First man on the moon Neil Armstrong dies - 13 WTHR Indianapolis

They certainly are big shoes to fill. Stamped into the concrete in front of the building that bears his name are prints taken of the boots Neil Armstrong's wore when he walked on the moon.

His footprint on Purdue is immeasurable.

"I will certainly always remember this day the rest of my life. My wife told me that he had died and I just shouted No! I just did not want to believe it."

John Norburg met Armstrong in 1979. Norburg was a journalist and Armstrong was a professor in Cincinnati. They met on the 10-year anniversary of Armstrong's walk on the moon, "and the question I ask, 'if you had it to do over again would you still say, that is one small step for man one giant leap for man kind?'" He said that wasn't the most important thing I said that day. "Well I said, 'what was?'" He said, "the Eagle has landed -- that was the important thing."

Norburg left journalism to write books. And a quick look around his basement tells the story of his interest, space, particularly the first man on the moon is a centerpiece to his writing. "Neil was 39-years-old when he landed on the moon. He lived to be 82. He had a whole life of successful things that followed him that was not the end of his life," said Norburg.

Over the years Norburg and Armstrong became friends, keeping in touch on the phone and email. Saturday afternoon the conversation ended. "I knew him well enough to really care about him, not only because he was a icon, not only because he was a great friend to Purdue, not only because he was fun to be around," says Norburg. "He was the kind of guy you learned to love"

Neil Armstrong came to Purdue to study. Becoming an astronaut was not his intention, says Norburg. "He said, when I came to Purdue to be an engineer I was scared to death. I was scared to death of these faculty and scared to death to study engineering." And he said only Purdue would put a statue of a scared freshman in front of an engineering building.

Purdue will honor Armstrong and his life this week on Campus. There have been 23 Purdue graduates in space. Armstrong was the first.