Jul 11, 2016

Farewell, indeed, goodbye Neil Alden Armstrong

     He was born in 1930 in the state of Ohio and holds a degree in aeronautical engineering in 1955. He became a civilian pilot and worked for NASA. Later, he was selected as an astronaut in 1962.
     He participated in the Gemini program, commanding the Gemini 8 mission, in 1966.
     In 1968 he was appointed commander of the backup crew of Apollo 8 mission.
     One year before the landing he risked his life in a training.
Neil Armstrong - Loving San Francisco Silvana Calabrese
     1969 changed his life: he commanded the Apollo 11 mission who made the historic landing on the Moon. On the approach to the ground, Armstrong picked up the manual controls of the LEM called Eagle, and uttered the first words of the mission, became by now part of history:
     "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed".
     Out of the Lunar Module, he was the first man to set foot on the Moon, its footprint is the most popular in the world. During contact with the selenic ground uttered his most famous phrase:
"That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind".
     He left NASA in 1970.
     From the book Theatrum mundi. Landing on the Moon, p. 49-50. Dedicated to you.
     He left all of us on August 25, 2012. In circumstances like this we distance ourselves from the debate about the truthfulness of landing. We pay homage to a record curriculum. Let's go back to that enchanted night, between 20 and 21 July 1969, the night when humanity, moved by the charm of progress, felt had to turn our gaze to the sky. It seems that not a theft has been committed in that night.
     Your death takes away a piece of history, astronomy, a piece of childhood for those who have dreamed the immensity of the universe and the galactic features.
     To Houston we say "ok Houston, the eagle has soared" and your name will mount in the firmament.
     To you we say farewell, indeed, see you if there is a place where we meet again. 
     Source: “La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno”, an italian newspaper, August 28, 2012, p. 24. 

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