Remember when astronaut Neil Armstrong’s boyhood home went up for sale? A retired history teacher owned it. She hoped the new buyer would take good care of the house—and honor its place in history. 

Her wish came true. A former military pilot just bought the house in Wapakoneta, Ohio. 

The pilot, Ken Schreiber, was nine when Neil Armstrong took his first steps on the Moon. Mr. Schreiber never forgot that moment. Like Mr. Armstrong, he became a military fighter pilot. 

Mr. Armstrong became the first man to walk on the Moon on July 20, 1969. But years before that, he sat in his bedroom, launching model airplanes out the window.

In August, Mr. Schreiber read that the house was for sale. Later, he learned no one had come forward to preserve it. He made an offer. But not so he could have the house. He planned to donate it to the local historical society. 

The sale happened Monday. Mr. Schreiber paid $400,000. 

“I just thought somebody has got to step up to the plate,” says Mr. Schreiber. 

What’s next for the house? Folks at the Auglaize County Historical Society will change it back to how it looked during Mr. Armstrong’s youth. As a boy, he built model planes in the dining room. He made a wind tunnel in the basement, where he tested the planes. 

The historical society’s goal? Get the home ready for visitors by 2030. That will be just in time for the 100th anniversary of the astronaut’s birth. (Mr. Armstrong died in 2012. He was 82.)

What exactly would the house have looked like in the 1940s? That’s a question only research can answer. Let the digging begin!

It is well with the man who deals generously and lends. — Psalm 112:5