SEO Version
Número 4 - 2012
Latin
aero
magazine
8
Espaço e c i ênc i a
M
uch has been aired la-
tely over the demise,
on last 25 August at 82, of the
famous U.S. astronaut Neil
Armstrong, the frst man to
walk on the Moon on 20 July
1969; a defning moment for
a generation and a vivid ins-
piration to the generations
that followed.
Over four decades ago,
as a teenager, I was among
millions who witnessed this
incredible event "live" on te-
levision. In my personal case,
at home alone in the middle
of a warm summer night on
a black & white Radiola TV
set—at that time, only very
few people had access to co-
lour television in Europe. Like
many students of my age in-
terested in aeronautics and
space, building plastic mo-
dels and reading junior ad-
venturemagazines, I knew by
heart the names and faces of
all the U.S. astronauts—par-
ticularly the 29 Apollo astro-
nauts—who were for me the
only true American heroes.
There were not many books
Neil Armstrong: o primeiro homem na Lua
Neil Armstrong (1930-2012): the frst man on the Moon
was above all a unique and gifted airminded test pilot
M
uito foi exibido recen-
temente sobre a morte,
em 25 de agosto último aos
82 anos, do famoso astronau-
ta americano Neil Armstrong,
o primeiro homem a pisar na
Lua em 20 de julho de 1969,
um momento crucial para
toda uma geração e uma ins-
piração viva para as gerações
que se seguiram.
Mais de quatro décadas
atrás, ainda adolescente, eu
estava entre as milhões de
pessoas que testemunha-
ram este incrível evento "ao
vivo" na televisão. No meu
caso pessoal, em casa, so-
zinho no meio de uma noite
quente de verão em apa-
relho de TV Radiola em preto
e branco – na época, apenas
na Europa poucas pessoas
tinham acesso à televisão em
cores. Como muitos alunos
da minha idade interessados
em aeronáutica e espaço,
construindo modelos plásti-
cos e lendo revistas de aven-
tura júnior, eu sabia de cor
os nomes e rostos de todos
os astronautas dos EUA – es-
Por | By
Jean-Michel
Guhl
Licenciado para voar aos 16
anos, Neil Armstrong realizou pri-
meiramente uma notável carreira
como piloto de testes da NASA.
Before inscribing for ever his name
in the pages of history books for
being the first man to set foot on
the Moon, licensed to fly at 16,
Neil Armstrong accomplished a
remarkable career as a NASA test
pilot in the late fifties and sixties,
logging many flight hours on some
200 aircraft types, including the
fantastic North American X-15. The
X-15 set speed and altitude records
in the early 1960s, reaching the
edge of outer space and returning
with valuable data used in aircraft
and spacecraft design. As of 2012,
the X-15 holds the official world
record for the fastest speed ever
reached by a manned aircraft.
During X-15 Flight 64, on 26 July
1962, Neil Armstrong reached
a speed of 3,989 mph (6,420
km/h) and a 18,7 miles (30.1 km)
altitude. © NASA
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