Post date: Aug 25, 2012 9:54:12 PM
NASA - Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, died on Saturday (August 25) at the age of 82. The U.S. astronaut underwent a heart-bypass surgery earlier this month, just two days after his birthday on August 5, to relieve blocked coronary arteries.
U.S. Astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first man to set foot on the Moon, dies at age 82.
Armstrong was the commander of the Apollo 11 mission. He set foot on the moon on July 20, 1969, while millions of people around the world watched on television. As he stepped onto the lunar surface, Armstrong proclaimed the famous words, "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind."He spent over two and a half hours walking on the moon's surface along with his crewmate Buzz Aldrin.
The Apollo 11 mission was Armstrong's last space flight. The following year, he was appointed NASA's deputy associate administrator for aeronautics in the office of advanced research and technology.
He left NASA a year later to become a professor of engineering at the University of Cincinnati. Armstrong lived in the Cincinnati area with his wife, Carol.