Neil Armstrong F5D Skylancer Airplane photograph

This 5" by 7" (12.7 by 17.8 cm) photograph depicts the F5D Skylancer that Neil Armstrong flew in the 1960s. It is permanently exhibited in Wapakoneta near the Neil Armstrong Air & Space Museum, the building was named in honor of Armstrong, first man to set foot on the moon. Neil A. Armstrong was born in Wapakoneta, Ohio on August 5, 1930. He received Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in aeronautical engineering from Purdue University. After serving as a naval aviator from 1949 to 1952, Armstrong joined the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) in 1955. For the next 17 years he worked for NACA and its successor agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). As a research pilot at NASA's Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, he was a project pilot on many pioneering high speed aircraft. Armstrong transferred to astronaut status in 1962 and was assigned as command pilot for the Gemini 8 mission, which was launched on March 16, 1966. 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