Neil Armstrong

Neil Armstrong was an American astronaut who became the first human to walk on the Moon. He lived from 1930 to 2012. On July 20, 1969, he stepped off a small spacecraft called the Eagle and onto the dusty surface of the Moon. About 600 million people watched it happen on television, the largest TV audience in history up to that point.

Armstrong grew up in Ohio. He was fascinated by airplanes from the time he was a small boy. He earned his pilot's license at age 16, before he had even gotten his driver's license. He flew fighter jets for the Navy during the Korean War, then worked as a test pilot. Test pilots fly brand-new aircraft to find out what they can do, which is dangerous work. Armstrong once flew a rocket-powered plane called the X-15 to the edge of space, more than 39 miles up.

In 1962, NASA chose him to be an astronaut. The United States and the Soviet Union were in a "space race," each trying to be first to reach the Moon. President John F. Kennedy had promised that Americans would land there before 1970.

That promise came true with Apollo 11. On July 16, 1969, a giant Saturn V rocket launched Armstrong and two other astronauts, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, toward the Moon. Four days later, Armstrong and Aldrin landed the Eagle on a flat plain called the Sea of Tranquility. Collins stayed in orbit above them.

When Armstrong climbed down the ladder and stepped onto the surface, he said the most famous sentence in the history of space travel: "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." He and Aldrin spent about two and a half hours on the Moon. They collected 47 pounds of rock, planted an American flag, and left behind a plaque that read, "We came in peace for all mankind."

Armstrong came home a hero, but he did not enjoy the fame. He was a quiet man who preferred his family, teaching, and flying to giving speeches. He left NASA in 1971 and taught engineering at the University of Cincinnati for almost ten years.

Armstrong died in 2012 at age 82. Twelve people in total have walked on the Moon, all of them American men, and all between 1969 and 1972. No human has been back since. Armstrong's footprints, however, have not gone anywhere.