National
NASA, Apollo 11 Crewmates Honor Neil Armstrong 45 Years After Moon Landing
Kennedy Space Center Director Robert Cabana, left, and NASA Administrator Charles Bolden unveil a plaque of astronaut Neil Armstrong, during a ceremony to rename the building in Armstrong’s honor, Monday, July 21, 2014. (AP Photo, Florida Today, Craig Bailey)
William Harwood, CBS NEWS
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. (CBS News)—Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin, command module pilot Mike Collins and Apollo 13 commander Jim Lovell joined NASA dignitaries and Neil Armstrong’s family Monday to rename the historic Operations and Checkout Building at the Kennedy Space Center in honor of the first man to walk on the moon.
Seated on a podium before an unfinished Orion capsule scheduled for its maiden test flight later this year, Aldrin and Collins shared memories of Armstrong and enjoyed a live feed from the International Space Station where Expedition 40 commander Steve Swanson and flight engineer Reid Wiseman added their own congratulations.
“These are heroes that I’ve had my entire life, known these names every day I’ve lived,” said Wiseman, an F-14 carrier pilot who was born in 1975, six yeas after the Apollo 11 landing on the moon. “I just want to say an enormous thank you. Thank you for putting our country on this path that we remain on today. Without you gentlemen, I wouldn’t be up here today. So my dreams came true, thanks to them.”
###
