Astronaut Neil Armstrong dies at age 82
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Armstrong underwent a heart-bypass surgery earlier this month to relieve blocked coronary arteries.
As commander of the Apollo 11 mission, Armstrong became the first human to set foot on the moon on July 21, 1969.
He radioed back to Earth the historic statement: "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." He then spent nearly three hours walking on the moon with fellow astronaut Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin.
Praising Armstrong as a "reluctant American hero," his family said in a statement on Saturday that he had "served his nation proudly, as a navy fighter pilot, test pilot, and astronaut."
The British astronomer Sir Patrick Moore said: "As the first man on the moon, he broke all records. He was a man who had all the courage in the world."
Armstrong was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Richard Nixon, and in 1978 he received the the Congressional Space Medal of Honour from President Jimmy Carter.
Last November Armstrong, along with three other astronauts, received the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest US civilian award.
A statement from his family issued on Saturday night said he died following complications resulting from cardiovascular procedures.
Armstrong was born in Wapakoneta, Ohio, on August 5, 1930. On July 20, 1936, when he was 6, he experienced his first airplane flight in Warren, Ohio, when he and his father Stephen, an auditor for the Ohio state government, took a ride in a Ford Trimotor, a three-engined transport plane that was also known as the "Tin Goose".
After serving as a naval aviator from 1949 to 1952, and serving in the Korean War, Armstrong joined the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA)– the precursor to NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration - in 1955.
As a research pilot at NASA's Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif., he was a project pilot on many pioneering high speed aircraft, including the well known, 4000-mph X-15.
More here:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/9499759/Neil-Armstrong-US-astronaut-dies-aged-82.html
