Neil Armstrong by Ben

When you think of Neil Armstrong you would think he was the first person on the moon but there are many other interesting facts about Neil Armstrong than him just being the first person on the moon. You would probably not think of someone who fought in the korean war and did many other amazing things.

Young Life
It all started when Neil Armstrong was born on August 5, 1930 in auglaize county Ohio; in his grandparents farm. After seeing an air show in cleveland he became fascinated with flying. he went on his first plane ride was on a plane called the tin goose. Armstrong started to make many model planes that were powered by rubber bands, one of his model planes even had 12 propellers. Growing up Armstrong got a job at a doughnut shop to pay for flying lessons. In 1945 at the age of 15 he gained his flying licence before he even had his driver's licence.

College
Because Armstrong's parents couldn't afford a college scholarship for Neil he had to attend on a navy scholarship; but that was okay with Neil because he would be able to fly planes in the navy.He went to purdue university in indiana. armstrong studied aeronautical engineering. Before neil could finish his degree the Korean War started and Armstrong went into battle. During the war Armstrong had to fly low to scout enemy territory and bomb areas where the army will be attacking later. During one mission armstrong got shot down by enemy gunfire but he was able to fly back to friendly territory and parachute out and he was unhurt except for a few minor injuries.This proves that neil is a talented pilot. Then in 1952 he returned back to college to finish his degree.

Career and Space
After collage armstrong became an experimental test pilot four the us air force and flew many experimental aircraft four the u.s air force. later he decided to signed up to become and astronaut. on his first space mission he had to dock with a satellite orbiting the earth to help develop skills that will be needed in other space mission in the future. after the docking the ship started to spin around uncontrollably and after the ship detached it continued to spin around. Neil took control of the craft and managed to land the shuttle. This proves that once again Neil is a great pilot. he thought that NASA would prevent him from going on other space missions because he was in charge of the spacecraft;but the cause of the spinning was a faulty thruster that caused the ship to spin.which meant that he could continue going on space missions. Later because Armstrong's expertees and skill in piloting a few years later he was elected as commander of apollo 11 the mission that was going to touch down on the moon and since he was elected commander he was given the honors of being the first person to step on the moon. Armstrong had to train for about three years in total one time Neil and the other three astronaut were in training and NASA rigged a wire to explode during the training and another time he and another astronaut had to camp in the jungle of panama incase the shuttle landed in a harsh environment and the recovery team had a delay. NASA was very scared that something would go wrong during the mission. Once training was done they were ready to go to the moon. on the day of the launch the astronauts all had breakfast together after arriving in cape canaveral florida. all three astronauts went up into the top of saturn V the countdown was in its final seconds 5 4 3 2 1 blast off! Saturn v went ripping through the air. Saturn V was a three stage rocket where the stages broke of over time by the time the shuttle had gotten to the moon the rocket was in its last stage the apollo 11 landing craft or the eagle as armstrong liked to called it detached it drifted down to the moon as the eagle approached the surface of the moon there were many rocks at the landing sight Armstrong quickly took control of the shuttle and then he safely landed the eagle on the moon. As Armstrong took the first steps on the moon lay his left foot on the dusty surface of the moon and he said “that's one step for a man a giant leap for mankind” except the word A was cut out. From bad radio transmission after planting the American flag Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin had to get back to the main ship. the top of the landing craft popped of and the bottom side of the landing craft was left on the moon so the craft would be more fuel efficient after connecting with the main craft the landing craft departed so the other rocket could be more fuel efficient to get back to earth.

After the Mission
When the ship crashed in the Pacific Ocean the crew was kept in isolation to make sure that the crew brought back no germs from the moon after returning home the three astronauts toured the world and where world famous. later Armstrong seeked a more simpler life which meant no more space missions. he moved back to Auglaize county, Ohio. on August 25 2012 Armstrong died from cardiovascular reasons.

So Next time you look at the moon you could remember Neil Armstrong and all the amazing thing he accomplished in his life; and what he did for his country and family.