US astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first person to set foot on the moon, died after suffering complications from cardiovascular surgery, his family said Saturday. He was 82.
Praising Armstrong as a “reluctant American hero,” his family said in a statement that he had “served his nation proudly, as a navy fighter pilot, test pilot, and astronaut.”
Armstrong underwent cardiac bypass surgery, earlier this month after doctors found blockages in his coronary arteries.
He and fellow Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon on July 20, 1969, before the eyes of hundreds of millions of awed television viewers worldwide. His first words upon stepping on the lunar surface have since been etched in history: “That’s one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind.”
An estimated 450 million people watched the grainy black and white broadcast that showed Armstrong, clad in a white space suit, climb down the lunar module’s ladder onto the Moon’s desolate surface.
Born in Wapakoneta, Ohio on August 5, 1930, Armstrong had an early fascination with aircraft and worked at a nearby airport when he was a teenager. He took flying lessons at the age of 15 and received his pilot’s license on his 16th birthday. A US Navy aviator, he flew 78 missions in the Korean War.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 26th, 2012.
COMMENTS (14)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
1713893627-4/Shredded-10,000-yen-bill-(1)1713893627-4-270x192.webp)
1713889672-1/Plastic-waste-(2)1713889672-1-270x192.webp)
@numbersnumbers:
There is a sizable quantity of baboonish natives around the globe that believes each and every stupid claim by US, like finding & killing OBL in Abbottabad too. They don’t need to provide reasons for jumping & clapping!!
@Rana: Gee, and we are to believe YOU that the moon landings never happened! More conspiracy theory rantings!
A true loyalist, a person that never let the world knows about fake landing till his last breath!! RIP
@Mullah ka bacha:
@Magus: dont you people normally blame RAW, Mossad , KFC, McDonalds and CIA?"
However, Pepsi should be on the top of the list . If is US company headed by Indira Nooyi, born in a south-Indian, Hindu Brahmin family and that too a female.
Strangely, during the Israeli boycott days, Muslim countries in the Gulf, boycotted Coca-Cola but Pepsi was not boycotted. I have seen this myself when I lived in the Gulf countries.
@Magus: dont you people normally blame RAW, Mossad , KFC, McDonalds and CIA?
@Sultan Khan: wonder who exactly these "learned people" are. no scratch that, how learned they are.
@Imran Haider - Can we please stop the boot-licking mentality of American ghulami on steroids?
Neil Armstrong was a reluctant hero indeed. He kept a low profile throughout his life because he was not a humble man rather he knew the moon landing was faked. He had to keep his mouth shut until he dies or else the American government would have had him killed. He has alluded to this landing being fake in an interview with ABC when asked why he was so low profile.
Even if we accept this landing to be true, what benefit did it bring to mankind other than wasting billions of dollars on nothing. But may be the billion dollars that the American war machine would have spent on wars was diverted to a silly image-building hoax mission which fake liberal Pakistanis are celebrating more than their masters could have ever asked for. So may be its not that bad after all for the world.
@Magnus. If your older than 15 then I suggest you take a class in Logic - in hindsight you will be amazed on how foolish you sound.
May God give peace to his soul!!! His words “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” will remain immortal in the history of mankind .
May Allah bless the departed soul of Mr. Neil Armstrong. If there is one name from our life time that will survive thousdands of years from now, it is Neil Armstrong's. Osama and Obama will be forgotten by then. Neil Armstrong will always be remembered as the first person who put foot on a celestial body beyond the Earth --- a feat that can never be repeated.
@Sultan Khan: USA is an expert on making these hoaxes, look at 9/11, moon landing, JFK murder, Mumbai attacks, afghanistan, WMD in Iraq now Syria they keep doing these to kill Muslims all over the world. It's all a plan to attack Islam. People like you are the ostriches who can't see this grand plan of america to destroy Muslims in spite of many learned people publishing the research. Are you aware how all Jews were on holiday on 9/11, how pentagon attack was not even a plane. How can you deny scientific evidence.
@Magus: A typical Pakistani mentality. Instead of accepting the reality with open eyes bury the head like an ostrich in the sand and don't see anything. If I don't see anything the whole world is not seeing anything. India has very successfully launched its satellite in the orbit of moon. No! its a hoax. America's '"CURIOSITY" has landed on the Mars. No! its a hoax. Then what is not hoax? The marvel of running a car on distilled water.
Moon landing never happened, it was an elaborate hoax played by the americans on the world
and no,he never converted nor he ever heard anything on moon.