A Tribute to Neil Armstrong

Neil Alden Armstrong was an American astronaut and aeronautical engineer who was the first person to walk on the Moon. He was also a naval aviator, test pilot, and university professor.

Ever since we all started going to school, probably the first thing we learnt in General knowledge was that Neil Armstrong was the first man to step on moon. With the coming close of the 50th Anniversary of Apollo 11, Rick and his brother Mark have decided to auction about 3,000 belongings of their father, who died in 2012. They are doing so in order to revisit the splendid legacy of their father, Neil Armstrong. The items to be auctioned include flags, medallions, stamped envelopes and other memorabilia that made the trip to the moon and back when the Apollo 11 lunar lander set down on July 20, 1969. Rick and Mark believe that most of the belongings of their father are lying in the storage lockers and basements uselessly. They want to make an effort and pay tribute to their great father by auctioning a few of those items and conserving the rest of them. Probably the two brothers could also have donated these items, but post donation those items would have only found place in some big storage boxes. The items would be soon forgotten by everyone that way. In order to keep alive the memories of their father, they decided to auction these. Also, when an item is auctioned, the buyer has to pay money so he carefully looks into intricate details of the product. This shall bring about more awareness in people about Neil Armstrong even after several years of his death. The brothers informed that the pictures of all the items shall always be available online for anyone to view them and conduct any kind of research on those. The first batch of about 800 items will be sold on November 1 and 2 in Dallas. Initially, the two brothers were confused about their decision to sell off their father’s belongings. They were immensely doubtful of the fact that whether their father would ever approve of it or not. But then after a lot of deliberation and critical analysis they reached the conclusion that they should go for auction. The two brothers through this entire process are reminding the world of the contributions of their great father and how he led a simple life. They stated that although astronauts were celebrities in those days, yet the two of them had a life as simple as anyone else. Their father always motivated them to do well in school. Their family went on vacations, had dinner together and was like any other family. Showing excitement for the auction, the brothers highlighted that in the November auction, one of those American flags, a silk one measuring 17 3/4 by 11 1/2 inches, is expected to draw the highest bids, perhaps selling for $300,000 or more. Perhaps the most unusual artefacts that went to the moon and remained in Neil Armstrong’s possession were parts of the original Wright brothers’ airplane that made the first powered flight in 1903.

By: Anuja Arora

Content: https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-in-school/our-dad-oh-he-walked-the-moon/article25106893.ece