R.I.P.: Neil Armstrong

NEIL ARMSTRONG (August 5, 1930 – August 25, 2012)

Neil Alden Armstrong (August 5, 1930 – August 25, 2012) was an American astronaut, test pilot, aerospace engineer, university professor and United States Naval Aviator. He was the first person to walk on the Moon. Before becoming an astronaut, Armstrong was a United States Navy officer and had served in the Korean War. After the war, he served as a test pilot at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics High-Speed Flight Station, now known as the Dryden Flight Research Center, where he logged over 900 flights. He graduated from Purdue University and the University of Southern California.

A portrait of Armstrong taken November 20, 1956, while he was a test pilot at the NACA High-Speed Flight Station at Edwards Air Force Base, California.

A participant in the U.S. Air Force’s Man In Space Soonest and X-20 Dyna-Soar human spaceflight programs, Armstrong joined the NASA Astronaut Corps in 1962. His first spaceflight was the NASA Gemini 8 mission in 1966, for which he was the command pilot, becoming one of the first U.S. civilians in space. On this mission, he performed the first manned docking of two spacecraft with pilot David Scott.

Neil Armstrong in 1969

Armstrong’s second and last spaceflight was as mission commander of the Apollo 11 moon landing in July 1969. On this mission, Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin descended to the lunar surface and spent 2½ hours exploring, while Michael Collins remained in orbit in the Command Module. Armstrong was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Richard Nixon along with Collins and Aldrin, the Congressional Space Medal of Honor by President Jimmy Carter in 1978, and the Congressional Gold Medal in 2009.

The Apollo 11 crew portrait. Left to right are Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin.

On August 25, 2012, Armstrong died in Cincinnati, Ohio, at the age of 82 due to complications from blocked coronary arteries.

“That’s one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind”

Text and Photos: Wikipedia. Read more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Armstrong

FLY ME TO THE MOON

“Fly Me to the Moon” is a popular standard song written by Bart Howard in 1954. It was originally titled “In Other Words”, and was introduced by Felicia Sanders in cabarets. The song became known popularly as “Fly Me to the Moon” from the first line of the B verse, and after a few years the publishers changed the title to that officially.

Quincy Jones presents platinum copies of “Fly Me to the Moon” to Senator John Glenn and Apollo 11 Commander Neil Armstrong.

Frank Sinatra’s 1964 recording was played by the astronauts of Apollo 10 on their lunar-orbital mission and again on the moon itself by the astronaut Buzz Aldrin during the Apollo 11 landing.

Sing it again, Frank!