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Early Childhood
Neil Alden Armstrong was born on August 3, 1930, on his grandparents’farm in Auglaize County, near
Wapakoneta, Ohio. His parents were Stephen and Viola Armstrong; he also has a sister, June, and a brother Dean.
As an auditor for the State of Ohio, it was necessary for Stephen Armstrong to move frequently. Consequently, the family lived in several Ohio communities before settling in Wapakoneta on West Benton Street.
Neil Armstrong’s fascination with airplanes began as early as age 2, after he attended Cleveland’s National Air Races with his father. His interest in aviation only intensified as he grew. Armstrong spent hundreds of hours building model airplanes, conducting experiments with a homemade wind tunnel, and reading countless books and magazines about
planes. -
At age 15, Armstrong began taking flying lessons at an airport north of Wapakoneta. He worked at various jobs in town and at the airport to earn the money for the $9-per-hour lessons in an Aeronca Champion airplane. By the time he was 16, he had his student pilot’s license - before he had earned his driver’s license.
Education and Early Career
Neil Armstrong graduated from Blume High School in Wapakoneta, Ohio, in 1947. After receiving a scholarship from the U.S. Navy, he enrolled at Purdue University, majoring in aeronautical engineering.
Called to active duty in 1949, he became a Navy pilot. The following year he went to Korea, where he flew his Navy Panther jet on 78 combat missions. During one of those missions, Armstrong narrowly escaped death when he was forced to parachute from a damaged plane. He received three medals for his military service.
In 1952, Armstrong returned to Purdue University, graduating with a bachelor of science degree in aeronautical engineering. He later received a master of science degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Southern California. He has since been awarded honorary degrees from several universities.
Armstrong’s first position after college was at Cleveland’s NACA Lewis Plight Propulsion Laboratories, now the NASA John Glenn Research Center. For the next seventeen years he worked as an engineer, test pilot, astronaut and administrator for NASA (the National Aeronautics and Space Administration) and its predecessor, NACA (the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics).
Armstrong left Cleveland for Edwards Air Force Base in California to work as a test pilot. engineer and experimenter. While there, he flew several planes, the most noteworthy being the X-l5.
Astronaut Career
In 1962, Armstrong was accepted as an astronaut in the NASA space program. He moved to El Lago, Texas, near Houston’s NASA Manned Spacecraft Center, to begin his astronaut training.
Armstrong’s first flight assignment as an astronaut was as backup command pilot for the Gemini 8 mission.
On March 16, 1966, Neil Armstrong flew his first space mission as command pilot of the Gemini 8. Despite a thruster malfunction that caused the spacecraft to pitch and roll out of control, he was able to pilot the spacecraft to the first successful space docking. Armstrong went on to serve as- backup commander for the Apollo 8 lunar orbit mission.
On July 16, 1969, Armstrong, this time as commander of Apollo 11. along with command module pilot and navigator Michael Collins and systems expert Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, began a historic journey to the moon. Armstrong piloted the lunar module to a safe landing on the moon's surface.
On July 20, at 10:56 p.m. EDT, Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon.
At that moment he made the statement that has since become famous: "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." Armstrong and Aldrin spent nearly two and a half hours walking on the moon - collecting samples, conducting experiments, and taking photographs. On. July 24 the three men splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, arriving to a hero’s welcome.
After a ticker-tape parade in New York City, the three astronauts and their wives began a world tour visiting twenty-two countries and receiving numerous awards. Armstrong alone received the Medal of Freedom, the highest award the U.S. government can bestow on a civillian. He also received the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, the NASA Exceptional Service Medal, seventeen medals from other countries, and the Congressional Space Medal of Honor.
Wapakoneta celebrated the historic moon landing with he rest of the world, hosting a large welcome-home parade for their native son, and renaming a street Neil Armstrong Drive
Later Career
Appointed Deputy Associate Administrator for Aeronautics at NASA in 1970, Neil Armstrong resigned a year later after seventeen years of service with NASA. Returning to Ohio he became a professor of aerospace engineering at the University of Cincinnati, where he remained until 1979.
After retiring, Armstrong remained active in the space program, serving as a member of the National Commission on
Space from 1985 to 1986 and as vice-chairman of the presidential commission on the shuttle Challenger accident in 1986.
At the present tme, Armstrong and his wife reside in Ohio.
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