Follow Neil Armstrong's Life Journey to the Moon and Back

On August 25, 2012, Neil Armstrong, American astronaut, died from complications of heart surgery at the age of 82. An excerpt from the article:

"The Apollo Program
Armstrong was commander of the backup crew of the Apollo 8 mission, though he had been originally scheduled to back-up the Apollo 9 mission. (Had he remained as the backup commander, he would have been slated to command Apollo 12, not Apollo 11.)

Initially, Buzz Aldrin, the Lunar Module Pilot, was to be the first to set foot on the Moon. However, because of the positions of the astronauts in the module, it would require Aldrin to physically crawl over Armstrong to reach the hatch. As such, it was decided that it would be easier for Armstrong to exit the module first upon landing.

Apollo 11 touched down on the surface of the Moon on July 20, 1969, at which point Armstrong declared, "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed." Apparently, Armstrong had only seconds of fuel left before the thrusters would cut out. If that had happened, the lander would have plummeted to the surface. That didn't happen, much to everyone's relief. Armstrong and Aldrin exchanged congratulations before quickly preparing the lander to launch off the surface in case of an emergency.

Humanity's Greatest Achievement
On July 20, 1969, Armstrong made his way down the ladder from the Lunar Lander and, upon reaching the bottom declared "I'm going to step off the LEM now." As his left boot made contact with the surface he then spoke the words that defined a generation, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

About 15 minutes after exiting the module, Aldrin joined him on the surface and they began investigating the lunar surface. They planted the American flag, collected rock samples, took images and video, and transmitted their impressions back to Earth.

The final task carried out by Armstrong was to leave behind a package of memorial items in remembrance of deceased Soviet cosmonauts Yuri Gagarin and Vladimir Komarov, and Apollo 1 astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee. All told, Armstrong and Aldrin spent 2.5 hours on the lunar surface, paving the way for other Apollo missions.

The astronauts then returned to Earth, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean on July 24, 1969. Armstrong was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honor bestowed upon civilians, as well as a host of other medals from NASA and other countries.

Life After Space
After his Moon trip, Neil Armstrong completed a master's degree in aerospace engineering at the University of Southern California and worked as an administrator with NASA and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). He next turned his attention to education and accepted a teaching position at the University of Cincinnati with the Department of Aerospace Engineering. He held this appointment until 1979. Armstrong also served on two investigation panels. The first was after the Apollo 13 incident, while the second came after the Challenger explosion.

Armstrong lived much of his life after NASA life outside the public eye, and worked in private industry and consulted for NASA until his retirement. He made occasional public appearances until shortly before his death on August 25, 2012. His ashes were buried at sea in the Atlantic Ocean the following month. His words and deeds live on in the annals of space exploration, and he was widely admired by space explorers and space enthusiasts around the world."