Neil Armstrong parachute was blown back over land. A jeep driven by a roommate from flight school picked him up; it is unknown what happened to the wreckage of his aircraft, F9F-2 BuNo "125122". In all, Armstrong flew 78 missions over Korea for a total of 121 hours in the air, a third of them in January 1952, with the final mission on March 5, 1952. Of 492 U.S. Navy personnel killed in the Korean War, 27 of them were from the "Essex" on this war cruise. Armstrong received the Air Medal for 20 combat missions, two gold stars for the next
First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong is the official biography of Neil Armstrong, the astronaut who became the first man to walk on the Moon, on July 20, 1969. The book was written by James R. Hansen, and was first published in 2005, by Simon & Schuster. The book describes Armstrong's involvement in the United States space program (culminating with the historic Apollo 11 mission), and details his personal life and upbringing. The book has received a warm reception from several individuals associated with astronomy and the promotion of spaceflight.