One of the most infamous quotes uttered by an astronaut is “This is one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind,” which was uttered by Neil Armstrong. Over the years, America has sent handfuls of spacemen into the great unknown to explore planets within our Solar System. In this article, you will encounter a brief overview of the achievements and words of wisdom belonging to some of the most infamous of astronauts.
Neil Armstrong
One of Neil Armstrong’s claim to fame is being the first person to set foot on the Moon. In 1966, he took his first flight into space on the Gemini 8. He served as the command pilot for the mission and became one of the first civilians from the United states to reach space.
During his mission, Armstrong performed the first manned docking of two spacecraft alongside another pilot. The second time Armstrong went into space was when he was mission commander for the Apollo 11 moon landing that took place on July 20, 1969. Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin made contact with the lunar surface and spent 2 ½ hours exploring the terrain.
Before becoming one of the most famous astronauts in history, Armstrong was selected in 1957 for the U.S. Air Force’s Man In Space Soonest program. For all of his contributions to space exploration, Armstrong was a recipient of the Congressional Space Medal of Honor.
Neil Armstrong , Words of Wisdom
“Geologists have a saying – rocks remember.”
“I believe every human has a finite number of heartbeats. I don’t intend to waste any of mine.”
“I think we’re going to the moon because it’s in 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.”
“Mystery creates wonder and wonder is the basis of man’s desire to understand.”
Buzz Aldrin
Edwin Eugene Aldrin Jr. is better known as ‘Buzz’ Aldrin, who was the Lunar Module pilot during the iconic Apollo 11 mission. After Armstrong, Aldrin was the second man to set foot on the Moon. It was 1963 when Aldrin was selected to become one of the first groups of astronauts for NASA. After two of the original prime crew of the Gemini 9 died, Aldrin was promoted to back-up crew for the mission. Later on, he became part of the last Gemini mission and was confirmed as the pilot. During this time, Buzz set a record for extra-vehicular activity and shed light on the possibilities of astronauts working outside of spacecrafts.
Buzz Aldrin , Words of Wisdom
“Mars is there, waiting to be reached.”
“There’s a need for accepting responsibility – for a person’s life and making choices that are not just ones for immediate short-term comfort. You need to make an investment, and the investment is in health and education.”
“We can continue to try and clean up the gutters all over the world and spend all of our resources looking at just the dirty spots and trying to make them clean. Or we can lift our eyes up and look into the skies and move forward in an evolutionary way.”