Astronauts remember true star Armstrong

America bade farewell yesterday to the first man to take a giant leap onto the moon.

The powerful of Washington, the pioneers of space, and members of the public crowded into the cathedral for the interfaith memorial for the very private astronaut, inset right, who became a legend in his own lifetime.

Armstrong, who died last month in Ohio aged 82, walked on the moon in July 1969.

Apollo 11 crewmates Aldrin and Michael Collins and Mercury astronaut Glenn were among those who filled the pews. “You have now shown once again the pathway to the stars,” Eugene Cernan, the last man to walk on the moon, said in a tribute to Armstrong.