Medal, Mexico City, Huesped de Honor, Apollo 11 World Tour, Neil Armstrong

This gold medal, declaring Neil Armstrong a "Guest of Honor," was presented to the astronaut during a visit to Mexico City in September 1969 along with a certificate which is also in the Museum's collection. Armstrong became an internationally celebrated figure after serving as commander of Apollo 11, the mission that made him the first person to walk on the moon in July 1969. Later that year, the crew of Apollo 11 embarked on a world tour that took them to twenty-three countries in forty-five days.The astronauts stated that the purpose of the tour was "to demonstrate goodwill to all people and to stress that what we we had done was for all mankind." The first leg of the tour was Latin America, which Armstrong had previously visited during a goodwill tour with astronaut Dick Gordon in October 1966, shortly after Armstrong's Gemini VIII flight. Prior to the trip, Armstrong studied the language and history of Latin America, which impressed the Latin American people and his travel companions.

Prior to joining NASA, Armstrong served as a naval aviator during the Korean War, flying 78 combat missions. After graduating with a B.S. in Aeronautical Engineering from Purdue University in 1955, Armstrong became a test pilot for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA, the forerunner to NASA) and flew over 200 different models of aircraft, including the X-15. Armstrong was selected for NASA’s astronaut corps in 1962 as part of the second class selection, and first flew in space as commander of Gemini VIII in 1966.

Shortly after his historic Apollo 11 mission in 1969, Armstrong earned an M.S. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Southern California, and when he left NASA in 1971, he taught at the University of Cincinnati for eight years. In 1986, he was appointed by President Reagan as the Vice-Chairman of the Rogers Commission investigating the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. In his later life, he served on several corporate boards and high-level advisory committees.

Carol Armstrong and the Armstrong family loaned the medal to the Museum in 2014.