| 1 | Name: | Mr. Neil Armstrong | |
| Institution: | NASA | ||
| Year Elected: | 2001 | ||
| Class: | 5. The Arts, Professions, and Leaders in Public & Private Affairs | ||
| Subdivision: | 503. Administrators, Bankers and Opinion Leaders from the Public or Private Sectors | ||
| Residency: | Resident | ||
| Living? : | Deceased | ||
| Birth Date: | 1930 | ||
| Death Date: | August 25, 2012 | ||
Neil A. Armstrong will always be known as the first man to walk on the moon, saying "One small step for (a) man. One giant step for mankind." as he stepped onto the surface. As a naval aviator, he flew combat missions from the aircraft carrier USS Essex in the Korean action, and subsequently spent 17 years with the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration as an engineer, research pilot, astronaut and administrator. As a research pilot for NASA's Flight Research Center at Edwards, CA, Mr. Armstrong was project pilot on many pioneering high speed aircraft, including the rocket powered X-1 and the hypersonic X-15. He was selected as an astronaut in 1962. He was commander of the Gemini 8 flight in 1966 when he performed the first successful docking of two vehicles in space. As spacecraft commander for Apollo 11, he, with colleagues Mike Collins and Buzz Aldrin, completed the first landing mission to the moon. Neil Armstrong subsequently was responsible for the management of overall NASA research and technology work related to aeronautics. During the years 1971 through 1979, he was the University Professor of Engineering at the University of Cincinnati. He was the Chairman of the EDO Corporation, an engineering systems manufacturing firm. He received his engineering education at Purdue University and the University of Southern California. Mr. Armstrong was a Fellow of the Experimental Test Pilots and the Royal Aeronautical Society, and Honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the International Aeronautical Federation. He was a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the Academy of the Kingdom of Morocco. He served as Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee for the Peace Corps (1971-73), as Vice Chairman of the Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident (1986), and as a member of the National Commission on Space (1985-86). Mr. Armstrong's explorations on earth include reaching the North Pole and, with the British Army, mapping caves in the Oriente of Ecuador. He was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 2011 and was elected to membership in the American Philosophical Society in 2001. Neil Armstrong died on August 25, 2012, at the age of 82. | |||