Neil Armstrong to dedicate Armstrong Hall

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind., Sept. 25 (UPI) -- Neil Armstrong, the first person to walk on the moon, is expected to attend next month's dedication of a building named for him at Indiana's Purdue University.

Armstrong, along with other 14 other Purdue alumni astronauts -- including Eugene Cernan, the last person to walk on the moon -- will attend the Oct. 17 dedication of the Neil Armstrong Hall of Engineering.

"These alumni are living proof that Purdue really does reach for the stars," said Purdue President France Cordova. "We want everyone to help us celebrate what this wonderful building represents: the spirit of exploration, of challenging conventional limits."

Purdue has 22 alumni who have been selected for space flight, including Virgil "Gus" Grissom and Roger Chaffee, who died in a fire during a launch pad test in 1967.

In addition to Armstrong and Cernan, space alumni who have confirmed their visit to Purdue for the dedication are John Blaha, Mark Brown, Richard Covey, John Casper, Andrew Feustel, Gregory Harbaugh, Gary Payton, Mark Polansky, Jerry Ross, Loren Shriver, Janice Voss, Don Williams and David Wolf.

Armstrong, commander of Apollo 11 and Gemini-Titan VIII, earned a bachelor's degree from Purdue in aeronautical and astronautical engineering in 1955.