Early years
Neil Alden Armstrong was born on 5 August 1930 in Wapakoneta, Ohio. There were three children in a family of Viola Louise Engel and Stephen Koenig Armstrong. His father, Stephen Koenig Armstrong, worked as an auditor for the Ohio state government. Neil had younger brother Dean and younger sister June. Because of Stephen Armstrong’s service the family moved from one town to another and after Neil’s birth they lived in twenty different towns. When Neil was two years old his father took him to the Cleveland Air Races. At that time Neil grew fond of flying. The first airplane flight in Neil’s life was in July 1936 when Neil was six years old. It was in Warren, Ohio, when his father took him to go for a ride in a Ford Trimotor.
The final moving of the family was to Wapakoneta in 1944. Neil Armstrong entered Blume High School there. He started to attend flying lessons at the county airport and received the flight certificate at the age of fifteen. It should be noted that Neil Armstrong earned his driver’s license later than the flight certificate. He also was a member of the Boy Scouts and in the end he received the rank of Eagle Scout. From 1947 to 1955 Neil studied at Purdue University.