Neil Armstrong: An American Hero

If you were alive in the 1960’s and 70’s you probably remember a man named Neil Armstrong. But how well do you actually know this hero of American history or world history for that matter? Neil Armstrong was an accomplished pilot and astronaut but he is primarily remembered around the world for being the first man to set foot on the moon.

This man’s story starts in the small, quiet town of Wapakoneta, Ohio on August 5, 1930. His dad, Stephen Armstrong, worked for the government of Ohio. His mom was Viola Engel. She then became Viola Armstrong when she married Stephen on Oct. 8, 1924. Neil had two siblings. The first was June Armstrong; she was born in 1933 just three years after Neil was born. The next was Dean, the youngest of the family,

In 1936, Neil’s life changed forever when he took his first flight on a real airplane. The plane was an old Ford tri motor nick named “Tin Goose” (Zemlicka 6). On that day, Neil decided that he had to fly again no matter what it would take. Eight years later, he finally found a way to get back in the cool, thin air where his heart knew it belonged. He worked tirelessly for a year to be able to pay for his flying lessons (Zemlicka 11). It took him 20 hours of work for just one flying lesson. The ambitious, young man was so in love with flight that he got his pilot’s license at only 15 years old; one year before he got his driver’s license.

Neil Armstrong loved learning and education. Because of this, he excelled in both physics and chemistry and his love for flight grew even stronger. In high school, he built a 7ft. wind tunnel in his parent’s basement for testing his model airplanes (Kramer 19). His neighbor had a telescope and the first time Neil looked through it, a new side of him opened up-his interest in astronomy (Zemlicka 10). He devoted a lot of time to his studies and he graduated from Blume High School at only 16 years

The crew of this spectacular mission was: Neil Armstrong as commander, Michael Collins as pilot of the Command module, and “Buzz” Aldrin as the Lunar module pilot. They launched from Cape Kennedy on July 16,1969. The launch was seen and heard around the world on TV sets and radios by over 500,000,000 people (Smolowe 1). It took three days for the crew to get to the moon and on July 20, 1969 the Eagle landed on the cold, barren surface in the Sea of Tranquility. When Neil took his left foot off of the lunar module and slowly moved it through the thin atmosphere stepping onto the sand he said, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” From that day on nothing was the same. Mankind had finally sent a man to the moon and left an American flag to commemorate it. After returning from the mission, on behalf of NASA, Neil and his family went on tour to 24 countries in only 45 days (Smolowe