#sparkchamber 080524 — Neil Armstrong
Fifty-five years ago last month — July 20, 1969 — astronauts piloted NASA’s Apollo 11 spacecraft into lunar orbit, then landed on the moon. Today, #sparkchamber honors not only this remarkable achievement, but the birthday of one of those astronauts.
“The American effort to send astronauts to the moon had its origins in an appeal President Kennedy made to a special joint session of Congress on May 25, 1961: “I believe this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth.”
“At the time, the United States was still trailing the Soviet Union in space developments, and Cold-War-era America welcomed Kennedy’s bold proposal. In 1966, after five years of work by an international team of scientists and engineers, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration [NASA] conducted the first unmanned Apollo mission, testing the structural integrity of the proposed launch-vehicle-and-spacecraft combination.“
“In October 1968, Apollo 7, the first manned Apollo mission, orbited Earth and successfully tested many of the sophisticated systems needed to conduct a moon journey and landing. In December of the same year, Apollo 8 took three astronauts to the far side of the moon and back, and in March 1969, Apollo 9 tested the lunar module for the first time while in Earth orbit. That May, the three astronauts of Apollo 10 took the first complete Apollo spacecraft around the moon in a dry run for the scheduled July landing mission.
“At 9:32 a.m. EDT on July 16, with the world watching, Apollo 11 took off from Kennedy Space Center with astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins aboard. Armstrong, a 38-year-old civilian research pilot, was the commander of the mission.”
The spacecraft entered lunar orbit on July 19; on July 20, the lunar module — Eagle — separated from the command module, touching down on the lunar surface two-and-a-half hours later — “The Eagle has landed.” Six hours after that, “as Neil Armstrong stepped off the ladder and planted his foot on the moon’s powdery surface, he spoke his famous quote, which he later contended was slightly garbled by his microphone and meant to be “that's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.”
“Neil Armstrong became the first person to walk on the moon, arguably the greatest technological achievement in human history. The moon landing made Armstrong famous, but the Navy pilot from Ohio was never comfortable with the spotlight.
“Neil Armstrong always wanted to fly. He was born on August 5, 1930 near Wapakoneta, Ohio, less than 60 miles from the Wright brothers’ workshop in Dayton. In 1936, when he was six years old, young Neil rode in his first airplane, a “Tin Goose” Ford tri-motor passenger plane. He was hooked. At 16, Armstrong earned his student pilot’s license, even before he had a driver’s license.
“In 1947, Armstrong attended Purdue University on a Naval scholarship, studying aeronautical engineering. As part of his scholarship, the Navy trained Armstrong as a fighter pilot in Florida. His college studies were interrupted by the outbreak of the Korean War, where Armstrong flew 78 combat missions. His aircraft, the F-9F Panther jet, was one of the first jet fighters to launch from a carrier.
“After finishing college, Armstrong went to work for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics [NACA], which became the National Aeronautics and Space Administration [NASA] in 1958. The mild-mannered kid from Ohio made his name as one of the most daring and skilled test pilots at NASA’s Flight Research Center [now the Armstrong Flight Research Center] at Edwards Air Force Base in California. During seven years as a test pilot, Armstrong flew 200 different aircraft that pushed the limits of speed and altitude, including the legendary X-15. High over the California desert, Armstrong reached speeds of more than 4,000 mph and took the needle-nosed X-15 to the edge of space. Armstrong’s steady hand as a test pilot was instrumental to the success of NASA’s first Mercury astronauts. Soon he’d become one of them.
“Armstrong buried himself in his work preparing for the Gemini program, NASA’s next step toward reaching the moon.” In 1966, he was chosen as command pilot for the Gemini 8 mission, the first attempt to dock two spacecraft while in orbit. After a successful docking, mechanical failure sent the Gemini capsule into an uncontrolled spin, but thanks to his rock-solid nerves and test-pilot wits, Armstrong was able to save both astronauts’ lives.
He was then selected for the Apollo program, and eventually as the commander for the Apollo 11 mission. The rest, as they say, is history.
“Overnight, Armstrong became the most famous man alive. Four million spectators lined the streets of New York City to welcome home Armstrong and his fellow Apollo 11 astronauts in a ticker-tape parade. But Armstrong wasn’t in it for the fame and accolades. He quietly went back to a desk job at NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C., then earned a master’s degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Southern California in 1970.
“Armstrong retired from NASA in 1971 and took a job as an engineering professor at the University of Cincinnati in his home state of Ohio. In 1986, he joined the Rogers Commission investigating the tragic Challenger shuttle explosion. Later, Armstrong served on a number of corporate boards in the aerospace industry and testified before Congress about the importance of maintaining a manned space program.
“In 2005, Armstrong consented to a rare television interview on 60 Minutes, in which he was asked directly if he was uncomfortable with the fame of being the first man on the moon. “No, I just don’t deserve it,” replied Armstrong, smiling. “Circumstance put me into that particular role. That wasn’t planned by anyone.”
What a life of service, adventure, and integrity. Happy Birthday Neil Armstrong! [And a big tip-of-the-cap to history.com from which all this information comes.]
1.] Where do ideas come from?
Mystery creates wonder and wonder is the basis of man’s desire to understand.
2.] What is the itch you are scratching?
There are great ideas undiscovered, breakthroughs available to those who can remove one of truth’s protective layers. There are places to go beyond belief.
… and
I guess we all like to be recognized not for one piece of fireworks, but for the ledger of our daily work
3.] Early bird or night owl? Tortoise or hare? I used this one
I thought the attractions of being an astronaut were actually, not so much the Moon, but flying in a completely new medium
… and
Pilots take no special joy in walking: pilots like flying. Pilots generally take pride in a good landing, not in getting out of the vehicle
4.] How do you know when you are done?
The important achievement of Apollo was demonstrating that humanity is not forever chained to this planet and our visions go rather further than that and our opportunities are unlimited
