Neil Alden Armstrong (August 5, 1930 – August 25, 2012) was an American astronaut and the first person to walk on the Moon. He was also an aerospace engineer, naval aviator, test pilot, and university professor. (Click here for full Wikipedia article)
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That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.*
Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.
I am, and ever will be, a white-socks, pocket-protector, nerdy engineer, born under the second law of thermodynamics, steeped in steam tables, in love with free-body diagrams, transformed by Laplace and propelled by compressible flow.
I fully expected that, by the end of the century, we would have achieved substantially more than we actually did.
I guess we all like to be recognized not for one piece of fireworks, but for the ledger of our daily work.
I think we're going to the moon because it's in the nature of the human being to face challenges. It's by the nature of his deep inner soul... we're required to do these things just as salmon swim upstream.
Pilots take no special joy in walking: pilots like flying. Pilots generally take pride in a good landing, not in getting out of the vehicle.
Space has not changed but technology has, in many cases, improved dramatically. A good example is digital technology where today's cell phones are far more powerful than the computers on the Apollo Command Module and Lunar Module that we used to navigate to the moon and operate all the spacecraft control systems.
Tang is a farce. We did not use it on the Apollo missions.
Without the skill and experience that actual spacecraft operation provides, the USA is far too likely to be on a long downhill slide to mediocrity. America must decide if it wishes to remain a leader in space. If it does, we should institute a program which will give us the very best chance of achieving that goal.
Mystery creates wonder and wonder is the basis of man's desire to understand.
Research is creating new knowledge.
The important achievement of Apollo was demonstrating that humanity is not forever chained to this planet and our visions go rather further than that and our opportunities are unlimited.
I wasn't chosen to be first. I was just chosen to command that flight. Circumstance put me in that particular role. That wasn't planned by anyone.
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*Armstrong maintains he said "a man," not "man," despite what recordings at the time indicate. For a technical discussion of the issue, click here.
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(August 5 is also the birthday of John Huston, Guy de Maupassant, and Peter McWilliams.)
Categories: Neil Armstrong, Quotes of the day
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