25 Aug Buzz Aldrin’s Official Statement on the Passing of Neil Armstrong
I am deeply saddened by the passing of my good friend, and space exploration companion, Neil Armstrong today. As Neil, Mike Collins and I trained together for our historic Apollo 11 Mission, we understood the many technical challenges we faced, as well as the importance and profound implications of this historic journey. We will now always be connected as the crew of the Apollo 11 mission to the moon, yet for the many millions who witnessed that remarkable achievement for humankind, we were not alone.
Whenever I look at the moon I am reminded of that precious moment, over four decades ago, when Neil and I stood on the desolate, barren, yet beautiful, Sea of Tranquility, looking back at our brilliant blue planet Earth suspended in the darkness of space, I realized that even though we were farther away from earth than two humans had ever been, we were not alone. Virtually the entire world took that memorable journey with us. I know I am joined by many millions of others from around the world in mourning the passing of a true American hero and the best pilot I ever knew. My friend Neil took the small step but giant leap that changed the world and will forever be remembered as a historic moment in human history.
I had truly hoped that on July 20th, 2019, Neil, Mike and I would be standing together to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of our moon landing, as we also anticipated the continued expansion of humanity into space, that our small mission helped make possible. Regrettably, this is not to be. Neil will most certainly be there with us in spirit.
On behalf of the Aldrin family, we extend our deepest condolences to Carol and the entire Armstrong family. I will miss my friend Neil as I know our fellow citizens and people around world will miss this foremost aviation and space pioneer.
May he Rest in Peace, and may his vision for our human destiny in space be his legacy.
BUZZ ALDRIN
David Brown
Posted at 03:01h, 26 Augustrest in Peace Neil Armstrong, a true Hero to humankind.
Brad Cavanagh
Posted at 02:59h, 26 AugustYour team inspired untold people to dream of a better future for humanity. I still believe in this and although there are challenges I think it will happen. There are thousands who created the ability to land on the moon and the billions thank you.
Brad
Martin Knippenberg
Posted at 02:51h, 26 AugustBuzz, this letter is very touching, thought i am 36 yrs i was not born yet , when you and Neil walked the moon, but i can tell you you are the inspiration that my dad gave us and now i am passing the astronomy sting to my 3 children, my 4 year old son yesterday wanted to see who had walked on the moon! Anyway for a tribute to you guys we spent the evening watching the moon in my telescope and educated my son of the great achievement that you and Neil and Mike did! Thanks for everything Buzz and Neil!
Sachi Mohanty
Posted at 02:49h, 26 AugustI was looking ahead to 2019 and the 50th anniversary and all three being together too.
Scott Hayes
Posted at 02:30h, 26 AugustThank you for everything you did and do. You, Neil and Mike are what makes mankind what it is.
alan shiell
Posted at 02:23h, 26 AugustNeil was 82, why is it your heroes never age in your eyes? I still see him as a 38 year old stepping onto the moon.
Rest in peace .
Patrick S. Selitrenny
Posted at 02:19h, 26 AugustI am so very saddened by the news… Neil, you and Michael, were my “Three Musketeers” in space… And his sudden death has left an open gap in my heart. Such a nice, meek and gentle man, although with nerves of steel and high skills as a pilot… I will certainly miss him as a part of that dream team that composed the legendary flight of Apollo 11. I also would wish that very soon, all that he has fought for, may become a reality. This would be the best way to honor him and pay our respects to his memory. I salute you, Neil Armstrong, you will be long remembered after we are all gone…
Danny
Posted at 02:17h, 26 AugustEstimated Buzz: My condolences to the family of your estimated companion of the mission Apollo XI Neil Armstrong.
Paymaan Jafari
Posted at 02:16h, 26 AugustHi Buzz,
Thanks to all three of you and all of scientists and engineers for being such a huge inspiration to the whole world. I was born 2 years later than your mission, but your names has been always repeated in our house, by my father (then an Imperial Iranian Air Force officer), and we always respected your great work. RIP Neil and I wish you bests.
Live long,
Paymaan.
Adrian
Posted at 02:05h, 26 AugustVery sad, the man who took a giant leap for mankind has now gone beyond the Moon.
He inspired us all to go and take that leap to achieve our dreams.
RIP Neil Armstrong
Jacob Irwin
Posted at 02:04h, 26 AugustMr. Armstrong was a Lewis (or a Clark) – a frontiersman for the exploration of space.
Jamppa
Posted at 01:53h, 26 AugustAll The Best for You too. You are in same category with Neil!
We Finns are very happy to have You in Neste Oli television ad. It’s always dignified moment to see it http://t.co/Ur5etc8o ..
Video The First Lunar Landing http://t.co/srqMcy5A via @airspacemag
RIP Neil Armstrong.
Caroline Labib
Posted at 01:48h, 26 AugustI am Caroline and I am in high school. My obsession is Apollo 11 and once I learned about it, instantly, Neil Armstrong became my role model. I still can’t believe he passed away and all day I have been really sad because my role model just passed away. Apollo 11 and Neil Armstrong are what inspire me on becoming an astronaut. Every time I will look at the moon I will wink at it and remember Neil Armstrong. So, the website http://10269358.nhd.weebly.com, is a website that I made for a competition, and I chose Apollo 11 as my topic 🙂 If you could please follow me on twitter, it will be like a dream come true. My twitter is @CarolineLabib1. Thanks 🙂
Ezio
Posted at 01:47h, 26 AugustHello Neil, thanks for making us dream.
Ezio – Italy
kevin k
Posted at 01:46h, 26 AugustI was 9 whan I watch you walk on the moon
I wrote to you all and NASA many times, I still have all your autographs and more , you were my heros my biggest regret is I could never meet you all
Jk. England
Elaine-
Posted at 01:44h, 26 Augusti was just a tiny girl when you guys went up… our parents had a black and white tv in the hallway beside my upstairs bedroom. they didn’t have one in the living room, i think tvs scared them… but i couldn’t sleep at all that night, and snuck out of bed, and with the sound down super low i watched the moon landing, in my flannel nightie, in my awe…. i know i’m dating myself here haha, but that’s ok, i’m very proud to have watched such a thing unfold into our human history…. RIP Neil Armstrong, we’ll remember you
Mark Nugent
Posted at 01:38h, 26 AugustI am deeply sadden by the death of Neil Armstrong a man I never met but had always wanted too. I thank the Apollo 11 crew and colleagues for their incredible hard work and absolute bravery all those years ago that started mankinds greatest journey, space exploration! Thankyou.
Brian
Posted at 01:31h, 26 AugustBuzz them are the nicest words i have seen written about Neil and he will never be forgot and will be in our hearts and minds when we look up at that place he stepped foot on first
The moon….
Denise Gibson
Posted at 01:30h, 26 AugustTruly saddened by the news. May he rest in peace.
Richard
Posted at 01:15h, 26 AugustHe’s had the most amazing ride of all in his lifetime. Who knows which ride he is on now. It’s yet another barrier of exploration which he has transcended now, and I wish him the wonders that await him there are even more marvellous and joygiving.
Jetinder Sira
Posted at 01:06h, 26 AugustBuzz
Thats brilliant, my deepest wishes to you and Neils family.
You’ve said every thing me and millions of others wanted to say about Neil.
RIP Neil Amstrong
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Posted at 00:58h, 26 August[…] July’s night I was staring at his extraordinary enterprise together with Buzz Aldrin (see here) and Michael Collins on the Apollo 11. Now, I am moved to tears by this but my dreams are still […]
aid85
Posted at 00:56h, 26 AugustRIP Neil …
Angie Lembo
Posted at 00:55h, 26 AugustA lovely tribute from one legend to another. An incredibly brave journey. Heroes!
Dr. R.M.Khattar
Posted at 00:52h, 26 AugustCondolences on passing away of great pioneer.
From an admirer from India.
Sandra Chung
Posted at 00:51h, 26 AugustI will always remember as a child staying awake to watch him, then you take those first steps onto the lunar surface.
RIP, Mission Commander Armstrong, you are now and forever among the stars. Thank you for inspiring humanity to look beyond what they could only see from their window.
Vincent
Posted at 00:36h, 26 AugustVery nice statement, Dr. Aldrin.
And you know I hope you and Mike are both there for number 50, too.
Neil accomplished a lot of great stuff in his life. The world will FOREVER remember him for the great strides forward in exploration that he accmplished.
Chas Redmond
Posted at 00:19h, 26 AugustThank you for such simple eloquence. Thank you and Neil and Michael for your bravery and vision and commitment to humanity.
(Skylab mission commentator ’73-’74 and an entire NASA career starting from that point).
Thank you for the inspiration.
Robert Freehling
Posted at 00:18h, 26 AugustThank you for expressing this heartfelt farewell to this wonderful man who gracefully carried forward a part of the human spirit for all of us. What you all did together has helped many people to feel a sense of greater hope and gave us all the gift of witnessing the birth of an extraordinary new age of adventure.
Richard Brown
Posted at 00:16h, 26 AugustRunning home from school in Australia. Watching the grainy image come trough. Two men on the moon! It doesn’t get any better for a 9 year old! Thanks for the inspiration. RIP Neil.
Andrew Cutmore
Posted at 00:12h, 26 AugustSo sad to hear of the passing of Neil Armstrong. A true American legend- a hero to the whole world. RIP Neil.
Ed
Posted at 00:11h, 26 AugustA sad day. The passing of a real American hero.
Derek Peacey
Posted at 00:08h, 26 AugustI was only 3 years old when you landed on the moon but I do remember sitting up with my Dad watching something special even if i didn’t quite realize the importance at the time! I think you guys are truly inspirational as men first and astronauts second. As you say neil will always be with you in spirit as the three of you will be with us in the spirit of what can be achieved! Rest In Peace Neil
Bill Baker
Posted at 00:02h, 26 AugustI feel so sad at his departing and great sympathy for his families loss.
As a 17 year old with a lump in my throat I watched, glued to our television as the Moon landing progressed and he stepped out on to the ladder and down to the ground of the Moon.
I now sit and think of those days and that time and now have another lump in my throat with tears in my eyes at his passing.
May he rest in peace. May his eventful life give his family strength at having known him and been apart of their family and their lives?
David Snyder
Posted at 23:50h, 25 AugustNeil Armstrong’s courage, intelligence, and self sacrifice will allways be remembered. This is not just for his moon landing, but as the exemplor he has become. He has show the rest of us what humanity could be at it’s best, working together for a great goal.
Sherry
Posted at 23:36h, 25 AugustMr.Neil you will be missed but not forgotten cause you are the man whose footprints remain in the sands on the Moon.Your accomplishments for your Country will never be out-done.You lived a long life but as you know,When the Lord says its time to come home&rest then its done. God Bless you for being a Good Man.RIP
Melissa Eaton
Posted at 23:31h, 25 AugustA beautiful tribute in memory of an American patriot and pioneer. God bless you Mr. Aldrin and God bless Neil Armstrong.
Chris
Posted at 23:17h, 25 AugustI am heartbroken over the passing of Neil Armstrong. I’ve spent the entire day in reflection on that great day back in July of 1969 since this afternoon when I first heard of his passing. I’ll never forget sitting on the floor of the living room watching coverage of Apollo 11. We were out of school for summer vacation and I had been watching it all day long on TV. It was the only thing on anyway, other than LOTS Of commercials (Kellogs Corn Flakes, TANG, BIC Ball Point Pens). CBS, “MAN ON THE MOON” coverage. They even had their own logo.
The landing happened around 4:00 PM EST. I was on the floor (as always) playing with my “Revell” Model I had built of the Apollo 11 Saturn V rocket. It was huge, several feet high, painted black and white. I also had a model of the LEM. When the landing occured I was bringing the LEM down to the little piece of plastic moon that came with it. I remember the news kept talking about whether or not the surface would actually support the weight of the LEM or if you’d sink down in. We just didn’t know! We’d never been there before. I was actually worried that it would be too soft and you’d have to take off and abort.
Anyway then you sort of sat their all day and we kept wanting to see the walk on the moon but NASA said they were going to walk at 2:00AM and my Mom said “NO WAY”. (Our bed time was 10:00 in the summer, 9:00 during school days). I was so upset that they wouldn’t just come out of the LEM but you guys sat their doing stuff and talking back and forth all day long. All those “Quindar tones” were driving my Mom crazy, lol. Then they said you were going to walk early, 9:00 PM so we thought oh boy! But 9:00 PM came and went and you didn’t come out. When 10:00 PM came and you still didn’t come out my Mom made us get ready for bed and put our pajamas on. I was really worried at that point. She let us stay up till 10:30, but when you still hadn’t come out she sent us to bed. Then about 20 minutes later or so (she knew we weren’t sleeping, we could hear the TV from the bedroom) she called us and said to come out. We came out in our pajamas and there it was. Neil Armstrong was coming down the ladder. It was the most awe inspiring moment of my life. I had never seen anything like it. It was a clear night and we could see the moon. I remember looking out the living room window up at the moon and thinking wow, if I just had a telescope I could see him!
After Neil took the first step he said his famous “One small step” line and I remember I didn’t understand what he said because of the static and I had to ask my dad “what did he say, what did he say” and my Mom then repeated it back to me and I thought, wow. We stayed up for about half an hour then got sent to bed at 11:30 and had to watch the rest on reruns the next day, which they kept mixing in while the LEM was getting ready to leave.
I can honestly say it was the single most moving and inspiring event of my life. It was magic for me. Almost sacred. I can’t explain it, but its the best thing we’ve ever done I think as a people. I know it inspired me to pursue a technical career later in life that I still work in to this day. And it didn’t end there. It was all we talked about for the next year in school. And everywhere else. It was SO BIG! Everything was MOON. Moon boots. Moon dances (Michael Jacksons moonwalk). They even made a moon “hula hoop”. Mcdonalds had moon drinking glasses. My Mom had this Pimento spread that was in a “Moon Jar” (little drawing on the side of you and Neil on the moon). There was Moon stuff on the cereal boxes. Moon clothing and such. Bic made a moon pen. And we had it all. GI Joe had a space capsule which I got. Maxwell Smart and 99 walked on the moon to meet the chief one time. I had the promo shots of you, Neil and Michael Collins on my wall. I had a big poster of that shot Neil took of you on the moon in the crater. In fact I still have that photo on my computer to this day, Mister Aldrin. That is my desktop image. You on the moon. Perhaps one of the greatest photographs ever taken. But those are my memories of Neil Armstrong, you and Michael Collins, and that great time to be alive as a kid. You inspired us so much. Sometimes I think more than you know. To this day with all the craziness in the world sometimes its hard not to get down on ourselves and some of the nonsense we live with now. Yet when I feel sad, depressed, or fret over the future, I hearken back to those golden years of the Apollo program and the 24 great, great men who looked at our earth from lunar orbit and put it all in perspective for the rest of us. It still gives me hope. It still gives me strength. And I am humbled by it.
Thank you Buzz Aldrin. You are one of the few men in this world I ever called “hero” and still do. And now there’s one less and I am saddened by it. But I’m glad you’re still here. I’m glad I still have a hero to look up to, and that’s you. I know you guys don’t see yourselves that way, but you are to me as I know you are to BILLIONS of people, everywhere. May God bless you and your family. God bless Neil, and watch over his family. And thank you for what you did on that great and wonderful day in 1969. A day I will never, ever forget.
Neil Beatty
Posted at 23:17h, 25 AugustThank you for your words expressed by the passing of your friend, Neil. Words cannot express the grief that the world is now enduring at this time. Neil’s death is a ‘severed link’ to the 20th. century greatest acheivement.
Rick Barkley
Posted at 23:01h, 25 AugustI salute all of you on top of the pyramid of space exploration. Good show and……..God willing, let’s get a move on and continue on….NOW!!!!!!!
Daniël Leeuwenberg
Posted at 22:54h, 25 AugustMy deepest heartfelt condolances Buzz. I was three years old when you guys walked the Moon, and I remember the B/W tv-images of it and the later Apollo-missions in our home. Nothing has ever fascinated me more than those travels and all that led to it. In Kindergarten every kid knew there were people walking on the Moon, in the Netherlands where I live I guess no less than anywhere else. We played astronaut and I wanted to be one when I grew up. For you, Neil and Michael to have lived that is just too large a thing to even slightly comprehend. Yet, as you said, you were not alone, and still are not. You took a little bit of me with you and gave me one the most precious memories and legends of my lifetime. I will wink at the Moon and think of Neil the very next time i see it, and the next, and the next ad inf. Actually I have been thinking of the three of you and all the other Moontravellers already so many times looking at the Moon. It’s a place! A Place you can go, and step on! Neil was the first to do that and I have no words for that. I hope his biggest leap of all yesterday is a good one for him. Be strong, I hope to see you and Mike still around in 2019. And beyond.
Love, Daniël.
Shannon Nugent
Posted at 22:53h, 25 AugustNeil was an idol to many people past and present and a true american hero! Tied with you on the top of my people I’d like to meet list. He will be missed by everyone.
Ricardo Tovar
Posted at 22:48h, 25 AugustI had hoped to meet in person to Neil Armstrong as I met Buzz Aldrin at The Hornet because of 40th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 journey. This will not be possible and I feel really sad.
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Posted at 22:47h, 25 August[…] Buzz Aldrin’s Official Statement on the Passing of Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin […]
vermillion
Posted at 22:47h, 25 AugustBeautiful and touching post, Mr. Aldrin. Rest in peace, Neil, you have left a surging legacy among us all.
robert block
Posted at 22:46h, 25 AugustSaddened to hear the passing of a great man.
Christina
Posted at 22:45h, 25 AugustUnbelievable. To think this happened a few short years before my birth. How could we let this legacy pass? We must carry on, we must carry this spirit forward. Thank you Mr. Aldrin and Mr. Armstrong and Mr. Collins for everything you did. I will do my best to make sure the generation after me is inspired, as I have been. We must never forget what you all have done. We must never forget what those who supported your journey have done. We are all human, and we all carry that human spirit. May we all honor it.
RIP Mr. Armstrong and all who follow.
Christina Roberts
Nathalie Balesi
Posted at 22:30h, 25 AugustI was 5 when I watched the moon landing with my dad ( an aeronautical engineer )he was so excited and explained to me how important this moment was for humans and how brave you all were.It made us all a little bit braver and curious ,I didn’t realize til I woke up to the news how much you all helped to shape our lives. I’m so sad ,my condolences to Neil Armstrongs family and friends.
Thank you
Bill Irwin
Posted at 22:25h, 25 AugustThanks for all you steps and leaps Neil Armstrong.
Daniel G
Posted at 22:25h, 25 AugustOn behalf of my wife, our daughter and me, we extend our deepest condolences to his wife and the entire Armstrong family. He is one of the greatest man on earth ( and the moon ) he will be missed. R.I.P. Neil Armstrong.
Daniel G.
La Praire, Québec ( Canada )