Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, is dead at age 82. He is best remembered for his famous words:
“One small step for man…one giant leap for mankind.”
He had had heart surgery 3 weeks ago and was thought to be recovering without complications.
He had a long, distinguished career in the NASA Space Program. He commanded the Apollo 11 mission and landed on the moon in July 1969. He was truly a great American hero. Many of us remember where we were when we sat breathlessly and heard those words….one small step for man. No one today can imagine our excitement and yes, fear, for those astronauts. We Americans were so proud that summer of 1969 when much of America had been divided by the Vietnam War. Neil Armstrong and those other astronauts, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, united the nation like no one else could.
Please leave your own tributes to Neil Armstrong. Neil slipped the surly bonds of earth today…
The icons of the 60’s are being picked off like flies, or so it seems?
Phyllis Diller, Neil Armstrong, Tony Scott, Scott MacKenzie (be sure to wear flowers in your hair), Ron Horshack Palillo, Helen Gurley Brown, Joe Kubert (Sgt. Rock), Gore Vidal, Chad Everett, Sherman George Jefferson Hemsley, Sally Ride, Ernest Borgnine, Andy Griffith,
May I stop yet? This just goes back through July and is only people who were 60;s icons.
This is sad. My phone blew up with the alerts while I was driving. Good man.
A proud and loyal son of Purdue.
Over a dozen astronauts attended the University and an
engineering classroom building is named for Neil Armstrong.
A sad day for the Black and Gold.
You went to Purdue, Steve?
No, but my son is a Purdue engineering grad.
One of the first things I learned about the school was the tremendous
pride it had in its graduates that became astronauts and
their leadership in America’s space program.
I am going to date myself here, but nevertheless here goes. The lunar landing and first walk on the moon are among my first long-term memories. I can still clearly see the grainy pictures in my mind without viewing the YouTube video. It was probably one of the greatest achievements of the United States and we as a society still benefit economically, militarily and scientifically from the technologies developed then.
Having said all that, I am not all that saddened by Neil Armstrong’s passing in and of itself. He led a great accomplished, meaningful life and that should be celebrated. Instead, I view his death as sad in terms of its unspoken challenge.
The challenge is: will the United States continue to push the bounds of manned spaceflight? Our manned space missions since Apollo 17 have not been very significant. Instead of robotic missions like the current piss-ant rover on Mars, we need to put a human on Mars.
The sad part is that I am not sure that our society is still up to the challenge. Politicians will pay lip service to the idea, but in the end, the high cost and human risk will make it very difficult to pursue to fruition a manned spaceflight to another planet or the moon.
@Kelly
Bravo, standing ovation!
Kelly, the muse is definitely with you this morning.
I think it is sad in that it is a by gone era now…and Neil Armstrong was part of that era.
I will commit heresy and say that I am not sure there will ever be another Kennedy to inspire that quest in our collective national mindset.
I am not necessarily a Kennedy fan but I will sure hand him that one. I think we certainly have enough Americans who are definitely worthy of the challenge. I am not sure we have the political structure and guts to make it happen. Our politicians are so anemic unimaginative. They seem to care about getting elected or some political motive but not about the common good and elevation of the United States of America.
What we learned making those space ventures happen can never be duplicated I don’t think.
What amazes me is how rudimentary the computer science really was that made those space missions happen. Lots of cards in lots of shoe boxes in some cases.
Care to address that, Kelly? Aslo–what were some of the achievements? (be proud of me, I didn’t call you “youngster.”
Let’s put it this way, there was a song written about that summer, sung by Bryan Adams I think…….
Lobo did a great song about Neil Armstrong….how on “one hot July afternoon…the world watched a man named Armstrong…walk upon the moon”. Each verse took in a different part of the world, and basically said that for one moment…the whole world held its breath to watch this great event.
Enjoy the song! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMEnAhObuRw
Thanks Ray! You rock!
@Ray, people were even fighting over that video. Geez.
@everyone
If you haven’t seen October Sky, it is a fabulous feel-good movie about the space program. Most significant is it wasn’t just the space program but the hope and inspiration it gave so many Americans.
@Moon-howler
It would be a tall order to describe the technologies and accomplishments that have resulted from the space program. I guess the biggest would be the miniaturization of electronics, advances in telecommunications, and rapid growth of the computer industry, all of which has contributed to the development of PCs, iPads, and smart phones, and handheld GPS. There are also numerous spinoffs:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_spin-off
Thanks. I knew it was more stuff than I would ever think of.