Neil Armstrong officially placed his left foot on the surface of the moon at 10:56 pm on the 20th of July, 1969, where he famously said “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
In the half-century since, many have been eager to hear more about what prompted the astronaut to choose those words to be the first ever spoken on the lunar surface. Let’s take a look at some of his less-famous quotes.
Neil Armstrong’s Inspirational Quotes About Space
“It suddenly struck me that the tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn’t feel like a giant. I felt very, very small.”
“I fully expected that, by the end of the century, we would have achieved substantially more than we actually did.’’
There are great ideas undiscovered, breakthroughs available to those who can remove one of truth’s protective layers. There are places to go beyond belief.’’
“Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the Moon. July 1969 AD. We came in peace for all mankind.’’
“I believe every human has a finite number of heartbeats. I don’t intend to waste any of mine.’’
That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.’’
Mystery creates wonder and wonder is the basis of man’s desire to understand.’’
“You’ve got to expect things are going to go wrong. And we always need to prepare ourselves for handling the unexpected.’’
Neil Armstrong’s Inspirational Quotes About Life and Space Travel
“I think we’re going to the moon because it’s the nature of the human being to face challenges. It’s by the nature of his deep inner soul… we’re required to do these things just as salmon swim upstream.’’
“Shoot for the stars, but if you happen to miss, shoot for the moon again.’’
“Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.’’
“We have no proof, but if we extrapolate based on the best information that we have available to us, we have to come to the conclusion that… other life probably exists out there and perhaps in many places…’’
“Gliders, sail planes, they’re wonderful flying machines. It’s the closest you can come to being a bird.’’
“Pilots take no special joy in walking. Pilots like flying.’’
“Each book holds an experience and an adventure.’’
“I am, and ever will be, a white-socks, pocket-protector, nerdy engineer, born under the second law of thermodynamics, steeped in steam tables, in love with free-body diagrams, transformed by Laplace and propelled by compressible flow.’’
“I guess we all like to be recognized not for one piece of fireworks, but for the ledger of our daily work.’’
“In much of society, research means to investigate something that you do not know or understand.’’
“In flying, the probability of survival is inversely proportional to the angle of arrival.’’
“The single observation I would offer for your consideration is that some things are beyond your control. You can lose your health to illness or accident. You can lose your wealth to all manner of unpredictable sources. What is not easily stolen from you without your cooperation are your principles and your values. They are your most important possessions and, if carefully selected and nurtured, will well serve you and your fellow man.’’
Space-2.jpg” alt=”footprint of astronaut on the moon” class=”wp-image-88633″/>“As a boy, because I was born and raised in Ohio, about 60 miles north of Dayton, the legends of the Wrights have been in my memories as long as I can remember.’’
“Yeah, I wasn’t chosen to be first. I was just chosen to command that flight. Circumstance put me in the particular role. That wasn’t planned by anyone.’’
“The important achievement of Apollo was demonstrating that humanity is not forever chained to this planet, and our visions go rather further than that and our opportunities are unlimited.’’
“Well, I think that we tried very hard not to be overconfident, because when you get overconfident, that’s when something snaps up and bites you.’’
“The regret on our side is, they used to say years ago, we are reading about you in science class. Now they say, we are reading about you in history class.’’
“Every flying machine has its own unique characteristics, some good, some not so good. Pilots naturally fly the craft in such a manner as to take advantage of its good characteristics and avoid the areas where it is not so good.’’
I thought the attractions of being an astronaut were actually, not so much the Moon, but flying in a completely new medium.’’
“The one thing I regret was that my work required an enormous amount of my time, and a lot of travel.’’
“We would like to give special thanks to all those Americans who built the spacecraft, who did the construction, design, the tests, and put their hearts and all their abilities into those crafts. To those people tonight, we give a special thank you, and to all the other people that are listening and watching tonight, God bless you. Good night from Apollo 11.’’
A Short Biography of Neil Armstrong
Neil Alden Armstrong, born on the 5th of August 1930, had a passion for aviation that was already solidified when he was just six years old. He attended Purdue University, pursuing a degree in Aeronautical Engineering, but his studies had to be put on hold when he served in the Korean War in 1950, where he was awarded three Air Medals as a naval aviator.
He completed his degree in 1955, then continued working as a civilian research pilot for NASA. in 1962, he was enlisted as a member of NASA’s Astronaut Corp, where he would later be a part of the Apollo 11 crew that would blast off and touch down on the moon for the first – but not the last – time.
Wrapping Up
Neil Armstrong is an inspiration to us all, young and old, man or woman. And he continues to inspire young space enthusiasts to pursue their love of space and aeronautics.