Neil Armstrong was born on August 5, 1930, in Wapakoneta, Ohio. He attended Purdue University, Indiana, from 1947 until he went on active duty with the U.S. Navy on January 26, 1949. After attending flight training at NAS Pensacola, Florida, Armstrong was designated a Naval Aviator on August 12, 1950, but was not commissioned an Ensign until July 1951. His first assignment was to Fleet Aircraft Service Squadron 7 at NAS San Diego, California, from August to October 1950, followed by service as an F9F-2B Panther pilot with VF-51 from October 1950 until he left active duty and entered the Naval Reserve on August 23, 1952. During this time, he flew 78 combat missions during the Korean War flying off the aircraft carrier USS Essex (CV-9) from August 1951 to March 1952. LTJG Armstrong resigned his commission in the U.S. Naval Reserve on October 20, 1960. After leaving active duty, he completed his Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering at Purdue in 1955, and then worked for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) at the Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory in Cleveland, Ohio, from February 1955 to March 1956. Armstrong next transferred to Edwards AFB, California, where he served as a NACA (NASA after July 1958) Test Pilot until he was selected for the second group of NASA Astronauts on September 16, 1962. During his time at Edwards, he flew more than 50 types of aircraft and made seven flights in the X-15, reaching a top altitude of 207,500 feet and a top speed of MACH 5.74. Armstrong served as Command Pilot of Gemini 8 from March 16 to 17, 1966, and was backup Command Pilot for Gemini 11. His last mission in Space was as Commander of Apollo 11 from July 16 to 24, 1969. During this mission he became the first person to step foot on the surface of the moon on July 20, 1969. His last assignment with NASA was as Deputy Associate Administrator for Aeronautics for the Office of Advanced Research and Technology from 1970 until resigning from NASA in August 1971. After leaving NASA, Armstrong was a university professor of aerospace engineering at the University of Cincinnati, Ohio, from 1971 to 1979. Neil Armstrong was awarded the Robert J. Collier Trophy and the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Nixon in 1969, the Robert H. Goddard Memorial Trophy in 1970, the Congressional Space Medal of Honor in 1978, and he was finally awarded his U.S. Naval Aviator Astronaut Wings in 2010. Neil Armstrong died on August 25, 2012.