Neil Armstrong has died

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

From BBC News:

US astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first man on the Moon, has died aged 82.

A statement from his family says he died from complications from heart surgery he had earlier this month.

He set foot on the Moon on 20 July 1969, famously describing the event as "one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind".

US President Barack Obama said Amstrong was "among the greatest of American heroes - not just of his time, but of all time".

Last November he received the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest US civilian award.

He was the commander of the Apollo 11 spacecraft. More than 500 million TV viewers around the world watched its touchdown on the lunar surface.

Armstrong and fellow astronaut Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin spent nearly three hours walking on the moon, collecting samples, conducting experiments and taking photographs.

"The sights were simply magnificent, beyond any visual experience that I had ever been exposed to," Armstrong once said.

[Jason Thompson]

I am deeply saddened by this news. He should have lived to see us build on the achievements of Apollo. He should have been the pioneer who got to watch as people landed on Mars or went out to Titan. Instead he has passed on as one of only a handful of people to this day who have ever set foot on another world.

Let us not forget this man was also a combat veteran of the US Air Force, an X-15 test pilot, and the commander of Gemini 8. Often left out of things like this, these were themselves achievements that set him up above most, but all are overshadowed by the fame of being the first on the moon. A fame he was never comfortable with, always humbly maintaining that it was a team of thousands who landed men on the Moon, and he just happened to be the first out the door to make a footprint.

R.I.P.

[Dirk Gently]

And lets not forget that Neil was first & foremost an engineer, later he was heard to comment he was the first geek in space.
He joined the USAF reluctantly & left before he became an astronaut & thus he was also the first civilian in space.

Good bye to the most famous man to go to space. Your achievements will live on in memory & on film.

R.I.P Neil.

[WhiteCrowNZ]

Yes a real sad day - I found I had to write a tribute to him on my testing blog ...

http://testsheepnz.blogspot.co.nz/20...armstrong.html

The tragedy is that like Jason said, we never built on what he achieved. What moved me a lot thinking about it is in 10-20 years will there be any man left alive to tell us what it was like to walk on the surface of the Moon? There seems something wrong with that, that we turn our back on pioneering ...

[MinaHarker]

The hoaxists are crawling out of the woodwork.

[Rob McCow]

He was a pioneer - possibly the greatest pioneer in history. One day, we may follow in his footsteps. It can't come soon enough.

[Anthony Williams]

He was undoubtedly one of the great American heroes of the modern age. The world has lost a truly great man - one who had a very distinguished military career outside of his participation in the space program.

He shall never be forgotten - the first of a very select group of people to have walked on the Moon.

[SiHart]

He was an inspiration for an entire generation of little boys who wanted to follow in his footsteps and walk on the moon. What a shame that the legacy that followed has been a quietening down of the space programme. Hey ho.

RIP Neil. He'll never be forgotten.

[Jason Thompson]

"The human race will spread out among the stars, you just watch them fly. Billions and billions of them, for billions and billions of years. And every single one of them, at some point in their lives, will look back at this man, taking that very first step, and they will never, ever forget it."

The Doctor: Day of the Moon