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Tanner Orton
Mrs. Wecker
4/14/2010
Neil Armstrong
Profile Assignment
The first step that Neil Armstrong took is still imprinted on the moon and will be
there for another 10 million years. The impact that Armstrong has made on space
exploration is greater than any other human being to have lived on this earth. His
achievements have given the rest of the world motivation to continue exploring space.
He has enabled us to believe that one day we may all be able to travel to mars, the moon
or perhaps even further.
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Born on August 5, 1930, Neil Alden Armstrong grew up in Wapakoneta, Ohio.
His parents were Stephen and Viola Armstrong. Stephen Armstrong worked as an auditor
for the state of Ohio. From a very young age, Neil Armstrong was interested in flying.
His love of airplanes grew when he went for his first plane ride in a Ford Tri-Motor, a
"Tin Goose," at the age of 6. From then on, he was fascinated by aviation. He began
taking flying lessons at the age of fifteen and he worked in various jobs in order to pay
for those lessons with his own money. His passion continued when at 16 he got his
student pilot's license before he was legally old enough to drive a car and before he
graduated from Blume High School in Wapakoneta in 1947.
In 1947, Armstrong entered Purdue University. He began studies in aeronautical
engineering. But in 1949, the United States Navy called him to active duty. Armstrong
served as a pilot in the United States Navy from 1949 to 1952, before completing a
Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Purdue University in 1955.
As a Navy pilot he was sent to Korea in 1950, near the start of the Korean War. In Korea,
he flew 78 combat missions in Navy Panther jets.
His military background as a pilot, as well as his education, prepared him to work
for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), the predecessor to the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). While with NACA, Armstrong
worked at the Lewis Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. After the creation of NASA in
1959, Armstrong continued to work for that agency. He contributed to NASA's flight
research as a test pilot, flying a number of different aircraft including the high-speed X-
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15. He also earned a Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering from the University of
Southern California.
Armstrong was a civilian test pilot assigned to test the X-15 rocket airplane before
becoming an astronaut in 1962. He made his first space flight in 1966 on Gemini 8 with
David R. Scott. The two men performed the first successful docking of two vehicles in
space, the Gemini 8 and an uninhabited Agena rocket. 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.
July 20th, 1959 was Apollo 11’s historic flight to the moon. Both astronauts Neil
Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin departed from the space craft and explored the lunar surface.
Upon taking his first step onto the moon, Armstrong said: "That's one small step for a
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man, one giant leap for mankind.” However the message was lost in radio transmission.
By researching what he said, scientists were able to piece together his message and
broadcast it to the public. Armstrong and Aldrin spent about two and one half hours
walking on the Moon collecting samples, doing experiments, and taking photographs that
would show all of mankind what the moon looked like.
So what exactly is this planet that Armstrong visited and why was it such an
accomplishment? The moon is an interesting celestial body, because it is the only one
that humans have been able to land on. It had been a dream of people world wide for
many years that one day humans could travel and land on the moon. The Russians were
trying to be the first to land on the moon and wanted to make the claim that they
accomplished the goal before we did. However, with the launching of the Apollo 11
mission, the Americans had the title of the first successful flight to the moon. The moon
is Earth’s only natural satelite and the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System. The
average center-to-center distance from the Earth to the Moon is 238,857 miles, about
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thirty times the diameter of the Earth. The Moon's diameter is 2,159 miles, a little more
than a quarter of the Earth. The pull of gravity at its surface is about 17 percent of that at
the Earth's surface, which is the reason why objects weigh less on the moon than on the
Earth.
At the conclusion of the Apollo 11 mission, 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 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 left the astronaut program after the Apollo 11 mission to become the
Deputy Associate Administrator for Aeronautics at NASA's headquarters in Washington,
DC. He only held this position for a short time before resigning in 1970. Soon after
resigning from the United States astronaut program in 1970, he earned a master's degree
in aerospace engineering at the University of Southern California. From 1971 to 1979,
Armstrong was a professor of aerospace engineering at the University of Cincinnati. In
1982, Armstrong became the chairman of Computing Technologies for Aviation, Inc., a
company located in Charlottesville, Virginia that develops software for flight scheduling.
He remained chairman there until 1992. Armstrong later became the chairman of a
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company that produces electronic systems called AIL Systems, Inc., located in Deer Park,
New York.
Because of his experience as both an engineer and an astronaut, Armstrong served
as a member of the National Commission on Space from 1985 to 1986. President Ronald
Reagan appointed Armstrong vice-chairman of the Presidential Commission on the Space
Shuttle Challenger Accident in 1986. Since Apollo 11, Armstrong has received a number
of important honors, both within the United States as well as internationally. He received
the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1969, as well as the Robert J. Collier Trophy. The
following year, Armstrong was awarded the Robert H. Goddard Memorial Trophy,
named after the man recognized by many as the father of American rocketry. Armstrong
and his fellow astronauts, along with their wives, completed a world tour following
Apollo 11. After that point, Armstrong attempted to stay out of the media spotlight,
preferring to live a more quiet life. Although Armstrong had left NASA to teach at the
University of Cincinnati, President Richard Nixon appointed him to serve as the
chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee for the Peace Corps from 1971 to 1973.
In 1978, Armstrong received the Congressional Space Medal of Honor as well. In
addition, he has received numerous other honors from around the world.
July 20th, 2009 was the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11’s historic flight to the
moon, when astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first human beings
to walk on the moon. Forty years ago, space flight inspired such awe that astronauts were
hailed as heroes and celebrities by men, women, and children alike. Everyone was
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inspired by the first landing on the moon and Neil Armstrong is the most well known and
achieved astronaut ever to have lived.
American heroes like Neil Armstrong show us all that we can dream big and
become great. He and the NASA program have created many of the technological
advances that we enjoy and use in our everyday lives. Space exploration is a key concept
that helps evolve our modern technology and world progression. As an American culture
we are always reaching for something more and wanting to expand our knowledge. That
is in part because of heroes like Neil Armstrong that show us it is possible.
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Works Cited
Carreau, Mark. “One small step for clarity.” September 16, 2006. March 16, 2010
< http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4225856.html>.
Greene, Nick. “Neil Armstrong Biography First Man on the Moon.” 2010. March 15,
2010 < http://space.about.com/od/astronautbiographies/a/neilarmstrong.htm >.
Potter, Ned. “Apollo 11: Untold Stories of the Moon Race.” June 2009. March 15 2010
<http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Apollo11MoonLanding/story?id=8109038>.
Williams, Hart. “The Secret History of Neil Armstrong.” 20 July 2009. March 15, 2010
< http://thedemocraticdaily.com/2009/07/20/a-secret-history-of-neil-armstrong/>.