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Galaxiki Community BlogSubscribe via RSS Neil Armstrong - Meet The First Man On The MoonMarch 13, 2008by joskirps Neil Armstrong was born on August 5, 1930. At age 17 he began studying aeronautical engineering at Purdue University, and he was only the second person in his family to attend college. Thereafter he joined the Navy, he became a Naval Aviator and was even shot down by anti-aircraft gunfire when piloting an aircraft in the Korean War.  After the war, he continued his studies and served as a test pilot at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) High-Speed Flight Station and flew over 900 flights in a variety of aircraft. In 1995 Armstrong graduated with a bachelor's degree in aeronautical engineering, somewhat later he married his wife Janet Elizabeth Shearon. They had three children, one of them had a brain tumor and died in 1962.Neil Armstrong continued working as a test pilot, and he was one of the few pilots chosen to become a member of the X-20 Dyna-Soar project, a program to develop a military space plane. As an X-15 pilot the reached a top altitude of 207500 ft (63 km) and a top speed of Mach 5. 74 (4000 mph or 6615 km/h). Many pilots admired him for this outstanding engineering abilities. In 1962 Neil Armstrong was chosen to become a member of the next US astronaut group. He started as a backup pilot for the Gemini program, and finally got into space for the first time on March 16, 1955 as Gemini 8 Command Pilot. During this mission the performed the first ever docking manoeuvre in space, but they had be break up early because of technical problems with the spacecraft. On January 27, 1967 Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee died in the Apollo 1 capsule which took fire during a training session on the ground. Shortly after Neil Armstrong became part of the backup crew for Apollo 9, which should test the Lunar Module - Command/Service Module combination. But because of technical problems with the Lunar Module crews had to be swapped, and Armstrong finally became the Commander of Apollo 11.  In March 1969 it was determined that Armstrong would be the first person on the Moon. Launched by a Saturn V rocket on July 16, 1969, Apollo 11 was the fifth human spaceflight of the Apollo program and the third human voyage to the moon. An estimated audience of over 700 million people viewed the launch on television.On July 19 Apollo 11 passed behind the Moon and fired its service propulsion engine to enter lunar orbit. The following day the lunar module "Eagle" with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on board separated from the command module. The landing computer reported several unusual "program alarms" and guided them towards a large crater with rocks scattered around it. Armstrong took manual control of the lunar module and with Aldrin calling out data from the radar and computer, guided it to a landing at 20: 17 UTC on July 20 with about 30 seconds of fuel left. Armstrong's first words after landing were, "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed." A few hours later the hatch was opened and Armstrong made his way down the ladder first. He placed his left foot on the surface at 2: 56 UTC July 21, 1969, then spoke the following words: “That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind.”  Buzz Aldrin joined him about 15 minutes later. Most photos on the moon were taken by Neil Armstrong, which means that Buzz Aldrin can be seen on most of the photos taken, while there are only very few photos of Armstrong. Even the famous "man on the moon" photo shows astronaut Buzz Aldrin, and not Neil Armstrong. Armstrong and Aldrin spent about two and a half hours on the moon's surface before re-entering the Lunar Module.While preparing for the liftoff from the lunar surface they discovered that they had broken the ignition switch for the ascent engine - they had to use a pen to push the launch sequence button, a pen that Aldrin still possesses today. The crew returned safely to Earth on July 24, 1969. Shortly after Apollo 11 Neil Armstrong announced that he did not plan to fly in space again. In August 1971 he left NASA and accepted a teaching position in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Cincinnati. After teaching for eight years, he resigned from this job in 1979. He then appeared in a Chrysler advertising, acted as a spokesman for other companies and even served on the board of directors of several companies. In 2002 he finally retired. When asked about the future of spaceflight today, Armstrong says that a manned mission to Mars will be easier than the lunar challenge of the 1960s, as ht thinks that the problems that will have to be faced are not as difficult and many as those we faced when the Apollo space program was started in 1961.
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