“Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth,
and
danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings
sunwards
I’ve climbed and joined the tumbling mirth
of
sun-split clouds—and done a thousand things
You
have not dreamed of—wheeled and soared and swung
high
in the sunlit silence. Hovering there,
I’ve
chased the shouting wind along and flung
my
eager craft through footless halls of air,
Up,
up, the long delirious burning blue
I’ve
topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace,
where
never lark, or even eagle, flew;
and,
while with silent, lifting mind I’ve trod
the
high untrespassed sanctity of space,
put
out my hand, and touched the face of God.”
-
John Gillespie Magee, Jr. (1922–1941)
August
25 2012 : the world grieved and American Flag was flown half mast
over Mission Control at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston in
honor of him, who had left behind footprints not only in the sands of
time but also on the moon. Neil Alden Armstrong was an inspiration to
a series of generations.
Back
then in 1960s, when only a few flights had been made into space,
Apollo 1’s tragic failure, Apollo 11’s only 50% chances to land
on moon, and President Richard Nixon having already prepared a
condolence speech for delivery on the event Armstrong and Aldrin
became marooned on Moon’s surface and could not be rescued : Apollo
11’s success, Eagle’s landing on Sea of Tranquility and
Armstrong’s first step on the moon was certainly, “One small step
for a man, one giant leap for mankind”. Landing on moon wasn’t
all too smooth, it was Armstrong who had to take over manual control
of the Lunar module else it would’ve crashed to an unsafe spot, the
slight detour caused them with only 30 seconds worth of fuel left (a
serious cause of worry since 20 seconds worth of fuel was required to
be saved in the event of an abort), but Armstrong’s reassuring
words after touchdown : “The eagle has landed” on July
20, 1969, at 20:17:39 UTC spread
joy and relief across the globe, quite aptly expressed by Duke
in reply to Armstrong, from Mission Control: "Roger, Twan--
Tranquility, we copy you on the ground. You got a bunch of guys about
to turn blue. We're breathing again. Thanks a lot."
For
all those who’ve known Neil or heard his speeches, his humility is
the first quality that strikes you apart from his technical expertise
and his ability to make you smile throughout his speech. It was
because of him, that the mission insignia patch bore no names of the
crew for he believed it was because of all 400,000 people who’d
worked for the mission and not just three. He also disliked his
celebrity status for he believed he didn’t deserve
it and when told that out of 12 people he was chosen to be the first
person to step on moon after all, he modestly replied that he was
only chosen to command the flight and circumstances put him in that
role, it wasn’t planned.
Born
on August 5, 1930, it was only 6 years later when Armstrong took his
first flight with his father in a Ford Trimotor. Taking flying
lessons at the Aulgaize county airport he earned his flight
certificate when he was only 15. He was also active in the Boy’s
Scout, and earned the rank of Eagle Scout, and in later years was
awarded the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award and Silver Buffalo Award.
At 17, he began studying aeronautical engineering at Purdue
University, under a scholarship that required one to serve in U.S
Navy for 3 years. He started flight training at Naval Air Station,
Pensacola when he was 18, and by 20 he was a fully qualified Naval
Aviator. In his years of service he flew 78 missions over Korea,
during the Korean War, 1952 for which he received Air Medal for 20
combat missions, a Gold Star for next 20, Korean Service Medal and
Engagement Star. At 22, he became Lieutenant, Junior Grade, in the
U.S. Naval Reserve, where he remained for next 8 years. At Purdue,
he’d written and co-directed musical of Phi Delta Fraternity, and
was also a baritone player in the Purdue All American Marching Band.
He graduated from Purdue in 1955 and completed his Masters from
University of South California. After his graduation, he became a
research test pilot at NACA High Speed Fly Station at Edwards Air
Force Base (now NASA). Over his career he flew more than 200
different models of aircraft ranging from F-100 Super Sabre, F-101
Voodoo, Lockheed F-104A Starfighter,
F-106 Delta Dart, B-47 Startojet,
Bell
X-1B,
Bell
X-5,
F-105
Thunderchief,
F-106
Delta Dart
to the very famous North American X-15. He was
one of eight elite pilots involved in the Paraglider research program (Paresev).
The
one incident that most would recall is the “Nellis Affair” : On
May 21,1962, Armstrong was sent in a Lockheed
F-104 Starfighter to
inspect Delamar
Dry Lake in
southern Nevada,
for emergency landings. He misjudged his altitude, and also did not
realize that the landing gear had not fully extended. As he touched
down, the landing gear began to retract; Armstrong applied full power
to abort the landing, but the ventral fin and landing gear door
struck the ground, damaging the radio and releasing hydraulic
fluid.
Without radio communication, Armstrong flew south to Nellis
Air Force Base near
Las
Vegas,
past the control tower, and waggled his wings, the signal for a
no-radio approach. The loss of hydraulic fluid caused the tail-hook
to
release, and upon landing, he caught the arresting wire attached to
an anchor chain, and dragged the chain along the runway. It
took thirty minutes to clear the runway and rig an arresting cable
and Armstrong telephoned Edwards and asked for someone to collect
him. Milt Thompson was sent in an F-104B, the only two-seater
available, but a plane Thompson had never flown. With great
difficulty, Thompson made it to Nellis, but a strong crosswind caused
a hard landing and the left main tire suffered a blowout. The runway
was again closed to clear it, and Bill
Dana was
sent to Nellis in a T-33 Shooting Star, but he almost landed long —
and the Nellis base operations office decided that to avoid any
further problems, it would be best to find the three NASA pilots
ground transport back to Edwards. Selected in U.S Air Force's Man in
Space Soonest Program in 1958, by March, 1962 he was chosen as one of
seven pilot-engineers who would fly the space plane, X-20 Dyna Sonar.
In September 1962, he was asked if he would like to join NASA
Astronaut Corps, to which he readily agreed. For the next 8 years
Armstrong served as Command Pilot of Gemini-8, back-up Command Pilot
for Gemini-11, back up commander for Apollo 8 and finally commander
of Apollo 11.
The
man with wings, retired from NASA in 1971 and taught at University of
Cincinnati for next eight years. He also served on the board of
directors of several companies including Learjet, Cinergy, AIL
Systems and Thiokol etc.
But
his love for flight never died and even
at 80, one could see him sporting in his glider sail plane. And when
asked if would like to command Mission to Mars if any, he smiled and
said “I don’t think I’d have a chance, but I don’t want to
say I’m not available”.
He
remained a keen observer of all space missions and delivered a speech
on the 50th
Anniversary of NASA, where he said “Our
highest and most important hope is that the human race will improve
its intelligence, its character, and its wisdom, so that we’ll be
able to properly evaluate and choose among those options, and the
many others we will encounter in the years ahead. And I look forward
to watching the progress and those exciting development and hearing
the status report when we gather again for NASA’s 100th
anniversary.”
