"That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

It's one of the most famous quotes of all time. And the American legend, the great American hero, who said it has passed away at the age of 82.

Neil Armstrong was one of the reasons most every boy my age in the early 70s wanted to be an astronaut. He was the first man to step onto the moon. It happened 43 years ago and it still boggles the mind.

He was the commander of the famed Apollo 11 mission and after many millions of Americans glued themselves to their TV sets in 1969 to watch Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins make history, any space flight thereafter was must-see TV.

 

 

I was three-years-old when it happened, so I don't remember it. But, it has never ceased to amaze me that we could put human beings on the moon. And I wonder if Dr. Armstrong ever fully wrapped his brain around what he had accomplished.

According to many interviews I've watched t0day, he just felt he was doing his job. Well, that's what a lot of us feel. Only we're not walking on the moon. If that happened for the first time in 2012, I don't think any of us would be any less blown away.

I just heard an interview with a man named Homer Hickman, a former NASA engineer. And he was telling the interviewer that not a day went by that Neil Armstrong's name wasn't evoked. He and his crew--along with the likes of John Glenn, I would imagine--are the gold standard.

And today, we have lost one of them. He's an important figure in American history, and he'll never be forgotten.

Neil Armstrong, dead at the age of 82.

 

 

 

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