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Neil Armstrong was born in Wapakoneta, OH.
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Neil loved flying ever since he was a teenager. He finally got his student's pilot license when he was 16 years old. -
Neil Armstrong attended Purdue university on a Navy scholarship. He studied aeronautical engineering. -
Neil had to fight for the Navy in the Korean War since he had a military scholarship. When the war ended, he returned to studying at Purdue. He gained over 2,600 hours in flight during the war. -
After fighting in the Korean War and finishing his studies at Purdue, Neil began working with NASA as a test pilot. -
He gets married to Janet Shearon. -
His son's name was Eric. -
His daughter's name was Karen. -
Alan Shepard becomes the first American in space, making a 15-minute suborbital flight. -
Neil and his family move to Texas so he could work in the astronaut program. -
The second major step toward the Moon was putting a man in orbit. Astronaut John Glenn got that job, making three laps around the Earth in just under five hours. -
Karen died of complications related to an inoperable brain tumor.
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Ed White becomes the first American to take a spacewalk. Developing spacesuit technology and spacewalking skills were crucial to our plans in space. -
Neil and his flight mate David Scott were launched into space to dock with the Gemini Agena spacecraft. The dock was successful, but the mission had to be cut short because of a thruster malfunction. In this mission, Neil demonstrated that he had the quick thinking and ingenuity to command the Apollo 11 mission. -
A fire on the launch pad kills the first Apollo crew: Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee. NASA responded by completely redoing the Apollo spacecraft design and developing procedures to safely conduct the rest of the Apollo program. -
Armstrong and his crew received many awards for the moon mission, including the Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Space Medal of Honor. -
On the Apollo 11 mission, Neil and his crew were able to successfully pilot the moon lander and arrive on the moon. He took the first human step on the moon. His first step was broadcast using television all across the world. The impacts of the landing were felt all around the world. People felt that mankind could achieve anything they put their minds towards. -
Neil leaves NASA to become a professor at the University of Cincinnati. -
Neil helps investigate the failed Challenger mission. The Challenger mysteriously blew up after launch and killed its crew. The cause was determined to be a failed o-ring in the spacecraft which ripped apart the rocket after launch. -
President Barack Obama made cuts to the space program. Neil Armstrong publicly spoke out against this decision. -
Neil died at the age of 82 after complications from heart surgery. He died in Cincinnati, Ohio.