This Thursday (25) marks the tenth anniversary of the death of Neil Armstrong (1930-2012), the first man to walk on the moon.
The astronaut was the commander of the Apollo 11 mission, which reached the lunar surface on July 20, 1969. As he put his feet on the lunar soil, he famously said: “One small step for a man, one giant leap for humanity”.
Armstrong was perhaps the coldest and most methodical of all NASA astronauts. In 1966, for example, he was responsible for the dramatic Gemini 8 mission, which involved the first docking in history — essential technology for the journey to the Moon — and which almost ended in tragedy.
To successfully execute and complete the greatest adventure ever undertaken by human beings, in 1969 he joined astronauts Michael Collins (1930-2021), Apollo 11 command module pilot, and Edwin Buzz Aldrin, chosen by NASA for the mission. due to its exceptional performance in spacewalks.
The most famous American astronaut of all time was possibly also the most mysterious. Despite the exposure of his work in the space program, Armstrong has always kept his personal life out of the spotlight.
back to the moon
For the first time since the last Apollo mission in 1972, a rocket will propel a habitable capsule to orbit the Moon, before returning to Earth. Artemis 1, the first unmanned mission of the American program to return to the Moon, should take off next Monday (29), according to NASA, the US space agency.
The forecast is that from 2024 onwards, astronauts will embark to make the same journey, on the Artemis 2 mission. black to lunar soil.
