RIP Neil Armstrong

[ryoder 1,387]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/25/us-usa-neilarmstrong-idUSBRE87O0B020120825

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[jakee 1,255]

Hero. Legend. Icon. All-American superman.

Not enough words

Do you want to have an ideagasm?

[Marinus 0]

The first of us who really went somewhere else.

RIP

[cocheese 0]

All great men will die. But a few will live forever.

The moon now has a soul.

[Namowal 0]

One of the greats.

My blog with the skydiving duck cartoons.

[gregpso 1]

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I was fifteen when I sat glued to the TV set (like everyone else) and watched Armstrong step out onto the Moon. Later, he became one of my biggest heroes. I dedicated one book (Say Goodbye to the Sun) to the Apollo 11 crew, and in another (The 13th Day of Christmas) I wrote a scene where Neil and his wife, long retired, watch the first manned landing on Mars from their living room couch.

. )
One of the big reasons Neil was selected to command Apollo 11 was his cool response under pressure. During training for Apollo, he was forced to eject from NASA's LEM trainer, the rather unstable 'Flying Bed,' when it started to flip over on him. And during the actual moon landing, he looked out the window and discovered they had overshot their planned landing site. They were coming down into a crater full of rocks the size of cars.

Neil took control of the LEM back from the computer and flew it horizontally past the crater until he spotted a safe landing spot. With fuel warnings flashing, he finally put the LEM down without a scratch:

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'Okay...contact light...engine stop. Houston, the Eagle has landed...'

Pictures from Apollo 11 You Probably Haven't Seen

The Top Ten Events That Shaped Space Exploration and Why They Did

RIP Neil. You will be missed.

YEAH I WAS 11 when this happened. The biggest event I have witnessed on tv no doubt. 82 is not a bad age but one thinks those kind of legends will never die. This has sat me on my ass I only watched his cbs interview on you tube a few weeks ago.

Apollo 11 was (in my opinion) the USA finest hour

well bowled Neil(such a quiet and unaffected man) and the entire moon landing crews and all the 100s of folk that worked on the programme

Fucking Brillantly done !!!

I tend to be a bit different. enjoyed my time in the sport or is it an industry these days ??

[kallend 1,625]

The landing was late at night on 20th July in England, and he stepped out of the LEM early in the morning of July 21.

It is the only time in my 67 years that I stayed up all night to watch TV.

How lucky we are to have lived at this time in history. There will never be another time that humans first land on another world

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[oldwomanc6 38]

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How lucky we are to have lived at this time in history. There will never be another time that humans first land on another world

+ 1, and

I doubt it will happen in my lifetime again.

Thank you, Neil. You helped us see that more is possible!

lisa
WSCR 594
FB 1023
CBDB 9

[Skyrad 0]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPwMdZOlPo8

When an author is too meticulous about his style, you may presume that his mind is frivolous and his content flimsy.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

[oldwomanc6 38]

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPwMdZOlPo8

Not available in the U.S.

lisa
WSCR 594
FB 1023
CBDB 9

[ryoder 1,387]

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPwMdZOlPo8

Not available in the U.S.

http://www.megaproxylist.com/anonymous-proxies

I have the MM3-ProxySwitch extension in Firefox with a pulldown menu of about 50 proxies to choose from, so I can originate traffic from whatever part of the world I need.

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[ryoder 1,387]

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/multimedia/sns-rt-blooper-errormt1thewrap53461-20120825,0,3958508.story

Oops!

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[Andy9o8 0]

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http://www.orlandosentinel.com/multimedia/sns-rt-blooper-errormt1thewrap53461-20120825,0,3958508.story

Oops!

What a dumbass. Everyone knows that Neil Young started as a Gemini astronaut and commanded the first Space Shuttle mission.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'll go back to drinking my margarita prepared with Warren Buffet's recipe.

[lawrocket 3]

He was the first - and one of the last - to set foot on the moon. But it's nice that he wanted to define himself as more than that.

I think his reclusiveness just added to his legend. Imagine the difference if it was Pete Conrad who was first. Just as amazing, but there'd be not mystique, I assure you!

RIP.

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[muff528 3]

So... the first man on the moon was a Canadian! One small step, eh! It all makes sense now.

"Well, I dreamed I saw the silver spaceships flying
In the yellow haze of the sun
There were children crying and colors flying
All around the chosen ones
All in a dream, all in a dream
The loading had begun
Flying Mother Nature's silver seed to a new home in the sun"

I wonder if he saw Alice there?

[airtwardo 6]

How lucky we are to have lived at this time in history. There will never be another time that humans first land on another world

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So very true.

I think I'm really fortunate in that my father always let us stay home from school an watch all the launches. Whenever there was anything televised from a mission THAT's what we watched and talked about at home.

I was 11 when WE landed on the moon.

I remember distinctly how emotional my dad got as he explained to my sister and I, that since the very dawn of mankind this was the first time we'd put our collective knowledge, resources and talents together to explore the cosmos 'in person'.

I sit here recalling him saying that in one man's lifetime, we'd gone from ground zero with powered flight to landing on another world...and how now things as we know it, will never be the same.

As a kid I was constantly warned about imposing 'hero' status on people...Had to be careful with what I said sometimes.

I was told that July day in '69. Armstrong isn't a hero in the true sense because of landing on the moon.

Any one one of 'us' could do something like that...he represents 'all of mankind' in showing what a person is capable of, if they have the desire & drive to be the best.

To my dad's eye at the time, and so too of course to mine...What made Neil Armstrong a Hero wasn't that his foot prints were the 1st ~ it was that he prepared himself to be the best of what he chose to do, above all others.

I've often thought about the wisdom of that.


At age 20 he flew 78 missions during the Korean War as a fighter pilot, getting shot down once where he had to eject.

At 22 he returned to Purdue University to get his degree in Aeronautical Engineering, where he also wrote and co-directed a musical, and played the Baritone(horn) in the Purdue Marching Band!

THEN he went on to become an experimental test pilot and astronaut!

And in looking back at not only his accomplishments, but also in the way he handled himself in the years following...it seems like calling Neil Armstrong an 'American Hero' is rather short sighted and limiting. . . In his own words, 'For All Mankind' seems so much more appropriate.

Rest easy Space Voyager, job well done.

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

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[oldwomanc6 38]

After the gold rush?

Great song!
I' m sure he's sure that glad the reports of his demise were premature!

lisa
WSCR 594
FB 1023
CBDB 9

[airdvr 197]

One of my childhood heroes. Even was born in my state, in the unassuming town of Wapakaneta, OHio. At one time he was the most famous person on earth but he never used it to his betterment and was reclusively shy about even talking about the mission. Seems we could use a few more heroes like the original astronauts.

Please don't dent the planet.

Destinations by Roxanne

[kallend 1,625]

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kallend says in part:

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'How lucky we are to have lived at this time in history. There will never be another time that humans first land on another world...'

Oh, I wouldn't be so sure. JPL already has a plan...and the date...we're going to Mars. April 15, 2025.
(Illustrated article taken from their PDF)

How much would it cost? Maybe four days' worth at most of the yearly US DOD budget. That's five or six billion dollars...

So that will be the seventh time that humans land on another world.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[1888 0]

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Right up there with John Wayne & Chesty Puller.

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[BillyVance 34]

I was almost 2 when Neil landed on the moon, but he did it on my mom's birthday. Dad still has the negatives of the shots he took of the black and white TV when the news showed the landing live

[JohnMitchell 14]

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I was almost 2 when Neil landed on the moon, but he did it on my mom's birthday.

Vskydiver's mom's birthday too.
That was my July of being glued to the TV set. What an amazing journey. We did it because we wanted to. Even Joni Mitchell, super liberal apologist for the USA said "Be nice to us. We walked on the Moon."

I wish mankind could find more goals like that.

[gregpso 1]

[."

I wish mankind could find more goals like that.

Shows what a bit of competition can do!! (moon landings and cheaper tandems (only a joke) All these years later I still marvel at the achievement. For me the Kennedy Space Centre was almost a holly place to visit. I will return there.

Way to go Neil Buzz and Collins and the entire moon landing crews

I tend to be a bit different. enjoyed my time in the sport or is it an industry these days ??

[gregpso 1]

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Hero. Legend. Icon. All-American superman.

Not enough words

Plus 1

I tend to be a bit different. enjoyed my time in the sport or is it an industry these days ??

[MikeJD 0]

What a fantastic post. Thanks, airtwardo.

I generally have a problem with the way the term 'hero' is used. The moon landings were an astonishing achievement and I'm glad to be able to say they happened in my lifetime - but they were the fruit of a huge team effort, and you could argue that to a large extent Armstrong just happened to be in the right place at the right time in history. Yes, he was highly trained and skilled and an effective mission commander - but he was no more an exceptional human being than millions of others who have dedicated themselves to a goal, and who have achieved things that were personally at least as difficult, but whose stories will never be known. By all accounts, he himself would have been uncomfortable with the 'hero' label. But he had the huge privilege of being the first man to step on the moon, and nobody can take that away from him.

I also find it odd when people say that it's 'sad' that someone famous has died, as if we expect these celebrities to escape the inevitable. His defining moment was over 40 years ago, and he'd been out of the spotlight for a very long time.

This all looks a bit curmudgeonly, so it's worth saying that I was hugely excited by the Apollo programme and still find it fascinating. Even now I'm amazed that we went to the moon, and I'm hugely impressed by the people who got us there, including Armstrong - I just don't see the reason to mythologise him over the other participants.