Description: Seven 2" x 2" (5.08 x 5.08 cm) photographs show astronaut Neil Armstrong, comedian Bob Hope, and Ohio Governor James Rhodes in the grandstand at a homecoming parade held for Armstrong in 1969. More than 80,000 supporters greeted Armstrong upon his return to Wapakoneta, Ohio on September 6, 1969. Hope served as marshal for the event, and guests included "Tonight Show" sidekick Ed McMahon, and Dr. Albert Sabin, who invented the polio vaccine. Hope joked with the crowd that Armstrong was adjusting well to life on Earth after his space visit, "but he keeps throwing his shoes out the window and eating toothpaste," referring to the system of trash disposal on early flights and the practice of packaging astronauts' food in tubes. Neil A. Armstrong (b. 1930), the first man to walk on the moon, was born in Wapakoneta. He received Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in aeronautical engineering from Purdue University. After serving as a naval aviator from 1949 to 1952, Armstrong joined the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) in 1955. For the next 17 years he worked for NACA and its successor agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). As a research pilot at NASA's Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, he was a project pilot on many pioneering high-speed aircraft. Armstrong transferred to astronaut status in 1962 and was assigned as command pilot for the Gemini 8 mission, which was launched on March 16, 1966. As spacecraft commander for Apollo 11, the first manned lunar landing mission, Armstrong gained the distinction of being the first man to land a craft on the moon and first to step on its surface. Bob Hope (1903-2003), born Leslie Townes Hope, moved to Cleveland from England with his family in 1907. After graduating from East High School in Cleveland, Hope spent time as an amateur boxer before entering show business. He worked in vaudeville and on Broadway before turning to radio and then television. Hope first began performing for troops stationed overseas in World War I, and continued through the first Gulf War. He starred in more than fifty films and was awarded five special Oscars for humanitarian work and in 1985 he was awarded the prestigious Kennedy Center Honors for Lifetime Achievement. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: Om3101_3735846_002
Subjects: Ohio Government; Science and Technology; Arts and Entertainment; Celebrations; Parades & processions; Hope, Bob, 1903-2003; Armstrong, Neil, 1930-2012 ; Flight; Aeronautics; Astronauts; Rhodes, James A. (James Allen), 1909-2001; Governors
Places: Wapakoneta (Ohio); Auglaize County (Ohio)