Neil+Armstrong

Neil Armstrong



Neil Armstrong was born in Wapakoneta, Ohio on August 5, 1930. During the Korean War he served his country as a Navy pilot and after the war he went to Perdue College to get a degree in aeronautical engineering. In 1955 he became a test pilot and in 1962 he was chosen by NASA to be an astronaut. His first trip, the [|Gemini 8], into space with partner David Scott was nearly a disaster when the ship spun out of control, cutting the mission short because of all the wasted fuel. Three years later he was appointed the commander of the Apollo 11 mission with a crew consisting of [|Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin] and Michael Collins. This trip was America's first attempt to land on the moon. Armstrong and Aldrin were the lucky ones who got to be in the lunar module Eagle and actually physically land on the moon. Armstrong became the first man to step on the moon after the Eagle landed, and Aldrin followed him about 15 minutes later. The two of them put up an American flag and collected moon rocks for scientific research before returning to Collins in the command module. The three of them returned to Earth and were hailed as heroes. Armstrong resigned from the space program and became an engineering professor at the University of Cincinnati. In 1986, he was appointed chairman of the presidential commission to investigate the explosion of the Challenger.



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