Neil Armstrong's Biography

Neil Armstrong was born on 5 August 1930 in Wapakoneta, Ohio.

He obtained his pilot's license at 16, and like fellow astronaut, Buzz Aldrin flew numerous combat missions in Korea.

Neil Armstrong was the Commander of the Apollo 11 rocket flight to the moon in 1969, and became the first man to set foot on the moon.

Big Secrets by William Poundstone has an interesting section on Neil Armstrong's words on landing on the moon. The passage below provides the essence of Poundstone's points.

What Neil Armstrong said when he landed on the moon has been misreported by a wide variety of reputable sources. Neil Armstrong actually said: "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" - which is a logical contradiction as 'man' without 'a' in front of it means 'mankind'. Numerous established sources have 'corrected' the quote to "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind."

According to the Academic American Encyclopedia: "he planted his left foot on the lunar surface and proclaimed: 'That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind." He later said that he intended to say 'a', but static on the tapes leaves this detail uncertain."

Norman Mailer once described Neil Armstrong as 'extraordinarily remote' and the author of Moon Dust: In Search of the Men Who Fell to Earth, Andrew Smith relates coming upon Armstrong at a tourism convention, where he talked for an hour "without hinting he's ever explored anything beyond his hotel closet."

In September 2011, he gave evidence to Congress about Nasa's future.

In November 2011, Neil Armstrong was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.

In August 2012, he underwent heart bypass surgery, however there were complications and he died later in the month.