Collection of six Neil Armstrong US passports
Neil Armstrong US passports
United States Passports issued to Neil Armstrong from 1954 to 1979, including a Special + Diplomatic Passport used while going through astronaut training
1. Passport. United States of America. Green cloth with Department of State Seal pattern lettered in gold. Issued May 7th, 1954. Listing his occupation as “Student.”
2. Special Passport. United States of America. Green cloth with Department of State Seal pattern lettered in gold. Issued October 6th, 1960. Listing his official status as: “PROCEEDING ABROAD ON OFFICIAL BUSINESS FOR THE NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION.” Brasil, Panama, Guatemala, 1960-65.
3. Diplomatic Passport. United States of America. Navy blue leatherette, lettered in gold. Issued Sept. 22, 1966. Indicating that the bearer is: “AN ASTRONAUT ON A SPECIAL DIPLOMATIC MISSION FOR THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.” Venezuela, Brasil, Paraguay, Colombia, Ecuador, Chile, Peru, Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia, 1966. Neil Armstrong US passports
4. Passport. United States of America. Green leatherette lettered in gold. Issued Sept. 16, 1969. Greece, UK, France, South Africa, Spain, 1972-74.
5. Passport. United States of America. Green leatherette lettered in gold. Issued Sept. 5, 1974.
Philippines, UK, Spain, France, Ireland, Ecuador, Norway, Australia, 1974-79. Neil Armstrong US passports
6. Passport. United States of America. Navy blue leatherette, lettered in silver.
Issued July 26, 1979. UK, Ireland, Canada, France, Sweden, South Africa, 1979-1984.
The first passport was issued in 1954 while Armstrong was a junior at Purdue University, after having served as an aviator in the Navy and serving in the Korean War; he seemed too focused on his studies to travel during this period, as the passport bears no exit/entry stamps.
A Special Passport which he used from 1960-1965 while was conducting official business abroad for NASA. Armstrong joined the Naval Advisory for Aeronautics (NACA) in 1955 and became part of the second group in the NASA Astronaut Corps in 1962, going on to train at the Panama Jungle Survival School on Albrook Air Force Base in the Panama Canal Zone. This Special Passport shows his entry and exit dates into Panama, as well as travel completed by him in the neighboring countries of Brazil and Guatemala. We see quite a dramatic uptick in his travel in the Diplomatic Passport, used by him starting in 1966 while on special diplomatic missions for the President of the United States. It shows extensive entries and exits not only to and from Panama but nearly every country in South America. The fourth passport was issued just one month after the launch of the Apollo 11 mission, and this along with the last two passports show a shift in the countries Armstrong traveled to, seeing him making frequent visits to multiple countries in Europe, South Africa, Australia, and the Philippines, with the only south American visit being to Ecuador, being a mix of trips for vacation and business.
The six passports were sold at Sotheby in 2019, with a final result of USD 81.250.
Neil Armstrong US passports
Tom Topol | Passport History Expert & Author.
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