'One small step,' Armstrong said, and history was made
The first man on the Moon was a 'reluctant American hero'
SIMON FREEMAN
Neil Armstrong, the first man to set foot on the Moon, has died. He was 82. Armstrong is best remembered for his famous words: "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for Mankind", spoken as he stepped on to the lunar surface. He died after undergoing heart surgery. Former colleagues at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) hailed him as a "true American hero".
As commander of Apollo 11 Armstrong became the first man to walk on the Moon on 20 July 1969.
News of his death was confirmed by former astronaut Tom Stafford, who was called by Armstrong's second wife, Carol, yesterday afternoon.
In a statement, his family described him as "a reluctant American hero", adding: "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 and make their dreams come true, to be willing to explore and push the limits, and to selflessly serve a cause greater than themselves.
"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."
Despite being one of the most famous men on the planet, Armstrong remained a very private person, living quietly in Cincinnati, Ohio, and teaching at Cincinnati University. Before becoming an astronaut, he served in the US Navy and fought in the Korean War. He joined the Nasa Astronaut Corps in 1962 and his first space flight was the Nasa Gemini 8 mission in 1966. His second, and final, spaceflight was as mission commander of Apollo 11.
After piloting the lunar module Eagle down to the surface from the command module, he climbed down the ladder on to the dusty surface and delivered one of the best-known, and most argued over, quotes in history: "That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind."
He and fellow astronaut Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin spent more than two hours walking on the surface of the Moon while their colleague Michael Collins orbited above. The trio returned to Earth safely following eight days in space.
Both Armstrong and Nasa insisted that the quote was not pre-planned or rehearsed. Armstrong said it came from a train of thought he had developed after the launch from Earth and the six hours on the lunar surface, before his historic Extra Vehicular Activity (EVA). His groundbreaking Moon walk was watched by an estimated 600 million television viewers worldwide.
It could have been very different.Armstrong was almost killed in 1968 when his lunar lander simulator, a clunky rocket-propelled vehicle designed to mimic Moon-landing conditions in the Earth's gravity, malfunctioned. He was forced to eject and his parachute descent almost landed him in the middle of the simulator's fiery wreckage.
After leaving Nasa he taught at the University of Cincinnati. But it wasn't the last time Armstrong would be connected to space flight.
He was twice appointed to Nasa accident investigation teams: first, as a panel expert investigating the ill-fated Apollo 13 Moon mission in 1970; second, as vice-chairman of the commission investigating the tragic Challenger Space Shuttle disaster in 1986.
In 1991, he suffered a mild heart attack while skiing in Aspen, Colorado.
A participant in the US Air Force's early space-flight programme, Armstrong joined the Nasa Astronaut Corps in 1962. His first space flight was the Nasa Gemini 8 mission in 1966, and he was one of the first US civilians to fly in space. On this mission, he performed the first manned docking of two spacecraft, with pilot David Scott.
Armstrong, along with Collins and Aldrin, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Richard Nixon, he was also awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor by President Jimmy Carter in 1978, and the Congressional Gold Medal in 2009.
He was divorced from his first wife, Janet, after 38 years of marriage in 1994. The couple had three children, Alan, 64, Mark, 50, and Karen, who died of a brain tumour at the age of two.
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