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Neil Armstrong

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   CAPTION: Neil Armstrong

   Neil Armstrong
                          Astronaut
        Nationality     American
           Born         August 5, 1930 (age 76)
                        United States Wapakoneta, Ohio, USA
    Previous occupation Test pilot
        Space time      8 days, 14 hours, 10 minutes
         Selection      MISS; Dyna-Soar; Astronaut Group 2
        Mission(s)      Gemini 8, Apollo 11
     Mission insignia

   Neil Alden Armstrong (born August 5, 1930) is a former American
   astronaut, test pilot, and Naval Aviator, and was the first human to
   set foot on the Moon. Armstrong's first spaceflight was Gemini 8 in
   1966, for which he was the command pilot. On this mission, he performed
   the first manned docking of two spacecraft together with pilot David
   Scott. Armstrong's second and last spaceflight was as mission commander
   of the Apollo 11 moon landing mission on July 20, 1969. On this famous
   "giant leap for mankind", Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin descended to the
   lunar surface and spent 2.5 hours exploring, while Michael Collins
   orbited above.

   Before becoming an astronaut, he was an aviator for the United States
   Navy, seeing action in the Korean War. Following this he became a test
   pilot at the NACA High-Speed Flight Station, now known as the Dryden
   Flight Research Centre, where he flew over 900 flights in a variety of
   aircraft. As a research pilot, Armstrong served as project pilot on the
   F-100 Super Sabre A and C aircraft, F-101 Voodoo, and the Lockheed
   F-104A Starfighter. He also flew the Bell X-1B, Bell X-5, North
   American X-15, F-105 Thunderchief, F-106 Delta Dart, B-47 Stratojet,
   KC-135 Stratotanker and Paresev.

   The lunar crater, Armstrong, located 50 km away from the Apollo 11
   landing site, was named in his honour.

Biography

Youth

   The first child of Stephen Koenig Armstrong and Viola Louise Engel,
   Neil Armstrong was born at 12:31 a.m. on August 4, 1930 in Wapakoneta,
   Ohio.

   His father's last forced move was to Wapakoneta in 1944. By this time,
   Neil was active in the Boy Scouts and had earned the rank of Eagle
   Scout. As an adult he would be recognized by the Boy Scouts of America
   with their Distinguished Eagle Scout Award and Silver Buffalo Award. In
   Wapakoneta, he attended Blume High School.

College

   In 1947, Armstrong began studying Aeronautical Engineering at Purdue
   University and received his Bachelor of Science Degree in 1955. While
   with NACA in California, he also attended the University of Southern
   California, where he earned a Master of Science degree in Aerospace
   Engineering. He was only the second person in his family to attend
   college. He was also accepted to the Massachusetts Institute of
   Technology (MIT), but the only engineer he knew (who had attended MIT)
   dissuaded him from attending, telling Armstrong that it was not
   necessary to go all the way to Cambridge, Massachusetts for a good
   education. His college tuition was paid for under the Holloway Plan,
   where the successful applicants committed to two years of study,
   followed by three years of service in the United States Navy, then
   completing the last two years of the degree. At Purdue, he received
   average marks in his subjects, with a GPA that rose and fell over the
   eight semesters. His best marks came in the semesters following his
   return from Korea. Overall, his GPA was 4.8 out of 6.0. He pledged the
   Phi Delta Theta fraternity after his return, where he would write and
   co-direct their musical as part of the all-student revue. He was also a
   member of Kappa Kappa Psi National Honorary Band Fraternity, Inc. The
   Purdue University would later honour him in late 2004 by announcing
   that a new engineering building would be named for him.

   It was at Purdue where he met Janet Elizabeth Shearon, who was majoring
   in home economics. According to the two there was no real courtship and
   neither can remember the exact circumstances of their engagement,
   except that it occurred while Armstrong was working at the NACA's Lewis
   Flight Propulsion Laboratory. They were married on January 28, 1956 at
   the Congregational Church in Wilmette, Illinois. When he moved to
   Edwards, he lived in the bachelor quarters of the base, while Janet
   lived in Westwood district of Los Angeles. After one semester, they
   moved into a house in Antelope Valley. Janet never finished her degree,
   a fact she regretted later in life.

   Together, Neil and Janet had three children—Eric, Karen, and Mark. In
   June 1961, his daughter Karen was diagnosed as suffering from a
   malignant tumor of the middle part of her brain stem. X-ray treatment
   slowed its growth but her health deteriorated to the point she could no
   longer walk or talk. She died of pneumonia, related to her weakened
   health, on January 28, 1962, the Armstrongs' wedding anniversary.

Korea

   The call-up from the Navy arrived on January 26, 1949, requiring him to
   report to Naval Air Station Pensacola for flight training. This would
   last almost a year and a half, during which time he would be qualified
   for carrier landing aboard the USS Cabot and USS Wright. On August 12,
   1950 he was informed by letter he was now a fully qualified Naval
   Aviator.

   His first assignment was to Fleet Aircraft Service Squadron 7 at NAS
   San Diego (now known as NAS North Island). Two months later he was
   assigned to Fighter Squadron 51 (VF-51), an all-jet squadron. He would
   make his first flight in a jet, a F9F-2B Panther on January 5, 1951.
   Six months later on June 7 he made his first jet carrier landing on the
   USS Essex. The same week he was promoted from midshipman to ensign. By
   the end of month, the Essex had set sail with VF-51 aboard, bound for
   Korea, where they would act as ground attack aircraft.

   He first saw action in the Korean War on August 29, 1951 as an escort
   for a photo reconnaissance plane over Songjin. And only five days
   later, he was shot down for the first and only time of his military
   career. The principal targets for the armed reconnaissance flight were
   freight yards and a bridge on a narrow valley road south of the village
   of Majon-ni west of Wonsan. While making a low bombing run at about
   350 mph (560 km/h) in his F9F Panther, he was hit with anti-aircraft
   guns, after which his plane took a nose dive and sliced through a cable
   strung about 500 feet (150 m) up across the valley by the North
   Koreans. This sheared off an estimated six feet (2 m) of his right
   wing.

   He was able to fly the plane back to friendly territory but due to the
   loss of the aileron he would not be able to land the plane safely,
   meaning his only option was to eject. Planning to eject over water and
   await rescue by navy helicopters, he flew to an airfield near Pohang.
   After ejecting, winds forced him back over land and Armstrong was
   picked up by a jeep from the airfield, driven by a roommate from flight
   school. It is unknown what happened to the wreckage of No. 125122
   F9F-2.

   Over Korea, Armstrong would fly a total of 78 missions, for a total of
   121 hours in the air. Over one third of this time was in January 1952.
   For his service to his country, he received the Air Medal for 20 combat
   missions, a Gold Star for the next 20 and the Korean Service Medal and
   Engagement Star. He left the navy on August 23, 1952, becoming a
   Lieutenant, junior grade in the United States Naval Reserve. He later
   resigned his commission in the Naval Reserve on October 20, 1960.

Test pilot

   A portrait of Neil Armstrong taken November 20, 1956 while a test pilot
   at the NACA High-Speed Flight Station at Edwards Air Force Base,
   California.
   Enlarge
   A portrait of Neil Armstrong taken November 20, 1956 while a test pilot
   at the NACA High-Speed Flight Station at Edwards Air Force Base,
   California.

   Upon graduating from Purdue, Armstrong decided to try to become an
   experimental test pilot, specifically a research pilot. He applied at
   the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics High-Speed Flight
   Station at Edwards Air Force Base. They had no positions so they passed
   on the application to the Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory in
   Cleveland, Ohio, where he started working in February 1955. He was
   there for only five months before taking a position at Edwards.

   On his very first day at Edwards, he was flying. His first assignments
   were piloting chase planes on drops of experimental aircraft from
   converted bombers. He also flew the converted bombers and on one of
   these he had his first dangerous experience at Edwards. He was in the
   right-hand seat of a B-29 Superfortress on March 22, 1956 which was
   air-dropping a Douglas Skyrocket D-558-2. The right-hand seat pilot was
   in charge of the actual release, while the left-hand seat commander
   flew the B-29.

   As they flew to 30,000 feet (9000 m) the number four engine stopped and
   the propeller began wind milling in the airstream. Hitting the switch
   that would stop the propeller spinning, Stan Butchart, in the left-hand
   seat found the propeller slowed but then started spinning again, this
   time even faster than the other engines. If it spun too fast it would
   fly apart. However, they needed to have an airspeed of 210 mph to
   launch the D-558-2 and could not land with it still attached to the
   belly. They nosed the aircraft down to pick up speed and launched the
   D-558-2. At this very instant the propeller disintegrated, with pieces
   going through part of the number three engine and hitting the number
   two engine. Butchart and Armstrong were forced to shut down the number
   three engine due to damage and the number one engine due to the torque
   it created. They managed to make a slow, circling descent from 30,000
   feet and land safely.

   His first flight in a rocket plane was on August 15, 1957 in the Bell
   X-1B to a height of 11.4 miles (18.3 km). On landing he broke the nose
   landing gear, though this had happened on about a dozen previous
   flights of the aircraft due to its design. He would first fly the North
   American X-15 on November 30, 1960, the first of seven times he would
   be at the controls. On this first flight he would reach a top altitude
   of 48,840 feet (14.9 km) and a top speed of Mach 1.75.

   In November 1960 he was chosen to be part of the pilot consultant group
   for the X-20 Dyna-Soar, a program to develop a space plane that could
   be used for a variety of military missions. Then on March 15, 1962 he
   was named as one of six pilot-engineers for the project, the people who
   would fly the space plane when it got off the design board.
   Neil Armstrong is seen here next to the X-15 ship #1 (56-6670) after a
   research flight.
   Enlarge
   Neil Armstrong is seen here next to the X-15 ship #1 (56-6670) after a
   research flight.

   Armstrong would be involved in several incidents that would go down in
   Edwards's folklore or be written about by others in their memoirs. The
   first was an X-15 flight on April 20, 1962 when Armstrong was testing a
   self-adjusting control system. He first rocketed to a height of
   207,000 feet (63.2 km) (the highest he flew before Gemini 8). As he
   descended, he kept the nose of the craft up too long and literally
   bounced off the atmosphere back up to 140,000 feet (42.7 km) where the
   atmosphere is so thin that aerodynamic surfaces have no effect on the
   attitude of craft. He flew past the landing field at Mach 3 and over
   100,000 feet in the air. He ended up 45 miles south of Edwards
   (folklore at the base has that he flew as far as the Rose Bowl).
   Descending enough he turned and headed back to the dry lake beds, just
   managing to land without crashing into Joshua trees at the south end.
   It was the longest X-15 flight in both time and distance of the ground
   track.

   A second incident was when Armstrong flew for the first and only time
   with Chuck Yeager four days after his X-15 adventure. Flying a T-33
   Shooting Star, their job was to test out Smith Ranch Dry Lake in case
   it needed to be used as an emergency landing site for an X-15 flight.
   In his autobiography, Yeager wrote that he knew the lakebed was
   unsuitable for landings after recent rains but Armstrong insisted on
   flying out anyway. As they made a " touch and go", the wheels became
   stuck and they had to wait for rescue. Armstrong tells a different
   version of events where Yeager never tried to talk him out of it and
   they made a first successful landing on the east side of the lake. Then
   Yeager told him to try again, this time a bit slower. On the second
   landing they became stuck and according to Armstrong, Yeager was in
   fits of laughter.

   Many of the test pilots at Edwards rated Armstrong's engineering
   ability highly. Milt Thompson said he was "the most technically capable
   of the early X-15 pilots". Bruce Peterson said Armstrong "had a mind
   that absorbed things like a sponge." Those who flew for the United
   States Air Force tended to have a different opinion, especially people
   like Chuck Yeager and Pete Knight who did not have engineering degrees.
   Knight said that pilot-engineers flew in a way that was "more
   mechanical than it is flying" and gave this as the reason why some got
   into trouble as it didn't come naturally.

   In the final incident on May 21, 1962, Armstrong was involved in what
   would be known forever in Edwards's folklore as the Nellis Affair. He
   was sent up in a F-104 to inspect Delamar Lake, again in case of
   emergency landings. He misjudged his height and also did not realize
   that his landing gear had failed to fully extend. So as he touched down
   the landing gear began to retract. Armstrong applied full power to
   abort the landing but the ventral fin and landing gear door came into
   contact with the ground damaging the radio equipment and releasing
   hydraulic fluid. Without radio communication he flew to Nellis Air
   Force Base and past their control tower waggling his tail, signaling a
   no-radio approach. The loss of hydraulic fluid caused the emergency
   tail-hook to release, so when he landed, he caught the arresting wire
   attached to an anchor chain. He was not prepared for this and so went
   careering down the runway dragging chain links with him. Thirty minutes
   were required to clear the runway and rig a makeshift arresting cable.
   In the meantime, Armstrong rang Edward's requesting that someone come
   and pick him up. Milt Thompson was sent in a F-104B, the only
   two-seater available, but a plane he had never flown (he had flown the
   F-104A). With great difficulty he made it to Nellis, but a strong
   crosswind on landing meant he landed hard, blowing the left main tire.
   The runway was once again closed to clean it of debris. Bill Dana was
   sent in a T-33 Shooting Star, but almost landed long. The base
   operations office decided that it would be best to find the three NASA
   pilots some transport back to Edwards to avoid any further problems.

   Armstrong made a total of seven flights in the X-15, reaching an
   altitude of 207,500 feet (~63 km) in the X-15-3 and a speed of
   Mach 5.74 (6,615 km/h or 3,989 mph) in the X-15-1. He left the Flight
   Research Centre with a total of 2,450 flying hours in more than 50
   types of aircraft.

Astronaut selection and early training

   Neil Armstrong in an early (pre-Gemini) spacesuit
   Enlarge
   Neil Armstrong in an early (pre-Gemini) spacesuit

   There was no defining moment in Neil Armstrong's decision to become an
   astronaut. Over four or five months after the announcement that
   applications were being sought for the second group, he became more and
   more excited about the prospect of Project Apollo and the prospect of
   investigating a new aeronautical environment. It was found out many
   years later that Armstrong's astronaut application had arrived about a
   week past the June 1, 1962 deadline. Dick Day, with whom Armstrong had
   worked closely at Edwards, was now at the Manned Spacecraft Centre and,
   seeing the application arrive late, slipped it into the pile before
   anyone noticed. At Brooks Air Force Base at the end of June he
   underwent a medical exam that many of the applicants described as
   painful and at times seemingly pointless.

   Deke Slayton called Neil Armstrong on September 13, 1962 and asked if
   he was interested in joining the astronaut corps as part of what the
   press dubbed "the New Nine". Without hesitation, he said yes. The
   selections were kept secret until three days later, although newspaper
   reports had been circulating since the middle of summer that year that
   he would be selected as the "first civilian astronaut".

Gemini

Gemini 5

   The first crew assignment for Neil Armstrong was as backup Command
   Pilot for Gemini 5, with Elliot See as the backup Pilot. This was an
   eight-day mission, longer than any spaceflight up till that time, with
   a prime crew of Gordon Cooper and Pete Conrad. The assignments were
   announced on February 8, 1965, and from then until the launch on August
   21, 1965, Armstrong and See trained to fly the mission in case the
   prime crew could not. After watching the launch from Cape Canaveral,
   Armstrong and See flew in T-38s to Houston, and were even able to talk
   to Cooper and Conrad via VHF as they orbited above.

Gemini 8

   Recovery of the Gemini 8 spacecraft from the western Pacific Ocean
   Enlarge
   Recovery of the Gemini 8 spacecraft from the western Pacific Ocean

   The crew for Gemini 8 were announced on September 20, 1965. Command
   Pilot Neil Armstrong would fly with Pilot David Scott. Scott was the
   first member of the third group of astronauts to receive a prime crew
   assignment. The mission launched March 16, 1966. It was to be the most
   complex yet, with a rendezvous and docking with the unmanned Agena
   Target Vehicle, the second American (and third ever) extra-vehicular
   activity (EVA) (Armstrong himself dislikes the term "spacewalk") by
   Scott. In total the mission was planned to last 75 hours and 55 orbits.
   After the Agena lifted off at 10 a.m. EST, the Titan II carrying
   Armstrong and Scott ignited at 11:41:02 a.m. EST, putting them into an
   orbit from where they would chase the Agena.

   The rendezvous and first ever docking between two spacecraft was
   successfully completed after 6½ hours in orbit. Contact with the crew
   was intermittent due to the lack of tracking stations covering their
   entire orbits. Out of contact with the ground the docked spacecraft
   began to roll, which Armstrong attempted to correct with the Orbital
   Attitude and Maneuvering System (OAMS) of the Gemini spacecraft.
   Following the earlier advice of Mission Control, they undocked, but
   found that the roll increased dramatically to the point where they were
   turning about once per second, meaning the problem was in their
   Gemini's attitude control. Armstrong decided the only course of action
   was to engage the Reentry Control System (RCS) and turn off the OAMS.
   Mission rules dictated that once this system was turned on, the
   spacecraft would have to reenter at the next possible opportunity. It
   was later thought that damaged wiring made one of the thrusters become
   stuck on.

   Throughout the astronaut office, there were a few people who came to
   the conclusion that Armstrong had somehow screwed up, some referring to
   the fact he was a civilian. Walter Cunningham wrote in his
   autobiography The All-American Boys that the crew ignored malfunction
   procedures for such an incident. This is untrue as no such procedures
   were written. Cunningham also incorrectly stated that Armstrong could
   have turned on only one of the two rings of the RCS. It was only
   possible to turn on both rings. Cunningham was one of the few in the
   Astronaut Office to seriously criticize the conduct of Armstrong and
   Scott. Mission controller, Gene Kranz, wrote in his biography Failure
   Is Not An Option that "the crew reacted as they were trained, and they
   reacted wrong because we trained them wrong." The mission planners and
   controllers had failed to realize that when two spacecraft are docked
   together they must be considered to be one spacecraft.

   Armstrong himself was depressed and annoyed at how the mission had been
   cut short, robbing Scott of his EVA and other mission objectives. He
   didn't hear of the criticism of other astronauts but did speculate
   after the flight that if he had been a little smarter, he may have been
   able to work out the cause sooner and not have turned on the RCS, or
   remained docked to the Agena and used its attitude control to regain
   control.

Gemini 11

   The last crew assignment for Armstrong during the Gemini program was as
   backup Command Pilot for Gemini 11, announced two days after the
   landing of Gemini 8. Having already trained for two flights, Armstrong
   was quite knowledgeable about the systems and was more in a teaching
   role for the rookie backup Pilot, William Anders. The launch was on
   September 12, 1966 with Pete Conrad and Dick Gordon on board. The two
   successfully completed the mission objectives, while Armstrong served
   as CapCom.

   Following the flight, President Lyndon Johnson asked Armstrong and his
   wife to take part in a 24-day goodwill tour of South America. Also on
   the tour were Dick Gordon, George Low, their wives, and other
   government officials. They traveled to 11 countries and 14 major
   cities. Armstrong impressed everyone involved when he greeted
   dignitaries in their local language. In Brazil he talked about the
   exploits of the Brazilian-born Alberto Santos-Dumont, regarded in the
   country as having beaten the Wright brothers with the first flying
   machine.

Early Apollo program

   On January 27, 1967 Armstrong was in Washington, D.C. with Gordon
   Cooper, Dick Gordon, Jim Lovell and Scott Carpenter for the signing of
   the United Nations Outer Space Treaty. After talking to the assembled
   dignitaries until 6:45 p.m., Carpenter went to the airport while the
   rest returned to the Georgetown Inn where they found they all had
   messages waiting for them, telling them to phone Houston, Texas, home
   of the Manned Spaceraft Centre. It was then that they learned of the
   death of Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee in the Apollo 1 fire.
   The remaining four spent the rest of the night drinking scotch and
   discussing what had happened. Back in Houston, Janet was tasked with
   going to next door neighbour Pat White and being with her until Bill
   Anders arrived with the terrible news.

   On April 5, 1967, the same day the Apollo 1 investigation released its
   report on the fire, Armstrong was assembled with 17 other astronauts
   for a meeting with Deke Slayton. The first thing Slayton said was "the
   guys who are going to fly the first lunar missions are the guys in this
   room." According to Gene Cernan, Armstrong showed no reaction to the
   statement. To Armstrong it came as no surprise — the room was full of
   veterans of Project Gemini, the only people who could fly the lunar
   missions. Slayton talked about the planned missions and named Armstrong
   to the backup crew for Apollo 9, which at that stage was planned to be
   a high-Earth orbit test of the Lunar Module- Command/Service Module
   combination. After delays in the Apollo Lunar Module (LM), Apollo 9 and
   Apollo 8 would swap crews. Based on the normal crew rotation scheme,
   Armstrong would command Apollo 11.

   To give the astronauts experience with the way the LM flew, Bell
   Aerosystems built two Lunar Landing Research Vehicles, which were later
   converted to Lunar Landing Training Vehicles (LLTV). Nicknamed the
   Flying bedstead, they simulated the one-sixth Gee of the Moon by using
   a turbofan engine to cancel out most of the craft's weight. On May 6,
   1968, about 100 feet (30 m) above the ground, Armstrong's controls
   started to degrade and the LLTV began banking. He ejected safely (later
   analysis would suggest if he had ejected 0.4 seconds later, his
   parachute would not have opened in time). His only injury was from
   biting his tongue (see also List of space disasters). Even though he
   was nearly killed on one, Armstrong maintains that without the LLRV and
   LLTV, the lunar landings would not have been successful as they gave
   commanders valuable experience in the behaviour of lunar landing craft.

Apollo 11

   Apollo 11 crew portrait. Left to right is Neil Armstrong, Michael
   Collins, and Buzz Aldrin
   Enlarge
   Apollo 11 crew portrait. Left to right is Neil Armstrong, Michael
   Collins, and Buzz Aldrin

   After serving as the backup commander for Apollo 8, Neil Armstrong was
   offered the post of commander of Apollo 11 by Deke Slayton on December
   23, 1968 as 8 orbited the Moon. In a meeting that was not made public
   until the publication of Armstrong's biography in 2005, Slayton told
   him that although the planned crew was Armstrong as commander, lunar
   module pilot Buzz Aldrin and command module pilot Michael Collins, he
   was offering the chance to replace Aldrin with Jim Lovell. After
   thinking it over for a day, Armstrong told Slayton he would stick with
   Aldrin as he had no difficulty working with him and thought Lovell
   deserved his own command. Replacing Aldrin with Lovell would make
   Lovell the Lunar Module Pilot, which unofficially ranked as number
   three on the crew. Armstrong could not justify placing Lovell, the
   commander of Gemini 12, in the number 3 position of the crew.

   One of the small controversies that appeared before and after the
   flight was the decision of exactly who would first walk on the Moon.
   Aldrin thought at first he would be the first based on the experience
   of Gemini. During the Gemini program the crew member who conducted the
   EVAs was the pilot, while the command pilot stayed on board. The
   rationale for this was the commander had a large number of
   responsibilities and the extra training an EVA required would impact on
   his ability to carry out the mission.

   It was probably a March, 1969 meeting between Deke Slayton, Bob
   Gilruth, George Low, and Chris Kraft that determined that Neil
   Armstrong would be the first person on the moon. It was decided that
   Armstrong would be the first out because NASA management saw Armstrong
   as a person who did not have a large ego. A press conference held on
   April 14, 1969 gave the design of the LM cabin as the reason for
   Armstrong being first. The hatch opened inwards and to the right,
   making it difficult for the lunar module pilot, on the right-hand side,
   to egress first. At the time of their meeting, the four did not know
   about the hatch issue, and the first knowledge of the meeting outside
   the four came when Kraft wrote his 2001 autobiography.

   On July 16, 1969, Armstrong received a crescent moon carved out of
   Styrofoam® from the pad leader, Guenter Wendt, who described it as a
   key to the Moon. In return, Armstrong gave Wendt a ticket for a "space
   taxi" "good between two planets".

Voyage to the Moon

   During the launch, Armstrong's heart would reach a top rate of 110
   beats per minute and he found the first stage to be the loudest, much
   noisier than the Gemini 8 Titan II launch. And after the confinement of
   the Gemini capsule, the Apollo CSM was relatively roomy, though
   fortunately none of the Apollo 11 crew suffered from the space sickness
   that had hit members of previous crews. Armstrong was especially happy
   for this as he was prone to motion sickness as a child and could
   experience nausea after doing long periods of aerobatics.

   The objective of Apollo 11 was to land safely, not to land with
   precision in a particular spot. That being the case, Armstrong was not
   overly concerned when three minutes into the burn, he noted that
   craters were passing about two seconds too early, which meant Eagle
   would likely land beyond the planned landing zone by several miles. As
   the Eagle's landing radar acquired the surface, the first of several
   computer error alarms appeared. The first had been given the code of
   1202, and even with their extensive training, computer error codes were
   not something that Armstrong or Aldrin knew. To Armstrong, the alarm
   was more of distraction rather than a worry. He knew from his test
   pilot experience that as long as the instruments were giving good data
   and the craft was flying properly, there was no reason to abort the
   landing. The 1202 alarms (and the 1201 alarms that followed) were
   caused by a processing overflow in the lunar module computer.
   Buzz took this picture of Neil in the cabin after the completion of the
   EVA
   Enlarge
   Buzz took this picture of Neil in the cabin after the completion of the
   EVA

   Accounts of the landing of Apollo 11 always talk of the fuel situation
   as being quite dire, with only a few seconds left. In fact, Armstrong
   was never overly worried, having landed the LLTV with less than 15
   seconds left on several occasions. He was also confident that the LM
   could survive a straight-down fall from 50 ft (15 m) if needed.
   Analysis after the mission showed there was about 50 seconds of
   hovering time left.

   Upon landing at 20:17:39 UTC on July 20, 1969, the first words
   Armstrong intentionally spoke to Mission Control and the world were
   "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed." Aldrin and
   Armstrong celebrated their achievement with only a handshake and pat on
   the back before quickly returning to the checklist of tasks. It was
   necessary for Armstrong and Aldrin to ready the lunar module for
   liftoff from the moon should an emergency present itself during the
   first moments on the lunar surface.
   Stamp
   Enlarge
   Stamp

First Moon walk

   Although the official NASA flight plan called for a crew rest period
   before extra-vehicular activity, Armstrong requested that the EVA be
   moved earlier in the evening, Houston time. Once Armstrong and Aldrin
   were ready to go outside, Eagle was depressurized, the hatch opened and
   Armstrong made his way down the ladder first. Placing his left foot on
   the surface at 2:56 UTC July 21, 1969, he spoke the words we now
   believe were:

          That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.

   It had long been assumed that Armstrong mistakenly had omitted the word
   "a" from his famous remark, rendering the phrase contradictory.
   Armstrong, who admits that he often forgot syllables when speaking, is
   quoted as saying that he "would hope that history would grant me leeway
   for dropping the syllable and understand that it was certainly
   intended, even if it wasn't said—although it might actually have been."
   Listening to the audio seems to reveal that the "for" runs on smoothly,
   giving no time for "a" to be spoken.

   It has since been claimed that acoustic analysis of the recording
   reveals the presence of the missing "a". A digital audio analysis
   conducted by Peter Shann Ford, an Australia-based computer programmer,
   claims that Armstrong did, in fact, say "a man", but the "a" was
   inaudible due to the limitations of communications technology of the
   time. The article by Ford, however, is published on Ford's own web site
   rather than in a peer-reviewed scientific journal. Nevertheless, Ford
   and Auburn University professor of history, James R. Hansen,
   Armstrong's authorized biographer, presented these findings to
   Armstrong and NASA representatives, who are conducting their own
   analysis. The debate includes a discussion by the linguists David
   Beaver and Mark Liberman at Language Log. Armstrong has expressed his
   preference that written quotations include the "a" in parentheses. The
   simple statement came from a train of thought that he had during the
   hours after landing. He knew he would have to say something as he took
   the first step, and "step" seemed like a good place to start. It just
   grew from there. Theories that he consciously took the statement from
   J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit ("not a great leap for a man, but a leap
   in the dark") or a memo from an associate deputy administrator of NASA
   are denied by Armstrong.
   Neil Armstrong works at the LM in one of the few photos showing him
   during the EVA
   Enlarge
   Neil Armstrong works at the LM in one of the few photos showing him
   during the EVA
   Neil Armstrong about to take the first step on the moon
   Enlarge
   Neil Armstrong about to take the first step on the moon

   Armstrong's first words were declared after saying "I'm going to step
   off the LM now" and turning and setting the boot on the surface. When
   Armstrong made his proclamation, Voice of America was rebroadcast live
   via the BBC and many other stations the world over. The global audience
   at that moment was estimated at 450 million listeners.

   About 15 minutes after the first step, Aldrin joined Armstrong on the
   surface and they began their tasks of investigating how easily a person
   could operate on the lunar surface. Early on they also unveiled a
   plaque commemorating their flight, and also planted the flag of the
   United States. The flag used on this mission had a metal rod to hold it
   horizontal from its pole. Since the rod did not fully extend, and the
   flag was tightly folded and packed during the journey, the flag ended
   up with a slighly wavy appearance, as if there were a breeze. On Earth
   there had been some discussion as to whether it was appropriate to
   plant the flag at all, something that Armstrong did not care much
   about. He did think that any flag should have been left to drape as it
   would on Earth, but decided it wasn't worth making a big deal about.
   Deke Slayton had warned Armstrong that they would receive a special
   communication, but did not tell him that President Richard Nixon would
   contact them just after the flag planting.

   The flag planting and subsequent phone call from President Nixon were
   later given by Aldrin as the reason why out of the entire photographic
   record of Apollo 11 there are no intentional photographs of Armstrong.
   There are only five images of Armstrong partly shown or reflected.
   Aldrin said it was planned to take a photo of Armstrong after the
   famous image of Aldrin was taken, but they were interrupted by the
   Nixon communication. There were just over five minutes between these
   two events. The mission was timelined to the minute, with the majority
   of photographic tasks to be performed by Armstrong with their single
   Hasselblad camera.

   After helping to set up the Early Apollo Scientific Experiment Package,
   Armstrong went for a walk to what is now known as East Crater, 65 yards
   (60 m) east of the LM, the furthest distance he or Aldrin would travel
   from the LM. Armstrong's final task was leaving a small package of
   memorial items to deceased Soviet cosmonauts Yuri Gagarin and Vladimir
   Komarov, and the crew of Apollo 1; Roger B. Chaffee, Gus Grissom and
   Edward Higgins White. The time spent on EVA during Apollo 11 was about
   two and a half hours, the most conservative of any of the six Apollo
   lunar landing missions. Each of the subsequent five landings would be
   allotted gradually longer periods for EVA activities. The crew of
   Apollo 17, by comparison, would spend over 21 hours exploring the lunar
   surface.

Return to Earth

   After re-entering the LM, the hatch was closed and sealed. The liftoff
   from the lunar surface, rendezvous and docking with Columbia, and
   return to Earth all went according to plan.
   The Apollo 11 crew and President Richard Nixon Enlarge
   The Apollo 11 crew and President Richard Nixon

   After being released from an 18-day quarantine, the crew were feted
   across the United States and around the world as part of a 45-day
   "Giant Leap" tour. Armstrong then took part in Bob Hope's 1969 USO
   show, primarily to Vietnam, where some soldiers would ask questions
   about how a man could be sent to the Moon, but they were still stuck
   fighting the war. Tabloid newspaper printed stories that romantically
   link Armstrong to Connie Stevens who was also on the tour, but the
   reports were unsubstantiated.

   In May, 1970, Armstrong traveled to the Soviet Union to present a talk
   at the 13th annual conference of the International Committee on Space
   Research. Arriving in Leningrad from Poland, he traveled to Moscow
   where he met Premier Alexey Kosygin. He was the first westerner to see
   the supersonic Tupolev Tu-144 and was given a tour of the Yuri Gagarin
   Cosmonauts Training Centre, which Armstrong described as "a bit
   Victorian in nature." He was surprised to watch at the end of the day
   delayed video of the launch of Soyuz 9. That the mission was occurring
   had not been mentioned to him even though Valentina Tereshkova had been
   his host and her husband, Andrian Nikolayev, was on board.

Life after Apollo

Teaching

   Neil Armstrong on July 16, 1999 at the John F. Kennedy Space Center
   Enlarge
   Neil Armstrong on July 16, 1999 at the John F. Kennedy Space Centre

   Armstrong announced shortly after the Apollo 11 flight that he planned
   not to fly in space again. He was appointed to be the Deputy Associate
   Administrator for aeronautics for the Office of Advanced Research and
   Technology. He would serve in this position for only 13 months,
   resigning from it and NASA as a whole in August 1971. He had accepted a
   teaching position at the University of Cincinnati engineering
   department.

   He decided on Cincinnati over other universities (even his alma mater
   Purdue) as it had a small department and he hoped that the faculty
   members would not be annoyed that he had come straight into a
   professorship without a doctorate. His highest qualification was a
   masters from the University of Southern California that he finally
   completed after Apollo 11 by presenting a report on various aspects of
   Apollo instead of a thesis on simulation of hypersonic flight. The
   official job title he received at Cincinnati was University Professor
   of aerospace engineering. After teaching for 8 years he resigned in
   1979 due to other commitments and changes in the university structure
   from independent municipal school to state-school.

Spaceflight

   He served on two spaceflight accident investigations, the first in 1970
   for Apollo 13. As part of Edgar Cortwright's panel, he produced a
   detailed chronology of the flight. He personally opposed the
   recommendation of the report to completely redesign the service
   module's oxygen tanks, the source of the explosion. President Ronald
   Reagan appointed him to the Presidential Commission that investigated
   the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986. Acting as vice-chairman
   of the Rogers Commission he was in charge of the operational side of
   the commission.

Business activities

   After retiring from NASA in 1971, he avoided offers from businesses to
   act as a spokesperson, or to be the company astronaut. The first
   company to successfully approach him was Chrysler Corporation for whom
   he appeared in advertising from January 1979. The reason for the change
   of heart was that Armstrong thought they had a strong engineering part
   of their business and were also in financial difficulty. He acted as a
   spokesperson for other companies, including General Time Corporation
   and the Bankers Association of America. He only acts as a spokesperson
   for United States businesses.

   Along with acting as a spokesperson, he also served on the board of
   several companies including Marathon Oil, Lear Jet, Cincinnati Gas &
   Electric Company, Taft Broadcasting, United Airlines, Eaton
   Corporation, AIL Systems, and Thiokol. The last he joined after serving
   on the Rogers Commission investigating the Space Shuttle Challenger
   disaster caused by a problem with the Thiokol manufactured Solid Rocket
   Boosters. At the time of his divorce from Janet in 1994, these various
   positions had increased the couple's net worth to about $US 2 million.
   He retired from the position of chairman of the board of EDO
   Corporation in 2002.

1979 accident

   In autumn of 1979, Armstrong was working at his farm near Lebanon,
   Ohio. As he jumped off of the back of his grain truck, his wedding ring
   caught in the wheel, tearing off his ring finger. However, he calmly
   collected the severed digit, packed it in ice, and managed to have it
   reattached by microsurgeons at the Jewish Hospital in Louisville,
   Kentucky.

Personal life

   The first man to walk on the Moon was also approached by political
   parties from both ends of the spectrum. He has turned down all these
   offers (unlike former astronauts and senators John Glenn and Harrison
   Schmitt). Personally, he identifies most with Jeffersonian
   republicanism, being for states' rights and against the United States
   acting as the world's policeman.

   In 1972, Neil Armstrong was welcomed into the town of Langholm,
   Scotland, the traditional seat of Clan Armstrong. The astronaut was
   made the first freeman of the burgh, and happily declared the town his
   home. The chief magistrate read from an unrepealed 400-year-old law
   that required him to hang any Armstrong found in the town.

   While skiing with friends at Aspen, Colorado in February 1991, he
   suffered a mild heart attack. It came a year after his father had died
   and nine months since the death of his mother. During this period, he
   was separated from Janet and they were in the process of getting a
   divorce. She had become bored with being alone on their 300-acre farm,
   while Neil was away with his business responsibilities. The final straw
   came when she had to organize a holiday away a year in advance to fit
   into his schedule. He returned home in 1989 after a business trip to
   find her gone and a note saying she was leaving him.

   He met his second wife, Carol Held Knight, in 1992 at a golf
   tournament. Seated together at the breakfast, she said little to one of
   the most famous people in history, but a couple of weeks later received
   a call from him asking what she was doing. She replied she was cutting
   down a cherry tree and 35 minutes later he was at her house to help
   out. They were married on June 12, 1994 in Ohio, and then had a second
   ceremony at San Ysidro Ranch in California. According to Neil's
   friends, he became almost a new man after meeting Carol.

   Since 1994, he has refused any requests for autographs, after he found
   that his signed items were selling for large amounts of money and that
   many forgeries are in circulation. Often items reach prices of US$1,000
   on auction sites like eBay. Signed photographs of the Apollo 11 crew
   can sell for $5,000. Any requests sent to him receive a form letter in
   reply saying that he has stopped signing. Although his no autograph
   policy is well known, author Andrew Smith watched people at the 2002
   Reno Air Races still try to get signatures, even saying, "If you shove
   something close enough in front of his face, he'll sign." Along with
   autographs, he has stopped sending out congratulatory letters to new
   Eagle Scouts. The reason is that he thinks these letters should come
   from people who know the scout personally.
   Armstrong and presidential dog Barney in the White House Garden Room,
   July 21, 2004 during celebrations of the 35th anniversary of the Apollo
   11 flight
   Enlarge
   Armstrong and presidential dog Barney in the White House Garden Room,
   July 21, 2004 during celebrations of the 35th anniversary of the Apollo
   11 flight

   He is often asked by the press for his views on the future of
   spaceflight. In 2005, Armstrong said that a human voyage to Mars will
   be easier than the lunar challenge of the 1960s: "I suspect that even
   though the various questions are difficult and many, they are not as
   difficult and many as those we faced when we started the Apollo (space
   program) in 1961." Armstrong also recalled his initial concerns about
   the Apollo 11 mission. He had believed there was only a 50 percent
   chance of landing on the moon. "I was elated, ecstatic and extremely
   surprised that we were successful," he said.

Lawsuits

   Usage of his name, image, and famous quote has caused problems over the
   years for Armstrong. He sued Hallmark Cards in 1994 after they used his
   name and a recording of "one small step" quote in a Christmas tree
   ornament without permission. The lawsuit was settled out of court for
   an undisclosed amount of money which Armstrong donated to Purdue. The
   case caused Armstrong and NASA to be more careful about the usage of
   astronaut names, photographs and recording. For non-profit and
   government public-service announcements, he will usually give
   permission. He is also now much more careful about his record keeping
   with regard to whom he has granted permission. Around the United
   States, there are over a dozen elementary, middle and high schools
   named in his honour. In Wapakoneta there is the Armstrong Air and Space
   Museum though this has no official affiliation with Armstrong.

   In May 2005 Armstrong became involved in an unusual legal battle with
   his barber of 20 years, Marx Sizemore of Lebanon, Ohio. After cutting
   Armstrong's hair, Sizemore sold some of it to a collector for $3,000
   without Armstrong's knowledge or consent. Armstrong threatened legal
   action unless the barber returned the hair or donated the proceeds to a
   charity of Armstrong's choosing. Sizemore, unable to get the hair back,
   decided to donate the proceeds to the charity that Armstrong chose.

Armstrong in popular culture

     * An assumption widespread in Muslim countries is that when Armstrong
       (and Aldrin) were on the Moon, they heard a strange singing voice
       that they discovered was the adhan (Islamic call to prayer), and
       that this caused them to convert to Islam after their flight. In
       March 1983, the United States Department of State released a press
       statement for embassies and consulates in Muslim countries that
       attempted to dispel the myth noting that Armstrong had not moved to
       the country of Lebanon, nor converted to Islam.

     * In 1991, Armstrong was inducted into the Aerospace Walk of Honour.

     * Armstrong was played by Mark Wheeler in the 1995 film Apollo 13, by
       Jeffrey Nordling in the 1996 TV movie Apollo 11, and by Tony
       Goldwyn in the 1998 miniseries From the Earth to the Moon.

     * His authorized biography was published in 2005, written by James R.
       Hansen, a professor of history at Auburn University in Alabama. The
       process began in October 1999, when Hansen had first written to
       Armstrong asking if he could write the book. At first Armstrong
       told him that he was too busy and had already turned down several
       previous offers, from authors such as Stephen Ambrose and James A.
       Michener. Hansen persisted, sending what he described as a "goody
       box" of his books, including a biography called From the Ground Up,
       about aircraft designer Fred Weick. Armstrong was impressed with
       the style of the book and in June 2002, Armstrong and Hansen signed
       a formal agreement. Two months later, Armstrong signed a letter for
       Hansen that said Hansen had his full support and encouraged others
       to provide what he needed to write the book.

   People Who Have Walked on the Moon
   Apollo Program
   Armstrong • Aldrin • Conrad • Bean • Shepard • Mitchell • Scott • Irwin
   • Young • Duke • Cernan • Schmitt
   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Armstrong"
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   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
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