Neil Armstrong made history in 1969 as commander of Apollo 11, becoming the first human to walk on the Moon. His words—“one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”—reached a global audience of over 500 million people. Armstrong’s achievement rode on Saturn V rockets developed at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, linking Alabama directly to the Moon landing. After retiring from NASA, he taught aerospace engineering at the University of Cincinnati, remaining a quiet advocate for exploration and education.