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Neil Armstrong memorial on September 13 to be livestreamed

The nation will have a chance to say goodbye to the iconic astronaut in a public service that will be streamed on NASA's Web site, as well as the cathedral's site.

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U.S. astronaut Neil Armstrong, the mission commander of the Apollo 11 moon landing mission, was the first person to set foot on the moon. His memorial will be held September 13 at the National Cathedral. NASA

The public will have a chance to say goodbye to astronaut Neil Armstrong in a memorial service on September 13 that will be livesteamed from the Washington National Cathedral.

Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, died at age 82 late last month after complications from cardiovascular surgery. The icon of the space age is best remembered for taking "one giant leap for mankind" as he stepped off the footpad of the Apollo 11 lunar lander Eagle and onto the surface of the moon on July 20, 1969.

The memorial service, scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. EST, will be televised live on NASA's television channel and streamed through the space agency's Web site as well as the cathedral's site. Attendance to the service will be open to the public on a first-come basis, but reservations must still be made through NASA.

The space agency said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and other dignitaries would speak at the service but did not elaborate on whom else might attend. A private ceremony in late August was reportedly attended by some 10 former astronauts, including Mercury astronaut John Glenn and Armstrong's fellow Apollo astronauts Eugene Cernan, James Lovell, and William Anders.

The National Cathedral seems an appropriate place for the Armstrong memorial, serving as the home to a moon rock brought back to Earth during Armstrong's Apollo 11 mission and presented to the cathedral during a 1974 service commemorating the fifth anniversary of the moon landing.