Neil Armstrong Passes Away at age 82

[Yusuf]

LONDON: "I apologize for the inconvenience", US astronaut Neil Armstrong told Indira Gandhi when informed that the Indian Prime Minister had kept awake till 4.30am to watch him land on the moon on July 20, 1969.

This anecdote about the celebrated astronaut, who died two days ago, was recalled here by former external affairs minister K Natwar Singh who was present when Armstrong and his fellow astronaut met Mrs Gandhi in New Delhi as part of their world tour after their moon landing.

Singh, who conducted the two heroes into Mrs Gandhi's room at her Parliament House office, recalled that the then US ambassador was also present. After photographers snapped the two astronauts with the prime minister and left the room, there was an awkward silence.

On being signalled by Mrs Gandhi to speak, Singh said: "Mr Armstrong, you will be interested to know that the Prime Minister kept awake till 4.30am, so as not to miss the exact time of your lunar landing."

Singh recalled that Armstrong rose to the occasion, and said: "I apologise for the inconvenience we caused you, Madame Prime Minister. Next time, I shall make sure that we land on the moon at a less unearthly hour".

July 20, 1969 became a watershed date in the history of mankind after Armstrong, commanding the Apollo 11 spacecraft landed on the moon, and accompanied by fellow astronaut Aldrin spent nearly three hours walking on the moon.

After the Apollo 11's moon mission, Armstrong announced that he did not plan to fly in space again.

Armstrong died on August 25 at the age of 82.

When Armstrong apologized to Indira Gandhi - The Times of India

 

[W.G.Ewald]

Obama honors Armstrong with a picture of Himself gazing at the moon.

 

[average american]

I knew Jim Erwin, was kind of a strange little man, very religious, belived in Noahs Ark, spent time in Turkey looking for it. He told me they slept on the trip to the moon in a locker and while they were trying to sleep, bright streaks of light would go through their eyes from radiation out in space.

 

[W.G.Ewald]

I knew Jim Erwin, was kind of a strange little man, very religious, belived in Noahs Ark, spent time in Turkey looking for it. He told me they slept on the trip to the moon in a locker and while they were trying to sleep, bright streaks of light would go through their eyes from radiation out in space.

James Irwin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

James Benson Irwin (March 17, 1930 – August 8, 1991) was an American astronaut. He served as Lunar Module pilot for Apollo 15, the fourth human lunar landing; he was the eighth human to walk on the Moon; he was the first of those astronauts to die; and, the one with the shortest life.[1]

 

[average american]

"James Irwin, an astronaut who walked on the moon in 1971 and later founded an evangelical religious organization, died at Valley View Hospital in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. He was 61 years old and lived in Colorado Springs. A hospital spokesman said that he died of an apparent heart attack.

"Irwin said that it was his experience exploring the moon on the Apollo 15 mission in July 1971 that moved him to devote the rest of his life to "spreading the good news of Jesus Christ." He resigned from the Astronaut Corps a year later and became the founding president of the High Flight Foundation, and inter-denominational evangelical organization based in Colorado Springs. To church groups aroung the counry, he often spoke of the lunar mission as an epihany, declaring "I felt the power of God as I've never felt it before." While on the moon, at the end of the first day exploring the rugged lunar highlands, he said he was reminded of "my favorite Biblical passage from Psalms." Speaking by radio to Mission Control in Houston, he began quoting the passage, "I'll look into the hills from whence cometh my help," and added quickly, "but, of course, we get quite a bit of help from Houston, too." The remark was typical of the seriousness and awe with which he, then a Lieutenant Colonel in the Air Force, approached the task of exploring the moon, ad well as the enthusiasm and good humor that he convyed throughout the mission. He and Colonel David R. Scott of the Air Force were the 7th and 8th Americans to walk on the moon. It was his only space mission.


He had a kind of strange calm about him, I could tell something was differant about him,.