"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars", "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few", "I have a dream".
"One small step for man ... One giant leap for mankind".
To be a military test pilot is probably the most challenging, thrilling and frightening job in the world. You must have the experience of a forty year old combined with the physical strength and mental dexterity of youth. You need to be brave enough to take calculated and sometimes uncalculated risks. You must have the ability to come up with novel solutions to problems in split seconds in life threatening situations and have the fortitude to say, "go for it".
Only the best test pilots, at their peak fitness are ever considered when deciding who should become an astronaut. To be chosen to be the commander of a lunar lander you must also have the utmost respect from, and for, the team of which you are in charge.
To be the first of them and to be chosen to be the human being that will place their foot on a surface not of this world, you must be someone who has the respect of an entire nation.
To do all that, and to land with one minute of fuel to spare, then come up with one of the most memorable lines in human history takes an exceptional human being. Only a few of which come along in a generation.
That man was Neil Armstrong.
1930 - 2012
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