Neil Armstrong Neil Armstrong Neil Alden Armstrong (August 5, 1930 – August 25, 2012) was an American astronaut and aeronautical engineer who was the first person to walk on the Moon. He was also a naval aviator, test pilot, and university professor. A graduate of Purdue University, Armstrong studied aeronautical engineering with his college tuition paid for by the U.S. Navy under the Holloway Plan. He became a midshipman in 1949, and a naval aviator the following year. He saw action in the Korean War, flying the Grumman F9F Panther from the aircraft carrier . In September 1951, he was hit by
Neil Armstrong Armstrong's hometown of Wapakoneta, and the airport in New Knoxville, Ohio where he took his first flying lessons at 15, are named after him. Purdue University announced in October 2004 that its new engineering building would be named Neil Armstrong Hall of Engineering; the building was dedicated on October 27, 2007 during a ceremony at which Armstrong was joined by fourteen other Purdue astronauts. The NASA Dryden Flight Research Center was renamed the NASA Neil A. Armstrong Flight Research Center in 2014. In September 2012, the U.S. Navy announced that the first "Armstrong"-class vessel would be named . Delivered to