I was 8 years old glued to the TV, drank gallons of Tang and played with my Major Matt Mason.
Dang.
To be fair to Buzz, if you’re #2 and people shortly start going “Armstrong and Whatzisface”, you might as well go for cashing in. For the #1 guy, though, it does take a strength of character and stable mental health to say to himself* “there’s nothing I can ever do to top this; OTOH I have to prove nothing to anyone ever again; so let’s try to live as normal a life as possible and avoid getting trapped in the celebrity spiral.” *
Plus, Buzz clocked that hoaxer moron right in the face, and that’s worth something. Armstrong may have even quietly smiled in private.
We put a foot across the door of those dreams. And then turned around and walked away.
Not quite, but my uncle was a colleague of his – a fellow professor at the University of Cincinnati. He knew Armstrong, though not very well. He told me he was a very nice man but valued his privacy.
what is next, a new world tour by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Armstrong?
I’ve been reading lots about him via links on Twitter today. One of my favorites was something that Nichelle Nichols retweeted: a picture of Neil Armstrong with several Star Trek cast members and Mrs. Rodenberry. In one of her own tweets, she mentioned he was a Star Trek fan…
I also read an account of a kid who called him up and asked him to,review something he was dooing for a merit badge. He reviewed the materials and signed off on them. The kid’s scoutmaster was impressed.
Damnit, now I’m crying.
I’ve lived through the entire space age and I remember watching him stepping onto the Moon. A great man, and a humble man.
Now I’m wondering if Curiosity will find evidence of life, and Armstrong won’t have lived to learn about it.
The moon was very prominent this evening; I looked at it a long time while sitting at a backyard party.
I smiled at it. It’s good to know we got there. Thanks, Neil.
I can’t help but feel that the moon landing was the pinnacle of the 20th century. in 66 years we went from controlled flight to landing on the moon and the year 1969 saw the birth of the 747 and the Concorde. Everything after that was somehow anti-climatic.
My grandfather worked at Grumman and took part in the building the lunar modules, so I’ve been an avid space fan for a long time. Neil Armstrong is, of course, known primarily for his lunar landing. But I would like to call attention to how spectacular his career as an aviator and engineer would have been even WITHOUT having gone to the moon.
He got his pilot’s license before he could drive and later saw combat as a naval aviator. He had to abandon his jet at one point after sustaining damage, doing so after nursing the plane back into safe territory. He was a gifted pilot and engineer and made big contributions to aviation. He flew the X-15 rocket plane, among other things.
As an astronaut, he commanded Gemini 8 as a “rookie”. That flight was terminated early due to a problem with the spacecraft’s control system. Armstrong took action to recover control when the spacecraft was spinning. As I understand it, he had a number of options available to him, most of which would not have worked and could have made the situation worse. He apparently chose the only correct action, which was to maneuver on the reaction control system that was normally reserved for re-entry.
In training for the Apollo 11 the astronauts flew a very dangerous training vehicle. It malfunctioned while Armstrong was flying it, going into lateral oscillations. He rode them out until it was in the correct attitude for him to safely eject. He later returned to the office he shared with astronaut Alan Bean, and didn’t think to mention the incident to him. Bean was incredulous upon learning that Armstrong had had such an experience, and simply returned to work with no fuss.
The list goes on. Armstrong set an aviation record in a business jet after he left NASA, taught engineering, etc. The man was a consummate aviator and engineer, and never held pretensions beyond that. He truly contributed, and he was always humble about it. Very sorry he’s gone.
There was a man.
I just saw the news, and I’m very moved. I was 8 when the Eagle landed, but I still remember watching it.
Years ago I visited Lindbergh’s grave in south Maui, and read his gravestone: “If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea.”
You’ll be missed, Neil, but never, ever forgotten.
RIP Mr Armstrong. You will be missed. But while humanity exists, never forgotten.
RIP sir.
That picture is actually of Aldrin.
Rest in tranquility, Neil.
Yes, here’s the only good picture of Armstrong on the moon.
Also, collection of headlines from the moon landing
Today I started a book about Mickey Mantle called “The Last Boy”. I came out of my bedroom to start my day and my wife is watching what appears to be a documentary on the first moon landing and I don’t think much of it at first except the footage is much clearer then what I dimly remember. I remember it being grainy and ghostly on our old black and white set and off antenna of course. Then my son asks, “So how exactly did Neil Armstrong die?” and I think he is just confused at first and I reply, “I think he is still alive” but my wife cuts in and says, “He just passed away.”
I mention the Mickey book as 2 of my earliest memories and the first 2 events I can remember are of Mickey Mantle day in July of 1969 and the Moon Landing and first man on the moon in July of 1969. The time is very odd to me and I feel very sad at this point. I guess as a kid my first choice for dream job was astronaut and second was to be a Yankee. These men are not only tied to my earlier memories but they are my oldest heroes.
It seems odd when our heroes die, does it not? How can a hero be mortal. I should be past this age of hero worship but I sit here typing, my eyes welled up.
Thank you Mr. Armstrong. Engineer extraordinaire.
I’m sure that almost all of you guys know that Neil Armstrong died yesterday.
Although I had no personal connection to Mr.Armstrong,the news of his death kind of saddened me,and I’m not sure exactly why.I think it’s partly because the fact that I was born many years after his moon landing made him,for me,a person who seemed almost immortal;the moon landing happened so long ago that I didn’t really expect him to die for many years,although I knew he was aging.
I think the main reason that his death affected me,though,is what his death represents.After all,Armstrong was a living link to the long-gone era of manned flight to the moon,and his loss means that from now on no one-no one-will ever again be able to say they were the first person to set foot on the moon.No one from now on will ever know what it felt like to be the first person to step on an extraterrestrial body.And now,the man who said the words "That’s one small step for man,one giant leap for mankind"is no longer alive,and because of that I’ll never be able to listen to those words the same way again.
Yes,there are still several people alive today who landed on the moon,and Gene Cernan and Buzz Aldrin and all the others deserve admiration for what they did too,but there will never be another Neil Armstrong;I don’t know about all of you,but I feel a little empty inside knowing that I’m no longer sharing this Earth with him.
Sorry if I seemed fruity,but that’s just the way I feel.
Thanks a lot for reading.I’d love to hear any input you have about the subject.
If only poor Neil could have gone out this way instead…well the second time he went to moon as an old geezer, not the first time he went.
(link safe for work…cheesy movie but a fun one)
My grandmother was born December 17, 1904, one year to the day after the Wright Brothers flew at Kitty Hawk.
On July 20, 1969, I was with her and my grandfather when we watched to moon landing. In one lifetime we went from horse and buggy to people on the moon. Now the first man there is gone, but my grandmother is still left to know about it. I don’t know if she’s aware of it yet, she hasn’t watched much news lately, but I am sure she would be saddened.
All this in one lifetime.