Very OT: Neil Armstrong has passed away

End of an era.  

A brave man who served his country well!

Space bitches, Space.

He represented a pretty good time in American history. One of the true American Heros.

RIP Neil.  A great man.

~Herm

In my  view, Armstrong's moment on the Moon belongs to human history as well, not just the history  of a single nation of its space program. In that one step, man achieved something profound. He served his country on sea in the Navy, in space, and in the classroom at one point teaching future engineers. RIP Neil Armstrong, a man who, on Apollo 11, quite literally boldly went where no one had gone before...

is gone :,(. I have been dreading this day for a long time. God Bless you Neil Armstrong. For one moment you brought a planet together as one.

We landed on the moon!

An American legend. RIP.

I was almost 6 years old when Armstrong waked on the moon. I remember my parents waking me up to watch the moon landing, since at the time I was interested in space and dinosaurs, but not Michigan football during Bo's first season. It would be another couple years before I became a big Michigan fan!

RIP, Neil Armstrong!

Went to his museum in the worst state ever, and it still was a great experience... RIP mr Armstrong

as an 8 year old who wanted to be an astronaut when I grew up. Set my goals higher and became a Michigan Grad.

It seems so simple now, but the original astronauts endured astonishing risks to accomplish what they did. Much of the techology that propelled Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins to the moon is frighteningly archaic by today's standards; the chance of something going very wrong was high. Richard Nixon had prepared an eloquent address, to be delivered if Armstrong and Aldrin were left stranded on the moon, just part of the due diligence of the space program.

They are some of the greatest men our country has ever produced, and deserve all the accolades they receive. Armstrong is one of our greatest heroes. 

An amazing American and human.  He will be missed.

I feel hollow inside. Goodbye Mr. Armstrong.

RIP to a true American hero.

......

R.I.P to another American Hero.  

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He may have left this world...again, but his crowning achievements will never leave the history books and will be remembered for a long, long time. Rest in peace Neil

One's life is marked by memorable milestones.  Armstrong and Aldrin's walking on the moon definitely being one of them.  It was a warm July night in Howell, Michigan where I was 9 years old.  I recall the landing being somewhat early in the evening, but the actual excusion being quite a bit later in the night. 

Even as a 9 year old, I had a sense for the historic import of the moment.

The passing of those who were at the center of such life milestones marks, in a poignant way, a different kind of milestone.

I am truly saddened by the news of Neil Armstrong's passing. I wasn't born until almost 20 years after Apollo 11 landed on the Moon, but upon reflection the significance of their mission is impossible to overstate.

At home, the United States was still recovering from the violence and social upheaval of the Civil Rights era, the assassination of leaders such as the Kennedys and Martin Luther King, Jr., while the protests over the Vietnam War added another level of social strife.

Abroad, the aforementioned Vietnam War was still raging while the US and USSR continued to engage in the dangerous high-wire act of the Cold War, all while the threat of nuclear annihilation loomed ever-present.

Yet when the moment came for Armstrong to climb out the hatch of the Eagle, the entire world stopped and turned on their TVs and radios to watch and listen to what is possibly the greatest peaceful accomplishment in human history. Apollo 11 in many ways united a fractured country and a fractured international community, however briefly. They showed us what we as a planet are capable of. Today, we lost a pioneer, an explorer, and a hero.

Still blows my mind, not so much that men walked on the moon, but that they did so that long ago in that era of technology. What an accomplishment. Almost makes my eyes a little... dusty.

The world lost a hero today, not just the US.

Hard to imagine what it must have been like.  I spoke to a man who was an engineer at NASA at that time.  The bounces of the first steps were not because of a lack of gravity.  It was because the smartest minds in the world had decided one of two outcomes would occur.  Either man lands on the moon and is safe and walks around and eventually pulls out golf clubs or he falls 100 meters or so into the moon itself.  Those hops were a reflex.  He wasn't sure if he was going to immediately be buried in to the center of space rock, or if he'd have the opportunity to take a second step.  Words can't express how bad ass that man/crew was for taking that trip.

A truly great American hero..Thoughts and prayers go out to the Armstrong family..

I remember when my dad retired in 1991, and my folks moved down to the Houston area. They found a beautiful home in El Lago, a community of 3,000 in the Clear Lake area of Houston. The community is very near NASA headquarters, and in the late 60's many astronauts lived there. (LINK:  http://www.chron.com/neighborhood/baytown-news/article/El-Lago-residents-remember-the-early-space-days-1608976.php.) It turns out that my parents bought Armstrong's home. It was a beautiful house, with a sunken living room, an inground pool, a playroom upstairs for the kids, a huge kitchen and pantry, bedroom wing, and office wing for Armstrong. I loved that house, and loved visiting my folks there, although Dad sold it and moved back to the Chicago area when my mom passed.

Armstrong was an extremely private person, but it was always intriguing realizing that I was staying in the same house where he lived for a short time. If you ever get down to Houston, it is well worth going to the NASA campus to the space museum. They used to show a lot more of the real campus. That changed after 9-11, but the truth is, a more Disneyfied museum and exhibits is more accessible and understandablefor most people.

who ever flew. America has lost a Great man and a person who embodied the spirit of what this country could accomplsh when we all pull together.

Here it is, unedited 

LINK

It is amazing the quality of broadcast that they got on that landing.  RIP to a true American pioneer and hero.