Author Topic: Neil Armstrong Dead at 82  (Read 1737 times)

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Offline cmdterps44

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Neil Armstrong Dead at 82
« Topic Start: August 25, 2012, 03:21:06 PM »
https://twitter.com/NBCNews/status/239437766335819777

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NBC News ‏@NBCNews
NBC NEWS confirms: Astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon, has died.

Dammit. RIP :(

Offline Terpfan76

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Re: Neil Armstrong Dead at 82
« Reply #1: August 25, 2012, 03:38:33 PM »
Oh no! Wow, that's truly sad. RIP Mr. Armstong...

Offline GburgNatsFan

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Re: Neil Armstrong Dead at 82
« Reply #2: August 25, 2012, 03:43:08 PM »
Jesus, what an 82 years this guy lived. Bravo for a life well led, Mr. Armstrong.

Offline mitlen

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Re: Neil Armstrong Dead at 82
« Reply #3: August 25, 2012, 04:08:32 PM »
Aw man  ...  I was in college (summer school ..  didn't do me any good, got drafted anyway) trying to decide if I wanted to go to a place called Woodstock in August.    We had an old B & W TV in the frat house.    He deserves a viewing in the Rotunda.    Full honors  ....

Offline heeman82

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Re: Neil Armstrong Dead at 82
« Reply #4: August 25, 2012, 05:22:53 PM »
Get some!


Offline imref

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Re: Neil Armstrong Dead at 82
« Reply #5: August 25, 2012, 06:21:07 PM »
i saw him speak at a conference a few years ago, incredibly modest for all he's accomplished.

Offline HalfSmokes

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Re: Neil Armstrong Dead at 82
« Reply #6: August 25, 2012, 06:26:54 PM »
I was just thinking- he may be the last of the universally acclaimed American heros- I can't think of another one

Offline tomterp

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Re: Neil Armstrong Dead at 82
« Reply #7: August 25, 2012, 08:00:24 PM »
Get some!



 :rofl:

"You're a coward and a liar and a_"    BAM! 

Dude had it coming to him, quite frankly,

Offline GburgNatsFan

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Re: Neil Armstrong Dead at 82
« Reply #8: August 25, 2012, 08:02:46 PM »
I'm only wondering why he didn't move in with a right upper-cut to finish the tennis-shoe'd conspiracy wacko.

:rofl:

"You're a coward and a liar and a_"    BAM! 

Dude had it coming to him, quite frankly,


Offline imref

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Re: Neil Armstrong Dead at 82
« Reply #9: August 26, 2012, 12:12:36 AM »
I was just thinking- he may be the last of the universally acclaimed American heros- I can't think of another one

I'm not sure I can think of anyone else either.  Lance Armstrong is certainly out of the picture.  There are certainly some sports heroes left: Bird & Magic, but nobody at the level of Armstrong.  Maybe John Glenn?

Offline imref

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Re: Neil Armstrong Dead at 82
« Reply #10: August 26, 2012, 12:16:49 AM »
:rofl:

"You're a coward and a liar and a_"    BAM! 

Dude had it coming to him, quite frankly,

It's long been reported that NASA chiefs wanted Armstrong over Aldrin for the first step on the moon because Aldrin's head was already too large for them to handle.

Offline heeman82

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Re: Neil Armstrong Dead at 82
« Reply #11: August 27, 2012, 02:10:45 PM »
I was just thinking- he may be the last of the universally acclaimed American heros- I can't think of another one

Todd Beamer.

Offline tomterp

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Re: Neil Armstrong Dead at 82
« Reply #12: August 27, 2012, 02:19:33 PM »
I was just thinking- he may be the last of the universally acclaimed American heros- I can't think of another one

Lenny Skutnik?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenny_Skutnik

Offline mitlen

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Re: Neil Armstrong Dead at 82
« Reply #13: August 27, 2012, 02:30:25 PM »
Todd Beamer.

Lenny Skutnik?


These guys were special because they happened to be there.   There was no plan/practice.    However, most Americans probably don't know who they are.


Offline heeman82

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Re: Neil Armstrong Dead at 82
« Reply #14: August 27, 2012, 02:50:56 PM »
These guys were special because they happened to be there.   There was no plan/practice.    However, most Americans probably don't know who they are.



Hadn't heard of the Skutnik story, thanks for sharing Tom.

Different kind of heroism, I'll grant that.  Beamer should still qualify.  We're talking about AMERICAN heroes.. The man saved the Capitol or White House From destruction.  His birthday should be celebrated.  It is a crying shame that every American doesn't know who he is




Offline mitlen

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Re: Neil Armstrong Dead at 82
« Reply #15: August 27, 2012, 02:53:10 PM »
Hadn't heard of the Skutnik story, thanks for sharing Tom.

Different kind of heroism, I'll grant that.  Beamer should still qualify.  We're talking about AMERICAN heroes.. The man saved the Capitol or White House From destruction.  His birthday should be celebrated.  It is a crying shame that every American doesn't know who he is





Beamer stood up and was counted.   I went to the Flight 93 Memorial in April.   Even though it's still in the "construction" phase, it is worth the visit.

Offline heeman82

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Re: Neil Armstrong Dead at 82
« Reply #16: August 27, 2012, 03:04:48 PM »
:w:

Offline tomterp

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Re: Neil Armstrong Dead at 82
« Reply #17: August 27, 2012, 05:55:19 PM »
Hadn't heard of the Skutnik story, thanks for sharing Tom.


The day of the Air Florida crash, the Potomac was completely iced up, and the thick ice was broken up by the debris from the plane.  Hundreds of people were watching from the 14th street bridge in the driving snowstorm, and dozens more helplessly from the nearby shoreline as a small handful of stunned survivors fought a desperate battle to stay afloat.  When it became clear that the one woman was too cold to grip the rope dangled from the helicopter, only Skutnik had the cajones to genuinely risk his life by going into the frigid water, swim out around the jagged ice blocks and haul her back.   

I'm pretty sure there was another guy (Arland D. Williams Jr) who grabbed the helicopter rope and with it helped one or two other survivors to the shore, but he then succumbed to the cold and did not make it.  Not all heroes survive, as we know.

Fascinating story, and one of the incredible days for all the wrong reasons in DC.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Florida_Flight_90

Offline mitlen

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Re: Neil Armstrong Dead at 82
« Reply #18: August 27, 2012, 05:58:57 PM »
The day of the Air Florida crash, the Potomac was completely iced up, and the thick ice was broken up by the debris from the plane.  Hundreds of people were watching from the 14th street bridge in the driving snowstorm, and dozens more helplessly from the nearby shoreline as a small handful of stunned survivors fought a desperate battle to stay afloat.  When it became clear that the one woman was too cold to grip the rope dangled from the helicopter, only Skutnik had the cajones to genuinely risk his life by going into the frigid water, swim out around the jagged ice blocks and haul her back.   

I'm pretty sure there was another guy (Arland D. Williams Jr) who grabbed the helicopter rope and with it helped one or two other survivors to the shore, but he then succumbed to the cold and did not make it.  Not all heroes survive, as we know.

Fascinating story, and one of the incredible days for all the wrong reasons in DC.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Florida_Flight_90


I believe it's the same day 2 were killed in a Metro crash near Federal Triangle.

Offline HalfSmokes

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Re: Neil Armstrong Dead at 82
« Reply #19: August 27, 2012, 08:48:18 PM »
just stumbled across this

http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-57501134-76/the-speech-nixon-had-prepped-for-an-apollo-11-disaster/

Quote
One historical tidbit worth another look in the aftermath of astronaut Neil Armstrong' death on Saturday at the age of 82: The text of the speech President Richard Nixon had his staff prepare in the event of a disaster befalling Armstrong's Apollo 11 mission...

The thought of being trapped on the moon must have been terrifying, and the fact that nixon had a speech for that eventuality means it was a real danger

Offline JCA-CrystalCity

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Re: Neil Armstrong Dead at 82
« Reply #20: August 28, 2012, 09:02:12 AM »
Ike prepared one accepting blame for the failure of D-Day.

Offline HalfSmokes

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Re: Neil Armstrong Dead at 82
« Reply #21: August 28, 2012, 09:16:57 AM »
Ike prepared one accepting blame for the failure of D-Day.

I always like reading those kinds of speeches- it makes you think that things you just accept could have gone differently

Offline mitlen

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Re: Neil Armstrong Dead at 82
« Reply #22: August 28, 2012, 09:32:49 AM »
Ike prepared one accepting blame for the failure of D-Day.

I always like reading those kinds of speeches- it makes you think that things you just accept could have gone differently

++

Offline 1995hoo

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Re: Neil Armstrong Dead at 82
« Reply #23: August 28, 2012, 09:54:46 AM »
....

I'm pretty sure there was another guy (Arland D. Williams Jr) who grabbed the helicopter rope and with it helped one or two other survivors to the shore, but he then succumbed to the cold and did not make it.  Not all heroes survive, as we know.

....

This is correct; one of the spans of the 14th Street Bridge (the inbound span for the non-HOV lanes, which is the one the plane hit) is named for him.

I remember that day. Massive snowstorm, federal offices closed early so there was horrendous traffic, and then the Metrorail derailment occurred near Federal Triangle shortly after the plane crashed. I remember it took a couple of hours, instead of the usual 15 minutes, to get home from school that afternoon, in part because our school bus normally used Woodburn Road but couldn't do so that day since it was so slick (lest the bus slide into the ditch), and then I remember getting home and my mom was worried because our father used the Federal Triangle Metro stop since it was the nearest to his office.

Offline Ali the Baseball Cat

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Re: Neil Armstrong Dead at 82
« Reply #24: August 28, 2012, 10:14:56 AM »
My mom had just had her dive tanks inspected and filled and they were still in the car when the news started to get out about the Air Florida crash.  As I recall she actually started to gather up her heavy wetsuit, hood, booties, etc when she realised that by the time she fought her way down Connecticut Avenue through the snow and traffic there was zero chance of there being any survivors left in the water.  Our street hadn't been plowed (DC in the 80s...not sure it ever did get plowed), so she probably wouldn't have made it more than a block or two before getting stuck anyways.