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Subscribe to RSSAstronaut Neil Armstrong awed the entire planet when he became the first man to step foot on the moon in 1969. He died Saturday at age 82. NBC's Tom Costello reports on Armstrong's life and legacy.
First moonwalker Neil Armstrong's death at the age of 82 marks the passing of a "reluctant American hero," as well as the dimming of the Space Age's brightest moment.
His death followed complications from heart-bypass surgery he underwent this month, Armstrong's family said today in a statement released by NASA. The first public report of Armstrong's death came via NBC News' Cape Canaveral correspondent, Jay Barbree, a longtime friend.
Armstrong has been immortalized in human history as the first human to set foot on a celestial body beyond Earth. "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind," he radioed back to Earth from the moon on July 20, 1969.
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said that "as long as there are history books, Neil Armstrong will be included in them."
Armstrong's fellow moonwalker on the Apollo 11 mission, Buzz Aldrin, was among the legions mourning his passage. "We are missing a great spokesman and leader in the space program," Aldrin said in a BBC interview. He said he'd remember Armstrong "as being a very capable commander and leader of an achievement that will be recognized until man sets foot on the planet Mars."
Michael Collins, the crewmate who circled the moon in the Apollo 11 command module while Armstrong and Aldrin took that first trip to the lunar surface, also paid tribute to his commander in a NASA statement: "He was the best, and I will miss him terribly."
President Barack Obama said that Armstrong and his crew "carried with them the aspirations of an entire nation," and that the first steps on the moon "delivered a moment of human achievement that will never be forgotten."
NBC's Jay Barbree, who has covered every manned space mission in U.S. history, was first to break the news that Neil Armstrong had died. He discusses the astronaut's life with NBC's Lester Holt.
"Today, Neil's spirit of discovery lives on in all the men and women who have devoted their lives to exploring the unknown — including those who are ensuring that we reach higher and go further in space," Obama said in a White House statement. "That legacy will endure — sparked by a man who taught us the enormous power of one small step."
The "one small step" served as the climax of a superpower space race with the Soviet Union, and arguably established the United States' primacy in outer space for decades to come. But Apollo 11 also set a precedent for peaceful cooperation in space. "We came in peace for all mankind," the plaque left behind on the moon read. At one point during Armstrong's first moonwalk, he stopped for what he called a "tender moment" and set down a patch to commemorate NASA astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts who died in the course of their duties.
Before and after the moon
The Ohio-born Armstrong began his career in aerospace as a Navy fighter pilot who served with distinction in the Korean War. During the 1950s, he was a test pilot with experience flying more than 200 kinds of aircraft. He was accepted into NASA's second astronaut class in 1962, and during his mission as Gemini 8 commander in 1966, he tamed his wildly spinning capsule and brought it in for an emergency landing.
See images from the career of astronaut and American hero Neil Armstrong.
That quiet cool served him well during Apollo 11, when he had to take manual control of the lunar module, nicknamed Eagle, during the landing. When the craft touched down in the moon's Sea of Tranquility, about 30 seconds' worth of fuel remained.
"Houston, Tranquility Base here," Armstrong reported to Mission Control. "The Eagle has landed."
Armstrong and Aldrin spent more than 21 hours on the lunar surface, including two and a half hours' worth of moonwalking. They were amazed to come back to Earth and see how millions of people across the planet had followed their exploits. "Neil, look up there," Aldrin told him as he pointed at a TV screen. "We missed the whole thing."
After his moon mission, Armstrong took a low profile, becoming what his family called a "reluctant American hero who always believed he was just doing his job." He left NASA in 1971, and took on executive positions in the aerospace industry as well as a teaching position in the University of Cincinnati's engineering department. Armstrong served on several policy commissions, including the presidential panel that investigated the 1986 Challenger explosion.
Concerned about future spaceflight
In his latter years, Armstrong became increasingly concerned about America's continuing leadership in space. He was a strong proponent of efforts to send American astronauts back to the moon, and feared that NASA's cancellation of its return-to-the-moon program would cede America's position as a leader in space exploration to other nations.
"Some question why America should return to the moon," Armstrong told a House committee in 2010. "'After all,' they say, 'we have already been there.' I find that mystifying. It would be as if 16th-century monarchs proclaimed that 'we need not go to the New World, we have already been there.'"
When NBC's Jay Barbree asked Armstrong last month to reflect on the future of spaceflight, for the 43rd anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing, the former astronaut pointed to remarks in which he said the lunar environment was "an exceptional location to learn about traveling to more distant places."
"I am persuaded that a return to the moon would be the most productive path to expanding the human presence in the solar system," he wrote.
Armstrong was famous for staying out of fame's spotlight as much as he could. Some outsiders may have faulted him for his reticence, but not his fellow astronauts.
"Most of our group in those days could have accomplished the challenge of the mission," Apollo 7 astronaut Walt Cunningham told NBC News' James Oberg in an email, "but I do not know a one that could have handled the resulting notoriety as well as Neil did."
Over the past year, Armstrong was a bit more in the public eye. Last November, he and other space pioneers — including Aldrin, Collins and John Glenn, the first American in orbit — were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal during a ceremony at the U.S. Capitol.
In February, Armstrong spoke at Ohio State University during a February event honoring the 50th anniversary of Glenn's history-making spaceflight. In May, Armstrong joined Apollo 17 commander Gene Cernan, the last man to walk on the moon, at Pensacola Naval Air Station in Florida to support the opening of the National Flight Academy, which aims to teach math and science to kids through an aviation-oriented camp.
On Aug. 7, just two days after his 82nd birthday, Armstrong underwent quadruple-bypass heart surgery after flunking a medical stress test. At the time, his wife, Carol, reported that her husband was "doing great" — but today the family said complications from that surgery led to his death.
Neil Armstrong's first step on the moon and his now famous first words.
"While we mourn the loss of a very good man, we also celebrate his remarkable life and hope that it serves as an example to young people around the world to work hard to make their dreams come true, to be willing to explore and push the limits, and to selflessly serve a cause greater than themselves," the family said in today's statement. "For those who may ask what they can do to honor Neil, we have a simple request. Honor his example of service, accomplishment and modesty, and the next time you walk outside on a clear night and see the moon smiling down at you, think of Neil Armstrong and give him a wink."
Armstrong is survived by his wife, two sons, a stepson and stepdaughter, 10 grandchildren, a brother and a sister, NASA said. A website, NeilArmstrongInfo.com, has been created to provide more information about Armstrong's life and legacy.
Quick bites about Neil Armstrong:
- Armstrong's interest in flight began in childhood: He earned his student pilot's certificate on his 16th birthday, before he got an automobile driver's license. "He never had a girl. He didn't need a car. All he had to do was get out to that airport," Armstrong's father was quoted as saying in the astronaut's biography, "First Man."
- Armstrong's pulse was measured at 150 beats per minute as he guided the lunar lander to the moon's surface, NASA said. "I believe every human has a finite number of heartbeats," Armstrong once said. "I don't intend to waste any of mine."
- Asked about his experience on the moon, he told CBS: "It's an interesting place to be. I recommend it."
- A crater on the moon is named for Armstrong. It is located about 30 miles (50 kilometers) from the site of the landing.
- In 2005 Armstrong was upset to learn that his barber had sold clippings of his hair to a collector for $3,000. The man who bought the hair refused to return it, saying he was adding it to his collection of locks from Abraham Lincoln, Napoleon, Marilyn Monroe, Albert Einstein and others.
- Although he was famously reticent, Armstrong once appeared in a TV commercial for Chrysler. He said he made the ad because of Chrysler's engineering history and his desire to help the company out of financial troubles.
More about Neil Armstrong's life and legacy:
- Armstrong family request: Wink at the moon
- President and VIPs pay tribute to Neil Armstrong
- Internet responds to first moonwalker's death
- Debunking nine myths about Neil Armstrong
- Slideshow: A look back at an American hero's life
- Timeline: Glory Days on the Final Frontier
- What we didn't know about the moonwalk
- Neil Armstrong would still choose to go to the moon
- Video: NBC's initial report on Neil Armstrong's death
- Video: NBC's Bruce Hall recaps Neil Armstrong's career
- Video: Friends reflect on Neil Armstrong's passing
Editor's note: An early headline on this story briefly misstated Neil Armstrong's name.
This report was last updated at 12:30 a.m. ET Aug. 26 and includes reporting by Reuters and The Associated Press.
Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. To keep up with Cosmic Log as well as NBCNews.com's other stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.
Leave a Comment:
Godspeed Neil Armstrong! Thank you for being the American we should all be.
Thank you Neil Armstrong. A reluctant American Hero. First man to set foot on the Moon. A true American hero and a hero for all of humanity.
Rest in Peace.
God's Speed Neil Armstrong
No, no, no. Neil Young isn't dead.... Not yet anyways.
A true hero. May God Bless you and your family Mr. Armstrong. I was a small child and watch it with my Dad. I have never forgotten that moment. You are a true American Hero.
I agree that we should return to the moon. But let's be more practical than JFK. By the end of the century, not the end of the decade!
RIP Mr Armstrong. Let's celebrate his life as an accomplisment by one of the best specimen of our specie, and rejoice in knowing he has 10 grandchildren and many more children who have, are, or will look up to him.
Too bad. He's from an era when this country had great pride in itself.
For the longest time our race has ever stared up, we looked upon those twinkling stars and our Moon.
Such an Earthy name for a celestial body flying about our planet, yes?
"The Moon."
Well, that seems to be a rather silly name, if you think about it.
Mankind who looked upon the stars would stop and wonder. They would dream about them, they would map our those stars.
To some, they were lights made by Gods for Mankind to sail by.
To others, they were pictures to honor past events.
It has been long since concluded that the stars are "giant balls of fire." But Mankind continued to gaze up.
They went into space, then they went to The Moon. The first celestial body that humans, ever set foot upon.
At the time of his landing, that Summer of 1969, we all heard Neil say: "One small step for man; One giant leap for mankind," when he was actually supposed to have said: "One small step for A man; One giant leap for mankind."
For someone who was standing on the Moon and wondering if he was ever going to get back to Earth again I think he did darned well. As a matter of fact, if there are others somewhat like ourselves in this universe, Neil's choice of words may have been the very best choice after all.
Thoughts and Prayers to the Armstrong Family, May Neil Rest in Peace. I was born, raised and still live in the town Neil was born in, we are all so proud to be from the same hometown of Wapakoneta where a true American hero was Born. Since I was a little kid I could see the moon museum out my back door and that was created there in his honor. I still enjoy going there and seeing all the history. We grew up knowing we went to the same school and had some of the same teachers and Neil was an inspiration to all of us in this area. Seeing what he accomplished made most of us realize there is no limit to what we could do (even the moon is not off limits). He is a great American Hero and may he never be forgotten! RIP
what a trip that must have been!
It never happened. It was all filmed in the desert of Nevada. You don't find it strange that we NEVER went back to the moon? It's never even talked about.
we went back 5 times during Apollo.
RIP Mr. Armstrong. What a real shock it is to learn of this.
I wish he would have just come clean and admitted that we never landed on the moon, that it was all a hoax to get ahead in the cold war.
Just because someone stands to gain from some form of malice doesn't mean that such malice is what their guilty of. the $400 i make a week theoretically could come from robbing stores and i could just say that I'm a working man to avoid prison, but does that automatically mean i rob stores? no.
similarly just because we would stand to benefit from faking the landings doesn't mean we did.
I was 6 years old when he walked on the moon, I can barely remember watching it, but I remember watching it. It must have had some impact on me for I have always had an interest in space !!
R.I.P. Neil
Neil Armstrong did not land on the moon. The 1969 moon landing was nothing but a very elaborate hoax. Just because you "saw it" on TV does not mean that it really happened. It was all filmed in a studio. Believe me, we did NOT have the technology to put a man on the moon in 1969. In 1969, we didn't even have the technology to produce a wireless doorbell. The moon landing was a hoax. Remember what you saw on TV? The movie producer who tried to pull off this hoax failed miserably. Where were the stars? If it was real, there would have been literally millions of stars in the background. As you will recall, the lunar sky was pitch black. Remember the pictures of the Apollo astronauts erecting a US flag on the moon? Remember the flag rippling and bending? Folks, there is no breeze on the moon. Remember the surface below where the Apollo capsule landed. The surface was not disrupted at all. Now, just imagine the thrust of the space capsule landing. But, as you will recall, there was not even a spec of dust on the landing pods, and there was not a crater created by the thrust of the landing. I could go on and on and on with more facts, but, one has to ask "Why did Neil Armstrong refuse to grant interviews relevant to his 'landing on the moon'?" The technology that would have been required to put a man on the moon in 1969 simply did not exist. And if you do think that we had such technology, then just do some research about the radiation that surrounds the moon. Still believe that man landing on the moon?
Stars: simple camera optics, do you want to see detailed astronauts, moon, lander, and equipment or do you want to see stars? because you'll either end up with and extremely blurry foreground or an extremely dim background. obviously considering the goals and the hazards I'd vouch for seeing the foreground.
Flag: you can't take out a flag and screw it into position whiteout some motion transferring into the flag itself. there's more ways to move a flag then by wind.
Crater: the last thing you want to do is use the normal force to land a spacecraft. it uses thrust to slow down for quite a bit before touch down and the physics of rockets are different in space regarding exhaust, it spreads out more rapidly than in an atmosphere meaning less impact on the area below.
Radiation: they traveled through areas of higher than normal radiation, had they specifically stayed in those areas it would be dangerous for them but given their speeds there simply wasn't enough time to receive even a significant dosage let alone a lethal one.
Seriously this is all just anomaly hunting... finding something that you can't explain and holding that up to be gospel for your own little conspiracy.
James: Do some research on the Van Allen Radiation Belt. Man did NOT land on the moon.
Also, the temperature on the moon varies from -180 F to +200 F in full sunshine. The cameras used were Hasselblad's. Could you please explain to me how, in 1969, the film in the Hasselblad withstood the extreme temperatures?
Also, do a little research on the Coke can that was almost filmed. There was a Coke can / bottle lying in the back of the studio where this hoax was filmed. They removed it before it got on TV.
seriously? a coke can that was "almost filmed"? i was going to respond to the previous statements but now your either trolling or so delusional as to be a danger to yourself and everyone around you.
snooki never had a baby.
Hate to be political here... However, the fact that Obama, or any of the recent US presidents even DARE say that the dreams Neil Armstrong and the Apollo 11 moonlanding started are being continued by this country, much less his or any of the recent administrations is in and of itself spitting on the face of better men who came before them.
This country has lost the pioneering spirit that brought us to the moon, and even if it was only for political motivations brought about by a Cold War, no living politician has the right to attribute the same level of passion, drive, and commitment to themselves that these great men had when they started this voyage.
I salute Neil Armstrong, and his great achievements, and spit on the rhetoric of a nation of people content with mediocrity, and their elected leaders... Maybe someday we'll dream again and inspire a new generation of dreamers, but that's not this generation, and its sure as hell not the generation leading us right now...
good to see a story about a genuine hero and someone we all can be proud of and not the normal celebrity crap we are bombarded with i.e. snooki has baby kardashian in bikini paris hilton parties all night.
I was 11 years old in '69 and like many young boys wanted to grow up and be and astronaut. I cried when I heard the news.
The average age of the people involved with putting man on the moon was just 26 year old. There were no pocket calculators....it was done using a slide rule. Now with the age of maturity being 34 years old...I wonder where we went wrong. We are regressing as a society and the schools are getting worse despite longer years and days. Because of teacher unions the longer day in Illinois schools will add recess and library... I hardly think any real learning will happen due to this. And yet in this country, we almost recalled a governor who understands that these unions are not really helping our children, just bankrupting communities. Unions in the private sector are fine, but have no place in government since our money is at stake. I would like to thank the Mothers and Fathers of the children who grew up in the 50's.. Their children did this spectacular moon event. You Pot smoken Hippie folks were the beginning of the social decline, your children and their children have carried on the decline. Peace, Love and flowers in your hair crap is taking it's toll.
It must make you mad when conservatives try to oppose teaching evolution or environmental science.... right?
Oh ya, blame it on the hippies ass'hole ! Get a life.
Humbly adding to the recognition of his outstanding technical abilities, it is worth mentioning his authentic care, concern and curiosity for earthy misteries as his visits to underground wonders in Southamerica showed some years back. He never stopped learning and neither should any of us.
Grate role model by any measure, true hero by each and all measures.
His ashes could never have a better resting place than the outerworld he managed to explore.
R.I.P. Mr Neil Armstrong. Comfort and condolences to his family.
GRP
San Antonio, TX
I guess he took the lie to his grave.
Far more insidious than a lie is confusing cynicism for skepticism. Confusing irrational paranoia for a reasoned argument. and suggesting that men like Neil Armstrong didn't land on the moon simply because you are incapable of understanding the difference between a political debate and how science works.
If you believe the moon landing was a hoax......Then expain why the Hubble Telescope can still spot the debris left over from all the moon walks.....Such as the landing gear and the rovers...etc.
Neil has made his STEP on LIFE, And Buzz along with Michael are equally EXCEPTIONAL HERO'S !!!
I remember I was in France as a Teenager 14 years old and to this day I REMEMBER VIVIDLY watching on TV that HISTORIC and THRILLING TIME. I was so FASCINATED and AWED. These GUYS made me feel the WONDER of SPACE and from that day on I AM A NASA BELIEVER AND FOLLOWER !! If it not for these 3 HERO'S, Others would have done the job.
Neil I WINK at the MOON in HONOR, and GOD has you now with ALL your VISIONS of SPACE. GOD IS PROUD!!!!! My heartfelt wishes to the ARMSTRONG FAMILY. He is and always remembered "THAT STEP" WOW !!
One of the great American heroes. As a boy I watched all the Mercury and Apollo missions and still remember the day that he first stepped on the Moon. May God Bless his soul.
I will always remember that day in July. I was nine years old and was watching on a black and white TV. It was difficult to see, but I saw enough! I think that was the first time I felt true national pride!
R.I.P. Mr Armstrong, your long journey is finally over.