Neil Alden Armstrong

Navy test pilot, engineer, and Korean War veteran Neil

Armstrong left the Navy in 1952, but continued in the Naval
Reserve. He worked as an experimental test pilot for the National
Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) beginning in 1955,
which evolved into NASA. Armstrong was assigned as an astronaut
in 1962, and flew on the Gemini 8 mission in 1966, where he
performed the first successful space docking procedure. Armstrong
was selected to be the first man to walk on the moon, as the Apollo
11 mission was planned, for several reasons : he was the commander
of the mission, he didn't have a big ego, and the door of the lunar
lander was on his side. Although the first steps on the moon are what
he will always be known for, Armstrong considered the mission's
biggest accomplishment was landing the lunar module . He later said ,

Pilots take no special joy in walking: pilots like flying. Pilots

generally take pride in a good landing, not in getting out of the
vehicle.
Armstrong along with his crew were honored with parades, awards,
and acclaim after their return to Earth, but Armstrong always gave
credit to the entire NASA team for the Apollo moon missions. He
resigned from NASA in 1971 and became a professor of of
Aerospace Engineering at the University of Cincinnati for eight
years. Armstrong served on the boards of many corporations and
foundations, but gradually withdrew from publicity tours and
autograph signings. He didn't particularly care for fame.

Neil Armstrong died on August 25, 2012, at age 82. His family
released a statement that concluded:

For those who may ask what they can do to honor Neil, we have a
simple request. Honor his example of service, accomplishment and
modesty, and the next time you walk outside on a clear night and see
the moon smiling down at you, think of Neil Armstrong and give
him a wink.
2. Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin
After graduating third in his class at West Point in 1951 with a
degree in science, Buzz Aldrin flew 66 combat missions as an Air
Force pilot in the Korean War. Then he earned a PhD at MIT. Aldrin
joined NASA as an astronaut in 1963. In 1966 he flew in the Gemini
12 spacecraft on the final Gemini mission.

Aldrin accompanied Neil Armstrong on the first moon landing in the

Apollo 11 mission, becoming the second person, and now the first of
the living astronauts, to set foot on the moon. Aldrin had taken a
home Communion kit with him, and took Communion on the lunar
surface , but did not broadcast the fact. Aldrin retired from NASA in
1971 and from the Air Force in 1972. He later suffered from clinical
depression and wrote about the experience, but recovered with
treatment. Aldrin has co-authored five books about his experiences
and the space program, plus two novels. Aldrin continues to work to
promote space exploration.

Buzz Aldrin is 85 years old.

3. Charles "Pete" Conrad

Pete Conrad was a Princeton graduate and Navy test

pilot before entering the astronaut corps in 1962. He flew on the
Gemini V mission and was commander of Gemini XI. Conrad was
commander of the Apollo 12 mission, launched during a lightning
storm which temporarily knocked out the command module's power
shortly after liftoff. When Conrad stepped onto the moon, he said,

Whoopee! Man, that may have been a small one for Neil, but that's a
long one for me.

Conrad later flew on the Skylab 2 mission as commander with the

first crew to board the space station. He retired from NASA and the
Navy in 1973, after which he worked for American Television and
Communications Company and then for McDonnell Douglas.

Pete Conrad died on July 8, 1999 in a motorcycle accident. He was

69.
4. Alan L. Bean

Apollo astronaut Alan Bean was the fourth man to walk on the
moon, during the Apollo 12 mission in 1969. He was the lunar
module pilot. Bean was also the commander of the Skylab Mission
II in 1973, which spent 59 days in flight. Altogether, Bean logged
1,671 hours and 45 minutes in space. Bean is the only artist to have
visited another world, so his paintings of the lunar environment have
the authenticity of an eyewitness. He retired from the Navy with the
rank of Captain, but continued to train astronauts at NASA
until 1981, when he retired to devote time to his art. See those
paintings at Bean's online gallery , and stories that accompany each
one.

Alan Bean is now 83 years old.

5. Alan Shepard

Alan Shepard was a bona-fide space pioneer who cemented his spot
in history long before the Apollo program. A U.S. Navy test pilot, he
was selected as one of the original Mercury astronauts in 1959.
Shepard was the first American launched into space aboard the
Freedom 7 spacecraft on May 5, 1961. His suborbital flight reached
an altitude of 116 miles.
Barred from flight during the Gemini program because of an inner
ear problem, Shepard had the problem fixed surgically and was
assigned as commander of the Apollo 14 mission to the moon. He
was responsible for the most accurate lunar module landing ever,
and spent 9 hours and 17 minutes exploring the moon's surface
outside the module. During that time, he famously knocked a couple
of golf balls with a six-iron attached to his sample-collecting tool.
With one arm (due to the space suit), he managed to drive further
than professional golfers on Earth could ever hope to, thanks to the
moon's lower gravity.

Before and after his Apollo mission, Shepard served as Chief of the
Astronaut Office. He retired from NASA and the Navy in 1974,
having achieved the rank of Rear Admiral. Shepard went into private
business, serving on the board of several corporations and
foundations. He founded Seven Fourteen Enterprises, an umbrella
corporation named after his two space missions. Shepard wrote a
book with Deke Slayton, Moon Shot: The Inside Story of America's
Race to the Moon . Shepard compared his book to The Right Stuff by
Tom Wolfe, saying , "'We wanted to call ours 'The Real Stuff,' since
his was just fiction.''

Alan Shepard died on July 21, 1998 at the age of 74.

6. Edgar D. Mitchell
Ed Mitchell joined the Navy in 1952 and became a test pilot. Then
he earned a PhD in Aeronautics and Astronautics from MIT. NASA
selected him for the astronaut corps in 1966. In January of 1971,
Mitchell flew on Apollo 14 as lunar module pilot, becoming the
sixth man to walk on the lunar surface. He retired in 1972 and
founded the Institute of Noetic Sciences , which explores psychic
and paranormal events. Mitchell gained some notoriety after NASA
for his views on UFOs , as he has asserted that the government is
covering up evidence at Roswell. His information, he admits, comes
secondhand from various sources.

Ed Mitchell is 84 years old.

7. David Randolph Scott
David Scott joined the Air Force after graduating from West Point.
Selected as an astronaut in 1963, he flew with Neil Armstrong on the
Gemini 8 mission and was command module pilot on Apollo 9. Scott
then went to the moon on Apollo 15, which landed on the lunar
surface on July 30, 1971. It was the first mission to land near
mountains. Scott and Jim Irwin spent 18 hours exploring the lunar
landscape in the Lunar Roving Vehicle in the first mission to use
such a vehicle to travel on the moon.

Scott became famous for the "postage stamp incident," in which he

took unauthorized postage stamp covers to the moon with the intent
to sell them afterwards. NASA had turned a blind eye to such
activities before, but publicity over the matter caused them
to discipline Scott and he never flew again. Scott retired from NASA
in 1977 and served as a consultant for several movies and TV shows
about the space program. He also wrote a book with former
cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, Two Sides of the Moon: Our Story of the
Cold War Space Race .

David Scott is 82 years old.

8. James B. Irwin

Air Force test pilot James Irwin became an astronaut in 1966. He

was the lunar module pilot for Apollo 15 in 1971. His 18.5 hours of
lunar surface exploration included gathering many samples of rocks.
The astronauts' medical conditions were being monitored from
Earth, and they noticed Irwin developing symptoms of heart trouble .
As he was breathing 100% oxygen and under lower gravity than on
Earth, mission control decided he was in the best environment
possible for such irregularity -under the circumstances. Irwin's heart
rhythm was normal by the time Apollo 15 returned to Earth, but he
had a heart attack a few months later. Irwin retired from NASA and
the Air Force (with the rank of Colonel) in 1972 and founded
the High Flight Foundation in order to spread the Christian gospel
during the last twenty years of his life. He notably took several
groups on expeditions to Mt. Ararat to search for Noah's Ark.

James Irwin died on August 8, 1991, of a heart attack. He was 61

years old.
9. John Watts Young

John Young is so far the longest serving astronaut in NASA history.

He was selected as an astronaut in 1962 and his first space flight
was in 1965 aboard Gemini 3 with Gus Grissom. He achieved some
notoriety at that time by smuggling a corned beef sandwich onto the
flight, angering NASA. But Young went on to complete a total of six
space missions in the Gemini, Apollo, and the space shuttle
programs. He orbited the moon on the Apollo 10 mission, then was
commander of the Apollo 16 mission and became the ninth person to
walk on the moon. Young was also commander of the first space
shuttle flight in 1981 and returned for shuttle flight 9 in 1983, which
deployed the first Spacelab module. Young was also scheduled for
another space shuttle flight in 1986, which was delayed after
the Challenger disaster, so the veteran astronaut never made his
seventh flight. Young finally retired from NASA after 42 years of
service in 2004.

John Young is 84 years old.

10. Charles M. Duke Jr.

Astronaut Charles Duke was capcom during the Apollo 11 mission.

His is the voice you recall saying , "Roger, Twank... Tranquility, we
copy you on the ground. You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue.
We're breathing again. Thanks a lot!" when the lunar module landed
on the moon. Duke also made history by catching German measles
while training in the backup crew for the Apollo 13 mission ,
exposing the crew to the disease and causing Ken Mattingly to be
replaced by Jack Swigart on that terrifying spaceflight. Duke went
to the moon (with Mattingly as command module pilot) on the
Apollo 16 mission in April of 1972. He retired from NASA in 1975
having reached the rank of Brigadier General in the U.S. Air Force,
and founded Duke Investments. Duke also became a Christian and a
lay minister to prison inmates.

Charles Duke is 79 years old.

11. Harrison "Jack" Schmitt

Jack Schmitt was a geologist first, and trained as a pilot only after
becoming a NASA astronaut. In fact, he was only the second civilian
to fly into space, after Neil Armstrong, who was a veteran at the
time of his flights. Schmitt was assigned to fly to the moon on the
Apollo 18 mission, but when the Apollo 18 and 19 missions were
cancelled in September of 1970, the scientific community lobbied to
have Schmitt reassigned to Apollo 17 (replacing Joe Engle) as lunar
module pilot. He was the first scientist in outer space . On the Apollo
17 mission, he and Gene Cernan spent three days on the lunar
surface (a record) and drove their Lunar Roving Vehicle around
collecting samples, conducting experiments, and leaving measuring
instruments behind. Schmitt and Cernan gathered 250 pounds of
lunar material to take back.

After resigning from NASA in 1975, Schmitt, a Republican, was

elected Senator for New Mexico and served from 1977 to 1983. He
became an adjunct professor at the University of Wisconsin
Madison, and lives in Silver City, New Mexico. In recent years, Dr.
Schmitt's scientific background and political leanings have kept him
in the spotlight as he has said that the concept of climate change is
"a red herring," and that environmentalism is linked with
communism .

Schmitt is 79 years old.

12. Eugene A. Cernan

As a Navy pilot, Gene Cernan logged over 5,000 hours flying time.
He was accepted into the astronaut program in 1963. Cernan's first
space flight was on Gemini IX in 1966, in which he conducted
extravehicular activities (a space walk), followed by the Apollo 10
mission in May of 1969, which orbited the moon. Cernan was
assigned commander of the Apollo 17 mission before anyone knew
it would be the last Apollo mission. Even after the Apollo program
was cut, no one knew for sure that travel to the moon would be
abandoned for decades. When Schmitt and Cernan boarded their
lunar module for the last time on December 13th, 1972, Cernan said ,

"I'm on the surface; and, as I take man's last step from the surface,
back home for some time to come but we believe not too long
into the future I'd like to just [say] what I believe history will
record. That America's challenge of today has forged man's destiny
of tomorrow. And, as we leave the Moon at Taurus-Littrow, we leave
as we came and, God willing, as we shall return: with peace and
hope for all mankind. Godspeed the crew of Apollo 17."

Cernan retired from the Navy and from NASA in 1976. He went on
to found an aerospace technology firm, and wrote a book about his
experiences as an astronaut. He also contributed his talents to ABC-
TV as a commentator during shuttle flights and has made
appearances on various space specials. In September of 2011,
Cernan testified before Congress on the future of the space program.

The space program has never been an entitlement, it's an investment

in the future - an investment in technology, jobs, international
respect and geo-political leadership, and perhaps most importantly
in the inspiration and education of our youth. Those best and
brightest minds at NASA and throughout the multitudes of private
contractors, large and small, did not join the team to design
windmills or redesign gas pedals, but to live their dreams of once
again taking us where no man has gone before.

Gene Cernan is now 81 years old.