Neil Armstrong

The Only Photo of Neil Armstrong On the Moon

He was the first man to walk on the Moon, but Neil Armstrong didn’t have any good photos to prove it. He had the camera most of the time, so it was Aldrin who got all the awesome shots. Sure—he was on grainy TV and reflected on Buzz’s visor but—except for his footprint—there were no…

The best way to honor Neil Armstrong

The family of the late Neil Armstrong released a brief but touching statement earlier this afternoon, to recognize the passing of the former U.S. astronaut. The entire thing won’t take you more than a couple minutes to read, and definitely warrants your attention, but we found this, the closing paragraph, to be particularly moving. Rest…

Read the New York Times’ 1969 account of the Apollo 11 Moon landing

On July 21, 1969, The New York Times’ John Noble Wilford penned the newspaper’s front-page article on humanity’s first steps on the Moon. It is a tremendous piece of journalism — one that warrants revisiting today as we remember the late Neil Armstrong, who showed us what it means to dare mighty things. https://gizmodo.com/r-i-p-neil-armstrong-first-person-to-set-foot-on-the-5937873 We’ve…

R.I.P. Neil Armstrong, First Person to Set Foot On the Moon

Neil Alden Armstrong, spacecraft commander of NASA’s Apollo 11 mission and the first person to walk on the Moon, has died at 82. The former U.S. astronaut passed away while recovering from heart-bypass surgery, a procedure he underwent just weeks ago, according to a statement released by his family. On March 16, 1966, Armstrong became…

RIP Neil Armstrong, First Man on the Moon

Neil Armstrong, commander of Apollo 11 and the first man to ever set foot on the moon, died to today at age 82 due to complications from his heart surgery three weeks prior. From NASA: Neil A. Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, was born in Wapakoneta, Ohio, on August 5, 1930.…

Pioneering astronaut Neil Armstrong is recovering from heart bypass surgery. Apparently he’s “doing great”. [Guardian]

The Groundbreaking Camera That Captured Man’s First Steps on the Moon

On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong became the first man on the moon. This unassuming, metal box was actually the Westinghouse Apollo Lunar Television Camera that broadcasted his momentous first steps to millions of viewers across the world. The Apollo TV camera, with its Secondary Electron Conduction tube-based sensor, could only record 250 lines of…

NASA interrogates 73-year-old grandmother for selling moon rocks

A Southern California woman who attempted to sell “a speck of lunar dust smaller than a grain of rice” to NASA officials found herself on the receiving end of an elaborate sting operation earlier this year. Life, it’s sometimes like a Robert Heinlein story. To raise money for her family, 73-year-old Joann Davis contacted NASA…

The Best of the Year in Space

It’s been a big year for the space sciences. The first privately-held spacecraft orbited our world, the blackest material in history was created, researchers expanded the list of possible sources of life threefold; and that was just in December. 1. Hubble Detects Mysterious Spaceship-Shaped Object Traveling at 11,000MPH – February 2nd Hubble has discovered a…

Neil Armstrong Explains Why He Didn’t Run Wild on the Moon

When Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the Moon in 1969, neither one ever strayed more than 100 yards from the lunar lander. NPR writer Robert Krulwich questioned why this happened in a story yesterday. Today, Armstrong replied. You see, according to Armstrong, it was hot out there. Real hot. Like 200 degrees Fahrenheit…

John Gavin, the Man Who Put Neil Armstrong On the Moon, Died Saturday

Aged 90 years old, John Gavin Jr passed away on Saturday from acute leukemia and pneumonia. He played an instrumental role in the 1969 Apollo 11 mission, leading the 7,500-strong team which created the Eagle lunar module. [NY Times]

Look! There’s a Person On The Moon

Exactly 40 years ago now—at 10:56pm EDT, July 20, 1969—Neil Armstrong began his descent to the Moon’s surface, slowly sliding down the Eagle’s ladder. It was the pinnacle of the greatest human adventure in history. That Sunday, Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins completed President Kennedy’s plan to put a man on the Moon before the decade…

Apollo 11 Astronauts Push For A Mission To Mars

Last friday, at the National Museum of the USAF, the Apollo 11 astronauts participated in a panel discussion about their historic Moon landing. They spent a good portion of the discussion, however, not on the Moon — but Mars. The discussion took place during the National Aviation Hall of Fame Spirit of Flight Award. Neil…

Never Before Seen Image of Neil Armstrong’s First Moonwalk Shows His face

At last, Neil Armstrong will be able to wear his “Been There, Done That” t-shirt with pride. After all, we never saw his face through the solar visor in any of the lunar walk photos. Until today. This weird and never-before-seen photo was taken by the top camera of the Eagle. As Armstrong walked his…

Moonage Daydreamer: The Greatest Lunar Scenes

In honor of Moon, opening today, we went kinda loony (get it?) coming up with our favorite lunar scenes in film and TV. (We restricted the list to our own planet’s moon; sorry, Saturn and Endor fans.) Watch them here. https://gizmodo.com/duncan-jones-moon-will-rise-in-additional-cities-5286697 Le voyage dans la lune (1902) French cinema pioneer Georges Méliès’ silent classic is…

NASA-TV Streams HD Film to Celebrate 50 Years in Space

50 years ago this month NASA rocketed into existence, and to celebrate this fact NASA-TV is streaming its special retrospective show “50 Years of Exploration: The Golden Anniversary of NASA” in HD format today at 1pm and 8pm EDT (and again tomorrow at 10am and 2pm). Check it out: it’s presented by none other than…