Neil Armstrong almost missed the deadline for his NASA application!

There are some moments in life that, in hindsight, seem meant to be. They significantly alter the person’s life trajectory. This was the case with astronaut Neil Armstrong.

Armstrong was the first man to step on the surface of the moon. As he did so, he uttered the now-famous words “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” His love for flying started when Armstrong was just 2 years old and his father took him to the Cleveland Air Races. After high school, he enrolled in a US Navy Program at Purdue University.

He was there for a year and a half before he was called to serve in the navy during the Korean War. He flew a number of missions during the war. He then returned to finish his bachelor’s degree in aeronautical engineering. In June 1962, he learned that NASA was looking for it's second group of astronauts. He submitted his application, but it arrived about a week too late.

If Armstrong’s friend hadn’t been working at NASA’s Manned Spacecraft center and hadn’t slipped his application into the group of applications being considered, he would never have walked on the moon.

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