Project Mercury also excluded civilian NASA X-15 pilot Neil Armstrong, though he had been selected by the US Air Force in 1958 for its Man In Space Soonest program, which was replaced by Mercury. Although Armstrong had been a combat-experienced NAP during the Korean War, he left active duty in 1952. Armstrong became NASA's first civilian astronaut in 1962 when he was selected for NASA's second group, and became the first man on the Moon in 1969. It was further stipulated that candidates should be between 25 and 40 years old, no taller than , and hold a college degree in a
Neil Armstrong and various flags and medals flown on his space missions. A series of auctions was held on November 1 to 3, 2018, that realized $5,276,320. Two fragments of wood from the propeller and four pieces of fabric from the wing from the 1903 "Wright Flyer" that Armstrong took to the moon fetched between $112,500 and $275,000 each. In a 2010 "Space Foundation" survey, Armstrong was ranked as the #1 most popular space hero; and in 2013, "Flying" magazine ranked him #1 on its list of 51 Heroes of Aviation. The press often asked Armstrong for his views on the future