Neil Armstrong, the first man on the Moon has died.

Very sad. He had a long life though considering he went through the rigours of going into space. Who knows what sort of radation and stress his body was exposed to with the equipment they had available back then.

RIP, what a legend.
 
This has made me genuinely sad. Sometimes I RIP threads and see famous deaths on the news and think, oh thats a shame. While my heart is cold and icey, and I have a little bit of a hidden "meh" feeling

This one one has me gutted
 
I was six when my father got me out of bed to watch a grainy B&W image of history being made. Like many my age, those images set the tone for our whole childhood, and influenced a generation.

RIP Mr Armstrong, and thanks for the inspiration.
 
One odd irony: as I understand it, it was supposed to be Aldrin down first. But then NASA realised that he would have to climb over Armstrong to get out, so they let Armstrong go first. I read Shadow of the Moon recently, which gave a real impression of just how dangerous the mission was. The LEM was built to be as light as possible. It was basically just a thin metal shell with instruments inside. There were no couches, so the two astronauts just lay on the floor for the descent. It wasn't pressurised, and the walls were so thin that they flexed when the engine fired.

It's not often in life that you see history being bade, and know that it is, and be right. I sat up and watched the landings, and everyone knew that was what was happening. A genuine legend, a modest man with much to be immodest about, and great loss.


M
 
Neil :(

His first spaceflight always seems to get overshadowed by his second, though it was almost as dramatic. Gemini 8 was launched with the intention of docking with an unmanned target vehicle called the Agena. NASA needed to show that docking was do-able, since they'd need the technique for Apollo. Following the launch, Armstrong (the command pilot) and Dave Scott (pilot) made a series of thruster burns and guided the spacecraft into a perfect docking with the Agena. And then things turned to worms.

Shortly after losing contact with the ground (they were between tracking stations), the Gemini-Agena combination started to roll. Thinking that the Agena was acting up (it hadn't been the most reliable craft before this mission....) Armstrong and Scott undocked. Then Gemini 8 started to roll even faster, to the point at which they might black out. Neil Armstrong shut down the orbital thrusters and brought up the re-entry system, stabilising the craft. It turned out that one of the thrusters in the orbital system was stuck firing, possibly due to an electrical short. The mission was over, but they'd at least survived.

I suppose once you live through that, landing on the Moon is just another day at the office....
 
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A man who inspired many of us, a remarkable and truly great man.

Rest in Peace
 
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Navy pilot, served in the Korean War, joined NASA, flew the x-15, instrumental in the Gemini programme, commanded Apolo 11, first man to walk on the Moon and spoke arguably the most famous words in history yet a shy and retiring man with it. He will be remembered a thousand years from now.

Sad to hear he has passed and I hope he has found peace.
 
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