Neil A. Armstrong

Research pilot, astronaut, and first man to set foot on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission.

Quick Facts

November 1957: NACA research pilot Neil A. Armstrong made three flights in the X-1B to validate the Reaction Control System (RCS) – small thrusters used to stabilize or redirect a vehicle in a near vacuum.

<strong>November</strong> <strong>1957:</strong> NACA research pilot Neil A. Armstrong made three flights in the X-1B to validate the Reaction Control System (RCS) – small thrusters used to stabilize or redirect a vehicle in a near vacuum.

April 20, 1962: Armstrong completed longest flight in X-15 (12 minutes, 28 seconds); it was an accident. Armstrong was actively engaged in piloting and engineering aspects of the X-15 program from its inception.

<strong>April 20, 1962:</strong> Armstrong completed longest flight in X-15 (12 minutes, 28 seconds); it was an accident. Armstrong was actively engaged in piloting and engineering aspects of the X-15 program from its inception.

May 6, 1968: Astronaut Armstrong, Apollo 11 mission commander, was forced to eject from the Lunar Landing Training Vehicle seconds before it crashed.

<strong>May 6, 1968:</strong> Astronaut Armstrong, Apollo 11 mission commander, was forced to eject from the Lunar Landing Training Vehicle seconds before it crashed.

July 16, 1969: The 363-feet tall, 6.2 million pound Saturn V rocket launches on the Apollo 11 mission from Kennedy Space Center. Onboard are astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, commander; Michael Collins, command module pilot; and Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., lunar module pilot. Apollo 11 was the United States’ first manned, lunar landing mission.

<strong>July 16, 1969:</strong> The 363-feet tall, 6.2 million pound Saturn V rocket launches on the Apollo 11 mission from Kennedy Space Center. Onboard are astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, commander; Michael Collins, command module pilot; and Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., lunar module pilot. Apollo 11 was the United States' first manned, lunar landing mission.

July 20, 1969: Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin land on the Moon. Armstrong, commander, took this picture of Aldrin with a 70mm Hasselblad lunar surface camera.

<strong>July 20, 1969</strong>: Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin land on the Moon. Armstrong, commander, took this picture of Aldrin with a 70mm Hasselblad lunar surface camera.

March 1, 2014: NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center is redesignated NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center. Legislation was signed into law by President Obama in January 2014 to rename NASA Dryden after the late Neil A. Armstrong.

<strong>March 1, 2014:</strong> NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center is redesignated NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center. Legislation was signed into law by President Obama in January 2014 to rename NASA Dryden after the late Neil A. Armstrong.

Neil A. Armstrong standing in front of X-15. — Neil Armstrong stands with an X-15 Eagle after a 1960 test flight.
NASA

Neil A. Armstrong in X-15 #1 with Life Support Crew — NASA research pilot Neil Armstrong is seen here in the cockpit of the X-15 ship No. 1 (56-6670) after a research flight.
NASA

Neil A. Armstrong at Ames — Ames test pilot Fred Drinkwater, astronaut Neil Armstrong, and Ames project engineer Stu Rolls in front of the Ames Bell X-14 airplane being flown by Armstrong in February 1964, five years before Armstrong landed on the moon.
NASA/Lee Jones

Neil A. Armstrong, commander for the Apollo 11 Moon-landing mission, practices for the historic event in a lunar module simulator in the Flight Crew Training Building at Kennedy.
NASA

Biography

Neil A. Armstrong

First man to set foot on the Moon.

Neil A. Armstrong served as a naval aviator from 1949 to 1952 before joining the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics at the Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory in 1955. Later that year, he transferred to the NACA’s High-Speed Flight Station in Edwards, California, as an aeronautical research scientist and then as a pilot, a position he held until becoming an astronaut in 1962. He was one of nine NASA astronauts in the second class to be chosen.

July 20, 1969: One Giant Leap For Mankind

July 1969. It’s a little over eight years since the flights of Gagarin and Shepard, followed quickly by President Kennedy’s…

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Apollo 11 Crew

The primary objective of Apollo 11 was to complete a national goal set by President John F. Kennedy on May 25, 1961: perform a crewed lunar landing and return to Earth.

Apollo 11 Mission

Neil A. Armstrong

Commander

Michael Collins

Command Module pilot

Official NASA Astronaut Photograph of Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin

Edwin E. Aldrin Jr.

Lunar Module pilot

Featured Story

NASA Center Ceremony Honors Two Aerospace Legends

Two aerospace legends and their families were honored at a formal dedication ceremony May 13, marking the rededication of NASA’s…

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Honoring Neil Armstrong

Armstrong Flight Research Center

NASA's primary center in Edwards, California, for high-risk, atmospheric flight research and test projects was renamed in honor of Neil Armstrong in 2014.

Aerial View of the Space Environments Complex at Neil A. Armstrong Test Facility in Sandusky

Neil Armstrong Test Facility

A remote campus of Glenn Research Center, the facility was renamed in 2020 and is home to some of the world’s largest and most capable space simulation test facilities.