Neil Armstrong was one of the best known personalities of the 20th century, and his fame is due to the fact that he was the first man to set foot on the surface of the Moon, on July 20, 1969. Armstrong, who became an astronaut in 1962, was the commander of the Apollo 11, expedition part of the Apollo Program. Armstrong died in 2012, at the age of 82, a victim of complications from surgery.
Also access: All stages of the program responsible for taking man to the moon
First years
Neil Alden Armstrong was born in the city of Wapakoneta, in the state of Ohio, United States, on August 5, 1930. his parents were called Stephen Koenig Armstrong, an auditor who worked for the Ohio government, and Viola Louise Engel, housewife. Armstrong was the eldest son and had two brothers: June and Dean.
For part of his childhood, Armstrong and his family lived in several cities, on account of his father's job, until they settled permanently in Wapakoneta. Armstrong studied at Blume High School, and it was in his hometown where he had his aviation lessons, something he learned to love from childhood. He ended up getting his license to fly planes with 16 years.
At age 17, Armstrong entered university and joined the PurdueUniversity, located in West Lafayette, Indiana. There he attended engineeringaerospace. He could have studied at the renowned Massachusetts Institute of Technology (known as MIT), but chose to study in Indiana as it was closer to his home in Ohio.
Armstrong was able to finance his studies through a scholarship system, provided by the US Navy, known as Holloway Plan. This system determined that scholarship recipients would complete two years of college and then serve two years of military service before returning to school.
Neil Armstrong in the Korean War
The Korean War took place between 1950 and 1953, and Armstrong participated in it between 1951 and 1952.
Neil Armstrong joined the navy in January 1949, and his entry coincided with the explosion of the Korean War. This conflict took place between 1950 and 1953, and in it North and South Korea disputed the control of the Korean Peninsula, a region that had been divided since 1945.
This war started in 1950, when North Korean troops invaded South Korea with the aim of conquering the entire peninsula. You United States joined it still in 1950, with the objective of blocking the advance of the North Koreans.
Neil Armstrong's first assignment in the Korean War took place in August 1951, and, in all, he performed 78 missions in it. His participation in the conflict still earned him some decorations. In August 1951, his aircraft was hit by an anti-aircraft attack, which forced him to eject from the plane — moment of greatest danger faced in Korea.
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Professional life
Armstrong was released from military service, and his last mission by the navy was carried out on March 5, 1952. After he was placed on military reserve, Armstrong resumed his studies at Purdue University. Throughout his professional life, he obtained, in addition to the University graduate in Aerospace Engineering, a master's degree in this area and doctoratesfees.
Professionally speaking, he became a test pilot for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA)—the agency that gave rise to NASA's birth in 1958. His first test in this work took place in 1955, and in it he carried out tests for several aircraft models, such as F-106 Delta Dart, Lockheed T-33 and X-15.
The X-15 was known to be an aircraft capable of reaching speeds in excess of 7000 km/h, and Armstrong performed seven test flights on this aircraft. When NASA replaced Naca, he became an employee of the American space agency. However, it was only in 1962 who decided to run an application to become astronaut.
At the time, he submitted his application to be part of NASA's second class of astronauts, but his documents arrived at the agency a week late. In a normal situation, his application would have been rejected, but Armstrong had luck. Their application papers were seen by Dick Day, a longtime acquaintance who took Armstrong's forms and placed them with the others.
Armstrong was eventually called to form the second class of NASA astronauts, and the components of this became known as the newNine (which translates to the New Nine). Armstrong was a NASA astronaut from 1962 to 1969 and was directly involved in two agency programs: Gemini and Apollo.
Know more:Space race
first man to set foot on the moon
Neil Armstrong was the first man to set foot on the surface of the Moon, but his trajectory at NASA up until that time has been extensive. He participated in the Gemini and Apollo programs, the former being a support program for the latter. Both aimed to complete the mission of taking the man to the Moon.
He was part of the reserve team of the Gemini 5 and served on an official mission (his first at NASA) during the Gemini 8, in the year 1966. This last mission demonstrated Armstrong's skills as a pilot and evidenced his ability to resolve emergency situations, for it had to be aborted, otherwise the astronauts who participated in it would have died.
During a docking maneuver performed on the Gemini 8, a throttle problem made the spacecraft spin very fast, in a way that could lead astronauts to lose consciousness. To prevent this from happening, Armstrong aborted the mission and started the return to the Earth. The ship landed in the Pacific Ocean, and the crew were safely rescued.
In January 1969, NASA officially announced the team that would form Apollo 11, as well as the members of the reserve team. In March it was reported that Neil Armstrong would be the first man to set foot on the moon if the mission was successful. Buzz Aldrin would be the second, While Michael Collins would remain in the command module, which would be in the lunar orbit.
This choice created relationship problems between Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong, as he wanted to be the first man to set foot on the moon, even trying to mobilize people behind the scenes at NASA and the US government to support their desire. As we know, Buzz Aldrin was not successful in this endeavor.
Neil Armstrong had the opportunity to trade Buzz Aldrin for Jim Lovell at Apollo 11, but chose to keep Buzz on the mission team. Armstrong's choice as the first man to set foot on the moon, according to NASA's official justification, took design into account. of the lunar module, as the opening of the hatch made it impossible for Buzz to leave while Neil Armstrong was at Eagle (name of the module).
In all, Armstrong and Aldrin were on the lunar surface during two hours, and during this period they collected 21 kg of rocks from the Moon that would be targets of scientific studies on Earth. An unusual information is that there are only two records of Armstrong on the Moon. In one of them, he is descending from the module, and in another register, he is on the surface of the Moon, but with his back turned.
After two hours exploring the ground of the natural satellite, the astronauts began their return and, on July 24, 1969, they reached Earth. Columbia (name of the ship) landed in the Pacific Ocean, the astronauts were safely rescued and stayed in quarantine for 21 days.
Life after Apollo 11
After Apollo 11, Armstrong was transformed into a hero in the United States and became the target of the press spotlight. NASA decided to retire him from the role of astronaut and gave him a administrative function. The former astronaut held this administrative position until 1971, and then asked resignation.
Between 1971 and 1979, he worked as teacher from the Aerospace Engineering course at the University of Cincinnati, Ohio. After that he worked in several private companies, such as United Airlines, Chrysler, Gates Learjet, Eaton Corporation, EDO Corporation etc.
He also worked on NASA commissions that investigated accidents on space missions. The most famous case was that of the commission formed in 1986 to investigate the causes of the space shuttle accident called Challenger. Armstrong served on this committee through an invitation made by the US president at the time, Ronald Reagan.
Also access: Discover the historical context that motivated the space race
Personal life
Neil Armstrong has always made a point of keeping his personal life as private as possible and avoided to the maximum the exposure of your family. Armstrong avoided giving interviews, and even autographs he stopped granting after a while. It is known that he was married twice. Such marriages were performed with:
JanetShearon: she was his wife between 1956 and 1994 and the mother of his three children. The first child, Karen, died at just over two years old, as a result of a tumor. The other children are named Eric and Mark.
CarolKnight: she was his second wife and was married to him from 1994 until 2012, the year of her husband's death.
Death
Neil Armstrong died on the day August 25, 2012, due to complications after having gone through a cardiovascular surgery performed to unclog your arteries. He was 82 years old and had his body cremated and his ashes thrown over the Atlantic Ocean.
*Image credits: aradaphotography and Shutterstock
