By BosNewsLife Americas Service
WASHINGTON, USA (BosNewsLife)– Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon, has died at the age of 82, his wife said Saturday.
Saying, “That’s one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind”, Armstrong captivated the world by carefully walking on the lunar surface.
Armstrong and fellow astronaut Edwin E. Aldrin, later planted the U.S. flag on moon on that historic day of July 20, 1969.
A baby, who later became a BosNewsLife reporter, was put by his parents in front of the black and white pictures carrying television set, a scene repeated throughout the world.
Some 600 million people — a fifth of the world’s population — watched and listened to the landing, the largest audience for any single event in history at the time.
HISTORIC MAN
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in a historic look at major events of the 20th Century, said that “10,000 years from now, only one man’s name will be remembered: Neil Armstrong.”
Devoted Christians doubt however whether the world by that time will still look similar.
His first steps on the moon were accompanied by a somewhat hastily arranged Christian Communion service, recalled David A. Depew, a regular commentator on BosNewsLife’s website, who runs Christian site Bethlehem5bc.com.
“Soon after the first men landed on the Moon on July 20, 1969, in the Apollo 11 lander called ‘Eagle’ at Tranquility Base, U.S. Astronaut Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin took a Christian Communion,” said the commentator, who investigated the story.
Aldrin wrote, “…the very first liquid ever poured on the moon, and the very first food eaten there, were the communion elements”, Depew recalled. “This was just before Astronaut Neil Armstrong’s” made his small step for man and giant step for mankind,” Depew added.
BIBLICAL SIGNIFICANCE
Depew said it was of Biblical significance as about 4,000 years earlier, Israel’s founding patriarch Abraham was given similar communion elements by Melchizedek, known as “a ‘Priest of God Most High’ and ‘King of Salem’ east of what would become Jerusalem.”
God declared his son Jesus Christ high priest according to the order of Melchizedek, according to the Bible.
“The regular bread used on the Moon was baked by Oroweat Bakery at the Montebello bakery near Los Angeles,” Depew added.
Armstrong’s life began and ended quietly in Ohio, but in between was a life nearly beyond measure, according to American commentators.
He was a fighter pilot in the Korean War, tested experimental jet planes for the government, and eventually joined the space program.
SMILING MOON
He piloted the Gemini 8, performing the first successful docking of two vehicles in space.
Armstrong became an icon on July 20, 1969, on his second and last space flight, when he jumped down off a ladder, landed on the moon, and made his famous remarks.
His family said in a statement: “For those who may ask what they can do to honor Neil, we have a simple request. ‘Honor his example of service, accomplishment and modesty, and the next time you walk outside on a clear night and see the moon smiling down at you, think of Neil Armstrong and give him a wink’.”
(With reporting by BosNewsLife’s Stefan J. Bos).
I am old eough to reember him reading from Genesis chapter 1 from on the moon, In the begining God Created —-
I shall never forget him honouring God from on the moon.
It was an amazing event.