
Neil Armstrong has died at 82 Today - Grovara123
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/neil-armstrong-dead-at-age-82-report/story-e6frf7k6-1226458176249
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jballanc
Neil Armstrong would have been 17 years old when Orville Wright died in 1948.
In the lifespan of those two men, humanity went from horse-and-buggy to
standing on the moon. One wonders what the 17 year olds of today might
accomplish...

~~~
THE_PUN_STOPS
Woah, as a 17 year old, that blows my mind. I cannot wait to see what humanity
accomplishes in my lifetime. Personally, I'm hoping to see the first man's
footsteps on mars.

~~~
astrojams
I'd prefer a cleaner healthier planet than foodsteps on Mars. We need to learn
to take care of this planet before we start messing around with other planets.

~~~
hansef
When I hear the "shouldn't we solve poverty and climate change here first?"
argument about space exploration, I feel it's useful to remember that almost
all improvement in the human condition throughout history is directly
attributable to advances in human technology grounded in investment in
exploration and basic research. Spending on science, technology development
and exploration are the real "trickle down economics". I don't think it has to
be an either-or proposition. ;)

~~~
davedx
You articulate this better than I ever could. Well said.

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hkmurakami
_"I am, and ever will be, a white-socks, pocket-protector, nerdy engineer -
born under the second law of thermodynamics, steeped in the steam tables, in
love with free-body diagrams, transformed by Laplace, and propelled by
compressible flow."_

-Neil Armstrong

<http://www.eetimes.com/General/PrintView/4039730>

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mmcnickle
"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."

\--- Neil Armstrong.

An inspiring man. RIP.

~~~
mrkmcknz
"Science has not yet mastered prophecy. We predict too much for the next year
and yet far too little for the next 10."

My favorite Neil Armstrong quote. Has some relevance to how we think as
entrepreneurs.

~~~
skybrian
Huh, I've heard that attributed to Bill Gates, but Neil Armstrong said it in
1969. I wonder if he got it from someone else?

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charlieok
Neil was my biggest childhood hero. I did one or two school reports about him,
dressed as an astronaut for Halloween for three straight years, and went to
Space Camp twice. That my birthday (July 20) fell on the anniversary of his
historic moon landing didn't hurt my identification with him one bit.

That interest in space, fostered by the examples of Neil and other early space
explorers, translated to a lifelong passion for pushing science and technology
forward. I'm sure many people here can say the same.

Neil's accomplishment, which he of course shares with the countless others who
(literally) lifted him up and made his mission such a success, is one of the
most inspirational achievements in the history of this planet. May it continue
to inspire many more!

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smacktoward
For a more in-depth consideration of Armstrong's life, there's an excellent
profile written in 1999 here: [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
srv/national/longterm/space...](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
srv/national/longterm/space/armstrongfull.htm)

 _"Pilots take no special joy in walking," Armstrong once told a group of
well-wishers at an air show who wanted to hear what it had been like to walk
on the moon. "Pilots like flying."_

------
charlieok
A thousand years from now, most people won't know much about the politicians,
generals, celebrities or billionaires this century or last. But they might
well know who first walked on the moon.﻿

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wazoox
What's sad is that we didn't yet returned to the moon, and he won't live to
see it.

~~~
Grovara123
He waited until we got to Mars...

~~~
jhuckestein
The earliest attempts at Mars exploration were made by the soviets and NASA in
the 60s (largely unsuccessful IIRC). In 1976 NASA successfully landed on the
Mars (Viking I) and, even more amazingly, sent back color photos.

Curiosity is a great mission, but I'm still more impressed with the Viking
missions.

~~~
maartenscholl
The Soviet Mars-2 and Mars-3 missions were quite successful (orbiting and
landing). Here is a gallery of mars images 1971-1974[1]

The soviets were also the first to land on Luna in 1966 [2] and on Venus in
1975[3]

[1]<http://www.mentallandscape.com/C_CatalogMars.htm>

[2]<http://www.mentallandscape.com/C_CatalogMoon.htm>

[3]<http://www.mentallandscape.com/C_CatalogVenus.htm>

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blackjack160
Excellent 4-part interview series with him, quite recent too:

<http://thebottomline.cpaaustralia.com.au/>

~~~
rdtsc
Thank you. That was an excellent interview.

It is rather sad, that one of the latest and more detailed interviews filled
with personal insights, thoughts and comments came from an Australian CPA
organization. I know why the connection is there, the disappointment is in the
news organizations here locally. NBC even screwed the name as Neil Young when
they announced the death.

How his death is handled, as a society, shows how we treasure what he stands
for and what the priorities are.

He made a good comment in the last part how probably the best thing NASA did
was inspire young people to do the best they can do, to dream of becoming
engineers and scientists. What is there today to inspire that? Writing video
games? Is flying larger probes with bigger cameras to Mars?

One can argue we need a good global threat so we have a competitor. Maybe
that's true. If we don't have one, we surely invented some. Goat herders in
Pakistan or cocoa growers in Colombia. Maybe our children will be inspired by
building stealthier drones to more efficiently eradicate goat herders in a
country half way across the world.

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TomAnthony
The article currently is just a stub. I imagine this is related to the heart
bypass surgery he underwent a couple of weeks ago:

[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2185898/Neil-
Armstro...](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2185898/Neil-Armstrong-
First-man-walk-moon-recovering-heart-bypass-surgery.html)

~~~
corford
It looks like it's true :( More informative article here:
[http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/neil-armstrong-man-moon-
dea...](http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/neil-armstrong-man-moon-
dead/story?id=12325140#.UDknbaMdNhE)

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protagonist_h
With no plans to go to the moon again, we will soon be out of living moon-
walkers.

~~~
burke
xkcd ran the numbers: <http://xkcd.com/893/>

~~~
nkoren
Ah, yes, the mouseover text on that is brilliant, and apt:

"The universe is probably littered with the one-planet graves of cultures
which made the sensible economic decision that there's no good reason to go
into space--each discovered, studied, and remembered by the ones who made the
irrational decision."

Personally, I'm optimistic that there'll be boots on the moon sometime around
2020 (although I suspect they won't have NASA logos on them). Looks like there
will be 2-6 moonwalkers left to see that, with a 90% confidence interval...

~~~
thom
I too am optimistic. All day I've seen people claiming America's moon landings
for all humankind, and then blithely ignoring planned Indian, Japanese and
Chinese lunar programmes. It would be a shame to think that people were only
excited at the thought of white people going back to the moon.

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al_biglan
Black bar?

~~~
anigbrowl
Most certainly. Armstrong embraced danger and the risk of failure.

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FrojoS
Neil Armstrong (August 5, 1930 – August 25, 2012) RIP.

I hope we will return to the Moon or better go to Mars before the last Apollo
astronaut has died.

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twakefield
Here's a collection of information I just came across about Neil Armstrong:
[http://learni.st/users/farbood/boards/3625-neil-
armstrong?tb...](http://learni.st/users/farbood/boards/3625-neil-
armstrong?tb=540cf46629671b2b3c7e2eb0c131b55b)

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yanatan16
He did get to see the next phase of space flight, with the SpaceX launch, the
first successful private spaceflights. The future is bright with the expanded
private interest in it.

~~~
gliese1337
And publicly expressed his disapproval of it. The future may be bright, but I
suspect Mr. Armstrong missed the future he would've wanted.

~~~
karpathy
Elon said in a video interview that he's hoping he can convince Neil in the
future because he was a large hero of his. It's slightly sad that it looks
like he won't get his chance.

Edit: it was his CBS 60 minutes interview that can be seen here:
[http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7410538n&tag=cont...](http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7410538n&tag=contentBody;storyMediaBox)
see 12:20 mark. (you have to go through 2 commercials, unfortunately)

Edit2: more direct link <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbIcqTEuxvw> near end
(only 1 commercial!, but only less complete excerpt)

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001sky
NY Times:

[http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/26/science/space/neil-
armstro...](http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/26/science/space/neil-armstrong-
dies-first-man-on-moon.html?hp)

~~~
uxp
Interestingly enough the NY Times article is nearly identical, word for word,
to the linked article.

~~~
001sky
No worries...the Original link was just a stub.

________________

The article currently is just a stub. I imagine this is related to the heart
bypass surgery he underwent a couple of weeks ago:

[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2185898/Neil-
Armstro...](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2185898/Neil-Armstro..).

reply

corford 1 hour ago | link

It looks like it's true :( More informative article here:
[http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/neil-armstrong-man-moon-
dea...](http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/neil-armstrong-man-moon-dea..).

reply

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lifeisstillgood
I remember watching a documentary which quite rarely featured Neil Armstrong
(and Buzz and Collins) discussing the actual trip to the moon. They related a
story where they instructed the computer to begin reverse thrusters to slow
their approach to the moon. The computer came back with a code which Collins
duly looked up in the manual

    
    
      3E - Are you sure?
    

Twas ever thus.

It stuck in my mind, as humanising people who otherwise outstrip us who in all
ways look up to them.

He will be sadly missed.

~~~
olalonde
Can't find a reference to the story you are mentioning, could you share a link
that explains it in more details?

~~~
lifeisstillgood
Sorry no - just a TV doc - it was _perhaps_ called the real right stuff. It
had interviews with I think every living Apollo astronaut, and was made for
the 2009 anniversary.

It might have been
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_We_Left_Earth:_The_NASA_Mi...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_We_Left_Earth:_The_NASA_Missions#Part_3:_Landing_the_Eagle)

(I certainly remember Charlie Duke talking a lot !)

~~~
andyjohnson0
Perhaps "In the Shadow of the Moon"?

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Shadow_of_the_Moon>

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harscoat
"I've seen things you people would not believe..."
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTzA_xesrL8>

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lifeisstillgood
It is not his death we should focus on - for Neil Armstrong, and his
collegues, we should not let his _life_ be in vain.

Back to the moon for good - or a lot of good people wasted their time.

~~~
robgough
I think it's possible to say with some confidence that his life wasn't in
vain. He, along with his colleagues here and on the moon that day, haven't
inspired just one generation - but every generation that came after.

What an achievement. May he rest in peace.

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arrowgunz
Respect for the old man! R.I.P Sir.

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denzil_correa
For the moon was no longer a distant shining object but a place where we could
gleefully leap

RIP Neil Armstrong

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dlsym
That's one small step for a man... one giant step for mankind. \- RIP Mr.
Armstrong

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lojack
in coelo quies est

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grantatarde2011
nice i like post

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AznHisoka
Did anyone read "Armstrong" and first thought of Lance Armstrong? When his
life achievements were stripped away, I thought he would be on suicide watch.

~~~
jlgreco
Lance Armstrong has not been stripped of his medals/achievements. The USADA is
not the UCI.

