Neil Alden Armstrong (August 5, 1930 - August 25, 2012) is an American astronaut and aviation engineer who was the first to walk on the Moon. He is also a naval aviator, experimental pilot, and university professor. When he stepped to the surface of the moon on July 21, 1969, he said: "It is a small step for a man, a great leap for mankind."
Graduated from Purdue University, he studied flight engineering with his tuition fees paid by the US Navy under the Holloway Plan. Armstrong became a cadet in 1949, and a naval aviator the following year. He saw action in the Korean War, flying the F9F Panther Grumman from the aircraft carrier USSÃ, Essex . In September 1951, he was hit by an anti-aircraft fire while carrying a low bombing, and was forced to rescue him. After the war, he completed his bachelor's degree at Purdue, and became a test pilot at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) High Speed ​​Flight Station at Edwards Air Force Base in California. He is a pilot project on Century Series fighters, and flies North America X-15 seven times. He is also a participant in the US Air Force in Space Soonest and X-20 Dyna-Soar human spaceflight program.
Armstrong joined the NASA Astronaut Corps in the second group, chosen in 1962. He made his first spacewalk as commander of Gemini 8 in March 1966, becoming the first NASA civic astronaut to fly in space. During this mission with pilot David Scott, he performed the first docking of two spacecraft; the mission was canceled after Armstrong used some of his entry control fuel to prevent dangerous rounds caused by a trapped thruster. During training for Armstrong's second and last spaceflight as commander of Apollo 11, he had to get out of the Lunar Landing Research Vehicle just before the fiery collision. In July 1969, Armstrong and Apollo 11 Lunar Module pilot Buzz Aldrin made the first manned Moon landing, and spent two and a half hours outside the spacecraft while Michael Collins remained in the moon's orbit in the Command/Service Module. Together with Collins and Aldrin, Armstrong was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Richard Nixon. President Jimmy Carter presented Armstrong with the Congressional Space Medal of Honor in 1978, and Armstrong and his former crew received the Gold Medal of Congress in 2009.
After he resigned from NASA in 1971, Armstrong taught at the Department of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Cincinnati until 1979. He served in the Apollo 13 accident investigation, and at the Rogers Commission, which investigated the Challenger Space Shuttle. He acted as a spokesperson for several businesses, and appeared in commercials for Chrysler beginning January 1979.
Video Neil Armstrong
Initial years
Armstrong was born on August 5, 1930, near Wapakoneta, Ohio, to Stephen Koenig Armstrong and Viola Louise Engel. He is of German, Irish and Scottish descent, and has a younger sister, June, and a younger brother, Dean. His father worked as an auditor for the Ohio state government, and his family moved to the state repeatedly, living in 20 cities. Armstrong's love for flying grew during this time, starting early when his father took his two-year-old son to the Cleveland Air Races. When he was five years old, he experienced his first plane flight in Warren, Ohio, on July 20, 1936, when he and his father boarded the Ford Trimotor, also known as "Tin Goose".
His father's last step was in 1944, back to Wapakoneta. Armstrong attended Blume High School, and took a flying lesson on the grassy lawn of Wapakoneta. He obtained a student flight certificate on his sixteenth birthday, then soloed a career in August, all before he had a driver's license. He is active in Scouting and earns the Eagle Scout rank. As an adult, he was recognized by Boy Scouts of America with Scout Distinguished Eagle Award and Silver Buffalo Award. On July 18, 1969, while flying to the Moon, Armstrong addressed the Spies. Among the few personal items he brought with him to the Moon and back was the World Scout Badge.
In 1947, at the age of 17, Armstrong began studying aviation techniques at Purdue University. He is the second person in his family to attend college. He was also accepted at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), but an uncle who had attended MIT prevented him from attending, telling him that there was no need to go all the way to Cambridge, Massachusetts, for a good education. His tuition is paid under the Holloway Plan. Successful applicants commit to study for two years, followed by two years of flight training and one year of service in the US Navy as a pilot, then complete the last two years of their undergraduate degree. He did not take courses in naval science, nor did he join the Marine Corps Training Corps at Purdue.
Maps Neil Armstrong
Armstrong's call from the Navy arrived on January 26, 1949, which required him to report to Naval Air Station Pensacola in Florida for flight training with classes 5-49. After passing a medical examination, he became a cadet on February 24, 1949. Flight training took place on the North American SNJ trainer, where he attended school on 9 September 1949. On March 2, 1950, he made his first aircraft carrier landing at USSÃ, Cabot , a feat he considered as comparable to his first solo flight. He was then sent to Naval Air Station Corpus Christi in Texas for training at Grumman's F8F Bearcat, culminating in a carrier landing at USSÃ, Wright. On August 16, 1950, Armstrong was notified by letter that he was a qualified naval aviator. His mother and sister attended the graduation ceremony on August 23, 1950.
Armstrong's job is to Fleet Aircraft Service Squadron 7 (FASRON 7) on NAS San Diego (now known as NAS North Island). On November 27, 1950, he was assigned to the VF-51, a jet squadron, became the youngest officer, and made his first flight with the jet, Grumman F9F Panther, on January 5, 1951. He was promoted to inaugurate on 5 June 1951, and made a jet landing the first jet in the USSÃ, Essex two days later. On June 28, 1951, Essex had traveled to Korea, with VF-51 boarding a plane to act as a ground attack aircraft. VF-51 flew forward to Naval Air Station Barbers Point in Hawaii, where they undertook combat-bomber training before rejoining the ship at the end of July.
On August 29, 1951, Armstrong saw action in the Korean War as a companion for a photo-reconnaissance plane in Songjin. Five days later, on September 3, he flew an armed reconnaissance on the main transport and storage facility in the southern village of Majon-ni, west of Wonsan. Making the bombardment low at 350 mph (560 km/h), Armstrong's F9F Panther was hit by an anti-airplane fire. While attempting to regain control, he collided with a pole at a height of 20 feet (6 m), which cut 3 feet (1 m) from the Panther's right wing.
Armstrong flew the plane back into friendly territory, but due to the aileron loss, ejection was his only safe choice. He intends to drain the water and wait for the rescue by a Navy helicopter, but his parachute is blown to the mainland. The jeep driven by a roommate from an aerospace school picked him up; it is not known what happened to the wreckage of its aircraft, F9F-2 BuNo 125122 .
Overall, Armstrong flew 78 missions over Korea for a total of 121 hours in the air, a third of them in January 1952, with a final mission on March 5, 1952. Of the 492 US Navy personnel killed in the Korean War, 27 of them were from > Essex on this voyage of war. Armstrong received an Air Medal for 20 combat missions, two gold stars for the next 40 years, the Korean Service and Star Award Medal, the National Defense Department Medal, and the Korean Medal of the United Nations. His regular commission was terminated on 25 February 1952, and he became a banner at the United States Navy Reserve. After completing his combat tour with Essex, he was assigned to the transport squadron VR-32 in May 1952. He was released from active duty on August 23, 1952, but remained in reserve, and promoted to lieutenant (junior class ) on May 9, 1953. As a backup, he continued to fly, with VF-724 at Naval Air Station Glenview in Illinois, and later, after moving to California, with VF-773 at Naval Los Alamitos Air Station. He remained in the nature reserve for eight years, before retiring from his commission on 21 October 1960.
Course period
After his service with the Navy, Armstrong returned to Purdue, where his best grades came in four semesters after returning from Korea. He previously earned an average grade, but his final GPA was 4.8 out of 6.0. He promised the brotherhood of Phi Delta Theta, and lived in a fraternal home. He writes and leads together two musicals as part of a student change. The first is the Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs versions, with songs from Walt Disney movies including Someday My Prince Will Come ; the second is titled The Land of Egelloc , with music from Gilbert and Sullivan but new lyrics. He is chairman of the Purdue Aero Flying Club, and flies a club-owned plane, Aeronca, and several Pipers, which are housed at nearby Aretz Airport in Lafayette, Indiana. Fly Aeronca to Wapakoneta in 1954, he ruined it in a rough landing on a farmer's farm, and it had to be transported back to Lafayette with a trailer. At Purdue, he is also a member of the Kappa Kappa Psi National Honest Kappa Band, and a baritone player on the Purdue All-American Marching Band. Armstrong graduated in January 1955 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering. In 1970 he completed his Master of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering at the University of Southern California (USC). He will eventually be awarded an honorary doctorate by several universities.
After returning to Purdue, he met Janet Elizabeth Shearon, who majored in home economics, at a party hosted by female student Alpha Chi Omega. According to the couple, there is no real courtship, and can not remember the exact situation of their engagement. They married on January 28, 1956, at the Congregational Church in Wilmette, Illinois. When he moved to Edwards Air Force Base, he stayed on bachelor at headquarters, while Janet lives in the Westwood district of Los Angeles. After a semester, they moved into a house in the Antelope Valley. Janet did not complete her title, a regrettable fact at a later date. The couple has three children: Eric, Karen, and Mark. In June 1961, Karen was diagnosed with a malignant tumor in the middle of her brain stem; X-ray treatment slows its growth, but her health deteriorates to the point where she can no longer walk or talk. He died of pneumonia, related to his weakened health, on January 28, 1962, two years of age.
Pilot test
After graduating from Purdue, Armstrong became an experimental pilot. He applied to the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) of the High Speed ​​Flight Station at Edwards Air Force Base. The NACA has no open positions, and continues its application to Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory in Cleveland, where Armstrong conducted its first test flight on March 1, 1955. Armstrong's duty in Cleveland lasted only a few months before the position at High-Speed ​​Aviation Station became available, and he reportedly worked there on July 11, 1955.
On its first day, Armstrong was assigned to pilot the aircraft during the experimental aircraft launch of the modified bomber. He also flew modified bombers, and on one of these missions his first flight incident occurred at Edwards. On March 22, 1956, he was at the Boeing B-29 Superfortress, which would degrade the Douglas-558-2 Skyrocket. He sits in the seat of the right pilot while the left seat commander, Stan Butchart, flies the B-29.
As they climbed to 30,000 feet (9 km), the number four engine stopped and the propellers began to spin (spin free) in the airflow. Pressing the button that would stop the rotation of the blades, Butchart found it slowed but then began to spin again, this time even faster than the others; if it spins too fast, it will break. Their plane must have a 210 mph (338 km/h) airspeed to launch the Skyrocket payload, and the B-29 can not land with the Skyrocket attached to its belly. Armstrong and Butchart take the plane to the nose-down position to increase speed, then launch Skyrocket. At the time of launch, the engine propeller number four was destroyed. The cut damaged machine number three and hit the number two machine. Butchart and Armstrong were forced to shut down the damaged number three engine, along with the number one engine, due to the torque it created. They made slow, spinning from 30,000 feet (9 km) using only the number two machine, and landed safely.
Armstrong served as a pilot project for Century Series fighter, including A & C North American F-100 Super Saber, McDonnell F-101 Voodoo, Lockheed F-104 Starfighter, F-105 Thunderchief and Convair F-106 Delta Dart. He also flew Douglas DC-3, Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star, F-86 Saber North America, McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II, Skylancer Douglas F5D-1, Boeing B-29 Superfortress, Boeing B-47 Stratojet and Boeing KC -135 Stratotanker, and is one of eight elite pilots involved in the Parasev paraglase research vehicle program. During his career, he flew over 200 different aircraft models. His first flight in a rocket-powered aircraft was on August 15, 1957, at Bell X-1B, to a height of 11.4 miles (18.3 km). On landing, poorly designed nose landing gear failed, as happened on about a dozen previous flights from Bell X-1B. He flew the North American X-15 seven times, including the first flight with Q-ball system, the first flight of the X-15 aircraft, and the first flight of the adaptive MH-96 flight control system. He became an employee of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) when it was founded on October 1, 1958, absorbing the NACA.
Armstrong was involved in several incidents that went down in Edwards folklore or recorded in his colleagues' memoirs. During the sixth X-15 flight on April 20, 1962, when Armstrong tested the MH-96 control system, he flew to an altitude of over 207,000 feet (63 km) (the highest he flew before Gemini 8). He lifted the plane's nose for too long during the descent to show a restrictive MH-96 performance, and the X-15 ballooned back up to about 140,000 feet (43 km). He flew over a landing field at Mach 3 (2,000 mph, 3,200 km/h) at over 100,000 feet (30 km) in altitude, and ended 40 miles (64 km) south of Edwards. After quite down, he turned toward the landing area, and landed, only missing Joshua's tree at the southern end. It was the longest X-15 flight in both the flight time and the length of the landline.
Many test pilots at Edwards praised Armstrong's technical abilities. Milt Thompson says he is "the most technically capable of the early X-15 pilots". Bill Dana said Armstrong "had a mind that absorbed things like a sponge". Those who fly for the Air Force tend to have different opinions, especially the likes of Yeager and Pete Knight, who have no engineer degree. Knight says pilots fly in "more mechanical than flying" ways, and give this as a reason why some pilot-engineers get into trouble: their flying skills do not come naturally.
Armstrong made seven flights on the X-15 between November 30, 1960 and July 26, 1962. He reached a top speed of Mach 5.74 (3.989 mph, 6.420 km/h) at X-15-1, and left the Flight Research Center with a total of 2,400 flight hours.
On April 24, 1962, Armstrong flew for the only time with Chuck Yeager. Their work, flying T-33, is to evaluate Smith Ranch Dry Lake in Nevada for use as an emergency landing site for X-15s. In his autobiography, Yeager writes that he knows the lake bed is not suitable for landings after recent rain, but Armstrong insists on flying out. When they try to touch and leave, the wheels become stuck and they have to wait for the rescue. As Armstrong had said, Yeager never tried to persuade him out of there and they made the first landing on the eastern side of the lake. Then Yeager told him to try again, this time a little slower. On the second landing, they become stagnant, provoking Yeager to enjoy laughter.
On May 21, 1962, Armstrong was involved in the "Nellis Affair". He was sent off in F-104 to check Delamar Dry Lake in southern Nevada, again for an emergency landing. He misjudged his altitude, and did not realize that the landing gear had not been fully extended. As he landed, the landing gear began to pull back; Armstrong applied full force to cancel the landing, but the abdominal and landing fins hit the ground, damaging the radio and releasing the hydraulic fluid. Without radio communications, Armstrong flew south to Nellis Air Force Base, past the control tower, and wiggled its wings, a signal for a radio-free approach. The loss of hydraulic fluid causes the tailhook to discharge, and after landing, it catches the retaining wire attached to the anchor chain, and drags the chain along the runway.
It took thirty minutes to clear the runway and install another retaining cable. Armstrong called Edwards and asked someone to pick him up. Milt Thompson was shipped in F-104B, the only two seats available, but the Thompson plane was never flown. With difficulty, Thompson made it to Nellis, where strong strong winds caused a hard landing and the left main tire exploded. The runway was again closed to clear it, and Bill Dana was sent to Nellis in T-33, but he almost landed long. The Nellis headquarters operation office then decided that in order to avoid further problems, it would be better to find three NASA pilot land transportation back to Edwards.
Astronomical career
In June 1958, Armstrong was selected for the US Air Force Soonest Man In Space program, but the Agency for Advanced Research Project (ARPA) canceled its funding on 1 August 1958, and on 5 November 1958 it was replaced by Project Mercury, a civil project run by NASA. As a NASA civilian test pilot, Armstrong is not qualified to be one of its current astronauts, as selection is limited to military test pilots. In November 1960, he was selected as part of a pilot consultant group for X-20 Dyna-Soar, a military spacecraft being developed by Boeing for the US Air Force, and on March 15, 1962, he was elected by the United States. The Air Force is one of seven pilot-engineers who will fly the X-20 when it comes down from the design board.
In April 1962, NASA announced that the app was being sought for a second group of NASA astronauts for Project Gemini, a proposed two-person spacecraft. This time, the selection is open to qualified civilian test pilots. Armstrong visited the Seattle World Fair in May 1962, and attended a conference there in space exploration sponsored jointly by NASA. After he returned from Seattle on June 4, he applied for an astronaut. His application arrived about a week past the deadline of June 1, 1962, but Dick Day, a flight simulator expert with whom Armstrong worked closely at Edwards, noticed the late application and put it into the pile before anyone saw it. At Brooks Air Force Base at the end of June, Armstrong underwent a medical examination that many applicants described as painful and sometimes seemingly insignificant.
NASA Flight Crew Operations Director Deke Slayton called Armstrong on September 13, 1962, and asked if he would be interested in joining the NASA Astronaut Corps as part of what was nicknamed "The New Nine"; without hesitation, Armstrong said yes. The choice was kept secret until three days later, although newspaper reports have been circulating since the beginning of the year that he will be selected as the "first civilian astronaut". Armstrong was one of two civilian pilots selected for this group; the other is Elliot See, another former naval aviator. NASA publicly announced the second group selection at a press conference on September 17, 1962. Compared to the Mercury Seven astronauts, they were younger, and had more impressive academic credentials.
Gemini Program
Gemini 5
On February 8, 1965, Armstrong and See were announced as a reserve crew for Gemini 5, with Armstrong as its commander, supporting Gordon Cooper's main crew and Pete Conrad. The purpose of this mission is to practice rendezvous space and develop procedures and equipment for long-term flights for seven days. This will be required for the mission to the Moon. With two other flights (Gemini 3 and Gemini 4) in preparation, there are six crew competing for the simulator time, so Gemini 5 is delayed. The mission was revoked on 21 August. Armstrong and See watched the launch at Cape Kennedy, and then flew to the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston. This mission is generally successful, although there are problems with fuel cells that prevent encounters. Cooper and Conrad practiced "phantom rendezvous", maneuvered without a target.
Gemini 8
The crew assignment for Gemini 8 was announced on September 20, 1965. Under the normal rotation system, a backup crew for a mission would be the main crew for the third mission thereafter, but Slayton appointed David Scott as the Gemini pilot 8. Scott was the first member of the third group of astronauts, whose selection was announced on October 18, 1963, to receive the crew's first task. See is appointed to rule Gemini 9. Furthermore, every Gemini mission will be ordered by members of the Armstrong group, with Scott's group members as pilots. Conrad will be Armstrong's backup this time, with Richard F. Gordon Jr. as the pilot. Armstrong became the first American civilian in space; Valentina Tereshkova of the Soviet Union had become the first civilian (and first woman) almost three years earlier on board Vostok 6 when it was launched on June 16, 1963. Armstrong would also be the last of his group to fly in space, as See died in a T- 38 on February 28, 1966, which also took the life of the crew of Charles Bassett. They were replaced by the backup crew of Tom Stafford and Gene Cernan, while Jim Lovell and Buzz Aldrin moved from the Gemini 10 reserve crew to reserve for Gemini 9, and eventually flew Gemini 12.
Gemini 8 was launched on March 16, 1966. It became the most complex, with meetings and docking with Agena unmanned target vehicles, and the second American extravehicular (EVA) activity by Scott. In total, the mission is planned to last 75 hours and 55 orbits. After Agena took off at 10:00 am EST, the Titan II rocket carrying Armstrong and Scott was lit at 11:41:02 AM EST, placing them into orbit they pursued Agena. They reached the first docking between two spacecraft in orbit. Contact with intermittent crew due to lack of tracking stations covering all its orbits. Due to contact with the ground, the anchored spaceship began to roll over, and Armstrong attempted to rectify this with the Orbital Attitude and Maneuver System (OAMS) of the Gemini spacecraft. Following the initial suggestion of Mission Control, they refused, but found that the rolls increased dramatically to the point where they rotated once per second, indicating a problem with Gemini's attitude control. Armstrong uses the Reentry Control System (RCS) and turns off the OAMS. The rules of dictation dictate that once the system is turned on, the spacecraft must re-enter at the next possible opportunity. He then thought that the broken wire caused one of the plunger to be stuck in the on position.
There are some people in the Office of Astronauts, including Walter Cunningham, who feels that Armstrong and Scott "have ruined their first mission". There is speculation that Armstrong can save the mission if he just lights one of the two RCS rings, saving another for mission purposes. This criticism is unfounded; no crash procedure has been written, and it's only possible to turn on both RCS rings, not just one or the other. Gene Kranz writes, "the crew reacted when they were trained, and they reacted wrong because we trained them wrong." Mission planners and controllers fail to realize that when two spacecraft are docked together, they must be considered a single spacecraft. Kranz considered this the most important lesson. Armstrong himself felt depressed because the mission had been shortened, canceled most mission objectives and robbed Scott of his EVA. The Agena was later reused as a docking target by Gemini 10. Armstrong and Scott received the NASA's Extraordinary Service Medal, and the Air Force awarded Scott Distinguished Flying Cross as well. Scott was promoted to lieutenant colonel, and Armstrong received a $ 678 increase in salary to $ 21,653 per year (equivalent to $ 163,319 in 2017), making him the highest paid NASA astronaut.
Gemini 11
The final project for Armstrong in the Gemini program is as a Pilot Command reserve for Gemini 11, announced two days after the Gemini 8 landings. After being trained for two flights, Armstrong is quite knowledgeable about the system and takes up the teaching role for rookie reserve pilot William Anders. The launch was on September 12, 1966, with Conrad and Gordon on board, who successfully completed mission objectives, while Armstrong served as a capsule communicator (CAPCOM).
After the flight, President Lyndon B. Johnson asked Armstrong and his wife to take part in a good 24-hour South American tour. Also on tour, which took in 11 countries and 14 major cities, were Dick Gordon, George Low, their wives, and other government officials. In Paraguay, Armstrong addressed respectable people in their local language, Guarani; in Brazil he talks about the exploitation of Brazilian-born Alberto Santos-Dumont.
Apollo Program
On January 27, 1967, the date of the Apollo 1 fires, Armstrong was in Washington, D.C., with Cooper, Gordon, Lovell and Scott Carpenter for the signing of the United Nations Aerospace Treaty. The astronauts chatted with the officers who gathered until 18:45, when Carpenter went to the airport, and the others returned to the Georgetown Inn, where they each found a message to contact the Manned Space Shuttle Center. During this phone call, they learned of the deaths of Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee in the fire. Armstrong and the group spent the rest of the evening drinking scotch and discussing what had happened.
On April 5, 1967, on the same day, an Apollo 1 investigation released a final report on the fire, Armstrong gathered with 17 other astronauts to meet Slayton. The first thing Slayton said was, "The people who will fly the first month's missions are the people in this room." According to Cernan, one of the astronauts present, Armstrong showed no reaction to the statement. For Armstrong, it was not surprising - the room was full of Project Gemini veterans, the only person who could fly the moon mission. Slayton speaks of a planned mission and names Armstrong with a backup crew for Apollo 9, which at that stage is planned to be an intermediate Earth orbit test of a combination of Lunar Module/Command/Service Modules.
The crew's assignment was officially announced on November 20, 1967. For the crew, he commissioned Lovell and Aldrin, the Gemini 12 crew. After design and manufacturing delays in Lunar Module (LM), Apollo 8 and Apollo 9 swapped prime and crew reserves. Under the normal crew rotation scheme, Armstrong will lead Apollo 11. There will be one change. Mike Collins in the Apollo 8 crew started having problems with his legs. Doctors diagnose the problem as bone growth between the fifth and sixth vertebrae, which require surgery. Lovell took his place in the Apollo 8 crew, and, when he recovered, Collins joined Armstrong's crew.
To provide an astronaut experience with how the LM will fly on its final landing landing, NASA commissioned Bell Aircraft to build two Lunar Landing Research Vehicles (LLRV), then augmented with three Lunar Landing Training Vehicles (LLTV). Dubbed "Flying Bedsteads", they simulate one-sixth of Earth's gravity by using a turbofan engine to support five-sixths of a plane's weight. On May 6, 1968, 100 feet (30 m) above the ground, Armstrong's control began to decline and LLRV began to spin. He came out safely. Further analysis showed that if he was ejected half a second later, his parachute would not open on time. His only injury was to bite his tongue. LLRV is totally destroyed. Though he was almost killed, Armstrong declared that without LLRV and LLTV, the landing on the moon would not work, as they gave commanders valuable experience in lunar lander behavior.
In addition to LLRV training, NASA started lunar simulator training months after Apollo 10 was completed. Aldrin and Armstrong work with instructors to train for the most feasible possibilities they can encounter during a real lunar landing. The couple just took the time to go on a geological expedition, to the mountains of west Texas. The press found, and filled the area with cars and helicopters, which made it difficult for astronauts to hear geologists. They also received briefings from geologists when at NASA.
Apollo 11
After Armstrong served as reserve commander for Apollo 8, Slayton offered him the commander of Apollo 11 on December 23, 1968, when Apollo 8 orbited the Moon. In an unpublished meeting until the publication of Armstrong's biography in 2005, Slayton told him that although the planned crew is Armstrong as Commander, Lunar Module (LM) Pilot Buzz Aldrin and Command Module (CM) Pilot Michael Collins, he offers Armstrong the opportunity to replacing Aldrin with Jim Lovell. After thinking about it for a day, Armstrong told Slayton that he would stay with Aldrin, because he had no trouble working with him and thought Lovell deserved his own orders. Replacing Aldrin with Lovell will make Lovell the Lunar Module Pilot, unofficially the lowest ranked member, and Armstrong can not justify putting Lovell, commander of Gemini 12, in the number 3 position of the crew. The Apollo 11 crew were officially announced on 9 January 1969, such as Armstrong, Collins and Aldrin, with Lovell, Anders and Fred Haise as the reserve crew.
According to Chris Kraft, the March 1969 meeting between Slayton, George Low, Bob Gilruth and Kraft determined that Armstrong would be the first on the Moon, partly because NASA's management saw it as a person without a big ego. A press conference on April 14, 1969, gave the LM cabin design as the reason Armstrong became the first; hatches opened inward and to the right, making it difficult for the Lunar Module Pilot, on the right side, to get out first. At the time of their meeting, the four men did not know about hatchery considerations. The first knowledge of meetings outside the small group came when Kraft wrote his book. Methods to overcome this difficulty exist, but it is not known whether this is considered at the time. Slayton added, "Secondly, purely based on pure protocol, I think the commander should be the first... I change it as soon as I find they have a timeline that shows it." Bob Gilruth approves my decision. "
Sailing to the Moon
The Saturn V rocket launched Apollo 11 from the Launch Complex 39 site at Kennedy Space Center on July 16, 1969, at 13:32:00 UTC (09:32:00 EDT local time). Armstrong's wife, Janet, and two sons of a cruise ship were moored in the Banana River. During the launch, Armstrong's heart rate peaked at 110 beats per minute. He found the harsh first stage - much more noisy than the launch of Gemini 8 Titan II. The Apollo CM is relatively roomy compared to the Gemini spacecraft. None of Apollo 11's crew suffer from aerospace, as experienced by some of the previous crew members. Armstrong is very happy, because he tends to get easily drunk as a child and can experience nausea after aerobatic exercise for a long time.
Apollo 11's goal is to land safely rather than land on precision in a certain place. Three minutes into the lunar descent burn, Armstrong notes that the crater passes about two seconds too early, which means LM Eagle may land a few miles outside the planned landing zone. When the landing radar Eagle ' gets surfaced, several computer error alarms appear. The first is a 1202 alarm code, and even with their extensive training, neither Armstrong nor Aldrin are aware of what this code means. They immediately received word from CAPCOM Charles Duke in Houston that the alarm was no problem; 1202 and 1201 alarms caused by overflow of executives in Lunar Module computers. As described by Buzz Aldrin in the documentary In the Moon Shadow , the overflow condition was caused by his own counter-checklist choice that left the landing radar during the landing process, so the computer had to process unnecessary and unnecessary radar data enough time to run all the tasks, dropping the lower priorities. Aldrin stated that he did so with the aim of facilitating re-docking with the CM having to undo being necessary, unaware that it would cause the overflow condition.
When Armstrong realized that they were heading to a landing area that he believed was unsafe, he took control of the LM manual, and tried to find an area that looked safer, longer than expected, and longer than most simulations. For this reason, there is a concern from Mission Control that LM runs out of fuel. Upon landing, Aldrin and Armstrong are confident they have 40 seconds left in their fuel, including a value of 20 seconds to be saved in case of cancellation. During the training, Armstrong has landed the LLTV with less than 15 seconds remaining on several occasions, and he also believes the LM can survive vertical fall of 50 feet (15 m) if needed. Analysis after the mission showed that on landing there was residual propellant burning for 45 to 50 seconds.
The landing on the Moon's surface took place a few seconds after 20:17:40 UTC on July 20, 1969, at that time one of the three 67-inch (170 cm) probes attached to three of the four legs of Lunar Module made contact with the surface, the lamp panel inside the LM lights up, and Aldrin exclaims, "Light contact." Armstrong turned off the engine and said, "Shutdown." When LM sat on the surface, Aldrin said, "Okay, engine stopped," then they both called out some landing post list items. After a ten-second pause, Duke acknowledged the landing with, "We copied you, Walking on First Month
NASA's official flight plan called for a crew break period before extravehicular activities, but Armstrong requested that the EVA be moved early in the evening, Houston time. After Armstrong and Aldrin were ready to go out, the Eagle was pressed by the pressure, the hold opened and Armstrong walked down the stairs. At the bottom of the stairs Armstrong said, "I'm going out of LM now". He turned and put his left boot on the moon at 2:56 UTC on July 21, 1969, then uttered the now famous words, "That is a small step for a man, a great leap for mankind."
Armstrong prepared his own famous epigram. In a post-flight press conference, he said he chose the words "before leaving LM." In a 1983 interview at Esquire Magazine, Armstrong explained to George Plimpton: "I always knew there was a good chance to get back to Earth, but I think the likelihood of success touching on the lunar surface is about even money - fifty fifty... Most people do not realize how difficult the mission is, so it seems to me there is no point thinking about something to say if we should abort the landing. "In 2012, his brother Dean Armstrong stated that Neil had shown him a note with draft several months before launch. Historian Andrew Chaikin, who had interviewed Armstrong in 1988 for his book A Man on the Moon, denied that Armstrong had claimed to have come on a spontaneous line during the mission.
Armstrong's transmission tapes do not prove an infinite article "a" before "man", though NASA and Armstrong have been adamant for years that static has obscured it. Armstrong stated he would never make that mistake, but after listening to the recording over and over, he finally admitted that he must have dropped the "a". He then said he "would hope that history would give me the leeway to drop the syllable and understand that it was indeed intended, even if it was not said - although it might actually have been". Since then there have been claims and counter-claims as to whether the acoustic analysis of the record reveals a lost "a"; Peter Shann Ford, an Australian computer programmer, did a digital audio analysis and claimed that Armstrong did say "a man," but "a" was not heard because of the limitations of communication technology at the time. Ford and James R. Hansen, author of the official biography of Armstrong, presented these findings to Armstrong and NASA representatives, who conducted their own analysis. Armstrong found Ford's analysis "persuasive." Linguists David Beaver and Mark Liberman wrote about their skepticism over Ford's claim on the Language Log blog. A peer-reviewed 2016 study concludes that Armstrong has incorporated the article. NASA transcripts continue to show "a" in parentheses. When Armstrong made his proclamation, Voice of America was re-broadcast live through the BBC and many other stations around the world. The estimated global audience at the time was 530 million, out of an estimated world population of 3.6 billion.
About 20 minutes after the first step, Aldrin joins Armstrong on the surface and becomes the second man to set foot on the Moon, and the duo begin their task to investigate how easily a person can operate on the lunar surface. From the beginning, Armstrong unveiled a plaque to commemorate their flights, as well as installing the flag of the United States. The flag used on this mission has a metal rod to hold it from its pole. Since the trunk was not fully widened, and the flag was folded tightly and packed during the trip, the flag ended with a slightly wavy appearance, as if there was a breeze. Shortly after the planting of their flag, President Richard Nixon spoke to them through a phone call from his office. The President spoke for a minute, after which Armstrong answered for about thirty seconds. In the Apollo 11 photo note there are only five images of Armstrong that are partially displayed or reflected. The mission is planned up to this minute, with most of the photography work done by Armstrong with a single Hasselblad camera.
After helping to set up the Early Apollo Scientific Experiment Package, Armstrong walked to what is now known as the Eastern Crater, 65 yards (59 m) east of LM, the largest distance traveled from LM in the mission. Armstrong's final duty is to remind Aldrin to leave a small package of warning items for Soviet cosmonauts Yuri Gagarin and Vladimir Komarov, and Apollo 1 astronaut Grissom, White and Chaffee. The time spent on EVA during Apollo 11 is two and a half hours; each of the five subsequent landing was given a longer time for EVA activities - the Apollo 17 crew spent more than 22 hours exploring the lunar surface. In a 2010 interview, Armstrong explained that NASA is limiting Moon to run because they are not sure how space will cope with the extremely high temperatures on the Moon.
Back to Earth
After they re-enter LM, the hold is closed and sealed. While preparing to take off from the lunar surface, Armstrong and Aldrin find that, in their large space suit, they have damaged the ignition button for the climbing machine; using the pen section, they push the circuit breaker to activate the launch sequence. The Eagle then proceeds to the meeting in the moon's orbit, where it is anchored with Columbia , the Command and Service Module. The three astronauts return to Earth and fall in the Pacific Ocean, to be picked up by the USS Hornet .
After being released from an 18-day quarantine to ensure that they do not take any infections or illnesses from the Moon, the crew is fenced off across the United States and around the world as part of a 45-day "Giant Leap" tour. Armstrong then took part in USO Bob Hope's 1969 event, mainly to Vietnam. In May 1970, Armstrong traveled to the Soviet Union to deliver a lecture at the 13th annual Conference of the International Committee on Space Research; Upon arriving in Leningrad from Poland, he went to Moscow where he met Premier Alexei Kosygin. Armstrong was the first westerner to see Tupolev Tu-144 supersonic and was given a tour of Yuri Gagarin's Cosmonaut Training Center, which he described as "slightly Victorian-style". At the end of the day, he was shocked to see the delayed video of the Soyuz 9 launch - it had not occurred to Armstrong that the mission was ongoing, though Tereshkova had hosted him and her husband, Andriyan Nikolayev, was aboard.
Life after Apollo
Teaching
Armstrong announced shortly after the Apollo 11 flight that he did not plan to fly in space again. He was appointed Deputy Associate Administrator for aeronautics for the Office of Advanced Research and Technology at ARPA; he served in this position for only a year, and resigned from him and NASA in 1971. He accepted a teaching position at the Aerospace Engineering Department at the University of Cincinnati, having chosen Cincinnati over other universities, including his alphamater, Purdue, because Cincinnati has small aerospace departments. He hopes that faculty members will not be disturbed because he went straight into professorship with only a USC master degree. He started this when placed at Edwards the year before, and completed it after Apollo 11 by presenting reports on various aspects of Apollo, not a thesis on hypersonic flight simulations. The official job title he received in Cincinnati was Professor of Aerospace Technical University. After teaching for eight years, he resigned in 1979 without explaining his reasons for leaving.
NASA accident investigation
Armstrong is in charge of two accidental investigations in outer space. The first was in 1970, after the explosion and lunar landings of Apollo 13 were canceled. As part of Edgar Cortright's panel, he produced a detailed chronology of aviation. Armstrong opposed the report's recommendation to redesign the service module oxygen tank, which was the source of the explosion. In 1986, President Ronald Reagan appointed him to the Rogers Commission investigating the Space Shuttle Challenger that year. As deputy chairman, Armstrong is responsible for the commission's operational side.
Business activity
After Armstrong retired from NASA in 1971, he acted as a spokesperson for several businesses. The first company to successfully approach him was Chrysler, for which he appeared in ads beginning January 1979. Armstrong thought they had a strong engineering division, and they were in financial trouble. He then acted as a spokesperson for other American companies, including the General Time Corporation and the Bankers Association of America. Along with the tasks of the spokesman, he also serves on the boards of directors of several companies, including Marathon Oil, Learjet, Cinergy (Cincinnati Gas & amp; amperes), Taft Broadcasting, United Airlines, Eaton Corporation, AIL Systems and Thiokol. He joined the Thiokol council after he served at the Rogers Commission; The Space Shuttle Challenger was destroyed by a problem with Thiokol solid rocket boosters. He retired as chairman of the board of EDO Corporation in 2002.
Arctic Expedition
In 1985, the leader of a professional expedition Mike Dunn arranged a journey to bring the people he considered the "greatest explorer" to the North Pole. The group included Armstrong, Edmund Hillary, the sons of Hillary Peter, Steve Fossett, and Patrick Morrow, and arrived on April 6, 1985. Armstrong said he was curious to see what the Arctic looked like from the moon.
Television and movies
In 2010, he voiced Dr. Jack Morrow in Quantum Quest: A Cassini Space Odyssey , an animated science fiction adventure film initiated by JPL/NASA through a grant from the Jet Propulsion Lab. Between 1991 and 1993, he hosted First Flight with Neil Armstrong, a series of aviation history documentaries at A & amp; E.
Personal life
Some former astronauts (such as US Senator John Glenn and Harrison Schmitt) sought a political career after leaving NASA, but although Armstrong was approached by political groups from both sides, he rejected all offers. He describes his political tendency as a state's right to the side and opposes the United States acting as a "world policeman".
In the late 1950s, Armstrong applied for a local Methodist church to lead the Scouting troops. When asked for his religious affiliation, he gave it as deist. Her mother later said that Armstrong's religious outlook caused her sadness and distress later because she was more religious.
In 1972, Armstrong visited the town of Langholm, Scotland, the traditional seat of Clan Armstrong; he was made the first freeman of the Burgh, and gladly announced the city was his home. The Justice of the Peace reads from the undesired 400-year law that requires him to hang Armstrong found in the city.
In November 1978, Armstrong worked on his farm near Lebanon, Ohio. When he jumped from behind his wheat truck, his wedding ring was caught on the wheel, tearing off the finger tips of his left hand. He collected the breaking number and packed it in ice, and the surgeon reconnected him at the Jewish Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky. In February 1991, a year after his father died, and nine months after his mother's death, he suffered a mild heart attack while skiing with his friends in Aspen, Colorado.
Armstrong's first wife, Janet, divorced her in 1994, after 38 years of marriage. He had met his second wife, Carol Held Knight, in 1992 at a golf tournament, where they sat together at the breakfast table. He says little to Armstrong, but two weeks later he receives a call from him asking what he's doing - he answers he's cutting down a cherry tree; 35 minutes later Armstrong was at his home to help. They married on June 12, 1994, in Ohio, and then held a second ceremony, at San Ysidro Ranch, in California. He lives in Indian Hill, Ohio.
Armstrong is usually referred to as a "reluctant" American hero. John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth, remembers Armstrong's humility. "He does not feel that he should go out on his own," Glenn told CNN. "He is a humble person, and so he remains after his moon flight, as well as before."
After 1993, Armstrong rejected all requests for signatures because his signed goods sold large sums of money and a lot of counterfeiting; every request that was sent to him received a form letter in return, saying that he had stopped signing. Despite his well-known no-sign policy, author Andrew Smith watched the men at Reno Air Races 2002 who tried to get a signature, with one person claiming, "If you push something close enough in front of his face, he will sign." He also stopped sending congratulations to the new Eagle Scouts, because he believes these letters should come from people who know the Boy Scouts personally.
The use of the famous Armstrong name, images, and quotes has made it problematic for years. MTV wants to use his quote for his now famous identity describing the Apollo 11 landing when it was launched in 1981, but he refused. Armstrong sued Hallmark Cards in 1994 after they used his name and recorded a quote "one small step" in a Christmas decoration without permission. The lawsuit was settled out of court for an undisclosed amount that Armstrong donated to Purdue.
In May 2005, Armstrong was involved in a legal dispute with his barber for 20 years, Mark Sizemore. After cutting Armstrong's hair, Sizemore sold a portion to a collector for $ 3,000 without Armstrong's knowledge. Armstrong threatened to take legal action against Sizemore unless he returned his hair or donated the proceeds to Armstrong's chosen charity. Sizemore, unable to take hair, donate proceeds to charity.
From the early 1980s, Armstrong was the subject of a hoax that said he converted to Islam after hearing adhan , calls Muslims to pray while walking on the Moon. Indonesian singer Suhaemi wrote a song titled "Gema Suara Adzan on the Moon" ("Voice of Resonance Call to Pray on the Moon") depicting Armstrong's conversion; the song was widely discussed in various news outlets in Jakarta in 1983. Other similar hoax stories are seen in Egypt and Malaysia. In March 1983, the US State Department responded by issuing a global message to Muslims saying that Armstrong "had not yet converted to Islam". The lie appeared occasionally for the next three decades. Part of the confusion comes from the similarity between Armstrong's American names in America in Lebanon, Ohio, and the Lebanese state, which has a Muslim majority.
Disease and death
Armstrong underwent a bypass operation on August 7, 2012, to remove blocked coronary arteries. Although he reportedly recovered well, he developed complications at the hospital and died on August 25 in Cincinnati, Ohio, 82 years old. After his death, Armstrong is depicted, in a statement issued by the White House, as "one of the largest in the world." American hero - not just the time, but all the time. "The statement goes on to say that Armstrong has brought the aspirations of the citizens of the United States and that he has delivered" a moment of human accomplishment that will never be forgotten. "
His family released a statement describing Armstrong as "a reluctant American hero [who has] served his country proudly, as a naval fighter pilot, test pilot, and astronaut... While we are grieving over the loss of excellent people, we also celebrate life and hopes that serve as examples for young people around the world to work hard to make their dreams come true, willing to explore and push the limits, and to be selfish with a greater purpose than themselves. what can they do to honor Neil, we have a simple request.â € Respect examples of service, accomplishment and modesty, and the next time you walk outside on a clear night and see the moon smile at you, think of Neil Armstrong and give him a wink. "This prompted many responses, including the Twitter tagline" # WinkAtTheMoon ".
Aldrin calls him "the true American hero and the best pilot I've ever known", and says he's disappointed that they will not be able to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Moon moon's landing together in 2019. Collins said: "He's the best, and I'll miss him so much. "NASA administrator Charles Bolden said that:" As long as there are history books, Neil Armstrong will be put into it, remembered to take the first small step of man in the world beyond our own. "
An award was held for Armstrong on 13 September at the Washington National Cathedral, whose Space Window depicts the Apollo 11 mission and holds a piece of Moon rock between the stained glass panels. The attendees were Armstrong Apollo 11 crew, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin; Gene Cernan, commander of the Apollo 17 mission and the last person to walk on the Moon; and former Senator and astronaut John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth. In a speech, Charles Bolden praised Armstrong's "courage, grace, and humility." Cernan recalled Armstrong's low fuel approach to the Moon: "When the gauge says empty we all know there's one or two gallons left in the tank!" Diana Krall sang the song "Fly Me to the Moon". Collins leads a prayer. Scott recalled their Gemini 8 mission with Armstrong when he spoke, perhaps for the first time, about an incident in which the glue spilled on his armor and prevented it locking properly a few minutes before the hold had to be sealed or the mission aborted. Armstrong then asked Conrad to solve the problem, which he did, to continue the mission without stopping the countdown clock. "It's because Neil Armstrong is a team player, he always works on behalf of the team." On September 14th, the remains of Armstrong's cremation spread in the Atlantic Ocean during a funeral ceremony at sea aboard the USS Philippine Sea . The flag was flown with half the staff on Armstrong's funeral.
Legacy
Armstrong received numerous awards and awards, including Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Nixon, Cullum Geographical Medal of the American Geographical Society, and Collier Trophy of the National Aeronautic Association, all in 1969, NASA Special Service Medal in 1970, Robert H. Goddard Memorial Trophy in 1970, the Sylvanus Thayer Award by the United States Military Academy in 1971, the Congressional Congressional Medal of President Jimmy Carter in 1978, the Wright Brothers Memorial Trophy of the National Aeronautic Association in 2001, and the Congressional Gold Medal in 2011. Armstrong and his Apollo 11 crew was a 1999 recipient of the Langley Gold Medal from the Smithsonian Institution. On April 18, 2006, he received the NASA Exploration Ambassador Award. The Space Foundation named Armstrong as the recipient of the 2013 Space Achievement Award, James E. Hill. Armstrong is also inducted into the Aerospace Walk of Honor, the National Aeronautical Hall of Fame, and the United States Astronaut Hall of Fame. He was awarded the Naval Astronaut badge in a ceremony on the aircraft carrier USSÃ, Dwight D. Eisenhower on March 10, 2010, in a ceremony attended by Lovell and Cernan.
The Armstrong moon crater, 31 miles (50 km) from the Apollo 11 landing site, and the 6469 Armstrong asteroid are named in his honor. There are over a dozen elementary, middle and high schools named in his honor in the United States, and many places around the world have roads, buildings, schools and other places named Armstrong and/or Apollo. The Armstrong Air and Space Museum, in the hometown of Armstrong in Wapakoneta, and the airport in New Knoxville, Ohio, where he took his first flying lesson when he was fifteen, named after him. Purdue University announced in October 2004 that its new engineering building would be named Neil Armstrong Hall of Engineering in his honor; The building was dedicated on October 27, 2007, during a ceremony in which Armstrong joined the other fourteen Purdue Astronauts. NASA's Dryden Flight Flight Research Center was renamed NASA's Neil A. Armstrong Flight Research Center in 2014.
In September 2012, the US Navy announced that the first class ship Armstrong would be named RVÃ, Neil Armstrong . The ship was delivered to the Navy on September 23, 2015. It is a modern oceanographic research platform capable of supporting a range of oceanographic research activities undertaken by academic groups.
Armstrong's official biography, First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong, published in 2005. Over the years, Armstrong rejected the biographical offer of writers such as Stephen Ambrose and James A. Michener, but agreed to work with James R. Hansen after reading one of Hansen's other biographies. The film adaptation of the book starring Ryan Gosling and directed by Damien Chazelle is scheduled to be released in October 2018.
In the 2010 Space of Space survey, Armstrong was ranked # 1 of the most popular space hero, and in 2013, the Fly magazine ranked it # 1 on the list of "51 Heroes of Flight". The press often asks Armstrong for his views on the future of outer space. In 2005, Armstrong said that manned missions to Mars would be easier than the lunar challenges of the 1960s. In 2010, he made rare public criticisms of his decision to cancel Ares I launching vehicles and landing programs Constellation Moon.
In an open letter signed by fellow veterans Apollo Lovell and Cernan, he noted, "For the United States, the leading space spacecraft for nearly half a century, without a train to a low Earth orbit and without human exploration capability to go beyond orbit Earth for an unspecified time into the future, determining our nation to be one of the second or even third stature Armstrong also openly recalled his initial concern about the Apollo 11 mission, when he believed there was only a 50 percent chance of landing on the Moon. I am happy, excited and very surprised that we succeed, "he later said.On November 18, 2010, aged 80, Armstrong said in a speech during the Science & Technology Summit in The Hague, The Netherlands, that he would offer his services as a commander in a mission to Mars if he is asked.
Note
References
Further reading
External links
- Neil Armstrong at EncyclopÃÆ'Â|dia Britannica Site
- Neil Armstrong Commemorative - University of Cincinnati
- The Armstrong website, formerly run by the Armstrong family at Wayback Machine (archived June 17, 2013)
- Neil Armstrong on IMDb
- Appearance in C-SPAN
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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