Astronaut career Neil Armstrong

1 astronaut career

1.1 gemini program

1.1.1 gemini 8
1.1.2 gemini 11


1.2 apollo program

1.2.1 apollo 11

1.2.1.1 voyage moon
1.2.1.2 first moon walk
1.2.1.3 return earth

astronaut career

armstrong in early

gemini spacesuit

in 1958, armstrong had been selected u.s. air force s man in space soonest program. in november 1960, chosen part of pilot consultant group x-20 dyna-soar, military space plane under development boeing u.s. air force, , on march 15, 1962, selected u.s. air force 1 of 7 pilot-engineers fly space plane when got off design board.

in months after announcement applications being sought second group of nasa astronauts, armstrong became more , more excited prospects of both apollo program , of investigating new aeronautical environment. armstrong s astronaut application arrived week past june 1, 1962, deadline. dick day, whom armstrong had worked closely @ edwards, saw late arrival of application , slipped pile before noticed. @ brooks air force base @ end of june, armstrong underwent medical exam many of applicants described painful , @ times seemingly pointless.

deke slayton called armstrong on september 13, 1962, , asked whether interested in joining nasa astronaut corps part of press dubbed new 9 ; without hesitation, armstrong said yes. selections kept secret until 3 days later, although newspaper reports had been circulating since earlier year selected first civilian astronaut. armstrong 1 of 2 civilian pilots selected second group; other elliot see, former naval aviator. see scheduled command gemini 9, died in t-38 crash in 1966 took life of crewmate charles bassett. armstrong first american civilian in space, first civilian valentina tereshkova of soviet union, 3 years earlier. textile worker , amateur parachutist, aboard vostok 6 when launched on june 16, 1963.

gemini program
gemini 8


armstrong, 35, suiting up

for gemini 8 in march 1966

the crew assignments gemini 8 announced on september 20, 1965, armstrong command pilot , david scott pilot. scott first member of third group of astronauts receive prime crew assignment. mission launched on march 16, 1966; complex yet, rendezvous , docking unmanned agena target vehicle, second american extra-vehicular activity (eva) scott. in total, mission planned last 75 hours , 55 orbits. after agena lifted off @ 10 a.m. est, titan ii carrying armstrong , scott ignited @ 11:41:02 am est, putting them orbit chase agena.

the rendezvous , first-ever docking between 2 spacecraft completed after 6.5 hours in orbit. contact crew intermittent due lack of tracking stations covering entire orbits. out of contact ground, docked spacecraft began roll, , armstrong attempted correct orbital attitude , maneuvering system (oams) of gemini spacecraft. following earlier advice of mission control, undocked, found roll increased dramatically point turning once per second, meant problem in gemini s attitude control. armstrong decided course of action engage reentry control system (rcs) , turn off oams. mission rules dictated once system turned on, spacecraft have reenter @ next possible opportunity. later thought damaged wiring made 1 of thrusters become stuck in on position.

recovery of gemini 8 from

the western pacific ocean;

armstrong sitting right.

throughout astronaut office there few people, notably walter cunningham, publicly stated armstrong , scott had ignored malfunction procedures such incident, , armstrong have salvaged mission if had turned on 1 of 2 rcs rings, saving other mission objectives. these criticisms unfounded; no malfunction procedures written , possible turn on both rcs rings, not 1 or other. gene kranz wrote, crew reacted trained, , reacted wrong because trained them wrong. mission planners , controllers had failed realize when 2 spacecraft docked together, must considered 1 spacecraft.

armstrong himself depressed mission had been cut short, canceling mission objectives , robbing scott of eva.

gemini 11

the last assignment armstrong in gemini program back-up command pilot gemini 11, announced 2 days after landing of gemini 8. having trained 2 flights, armstrong quite knowledgeable systems , more in teaching role rookie backup pilot, william anders. launch on september 12, 1966, pete conrad , dick gordon on board, completed mission objectives, while armstrong served capcom.

following flight, president lyndon b. johnson asked armstrong , wife take part in 24-day goodwill tour of south america. on tour, took in 11 countries , 14 major cities, dick gordon, george low, wives, , other government officials. in paraguay, armstrong impressed dignitaries greeting them in local language, guarani; in brazil talked exploits of brazilian-born alberto santos-dumont, regarded having beaten wright brothers first flying machine 14-bis.

apollo program

on january 27, 1967, date of apollo 1 fire, armstrong in washington, d.c., gordon cooper, dick gordon, jim lovell , scott carpenter signing of united nations outer space treaty. astronauts chatted assembled dignitaries until 6:45 p.m. when carpenter went airport, , others returned georgetown inn, each found messages phone manned spacecraft center. during these telephone calls, learned of deaths of gus grissom, ed white , roger chaffee. armstrong , group spent rest of night drinking scotch , discussing had happened.

on april 5, 1967, same day apollo 1 investigation released report on fire, armstrong assembled 17 other astronauts meeting deke slayton. first thing slayton said was, guys going fly first lunar missions guys in room. according eugene cernan, armstrong showed no reaction statement. armstrong came no surprise—the room full of veterans of project gemini, people fly lunar missions. slayton talked planned missions , named armstrong backup crew apollo 9, @ stage planned medium earth orbit test of lunar module-command/service module combination. after design , manufacturing delays in lunar module (lm), apollo 9 , apollo 8 swapped crews. based on normal crew rotation scheme, armstrong command apollo 11.

armstrong floats ground after ejecting llrv 1.

to give astronauts experience how lm fly on final landing descent, nasa commissioned bell aircraft build 2 lunar landing research vehicles, later augmented 3 lunar landing training vehicles (lltv). nicknamed flying bedsteads , simulated moon s one-sixth of earth s gravity using turbofan engine support remaining five-sixths of craft s weight. on may 6, 1968, 100 feet (30 m) above ground, armstrong s controls started degrade , lltv began banking. ejected safely (later analysis suggested if had ejected half second later, parachute not have opened in time). injury biting tongue. though killed, armstrong maintained without llrv , lltv, lunar landings not have been successful, gave commanders valuable experience in behavior of lunar landing craft.

apollo 11

after armstrong served backup commander apollo 8, slayton offered him post of commander of apollo 11 on december 23, 1968, apollo 8 orbited moon. in meeting not made public until publication of armstrong s biography in 2005, slayton told him although planned crew armstrong commander, lunar module pilot buzz aldrin , command module pilot michael collins, offering chance replace aldrin jim lovell. after thinking on day, armstrong told slayton stick aldrin, had no difficulty working him , thought lovell deserved own command. replacing aldrin lovell have made lovell lunar module pilot, unofficially lowest ranked member, , armstrong not justify placing lovell, commander of gemini 12, in number 3 position of crew.

the apollo 11 crew portrait. left right armstrong, michael collins, , buzz aldrin.

a march 1969 meeting between slayton, george low, bob gilruth, , chris kraft determined armstrong first person on moon, in part because nasa management saw armstrong person did not have large ego. press conference held on april 14, 1969, gave design of lm cabin reason armstrong s being first; hatch opened inwards , right, making difficult lunar module pilot, on right-hand side, exit first. slayton added, secondly, on pure protocol basis, figured commander ought first guy out ... changed found had time line showed that. bob gilruth approved decision. @ time of meeting, 4 men did not know hatch consideration. first knowledge of meeting outside small group came when kraft wrote 2001 autobiography.

on july 16, 1969, armstrong received crescent moon carved out of styrofoam pad leader, guenter wendt, described key moon. in return, armstrong gave wendt ticket space taxi between 2 planets .

voyage moon

during apollo 11 launch, armstrong s heart reached top rate of 110 beats per minute. found first stage loudest—much noisier gemini 8 titan ii launch—and apollo csm relatively roomy compared gemini capsule. ability move around suspected reason why none of apollo 11 crew suffered space sickness, while members of previous crews did. armstrong happy, had been prone motion sickness child , experience nausea after doing long periods of aerobatics.

aldrin took photo of armstrong in cabin after completion of eva on july 21, 1969.

the objective of apollo 11 land safely rather touch down precision on particular spot. 3 minutes lunar descent burn, armstrong noted craters passing 2 seconds early, meant eagle touch down beyond planned landing zone several miles. eagle s landing radar acquired surface, several computer error alarms appeared. first code 1202 alarm, , extensive training, neither armstrong nor aldrin aware of code meant. promptly received word capcom charles duke in houston alarms not concern; 1202 , 1201 alarms caused executive overflow in lunar module computer. described buzz aldrin in documentary in shadow of moon, overflow condition caused own counter-checklist choice of leaving docking radar on during landing process, computer had process unnecessary radar data , did not have enough time execute tasks, dropping lower-priority ones. aldrin stated did objective of facilitating re-docking cm should abort become necessary, not realizing cause overflow condition.

when armstrong noticed heading toward landing area believed unsafe, took on manual control of lm, , attempted find area seemed safer, taking longer expected, , longer simulations had taken. reason, there concern mission control lm running low on fuel. upon landing, aldrin , armstrong believed had 40 seconds worth of fuel left, including 20 seconds worth of fuel had saved in event of abort. during training, armstrong had landed lltv less 15 seconds left on several occasions, , confident lm survive straight-down fall 50 feet (15 m) if needed. analysis after mission showed @ touchdown there 45 50 seconds of propellant burn time left.

the landing on surface of moon occurred several seconds after 20:17:40 utc on july 20, 1969, @ time 1 of 3 67-inch (1.7 m)-long probes attached 3 of lunar module s 4 legs made contact surface, panel light inside lm lit up, , aldrin called out, contact light. armstrong shut engine off , said, shutdown. lm settled onto surface, aldrin said, okay. engine stop , both called out post-landing checklist items. after ten-second pause, duke acknowledged landing with, copy down, eagle. armstrong announced landing mission control , world words, houston, tranquility base here. eagle has landed. aldrin , armstrong celebrated brisk handshake , pat on before returning checklist of tasks needed ready lunar module liftoff moon should emergency unfold during first moments on lunar surface. after armstrong had confirmed touch-down, duke re-acknowledged, , expressed flight controllers anxiety: roger, tranquility. copy on ground. got bunch of guys turn blue. re breathing again. lot. during landing, armstrong s heart rate, @ 1 point, reached 160 beats per minute, according section 12-1 of nasa apollo 11 mission report.

first moon walk

although official nasa flight plan called crew rest period before extra-vehicular activity, armstrong requested eva moved earlier in evening, houston time. once armstrong , aldrin ready go outside, eagle depressurized, hatch opened , armstrong made way down ladder first.

at bottom of ladder armstrong said, m going step off lem (referring apollo lunar module). turned , set left boot on lunar surface @ 2:56 utc july 21, 1969, spoke famous words, s 1 small step [a] man, 1 giant leap mankind.

armstrong describes

the lunar surface.

armstrong prepared famous epigram on own. in post-flight press conference, said decided on words prior leaving lm [lunar module]. in 1983 interview in esquire magazine, armstrong explained george plimpton: knew there chance of being able return earth, thought chances of successful touchdown on moon surface money—fifty–fifty ... people don t realize how difficult mission was. didn t seem me there point in thinking of if d have abort landing. in 2012, brother dean armstrong claimed neil had shown him note draft of line months before launch, although historian andrew chaikin, had interviewed astronaut in 1988 book man on moon, disputed had ever claimed coming line spontaneously during mission.

recordings of armstrong s transmission not evidence indefinite article before man , though nasa , armstrong insisted years static had obscured it. armstrong stated never make such mistake, after repeated listenings recordings, admitted must have dropped . later said hope history grant me leeway dropping syllable , understand intended, if not said—although might have been .

armstrong on moon

it has since been claimed acoustic analysis of recording reveals presence of missing ; peter shann ford, australia-based computer programmer, conducted digital audio analysis , claims armstrong did, in fact, man , inaudible due limitations of communications technology of time. ford , james r. hansen, armstrong s authorized biographer, presented these findings armstrong , nasa representatives, conducted own analysis. armstrong found ford s analysis persuasive. however, article ford published on ford s own web site rather in peer-reviewed scientific journal, , linguists david beaver , mark liberman wrote of skepticism of ford s claims on blog language log. thus, nasa s transcript continues show in parentheses. 2016 peer-reviewed study again concluded armstrong had included article.

when armstrong made proclamation, voice of america rebroadcast live via bbc , many other stations worldwide. estimated global audience @ moment 450 million listeners, out of estimated world population of 3.631 billion people.

armstrong, 1 or 2 minutes before taking first step onto moon.

about 20 minutes after first step, aldrin joined armstrong on surface , became second human set foot on moon, , duo began tasks of investigating how person operate on lunar surface. on, unveiled plaque commemorating flight, , planted flag of united states. flag used on mission had metal rod hold horizontal pole. since rod did not extend, , flag tightly folded , packed during journey, flag ended wavy appearance, if there breeze. shortly after flag planting, president richard nixon spoke them telephone call office. president spoke minute, after armstrong responded thirty seconds.

in apollo 11 photographic record there 5 images of armstrong partly shown or reflected. mission planned minute, majority of photographic tasks performed armstrong single hasselblad camera.

after helping set apollo scientific experiment package, armstrong went walk known east crater, 65 yards (59 m) east of lm, greatest distance traveled lm on mission. armstrong s final task remind aldrin leave small package of memorial items deceased soviet cosmonauts yuri gagarin , vladimir komarov, , apollo 1 astronauts gus grissom, ed white , roger b. chaffee. time spent on eva during apollo 11 2 , half hours, shortest of of 6 apollo lunar landing missions; each of subsequent 5 landings allotted gradually longer periods eva activities—the crew of apollo 17, comparison, spent on 22 hours exploring lunar surface.

in 2010 interview, armstrong explained nasa limited moon walk 2 hours because unsure how spacesuits handle extreme temperature of moon.

in 2013, popular science s photo gallery included photo armstrong took of aldrin own image visible on aldrin s helmet 1 of best astronaut selfies.

return earth

the apollo 11 crew , president nixon during post-mission quarantine period.

after re-entered lm, hatch closed , sealed. while preparing liftoff lunar surface, armstrong , aldrin discovered that, in bulky spacesuits, had broken ignition switch ascent engine; using part of pen, pushed circuit breaker in activate launch sequence. lunar module continued rendezvous , docked columbia, command , service module. 3 astronauts returned earth , splashed down in pacific ocean, picked uss hornet.

after being released 18-day quarantine ensure had not picked infections or diseases moon, crew feted across united states , around world part of 45-day giant leap tour. armstrong took part in bob hope s 1969 uso show, vietnam.

later october 29–31, 1969 , rest of apollo 11 astronauts visited city of tehran, capital of iran, met shah mohammad reza pahlavi , rest of nation s royal family.

in may 1970, armstrong traveled soviet union present talk @ 13th annual conference of international committee on space research; after arriving in leningrad poland, traveled moscow met premier alexei kosygin. first westerner see supersonic tupolev tu-144 , given tour of yuri gagarin cosmonaut training center, armstrong described bit victorian in nature . @ end of day, surprised view delayed video of launch of soyuz 9—it had not occurred armstrong mission taking place, though valentina tereshkova had been host , husband, andriyan nikolayev, on board.