WASHINGTON (CNN) -- He was the very first man to step foot on the moon. Apollo astronaut Neil Armstrong's life was celebrated today in a memorial service at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC.
Neil Armstrong was honored today in a memorial service in Washington, DC. More than a thousand people came to pay tribute to the first man to walk on the moon.
Eugene Cernan, the last man to walk on the moon, spoke about his friend. He says, "Fate looked down kindly on us when she chose Neil to be the first to venture to another world and to have the opportunity to look back from space at the beauty of our own."
In July 1969, 38-year-old Neil Armstrong blasted off in Apollo-11 on a four-day journey of nearly 250,000 miles with fellow astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins. Today Collins prayed, saying thank you for his crew-mate. He says, "We thank you this day for your servant, Neil Armstrong, who with courage and humility first set foot upon the moon."
Armstrong died last month at the age of 82, after complications from heart surgery.
Neil Armstrong's interment happens on Friday. It will happen on a naval ship somewhere in the Atlantic.