Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, was laid to rest in the Atlantic Ocean on Friday in a burial-at-sea ceremony aboard the USS Philippine Sea.
The Apollo 11 commander, Armstrong, served in the Navy from 1949 to 1952. During the burial ceremony he was honored with a bugler and a rifle salute after which his cremated remains were committed to the sea and an American flag was presented to his widow Carol Armstrong.
The burial came a day after former Apollo astronauts, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and other dignitaries paid tribute to Armstrong at Washington's National Cathedral.
"Neil will always be remembered for taking humankind's first small step on another world," said Administrator Bolden. "But it was the courage, grace and humility he displayed throughout his life that lifted him above the stars."
"Neil Armstrong left more than footprints and a flag on the moon. He left a foundation for the future and paved the way for future American explorers to be the first to step foot on Mars or another planet," Bolden added.
Armstrong passed away on Aug. 25 at around 2.45 p.m. following complications from a recent cardiac surgery.
Apollo 11 command module pilot Michael Collins, fellow moonwalker Buzz Aldrin, Eugene A. Cernan, the Apollo 17 mission commander and last man to walk on the moon, and John Glenn, the former Senator and first American to orbit the Earth, also attended the memorial service, NASA said.
