American Astronaut Neil Armstrong, First Man To Walk On The Moon, Has Died At 82

Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon has died in Cincinnati, Ohio at the age of 82 due to complications from blocked coronary arteries —he was an American Astronaut. Armstrong joined the NASA Astronaut Corps in 1962. His first spaceflight was the NASA Gemini 8 mission in 1966 for which he became a pilot, becoming one of the first U.S civilians in space. On the mission, he performed the first manned docking of two spacecrafts with pilot David Scott. His second and final spaceflight was as mission commander of the Apollo 11 moon landing in July 1969. On this mission, Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin descended to the lunar surface and spent 2 1/2 hours exploring, while Michael Collins remained in orbit in the Command Module.

Armstrong was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Richard Nixon along with Collins and Aldrin, the Congressional Space Medal of Honor by President Jimmy Carter in 1978, and the Congressional Gold Medal in 2009.