Who was Neil Armstrong?
- Neil Armstrong was the face of Apollo 11, the first ever moon-landing mission
- He became a certified student pilot at the age of 16
- International Moon Day is celebrated every year on July 20 to mark Armstrong's historic walk on moon
Neil Armstrong, the first man to set foot on moon was born in Ohio’s city Wapakoneta. International Moon Day is observed each year on 20 July to celebrate the historic day of Nasa’s moon landing mission. On April 5, 1967, Neil Armstrong was announced to be one of the three crew members of the Apollo 11 mission who were going to touch the surface of moon. He became the first man to walk on moon two years later.
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Armstrong started taking flying lessons at the Wapakoneta airfield at the age of 14. He got his student flight certificate at 16 and took a solo flight before he had a driving license. Armstrong went to Purdue University, Indiana where he studied aeronautical engineering. He became a midshipman in the American Navy at the age of 19.
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Armstrong went to the Korean War in 1951 as an escort for a photo reconnaissance plane. He got an opportunity to fly an armed reconnaissance plane just five days after his assignment as an escort. He flew 78 missions during the Korean War, a total of 121 hours of flying time.
Armstrong was handed his first space project at the age of 28 when he was assigned to the US Air Force’s Man in Space Soonest program. Armstrong applied to become an astronaut in June 1962 and he was offered to join the Nasa Astronaut Corps in September 1962 which he gleefully accepted.
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The D-day came for the jet fighter pilot turned astronaut on July 20, 1969, when the Apollo 11 spaceflight landed on moon. After remaining in the lunar module for about 6 hours, Neil Armstrong set his foot on moon and said the famous line: ‘’That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.’’ Neil Armstrong along with two of his fellow astronauts, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins returned to Earth on July 24, 1969.
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