Neil Armstrong, first man on the moon, dead at 82
Last Updated 3:32 p.m. ET
(CBS News) Neil Armstrong, the Apollo 11 astronaut who became the first human being to set foot on another world, has died. He was 82.
In a statement his family said Armstrong had passed away following complications resulting from cardiovascular procedures.
The family described him as a loving husband, father, grandfather, brother and friend, and also as "a reluctant American hero who always believed he was just doing his job."
That's one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind.When Armstrong set foot on the moon on July 20, 1969, he fulfilled the goal that had been set by President John F. Kennedy just eight years earlier.
Obama, NASA head remember Armstrong
It was a long, long way from Armstrong's birthplace near tiny Wapakoneta, Ohio in 1930.
Armstrong's fascination with airplanes began with his first flight at age six, and that fascination never abandoned him. He left Purdue University in 1950 when the Korean War broke out, and flew 78 combat missions as a naval aviator.
After the war, he became a test pilot and flew the hottest aircraft around, including the sleek X-15 rocket plane. He took the powerful craft to 207,000 feet - almost 38 miles - and the edge of space.
He was in the first group of civilian astronauts, and made his initial flight in 1966, aboard Gemini VIII.
The mission almost ended in disaster when a thruster on his craft stuck open, sending the ship whirling through space. With his trademark coolness, Armstrong used a back-up system, stopped the one-revolution-per-second spin and made an emergency landing in the Pacific.
The preparation for the moon landing included learning how to fly the ungainly lunar module, which would descend vertically to the moon's surface.
Armstrong had another brush with death when the training vehicle rolled to its side, and he was forced to eject just two hundred feet from the ground.
And then, finally, after years of training, the moment arrived: On July 16, 1969, a giant Saturn V rocket lumbered off the pad at the Kennedy Space Center, carrying the thirty-eight-year-old Armstrong and crewmates Buzz Aldrin and Mike Collins.
To watch a video of Armstrong reminiscing about his moon landing with CBS News' Ed Bradley click on the video player below.
Armstrong later said that the landing itself was the high point of the mission for him. He coaxed the lunar module past craters and boulders as Aldrin called out speed and altitude.
"Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed."
After almost a day there, the astronauts lifted off, rejoined Collins in the command module and began the long journey home.
Despite the initial fanfare, after the historic flight of Apollo 11 Armstrong remained a humble and intensely private person. He left NASA and taught engineering at the University of Cincinnati and later served on the boards of several aerospace firms.
One of his rare public appearances was at a gathering with Aldrin and other Apollo astronauts to mark the 30th anniversary of their moon landing.
"In my own view, the important achievement of Apollo was a demonstration that humanity is not forever chained to this planet, and our visions go rather further than that, and our opportunities are unlimited," Armstrong said.
Among the hard-charging, super-achieving Apollo astronauts there was bound to be some envy about whom NASA would select to lead the historic mission, but Mike Collins flatly stated what so often was said about his reticent and self-effacing commander: "I can't offhand think of a better choice to be the first man on the moon."
Armstrong's family said, "While we mourn the loss of a very good man, we also celebrate his remarkable life and hope that it serves as an example to young people around the world to work hard to make their dreams come true, to be willing to explore and push the limits, and to selflessly serve a cause greater than themselves.
"For those who may ask what they can do to honor Neil, we have a simple request: Honor his example of service, accomplishment and modesty, and the next time you walk outside on a clear night and see the moon smiling down at you, think of Neil Armstrong and give him a wink."
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the passage of Neil Armstrong on earth has not been vain, history will remember forever what he has done for humanity, he's gone, but his small step on the moon will remain forever
May he rest in peace.
"au revoir"
And yet you're one of the major whiners on here about taxes.
You think space exploration is free?
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Maybe if we had a menu instead of the two dominate parties....
And it did! We thought we misunderstood what Astronaut Neil Armstrong stated because it was not grammatically correct. Whatever.
Only a few of us left remember the Soviet space race, chimpanzees in space, the 1967 fire tragedy, Sputnik, Gemini, Apollo, the amazing Saturn 5 rockets, and Neil Armstrong's brave feat.
Star Trek had been on a couple years, Nam was in our living rooms, and we all thought about planetary peace, science and space exploration.
At this moment, I am so grateful for the movies The Right Stuff and Apollo 13, as they are gifts to remind us of how iffy it all was!
Go with with peace to the moon and sun and God's eternity, Astronaut Neil Armstrong.
The mission brought home proof that life survives in space.
The rover took the astronauts who landed near the surveyor spacecraft that brought back the camera. In it there was discovered to be microbes.
The microbes were alive.
It was discovered that the technician who placed the camera on the surveyor had sneezed on it.
If it wasn't for all those missions before it, thanks to many including Neil Armstrong, we'd still be living in an enigma.
We come from space as we must venture into space.
It's difficult to comprehend that there are as many years between the final Moon landing and today as between Sputnik and the end of WWI, yet we've never gone back. We've lost so much by turning inward on ourselves, and today we've lost so much more. Godspeed, Neil Armstrong!