Who Was Neil Armstrong?

On July 16, 1969, a crowd of nearly a million people, including 2000 reporters, surrounded Cape Kennedy in southern Florida, eagerly waiting for the launch of the Apollo 11 mission. Various special guests, including celebrities and Congressional representatives, sat in the viewing stands closest to the launch site. Mark, Rick, and Jan Armstrong were also in the stands to see the boys’ father and Jan’s husband, astronaut Neil Armstrong—one of the three astronauts inside the giant rocket about to launch itself toward the moon. In fact, Armstrong was the mission commander. If his mission succeeded, in just four days Armstrong would be the first human being to ever set foot on the moon.

Visual elements of the text: The introduction features line-drawn, black-and-white illustrations of crowds at Cape Kennedy, the Armstrong family waiting to see the launch, and the Apollo 11 spacecraft on its launchpad.

Neil Armstrong was born on August 5, 1930, in his grandparents’ Ohio farmhouse. His mother, Viola, was a stay-at-home mother and Sunday school teacher. His father Stephen worked as a civil servant with the government of Ohio. Neil was the couple’s first child, followed by his sister, June, and his brother, Dean.