Neil Armstrong
First Man on the Moon

After his graduation from Blume High School, he went to Purdue University to study aerospace engineering. His education was paid for by a program that required military service to take place after the first two years of college were completed. He enlisted in the U.S Navy in 1949 and completed flight training. In 1950, he became a navy pilot at the young age of 20. During his time in the navy, he completed more than 600 flights and qualified to land on aircraft carriers. He also completed many combat missions during the Korean War.

He then worked as a test pilot, testing many types of crafts, including rocket planes.

When his enlistment was up, he returned to Purdue and graduated in 1955. He went on to earn a Master of Science from University of Southern California. While at Purdue, he met Janet Sheaver. They married in 1956 and were together for 38 years before the marriage ended in divorce.

In 1957, there were two U.S. agencies trying to reach space. The Air Force had a program called "Man in Space Soonest." And, of course, NASA had their program. Armstrong was accepted into "Man in Space Soonest," but he also applied to NASA during when they were looking for their second group of astronauts. He was accepted in 1962.

His first space flight was on Gemini 8 in March of 1966. He also went to space on Gemini 11. He was offered the honor of being the Commander on the Apollo 11 mission, which would become the most famous flight in space history.

On July 21, 1969, Armstrong stepped out of the lunar module and onto the surface of the moon. Right after taking this famous step, he spoke words that have become almost as well-known as Armstrong himself, “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” This is often misquoted as “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Armstrong says that he did include the “a”, but it may have been inaudible in the transmission.

Shortly after Armstrong stepped onto the moon, he was joined by Buzz Aldrin. Together, they spent 21 hours on the moon conducting tests and collecting moon rocks to bring back to NASA. After returning to earth, Armstrong, Aldrin and command module pilot Michael Collins had to be quarantined for three weeks in case they had picked up any infections on the moon.

After that the three men began touring the world, talking about the moon landing and cementing Armstrong’s place in the history books.

It is generally accepted that Neil Armstrong is the most valuable autograph of any living person. He ceased signing autographs almost totally by 1994. Unlike Buzz Aldrin, he has never liked commercialization of his achievements by others and chose not to capitalize on them himself. In affect, that has just led to more commercialization, much of it in the form of forgeries.

Armstrong was very free with his autographs for several decades after the moon landing. He even signed thought the mail for free for thirty-five years, so many people with an Armstrong autograph in their collection didn't pay a cent for them. Those Neil Armstrong signed photos now sell for as much as $5,000. A simple signature is worth more than $1000. In 2009, the pictured bank check signed by Armstrong sold for $27,350.

As high as those prices seem today, they will look cheap in the future.

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