Have you ever wondered what it would be like to walk on the moon?
Well in this week's Know Ohio, we tell you about the man who was lucky enough to experience space up close and personal.
Born in Wapakoneta, Ohio, Neil Armstrong is a famous American astronaut known for being the first man to walk on the moon. Before joining NASA, Armstrong was an officer in the U.S. Navy and served in the Korean War as a naval aviator. In 1962, he joined the astronaut program and three years later he served as the command pilot for his first mission on the Gemini-8 space capsule. Armstrong and fellow astronaut David Scott launched into orbit and were able to successfully dock next to another space capsule for the first time in history.
But it was his next mission that made him one of America's greatest heroes. Along with astronaut Buzz Aldrin, he was part of NASA's first manned mission to the moon. He became the first man to walk on the moon on July 21, 1969 saying "That's one small step for man...one giant leap for mankind."
He received numerous awards for his efforts, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Space Medal of Honor. After leaving NASA, Armstrong joined the University of Cincinnati as a professor of aerospace engineering.
Armstrong passed away in Cincinnati in 2012, but his legacy lives on. More than a dozen schools across the U.S. are named after him.
And in his hometown of Wapakoneta, the Armstrong Air and Space Museum chronicles Ohio's contributions to the history of space flight.