THREE BRAVE MEN
Household names by now, but here’s a little bit more about them.
NEIL ARMSTRONG
Born in Wapakoneta, Ohio, Armstrong developed a fascination with flight at a young age, earning a pilot's license at 16. He studied aeronautical engineering at Purdue University on a Navy scholarship and, in the early 1950s, left school to serve in the Korean War.
In 1952, he returned to college and joined the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics — the precursor to NASA — where he worked as a test pilot and engineer.
In 1962, he joined the astronaut program and served as command pilot for Gemini 8 alongside David Scott, in which two modules docked in space for the first time. During that mission, he was able to successfully bring the capsule home after it was knocked out of orbit by a rogue thruster. He is the mission commander for the Apollo 11 flight and will be the first man to set foot on the moon on July 21.
BUZZ ALDRIN
Born in New Jersey, Aldrin was born Edwin Eugene Aldrin Jr., after his father who was a colonel in the Air Force. But his sister couldn't say the word brother; she said buzzer instead. And the name stuck.
Aldrin attended West Point, graduating third in his class in 1951 with a degree in mechanical engineering.
He entered the Air Force that same year and became a fighter trainer. He flew F-86 Sabre jets in Korea, returning home after the war to get a masters degree at MIT. He then got a doctorate in aeronautics and astronautics in 1963, and his thesis subject was about manned orbital rendezvous.
This no doubt helped him get into the space program. Inspired by Ed White — a classmate at West Point whom NASA selected as an astronaut in 1962 — Aldrin applied to be an astronaut. He was denied the first time because he wasn't a test pilot.
But in 1963, he was part of the third group of astronauts selected by NASA — and the first astronaut with a doctorate.
Aldrin flew Gemini 12 in 1966 alongside Jim Lovell, making a five-hour spacewalk.
He is the lunar module pilot for Apollo 11 and will be the second man to set foot on the moon.
MIKE COLLINS
Born in Rome while his father was stationed there in the Navy, Collins' family moved to Washington, D.C. after the U.S. entered World War II.
He attended West Point in New York and graduated with a bachelors of science degree in 1952. He joined the Air Force that same year and flew F-86 Sabres.
He did not set out to be an astronaut. Collins loved science fiction but being an astronaut didn't cross his mind until John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth in 1962. Collins immediately applied for the astronaut corps but was rejected.
He tried again the following year and was selected. His first spaceflight was Gemini 10 — the eighth crewed Earthorbiting spacecraft — in 1966.
Collins didn’t get a chance to walk on the moon. He stayed in the command ship orbiting the moon and brought Armstrong and Aldrin home.