Neil Armstrong dies aged 82 Neil Armstrong, who famously took a giant leap for mankind when he descended the ladder of Apollo 11's Eagle lander and set boot on the moon, has died. He was 82. Armstrong was a humble man. He was bemused by the fame that came with his achievement, proclaimed himself no more than a "nerdy engineer" and shunned the spotlight …
Quite so - a statement from his family concludes:
For those who may ask what they can do to honor Neil, we have a simple request. Honor his example of service, accomplishment and modesty, and the next time you walk outside on a clear night and see the moon smiling down at you, think of Neil Armstrong and give him a wink.
because I never met him. My own feelings about this (even now) are mostly a mix of admiration and envy. He lived longer than most humans on this planet can expect to and in that life he did things none of us will ever do. And he did some of those things riding a several-ton bomb, while many people are still afraid of flying.
If you never met him personally, please don't tell the world about how you miss him. The more honest thing to do would be to drink to him.
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RIP Neil
He was a great mean, and will be remembered for the amazing achievement of being the first man on the moon, it may have been the luck of the draw that put him in the pilot seat, but his is the name we all remember when we think of the moon landings.
I think its also the right occasion to say RIP to all the unmentioned heroes who made Apollo a success, the engineers and the scientists that built the thing!
I will be having a few pints later in honour of Neil & all those involved in Apollo who have passed away unmentioned.
but definitely inspirational.
(Ok for the bit for the neg's. When I first heard the the chatter, (back in the day), between mission control and the 'team', I envisioned tech people who spoke English with just slightly different accents. Listening to the re-broadcasts during this sad event, they all sound like mid west farmers chatting over the mechanics of a combine harvester. Weird.)
Beer anyway.
As with the assassination of Kennedy, anyone old enough to remember Armstrong and buddies on the moon knows exactly where they were at the time.
As with most students, I took the afternoon off from university and went home to my grandmother's place where I was living at the time and I watched the landing transfixed on an old HMV B&W 21" TV set.
Events like this are never forgotten.
For us baby boomers, this sad event makes us feel very old.
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