Neil Armstrong, 1st man on the moon, dies.

CA-35

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Neil Armstrong was 82. RIP. Here's a link to the story: http://news.yahoo.com/neil-armstrong-1st-man-moon-dies-193954975.html

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gilded

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RIP.

It would be fun if Neil and Ray Bradbury could do a quick tour of the first Moon Landing site, then head over to Mars for a quick visit to 'Bradbury Landing'.

[NASA announced two days ago that the landing ground for the Curiosity explorer had been named Bradbury Landing, in honor of the late author Ray Bradbury]
 

dreadnut

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Someone commented that even though Jules Verne was pretty close to reality in his writings and sketches about moon travel, no one predicted that when we first stepped on the moon, millions of people would be watching it happen on little boxes in their living rooms. :D

My dad and I stayed up that night to witness the event. I saved a full color front page of the moon landing from the local newspaper and I have it framed under glass.

President Kennedy said we would put a man on the moon in that decade, and we did it.
 

CA-35

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dreadnut said:
Someone commented that even though Jules Verne was pretty close to reality in his writings and sketches about moon travel, no one predicted that when we first stepped on the moon, millions of people would be watching it happen on little boxes in their living rooms. :D

An estimated 600 million people — a fifth of the world's population — watched and listened to the landing, the largest audience for any single event in history.

I was 5 weeks away from turning 9 years old, watching it with my Dad on TV.
 

chazmo

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RIP Neil.

I went to college with Mike Collins' daughter, and she and I used to talk about those years. These people did something that many would've thought was impossible, and they raised the expectations of our entire nation. I was just a little kid when Neil put his foot on the moon, but that is one of those moments that is just indelible in my consciousness.
 

GardMan

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I was 14 years old in July 1969... when we left for a family driving vacation (from Portland, OR to the Black Hills of S. Dakota) in late June/early July, I made my dad promise we would be home for the launch. He kept his promise, and I think I watched every minute of coverage of Apollo 11.

From all I have read and heard, Armstrong was a quiet, unassuming man. But, his well chosen words will be remembered by the world. It was a proud and triumphant achievement for the USA, and all people on Earth.

RIP Neil Armstrong...

(for me, the second most memorable moment of the space program was when the crew of Apollo 8 read from the book of Genesis on Christmas eve, 1968. I remember watching/listening in my grandmother's living room.)
 

gilded

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I was 16. I remember looking up at that big moon, thinking incredulously, 'Wow, those guys are up there on it.'

Looking back, I'm more incredulous now. At 59, I'm old enough to at least begin to understand the significance of the Giant Step for Mankind. I almost get it, now.

Let me give you folks an example:
When my daughter was born, I was in the Delivery Room. A 'C-section delivery', with nurses and doctors running around Double-Fast. A nurse put my daughter in a hot-light warming-tray for a minute, then wrapped her up and brought her over to me and put her in my arms, before literally running back to help the doctors tend to my wife.

When I held my daughter, everything in the World opened up for me. Just for a few minutes I understood so many different things. It was an Epiphany, something that couldn't last for long because I'm only human (maybe just a shallow human, eh?). It was Amazing, at least I can remember that.

And it is the same with the first Moon voyage, the first step on the Moon. Some things are too big to understand for any length of time, but it was a Giant Step for All of Us, (certainly) not just America, but for the whole human race. We know it can be done and we will go back.

Oh, it's a disappointment that we haven't done more since '69, but it will happen over time, when Mankind needs it to happen, I suspect.

Until then we have Neil, Mike Collins, Buzz, Glenn, Gus, Sally and quite simply all the crews and ground personnel, then and now, who will forever be part of this Great Vision of Exploration.

LIke I said, I can almost understand it these days. Maybe 10 more years and I'll have a better handle on it.

In the meantime, Rest in Peace, Neil Armstrong. Thank you for your Discipline and your Dedication.
 

davismanLV

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It's a very heartfelt loss. Is this how my parents and my grandparents felt as they lost their heroes? Somehow it seems more significant but.... that's just a perspective thing and having lived through it, I guess. RIP Neil Armstrong.....
 

tjmangum

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davismanLV said:
It's a very heartfelt loss. Is this how my parents and my grandparents felt as they lost their heroes? Somehow it seems more significant but.... that's just a perspective thing and having lived through it, I guess. RIP Neil Armstrong.....
I agree. It may well be as significant to our generation as it was to our parents or grandparents to learn of the passing of Lindbergh or FDR.
From what I recall, he was a very intelligent and humble man who never sought to capitalize on the role he played in US and World History.
T
PS I saw the moon landing at our neighbors house. They had a bigger and better TV.
 

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RIP Mr Armstrong. Immortalised by his deeds & also in song - (Guild content).

The moon landing is one of my first TV memories (apart from cartoons & Tarzan). I remember getting a cardboard model of Apollo 11 at the time. It seemed amazing then but somehow seems more amazing now.
 

killdeer43

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I was living in Houston at the time and my friend, Pete, came over to my place for the big event.
We followed the instructions that were given by CBS for recording the landing and we set up a Super 8 camera on a tripod to give it a shot.
We had to adjust to the light, set the FPS setting, etc., but it went surprisingly well and we came away with decent footage for our archives. With today's technology, it would have been child's play but hey, this was 1969!

RIP indeed, :(
Joe
 

ladytexan

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On a hot, humid night (July 20, 1969) in West Lafayette, Indiana, a young married couple, Purdue University students working their way through college, sat in their small, unairconditioned married student housing apartment with their infant son and watched as the great American and Purdue Boilermaker, Neil Armstrong, make history.

RIP, Neil. Your valor and quiet way of being an American hero will be missed.

And each man stands with his face in the light. Of his own drawn sword, ready to do what a hero can.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning

P.S. Gosh, it seems like yesterday, it seems like forever ago, I was that young, married wife/mother/student. ::::nostalgicsmile::::
 

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Considering how little technology there was back in the sixties , it's beyond belief that they got there and back.
Mankinds greatest achievement , and nearly a lifetime ago :shock: GO USA !
 

dapmdave

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ArchtopAnimal said:
Considering how little technology there was back in the sixties , it's beyond belief that they got there and back.
Mankinds greatest achievement , and nearly a lifetime ago :shock: GO USA !

They knew how risky it was, and still they went. The bravery is astounding.

RIP Mr. Armstrong.

Dave :D
 

adorshki

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dapmdave said:
They knew how risky it was, and still they went. The bravery is astounding.
Why I think astronauts deserve equal time on Memorial Day, too. Even the "other team's" guys. :wink:
 

fronobulax

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adorshki said:
dapmdave said:
They knew how risky it was, and still they went. The bravery is astounding.
Why I think astronauts deserve equal time on Memorial Day, too. Even the "other team's" guys. :wink:


Which raises the questions that I am to lazy to Google the answers for:

When were civilians allowed to fly as United States astronauts, knowing that for some period of time all astronauts were active duty military? What is the civilian/military status of non-US astronauts?
 

adorshki

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fronobulax said:
adorshki said:
dapmdave said:
They knew how risky it was, and still they went. The bravery is astounding.
Why I think astronauts deserve equal time on Memorial Day, too. Even the "other team's" guys. :wink:
Which raises the questions that I am to lazy to Google the answers for:
When were civilians allowed to fly as United States astronauts, knowing that for some period of time all astronauts were active duty military? What is the civilian/military status of non-US astronauts?
My real intent was to point out that these folks deserve remembrance even though they're all volunteers and "non-combatants". :wink:
However, it's an interesting question regarding military status of our astronauts, and the real answer is that while active military status was NEVER a pre-requisite for NASA candidacy (according to Wiki and my memory of "The Right Stuff", and with NASA itself actually a civilian organization), for all practical purposes, the requirement for at least 1000 hours in command of a jet-powered aircraft, and mandatory test pilot experience, pretty much limited the pool to active or retired military.
President Eisenhower insisted that all candidates for the selection of "Astronaut Group 1" be test pilots. Advertising to the military community drew about 5 times the number of reponses as slots to be filled so advertising to the civilian community was moot. It seems entirely possible there may have been an "unwritten" demand for accepting candidates with military experience only (and the "test pilot" requirement may actually have accomplished that in practical terms), but there was also the cold war issue at play of wanting to avoid "militarizing" space, in the interests of avoiding escalating the already high levels of tension in place at the time, so requiring active military status in a candidate could have been seen as a "PR" negative.
First "civilian" in space? Technically, depending on your definition of "civilian", Valentina Tershkova in 1963 ( :shock: ) aboard Vostok 6, and who was "only honorarily" inducted into the Soviet Union's Air force. Or perhaps the credit could go to Joseph Walker, X-15 test pilot, one month later, and who was retired from the US Army Air Force, at that time, and thus, technically, civilian.
Footnote in history, in support of my original call for "equal time' for astronauts: Walker was the pilot of the Lockheed F104 which collided with the XB-70 Valkyrie during its testing program, resulting in his death and the final "nail in the coffin" of the Valkyrie program as well.
And in fact, Wiki has our subject of the moment, Mr Armstrong himself, as the first US civilian Astronaut in space. He must have been retired from the USN at that point.
He was slected as part of "Astronaut Group 2" which also included 2 civilian test pilots, in September of 1962.
The Wikipedia "Astronaut" page has some pretty interesting stuff for those interested in further reading.
Of course, given the sensitive nature of much of the technology developed for the space program and its potential military applications, an extremely close relationship between NASA and the military, with the accompanying security measures more commonly associated with military secrets, was understandable and tends to make NASA seem to be an actual branch of the military. That may actually be true enough in practice if not if "fact". :wink:
 

fronobulax

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NASA was, and still is, a civilian agency.

I suspect we may have had different experiences observing Memorial Day since I routinely run into memorials for military, service related, but non-combat deaths. Of course I also run into observances that don't distinguish between Veterans Day (served) and Memorial May (died in service). I suspect the astronauts have not been as neglected in my experience compared to yours.
 
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