Neil Armstrong Biography

Neil Armstrong, an astronaut with the courage and competence to qualify for the mission of landing on earth's natural satellite, the moon! As a student, he was outstanding and has always proved to be a person with that extra edge!

Armstrong as a child: Born on August 5, 1930, in northwest Ohio near Wapakoneta, Neil Alden Armstrong grew up to become the first man to land on moon! He was the eldest son of his parents, Stephen and Viola Engel Armstrong. Neil's father worked as an auditor for the state government. He traveled to many countries due to his job. His family had to move with him to places like Jefferson, Havana, Upper Sandusky and Warren. Finally, the Armstrongs moved back to Wapakoneta, Ohio and settled there. As a child, Neil, with his siblings Dean and June, had to do the daily chores like weeding the garden or helping with the laundry.

At the age of two, Neil went with his father to see the 1932 Cleveland National Air Races. On seeing the planes fly, he fell in love with flying. When young, Neil enjoyed reading books. His exceptional intelligence was evident in his ability to read as good as the fifth graders, when in the first grade. He was a lover of Science and Math. He began learning astronomy. Planets and stars amazed him. Through a telescope possessed by his neighbor, he used to gaze at the stars and especially at the moon!

At a raw age of six, Neil took a plane ride in a Tin Goose. During the next few years, he made many model airplanes and made a wind tunnel in the basement of his house to test them. He began taking flying lessons when he was fourteen, and what a wonder, before getting even his driver's license; he was issued a pilot's license at an age of sixteen! He was a student of Blume High School. He completed his schooling in 1947.

Armstrong as a young man: Neil joined Purdue University to obtain a degree in Aeronautical engineering. During his years at Purdue, Neil was away for a while, acting as a pilot in the Korean War. He returned to Purdue to complete his degree. Neil earned a bachelor's degree in aeronautical engineering from Purdue University in 1955 and then a master's degree in aerospace engineering from University of Southern California. He later received honorary doctorates from a number of universities. He took up a job with the Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory of NACA, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics in Ohio. He was selected as a NACA pilot to fly the X-15 rocket-engine plane. Once he made a record by attaining an altitude of 207,500 feet and a speed of 3,989 miles per hour. In 1956, he wedded fellow Purdue student Janet Shearon.

He was invited by NASA but it was not until 1962 that Armstrong decided to become an astronaut. His timeline shows that he became America's first nonmilitary astronaut in the September of 1962. Armstrong's first assignment was an eight-day mission on Gemini 5 as an alternate for pilot Gordon Cooper. He was later selected as the command pilot for the Gemini 8 mission. He successfully docked two vehicles in space. He was the one doing it for the first time ever.
Prior to joining the space program, Armstrong worked as an engineer at NASA Dryden. Leaving NASA Dryden and the flight research community to join the space program was not an easy decision for him.

Armstrong's way to the Moon: In January 1969 he was chosen to command the Apollo 11 mission of landing on the moon. Armstrong, accompanied by astronauts, Michael Collins and Edwin Aldrin, left from the Kennedy Space Center on the 16th of July. A small spacecraft named Eagle carried Armstrong and Aldrin on the moon. At 4:17:40 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time on July 20, mission 'Lunar Landing' was accomplished! At 10:56 P.M. Armstrong stepped on the moon and said, "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." He, joined by Aldrin, performed experiments, collected samples and lodged an American flag on the grounds of the moon. They left some medals there, in memory of spacemen who had died during their missions. On the 24th of July, they returned to earth.

He joined NASA's Office of Advanced Research and Technology where he promoted research into computer-controlled aircraft. In 1971, he resigned from NASA and started working at the University of Cincinnati in Ohio. He served for seven years as a professor of aerospace engineering. He led the government commission to examine the devastating explosion of the Challenger space shuttle. He was a chairman of Computing Technologies for Aviation in Charlottesville. He chaired the AIL Systems. In 2002, he retired from EDO Corporation.

Awards conferred to Neil Armstrong: He is the recipient of many special honors, including the Presidential Medal for Freedom and the Robert J. Collier Trophy conferred to him in 1969. In 1970, he was awarded the Robert H. Goddard Memorial Trophy. He was given the Congressional Space Medal of Honor in 1978.He was one of the first 6 recipients of this honor. He received the Langley Medal on account of the thirtieth anniversary of the Apollo 11. Presidential Medal of Freedom was conferred to him. NASA Distinguished Service Medal, the NASA Exceptional Service Medal and seventeen other medals from different nations find a place in his list of awards.

Armstrong and Carol Knight met in 1992 at a golf tournament and ended up becoming life partners. They tied themselves in a wedding knot on June 12, 1994. They had children. Today, Armstrong is a father of two. As a person, he is composed. His privacy is important for him. He does not have a large ego. On seeing the earth from the moon, he had said, "It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn't feel like a giant. I felt very, very small." These words, I feel, reflect his humility, the depth in his thinking and his perception of life.