Former astronaut Neil Armstrong has died at the age of 82 after complications from cardiovascular surgery. Armstrong was the first human being to set foot on the moon, commanding Apollo 11 in 1969. Upon stepping on the moon he said: “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind“, perhaps the most repeated quote of modern time.
Armstrong was sometimes referred to as a “nerdy engineer”. He was a private individual who retired from NASA in the early 1970s over concerns with the bureaucratic managing of it by Congress. Armstrong spent most of his years since farming in Wapakoneta, Ohio. However, in 1986 he came out of retirement at the request of Pres. Ronald Reagan to serve on a commission set up to investigate the space shuttle Challenger accident.
Neil Armstrong, born of the “greatest generation”, was and American hero. True heroes are harder to find in a time when society seems to instead honor the outrageous over the real accomplishments.