Bio August 5, 1997

History Focus for August 5

A short focus on a person or event associated with this day in History.

Neil A. Armstrong

The American astronaut Neil Alden Armstrong was born in Wapakoneta, Ohio, Aug. 5, 1930.He was the first person to walk on the Moon. Neil received his pilot's license on his 16th birthday. After two years at Purdue University, he joined the navy and flew combat missions over Korea. After Korea he returned to Purdueand obtained his aeronautical engineering degree in 1955. Following graduation he became a test pilot. At Edwards Air Force base he flew the X-15 rocket plane a total of seven times. In 1962 he was selected as an astronaut.

Armstrong was later assigned as commander of APOLLO 11. On July 20, 1969, Armstrong and lunar module pilot Edwin E. ALDRIN landed the Apollo 11 lunar module Eagle on the Moon at the Sea of Tranquility. At 10:56:20 PM (EDT), he planted his left foot on the lunar surface and proclaimed: "That's one small step for {a} man, one giant leap for mankind." He later said that he intended to say "a," but static on the tapes leaves this detail uncertain.
Here are a couple more Neil Armstrong quotes:

Science has not yet mastered prophecy. We predict too much for the next year and yet far too little for the next ten.

Man has always been an explorer. There is a fascination in thrusting out and going to new places. It's like going through a door because you find the door in front of you. I think that man looses something if he has the option to go to the moon and does not take it.

John Eliot

"Apostle to the Indians"

John Eliot was born the third of seven children on July 31, 1604, in Essex County, England. He was born to a fairly wealty family. From 1618 to 1622 Eliot studied for the ministry at Cambridge University, the intellectual center of the Presbyterian and Congregational Puritans. Eliot s professors emphasized the final authority of the Scriptures and the need for a personal relationship with Christ. His beliefs were contradictory to the Anglican creed. Those who did not conform to the Anglican Church were accused of heresy.So in the late summer of 1631 Eliot boarded the ship Lyon, bound for Boston.

John Eliot began his ministry in America as substitute pastor of the church in Boston. His parishioners were pleased with his preaching, but when part of Eliot's family and friends settled two miles away in Roxbury, he moved to their village and became pastor and teacher. He was the pastor at Roxbury for 58 years.

Eliot wanted to witness and preach to the Indians. He sat out to learn the Algonquin language. He wanted to explain God's Word to the natives. And the language the preacher wanted to learn was totally different from any European or classical tongue. Algonquin had no written grammar, no written dictionary. Cockenoe, Eliot's young Indian teacher, could speak English fluently but could not write. Only Eliot's dedication kept him going for the two grueling years he studied Algonquin.

On October 28, 1646, at Nonantum, Eliot preached his first sermon to the Indians, using Ezekiel 37:9 as his text. He opened the service with a prayer in English, not wanting to use "some unfit or unworthy terms in the solemn office." Then, for the first time in an Indian tongue, he explained the Ten Commandments, the creation and fall of man, and the life and character of Christ. At the close of his sermon, Eliot asked his intent listeners for questions. Almost immediately he was asked, "How may we come to know Jesus Christ?" Eliot's answer was clear: repent, pray, and receive Christ as Saviour.

Eliot not only continued to preach to the Indians but also worked in other ways for their benefit. As a scholar, he placed great emphasis on education, and as a missionary, he realized that others were needed to carry on his work. Eliot established schools for the Christian Indians and trained them to be teachers and pastors of their own people. Overcoming the great differences in language and culture, Eliot produced an Algonquin translation of the Bible. The task took eight grueling years. In 1663 the first Bible printed in America came off the presses. It was Eliot's Algonquin translation of the Bible.