麻豆约拍

Neil Armstrong took a “giant leap for mankind” to become the first man to walk on the Moon.

1. He could fly anything… whatever the tech spec

Having learnt to fly before he could legally get a pilot’s licence, the American flew for the US Navy in the Korean War and then became a test pilot. One of his early test models was the X-15: a rocket powered plane that was little more than a fuel tank with a cockpit.

2. He made it to the moon with less computing power than your smartphone

Armstrong clearly got the taste for being blasted around; on July 16, 1969, he was sat atop 777,000 litres of kerosene as his Apollo spacecraft got ready for lift off. And that was the easy part. Despite the fact the computer power available for the mission was the equivalent of a pocket calculator, four days later Armstrong was touching down on the moon’s surface in the ‘Eagle’ lunar module.

3. He left a mark for centuries… literally

The US astronaut’s footprints from the first ever moonwalk will remain on Earth’s nearest neighbour for thousands of years. His words too will echo through the generations: “This is one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” is the possibly best status update ever.