Neil Armstrong dead: First man on the Moon

	Neil Armstrong dead: First man on the Moon Neil Armstrong, the astronaut who marked an epochal achievement in exploration with "one small step" from the Apollo 11 lunar module on July 20, 1969, becoming the first person to walk on the moon, died overnight at 82. His family announced the death in a statement but did not disclose where he died. They attributed it to "complications resulting from cardiovascular procedures." An official NASA image of Neil Armstrong, astronaut, space pioneer. Click for more photos Neil Armstrong's flight into history A taciturn engineer and test pilot who was never at ease with his fame, Mr Armstrong was among the most famous Americans of the 1960s Cold War space race. Advertisement Twelve years after the Soviet Sputnik satellite reached space first, deeply alarming US officials, and after President John F. Kennedy in 1961 declared it a national priority to land an American on the moon "before this decade is out," Mr Armstrong, a former Navy fighter pilot, commanded the NASA crew that finished the job. His trip to the moon — particularly the hair-raising final descent from lunar orbit to the treacherous surface — was history's boldest feat of aviation. Yet what the experience meant to him, what he thought of it all on an emotional level, he mostly kept to himself. Like his boyhood idol, transatlantic aviator Charles Lindbergh, Mr Armstrong learned how uncomfortable the intrusion of global acclaim can be. And just as Lindbergh had done, he eventually shied from the public and avoided <b>...</b>	From: C0starulz Views: 0 0 ratings
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