One Small Step
In 1969, Neil Armstrong was commander of Apollo 11, the first manned lunar landing mission. Launching from Pad A, Launch Complex 39, Kennedy Space Center, Florida at 9:32 a.m. EDT (13:32 UT) on a clear sunny Wednesday, 16 July 1969, the journey to the moon began. Armstrong was mission commander and was accompanied by Command Module Pilot Michael Collins, 38 (USAF Lt. Colonel who'd flown Gemini 10) and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin E. (Buzz) Aldrin, Jr., 39 (USAF Colonel who'd flown Gemini 12). On July 20, 1969, Armstrong and Aldrin descended to the Lunar surface and shortly thereafter, Neil Armstrong became the first man to set foot on the moon. After a brief visit, the astronauts returned to the orbiting spacecraft and all three men returned to Earth, splashing down safely on July 24, 1969.In the wake of this accomplishment, Armstrong received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest award offered to a U.S. civilian. He has also been awarded the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, the NASA Exceptional Service Medal, seventeen medals from other countries, the Robert H. Goddard Memorial Trophy in 1970; the Robert J. Collier Trophy in 1969; and the Congressional Space Medal of Honor, 1978.
Life of Service
Armstrong subsequently held the position of Deputy Association Administrator for Aeronautics, NASA Headquarters Office of Advanced Research and Technology, from 1970 to 1971. His responsibilities included the coordination and management of overall NASA research and technology work related to aeronautics. He resigned from NASA in 1971.From 1971 to 1979 Neil Armstrong was a professor of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Cincinnati. Until 1992, he served as chairman of Computing Technologies for Aviation in Charlottesville, Virginia and then became chairman of the board of AIL Systems; an electronics systems company in New York. Armstrong served on the National Commission on space from 1985 to 1986. In 1986, he was appointed as vice chairman of the presidential commission that investigated the Challenger explosion. Neil Armstrong is married and has two children. He currently lives quietly on his farm in Lebanon, Ohio.
Email Article to a Friend