RIP Neil Armstrong

[ARWadsworth]

[Robin]

+1

He certainly had the right stuff.

(I always thought I might live to see the death of the first man on the moon. I have for some years feared I may live to see the death of the last man to on the moon.)

[Dave Liquorice]

Exactly.

[Andrew Gabriel]

I loved a comment he made many years later on Radio 4 when the presenter asked "What was going through your mind when you were waiting on the launch pad?", to which he replied, "Every part of this rocket was subcontracted to the cheapest bidder" ...

[Tim Streater]

Yes. For me, the successful landing of the Mars rover was about 100 times more important than the steenkeeng olympix. (Cue long "no it wasn't" "yes it was" thread).

[charles]

That was previously said by John Glenn - the first American into space.

[Andrew Gabriel]

I probably misremembered it then - thanks for the correction.

[Mike P]

I hope his Saturn V ride to heaven is a smooth one :-)

Fly safe, Commander Armstrong. A true hero to many, and especially us nerds.

[Graham.]

So Alan Shepard's sub-orbital flight doesn't count?

[brass monkey]

Those guys were very stupid/very brave/both.

[Phil L]

no it wasn't yes it was no it wasn't yes it was no it wasn't yes it was no it wasn't yes it was no it wasn't yes it was no it wasn't yes it was no it wasn't yes it was no it wasn't yes it was no it wasn't yes it was no it wasn't yes it was no it wasn't yes it was no it wasn't yes it was no it wasn't yes it was no it wasn't yes it was no it wasn't yes it was no it wasn't yes it was no it wasn't yes it was no it wasn't yes it was no it wasn't yes it was no it wasn't yes it was no it wasn't yes it was no it wasn't yes it was no it wasn't yes it was no it wasn't yes it was no it wasn't yes it was no it wasn't yes it was no it wasn't yes it was no it wasn't yes it was no it wasn't yes it was no it wasn't yes it was

HTH

[Graham.]

BEHIND YOU!

[Steve Firth]

Jings, really? What a sad day. We should have been at Jupiter by now, and be 11 years past finding the star gate on Iapetus. the dreams we had sacrificed tithe screaming of the mob and the weak-kneed trembling of politicians.

It seems we are on the timeline set by John Wyndham (The Outward Urge), with a Mars landing in 2094, rather than one in the early part of this century.

[charles]

John Glenn did sub-orbital, too.

[ARWadsworth]

They we also very intelligent. I have met some of them.

BTW Tickets are still available to have dinner with some of the Apollo astronauts. It's well worth the money. Not everyone can say that they have had dinner with Buzz Aldrin and Fred Haise.

[Brian Gaff]

Armstrong: 1930-2012 NASA August 25, 2012

Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon during the 1969 Apollo 11 mission, has died. He was 82.

His family has released the following statement:

"We are heartbroken to share the news that Neil Armstrong has passed away following complications resulting from cardiovascular procedures.

Neil was our loving husband, father, grandfather, brother and friend.

Neil Armstrong was also a reluctant American hero who always believed he was just doing his job. He served his Nation proudly, as a navy fighter pilot, test pilot, and astronaut. He also found success back home in his native Ohio in business and academia, and became a community leader in Cincinnati.

He remained an advocate of aviation and exploration throughout his life and never lost his boyhood wonder of these pursuits.

As much as Neil cherished his privacy, he always appreciated the expressions of good will from people around the world and from all walks of life.

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 to make their dreams come true, to be willing to explore and push the limits, and to selflessly serve a cause greater than themselves.

For those who may ask what they can do to honor Neil, we have a simple request. Honor his example of service, accomplishment and modesty, and 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."

The family will be providing further updates at

.

Apollo 11 command module pilot Michael Collins said simply, "He was the best, and I will miss him terribly."

Armstrong's words "That is one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind," spoken on July 20, 1969, as he became the first person ever to step onto another planetary body, instantly became a part of history.

Those few words from the Sea of Tranquillity were the climactic fulfillment of the efforts and hopes of millions of people and the expenditure of billions of dollars. A plaque on one of the lander's legs that concluded "We came in peace for all mankind," further emphasized that Armstrong and fellow astronaut Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin were there as representatives of all humans.

But Armstrong's single sentence, though it was focused above the national divisions and quarrels of Earth, still signified unquestionably the U.S. victory in the desperate space race with the Soviet Union.

Neil A. Armstrong was born Aug. 5, 1930, in Wapakoneta, Ohio. He earned an aeronautical engineering degree from Purdue University and a master's in aerospace engineering from the University of Southern California.

He was a naval aviator from 1949 to 1952. During the Korean War he flew 78 combat missions.

In 1955 he joined the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), NASA's predecessor, as a research pilot at Lewis Laboratory in Cleveland.

Armstrong later transferred to NACA's High Speed Flight Research Station at Edwards AFB, Calif. As project pilot, he was in the forefront of the development of many high-speed aircraft, including the X-15, which flew at 4,000 mph.

He flew more than 200 aircraft models. They included jet and rocket-powered planes, helicopters and gliders.

Armstrong was selected as an astronaut in 1962.

His first space flight was Gemini 8, which he commanded. He was the first civilian to fly a U.S. spacecraft. With fellow astronaut David R. Scott, Armstrong performed the first docking in space, with an Agena target satellite.

Less than an hour later their spacecraft began an unplanned rolling motion. After undocking, it increased to one revolution per second. One of the Gemini's 16 thrusters had stuck open because of an electrical short circuit.

Armstrong used re-entry thrusters to control the capsule, and after a

30-minute struggle, it was stabilized. Flight rules required a return to Earth after use of the re-entry thrusters, so the crewmembers fired retrorockets that sent Gemini 8 to a contingency landing zone in the Western Pacific.

Apollo 11 lifted off on July 16, 1969, with Armstrong, Aldrin and Mike Collins aboard. Collins remained in lunar orbit in the command module while Armstrong and Aldrin descended in the lunar module they had named Eagle to their historic landing on the moon's surface.

"Houston, Tranquillity Base here. The Eagle has landed," Armstrong said, telling a tense and waiting Earth that men had finally reached the lunar surface.

He and Aldrin spent about two hours exploring, gathering more than 50 pounds of moon rocks and setting up three scientific experiments. The next day, after

21 hours and 37 minutes on the moon, they fired Eagle's engine to begin the return to Collins and the command module.

The crew returned to Earth, landing near the USS Hornet in the Pacific after a mission of just over eight days. President Richard M. Nixon was on the aircraft carrier's deck to welcome them.

"This is the greatest week in the history of the world since the creation," Nixon told the three.

After 16 days in quarantine to protect Earth from any returned moon germs, the crew went on U.S. and international tours. Millions greeted them as heroes.

Armstrong later served as deputy associate administrator for aeronautics in the Office of Advanced Research and technology at NASA Headquarters. He resigned from the space agency in 1971. As a professor at the University of Cincinnati from

1971 to 1979, he was involved in both teaching and research.

He later went into the business world. Among other positions, he served for

10 years as chairman of Computing Technologies for Aviation Inc. of Charlottesville, Va. and later as chairman of AIL Systems Inc., an electronic systems company based in Deer Park, N.Y.

Armstrong was a fellow of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots and the Royal Aeronautical Society, and an honorary fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the International Astronautical Federation.

He was a member of the National Academy of Engineering. He served as a member of the National Commission on Space in 1985 and 1986, and in 1985 was vice chairman of the Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident. He also was chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee for the Peace Corps from 1971 to 1973.

Seventeen countries decorated Armstrong. He received many special honors, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, thCongressional Space Medal of Honor, NASA's Ambassador of Exploration Award, the Explorers Club Medal, the Robert H. Goddard Memorial Trophy, the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, the Harmon International Aviation Trophy, the Royal Geographic Society's Gold Medal, the Federation Aeronautique Internationale's Gold Space Medal, the American Astronautical Society Flight Achievement Award, the Robert J. Collier Trophy, the AIAA Astronautics Award, the Octave Chanute Award, and the John J. Montgomery Award.

I also loved his very descriptive feelings when flying old biplanes with the wind whistling in the wires as he throttled back to land. Very evocative and a a very ordinary man with an extraordinary claim to fame.

Brian

[Gib Bogle]

Rest in peace? Reminds me of the Monty Python skit - he's not dead, he's resting.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

Was he bollocks.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

Apparently, he and the others were chatting about the new Espresso machine in the crew rest area, a mild diversionary conversation, when they were interrupted by a "Good to go" message from Launch Control. Right up to that point, they had been so used to postponements and delays they didn't really expect to go that time either.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

If anyone ever deserved his ashes to be scattered on the Moon, it's him.