Neil Armstrong was born on a farm and would go on to build a career in flying which culminates in him becoming the very first man on the moon. This is the story of what happened before and after he took that giant leap for mankind. 

1930 – Neil Armstrong is born in his grandparents’ farmhouse in Ohio, USA. His father works for the Ohio state government, his mother is a homemaker. He is his parents’ first child and will later have a younger sister and a younger brother. 

Age 6 – Neil takes his first plane ride.

Childhood – Because of his father’s job, Neil and his family constantly have to move homes. His hobbies are building model planes, playing with planes, and reading about planes. He is a Boy Scout and becomes an Eagle Scout, the highest level of Scout possible. He also loves to read. 

Age 13 – His family finally sets up a permanent home in the small town of Wapakoneta, Ohio. 

Teenage years – Neil takes part-time jobs to pay for flying lessons. He works at a cemetery and doughnut company. He also plays the baritone horn in a jazz band called the Mississippi Moonshiners. His favourite subjects in school are science and math. 

Age 15 – Neil gets his pilot’s license. 

Age 17 – Neil gets a Navy scholarship to study aeronautic engineering at Purdue University. He moves away from his family for the first time. 

Age 19 – After 2 years in college, Neil has to serve three years in the Navy in return for his scholarship. He is stationed in Florida where he learns to fly fighter planes. 

Age 20 – He graduates from the Navy flight training school and becomes a licensed Navy aviator. He is supposed to return to Purdue University to complete his last 2 years of college but the Korean War breaks out and Neil is enlisted to fight in it. His job is to fly over enemy bridges and railroad lines and bomb them. He completes 78 such missions and cracks his tailbone once in the process. 

Age 22 – He returns home with many medals and goes back to Purdue University. He also falls in love for the very first time. 

Age 26 – Neil graduates and marries his first love, fellow student Janet Shearon. Jan gives up her degree to move to California with Neil. He takes at job as a test pilot in the Mojave Desert and buys a small cabin to live in high up in the San Gabriel Mountains. 

Age 27 – Their first child, Eric is born. 

Age 29 – Their second child Karen is born. 

Age 31 – Neil’s daughter Karen is diagnosed with brain cancer after repeatedly tripping and running fevers. 

Age 32 – Karen dies at home. Neil stops talking about his daughter. A week later, he goes back to work. A few months later, he applies to be an astronaut. As a healthy young man under 6 feet who is both a highly skilled pilot and engineer, Neil qualifies for the job. He and 8 other men are chosen and suddenly, he and his family become famous. They and the other astronaut families move to a suburb in Texas to be near the NASA space centre in Houston. Their house now has a swimming pool. Neil begins training 12 hours a day. He also travels the country giving speeches on why the space program is important.

Age 33 – Neil’s second son, Mark is born.

Age 36 – Neil is appointed command pilot of the Gemini 8 space shuttle. His mission is to dock on another satellite already in space. The mission fails because of a faulty thruster and Neil becomes depressed. 

Age 38 – Neil has another close shave will piloting a test flight. He ejects and parachutes away just before his flight goes up in flames. 

Age 39 – He is appointed commander of Apollo 11 and begins training with his 2-men crew, Buzz Aldrin and Micheal Collins. Then, they journey to the moon. And land on it. As commander of the mission, Neil gets the honour of stepping onto the moon first. And when he does, he plants a camera for earth viewers and says, “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” They spend 2 hours there then make the 60-hour trip back home. Neil and his crew are now world famous but he doesn’t really enjoy the attention. 

Age 40 – Neil leaves the NASA program.

Age 41 – He becomes a professor at the University of Cincinnati and buys a farm.

Age 42 – NASA’s Apollo space program ends. 

Age 64 – Neil and Jane divorce. In the same year, Neil marries a woman named Carol Knight who also enjoys flying. 

Age 82 – Neil dies in Ohio. 

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Photographs: NASA, U.S. Federal Government. Compiler: Sy
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