I know it seems he became a sort of parody of himself near the end there, but I still have to give him his due. RIP Neil Armstrong http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-19381098 Imagine it were you asked to buy in to something no one thought possible. Then, they asked for your willingness to put it all out there based entirely on what they were able to achieve technologically. You may have, up to that point, watched some decent accomplishments that were outgrowths of WW2 tech, but hey, what did you have that you could point to in comparison? In hindsight, of course, its mind boggling to us. It is to me anyway Your thoughts , gentlemen?
I just saw that he passed away. To me, it is a real shock that he was 82. Time certainly flys by. The astronauts of his era were insane. They were testing uncharted waters with their lives. How many of us would do that???
We can be certain the world will thank you for giving him his due.. May Andy Warhol bless and keep you.
Every astronaut that ever went into orbit took their life in their hands. The predicted failure rate of the Space Shuttle would have given more than the two disasters we had; that is to say, the Space Shuttle program expected dozens of casualties over its lifespan. What the Lunar Astronauts did was several steps beyond that. They weren't just crazy, they were true explorers at the vanguard of human capability as it has been extended by technology. The Lunar Lander module pilot (I think it was Aldrin), once said that he was having to do a whole bunch of DE calculations in his head based on velocity and decceleration numbers as he landed the thing. This is way before the era of the modern computer. What Neil Armstrong did was brave, superhuman, and inspiring.
Aldrin has a PhD from MIT in "Astronautics." with a long subscript way beyond most of we earthlings. There were onboard computers on many of the venicles with the awsome power of a Commodore 64 if that. Consider that most of the first three generations of astronauts were test pilots save Aldrin, math was thier forte'. Aldrin was made Commandant of USAF Aerospace Research Pilots School at the Air Force Flight Test Center, Edwards AFB, CA replacing Chuck Yeager. c1972
