The First Man on the Moon
By Gina Shaw
Table of Contents Chapter One Apollo 11 Moon Mission....................................................................... 1 Chapter Two The Early Years......................................................................................... 3 Chapter Three The Teen Years.......................................................................................... 4 Chapter Four Neil Armstrong’s Education........................................................... 5 Chapter Five The Korean War........................................................................................ 6 Chapter Six After the War.............................................................................................. 7 Chapter Seven Astronaut Armstrong.......................................................................... 8 Glossary.......................................................................................................... 11
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Chapter One
Apollo 11 Moon Mission Do you know whose footprint this is? Do you know where it can be found? Give up? This is Neil Armstrong’s footprint and it is on the moon. On July 20, 1969, Astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first man ever to step foot on the moon. The footprint of the first man on the moon Apollo 11 command module Columbia
He was the commander of the Apollo 11 space mission of 1969. Armstrong flew to the moon with astronauts Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin and Michael Collins. Collins circled the moon in the command module Columbia. Armstrong and Aldrin landed on the moon in the lunar module Eagle. Apollo 11 lunar module Eagle
Title: Neil Armstrong
Page: 1
Grade: 3
As Neil Armstrong stepped onto the moon, he said these words: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” This historic moon landing made headlines all around the world. A U.S. postage stamp honors the first man on the moon.
The moon landing made headlines around the world.
Title: Neil Armstrong
Page: 2
Grade: 3
Chapter Two
The Early Years Neil Armstrong was born on his grandparents’ farm in Wapakoneta, Ohio, on August 5, 1930. He was the oldest of three children. His father worked for the Ohio government and moved his family around the state for most of Neil’s young life. In 1944, when Neil was 14 years old, the family settled back in Wapakoneta. Neil Armstrong at three years of age
Neil became interested in airplanes at a very young age. When he was two years old, his father took him to the National Air Races in Cleveland, Ohio. Then, at six years old, Neil flew in an airplane for the first time! After that, Neil read every book he could find on airplanes and flying.
Neil Armstrong’s childhood home in Wapakoneta, Ohio
Neil was a very curious child. He liked to ask lots of questions and learn new things all the time. He started reading street signs when he was three years old. Soon after, he began to read books. He loved having books all around him.
Title: Neil Armstrong
Page: 3
Grade: 3
Chapter Three
The Teen Years Neil wanted to learn to fly. He started taking flying lessons when he was 15 years old. These lessons were expensive and Neil had to pay for them himself. He worked at different jobs around the airport to make the money he needed. On his sixteenth birthday, Neil was so happy. He got his pilot’s license. He got it before his automobile driver’s license and before he graduated from high school! Not only did Neil fly airplanes, he built his own model planes from scratch, not from kits. He wanted to know how each part of a plane worked. He even made a small wind tunnel in the basement of his parents’ home. He forced air through it at controlled speeds. He studied the effects of the air flow. Soon Neil became interested in space. He was thrilled when he was able to look through a very large telescope and see the stars, the moon, and the planets.
One of the airplanes that Neil Armstrong built on his own
Title: Neil Armstrong
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Grade: 3
Chapter Four
Neil Armstrong’s Education
Purdue University
In 1947, Neil entered Purdue University in Indiana. It was one of the best engineering schools in the United States. He was able to go there on a U.S. Navy scholarship. The Navy paid for Neil’s college education. He studied math, science, and aviation. Two years later, he was called to active duty by the navy. He went to Pensacola Naval Air Station in Florida. His navy flight training lasted for 18 months. When he turned 20 years old, he got his jet fighter pilot wings. He was the youngest jet pilot in his squadron. Being a fighter pilot was dangerous, but Neil was excited because now he would fly jets.
Title: Neil Armstrong
Page: 5
Grade: 3
Chapter Five
The Korean War In 1950, the Korean War broke out. This was a war between North and South Korea which lasted from 1950 to 1953. China fought on North Korea’s side. The United States fought to help South Korea. Neil Armstrong was sent to fight in this war as a U.S. Navy jet fighter pilot.
China
North Korea • Chong Ju Sea of Japan
• Sinang Ju • Pyongyang
Korea • Uijeongbu Yellow Sea
Inchon • • Seoul • Suwon
South Korea • Taejon • Daegu
• Busan
Map of North Korea and South Korea
Neil flew 78 combat missions in Korea. His plane was shot down once. He ejected from it, and he survived. Neil was given three medals because he was so brave.
Title: Neil Armstrong
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Grade: 3
Chapter Six
After the War Neil left Korea in 1952. He returned to Purdue University to finish college. He graduated in 1955. After college, Neil worked at the Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory in Cleveland, Ohio, as a research pilot. Then he went to Edwards Air Force Base in California. He became a skilled test pilot.
Test pilot Neil Armstrong stands next to the X-15 plane after a research flight.
Neil was one of the first three pilots to fly the X-15 plane. He made seven flights in it. The X-15 set many speed and altitude records in the early 1960s. It reached the edge of space. It was a model for future spacecraft.
An X-15 rocket-engine plane
Title: Neil Armstrong
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Grade: 3
Chapter Seven
Astronaut Armstrong In 1962, Neil Armstrong became an astronaut. Four years later, Neil made his first trip into space aboard the Gemini 8 spacecraft. He stayed in orbit around the Earth for less than 10 hours. When Neil’s spacecraft spun out of control, Neil calmly solved the problem. He was able to bring the Gemini 8 safely back to Earth. In January 1969, Neil was chosen to lead the This Titan booster launched the Gemini 8 spacecraft on March 16, 1966, from Cape Kennedy, Florida.
Apollo 11 moon mission along with Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins. During the months that followed, the three men studied moon maps, weather, and rocks. They had to learn how to work in their space suits. They had to learn how to control the spaceship. The purpose of this Apollo mission was to perform the first manned landing on the moon and return safely to Earth.
Splashdown of the Gemini 8 mission in the Pacific Ocean in 1966
Title: Neil Armstrong
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Grade: 3
On July 16, 1969, the three astronauts took off in a Saturn V rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It took this rocket four days to reach the moon. It didn’t actually land on the moon, though. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin boarded the Eagle. The Eagle was the lunar module that Astronauts Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin
would land them on the moon. It was one of the spaceships carried on the Saturn V.
As the Eagle neared the moon, Neil looked out of the window. He saw lots of large rocks covering the landing site. He steered the Eagle away from the rocks and landed safely on the moon.
The lunar module, the Eagle
Title: Neil Armstrong
The launch of the Saturn V rocket
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Grade: 3
“The Eagle has landed!” Neil said to mission control. Then Neil Armstrong climbed down the steps of the Eagle. He put his left foot on the moon. People everywhere were able to watch on TV as he took the first step on the moon!
Official Apollo 11 Emblem
The Eagle on the moon
The surface of the moon
Title: Neil Armstrong
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Grade: 3
Glossary active duty: called to war altitude: the height of something above the ground aviation: the science of building and flying aircraft commander: a person who has control over a group of people in the armed forces command module: the part of the spacecraft that orbited the moon on the Apollo 11 space mission curious: eager to find out ejected: hurled out of the cockpit by a special seat lunar module: the part of the spacecraft that landed on the moon during the Apollo 11 space mission scholarship: a grant that pays for you to go to college squadron: a group of fighter planes or jets
Computer Earth/Shutterstock Images LLC, NASA; Page 2: (t) NASA; (m) Smithsonian Institution; NASA; Page 3: (t) US Post Office; (l) The Washington Post; Page 3: (t) Ohio Historical Society; (l) Ohio Historical Society; Page 4: Purdue University; Ohio Historical Society; Page 6: (t) NASA; (b) NASA; Page 8: (t) NASA; (b) NASA; Page 9: (t) TBD; (l) NASA; (r) NASA; Page 10: (t) NASA; (m) NASA; moonsurface TBD
Title: Neil Armstrong
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