Neil Armstrong was born on August 5, 1930 in Wapakoneta, OH. He was the oldest of 3 children. He went to Blume High School and went to college at Purdue University. While in college he left to serve in the U.S. Navy.

At the age of 6 he took his first airplane ride and fell in love with flying. He started taking lessons at age 14 and on his 16th birthday obtained his pilots license.

He had 2 degrees, a bachelors degree in aerospace engineering from Purdue Univ. and a masters degree in aeronautical engineering from Univ. of Southern California.

While at Purdue he was called to active duty. He flew 78 combat missions during the Korean War.

He was a very skilled pilot and had a lot of experience in flying several jet aircraft. He also piloted the X-1B rocket plane that broke through the sound barrier.

In his personal life, he married Janet Shearon in July of 1956. They had 3 children, a son Eric in l957 and a daughter, Karen in 1959. Sadly, their daughter, Karen, died in 1962 due to an inoperable brain tumor and a year later they had a son, Mark.

In 1962 Mr. Armstrong joined the astronaut program. He served as the command pilot on his first mission, Gemini VIII. He and fellow astronaut David Scott were launched into earth's orbit and while in orbit were able to dock their capsule with a target vehicle. This was the first time 2 vehicles had successfully docked in space.

In 1969 he is selected as the commander for the Apollo 11 mission. Mr. Armstrong along with Aldrin and Collins are the first men to land on the moon and Aldrin and Armstrong are the first to walk on the moon.

240,000 miles from Earth, he spoke these words to all of America...."That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."