Neil Armstrong has died at 82 Today

Neil Armstrong would have been 17 years old when Orville Wright died in 1948. In the lifespan of those two men, humanity went from horse-and-buggy to standing on the moon. One wonders what the 17 year olds of today might accomplish...

<i>"I am, and ever will be, a white-socks, pocket-protector, nerdy engineer - born under the second law of thermodynamics, steeped in the steam tables, in love with free-body diagrams, transformed by Laplace, and propelled by compressible flow."</i><p>-Neil Armstrong<p><a href="http://www.eetimes.com/General/PrintView/4039730" rel="nofollow">http://www.eetimes.com/General/PrintView/4039730</a>

"I think we're going to the moon because it's in the nature of the human being to face challenges. It's by the nature of his deep inner soul... we're required to do these things just as salmon swim upstream."<p>--- Neil Armstrong.<p>An inspiring man. RIP.

Neil was my biggest childhood hero. I did one or two school reports about him, dressed as an astronaut for Halloween for three straight years, and went to Space Camp twice. That my birthday (July 20) fell on the anniversary of his historic moon landing didn't hurt my identification with him one bit.<p>That interest in space, fostered by the examples of Neil and other early space explorers, translated to a lifelong passion for pushing science and technology forward. I'm sure many people here can say the same.<p>Neil's accomplishment, which he of course shares with the countless others who (literally) lifted him up and made his mission such a success, is one of the most inspirational achievements in the history of this planet. May it continue to inspire many more!

For a more in-depth consideration of Armstrong's life, there's an excellent profile written in 1999 here: <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/space/armstrongfull.htm" rel="nofollow">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/space...</a><p><i>"Pilots take no special joy in walking," Armstrong once told a group of well-wishers at an air show who wanted to hear what it had been like to walk on the moon. "Pilots like flying."</i>

A thousand years from now, most people won't know much about the politicians, generals, celebrities or billionaires this century or last. But they might well know who first walked on the moon.

What's sad is that we didn't yet returned to the moon, and he won't live to see it.

Excellent 4-part interview series with him, quite recent too:<p><a href="http://thebottomline.cpaaustralia.com.au/" rel="nofollow">http://thebottomline.cpaaustralia.com.au/</a>

The article currently is just a stub. I imagine this is related to the heart bypass surgery he underwent a couple of weeks ago:<p><a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2185898/Neil-Armstrong-First-man-walk-moon-recovering-heart-bypass-surgery.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2185898/Neil-Armstro...</a>

With no plans to go to the moon again, we will soon be out of living moon-walkers.

Black bar?

Neil Armstrong (August 5, 1930 – August 25, 2012) RIP.<p>I hope we will return to the Moon or better go to Mars before the last Apollo astronaut has died.

Here's a collection of information I just came across about Neil Armstrong: <a href="http://learni.st/users/farbood/boards/3625-neil-armstrong?tb=540cf46629671b2b3c7e2eb0c131b55b" rel="nofollow">http://learni.st/users/farbood/boards/3625-neil-armstrong?tb...</a>

He did get to see the next phase of space flight, with the SpaceX launch, the first successful private spaceflights. The future is bright with the expanded private interest in it.

NY Times:<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/26/science/space/neil-armstrong-dies-first-man-on-moon.html?hp" rel="nofollow">http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/26/science/space/neil-armstro...</a>

I remember watching a documentary which quite rarely featured Neil Armstrong (and Buzz and Collins) discussing the actual trip to the moon. They related a story where they instructed the computer to begin reverse thrusters to slow their approach to the moon. The computer came back with a code which Collins duly looked up in the manual<p><pre><code> 3E - Are you sure? </code></pre> Twas ever thus.<p>It stuck in my mind, as humanising people who otherwise outstrip us who in all ways look up to them.<p>He will be sadly missed.

"I've seen things you people would not believe..." <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTzA_xesrL8" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTzA_xesrL8</a>

It is not his death we should focus on - for Neil Armstrong, and his collegues, we should not let his <i>life</i> be in vain.<p>Back to the moon for good - or a lot of good people wasted their time.

Respect for the old man! R.I.P Sir.

For the moon was no longer a distant shining object but a place where we could gleefully leap<p>RIP Neil Armstrong

That's one small step for a man... one giant step for mankind. - RIP Mr. Armstrong

in coelo quies est

nice i like post

Did anyone read "Armstrong" and first thought of Lance Armstrong? When his life achievements were stripped away, I thought he would be on suicide watch.