I’m not sure I understand what you are claiming here.
Neil Armstrong is(was)a true icon. Here is a guy who was in a position to make hundreds of millions on his being the first man on the moon. Robert Klein, the comedian, once said that Armstrong was great because he didn’t try to profit from his fame. For example, what if he stepped on the moon and said “Coca-Cola!”. If he did, that would have been the advertising gambit of all time, and he would have made a fortune. That would have been pretty easy to do, and NASA couldn’t have done much to stop it.
Even when he got back, he didnt sell his fame to the masses, unlike MOTM #2, Buzz Aldrin, who would have done anything to make a buck.
No, Neil Armstrong didnt do anything in the public for money until he hosted some television programs about aviation or flying machines or something.
At least that’s what I remember. I admitni could be wrong, as I didn’t follow everything he did after NASA. But I can’t knock him for making some money with a guy that is on some BoD’s.
In any event, regardless of his financial situation and if you liked him or not from afar, America is minus one hero today. I, for one, am saddened by his death. He will be missed. And don’t say that about many celebrities/people I don’t know peronally.
Any chance that a Doper was an engineering student of his in Ohio? I’d love to know how any student could concentrate on the academic subject matter…I’d just be in slack-jawed awe the whole time, which is exactly the attitude that Professor Armstring did *not * cultivate.
Perhaps he had a way of getting the people around him to relax and treat him like anyone else. If he did, that’s a huge accomplishment in itself.
It’s strange in a way why this should be so affecting for baby boomers. It shook me up too when Yuri Gagarin died and the death of Armstrong has had an equal effect. Perhaps it’s because, living through that age, these people represented for us the Future, of flight between the planets, colonization of the Solar System, all the stuff we thought the Space Age heralded. They were the trailblazers to Man’s place among the stars.
Now they are dead and the shitty, pedestrian world is the same as ever, manned flights to the Moon a distant memory, our planetary neighbors as distant and unreachable as ever. The Future turned out to be the Past.
Armstrong’s death reminds some of us of a time when our dreams took on reality in front of our very eyes and anything seemed possible. A time long gone.
Considering the dangers of space flight and the number of others who died in accidents attempting to further humanity’s knowledge of space, I think he was very fortunate to live a good long life. I definitely think we need more modest, sensible heroes like him out there.
In the space of only three weeks, NASA has given us a reason to cry for joy and a reason to cry for sadness. And we still give this agency an annual budget that would only carry the DOD 13 days.
Well said. I’m not a boomer, but remember the moon landing (I was just two and my dad woke me up to watch) and remember the missions after. Possibilities seemed endless.
American Heritage had a brief article a few years back, a reminiscence by an Ohio man who’d been a Boy Scout working on Aviation merit badge in the early Seventies. At his father’s suggestion, he contacted Armstrong and asked the former astronaut to review his work. Armstrong invited him to come over, and they met at Armstrong’s house a few days later. Armstrong looked over the boy’s work, asked him several questions, and then cheerily signed the form. The guy’s Scoutmaster was stunned that Neil Armstrong himself had OK’d the kid for a merit badge.
Many thanks, Godspeed and a peaceful rest. He was a good and faithful servant of the United States, and of humanity.
I was within 20 feet of NA (and the rest of the living Apollo astronauts) at the 25th anniversary celebration at EAA. Rumor has it more astronauts attended that than the official (NASA?) celebration.
Anyhow, some reporter asked NA some lame question about walking on the moon, and NA’s respose was something like “A pilot is excited about flying, not walking”
“While we mourn the loss of a very good man, we also celebrate his remarkable life and hope that it serves as an example to young people around the world to work hard to make their dreams come true, to be willing to explore and push the limits, and to selflessly serve a cause greater than themselves. For those who may ask what they can do to honor Neil, we have a simple request. Honor his example of service, accomplishment and modesty, and the next time you walk outside on a clear night and see the moon smiling down at you, think of Neil Armstrong and give him a wink.”
I remember that my primary (elementary) school turned on the radios so we could hear the communication between the ground and the Eagle. I was 9 and I was so very proud of all of us, all us humans. Rest Well Cmdr Armstrong, we will not forget you, no matter how long we may be or how far we fly.
