[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 121 (Tuesday, September 11, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1473]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        HONORING NEIL ARMSTRONG

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. ADAM B. SCHIFF

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Tuesday, September 11, 2012

  Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life and legacy of 
a true American hero, the first human being to walk on the moon, Neil 
Alden Armstrong.
  I had the privilege of meeting Neil Armstrong, and even introduced my 
son Eli to him at an event commemorating the 40th Anniversary of the 
Apollo 11 landing. It has been said that ``we're all dreamers,'' but 
Neil Armstrong inspired generations of Americans to dream big and reach 
for the stars, both literally and figuratively. He believed that the 
yearning to explore is part of what makes us human and his singular 
achievement on July 20, 1969 still inspires.
  A reluctant hero, Mr. Armstrong never used his Apollo 11 achievement 
for personal gain. On more than one occasion he questioned his own 
notoriety, protesting that his walk on the moon was the result of the 
dedication of more than four hundred thousand people from engineers who 
designed the Lunar Module to ground controllers who monitored every 
aspect of the mission, to seamstresses, who stitched by hand the suit 
that kept him alive on the moon.
  The late 1960's was a time of tumult in America, when our nation was 
riven by Vietnam, the struggle for civil rights and the emerging 
women's movement. In the midst of this, Armstrong's climb down the 
lunar module's ladder and his ``giant leap for mankind'' united not 
just Americans, but people of all nations as they watched. That night . 
. . July 20th, 1969, countless children--including a nine-year old boy 
in Framingham, Massachusetts--looked up at the moon and dared to dream.
  Neil Armstrong is no longer with us, but it is a remarkable testament 
that even now--more than four decades after Eagle landed on the Moon--
the mission of Apollo 11 still inspires us and challenges us to press 
forward in the exploration of space.

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