Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Neil Armstrong, 1st man on the moon, dies at 82

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • #31
    RIP Neil....A whole generation of boys were named after you.

    You left your mark on earth and it's moon....wow!
    Last edited by lemontree; 28 Aug 12,, 05:24.

    Cheers!...on the rocks!!

    Comment


    • #32
      Rest in Peace Neil. You're a hero who inspired the entire human race.
      Cow is the only animal that not only inhales oxygen, but also exhales it.
      -Rekha Arya, Former Minister of Animal Husbandry

      Comment


      • #33
        I hope he's not resting in peace.




        I hope he is visiting his old landing site in the Sea of Tranquility.... checking out Mars... nearby stars.... Saying hello to Gagarin, Grissom, White, Chaffee...

        Comment


        • #34
          Sorta the Universal Studios tour for the afterlife, eh?
          "This aggression will not stand, man!" Jeff Lebowski
          "The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else when you're uncool." Lester Bangs

          Comment


          • #35
            Originally posted by S2 View Post
            Sorta the Universal Studios tour for the afterlife, eh?
            We tap dance around the Spiritual here on WAB, but I've always thought the ideal afterlife would involve a lot of cool exploration, transcendence of time, and maybe some fine booze and BBQ, and for BigRoss, beach volleyball, vs. an eternity of chanting, harp playing, or poltergeist activities. ;)

            Comment


            • #36
              I finished Jim Hansen's "First Man" a few weeks ago and one comment by Harrison Schmitt was particularly insightful of Neil's capabilities. Schmitt was instrumental in preparing Neil and Buzz for the geological sampling they would perform on the moon. This was pretty rudimentary compared to later missions but according to Schmitt, "Neil's collection of rocks was the best that anybody did on the moon."(Not sure if Harrison was including his samples with that remark). He chalked this up to Neil's engineering interest that closely jived with the logic involved with a certain geology theory when it came to determining the appropriate samples to collect. I thought that was pretty amazing considering how much better prepared the follow on missions where and how little time AP-11 was on the moon compared to them.

              Comment


              • #37
                When I heard of his passing the other day I immediately flashed back to my childhood. In the mid-60s to the early-70s we were ALL space nerds. And I mean everyone my age, not just my friends. We hung on every launch and landing. Teachers would stop class and roll in black and white TV sets so we could watch the events live (we really LOVED NASA for that!) I can remember Jules Bergman, Walter Cronkite, John Chancellor, and a host of others explain what events were happening with the same Revell models I had hanging in my room.

                I recall the day they landed….we had the TV on with the feed while having dinner….and when Walter Cronkite announced 1 Minute To Landing we all dashed for the living room. I can still remember clearly when Armstrong made his epic announcement announcing Tranquility Base. A huge white banner flashed on and of that said MAN IS ON THE MOON!!! Not an American is on the Moon but Man. We cheered our heads off!

                After dinner I had to go and collect for my paper route and everyone told me to hurry home so I wouldn’t miss the live pictures when they emerged. I stayed up to 3 the next day watching all of the footage.

                Thanks Neil, Buzz & Mike.
                “Loyalty to country ALWAYS. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it.”
                Mark Twain

                Comment


                • #38
                  Originally posted by S2 View Post
                  All those guys embodied the meaning of "professional". Courage, commitment, candor, competence and confidence oozed from them all. A remarkable group of men and Armstrong may have stood right at the fore.

                  Yes, and gave everyone else the credit for enabling him to get to the moon. In short he was just a pilot sort of guy so there is also self-effacing.

                  I'm lucky in that I get to see some of that history every week. Being a volunteer, on the Hornet, we have one of the quarantine facilities, the picture of the three at the window they looked out as Nixon greeted them and a replica of #66 where it was parked in 1969 not to mention an Apollo room.
                  Last edited by tbm3fan; 28 Aug 12,, 07:34.

                  Comment


                  • #39
                    There Are Places to Go Beyond Belief” – Neil Armstrong

                    By Diane Tessman - 3 days 23 hours ago

                    The Eagle has taken off – Neil Armstrong has died.
                    On July 20, 1994, Neil Armstrong, the first human to walk on the Moon, said, ”To you we say we have only completed a beginning. We leave you much that is undone. There are great ideas undiscovered, breakthroughs available to those who can remove one of truth’s protective layers. There are places to go beyond belief.”
                    Neil Armstrong tried to explain himself: “I am, and ever will be, a white-socks, pocket-protector, nerdy engineer, born under the second law of thermodynamics, steeped in steam tables, in love with free-body diagrams, transformed by Laplace, and propelled by compressible flow. . . . [Arthur C. Clarke’s] third law seems particularly apt today: Any sufficiently developed technology is indistinguishable from magic. Truly, it has been a magical century.”
                    Armstrong and science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke were good friends. Make no mistake: Neil Armstrong was also a dreamer and visionary.
                    Armstrong himself was a key figure in engineering that magic. Along with John Glenn, he showed the world a new style of American hero, combining the grace under pressure of test pilots with the bravery of explorers in the new, final frontier.


                    If NASA wanted a Charles Lindbergh in the role, however, they may have gotten too much of one; for after his legendary achievement, Armstrong seemed to vanish from the world, struggling with the question: What do you do after you’ve been to the Moon? What do you do after The Eagle has landed?
                    Apollo 13’s Jim Lovell: “Sometimes I chastise Neil for being too Lindbergh-like. … And Neil’s answer to that is, ‘I’d be harassed all the time if I weren’t reclusive.’ And he’s probably right.” Others, however, have a different opinion; astronaut Gene Cernan: “I’d just like to say, it could have been anyone who walked [first] on the Moon: it could have been Neil, it could have been Buzz, it could have been Wally [Schirra], it could have been any one of our colleagues. But I don’t think any one of us—any one of us—who would have had that opportunity, could have handled it with as great and as honorable dignity as Neil Armstrong has handled the responsibility of being the first human being to step foot on the surface of the Moon.”
                    Grace. Bravery. Honor. Dignity. All in a man who took a slide rule with him when he went to the Moon. Could there be a better hero for our time?
                    Yes, yes, maybe we didn’t go to the Moon; it’s invigorating to be an armchair skeptic. History is a funny thing; doggedly skeptical conspiracy theories sometimes ultimately hurt the perceiver more than they hurt the focus of the investigation and/or rumors.
                    I know, however, that truth is truth regarding our trip (or lack of trip), to the moon. In time, we will all be sure if we did go to the Moon in 1969 or not. We do know that the NASA astronauts were incredibly brave and maybe just plain crazy to climb into those tiny tin boxes with a horrific bunch of rocket fuel at their behinds, and try to go into space!


                    Neil Armstrong bore the curse and the blessing of the entire human race: He wanted to go to the stars. He wanted to know. He wanted this gnosis to unfold with intelligence, peace, and logic.
                    Neil Armstrong was a class act and so shiningly smart! I am sure he knew fear all too well but he handled it by using his logic and intelligence, something we must all do as we encounter the Unknown. Let’s stop allowing fear to lead us before it is too late.
                    Does Neil Armstrong’s quote, “There are places to go beyond belief,” indicate that he also saw UFOs during his time in space and/or on the Moon? Some people think so. Neil did not talk about what he saw (or didn’t see), as some of the astronauts have bravely done. But then Neil didn’t talk much about anything, he lived in his head and spirit.
                    In his famous “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind…” proclamation, Neil Armstrong was trying to tell us: The stars, space, time, the unknown, aliens, it is all somehow about the evolution of humankind!
                    Good-bye, Neil Armstrong, it is launch-time for The Eagle!

                    Comment

                    Working...
                    X