Visitors to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC on 27 August 2012 examine an exhibit of the Apollo 11 capsule that took Neil Armstrong and two fellow US astronauts to the Moon in July 1969. President Barack Obama has ordered all official US flags to be lowered to half mast in memory of Armstrong, the first man to walk on the Moon, who died August 25, 2012 at the age of 82. AFP PHOTO / ROBERT MacPHERSON
WASHINGTON—US President Barack Obama Monday ordered that all official US flags be lowered to half mast on the day astronaut Neil Armstrong, who planted the Stars and Stripes on the Moon, is buried.
Obama issued a proclamation to honor Armstrong, who died on Saturday aged 82, and was the first man to walk on the Moon, delivering the immortal line “that’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”