skypilot6
Well-Known Member
http://news.yahoo.com/neil-armstrong-1st-man-moon-dies-193954975.html
A good read about a great man.
RIP Neil Armstrong
RIP Neil Armstrong
- Thread starter tlewis95
- Start date
http://news.yahoo.com/neil-armstrong-1st-man-moon-dies-193954975.html
A good read about a great man.
RIP Neil Armstrong
inigo88
Composite-lover
Neil Armstrong led an interesting career prior to the moon landing as well. When he piloted Gemini 8, he experienced the first in-flight emergency of a spacecraft when their capsule went careening out of control after completing the first earth-orbit rendezvous and docking with the Agena target vehicle (without which the Apollo program wouldn't have been possible). Neil Armstrong saved the day.
Later when training for Apollo 11, Armstrong crashed an experimental VTOL aircraft called the Lunar Lander Training Vehicle, and had to eject to safety. Yet during the final descent stage of Apollo 11, Armstrong had to manually fly the Lem due to guidance computer problems, and safely navigate passed a boulder field (almost completely running out of fuel in the process) before finally finding an adequate landing spot. Armstrong later attributed this accomplishment to his training in the LLRV/LLTV.
If you're a nerd like I am and enjoy these kind of stories, I highly recommend watching Tom Hanks' HBO series From the Earth to the Moon. It's an outstanding historical account of the space program from Mercury to Apollo, and shows all the above events. It's on par with or better than movies like The Right Stuff and Apollo 13.
Later when training for Apollo 11, Armstrong crashed an experimental VTOL aircraft called the Lunar Lander Training Vehicle, and had to eject to safety. Yet during the final descent stage of Apollo 11, Armstrong had to manually fly the Lem due to guidance computer problems, and safely navigate passed a boulder field (almost completely running out of fuel in the process) before finally finding an adequate landing spot. Armstrong later attributed this accomplishment to his training in the LLRV/LLTV.
If you're a nerd like I am and enjoy these kind of stories, I highly recommend watching Tom Hanks' HBO series From the Earth to the Moon. It's an outstanding historical account of the space program from Mercury to Apollo, and shows all the above events. It's on par with or better than movies like The Right Stuff and Apollo 13.
Did Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin get along? Books Ive read on the Apollo program seem to suggest that there was friction between the two.
USMCmech
Well-Known Member
From all accounts I've read, they worked together just fine. But in the book From Earth to the Moon, the Apollo 11 crew is described as one of the least friendly crews in the program. Everyone got along fine professionally, but they didn't hang out much after work.
I read his biography a few years ago, and Armstrong was obviously uncomfortable in the limelight. The landing of the LM on the moon was his focus throughout their training. He honestly didn't care about who stepped foot on the moon first. In his opinion they both arrived at the same time.
inigo88
Composite-lover
That's how I understand it as well. They were certainly professional and cordial but had strong differences of opinion. There's a scene in "From the Earth to the Moon" where Buzz Aldrin was angry at Neil Armstrong for not aborting in the simulator. The Lem simulator had a camera mounted to a robotic arm, and the camera would fly over a Plaster of Paris model of the moon. So when Armstrong let the simulator crash, he actually broke the plaster moon model.
Another interesting fact: Buzz Aldrin actually took communion on the moon, in the Lem, almost immediately after they finished their post landing check lists. Religion was one of the many things the two didn't have in common.
In contrast, the Apollo 12 crew that followed were like long lost best pals. Here's Pete Conrad, Dick Gordon and Al Bean in their matching gold corvettes (the 1969 Chevy "AstroVette"). Pretty cool.
Another interesting fact: Buzz Aldrin actually took communion on the moon, in the Lem, almost immediately after they finished their post landing check lists. Religion was one of the many things the two didn't have in common.
In contrast, the Apollo 12 crew that followed were like long lost best pals. Here's Pete Conrad, Dick Gordon and Al Bean in their matching gold corvettes (the 1969 Chevy "AstroVette"). Pretty cool.
That's how I understand it as well. They were certainly professional and cordial but had strong differences of opinion. There's a scene in "From the Earth to the Moon" where Buzz Aldrin was angry at Neil Armstrong for not aborting in the simulator. The Lem simulator had a camera mounted to a robotic arm, and the camera would fly over a Plaster of Paris model of the moon. So when Armstrong let the simulator crash, he actually broke the plaster moon model.
Another interesting fact: Buzz Aldrin actually took communion on the moon, in the Lem, almost immediately after they finished their post landing check lists. Religion was one of the many things the two didn't have in common.
In contrast, the Apollo 12 crew that followed were like long lost best pals. Here's Pete Conrad, Dick Gordon and Al Bean in their matching gold corvettes (the 1969 Chevy "AstroVette"). Pretty cool.
And then there was Ed Mitchell......
Pilotforhire587
Lycra Man
RIP Neil Armstrong. Sad to lose another hero.
mad2fly
Well-Known Member
This article raises some doubt as to whether "he botched it."
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ankind-words-misquoted.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
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Mark815
Well-Known Member
I can respect his privacy, but I agree 100% with you. He was the first man to step foot on another celestial body. The spotlight comes with the territory, and I think it's something that they all should have been made well aware of, and should cooperate with. If there was anyone in the world to interview in GREAT detail, I think Neil Armstrong and the crew of Apollo 11 would be high on the list.
knot4u
Repeat Offender
Best interview I've found. A very humble individual considering his accomplishments.
http://thebottomline.cpaaustralia.com.au/
http://thebottomline.cpaaustralia.com.au/
SlumTodd_Millionaire
Most Hated Member
Awesome. Thanks for posting that.
It's a shame that today's youth looks more to basketball players and rappers as heroes than to people like him.
pullup
Homewrecker
I have recently become much much more interested in space/universe but there are literally no colleges around me that have any sort of astronomy classes. The closest I can find to astronomy is physics classes which I have all taken.
inigo88
Composite-lover
Not even community colleges? That's crazy...
At best
Snookie and Kim Kardashian have careers earning multi millions.
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The Fez
Analog Millennial
I had heard about this a while ago. I'll try to find the article I read a few years back. The author had a great explanation of the audio compression techniques that were used for the television broadcasts that gave the astronauts a strange and drawn out sound to their speech. The missing "a" could have easily been buried in the noise floor and therefore not picked up when the signal was demodulated back on earth.
RIP to Neil Armstrong. Perhaps the whole earth's first hero.
