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See images from the career of astronaut and American hero Neil Armstrong.
While the world watches over the Internet, luminaries from the world of space exploration and politics will mix with ordinary people at 10 a.m. ET Thursday to pay tribute to first moonwalker Neil Armstrong at Washington National Cathedral in the nation's capital. But the final farewell to his mortal remains will take place out of the spotlight, during a burial at sea on Friday.
U.S. flags will be flying at half-staff on that day, in accordance with the presidential proclamation issued after Armstrong's death. Many of those same flags were lowered in Armstrong's honor on Aug. 31, when the family conducted a private memorial ceremony in Cincinnati. President Barack Obama specified, however, that the "mark of respect" should be given on the day of the astronaut's interment — and Friday is that day. Armstrong is thus coming in for a double helping of half-staff honors, plus Thursday's national memorial service.
Armstrong passed away on Aug. 25, less than three weeks after celebrating his 82nd birthday and undergoing quadruple-bypass heart surgery. If people told him while he was alive that he would be in for three widely publicized tributes to his life and legacy, he might have asked them to turn the dial down a notch. After all, the man who took "one small step for a man ... one giant leap for mankind" in 1969 was famously wary of fame. Even the family's announcement of his death called him "a reluctant American hero who always believed he was just doing his job."
Thursday's memorial ceremony isn't just about one man, however: It's also a memorial for an age when mankind made its first moves beyond its home planet. Eleven other NASA astronauts walked on the moon after Armstrong took his one small step as part of the Apollo 11 mission, but that age ended 40 years ago when Apollo 17's Gene Cernan climbed up the ladder to the Challenger lunar module.
"We leave as we came and, God willing, as we shall return: with peace and hope for all mankind," Cernan, who is due to speak at Thursday's service, said in 1972. No one has returned to the moon since.
The evocation of NASA's golden age is one of the reasons why the space agency is airing the service on television and streaming it on the Internet. (The cathedral will be streaming the service as well, along with various media outlets. You can watch NBC News' video stream here.)
In fact, NASA is providing live coverage on three channels, starting at 9:45 a.m. ET. NASA TV's Public Channel will carry the service in HD with on-screen identification of the participants. The Media Channel will broadcast a "clean feed" in HD without on-screen legends. The Education Channel will carry the complete service in standard definition. All three streams are available via the NASA TV website.
NASA says the agency's chief historian, Bill Barry, will conduct an online chat on UStream, supplementing the video coverage with background information about the speakers and their connection to Armstrong and the space effort.
On the NASA website, you can see the full program for the service (PDF file), including hymns and readings. One of Armstrong's Apollo 11 crewmates, Michael Collins, will lead prayers. In addition to Cernan, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and former Treasury Secretary John Snow are due to deliver tributes. The Rt. Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, bishop of the Episcopal diocese of Washington, will give the homily. Jazz singer-songwriter Diana Krall will sing Frank Sinatra's arrangement of "Fly Me to the Moon." Other musicians include the U.S. Navy Band "Sea Chanters," the Cathedral Choir and the Metropolitan Opera Brass.
NASA said the guest list for the service includes Apollo 11's Buzz Aldrin, who joined Armstrong on that first moonwalk; Mercury astronauts John Glenn and Scott Carpenter; and Apollo 7's Walt Cunningham, along with other astronauts from the Apollo era and space shuttle era. NASA's deputy administrator, Lori Garver, and other agency officials will be there. Lawmakers on the list include U.S. Sens. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio); House Speaker John Boehner and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi; and U.S. Rep. Ralph Hall, chairman of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee. White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew and other Obama administration officials are due to attend, space agency representatives said.
In addition to the tickets set aside for VIPs, family members, friends and journalists, NASA made tickets to the ceremony available to members of the general public. Those tickets were quickly swept up, and the cathedral says "all passes have now been allocated."
Washington National Cathedral
Washington National Cathedral's Space Window incorporates a moon rock from Apollo 11 at the center of the red circle in the stained glass.
The cathedral was chosen for the public service because it's "a historic landmark symbolizing the role of faith in America, and its iconography tells the stories that have shaped the nation's identity," NASA said. Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins presented the cathedral with a moon rock from the Apollo 11 mission on July 21, 1974, during a service commemorating the fifth anniversary of the first moon landing. That rock was later incorporated into the cathedral's Space Window — which is in the spotlight due to Thursday's service.
After the service, there's one more ceremony to perform: Armstrong's burial at sea, which was organized in accordance with his wishes. In addition to being the first man to walk on the moon, Armstrong was a U.S. Navy aviator who served with distinction during combat in the Korean War — and had the right to choose a sea burial over, say, a grave at Arlington National Cemetery. When Armstrong died, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus issued a statement noting that Armstrong "never wanted to be a living memorial, and yet to generations the world over his epic courage and quiet humility stands as the best of all examples."
NASA spokesman Michael Cabbage confirmed that the at-sea ceremony would take place Friday, on the same day as the half-staff tribute. The arrangements mean that Armstrong's remains will never lie under an earthly shrine — which may be the most fitting end for a man whose voyages ranged from the sea, to the air, to "this new ocean" of outer space.
More about Neil Armstrong:
- Neil Armstrong chose burial at sea
- Here's how to honor Neil Armstrong
- Lunar pioneers and VIPs pay respects
- PhotoBlog: Tributes from family, friends, nation
- Neil Armstrong, first to walk on moon, dies at 82
- 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
- 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
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:
While the physical capacity of Washington National Cathedral may be finite, in spirit we will all be there on Thursday morning.
Bless you, sir, and safe journey.
Is he the one who rode a bicycle on the moon?
no
First man on the moon, Neil Armstrong (right), rode Don Adams' 1896 Lu-min-um bicycle at Greenfield Village in 1980. When Adams asked if a bicycle could have replaced the Lunar Rover on the moon, Armstrong explained that the surface was too soft, and to ride a bicycle with a space suit on would be like the Frankenstein monster playing checkers.
One thing is for sure, if Neil Armstrong couldn't ride a bicycle on the moon (given the spacesuits they had), no one could. :)
This question is a prime example of just how non-science minded a person can be , unless of course some child asked this.
Has this happened yet? I couldn't tell by the article as there was no date at the top and it goes back to Aug 25th. Which Friday is the internment?
Anyway, God bless Neil Armstrong and burial at sea is the most fitting end to a truly unique legacy that will never be matched.
I believe the quote is "that's one SMALL STEP FOR MAN and one giant leap for mankind." Not "one giant step for a man ... one giant leap for mankind" Really??
RIP Neil Armstrong.
Here's a novel idea: let's honor the man by getting his quote right! It was "one SMALL step for man, one giant leap for mankind." And why not spend a couple bucks and have a twelve year old proof read your stuff before you splat it on the world.
Actually Armstrong claims he did say an "a man"
Ugh, sorry about that
Yes, according to Neil Armstrong he said "One small step for a man", so I don't see any mistake there.
It's not clear from the broadcast recordings, and the press understandably misquoted him as saying "One small step for man".
So I don't see any mistake in Alan's article.
If Alan should be apologizing for anything, it is not explicitly dating his articles, but so far that is the only complaint I ever had. He is one of the best science writers NBC has and rarely, if ever a typo, or inaccurate information.
Anyway, I hope Alan's apology in this thread is taken as sarcasm, because nothing is to blame on Alan Boyle's article above, only Patrik17's un-researched comment is in error.
Imagine landing on the Moon. Venturing outside the lander. Acknowledging the importance of the event – realizing you are the first (human) on the Moon. Then looking around and noticing ET vehicles poised around the crater that you landed in.
Armstrong was a man who rarely spoke about this event (except to relatives) - because he was a man of such integrity that he simply did not want to be put in a position to lie to the public about such a momentous encounter. It is a tragedy that many of our nation’s heroes have been placed in this situation.
Buzz saw the same thing as well. Perhaps soon he will feel comfortable to speak about what they encountered.
"Armstrong was a man who rarely spoke about this event (except to relatives) - because he was a man of such integrity that he simply did not want to be put in a position to lie to the public about such a momentous encounter."
And you 'know' this. because?
Please...go off and argue with the misfits who don't believe he ever got there at all.
And remember, 'Transformers' was not a documentary.
Lets NEVER return to the moon and NEVER go to Mars until there is actual "peace for all " . This talk of peace for all in conjunction with space travel is such a load of BS ! The astronauts in LEO have reminded us regularly over the decades as they look down on earth about what they actually know what is going on below them and what they see. They see NO BOARDERS. They see a terribly injured ecosphere from humans and they see glory all at the same time. So cut the crap until all is achieved !
"Lets NEVER return to the moon and NEVER go to Mars until there is actual "peace for all " ."
Why would we want to do something as crazy as that? Deny ourselves knowledge, energy, resources, and not bring this mythical 'peace for all' one day closer?
You might as well say 'let's stop having ice cream sundaes until there is actual peace for all,' for it would do exactly as much good. Come back to the real world, Mike. Stop making 'space' the whipping boy for all the things we should allegedly do 'instead.' You want peace? Go do the things that might bring it (and understand exactly what you mean by 'peace' before you do...it doesn't even mean the same to everyone, it's not simply the absence of war), instead of wasting your time dumping on one of our few noble activities, as if it were somehow responsible for this lack of 'peace.'
"This talk of peace for all in conjunction with space travel is such a load of BS !"
Now, to some extent, that's true. I fully believe in the words of a NASA engineer turned Jesuit priest, when he said; "Anywhere Man can learn to live, he can learn to pick a fight." There's nothing inherently 'peaceful' about space travel, any more than sea travel or air travel. But no one is about to give those up until Utopia happens, either. They Are Too Useful. (shall I repeat that?)
So is 'space' (a broad term that also means too many different things to many people). And it will become even more so. This is a good thing.
Now, go off and be a peacemaker, instead of wasting your time and ours, fighting that which is not your enemy. And as you go, be mindful of something Pope John the 23rd once said:
"If you want peace, work for justice."
Space, the Moon, whatever, is not in the way of that Stop pretending that it is.
(sigh) For crud's sake...
(end of rant)
" The astronauts in LEO have reminded us regularly over the decades as they look down on earth about what they actually know what is going on below them and what they see. They see NO BOARDERS. They see a terribly injured ecosphere from humans and they see glory all at the same time."
Funny you left this out.
"
Now, go off and be a peacemaker, instead of wasting your time and ours, fighting that which is not your enemy. And as you go, be mindful of something Pope John the 23rd once said:
"If you want peace, work for justice."
Non-sense !
I didn't think I really had to remind everyone that borders are indeed invisible from space. And no, not every astronaut has had a 'revelation" about this...
"Non-sense !"
Fine. Go pursue your own notions of 'peace.'
God bless Neil Armstrong. There will never be another.
His remains were commited to the entire earth with the bural at sea.
I hope spirit lives on to great accomplishments instead of trivial wars.
IE the spirit of Neil Armstrong should remembered as:
what a planet can do when they combine their resources and seperate their political differences.
If you want to go to the moon, you need everyone to help you. And it is possible.
No kidding, kids, Neil Armstrong was the real life Captain Kirk without the TV contracts, but the reality guy who did that, before reality TV even existed. Although that was the real TV from about 1960 to about 1969, it was all real :)
There is no reality producer to this day that has a contract with an original NASA Apollo family :) But some good family home movies are still out there :)
And obvious potential for that. I would much rather watch Armstrong's great grand daughters, than those gypsies from LA :) haha.
But besides all that , your application to be experimented with continue to be accepted to this day.
Two men accepted the gamble to land on the moon that day and returned to earth Safely as mandated by John F. Kennedy.
It was the biggest gamble anyone has ever made and these indviduals took that gamble and survived.
Never forget that.
I had the honor to visit with some of these Apollo heros at the time, and they were more popular than the Beatles, The women were all over them and the men encouraged it, no kidding men literally sacraficied their wives just to get close to the apollo crew :)
There is absolutely no doubt about the History of the Apollo missions and only idiots dispute it.