Legendary astronaut Neil Armstrong from the United States, the first man set foot on the Moon, passed away at the age of 82, his family said on Sunday (26/8).
Armstrong underwent heart bypass surgery earlier this month, just two days after his birthday on August 5, to get rid of the blockage in the main coronary arteries.
As commander of Apollo 11, Armstrong became the first human to set foot on the Moon on July 20, 1969. When stepping on the dusty surface, Armstrong said, "That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind."
The sentence is to survive as one of the most famous quotes in English.
Neil Alden Armstrong is 38 years old at the time and despite even meet one of the many human hopes and put them at the top of success, he was not having fun. He even seemed desperate by the compliment.
"I guess we all like to be recognized not for one piece of fireworks, but for the ledger of our daily work," Armstrong said in an interview on the CBS program "60 Minutes" in 2005.
He was asked how he felt to know his footprints on the lunar surface may be thousands of years old. "I hope someone can be there in the near future and clean it up," he said.
James Hansen, author of "First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong" told CBS said, "For all the public attention down the ladder to the surface, Neil was never really able to understand why so much attention to it."
Apollo 11's task to the moon is to be the last os Amstrong's spaceflight. The following year, he moved to the table, the executive vice NASA space affairs in the office of research and advanced technology.
Armstrong is very private life. It does not take a major role in the ceremony marking the 25th anniversary of landing on the Moon, Dave Garrett said, a former NASA spokesman.
"Howard Hughes is not on him," he said, while talking about the reclusive aviator.
Hansen states the story of Armstrong's dream of space exploration during childhood doubt, even though he had long been devoted to aviation. "His life was about to fly. His life is about to fly the plane," Hansen said.
He left NASA a year after Apollo 11 to be a professor of engineering at the University of Cincinnati.
Former astronauts that live in the Cincinnati area with his wife, Carol.
"We are saddened to share the news that Neil Armstrong passed away after complications from heart surgery," the family statement said: "Neil is a husband, father, grandfather, brother and our dear friend."
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