Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon, has died at age 82, NBC News has learned

Twitter | 08/25/12 | Kevin Davis

[Brown Deer]

Are you sure it was Armstrong? That's not what NBC reported. ;-)

There's a high flyin' bird way up in the sky
And I wonder if she look down as she goes on by
Just floatin' so free and easy in the sky.

[lonestar]

I can’t help it! ... LOL

[Jack Hydrazine]

You got it! I’ve been waiting all day for a reply to it. Thanks for the reply!

The story behind the 1201 and 1202 alarms are great. You can find out more about them from videos posted on GoogTube.

[chessplayer]

Took only 13 posts to turn this into a political football. Pat yourself on the back.

[Stosh]

List of X-15 test pilots as given in Wikipedia

(Not sure how well this will format, but here goes):

Pilot/ Organization/ Total Flights

Michael J. Adams† U.S. Air Force 7
Neil Armstrong NASA 7
Scott Crossfield North American Aviation 14
William H. Dana NASA 16
Joe H. Engle U.S. Air Force 16
William “Pete” Knight U.S. Air Force 16
John B. McKay NASA 29
Forrest S. Petersen U.S. Navy 5
Robert Rushworth U.S. Air Force 34
Milt Thompson NASA 14
Joseph A. Walker NASA 25
Robert M. White** U.S. Air Force 16

I remember the X-15 program from when I was a little boy, the coverage of Scott Crossfield’s flights in particular.

And the citation by Adams name is a footnote that he died in an X-15 crash, the only fatality noted.

(Sorry about the lousy formatting - I need to go to html school)

[southernnorthcarolina]

[chessplayer]

They say he died from complications from the surgery. A PC way of saying the surgery killed him.

[Gay State Conservative]

Will Obama order the flags to Half staff?

If Osama acknowledges Armstrong's passing at all it will be to equate his courageous decision to grant amnesty to millions of wetbacks to Armstrong's lifelong devotion to the service of his country.

[Autonomous User]

quote:
It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn’t feel like a giant. I felt very, very small.

—Neil Armstrong

You will be missed sir.

[Psalm 144]

Awesome link. I remember that America. My kid has never known it.

[dragnet2]

Great quote.

A quarter million miles from home, in another land.

Landing on that landscape after Eagle separated from Columbia? These guys were totally focused..Total concentration...That or doom, no go back. Even Armstrong thought it was about 50/50.

Total guts/dedication. Real explorers, real history.

[Nik Naym]

“Once my next door neighbor almost ran over Scott Carpenter pulling into the parking lot. “

Let me guess: Carpenter was sight seeing and not paying attention to where he was going at the time?

[Ditto]

He needs a state funeral, like a former president or other grandee.

I agree that he deserves one. But I doubt that would have been his wish.

He was a very humble and unpretentious man who never once attempted to capitalize on his fame. And he easily could have. But you never once saw him in commercials or running for political office. He could have made many millions doing that. Instead when he retired from NASA, he became a college professor and imparted his knowledge to young engineering students.

He always gave credit to the thousands of other people at NASA and the contractors who allowed his feet to be the first on the Moon. He never claimed credit for it.

I think he would want his funeral to be a friends and family affair with no pomp and circumstances involved. That was the way he lived his life, and I think the way he would want to leave.

RIP Mr. Armstrong. You were an inspiration to all of us on how to conduct our lives.

[chessplayer]

Russian online newspaper media hasn’t even had the courtesy to mention it.

[cva66snipe]

I was 12 when Armstrong and Addrin landed on the moon. That mission has impacted our world today more than many people will ever realize. Almost every aspect of our technology today is connected to either the space program or defense.

[decal]

Not many people know or remember that Neil Armstrong nearly didn't make it to the Apollo program - there was a problem with a thruster jet on Gemini VIII’s spacecraft.

http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraftDisplay.do?id=1966-020A

[rdl6989]

I actually cried when my hero died.

[Dad x 3]

If memory serves, Armstrong had another brush a couple months before the Apollo 11 flight. He was piloting a jet-powered LEM simulator when it malfunctioned and he had to jettison before it crashed. I think he had an incident in one of the X-15s, too.

He was cool and courageous under pressure, my childhood hero. ‘Really saddened at his passing.

[Engraved-on-His-hands]

Don't tell me the sky's the limit
There's footprints on the moon
(Brandt Paul)

I remember the day in 1969. I missed the actual touchdown by a few minutes because of a traffic jam im Memphis, TN, where my Mother had taken me for a weekend shopping trip with family friends. I also remember the drama of the days prior to the launch. Reports indicated that the Soviets had moved a large manned rocket onto a launch pad, ostensibly with the idea of beating us to the punch in the space race. The Soviet moon rocket didn't launch that day, and never has to this day. No other country's moon rocket has ever launched either, nor has even an American moon rocket since December of 1972, almost four decades ago. Days of wonder.

I also remember a day in February 1962 when the very unusual step (for that time) was taken of television sets being brought into our first grade classrooms. We watched John Glenn orbit the Earth. He was the first American to orbit the Earth, but not the first person, since the Soviets were ahead in the space race. Late in the decade, America tenuously took the lead in that race. The exclamation point took place when names like Sputnik and Yuri Gagarin were eclipsed by the names Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, the Eagle, and Tranqulity Base

[Nowhere Man]

It's worse than that even. A lot of them, maybe even a majority, don't believe it really happened. They've been hoodwinked by "faked moon landing" conspiracy theory wackos. Those people who push that lie are a disgrace, and they dishonor the memory and achievements of not only those who flew those missions, but the thousands who directly worked on the programs that made them a reality.

I know. B-( IIRC, Buzz Aldrin decked one of them a few years ago when one of them came up to him and told him that he really did not walk on the Moon. Good for Buzz!