Armstrong developed an interest in flying at age two when his father took him to the National Air Races in Cleveland, Ohio. His interest intensified when he went for his first airplane ride in a Ford Tri-Motor, a "Tin Goose," in Warren, Ohio, at age six. From that time on, he claimed an intense fascination with aviation.
At age fifteen, Armstrong began taking flying lessons at an airport north of Wapakoneta, working at various jobs in town and at the airport to earn the money for lessons in an Aeronca Champion airplane. By age sixteen, he had his student pilot's license, before he even passed his automobile driver's test and received that license and before he graduated from Blume High School in Wapakoneta in 1947.
Immediately after high school Armstrong received a scholarship from the U.S. Navy. He enrolled at Purdue University and began his studies of aeronautical engineering. In 1949, the Navy called him to active duty, where he became an aviator. In 1950 Armstrong was sent to Korea where he flew 78 combat missions from the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Essex.
After mustering out of the Navy in 1952, Armstrong joined the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). His first assignment was at the NACA's Lewis Reserch Center, near Cleveland, Ohio in the Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory in 1955. For the next seventeen years, he was an engineer, test pilot, astronaut, and administrator for the NACA and its successor agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
In the mid-1950s Armstrong transferred to NASA's Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, where he became a research pilot NACA's High-Speed Flight Station (today, NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center) at Edwards Air Force Base in California. Armstrong worked as an aeronautical research scientist and then as a pilot on many pioneering high-speed aircraft, including the well-known, 4,000-mph X-15. He flew more than 200 different models of aircraft, including jets, rockets, helicopters, and gliders. While at the station he also pursued graduate studies, earning a masters degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Southern California.
Armstrong transferred to astronaut status in 1962, one of nine in the second class to be chosen NASA astronauts. He moved to El Lago, Texas, near Houston's Manned Spacecraft Center, to begin his astronaut training. There he underwent four years of intensive training for the Apollo program, which was created to land an American on the Moon before the end of the decade.
On March 16, 1966, Armstrong flew his first space mission as command pilot of Gemini 8 with David Scott. During that mission Armstrong piloted the Gemini 8 spacecraft to a successful docking with an Agena target spacecraft already in orbit. While the docking went smoothly and the two craft orbited together, they began to pitch and roll wildly. Armstrong was able to undock the Gemini and used the retro rockets to regain control of his craft, but the astronauts had to make an emergency landing in the Pacific Ocean.
As spacecraft commander for Apollo 11, the first piloted lunar landing mission, Armstrong gained the distinction of being the first person to step on the surface of the Moon. On July 16, 1969, Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Edwin E. "Buzz" Aldrin began their trip to the Moon. Collins was the Command Module pilot and navigator for the mission. Aldrin, a systems expert, was the Lunar Module pilot and became the second person to walk on the Moon. As commander of Apollo 11, Armstrong piloted the Lunar Module to a safe landing on the Moon's surface. On July 20, 1969, at 10:56 p.m. EDT, Neil Armstrong stepped down onto the Moon and made his famous statement, "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." Armstrong and Aldrin spent about two and one-half hours walking on the Moon collecting samples, doing experiments, and taking photographs.
On July 24, 1969, the three men splashed down in the Pacific Ocean. They were picked up by the aircraft carrier, U.S.S. Hornet. The three Apollo 11 astronauts were honored with a ticker tape parade in New York City soon after returning to Earth. Armstrong received the Medal of Freedom, the highest award offered to a U.S. civilian. Armstrong's other awards coming in the wake of the Apollo 11 mission included the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, the NASA Exceptional Service Medal, seventeen medals from other countries, and the Congressional Space Medal of Honor.
Armstrong subsequently held the position of Deputy Associate Administrator for Aeronautics, NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C., in the early 1970s. In that position, he was responsible for the coordination and management of overall NASA research and technology work related to aeronautics. After resigning from NASA in 1971, he became a professor of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Cincinnati from 1971 to 1979. During the years 1982-1992, Armstrong served as chairman of Computing Technologies for Aviation, Inc., in Charlottesville, Virginia. He then became chairman of the board of AIL Systems, Inc., an electronics systems company in Deer Park, New York. Armstrong lives on his farm in Lebanon, Ohio.
Source: NASA
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