Below is the vocabulary that you will see within the book. These words will be underlined and bolded.

Vocabulary

1. Race to Space 7. Kennedy Space Center

2. Neil Armstrong 8. Presidential Medal of Freedom

3. Apollo 11 9. John F. Kennedy

4. Soviet Union 10. Gemini 8

5. NASA 11. Astronaut

6. The Moon 12. Buzz Aldrin

13. Mike Collins

Have you ever looked at the sky at night and thought "Wow. I can't believe someone has been on the Moon"?

It wasn't too long ago when kids your age would wonder if we could land on the Moon! One specific child took these questions to heart, determined to change that. This child is Neil Armstrong!

Neil was born August 5, 1930. He came from a small family who lived in Wapakoneta, Ohio.

He didn't immediately fall in love with outer space. His first fascination was with planes!

When Neil was just a boy, his father took him to see a plane show. Neil was hooked.

Neil soon began to work all around his town, finding little jobs here and there. He used the money to buy model planes and magazines!

By the age of 15, Neil had earned his pilot's license! His family was incredibly proud of him.

Neil decided with his love for flying he would go to college for something with it. He attended Purdue University, majoring in Aerospace Engineering.

As he was finishing his masters at the University of Southern California, he received a call. Neil enlisted as a fighter pilot for the United States Navy.

Neil was able to help save many lives while he fought in the Korean War.

Once Neil came home and graduated college, he decided he wanted to take his flying career to a whole new level. He applied to become an astronaut and in September of 1962 he was selected for the NASA Astronaut Program!

Neil's first trip to space was with the Gemini 8. He was the command pilot of the space capsule and piloted the first successful docking of two vehicles in space.

The Gemini 8 Crew

Neil Armstrong standing with David Scott, a fellow crew member and pilot of the Gemini 8 mission.

The Gemini 8 spacecraft taking off.

During this time, there was quite a bit of talk about the United States in Race To Space against the Soviet Union.

President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, decided the U.S. must put forth effort in reaching the Moon first. Neil was excited to see what this entailed.

I wonder what will happen!