RIP Neil Armstrong

[Cdnwolf]

U.S. astronaut Neil Armstrong, who took a giant leap for mankind when he became the first person to walk on the moon, has died at the age of 82, his family said on Saturday.

[Mahatatain]

Sad news.

[Matt Wiser]

RIP. Before he was a NASA astronaut, Neil flew 78 combat missions in F9F-2s in Korea during a 1951 deployment with VF-51. Then he flew the X-15, before being selected for NASA. Commanded Gemini 8 (first docking for a U.S. manned spacecraft, and saved the flight when the Gemini and the Agena target vehicle started to spin), and Apollo 11.

[Targan]

Damn. That man was a legend.

[Matt Wiser]

Not to mention almost getting himself killed during a lunar landing training vehicle crash: When he ejected, Gene Krantz (Apollo 11 Flight Director) said that Neil had only maybe two or three swings on the chute before landing.

[M-Type]

I've always looked up to these guys thanks to my namesake, Michael Collins, (the command module pilot for Apollo 11, not the Irishman) being part of the Three that made the Apollo 11 mission. Hell, I wanted to BE an astronaut for the first half of my life because of them.

Neil will be missed.

[Adm.Lee]

Well known to me as one of the space & flight pioneers that Ohio claims as her native sons. I went to the Armstrong Museum as a young lad, as well as John Glenn's. Even so, I didn't know he taught engineering at the University of Cincinnati for years after.

His family asked that we look on the moon and give Neil a wink....