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Neil Alden Armstrong
Pioneering Test Pilot and Lunar Explorer
Born in Wapakoneta, Ohio, Neil Armstrong was an aeronautical engineer and a Navy fighter pilot during the Korean War. He joined the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics -- soon renamed NASA -- as a test pilot in 1955.
At NASA's Flight Research Center in Southern California, Armstrong tested many pioneering high-speed aircraft, notably the X-15 rocket plane. He became an astronaut in 1962. Armstrong commanded the Gemini VIII mission in 1966 and made the first successful docking in space. As Apollo 11 commander, he made the first Moon landing with Buzz Aldrin and became the first human to step onto the Moon. |