Neil Amstrong

Neil Armstrong is gone but
the footprints he left on the
moon endure. And so does
his unmatched place in
history. Of all humanity, he
was the first to leave Earth
and step onto another world.
And — it being the television
age — he did so while much
of humanity watched.
Always a soft-spoken and self-
effacing hero, Armstrong died
Saturday of complications
after undergoing heart
surgery. He was 82. A private
funeral is to take place Friday.
Forty-three years ago, he
stepped from the Apollo 11
lunar module and onto the
dusty surface of the moon,
declaring it “one giant leap for
mankind.”
More than half a billion
people around the world
looked on — an irony given
Armstrong’s intensely private
nature — and what they saw
was more than just a
technological triumph, or a
space race victory by the
United States. Although the
July 20, 1969 moon landing
was born in cold war rivalry, it
ultimately transcended politics
and became seen as a
universal achievement.