What was neil armstrong famous for

Neil said that while there, he could hold up his thumb and block out the Earth! He said that the Moon felt lonely, but that it made him realise just how beautiful our home is. He found the press attention exhausting, and decided that he wanted to be a teacher of engineering in his home state of Ohio.

He never returned to life in the spotlight. The astronauts went into quarantine to mitigate the unlikely risk that they were carrying some sort of moon germs back with them, and then embarked on a world tour to celebrate the mission. After his time as an astronaut, Armstrong was deputy associate administrator for aeronautics at NASA headquarters. He resigned from NASA in From to , he was a professor of aerospace engineering at the University of Cincinnati. Armstrong also participated in the Rogers Commission, which was a presidential commission tasked to look at the causes and events of the fatal Challenger shuttle explosion of Jan.

Armstrong chose to mostly stay out of the spotlight after leaving NASA, although he did reappear periodically for interviews or for anniversary events concerning Apollo Although his public statements were few, he followed spaceflight news and occasionally made public comments on what was happening. He remained a vocal supporter of suborbital spaceflight.

On the other hand, the former Apollo astronaut was publicly critical of plans to shift crewed spaceflight from NASA to private spacecraft. On Aug. Complications from the surgery resulted in his death on Aug. Tributes poured in from many public figures, including President Barack Obama, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, then-NASA administrator Charles Bolden, Apollo 11 crewmates Aldrin and Collins, and various space representatives in the public, private and nonprofit spheres.

They set out to show the world that the American spirit can see beyond what seems unimaginable — that with enough drive and ingenuity, anything is possible. A private memorial service for Armstrong was held Aug. Two weeks later, a publicly televised memorial service was held at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.

Armstrong was buried at sea Sept. Armstrong's family was on board when the ship left port in Mayport, Florida, and they released his ashes somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean. Obama ordered flags around the United States to fly at half-staff on the day of the funeral. In , the Smithsonian Institution revealed that Armstrong had kept aside a cloth bag full of small parts from the lunar module Eagle, which lay undiscovered for decades until his widow, Carol, found it.

While Armstrong made no mention of this bag in decades of interviews, the bag was discussed a few times during the mission. I met him again 16 years later. He was in the UK with his fellow Apollo astronauts Gene Cernan and Jim Lovell as part of a world tour to commemorate the Moon landing's 40th anniversary. We were invited to interview them at a not-so-splendid hotel near Heathrow airport under strict conditions of secrecy. The astronauts were booked in under false names, and when the hotel staff asked what the interview was about I said it was to do with golf.

This seemed plausible given the astronauts' attire. I reminded Neil Armstrong that we had met long ago.

To my surprise, he gave me that same warm reassuring smile and said he did remember and spoke fondly of that day. We made small talk over a sandwich and chatted about his tour. But he declined a request for another interview, saying that he did not wish to take the limelight away from his fellow astronauts. This view of him is now emerging from the documentary film, Armstrong, which was released on Friday to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Moon landing. We showed them highlights of Nasa footage of the mission to get them into the mood.

Watching her grandfather walk to the launch pad, Kali was struck by the resemblance of year-old Armstrong with her youthful year-old father. And they both smiled, unable to contain their glee of what they so obviously felt to be their great good fortune.

And even though it was a story Mark and Kali knew so well, they were gripped. Dad and daughter watched in awe as Neil stepped off the lunar module and uttered the words that would forever resonate through history: "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.

Edwin Eugene Aldrin Jr. The son of a U. Air Force colonel, Aldrin became a top student at the U. Military Academy at West Point before a decorated stint as a fighter pilot American astronaut Michael Collins was part of the historic Apollo 11 mission, remaining in the command module as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to walk on the moon.

Since he stayed behind to pilot the command module as Aldrin and Armstrong made On July 20, , just eight years after President John F. Following the Apollo 11 historic July 20, , moonwalk, Aldrin and Neil Apollo 13 was the seventh manned mission in the Apollo Space program and was supposed to be the third lunar landing mission, but the three astronauts aboard never reached the moon.

Instead the crew and ground control team scrambled through a hair-raising George Armstrong Custer was a U. He gained further fame for his post-war exploits against Native Americans in the West. The non-stop campaign of testing and launches was also a race against time—specifically to honor slain president John F. Live TV. This Day In History. History Vault. Military Service Astronaut, military pilot, educator. Astronaut Program In his personal life, Armstrong started to settle down.

Moon Landing Armstrong faced an even bigger challenge in Recommended for you.