20 replies to this topic

[brucegray666]

Sad news from NBC's Twitter feed:

NBC NEWS confirms: Astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon, has died.

https://twitter.com/NBCNews/status/239437766335819777

No details other than it appears to be from complications following a heart op at the start of the month.

[Todd Gross]

Astronaut Neil Armstrong, first man to walk on moon, dies at age 82

Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, died Saturday, weeks after heart surgery and days after his 82nd birthday.


Armstrong commanded the Apollo 11 spacecraft that landed on the moon on July 20, 1969, and he radioed back to Earth the historic news of "one giant leap for mankind." He spent nearly three hours walking on the moon with fellow astronaut Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin.

Armstrong and hiw wife, Carol, married in 1999, made their home in the Cincinnati suburb of Indian Hill, but he had largely stayed out of public view in recent years.

He spoke at Ohio State University during a February event honoring fellow astronaut John Glenn and the 50th anniversary of Glenn becoming the first American to orbit the Earth. In May, Armstrong joined Gene Cernan, the last man to walk on the moon, at Pensacola Naval Air Station in Florida to support the opening of The National Flight Academy, which aims to teach math and science to kids through an aviation-oriented camp.

RIP

[Will]

Damn. Rest in peace.

[Ulf Imwiehe]

He did and saw what we but dream of doing and seeing. A true ambassador of the ever-inquiring human spirit. RIP

[Adam Wednesdays]

A damn shame. But it's hardly a life wasted when you can honestly say you did something so momentous that no one ever did before.

RIP.

[Nicholas Taggart]

The way he carried himself in the decades since walking on the moon proved that he was the right choice to be the first. Few could carry the burden with his dignity.

The world has lost a great man. Now he is one of the great men of history.

[Mike]

Now come on, a bit of history for you. Aren’t you proud, ‘cause you helped! Do you know how may people are watching this live on the telly? Half a billion, and that’s nothing, because the human race will spread out among the stars. You just watch them fly. Billions and billions of them for billions and billions of years and every single one of them, at some point in their lives, will look back at this man taking that very first step and they will never ever forget it.

Neil Armstrong walked on the surface of the Moon seven years before I was born. By the time I came along, the Apollo landings were already history, a marvellous shining example of what we can achieve when we set out to do something working together. That moment of the past, already gone, echoed forward through my childhood. I've known who Neil Armstrong was for almost as long as I can remember. The idea that we COULD go somewhere, that space was genuinely ours for the taking if we just had the drive and determination to get out there, was and is a powerful one. Armstrong said that he thought we went to the Moon because it's hardwired into our souls to seek out challenges and overcome them. In his life he was a perfect ambassador for that ideal.

The quoted words are Steven Moffat's, spoken by The Doctor, and they too grasp that idea that we have it within us to reach out there and if we do, we will always remember that whatever we achieve in space began there, with Armstrong setting foot for the first time on an alien world where no human had ever before stood. When the deep history of us is eventually written, I think that that moment will be one that is celebrated. If we ever manage to pull ourselves back out of the cradle, Armstrong's name will carry on reverberating down the years and the centuries, a proud symbol of one of the most outstanding achievements we have ever attained.

Rest in peace Mr Armstrong.

[Miqque Loveland]

Those too young to have missed the Space Race did not get to experience one of humanity's nobler accomplishments. Sure, the drive was military and political in nature. So? Men were picked who were "the best of the best". When people are sorted that way, the cream definitely rises to the top. It's why The Right Stuff is one of my favorite films. I remember hours on end watching live test shots - whether they worked (rarely) or blew up or they just went *pop* and the top 'chute deployed. The fear and joy and absolute exhultation when, after endless delays, Shepherd or Glenn made it into orbit. When Mercury became Gemini - a program exciting in every mission. The consternation of why we were in a vicious Cold War yet noble astronauts and cosmonauts carried on, and shook hands in space! It was the triumph of humans over their own politics; even while politics drove the programs. It was a time we did not even know the name of the Soviet launch site, and now our own astronauts have to travel to Baikonur to hitch a ride to ISS. Gemini became Apollo, and shit got real. We really were going to the Moon! It was late at night as we watched the heartstopping descent, the moment when Armstrong had to actually pilot to make a correction. The endless wait before the caspsule door opened. The Armstrong emerged, stepped down... and blew the line. Then there was a still shot of a single footprint in the Lunar dust. That did it. We were there. The stars and stripes were planted, not the hammer and sickle. Magnificent accomplishments since, but that was THE moment.

Thanks, Neil. Ya did good.

[James Dodsworth]

Now come on, a bit of history for you. Aren’t you proud, ‘cause you helped! Do you know how may people are watching this live on the telly? Half a billion, and that’s nothing, because the human race will spread out among the stars. You just watch them fly. Billions and billions of them for billions and billions of years and every single one of them, at some point in their lives, will look back at this man taking that very first step and they will never ever forget it.

Neil Armstrong walked on the surface of the Moon seven years before I was born. By the time I came along, the Apollo landings were already history, a marvellous shining example of what we can achieve when we set out to do something working together. That moment of the past, already gone, echoed forward through my childhood. I've known who Neil Armstrong was for almost as long as I can remember. The idea that we COULD go somewhere, that space was genuinely ours for the taking if we just had the drive and determination to get out there, was and is a powerful one. Armstrong said that he thought we went to the Moon because it's hardwired into our souls to seek out challenges and overcome them. In his life he was a perfect ambassador for that ideal.

The quoted words are Steven Moffat's, spoken by The Doctor, and they too grasp that idea that we have it within us to reach out there and if we do, we will always remember that whatever we achieve in space began there, with Armstrong setting foot for the first time on an alien world where no human had ever before stood. When the deep history of us is eventually written, I think that that moment will be one that is celebrated. If we ever manage to pull ourselves back out of the cradle, Armstrong's name will carry on reverberating down the years and the centuries, a proud symbol of one of the most outstanding achievements we have ever attained.

Rest in peace Mr Armstrong.

As usual, you summed up everything I wanted to say. RIP to one of the men who will truly be remembered forever.

[Jim Ohara]

There are very few people who you'd have thought of as a living legend. Mohammad Ali. Nelson Mandela. Stephen Hawking. Everyone's list would vary. But I have little doubt that Neil Armstrong would have been at the top of almost everyone's list. No matter what country they were from. No matter what their age or their politics. Neil Armstrong embodied what we all treasure about life - that a normal guy can do something never done before, can achieve something that we can barely fathom, can enter history like no other person before or since ever will, and can then go back to being a normal guy, full of modesty and dignity. Neil was a tribute to humanity, not only in what he did, but in how he lived his entire life.

The moon landing is probably the pinnacle of humanity at their best, and Neil was just the tip of the spear. I think that's why we like him so much - he symbolizes humanity working together in a way we'd all like to see happen every day. I hope the whole world takes a minute and thinks about not just Neil but the tens of thousands of men and women who helped him take his first step, a generation now disappearing from the world.

Rest in peace Neil, and best wishes to the Armstrong family.

[steveuk]

It seemed like a thread for quotes, and I dug out a few I've heard over the years, but then I found one I don't remember seeing before;


"I was elated, ecstatic and extremely surprised that we were successful."
Neil Armstrong



He kept his feet on the ground (pun unavoidable), many wouldn't have. RIP.

[Elliot Balson]

A crying shame. I may have missed the space race, but that doesn't make me any less in awe of what he achieved - or understand its significance.

A friend posted this as a tribute earlier, and I think it's quite appropriate.

[Johnny Henning]

Now he can go to the moon whenever he wants to.

[Jason Hendriks]

It's strange to think about, but one day all of the guys who walked on the Moon will be dead, and there won't be anyone here who went to the moon anymore.

It's sad to think that to a kid who's ten years old today, the Apollo Moon landings are ancient history, like World War II was to me when I was that age.

[garjones]

Neil Armstrong, Astronaut
He had balls bigger than King Kong
First big suit on the moon
And he's off to play golf
Hole in one!

[steveuk]

A statement from his family;



The whole thing;

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/9499836/Neil-Armstrongs-family-release-statement-announcing-his-death.html

[Mike]

[brucegray666]

[Brendan Rowland]

When I was a four years old I remember watching the moon landing just about as the landing look to last of ever as that triangle as Neil Armstrong landed the Eagle it lasted forever could not understand why we were watching this shape because it look like it did not change. It like this it the one person you love to have meet, but now some day will visit his memorial resting place.

[Sanjay]

With what he did, he is immortalised. RIP