Neil Armstrong earned a distinction that no one else can ever claim: On a July night that riveted the entire world back in 1969, he became the first human being to step onto another world.
It was the honor that every single astronaut had sought, but only he achieved. And he could easily have parlayed it into a lifetime of celebrity and personal profit. But Armstrong, who died Saturday at 82, deliberately sought the shadows once Apollo 11 returned to Earth.
He became a teacher at the University of Cincinnati, then bought a 310-acre farm nearby and raised cattle and corn.
And he never lost his humility, his soft-spoken reticence or his sense of graciousness — the very qualities that led NASA to select him for his historic role in the first place.
“I am, and ever will be, a white-socks, pocket-protector, nerdy engineer,” said the one-time crack Korean War fighter pilot during one of his rare public appearances.
But he was much more than that.
Armstrong came to symbolize not only man’s quest for knowledge, but also America’s commitment to technological innovation and industrial vigor.
For the manned space program of the ’60s and ’70s was nothing if not informed by Cold War imperatives. The rockets themselves had obvious military utility, and the prestige attending conquest of the moon had ideological implications.
In retrospect, the Soviets possessed neither the technological ability nor the hard resources to compete on that level. Thus they were never really in the space race.
But that scarcely detracts from the significance of the Apollo program — nor from the heroism of its astronauts.
Surely, Armstrong got it exactly right in his historic first words from the lunar surface — his “one small step for [a] man” was indeed “a giant leap for mankind.”
Neil Armstrong symbolized what American leadership and determination can accomplish. His death is truly a giant loss for all mankind.