Neil Armstrong:

An adventurer's heroic exit from earth

By Amal Hewavissenti

This month marks the first death anniversary of Neil Armstrong who merited the credit of being the first man to set foot on a planet other than the earth. NASA claims that he made a dignified and heroic exit from this world and that he meant the total success of the space projects.

Neil Armstrong

Armstrong's space adventure is matchless and no other human has landed on so perilous a project as breaking out of earth's pull and landing on another planet (moon). Edwin Aldrine, another renowned partner of his successful adventure, mourns that Armstrong's death has left a vacuum in the celebration of the golden jubilee of man's journey to moon.

Danger

For man, it was presumably a giant leap in the space research though it was a small footprint on the moon. He would have little imagined the possibility of exploring on the very sands of the moon that he might have admired as a strange thing in his childhood.

Armstrong's greatness in his courage and confidence becomes more prominent against the high level of danger that his space odyssey involved. The final stretch of the space journey by Saturn V posed high peril for the astronauts Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrine and Michael Collins within the orbit of the moon. Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrine and Michael Collins in Apollo II mission were very well aware that they would be in total destruction if calculations were to go wrong by the smallest degree.

Even the NASA scientists who were directing Apollo II mission were aware of the danger incurred by these astronauts. Saturn V with astronauts and small space craft would have exploded if its engine were having any breakdown on ignition.

The men would have been lost in the boundless universe had there been any defect in the engine of the spacecraft which carried them to the orbit of the moon.

Armstrong and others would have been exposed to a greater level of danger had there been any technical irregularity when they entered moon's gravitational pull. Apart from that, any possible technical defect in the space craft in Saturn V that had been designed to bring them back to the earth would have been sufficient in intensity to burn them alive above earth's pull.

However, the great mysteries of the boundless vacuum of space could not debar Armstrong's team from shooting past earth's orbit towards the moon on July 16, 1969.

Space research

Neil Armstrong was initially trained as an astronaut in NASA after he was chosen for space research. Above all, he had a better experience as an astronaut because NASA gave him opportunity to pilot space craft such as Gemini VIII, Gemini II and Gemini V. His successful performance brought him the chance to act as the co-pilot in Apollo VIII.

Later, NASA deeply considered Armstrong's experience and his capabilities as an astronaut before selecting him as the first human to set foot on the moon.

Accordingly he was honoured by NASA with the leadership of the mission of lunar exploration. Subsequently Armstrong provided a matchless leadership to the team of three men and achieved success that promised to herald human heroism to the future.

According to Edwin Aldrine, Armstrong gave the best guidance and leadership in the massive project. This is precisely why NASA entrusted him with the enormous but highly dangerous task of landing on the moon. NASA's decision was right. Its choice was ideal. But how?

Experiences

The courage, sensibility and confidence displayed by Neil Armstrong when he was about to land his space craft “Eagle” safely on the rough surface of the moon seem surprising. Safely detaching the small space craft “Eagle” from the Saturn V and piloting it to land on a rock-less plain, Armstrong successfully completed his mission to the moon. Eagle that was landing gradually on a rocky plain was about to cause certain destruction to the astronauts.

Armstrong instantly realised the nature of the predicament and took the control of the space craft upon himself and landed it slowly and safely on a plain. After landing on the moon with perfect safety, Armstrong sent a verbal message to earth that they were walking on the sands of the moon.

While Michael Collins stayed in the control room of Saturn V. Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin walked on the rocky plain of the moon.

He placed his first footprint on the moon and immediately photographed it. Both of the astronauts researched the surface of the moon and collected rocks and samples of soil.

They gauged the precise distance from earth to the moon and set up apparatus for recording earthquakes in the moon.

After almost two hours’ research on the moon's surface, they got into Colombia for their return journey.

“Back on earth, Armstrong commented, “we can't even imagine having returned alive from such a journey. It was really wonderful landing on the moon. Back on our mother earth, we receive wonderful public admiration, praise and recognition.

“They look on us as if we were heroes. We hope to travel to other countries and share our experiences on the moon with them.” Neil Armstrong visited the moon and departed from it after two hours. He visited earth and made his exit at the age of 82 in September last year. According to his friends, he was a silent man. It is said that he did not comment much on his voyage to the moon and often Aldrin had to give his comments to the questions asked.