Neil Armstrong

Armstrong grew up near Wapakoneta, Ohio, studied aeronautical engineering at Purdue on a Navy scholarship, and flew combat missions in Korea from the USS Essex. After the war he became a test pilot at Edwards Air Force Base, flying the X-15 seven times and Century Series fighters. Selected by NASA in 1962, he commanded Gemini 8 in 1966 and performed the first spacecraft docking before a thruster malfunction forced an abort. On July 20, 1969, he and Buzz Aldrin landed on the Moon; the next day they spent two and a half hours outside the lunar module while Michael Collins orbited above. Armstron…