His father instilled in him the love for flying; with just 6 years old, he flew for the first time and at 16 he was licensed to fly planes, even before driving a car. He began studying aeronautical engineering at Purdue University in Indiana in 1947, but had to stop his work after the outbreak of the Korean War. The rocket planes were a novelty in the new era of aviation, and thyey were an opportunity for pilots who were also engineers to test experimental ships in real time.
 

 
Neil joined the station High Speed Flight of the NACA, at Edwards Air Force Base in 1955 after obtaining his degree and three years experience flying in the war. They flew bombers, rockets, and even futuristic experimental simulators.
 
After several dangerous flight tests that were designed to ensure that the vehicle, Dyna-Solar, did not explode during launch, Armstrong was selected, at his 38 years, as capitan in the Apollo 11 mission that had as destination the natural satellite of the Earth.
 
Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin left on July 16th, and landed in lunar soil on July 20th, 1969. They remained there for two and a half hours taking surface samples, photographs, and videos, while the world was part of their achievement through television: “That’s one small step for a man, and one giant leap for mankind,” Armstrong said during transmission.
 
The ship landed safely in the Pacific Ocean on July 24th, near Hawaii. The crew was received by authorities and US citizens as heroes, and were awarded multiple awards, but they were quarantined, anticipating the unknown effects that the journey could have had in their bodies.
 
The Apollo 11 mission was the last for Armstrong, who worked until 1971 as an administrator at NASA, as well as an associate representative for aeronautics, in the office of advanced research and technology. Following, he dedicated his last working years to teaching, at the University of Cincinnati for about 8 years. He died in 2012 at age 82, because of a complication of heart surgery.