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  • A small step for man....

    - Op ‘Meet the Future’ komen een reeks levende legendes de Nederlandse kennissector opporren en inspireren. Hoe bijzonder Steve Wozniak, Kishore Mahbubani, Alexander Rinnooy Kan of Jeroen van der Veer echter zijn, ook zij weten dat zij verbleken bij die ene andere spreker. Als u zich nu snel via ScienceGuide aanmeldt kunt u zelf kennis maken en in discussie met de eerste man op de Maan: Neil Armstrong.

    'The Eagle has Landed'. Dat is misschien wel het geheime motto van de bèta-techniek manifestatie, op 18 november in Den Haag. Met Armstrong, de commandant van de historische Apollo 11 missie uit 1969, maakt deze bijeenkomst zelf een beetje geschiedenis. Hij zal een lezing houden en vervolgens ook een Q&A sessie met belangstellenden. En hier ziet u hem dat eerste stapje zetten en hoort u Neil Armstrong zijn historische woorden spreken.

    Van Ohio naar de Maan

    Neil Armstrong is iemand uit het iconische Heartland of America: Wapakoneta in de staat Ohio. Hij werd daar geboren op 5 augustus 1930. De NASA geeft de volgende uitvoerige biografie van de First Man on the Moon: 

    'As a research pilot at NASA's Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif., he was a project pilot on many pioneering high speed aircraft, including the well known, 4000-mph X-15. He has flown over 200 different models of aircraft, including jets, rockets, helicopters and gliders.

    Armstrong transferred to astronaut status in 1962. He was assigned as command pilot for the Gemini 8 mission. Gemini 8 was launched on March 16, 1966, and Armstrong performed the first successful docking of two vehicles in space. As spacecraft commander for Apollo 11, the first manned lunar landing mission, Armstrong gained the distinction of being the first man to land a craft on the moon and first to step on its surface.

    Veel eerbewijzen

    Armstrong subsequently held the position of Deputy Associate Administrator for Aeronautics, NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C. In this position, he was responsible for the coordination and management of overall NASA research and technology work related to aeronautics.

    He was Professor of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Cincinnati between 1971-1979. During the years 1982-1992, Armstrong was chairman of Computing Technologies for Aviation, Inc., Charlottesville, Va. He received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Purdue University and a Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Southern California. He holds honorary doctorates from a number of universities.

    Armstrong is a Fellow of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots and the Royal Aeronautical Society; Honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and the International Astronautics Federation. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the Academy of the Kingdom of Morocco. He served as a member of the National Commission on Space (1985-1986), as Vice-Chairman of the Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident (1986), and as Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee for the Peace Corps (1971-1973).'

    Meldt u hier aan voor Meet the future.