When did Neil Armstrong display heroism?

Answer 1

== == Neil Armstrong showed considerable bravery and integrity on numerous occasions during his various careers.

During his time as a pilot in the Korean War, his aircraft was damaged by gunfire and he was unable to land normally. He ejected successfully after managing to fly his craft to friendly territory. A total of 78 missions were flown by him during the war.

Armstrong's subsequent career as a test pilot provided many opportunities for heroism as he daily faced the dangers inherent in the occupation including the disintegration of a propeller at the moment of releasing a Skyrocket payload his bomber was carrying.

One of the reasons why Armstrong was considered an excellent choice for the lunar landing is the cool head he showed during his Gemini mission with Dave Scott when the docking with an Agena rocket in space caused them to spin wildly, later known to be caused by a stuck thruster. Armstrong tried a number of solutions including un-docking before managing to activate the re-entry control system and disabling the Orbital Attitude and Manoevering System moments before they would have lost consciousness. This stabilized the craft and saved their lives, but the mission was lost and they were required to return to earth at the next opportunity.

While training for Apollo 11, Armstrong had to eject from the device used to train for the lunar landing, which was knick-named 'The Flying Bedstead.' He was within seconds of being killed as it malfunctioned and subsequently crashed.

During the Apollo 11 moon landing, Armstrong was obliged to take manual control of the landing and over-ride the computer which was heading them for a crater-edge landing. The fuel was apparently running low, and the reality of having to abort due to the mission rules for the minimum fuel amount was within seconds.