A great man indeed, not only due to his lunar achievement but also in the way he conducted himself.
In a very small, but nevertheless significant, way, he affected the way I acted today. I was feeling somewhat stressed due to some last-minute changes in the organisation of a conference for which I’m responsible. Thinking about the pressures he must have endured made me realise that my own concerns my small fry and that there was no need for me to lose my head.
A sad and poignant moment in history indeed. While I have met Buzz Aldrin, shaken him by the hand, and been duly humbled by doing so, the same can be said by many, as Buzz has always been gregarious and widely seen in public.
But Neil’s quiet, dignified withdrawal from the fray always struck me as deserving great respect and placed him on a different plane. He will remain, without doubt, a man worthy of the highest admiration.
As the Economist’s editorial rightly points out, I believe, the first moon landings of are one of the very few events of the 20th century likely to be remembered in the 30th. More than that though, Neil Armstrong is likely to be known by name then too, the ultimate accolade.
A superbly competent yet modest man, and I’m glad he lived long unlike a lot of test pilot/astronauts. Although the lion’s share of the credit is surely owed to von Braun, Neil Armstrong was an outstanding figurehead and nobody over 50 will ever forget Apollo XI. RIP.
In the Dark 
August 26, 2012 at 11:05 am
A great man indeed, not only due to his lunar achievement but also in the way he conducted himself.
In a very small, but nevertheless significant, way, he affected the way I acted today. I was feeling somewhat stressed due to some last-minute changes in the organisation of a conference for which I’m responsible. Thinking about the pressures he must have endured made me realise that my own concerns my small fry and that there was no need for me to lose my head.
August 27, 2012 at 6:46 pm
A sad and poignant moment in history indeed. While I have met Buzz Aldrin, shaken him by the hand, and been duly humbled by doing so, the same can be said by many, as Buzz has always been gregarious and widely seen in public.
But Neil’s quiet, dignified withdrawal from the fray always struck me as deserving great respect and placed him on a different plane. He will remain, without doubt, a man worthy of the highest admiration.
As the Economist’s editorial rightly points out, I believe, the first moon landings of are one of the very few events of the 20th century likely to be remembered in the 30th. More than that though, Neil Armstrong is likely to be known by name then too, the ultimate accolade.
August 28, 2012 at 11:41 am
A superbly competent yet modest man, and I’m glad he lived long unlike a lot of test pilot/astronauts. Although the lion’s share of the credit is surely owed to von Braun, Neil Armstrong was an outstanding figurehead and nobody over 50 will ever forget Apollo XI. RIP.
August 31, 2012 at 12:23 pm
I argue with moon-landing skeptics that, given 1960s technology, it would actually have been easier to go to the moon than to fake it convincingly.