Neil Armstrong (1930-2012)

Neil Armstrong, commander of the Apollo 11 mission, pilot of The Eagle and the first person to set foot on the Moon, died today at age 82. Most people will remember Armstrong for his famous quote, “One small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind.”

I suggest you remember him for his Sagittarius Moon, known for its adventurous spirit as well as its eternal optimism. He was born with his Moon in this sign, and he died within two months of his progressed lunar return — an event that happens just two or three times in a lifetime. And today, when he left this plane of existence, the Moon was also in Sagittarius, just a few degrees from his natal placement — and all close to the homing signal that’s known as the Galactic Core. [See minor planets here.]

It’s easy to be jaded about space travel; so far it hasn’t lived up to the visions of science fiction. The Space Shuttle made 135 flights, which became routine events. Yet the first time that people set foot on the Moon, it was astonishing and, in the true sense of the word, breathtaking. Going into orbit is risky business under the best scenario, but using untested equipment and computers that ran slower than an old Atari game, the achievement of Neil Armstrong and his colleagues on that flight was evidence of guts, skill and a dash of luck.

It’s fair to say that the Moon landing was one of the last moments when we thought of the United States as being a great nation, based on an actual achievement.

Offering some evidence of the Sagittarian love for flight, Armstrong earned his private pilot’s license at age 15, in 1945, before he had his driver’s license. He was inspired by early childhood events, including his father, who took two-year-old Neil to the Cleveland Air Races.

Later, he recalled his concerns about the Apollo 11 mission, when he had believed there was only a 50% chance of landing on the Moon. “I was elated, ecstatic and extremely surprised that we were successful,” he said.

He was an outspoken critic of the decision of NASA to abandon the Aries program, which would leave the U.S. without low-orbit space vehicles after the Shuttle program ended.

“For The United States, the leading space faring nation for nearly half a century, to be without carriage to low Earth orbit and with no human exploration capability to go beyond Earth orbit for an indeterminate time into the future, destines our nation to become one of second or even third rate stature.”

This was not acceptable to Armstrong, a proud but humble Leo. In addition to his fiery Sun and Moon, had many planets in cardinal signs — the signs of initiative. These included a grouping in the early degrees of these signs, close to the personal/collective intersection we call the Aries Point, including Pholus, Eris, Saturn, Jupiter, granting a touch of political skill, Pallas Athene.

His Mercury-Neptune conjunction in early Virgo (today being aspected by the Sun and Neptune in Pisces) has a clairvoyant quality, though one closely enmeshed in both intellect and technology thanks to the Virgo connection.

He believed it would be easier for mankind to get to Mars than it was for us to get to the Moon.

“I suspect that even though the various questions are difficult and many, they are not as difficult and many as those we faced when we started the Apollo [space program] in 1961.”

Whatever we may think of the modern, heavily militarized space program (and all the Cold War implications of the Moon shots), Neil Armstrong, a civilian, an Eagle scout, a test pilot and advocate of exploration, is someone who truly deserves the designation of hero.

Here is his natal chart, rated AA and collected by the beloved, late, great Lois Rodden: