Neil Armstrong was the first man on the moon. He had always dreamed of going thousands of miles above the Earth’s surface. He never knew that one day he would be the first on a different surface.

          When Neil was a little kid he got to ride in a 3-engined metal airplane. That sparked his interest for aeronautics. He began to read airplane magazines and build many models of airplanes. When he was fifteen there were lessons for how to fly in his hometown. They cost $9.00 an hour which was expensive at that time. Neil earned money by working 50 cents an hour. When he got enough money he took the lessons and became a natural flyer. During college he was picked out and sent to fight in the Korean War on the carrier ship Essex. When I came back I earned my degrees quickly and became an experimental test pilot at NACA, NASA’s predecessor. Shortly after that he married Janet Shearon and moved into a cabin with primitive plumbing and no electricity. They had three children Eric (1957), Karen (1959), and Mark (1963). He took many aeronautic jobs before reaching the decision to become an astronaut for NASA. Then he signed up to be an Apollo Astronaut. He passed the exam and with eight others, joined the original seven. Unfortunately the Soviet Union had already sent not only a man in space but had sent one in orbit. Armstrong would be back up crew for Gemini III and then go on the Gemini VIII. In Gemini VIII Armstrong’s job was to successfully dock the Gemini into the rocket Agena and to get his partner, Dave Scott, to do a spacewalk. At first things went smooth and there was nothing wrong but then the rocket started spinning so Neil and Dave decided to eject from the Agena. However the problem was in the Gemini. The astronauts then decided to abort the mission even though it meant not doing Dave’s space walk which he spent hours working on. When back on the ground they discovered that one of the thrusters was stuck on the on position. He was hard on himself for not making a quicker decision. After some other missions Armstrong was asked if he wanted to be the Commander of Apollo 11. He accepted without hesitation since it was every astronauts dream. During the Apollo 11 flight he guided the space shuttle 350 ft. above the moons rocky surface to a safe landing. He was the first person to touch the moons surface with the famous words, “One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” After that Neil Armstrong declined in a very gracious manner. He lived a happy life despite his divorce. Many people have dedicated stuff for his honor because of his famous moon landing.