Sad loss of a great hero. I think we forget how utterly risky early space flight was *NM*
Mark Send a noteboard - 27/08/2012 02:08:52 PM
US astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first man to set foot on the Moon, has died at the age of 82.
His family says he died from complications from heart surgery he had earlier this month.
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 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.
The mission was his last space flight. He left the US space agency Nasa to teach aeronautics in 1971.
'Reluctant hero'
Born in 1930 and raised in Ohio, Armstrong took his first flight aged six with his father and formed a lifelong passion for flying.
He flew Navy fighter jets during the Korean War in the 1950s, and joined the US space programme in 1962.
Correspondents say Armstrong remained modest and never allowed himself to be caught up in the glamour of space exploration.
"I am, and ever will be, a white-socks, pocket-protector, nerdy engineer," he said in February 2000, in a rare public appearance.
In a statement, his family praised him as a "reluctant American hero" who had "served his nation proudly, as a navy fighter pilot, test pilot, and astronaut".
Once known as Hochopepa
You cannot kill a vampire with an MDF stake; werewolves can't fly; zombies do not run. - Simon Pegg
You cannot kill a vampire with an MDF stake; werewolves can't fly; zombies do not run. - Simon Pegg
Neil Armstrong (first man to walk on the moon) has passed away at the age of 82.
- 25/08/2012 09:11:33 PM
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- 25/08/2012 10:06:59 PM
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- 25/08/2012 10:06:59 PM
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A sad and great loss, but one can only envy his long full life.
- 26/08/2012 02:48:41 AM
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He lived a long life and did more with it than most people will ever do
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- 26/08/2012 05:45:23 PM
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- 26/08/2012 05:45:23 PM
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It's been a bad week for people named "Armstrong," apparently
- 26/08/2012 07:15:49 PM
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Sad loss of a great hero. I think we forget how utterly risky early space flight was *NM*
- 27/08/2012 02:08:52 PM
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Now that he's dead and his feelings can't be hurt, can we stop pretending the moon thing mattered?
- 27/08/2012 11:37:11 PM
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