Full Name: Neil Alden Armstrong

Date of Birth: August 5th 1930

Service: US Navy (civilian at the time of Apollo 11)

NASA Recruitment Group: “New Nine”

Flight Spaceflight: Gemini 8, Commander

Moon Landing: Apollo 11, Commander

Other Spaceflights: None

Notable Points in NASA Career:

• The first man on the moon (a statement which Armstrong himself disputes. He says that as he and Aldrin landed on the moon at the same time in the lunar module Eagle, there is no “first” man. However, as first to set foot on the lunar surface, it’s a moniker he’ll struggle to shake.)
• Served on the investigatory panel follow the Apollo 13 near-disaster.
• A malfunctioning thruster on Gemini 8 lead to an aborted mission and hurried return to Earth. To that date, the closest NASA came to disaster.
• Also aboard Gemini 8, prior to the thruster problem, Armstrong and Pilot Dave Scott achieved the first docking of one spacecraft with another (as Gemini 8 docked with the Agena target vehicle).

Neil Armstrong Photographs

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