OT (I dont' think so) Neil Armstrong

Billtodd · Aug 25, 2012

OT Neil Armstrong

I don't think of many people as 'heroes', but to me, and millions around the world, Neil Armstrong was a hero.

RIP

Boris · Aug 25, 2012

A sad loss to the world

But just remember in a 1000 years no one will remember who the current president is or the lastest Z-list 'celebrity' found with his/her pants down, but they will say
"Neil Armstrong... first man to step foot on another planetary body"

Boris

According to mom and dad I did watch the moon landing... but I cant remember it

S_W_Bausch · Aug 25, 2012

Boris said:
A sad loss to the world

But just remember in a 1000 years no one will remember who the current president is or the lastest Z-list 'celebrity' found with his/her pants down, but they will say
"Neil Armstrong... first man to step foot on another planetary body"

Boris

According to mom and dad I did watch the moon landing... but I cant remember it

Nobody remembered or believed in ancient Troy, until Frank Calvert and Heinrich Schliemann "found" it.

If the physical evidences are no longer present, or accessible, who's to say that the lunar landings will have greater credibility than the creation stories of any number of cultures?

Nowadays, we have the Flying Spaghetti Monster

.... and Santa Claus, and Comic Con.

"History is written by the victors"

Antarctica · Aug 25, 2012

The last minute of tape of Armstrong putting the lunar lander on the moon is in my book hands down the most moving clip of video ever made. The calm, collected way he gets the job done is just phenomenal. Facing disaster in a matter of seconds, his composure was incredible. Evey time I see it, it makes me choke up. I hope it gets aired a few times. The ladder jump onto the moon is great and all, and understandably is what will be remembered, but that landing showed what he was and why he was chosen.

For a lot of people, its soldiers and olympians, but scientists, engineers, and the thousands of worker-bees that make something like that happen are my heros are are what bring me back to remember why I'm still proud to be an American. Even if all that was before my time.

RIP Neil - I already did my moon wink tonight.

Brent

jim rozen · Aug 25, 2012

A great light has indeed gone out.

The story about what was going on as the LEM approached the moon has a lot of nuances - and what happened
right after as well.

But you knew he was going to do well, if you knew about how he handled the stuck attitude thruster on the
gemini mission before that.

When they uncoupled from the Agena they were docked to, their roll rate was approaching one per second
when they finally got it sorted out. That's a fun house ride.

Tommy · Aug 25, 2012

Billtodd said:
Neil Armstrong was a hero.

You bet he was.

Casually assigning "hero" status to celebrities, sports figures, and the like, only cheapens the use of the word. Neil Armstrong was/is a hero in the truest sense of its meaning.

Although the moon landing made him known for eternity, Neil Armstrong was no one trick pony, and it's important to remember that most of his adult life was spent in some type of heroic activity. An example being the following story of a little ride he took in the X-15 years before Apollo 11.

Flight 51: To the edge of space and to the edge of Los Angeles

What a man.

~TW~

Newman109 · Aug 25, 2012

He really is a hero. His accomplishment is all the more awe-inspiring when you consider that it was more than 40 years ago and the state of the art of digital and solid state electronics was really rather primitive compared to the present time.

He won't be forgotten.

440roadrunner · Aug 25, 2012

My friend who I just lost this spring used to say that "candidates for the U.S. Presidency should have to have done things such as land aircraft on carriers at night."

Neil Armstrong was such a man. Saw action in Korea. Test pilot. Not a newbie to danger. The end to a tremendous ride.

Thanks, by the way, to the mods for dumping that idiot comment

Michael Moore · Aug 26, 2012

I can't vouch for this, but I saw a quote today attributed to Armstrong:

"I am, and ever will be, a white-socks, pocket-protector, nerdy engineer."

cheers,
Michael

Limy Sami · Aug 26, 2012

+ 1 on all the above.

A great man. RIP

davycrocket · Aug 26, 2012

I agree with everything already said about Neil Armstrong.
I remember the landing like it was yesterday.

My oldest son could hardly wait to get out the Meccano set .

Davycrocket

Tonytn36 · Aug 26, 2012

A gutsy hero, and a fine, humble man. I've watched several specials on NASA TV where he has been a speaker at forum and lecture events. He was a teacher and an orate speaker. He will be missed. NASA is replaying video of the moon landing as I type this.......

GregSY · Aug 26, 2012

Such a sad ending. First, they strip him of his 7 titles then he passes away - probably of a broken heart.

Mebfab · Aug 26, 2012

GregSY said:
Such a sad ending. First, they strip him of his 7 titles then he passes away - probably of a broken heart.

Umm, might want to google the name or lay off the schnapps.

N2IXK · Aug 26, 2012

Michael Moore said:
I can't vouch for this, but I saw a quote today attributed to Armstrong:

"I am, and ever will be, a white-socks, pocket-protector, nerdy engineer."

cheers,
Michael

The full quote is even better:

"I am, and ever will be, a white-socks, pocket-protector, nerdy engineer -- born under the second law of thermodynamics, steeped in the steam tables, in love with free-body diagrams, transformed by Laplace, and propelled by compressible flow."

PeteM · Aug 26, 2012

What a terrific quote; poetic by my white socks standards.

steve45 · Aug 26, 2012

I was 16 at the time, I remember it well.

Like Armstrong, and 21 other astronauts, I also attended Purdue. He made us proud. Needless to say, my career hasn't been so distinguished...

Thankfully, Armstrong lived to see Purdue name a building in his honor. I attended classes in Gus Grissom Hall, posthumously named for the first American to be vertically launched into space, who died in a training accident.

Godspeed, Neil, as you take that giant leap into the next world!

metlcutr55 · Aug 26, 2012

Newman109 said:
He really is a hero. His accomplishment is all the more awe-inspiring when you consider that it was more than 40 years ago and the state of the art of digital and solid state electronics was really rather primitive compared to the present time.

He won't be forgotten.

huge respects to Neil, all his fellow astronauts, and all those who work on the amazing task of getting off the planet and exploring the not so near universe (or looking back at earth and exploring it too). i feel fortunate and proud to have held in my hands and worked on parts that are now in space. i am amazed that the folk that did it 40 some yrs ago could do it with computers that were likely not as "smart" as my dollar store calculator. i watch(ed) fairly closely the voyages of spirit and opportunity, and am excited about curiousity's upcoming journey.

Newman109 · Aug 26, 2012

metlcutr55 said:
huge respects to Neil, all his fellow astronauts, and all those who work on the amazing task of getting off the planet and exploring the not so near universe (or looking back at earth and exploring it too). i feel fortunate and proud to have held in my hands and worked on parts that are now in space. i am amazed that the folk that did it 40 some yrs ago could do it with computers that were likely not as "smart" as my dollar store calculator. i watch(ed) fairly closely the voyages of spirit and opportunity, and am excited about curiousity's upcoming journey.

I recall many years ago working on Rocketdyne engines that were the precursors of the later Apollo space engines. Things were very primitive at the time compared to even what I've seen of the Apollo program. There were no integrated circuits, just an occasional amplifier board here and there populated with "button mushroom" transistors. Everything else was electromechanical and failures were common.

Going to the Moon in 1969 was an amazing feat.

bhigdog · Aug 26, 2012

He was the ONLY living person I truly wished I could spend an hour with..................Bob

OT (I dont' think so) Neil Armstrong

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