Neil Armstrong

Neil Alden Armstrong (August 5 1930 – August 25 2012) was an American astronaut, aeronautical engineer, naval aviator, test pilot, university professor and businessman whose historic first steps on the lunar surface on July 20 1969 made him an enduring global icon. Born in Washington Township, Ohio, he grew up in nearby Wapakoneta, where his fascination with flight was sparked at age two by his father’s trips to the Cleveland Air Races, and he earned his student pilot certificate on his sixteenth birthday, long before he held a driver’s licence. After serving as a fighter pilot in the Korean War, he completed a B.S. in aeronautical engineering at Purdue University under the Holloway Plan and later an M.S. in aerospace engineering at the University of Southern California, before joining NACA (later NASA) as a test pilot at Edwards Air Force Base, where he flew more than 200 aircraft types, including the X‑15 rocket plane. Armstrong was selected to NASA’s second astronaut group in 1962 and made his first spaceflight as command pilot of Gemini 8 in 1966, achieving the first docking of two spacecraft despite a critical thruster failure that forced an emergency re‑entry. As commander of Apollo 11 he piloted the Lunar Module Eagle, manually guiding it to a safe touchdown with only seconds of fuel remaining, and uttered the famous words, “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind,” as he became the first human to set foot on another world. Following his historic flight he served as deputy associate administrator for aeronautics, taught aerospace engineering at the University of Cincinnati (1971‑1979), and participated in high‑profile investigations including the Apollo 13 accident and the Challenger disaster. Throughout his life he received numerous honors such as the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Congressional Space Medal of Honor and the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, and remained a modest, reluctant hero who shunned publicity while continuing to inspire generations of explorers.