Neil Armstrong August 5, 1930 – August 25, 2012
August 25th, 2012
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I was just shocked and saddened to learn of the death of Neil Armstrong at 82. Rarely does a celebrity death truly effect me, but this one hit me like a ton of bricks. What a great man and legend we have lost.
At the moment I don’t have a lot of time to write a post about this and to be honest I’m at loss for words.
He died due to complications from heart surgery that was preformed earlier this month.
For the first time in the more than five years that I have published this blog, I have decided to change some of the imagery in reflection of the loss of a tangible link to the most iconic great accomplishment of the United States.
This entry was posted on Saturday, August 25th, 2012 at 4:15 pm and is filed under Misc, Space. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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August 25th, 2012 at 7:24 pm
He was somebody who did the job and did not seek the spotlight. A rarity in the modern world. Apollo 11 was amazing, but Gemini 8 was the real test of the pilot.
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August 25th, 2012 at 8:28 pm
Indeed. I think it was that mission that sealed him as the choice for Apollo-11. Of course all the Apollo astronauts were the best of the best. Brilliant men, technically proficient, amazing ability to function under pressure. The stresses of such a mission were unbelievable and the dangers unknown.
He saved Gemini 8 and managed to bring the spacecraft back despite the extreme spinning caused by a stuck maneuvering jet.
During Apollo-11 he had to deal with a computer failure and having to take manual control of the LM at the last minute and maneuver to a suitable landing site, despite fuel reserves dropping to near zero.
Neil Armstrong made it look easy. He did it all without showing any sign of stress and came back to the LM all smiles. He was a great man after. No, he never took the spotlight, but he used his fame responsibly when necessary. He made public appearances rarely, but always did them to promote space flight and the future of NASA.
In the past couple of years had had been more vocal, speaking for the need for a better clear mission statement for NASA and continued funding for manned spaceflight.
The saddest thing is a man who helped build the space program had to die seeing it in a crumbling state and without knowing whether it had any future. I wish we had managed to get NASA back on track before his death, so at least he would have had that piece of mind.
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August 25th, 2012 at 8:45 pm
High Flight
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds – and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of – wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there
I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long delirious, burning blue,
I’ve topped the windswept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew -
And, while with silent lifting mind I’ve trod
The high untresspassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.
Pilot Officer Gillespie Magee
No 412 squadron, RCAF
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August 25th, 2012 at 10:08 pm
A perfect tribute Rob, and Steve as well.
A superb pilot, engineer, American, man, and human being.
A fitting representative of the best of our species to first set foot on our moon.
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August 26th, 2012 at 12:56 am
Atomikrabbit said:
Agreed. It seems like there were quite a few people from that era that made it seem like the American people could do anything we set our minds to and that incredible divisiveness still couldn’t take away our national identity. It really seems like that is gone now. How many think that this is really the case and why do you suppose that is (or isn’t)?
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September 4th, 2012 at 7:07 am
I wish they had cremated him, and loaded his ashes on the next Mars mission. That way, he would, symbolically at least, be the first man on Mars as well. That would have been a beautiful gesture.
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