Dizel8
Douglas metal
- Joined
- Feb 27, 2003
- Posts
- 2,817
Was Armstrong in the Navy when he stepped on the moon?
He was not, at the time he was a civilian. Due to politics, having a current member of the armed forces be the first on the moon would have looked bad, military on the moon and all.
"After serving as a naval aviator from 1949 to 1952, Armstrong joined the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) in 1955. His first assignment was with the NACA Lewis Research Center (now NASA Glenn) in Cleveland. Over the next 17 years, he was an engineer, test pilot, astronaut and administrator for NACA and its successor agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)."
Aldrin however, appears to still have been in the AF when he joined Armstrong on the moon. He retired from the AF in 1972.
Last edited: