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Neil Armstrong
Neil Alden Armstrong was an American astronaut, engineer, and the first person to walk on the Moon. He was also an aerospace engineer, naval aviator, test pilot, and university professor. Before becoming an astronaut, Armstrong was an officer in the U.S. Navy and served in the Korean War. After the war, he earned his bachelor's degree at Purdue University and served as a test pilot at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) High-Speed Flight Station, where he logged over 900 flights. He later completed graduate studies at the University of Southern California.

In 1958, Armstrong had been selected for the U.S. Air Force's Man In Space Soonest program. H was chosen as part of the pilot consultant group for the X-20 Dyna-Soar, a military space plane under development, and on March 15, 1962,On March 15, 1962, he was selected by the U.S. Air Force as one of seven pilot-engineers who would fly the space plane when it got off the design board. Armstrong joined the NASA Astronaut Corps in 1962. He made his first space flight as command pilot of Gemini 8 in March 1966, becoming NASA's first civilian astronaut to fly in space. He performed the first docking of two spacecraft, with pilot David Scott. This mission was aborted after Armstrong used some of his reentry control fuel to prevent a dangerous spin caused by a stuck thruster, in the first in-flight space emergency.

Armstrong's second and last spaceflight was as commander of Apollo 11, the first manned Moon landing mission in July 1969. During the Apollo 11 launch, Armstrong's heart reached a top rate of 110 beats per minute. He found the first stage to be the loudest and the Apollo CSM was relatively roomy compared to the Gemini capsule. This ability to move around was suspected to be the reason why none of the Apollo 11 crew suffered from space sickness, while members of previous crews did. Armstrong was especially happy, as he had been prone to motion sickness as a child and could experience nausea after doing long periods of aerobaticsArmstrong and Lunar Module pilot Buzz Aldrin descended to the lunar surface and spent two and a half hours outside the spacecraft, while Michael Collins remained in lunar orbit in the Command/Service Module. Along with Collins and Aldrin, Armstrong was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Richard Nixon. President Jimmy Carter presented Armstrong the Congressional Space Medal of Honor in 1978. Armstrong and his former crewmates received the Congressional Gold Medal in 2009.

Armstrong died in Cincinnati, Ohio on August 25, 2012, at the age of 82, after complications from coronary artery bypass surgery.

Born 5th August, 1930, near Wapakoneta, Ohio, U.S.
Died 25th August, 2012 in Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.

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

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