edge of space - 200,000 feet up at 4,000 mph.

In September 1962, Armstrong was selected by NASA to be an astronaut. He was command pilot for the Gemini 8 mission and backup command pilot for the Gemini 11 mission, both in 1966.


Armstrong put his piloting skills to good use on the moon landing, overriding the automatic pilot so he and fellow astronaut Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin would not have to land their module in a big rocky crater.

Yet the landing was not without danger. The lander had only about 30 seconds of fuel left when Armstrong put it down in an area known as the Sea of Tranquility and calmly radioed back to Mission Control on Earth, "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed."

Aldrin, who along with Armstrong and Michael Collins formed the Apollo 11 crew, told BBC radio that he would remember Armstrong as "a very capable commander and leader of an achievement that will be recognized until man sets foot on the planet Mars."

Armstrong left the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) a year after Apollo 11 to become a professor of engineering at the University of Cincinnati.


After his aeronautical career, Armstrong was approached by political groups, but unlike former astronauts John Glenn and Harrison Schmitt who became U.S. senators, he declined all offers.


Armstrong made a rare public appearance several years ago when he testified to a congressional hearing against President Barack Obama administration's plans to buy rides from other countries and corporations to ferry U.S. astronauts to and from the International Space Station.

Armstrong also said that returning humans to the moon was not only desirable, but necessary for future exploration -- even though NASA says it is no longer a priority.

He lived in the Cincinnati area with his wife, Carol.




Obama said that Armstrong "was among the greatest of American heroes - not just of his time, but of all time. ...


Glenn, an original NASA astronaut with Armstrong, spoke of his colleague's humble nature. "He was willing to dare greatly for his country and he was proud to do that and yet remained the same humble person he'd always been," he told CNN on Saturday.



Some controversy still surrounds his famous quote. The live broadcast did not have the "a" in "one small step for a man ..." He and NASA insisted static had obscured the "a," but after repeated playbacks, he admitted he may have dropped the letter and expressed a preference that quotations include the "a" in parentheses.



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