Neil Armstrong's shadow is visible in the foreground as he snapped a picture of the Apollo 11 lunar lander in the distance.
(Credit: NASA)
Neil Armstrong, the unassuming test pilot, family man, and reluctant hero who will forever walk in history as the first man on the moon, was honored at the Washington National Cathedral today. He was remembered as much for the quiet dignity he brought to his role as an enduring American icon as he was for his "giant leap for mankind" 43 years ago.
As family members and Armstrong's Apollo 11 crewmates, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin and Michael Collins, looked on, Apollo 17 Commander Eugene Cernan, the last man to walk on the moon, summed up the feelings of many in the crowd of some 1,500 when he said, "Fate looked down kindly on us when she chose Neil to be the first to venture to another world."
"It could have been another, but it wasn't, and it wasn't for a reason," Cernan said. "No one -- no one but no one -- could have accepted the responsibility of his remarkable accomplishment with more dignity and more grace than Neil Armstrong. He embodied all that is good and all that is great about America.
"Neil, wherever you are up there, almost half a century later, you have now shown once again the pathway to the stars. It's now for you a new beginning, but for us, I will promise you it is not the end. And as you soar through the heavens beyond where eve... [Read more]
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