Armstrong, Neil

Armstrong, Neil (Alden)

Neil Armstrong, 1969.

(credit: NASA)

(born Aug. 5, 1930, Wapakoneta, Ohio, U.S.) U.S. astronaut. He became a pilot at 16, studied aeronautical engineering, and won three Air Medals in the Korean War. In 1955 he became a civilian research pilot for the forerunner of NASA. He joined the space program in 1962 with the second group of astronauts. In 1966, as command pilot of Gemini 8, he and David Scott completed the first manual space docking maneuver, with an unmanned Agena rocket. On July 20, 1969, as part of the Apollo 11 mission, he became the first person to step onto the Moon, proclaiming “That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind.”

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Armstrong, Neil (Alden) (1930–  ) astronaut, educator, business executive; born in Wapakoneta, Ohio. A U.S. Navy pilot during the Korean War (1949–52), he was a civilian test pilot before joining the astronaut program in 1962. He was the command pilot of the Gemini 8 flight that effected the first successful docking of two vehicles in space. As commander of the Apollo 11 lunar mission, he entered history as the first human being to walk on the moon (July 20, 1969), but afterwards he avoided most public appearances and all attempts to treat him as a hero. He worked for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) until 1971, then became a professor of engineering at the University of Cincinnati (1971–79); he went on to become chairman of CTA Inc. (1982), a computer systems company, and continued to avoid the limelight.

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Armstrong, Neil

(1930–) first person to set foot on the moon (July 20, 1969). [Am. Hist.: NCE, 172]

See : Firsts