When Neil Armstrong took “one small step” in Seattle

When Neil Armstrong took “one small step” in Seattle

(Photo courtesy of Washington State Archives.)

For all of you NASA fans and those who remember this monumental occasion, July 20 marks the anniversary when U.S. astronauts Neil Armstrong and “Buzz” Aldrin walked on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission in 1969.

In honor of that amazing moment when man first visited Earth’s lunar counterpart, our State Archives unearthed (so to speak) this photo showing Armstrong (third from left),  John Glenn (far left) and  seven other U.S. astronauts as they stood on the Space Needle’s observation deck while visiting the Seattle World’s Fair on May 10, 1962.

The astronauts were among the 14 members of the “100,000 Foot Club” — test pilots who had reached that altitude in balloons, rockets, and experimental aircraft. At that time, Armstrong and most of the other astronauts on were unknown to Americans. But Glenn was a hero by then. Two months earlier, he became the first U.S. astronaut to orbit the Earth.

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