Honour a Hero

US astronaut Neil Armstrong dies, first man on Moon

US astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first man to set foot on the Moon, has died at the age of 82, US media report.

Earlier this month he had surgery to relieve blocked coronary arteries.

He walked on the Moon on 20 July 1969, famously describing the event as "one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind".

Last November Armstrong, along with three other astronauts, received the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest US civilian award.

He was the commander of the Apollo 11 spacecraft. He and fellow astronaut Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin spent nearly three hours walking on the moon.

 

And here I thought this would be a tribute to my many and marvelous accomplishments :disturbed:

 

How fucking cool is it that we have put men on the moon? Furthermore, how fucking cool is it that we did it back with rudimentary computer technology at the time?

Next stop: Mars.

 

He'll be missed - hopefully they can let him go into space just one more time...

 

Not if our current administration has anything to say about that. >.>

 

Please raise a glass tonight for Neil Armstrong.

 

Funeral on the Moon would be both touching and awesome at once ...

 

He was a great man. I was hoping he'd get to see a mars landing before he went.

 

He was a great man. Every time I think about it, I'm reminded how much of a badass you have to be to volunteer to attempt the first moon landing. That takes a very special kind of testicular fortitude.

 

apparently to his own opinion the landing itself was a bigger achievement then stepping on the moon which makes perfect sense to me. landing on the moon with little to no computer help and they were initially going a few thousand miles per hour.

 

we're already on mars. we've got robots there now, learning all kinds of awesome shit. Hero though he was, courageous though he was, we learn far, far more from unmanned space exploration than we ever will from manned space exploration.

 

It makes me sad because it seems like people these days don't have the desire or the balls to try and leave Earth's atmosphere. They're content to leave it all to robots and that's pretty freaking boring, not to mention completely spineless. There are no more heroes left in man.

 

He was an idol of mine, and the inspiration for one of my Halloween outfits when I was a kid. Back then it was Neil Armstrong and Elvis. Yes I had a few phases while growing up. At least he was alive long enough to see pictures of mars in HD, to see what it actually looks like up there, instead of those red crap pictures we had with those smaller rovers.

This new vehicle they put up there really is telling how far along we've come. Armstrong and his crew on that moon landing had it much harder than we do now, when we pretty much know what it takes to get there and back, and most of what could and will go wrong. I guess it's easier to do landings and such when it's just equipment and not human lives at stake.

I watched the CGI video they made of that new mars vehicle landing on the planet. That alone shows how advanced it's gotten now, compared to the blind landing that Armstrong did (pretty much blind). To think, in a blink of an eye Armstrong and his crew could have very easily have been a dark smear on the moon instead of leaving trash behind.

 

"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." - Neil Armstrong

Neil, you will be missed.

 

I think when they actually did land he had ended up using enough that only 20% fuel was left the computer was steering them to land in a field of boulders.

 

It takes a certain kinda man (or women) to volunteer to ride on a large metal tube propelled by a giant column of fire into the vacuum of space, and to explore a place that for a long time had been though impossible to reach. He will be missed

 

I had the great opportunity to attend Space Academy when I was in 7th Grade. (the older kid version of Space Camp) I grew up reading about him and his colleagues and count "The Right Stuff" as one of my favorite movies. One of the Directors of the Huntsville, AL Redstone Rocket center (where modules for the ISS were being developed) stated in a presentation that he beleived had the plans to the Saturn V rocket (the apollo missions) not been lost in the move from Cape Canavrel to Huntsville that we would have still be able to manufacture that rocket and would have already had an outpost on the moon and been working on manned missions to Mars already (but the mid 90s) Mr Armstrong and his fellows (as well as Cosmonaughts from Russia) are and were true Terran Heroes. I say terran because I beleive the entire world should be proud of them.