A wink -- and nod -- to a great American: Neil Armstrong

If anyone ever was entitled to do an end-zone celebration or victory dance, it was Neil Armstrong.

But after taking one of the biggest strides in all of history, he didn't parade himself about.

Though Armstrong's accomplishment of July 20, 1969, was mind-bogglingly significant to humankind, he put himself in humble perspective:

"That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind," he said over a crackly audio signal that may have obscured the "a" but immortalized his words.

When Armstrong landed the Eagle on the Sea of Tranquility, then became the first man to walk on the moon's surface, he made the impossible possible. But he always remembered that it took a team.

That included fellow moonwalker Buzz Aldrin and Apollo 11 pilot Michael Collins, who kept the command ship orbiting while his crew mates spent more than two hours exploring the moon, conducting experiments, collecting rocks and planting a U.S. flag. It also included thousands of scientists, engineers and other NASA workers.

Their collective efforts culminated in the United States meeting President John F. Kennedy's challenge to beat the Soviet Union to the moon by the end of the 1960s.

His family posted a statement on neilarmstronginfo.com, calling him "a reluctant American hero who always believed he was just doing his job."

Though the word "hero" is too often trivialized these days, Armstrong absolutely fit the description.

As a Navy fighter pilot, he flew 78 combat missions during the Korean War. As a test pilot, he flew more than 200 models of aircraft, from jets to gliders, according to his official NASA biography. (1.usa.gov/77mrqX)

Three years before the moon flight, he commanded the Gemini 8 mission that performed the first successful docking of two vehicles in space.

It's too easy to be blasé about the dangers space travel entails -- and always will, even as science advances.

Armstrong knew them, took them and then, as a NASA administrator and college professor, worked to continue pushing the frontiers of exploration.

After Armstrong, 82, died Saturday, his family made a request that's as charming as it is simply appropriate: "The next time you walk outside on a clear night and see the moon smiling down at you, think of Neil Armstrong and give him a wink."

Remember him when you see that man in the moon.

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