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Thread started 08/25/12 1:55pm

aardvark15

RIP Neil Armstrong

sad

Astronaut Neil Armstrong dies at 82

Neil Armstrong was a quiet self-described nerdy engineer who became a global hero when as a steely-nerved pilot he made "one giant leap for mankind" with a small step on to the moon. The modest man who had people on Earth entranced and awed from almost a quarter million miles away has died. He was 82.

Armstrong died following complications resulting from cardiovascular procedures, a statement Saturday from his family said. It didn't say where he died.

Armstrong commanded the Apollo 11 spacecraft that landed on the moon July 20, 1969, capping the most daring of the 20th century's scientific expeditions. His first words after setting foot on the surface are etched in history books and the memories of those who heard them in a live broadcast.

"That's one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind," Armstrong said.

In those first few moments on the moon, during the climax of heated space race with the then-Soviet Union, Armstrong stopped in what he called "a tender moment" and left a patch commemorate NASA astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts who had died in action.

"It was special and memorable but it was only instantaneous because there was work to do," Armstrong told an Australian television interviewer this year.

Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin spent nearly three hours walking on the lunar surface, collecting samples, conducting experiments and taking photographs.

"The sights were simply magnificent, beyond any visual experience that I had ever been exposed to," Armstrong once said.

The moonwalk marked America's victory in the Cold War space race that began Oct. 4, 1957, with the launch of the Soviet Union's Sputnik 1, a 184-pound satellite that sent shock waves around the world.

Although he had been a Navy fighter pilot, a test pilot for NASA's forerunner and an astronaut, Armstrong never allowed himself to be caught up in the celebrity and glamor of the space program.

"I am, and ever will be, a white socks, pocket protector, nerdy engineer," he said in February 2000 in one of his rare public appearances. "And I take a substantial amount of pride in the accomplishments of my profession."

A man who kept away from cameras, Armstrong went public in 2010 with his concerns about President Barack Obama's space policy that shifted attention away from a return to the moon and emphasized private companies developing spaceships. He testified before Congress and in an email to The Associated Press, Armstrong said he had "substantial reservations," and along with more than two dozen Apollo-era veterans, he signed a letter calling the plan a "misguided proposal that forces NASA out of human space operations for the foreseeable future."

Armstrong's modesty and self-effacing manner never faded.

When he appeared in Dayton in 2003 to help celebrate the 100th anniversary of powered flight, he bounded onto a stage before 10,000 people packed into a baseball stadium. But he spoke for only a few seconds, did not mention the moon, and quickly ducked out of the spotlight.

He later joined former astronaut and Sen. John Glenn to lay wreaths on the graves of Wilbur and Orville Wright. Glenn introduced Armstrong and noted it was 34 years to the day that Armstrong had walked on the moon.

"Thank you, John. Thirty-four years?" Armstrong quipped, as if he hadn't given it a thought.

At another joint appearance, the two embraced and Glenn commented: "To this day, he's the one person on Earth, I'm truly, truly envious of."

Armstrong's moonwalk capped a series of accomplishments that included piloting the X-15 rocket plane and making the first space docking during the Gemini 8 mission, which included a successful emergency splashdown.

In the years afterward, Armstrong retreated to the quiet of the classroom and his southwest Ohio farm. Aldrin said in his book "Men from Earth" that Armstrong was one of the quietest, most private men he had ever met.

In the Australian interview, Armstrong acknowledged that "now and then I miss the excitement about being in the cockpit of an airplane and doing new things."

At the time of the flight's 40th anniversary, Armstrong again was low-key, telling a gathering that the space race was "the ultimate peaceful competition: USA versus U.S.S.R. It did allow both sides to take the high road with the objectives of science and learning and exploration."

Glenn, who went through jungle training in Panama with Armstrong as part of the astronaut program, described him as "exceptionally brilliant" with technical matters but "rather retiring, doesn't like to be thrust into the limelight much."

Derek Elliott, curator of the Smithsonian Institution's U.S. Air and Space Museum from 1982 to 1992, said the moonwalk probably marked the high point of space exploration.

The manned lunar landing was a boon to the prestige of the United States, which had been locked in a space race with the former Soviet Union, and re-established U.S. pre-eminence in science and technology, Elliott said.

"The fact that we were able to see it and be a part of it means that we are in our own way witnesses to history," he said.

The 1969 landing met an audacious deadline that President Kennedy had set in May 1961, shortly after Alan Shepard became the first American in space with a 15-minute suborbital flight. (Soviet cosmonaut Yuri A. Gagarin had orbited the Earth and beaten the U.S. into space the previous month.)

"I believe this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before the decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth," Kennedy had said. "No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important to the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish.

The end-of-decade goal was met with more than five months to spare. "Houston: Tranquility Base here," Armstrong radioed after the spacecraft settled onto the moon. "The Eagle has landed."

"Roger, Tranquility," the Houston staffer radioed back. "We copy you on the ground. You've got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We're breathing again. Thanks a lot."

The third astronaut on the mission, Michael Collins, circled the moon in the mother ship Columbia 60 miles overhead while Armstrong and Aldrin went to the moon's surface.

In all, 12 American astronauts walked on the moon between 1969 and the last moon mission in 1972.

For Americans, reaching the moon provided uplift and respite from the Vietnam War, from strife in the Middle East, from the startling news just a few days earlier that a young woman had drowned in a car driven off a wooden bridge on Chappaquiddick Island by Sen. Edward Kennedy. The landing occurred as organizers were gearing up for Woodstock, the legendary three-day rock festival on a farm in the Catskills of New York.

Armstrong was born Aug. 5, 1930, on a farm near Wapakoneta in western Ohio. He took his first airplane ride at age 6 and developed a fascination with aviation that prompted him to build model airplanes and conduct experiments in a homemade wind tunnel.

As a boy, he worked at a pharmacy and took flying lessons. He was licensed to fly at 16, before he got his driver's license.

Armstrong enrolled in Purdue University to study aeronautical engineering but was called to duty with the U.S. Navy in 1949 and flew 78 combat missions in Korea.

After the war, Armstrong finished his degree from Purdue and later earned a master's degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Southern California. He became a test pilot with what evolved into the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, flying more than 200 kinds of aircraft from gliders to jets.

Armstrong was accepted into NASA's second astronaut class in 1962 -- the first, including Glenn, was chosen in 1959 -- and commanded the Gemini 8 mission in 1966. After the first space docking, he brought the capsule back in an emergency landing in the Pacific Ocean when a wildly firing thruster kicked it out of orbit.

Armstrong was backup commander for the historic Apollo 8 mission at Christmastime in 1968. In that flight, Commander Frank Borman, and Jim Lovell and Bill Anders circled the moon 10 times, and paving the way for the lunar landing seven months later.

Aldrin said he and Armstronting few requests for interviews or speeches.

"He didn't give interviews, but he wasn't a strange person or hard to talk to," said Ron Huston, a colleague at the University of Cincinnati. "He just didn't like being a novelty."

Those who knew him said he enjoyed golfing with friends, was active in the local YMCA and frequently ate lunch at the same restaurant in Lebanon.

In 2000, when he agreed to announce the top 20 engineering achievements of the 20th century as voted by the National Academy of Engineering, Armstrong said there was one disappointment relating to his moonwalk.

"I can honestly say -- and it's a big surprise to me -- that I have never had a dream about being on the moon," he said.

From 1982 to 1992, Armstrong was chairman of Charlottesville, Va.-based Computing Technologies for Aviation Inc., a company that supplies computer information management systems for business aircraft.

He then became chairman of AIL Systems Inc., an electronic systems company in Deer Park, N.Y.

Armstrong married Carol Knight in 1999, and the couple lived in Indian Hill, a Cincinnati suburb. He had two adult sons from a previous marriage.

At the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles on Saturday, visitors held a minute of silence in memory of Armstrong.

http://www.foxnews.com/sc...ies-at-82/

RIP to another great astronaut wilted

[Edited 8/25/12 13:57pm]

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Reply #1 posted 08/25/12 2:07pm

Boriqua1130

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~*~ Rest In Peace rose Mr. Armstrong ~*~

I'll โ™ฅ๏ธ "LemonDrop" 2DN ๐Ÿ’‹ your "Sugar"
Prince: TY! ๐ŸŒน ๐ŸŽถ๐ŸŽธ๐ŸŽถ ๐Ÿ’œ Rex @3/27/18 2D Media Let Prince R.I.P.
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Reply #2 posted 08/25/12 2:23pm

Fury

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:f:
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Reply #3 posted 08/25/12 3:08pm

Timmy84

RIP to a great American. flag

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Reply #4 posted 08/25/12 3:50pm

NDRU

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Amazing how he resisted the spotlight. Probably had as many offers as anyone to speak on the topic, but he was not a visible figure.

Probably because he didn't want to answer the tough questions about the rippling flag in a place with no atmosphere wink

2:40 references how it must feel, and the social opportunities it must provide!

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Reply #5 posted 08/25/12 4:23pm

728huey

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A true American hero. Check that, a true hero for humanity. We are forever in his debt for his great achievement of being the first human to traverse another celestial body in space. He will be greatly missed.

"One small step for man; one giant leap for mankind."

RIP Neil Amrstrong.

sad pray rose dove typing

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Reply #6 posted 08/25/12 6:08pm

excited

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RIP he must have been so brave to have been up 4 getting in the rocket, magnificent person rose

my mum told me that i was sat on her lap as she & watched the moon landing, i'd have been 7 months old & remember bugger all, but she says it was absolutely truly magical!

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Reply #7 posted 08/25/12 7:31pm

luv4u

Moderator

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moderator

RIP rose

canada

Ohh purple joy oh purple bliss oh purple rapture!
REAL MUSIC by REAL MUSICIANS - Prince
"I kind of wish there was a reason for Prince to make the site crash more" ~~ Ben
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Reply #8 posted 08/25/12 8:45pm

morningsong

rose

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Reply #9 posted 08/25/12 9:03pm

purplethunder3
121

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I remember him walking on the moon... RIP dove

"Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything." --Plato

https://youtu.be/CVwv9LZMah0
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Reply #10 posted 08/25/12 9:09pm

nursev

rose great life

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Reply #11 posted 08/26/12 5:02am

deebee

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"Not everything that is faced can be changed; but nothing can be changed until it is faced." - James Baldwin
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Reply #12 posted 08/27/12 7:58am

ThruTheEyesOfW
onder

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RIP to the original moon walker rose pray

The salvation of man is through love and in love. - Dr. V. Frankl

"When you close your heart, you close your mind." - Michael Jackson (Man In The Mirror)

"I don't need anger management, I need people to stop pissing me off" lol
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Reply #13 posted 08/27/12 1:23pm

Genesia

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excited said:

RIP he must have been so brave to have been up 4 getting in the rocket, magnificent person rose

my mum told me that i was sat on her lap as she & watched the moon landing, i'd have been 7 months old & remember bugger all, but she says it was absolutely truly magical!

It was, indeed. cool

We donโ€™t mourn artists because we knew them. We mourn them because they helped us know ourselves.
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Reply #14 posted 08/27/12 2:32pm

Timmy84

Can I just say a few things?

Over the course of a few days, I've seen things that really question whether or not teens or young adults are heading this world into a sea of dumbass illogical mindsets and I found it clear in what came out after Neil Armstrong's death.

Some folks on Twitter actually thought they meant LANCE Armstrong. And then NBC made this ridiculous gaffe that said Neil Young instead of Armstrong. It's like people don't even check on info on notable legends who shaped our world. As if they think they're above the theory that they needed to know about these people in the first place.

This generation has too many sycophants in it. disbelief

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Reply #15 posted 08/27/12 4:58pm

JustErin

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Timmy84 said:

Can I just say a few things?

Over the course of a few days, I've seen things that really question whether or not teens or young adults are heading this world into a sea of dumbass illogical mindsets and I found it clear in what came out after Neil Armstrong's death.

Some folks on Twitter actually thought they meant LANCE Armstrong. And then NBC made this ridiculous gaffe that said Neil Young instead of Armstrong. It's like people don't even check on info on notable legends who shaped our world. As if they think they're above the theory that they needed to know about these people in the first place.

This generation has too many sycophants in it. disbelief

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Reply #16 posted 08/27/12 5:04pm

Timmy84

JustErin said:

Timmy84 said:

Can I just say a few things?

Over the course of a few days, I've seen things that really question whether or not teens or young adults are heading this world into a sea of dumbass illogical mindsets and I found it clear in what came out after Neil Armstrong's death.

Some folks on Twitter actually thought they meant LANCE Armstrong. And then NBC made this ridiculous gaffe that said Neil Young instead of Armstrong. It's like people don't even check on info on notable legends who shaped our world. As if they think they're above the theory that they needed to know about these people in the first place.

This generation has too many sycophants in it. disbelief

There it is right there! falloff

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Reply #17 posted 08/27/12 5:05pm

JustErin

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Timmy84 said:

There it is right there! falloff

biggrin

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Reply #18 posted 08/28/12 10:41pm

NDRU

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falloff

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Reply #19 posted 09/01/12 10:15pm

mynameisnotsus
an

I love how he was one of the most famous and respected names in the world - and you never, ever saw a picture of him. So cool. RIP

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Reply #20 posted 09/01/12 11:15pm

Timmy84

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Reply #21 posted 09/01/12 11:28pm

artist76

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^^ thank you for that Timmy. How amazing to travel through space and walk on the moon.
And as someone else posted, how very brave too. To go into the unknown, to risk your life - and for the sake of human curiosity. What lies beyond our atmosphere? What is our place in the universe? These questions overrode the instinct for self-preservation, for safety.

R.I.P. Neil Armstrong rose
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Reply #22 posted 09/02/12 12:20am

Timmy84

artist76 said:

^^ thank you for that Timmy. How amazing to travel through space and walk on the moon. And as someone else posted, how very brave too. To go into the unknown, to risk your life - and for the sake of human curiosity. What lies beyond our atmosphere? What is our place in the universe? These questions overrode the instinct for self-preservation, for safety. R.I.P. Neil Armstrong rose

Exactly. nod Neil was a soldier man. RIP again.

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