Edwin

Happy birthday to the team of appolo XI : Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins. I guess Edwin 'Buzz" Aldrin was the second man to walk to the moon because he was a military and Armstrong a civilian. Before entring Space, Buzz was a fighter pilot who flew in the Korean war. He logged over 2900 hour flying.
Phil.

[mike_baram]

Neil Armstrong served as a Navy pilot. Being named commander of a space mission (NASA is a civilian agency) depends on education and experience rather than military service. I'm including the following info......
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Neil A. Armstrong joined the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics at the Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory, Cleveland, Ohio, in 1955. He transferred to the NACA High-Speed Flight Station at Edwards Air Force Base, California, in July 1955, as an aeronautical research scientist. He became a research pilot later that year. Neil was named as one of nine astronauts for NASA's Gemini and Apollo Projects, leaving the Center for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Manned Spacecraft Center, Houston, Texas, in September 1962.
Upon graduation from High School in 1947, Armstrong received a scholarship from the U.S. Navy. He enrolled at Purdue University to begin the study of aeronautical engineering.

In 1949, the Navy called him to active duty and he became a navy pilot. In 1950, he was sent to Korea where he flew 78 combat missions from the carrier USS Essex in a Grumman F9F-2 Panther. He received the Air Medal and two Gold Stars.

In 1952, Armstrong returned to Purdue University and graduated with a bachelors degree in aeronautical engineering in 1955. He later earned a masters degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Southern California.

At the High-Speed Flight Station (which later became the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center) Armstrong served as project pilot on the North American F-1OOA and -C aircraft, McDonnell F-101, and the Lockheed F-104A. He also flew the Bell X-1B (4 flights, first on August 15, 1957), Bell X-5 (one flight, the last in the program, on October 25, 1955) and the Paresev. On November 30, 1960, Armstrong made his first flight in the X-15. He made a total of seven flights in the rocket plane reaching an altitude of 207,500 feet in the X-15-3 and a Mach number of 5.74 (3,989 mph) in the X-15-1. He left the Flight Research Center with a total of 2450 flying hours in more than 50 aircraft types.

He was a member of the USAF-NASA Dyna-Soar Pilot Consultant Group, and studied X-20 Dyna-Soar approaches and abort maneuvers through use of the F-102A and F5D jet aircraft. Armstrong later accumulated a total of 8 days and 14 hours in space, including 2 hours and 48 minutes walking on the Moon. In March 1966, he was commander of the Gemini 8 mission that performed the first successful docking of two vehicles in space. As spacecraft commander for the Apollo 11 lunar mission, on July 20, 1969, he became the first human to set foot on the Moon. In 1970 he was appointed Deputy Associate Administrator for Aeronautics at NASA Headquarters. He resigned in 1971.

Neil wrote several technical reports and presented a number of research papers. In June 1962, the Octave Chanute Award was presented to Neil by the Institute of the Aerospace Sciences. Other awards received by Neil have included the NASA Distinguished Service Medal and the NASA Exceptional Service Medal.

Ahhhhh, I wish I was there on the moon, then... Too bad!

Adriaan

Hm, perhaps I can still be the first one on Mars?

[Amy]

I suppose this is as good as any place to stick this tidbit of "space age" information in. Luke Skywalker's X-Wing fighter (full-size original prop) from the Star Wars movies is on display at the Wings Over the Rockies Museum. R2D2 is still sitting in the back. If anyone gives a hoot, here are the specifics of the X-Wing fighter as given at the museum:

Wing Span: 7 meters
Length: 12.5 meters
Height: 4 meters
Speed: 186,000 miles per second
Normal Cruise: Sublight
Ceiling: Not a factor
Power: 4 sublight ion engines equipped with hyperdrives for light speed travel
Armament: 4 wing-tip laser cannons plus limited supply of proton torpedoes

Also, let it be noted that this X-Wing fighter is made of wood. I checked when no one was looking

Mike,
I'm agree with you when you say that Being named commander of a space mission depends on education and experience rather than military service. But at this time (Vietnam war) it was more "suitable" that Armstrong command the Apollo XI mission rather than Aldrin who was credited with 2 confirmed victories during the Korean war. I don't think he had less experiences than Neill. He graduated from US military Academy in 1951 with a Bachelor of science degree, became a rated pilot in the USAF by 1952, and received his Doctorate of sciences from Massachussets Institute of technology in 1963. With the Gemini 12 mission he spent a record outside the Gemini in extra vehicular activity.
Phil.