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Pioneering astronaut Neil Armstrong dies at 82
It's a story that we hoped we'd never have to report. Neil Armstrong, the first man to set foot on Earth's Moon, has died at the age of 82 after complications from heart surgery three weeks earlier. His greatest accomplishment very nearly speaks for itself -- along with help from fellow NASA astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, he changed the landscape of space exploration through a set of footprints. It's still important to stress his accomplishments both before and after the historic Apollo 11 flight, though. He was instrumental to the Gemini and X-series test programs in the years before Apollo, and followed his moonshot with roles in teaching aerospace engineering as well as investigating the Apollo 13 and Space Shuttle Challenger incidents. What more can we say? Although he only spent a very small portion of his life beyond Earth's atmosphere, he's still widely considered the greatest space hero in the US, if not the world, and inspired a whole generation of astronauts. We'll miss him. [Image credit: NASA Apollo Archive]
Sally Ride, first American woman in space, dies at 61 (updated)
It's a sad day for space travel. Sally Ride, the first American woman to ever travel to space, has died at the age of 61 after a bout with pancreatic cancer. She's best known for breaking NASA's gender barrier by flying on Space Shuttle Challenger on June 18th, 1983, but she spent much more of her time guiding our future in space while here on Earth -- she founded NASA's Office of Exploration and directed its early strategy, and she later went on to lead the California Space Institute as well as teach physics at the University of California in San Diego. Her final decade saw her establish Sally Ride Science to encourage students wanting to follow in her footsteps, especially girls. Ride blazed one of the brighter trails in technology, and she'll be missed. Update: Ride is survived by her same-sex partner of 27 years, Dr. Tam O'Shaughnessy. [Image credit: National Archives]
