Armstrong's last giant leap

Neil Armstrong was a quiet, self-described "nerdy" engineer who became a global hero when, as a steely nerved US pilot, he made "one giant leap for mankind" with the first step on the moon.

The modest man who entranced and awed people on Earth has died. He was 82. He died on Saturday following complications resulting from cardiovascular procedures, his family said. They never said where he died.

Armstrong commanded the Apollo 11 spacecraft that landed on the moon on July 20, 1969, capping the most daring 20th-centuryscientific expedition. His first words after setting foot on the surface are etched in history books and in the memories of those who heard them in a live broadcast.

"That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind," Armstrong said.

In those first few moments on the moon, during the climax of a heated space race with the then-Soviet Union, Armstrong stopped in what he called "a tender moment" and left a patch to commemorate NASA astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts who had died in action.

"It was special and memorable, but it was only instantaneous because there was work to do," Armstrong told an Australian television interviewer this year.

Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin spent nearly three hours walking on the lunar surface, collecting samples, conducting experiments and taking photographs.

The moon walk marked a US victory in a Cold War space race that began on October 4, 1957, with the launch of the Soviet Union's Sputnik 1, an event that sent shock waves around the world.

An estimated 600 million people - a fifth of the world's population -watched and listened to the moon landing. It was the largest audience for any one event in history.

Although he had been a Navy fighter pilot, a test pilot for NASA's Apollo 11 forerunner, and an astronaut, Armstrong never got caught up in the celebrity and glamour of the space programme.

"I am, and ever will be, a white socks, pocket protector, nerdy engineer," he said in February 2000 in one of his rare public appearances. "I take a substantial amount of pride in the accomplishments of my profession."

Rice University historian Douglas Brinkley, who interviewed Armstrong for oral histories for NASA, said Armstrong met every requirement the space agency needed for the first man to walk on the moon, especially because of his engineering skills and the way he shunned celebrity.

A man who mostly avoided the cameras, Armstrong went public in 2010 with his concerns about President Barack Obama's space policy, that shifted attention away from a return to the moon and put the emphasis on private companies developing spaceships.

In a White House statement Obama said Armstrong was one of the greatest American heroes, "not just of his time, but of all time."

Armstrong's modesty and self-effacing manner never faded.

In the years after the moon landing, he retreated to the quiet of the classroom and his Ohio farm.

In his Australian interview, he admitted that "now and then I miss the excitement of being in the cockpit of an airplane and doing new things."

At the time of the flight's 40th anniversary Armstrong was again low-key, telling a gathering the space race was "the ultimate peaceful competition: US versus USSR. It allowed both sides to take the high road, with the objectives of science and learning and exploration."

Armstrong was born on August 5, 1930, on a farm in Ohio. He took his first airplane ride at the age of six and was licensed to fly at 16 - before he got his driver's licence.

He enrolled in Purdue University to study aeronautical engineering but was called up by the US Navy in 1949 and flew 78 combat missions in the Korean war.

After the war, Armstrong finished his degree and later earned a master's degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Southern California.

He married Carol Knight in 1999. He had two adult sons from a previous marriage.

The family statement on Saturday made a simple request of anyone who wanted to remember him:

"Honour his example of service, accomplishment and modesty, and the next time you walk outside on a clear night and see the moon smiling down at you, think of Neil Armstrong and give him a wink."