He was old. Old people die.
And something of a recluse, I’m sure many people thought he was already dead.
Most people knew who he was, and they reacted solemnly and respectfully, but as he died a natural death after living the quiet life of a man who did his job well, there was no need for an outpouring of grief.
It all seemed about the right level to me.
Still, he’s an American hero.
Don’t be silly. People who get paid millions of dollars to throw a ball around are heroes.
Believe me, it surprised me as well and kinda threw me as I was being observed for my final assessment of my teacher training and I had expected that I would have to tell them. The assessor afterwards said to me that she was impressed by the class’ knowledge.
The kids didn’t all shout out the answer but the majority had their hands up and the boy that I asked named all three in one shot.
We did a hot seating exercise as part of the lesson and I had some of the kids come up and pretend to be the astronauts at their August '69 press conference, with the rest of the kids being the reporters and they really got into it. The girl who played Michael Collins was excellent, and came up with some great responses to how she felt being left alone in the command module.
One of my favourite lessons ever.
All I can say is this. In a few hundered years, no one will remember who the hell Kim Kardashian or Paris Hilton were, but Neil Armstrong, Yuri Gagarin and possibly Valentina Tereshkova will always be remembered.
He will be rememebred as long as man exists. That is something. Much more profound than the recereational grief surroinding MJ or Diana’s death.
Shunning the spotlight does not make one a recluse.
That is fantastic. Finally, a positive story from the world of education.
Maybe the girl is a Jethro Tullfan.
cmyk - Well played. Well played indeed.
I think the fact that he remained out of the public eye for so long is a large part of it. John Glenn, who remains active and visible, will draw much more of a reaction. After his NASA career, Glenn was a senator for 25 years, taught at Ohio State, went back into space at age 77, and threw out the first pitch at the Indians game the day before yesterday. I don’t know what kind of an arm he’s got at 91, but the Tribe could probably use him.
Neil Armstrong is a very, very important part of history, and ISTM that is where he wanted to remain.
Oh yeah? You think you’re so smart. I don’t see you with a Fungineering degree.
[quote=“Hippy_Hollow, post:36, topic:632729”]
. He shunned the spotlight and didn’t fly again. /QUOTE]
I suspect he and many of the other astronaut pioneers would have never had the chance to fly again because “we” couldn’t “risk” loosing a hero. Which is pretty damn sad when you think about it.
I think it quit possible Neil saw the writing on the wall and left for that reason.
The tennis player, right?
You can’t be serious. General media news reports are meant to be written to be informative even to the ignorant. I would write it that way each time if I were writing for a mainstream newspaper or TV report.
It doesn’t? Well it does make you “something of a recluse” which is what I said.
Okay guys. Lets agree that it’s somewhere between recluse and rabid attention whore and call it a day 
I think it’s pretty cool that what may be and will most likely forever be the most famous person in mankind’s history was a guy that was shy, unassuming, and non attention seeking. Just think of some of the personality types we COULD have ended up with instead.
I’m going to go out and look at the moon yet again tonight and shed another tear or two.
I mentioned Armstong’s death to a couple of people at work today, and they basically said, “Yeah I heard that” – and that was it. End of discussion on the matter. That seemed very odd to me for some reason.
I’m 46. The invention/expansion of the internet was a bigger change/advance for my generation than probably any other. And until the Olympics, I had no idea who ‘invented’ it. And I still don’t remember his name, though I’ve heard it since. Never heard it before.
Some things are just taken for granted 
Also, how many folks thought he was already dead, hrm? When people grow to the stature of heroes, their human bodies become kind of irrelevant.
I love this. THIS is how one learns history. Memorizing facts just isn’t the same thing at all.
Edit: Same for SZlater’s exercise.
I don’t agree. He did his job, amazed the masses, and then went on with his preferred lifestyle, one that involved friends and family and normal social interactions. That’s not in any way reclusive; it’s normal behavior. It’s only the relentless attention seeking we see now that makes it seem out of the ordinary.
And besides teaching he served on corporate boards and on space committees (Challenger accident investigation) and he would make a public appearance or give an interview or endorsement if he felt the event, organization or cause merited his support and when he did he seemed an affable character as long as the conversation didn’t go into things that are NOYB. Yes, it is by comparison with the modern cult of the celebrity someone who achieves what he did and then simply takes his bow and quietly exits stage right may seem to people “something of a recluse”, BUT at the same time, the old spacemen seem to stay away from the front pages in general – how much do you see in mass media of any other surviving “Golden Age” astronauts, except for Aldrin and Glenn? Lovell had a small bump after the Apollo 13 movie (even appeared in an ad with Ride and Aldrin endorsing Louis Vuitton) but that’s about it.
