(NETWORK INDIANA) The first man on the moon was a graduate of Purdue University. Neil Armstrong knew that the engineering school would provide him with an incredible understanding of the mechanics necessary to succeed in the field, said Dr. Barrett Caldwell, professor in the Engineering Dept.
Armstrong was from Wapakoneta, Ohio, and attended Purdue, with tuition paid for by the Navy. He later became a test pilot and eventually an astronaut in both the Gemini and Apollo missions.
He was the second person in his family to go to college, and he chose Purdue, where he began classes at age 17. He was smart, but the grades weren’t what they could’ve been at first. Armstrong flew 78 missions over Korea. He resigned his commission in 1960, after being selected for the Man in Space Soonest program by NASA.
He was a test pilot at Edwards Air Force Base, where he set records and was known for both his piloting and engineering skills.
After he walked on the moon, he received an honorary doctorate from Purdue.
“Armstrong came back multiple times,” said Caldwell. “There’s file footage of him providing space-flown flags from his Gemini mission.”
He was an influence on another Hoosier astronaut, who would go on to lead the space walk mission to build the International Space Station.
“Neil Armstrong came to Purdue while I was there as a Old Master, even though he wasn’t so old at the time,” recalled Dr. David Wolf, speaking of the Old Master program. “Many years later I myself was brought in as an Old Master, as an astronaut andf spoke with many students, some today who are working in the pace program.”
Though Armstrong continued to come back to Indiana and speak at Purdue, his space days were over after Apollo 11. He took part in a private expedition to the north pole in 1985, after a stint as a professor in Ohio in the 1970s. He passed away in 2012.