ATI’S 2019 TRAILBLAZERS

TO BE AWARDED FOR MAN ON THE MOON

 

At a free ice cream social at the Armstrong Air & Space Museum in Wapakoneta, Ohio, Saturday, Aug. 17, from 2- 4 p.m. you can be part of Aviation Trail’s honoring Armstrong posthumously with its 2019 Trailblazer Award.

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A complementary Trailblazer will be presented to the Armstrong Air & Space Museum for memorializing Armstrong, the moon landing and Ohio aviation.

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 At the ice cream social the museum also will recognize its staff and volunteers who worked to plan and execute events commemorating Armstrong’s moon mission.

Visit https://armstrongmuseum.org for more information about the museum.

 

The ice cream social, and Trailblazer Award presentation will be free for attendees. There  will be a fee to tour the museum. (See the museum website for fee structures: https://armstrongmuseum.org/hours-and-admission). Parking is free.

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Armstrong was born near Wapakoneta, Ohio, on Aug. 5, 1930, and earned his pilot’s license before his driver’s license; during his career he was an astronaut, aeronautical engineer, naval aviator, test pilot and a professor of aeronautical engineering at the University of Cincinnati.

 

 The apex of his career came with Apollo 11 on July 20, 1969, when he piloted the lunar module to the moon, exited and said “That’s one step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Following him onto the moon that day was Buzz Aldrin; Michael Collins remained in the command Module orbiting the moon.

 

Splash down for the returning astronauts was July 24 in the Pacific Ocean west of Hawaii. After 21 days of quarantine on land, the three astronauts enjoyed a ticker-tape parade in New York City and a world tour. Armstrong remained with NASA as deputy assistant administrator for aeronautics until 1971.

 

The Armstrong Air and Space Museum’s focus is on Armstrong’s aviation and space achievements. On display, for example, are Armstrong’s Gemini and Apollo spacesuits, two aircraft flown by Armstrong, and an Apollo 11 moon rock. Visitors also can watch a 25-minute documentary in the Astro Theater about Apollo 11’s lunar landing. One year ago the museum began a major educational expansion to include a classroom for classes in STEM (science technology, engineering, and mathematics).

 

 Neil Armstrong completed an elite trio of Ohioans who did extraordinary things in the air and space. Wilbur and Orville Wright who were the first to fly and control a heavier than air machine; John Glenn of New Concord, Ohio, the first American to circle the earth in space; and Armstrong.

 Since 1983 Aviation Trail has awarded its Trailblazer annually to a person or organization that has advanced aviation in some manner in the greater Miami Valley. A complete list of awardees is at the ATI website https://www.aviationtrailinc.org/trailblazers.